The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]
Chapter 354: Bird’s Eye View

Chapter 354: Bird’s Eye View

The sky finally started growing brighter, as the sun slowly rose somewhere behind their backs. Seemed that this world’s east was in that direction. Lane made sure to mark it on the map - after all, it could help with the navigation during the day. It wasn’t an entirely reliable solution - some of the planets had unusual tilts, or something like that, which caused the sun (or, well, whatever star passed for the sun for them) to move across the sky in a different way - but it could still be useful. Any information was worth taking note of, or so Ava had always said. You never knew what might turn out to be important.

By then, the map was almost constantly in front of Lane’s eyes, as he tried to compare the area around them with what was drawn on the map. The presence of monsters was already a sure tell that the dungeon had expanded, but Lane and Clara’s mission didn’t end there - they still had to assess the scale of the extension.

...But it was easier said than done. How exactly were they supposed to tell on which point of the map they were, if there was nothing but grass and the river around them? The river might have had its curves, but just like the hills, they were hard to tell when standing next to them. If they could see it from the bird’s eye view...

Lane lifted his head, scanning the sky. There was no monster eagle in sight. Of course, there was no guarantee that none would appear soon, but...

"Wait here for a moment," he said to Clara...

And then started running in circles.

Naturally, it wasn’t just running in circles on the ground. With his each step, he moved higher and higher up in the air, as if he were climbing an invisible round staircase. Clara stared at him, a bit dumbfounded - although she knew that Lane’s ability allowed him to perform aerial movement, she didn’t know the details. She had expected that he would just jump up, and shoot toward the sky like a rocket... But instead, the way he did it somehow looked stupid and impressive at the same time. She could almost command him for putting such an effort with an indifferent expression. If it were her, she would feel at least a bit embarrassed to do this, especially in front of someone with whom she was constantly bickering...

But such foolish concerns couldn’t possibly move Lane. To begin with, he didn’t care what other people thought of him (with a very few exceptions. But Clara wasn’t one of them). And even if it did... Why should he allow that to stop him from utilizing his (ahem, plundered) abilities to the fullest? Having an aerial movement capability was quite rare. Even if his Sky Step had some inconvenient restrictions, it was still an amazing ability to have!

Running fast upwards, in the blink of an eye, Lane climbed high enough above the ground to have a good view of the area. Of course, even then he couldn’t stop. He had to constantly jump from one foot onto the other to maintain his elevation...

At a time like this, he was really regretful that he didn’t have any better levitation or telekinesis ability. The telekinesis he had plundered in the past only allowed him to lift small objects, it was too weak to let him suspend himself in the air... But it was such a rare ability. The only person anywhere near who had telekinesis strong enough was Nyla... And naturally, Lane couldn’t use his Plunder ability on her, or else she might not be able to use her ability well in the future.

His ability was called ’Plunder’ instead of ’Copy’ for a reason, after all.

But it was fine. Even jumping around, he could still do his job. He glanced between the map and the view stretching underneath him...

From his current elevation, he could finally see the curve of the river. Based on it, they should be right at the edge of the dungeon...

He turned around in the direction of the Wall. There was still a lot of terrain in front of him. The terrain that wasn’t included in the map. He quickly opened the image in the editor, and started sketching the new territory, as his eyes flashed with the azure glow. Now that Clara was left far behind him, he could use his Mana Scan ability with no restriction...

Suddenly, everything lit up in various colors. He could see the Mana of the mutated plants that grew in the dungeon, groups of monsters resting, traveling, or hunting in the distance, some even resting right on the riverbank... He took note of everything he could see, before finally slowing down his jumping around, and letting himself descend.

"Alright, I’ve got everything we need," he said, as he landed softly on the grass. "We’re not going any further along the river, there are too many monsters there. Instead, let’s just walk along the Wall, keeping the distance."

"But... We need to gather more information to make our report..." Clara tried to protest, but Lane just stuffed his tablet straight in her face, causing her to blink in surprise.

The map extension... was poorly scribbled on. It seemed that Lane’s drawing skills were only slightly better than his singing. However, while his skill left a lot to be desired... The information included on the map more than met the expectations. In fact, in just a few minutes, Lane had drawn a map extension more detailed than most professional scouts would (at least those working for the Association) after completing their whole long mission. Yes, he had the advantage of being able to fly (kind of) high in the sky, but still...

"How did you manage to notice all those monster groups? And... even stretching so far..." Clara exclaimed in disbelief.

Lane only smirked in response. "Do you think that Damien only sent me on this mission because of the boyfriend privilege? Obviously it’s because I’m also very capable!"

Clara wanted to argue with him. She really did. But... She was all too well aware that she wouldn’t have been able to draw a map this good (at least when it came to the information included. Because she could at least make it look way neater!), even if she were to venture into the monster territory, and spend hours scouting it...

So, she had no choice but to shut her mouth, and follow after Lane, as they left the river behind, and went into the grasslands, walking on the edge of the monster-infested dungeon expansion.