When she arrived near the centre, she noticed several level 100 guards looking over the cathedral. Understanding that she couldn't get any closer, she settled with the clock tower nearby.

Sitting down on the roof, she placed the improved scanner and waited for it to scan the city for where the most amount of nan.o.bots were being concentrated.

Of course, she had made sure that all of her stealth skills were activated since it would take a blind man to not see a girl on top of a clock tower in broad daylight.

"Now then, I wonder if the hero is in this city. Since it's so far back in the past, I'm not even sure if he's here…" s.h.i.+ro muttered while looking down on the city.

In Ardvine, most of the people wore white clothing to symbolise the light G.o.ddess. Only those that were merchants or recently entered the city wore something else.

"Tch, revolting…" She frowned in disgust.

{Well religion is quite big in this city so it's only natural that the inhabitants follow the rules of the church. I'm sure that when we find out where the spirits are, they'll do the same for you since you're now the queen.} Nimue chuckled.

"Well either way, they can wear whatever they want since I mostly wear black anyways. If a whole city is wearing black, it'll be kind of depressing wouldn't it?" s.h.i.+ro raised an eyebrow.

{Perhaps, but the spirits would look at you as if you're an idol.} Nimue shrugged.

"Hmm… true. Well maybe I should wear some other colours rather than just black. It's quite edgy isn't it?" s.h.i.+ro mused while looking down on her dress.

{A little. But it does contrast quite well with your hair after all.}

"What colours would you suggest? I'm thinking something along the lines of red? I quite like the colour."

{Hmm… white and red? Or maybe have Aarim make something that transitions from white to red. Maybe even some blue since red and blue contrast. Of course, the two colours are less saturated so it doesn't hurt the eyes.}

". . .When did you become a tailoring expert?"

{I haven't. I'm just throwing some colours out haha.}

"Fair enough." s.h.i.+ro smiled while shrugging her shoulders.

Making a mental note of having Aarim change up the colours of her clothes when she gets out, she waited for the scanner to finish surveying the entire city.

Roughly 1 hour later, the results showed up on the screen.

"Hm… most of the nan.o.bots seem to spread out evenly throughout the city. Seems like the highest concentration is in front of me though…" She muttered while narrowing her eyes at the cathedral.

If the main base was really under the cathedral, then she'll have to be prepared to fight all of the holy knights and paladins.

"I wonder if I can sneak in…" She muttered. There was a slight problem with that since most of the churches come with a formation that detects the people within. Rather than an attack formation, it's more like a surveillance one where it is guaranteed to have more than one person watching over it.

The moment she disables it, even for an instant, all of the holy knights would be looking around for a culprit.

She knew that they would have an item or skill to cancel out stealth so that wasn't the most viable option.

"Hmm…"

Furrowing her brows, she decided to first see how deep the base was. If it was near the bottom, there was a good chance that she could invade it without directly going through the church.

Making a small camouflaged drone, she threw it into the air and had it fly outside the city.

Controlling it manually, she piloted the small drone underneath the island and scanned it with her sensors.

"Hmm…. That's quite troublesome." She muttered after seeing the results.

While she did indeed find the base, it was quite deep into the island and trying to sneak in would be a ha.s.sle. Not only that, the bottom of the island was reinforced by quite a few layers of barriers that would definitely alarm them should she try to sneak into the base this way.

However, it was still a better alternative to breaking through the cathedral.

"Hmm… what to do…"

{Do you think you can change your appearance and fight your way in?}

"There's a problem with that you know? If there is a huge commotion, the scientists would most definitely leave with the data. I don't want to waste the only chance I have." s.h.i.+ro shook her head.

Crossing her legs, s.h.i.+ro leaded back on the roof and looked at the sky.

"Why and how is the base under the church? Logically, the overseer should not have let that happen if he or she is a devout believer.  Strange… That being said, I wonder where the proper entrance is. After all, they must have a way to leave under the island considering the fact that they're quite slippery." She mused.

{Maybe you can observe them through the night?}

"Might do. I'll set a few drones to keep watch on both the church and underneath the island. Hopefully, we should be able to find something by the time morning comes." s.h.i.+ro nodded after a short moment.

Jumping off the clock tower, she turned off her stealth skills while no one was looking and blended into the crowd. She was going to find a place to spend the night while looking for an entrance.

Not only that, she also wanted to find some information regarding the light hero. After all, that was her main goal for coming to Ardvine.

It was just lucky that she had found the main base.

'If I ask the people at a bar or something similar, do you think I'll be able to get some extra information?' s.h.i.+ro asked Nimue.

{Maybe. You do have to take into account the hero's current cla.s.s after all. If he isn't a hero just yet, no one would give a c.r.a.p about him.} Nimue replied with a shrug.

'True.'

Going to a hotel, she booked a room for the night before leaving. Since it wasn't night just yet, she was going to go for a meal first.

During her meal, countless eyes would glance at her with a mixture of shock and curiosity. Naturally, there were some dirty gazes of which s.h.i.+ro would just release her killing intent at those people to get them to stop.

'That was quite a nice meal. Can't compare to what mother makes though.' s.h.i.+ro thought while sitting back.

{You miss your parents?}

'Of course. I haven't had them in my life for decades now. Even if this is an illusion, I still enjoy it you know?' s.h.i.+ro replied with a smile.

{What about after the trial then?}

'. . .  d.a.m.n, I should have gotten a photo with them.' s.h.i.+ro furrowed her brows.

'Wait a minute, was there a teleport shrine back in the city?' She frowned after thinking of this point. Since she was focused on the base as well as the light hero, she had completely forgotten about the teleport shrine.

{I'm not sure…}

'F*ck it, I'll have a look when I go back to the city. But for now…'

Closing her eyes, s.h.i.+ro focused on a scene that she remembered from their meals together. While she wasn't going to be in the picture, it was good enough.

Making a printer without anyone realising, she printed out the photo.

'Hmm… the result isn't too bad.' s.h.i.+ro smiled.

The photo was of her mother, father and her younger self sitting around a table while eating with happy faces.

Making a small locket of sorts, she fitted the image inside and turned it into a bracelet where she could look at the photo whenever she wanted to.

'I suppose this could be a reminder to keep my origins close to my heart haha.' She chuckled softly while leaving the restaurant. During her meal, she had made sure that the drones continued to look for the entrance but to no avail. Therefore, she could only continue her wait.

{Perhaps. After all, it's rare that you'll see your parents like this again so it's best to cherish this.}

'Indeed.'

Walking into the streets, she saw that it was already night time so it was perfect for her to go to a bar and find some intel regarding the light hero.