《Birth Of The Crafts-God》


 Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Dead Again

    [[DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IN THIS WORK IS REAL OR RELATED TO ANYTHING REAL. THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION."How is the research going?"


    A middle-aged man in military attire asked the scientist in white labcoat beside him as they both glanced at the sealed room ahead.


    The scientist, a man in his 30s with lush black hair and a staggering appearance that would stun the hearts of women, frowned as he nudged his glasses.


    "Giving life to an inanimate object isn''t that easy, you know? Acting on the idea will inevitably be more difficult than in theory, general. This is essentially stepping on the path of a god. "


    "But he has constantly done the impossible. It''s not a stretch to call him a god." The general smiled as he stared at a particular figure in the room.


    Around the duo were individuals of different military, political, and educational backgrounds and foundations. What they all had in common was that they were famous people of their various backgrounds¡ªpeople who held sway over their occupations and were renowned for their influence and achievements. However, at this moment, all eyes were on the personnel inside the sealed room ahead.


    A couple of metres away from the group was a sealed room with only one doorway that served as both an entry point and an exit point.


    The five vertices of the room were barricaded by metal walls that were at least two metres thick. The sixth vertice, which also had the door, was, however, formed by a glass wall. Although the wall was glass and transparent, its thickness was at least equal to the length of an adult''s forearm, and the material was a special metallic alloy that looked and acted like glass but was even more durable.


    Within the room were contraptions of cutting-edge equipment from advanced-level engineering and scientific research. One could say that similar equipment only existed in top-secret military bases, and the number in the world could be counted on one''s hand.


    From the robotic assistants to the high-tech laser-targeting systems, or even the strange energy reactors further in, the miniature particle accelerators, and the energy compressors, everything could be described as limited edition.


    Apart from the equipment, there were a few researchers¡ªseven or so¡ªcoated in white level A hazmat suits. They were either working with the equipment and machines or taking records of the progress of the experiment. Coincidentally, this metallic glass alloy was also a product of this team, or, to be specific, the team head.


    "It''s starting." The suave scientist silently said.


    "Beginning Alpha Testing of Particle 019, the Barrion Memory Alloy." An assistant in the experiment room announced.


    A microphone was fitted into his suit, which broadcast his voice to the spectators on the other side.


    "Begin." The general pressed a button on a remote in his hands.


    A green bulb lights up in the experiment room, giving the crew the go-ahead.


    History was about to be made¡ªin technology, in consumer products, and in war.


    . . .


    48 hours later...


    "Cheers to success and a new world with a new Rhodia."


    "Cheers!"


    In a luxurious event hall, a party featuring some of the most powerful men in the country just kicked off. Classical music played by a world-famous orchestra resounded in the hall while the guests could be found mingling with each other with a glass of champagne in hand.


    "You''re the man of the day who has made a remarkable achievement, and you''re just staying here all by yourself."


    A soft yet sweet voice sounded, catching the attention of a man who stood on the edge of the balcony, away from the crowd.


    In a silver gown that properly accentuated her curves, a lady with black silky hair and a face capable of toppling a few cities, clearly at the peak of her beauty, walked over with a glass of champagne in each hand.


    "It is but one of my multiple achievements. I don''t really feel anything about it." The man replied as he twirled his glass filled with champagne. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tch. Annoying as always." The woman snorted, but there was a complex look of warmth and melancholy in her eyes as she stared at the man.


    Lucas Saunters is currently 37 years old. The name might not seem special to an average man in most households, but to anyone in the science and even political communities, he was a reputed genius in chemistry and, most especially, material science. So much so that some even began to nickname him the ''father of metals''.


    At a very young age, he had already begun to show signs of being a genius, but he truly stunned the world once he clocked 27 years old. His research, developments, and advancements in material science were unlike anything ever seen before.


    Before the age of 33, Lucas had won three Renobel prizes in either physics or chemistry for his research, two of which were consecutive when he was 30 and 31 years old. He also held the record for being the youngest Renobel Prize winner in chemistry.


    Lucas had developed a few new materials and elements that were unheard of, like the metallic glass alloy that was encased in the experiment room. Even the experiment that birthed the latest new material being celebrated in this banquet, the Barrion memory alloy, which could potentially win him a fourth Renobel prize, was a creation of his.


    Despite all of that, the chief celebrant of the occasion was outside the party, giving off a lonely figure. It was simply his personality. Aside from his love for metals, Lucas rarely paid attention to anything or anyone else, not even her.


    "You should really stop drinking too much. It wouldn''t look good on your skin." Lucas commented, seeing the two glasses of champagne held by the beauty of the material science community, Rachel Grey.


    "I dare you to say that again." Rachel retorted.


    Lucas glanced at her and sighed, not saying a word further lest she throw a punch at him. In his mind, he thought that such a beauty being an alcoholic was weird behaviour, but he had seen much worse. At the same time, he wasn''t one to judge.


    Rachel approached Lucas in her tight-fitted silver-coloured dinner gown and downed one of the champagne glasses before tossing it away.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow but didn''t say a word.


    "Are you really okay with them taking all the credit?" Rachel asked as she stared at Lucas.


    "It is not something to be really bothered about. I''ve made my mark in the community and the world. Standing on the stage can get a little tiring, you know." Lucas replied.


    Although he made it sound simple, Rachel knew that the truth was different. She was, after all, his number one rival, a member of his team from the last project, as well as his number one lover, albeit unrequited and unknown to Lucas.


    Lucas Saunters. When a member of the science community thinks of the name, they imagine a world-class genius like Einstein or Newton. However, when those in the political and even military sectors recall his name, they think of a walking weapon.


    Apart from some practical day-to-day creations, most of Lucas'' discoveries had the potential to be disastrous, an equivalence almost rivalling WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). About seventy percent of Lucas'' new discoveries were all capable of being turned into weapons, which attracted the attention of the military and also a ton of money being invested in his team and research.


    Of course, this also attracted the envy and ire of some in the community, but Lucas never bothered about them. All he had in his eyes was his lab and research.


    The side effect of being a walking knowledge bank of weapons was having the attention of the whole world on him. If it weren''t for Rhodia being a top 5 world power, Lucas would have already been kidnapped by a foreign power and put under house arrest in a research facility.


    But even then, Lucas had still either received countless invites or suffered multiple assassination attempts in the last six years.


    Not many knew this, but as someone close to him and who had been paying so much attention to him, Rachel was aware of the burden Lucas carried.


    "I understand. Rachel sighed as she sipped on the last glass of champagne.


    The two remained quiet for a while, staring at the moon high up in the sky.


    ''It''s been 37 years now. Are you guys doing okay?'' Lucas got lost in his thoughts, staring at the moon. Those around him only knew him as Lucas Saunters, but only he knew that this was just his second shot at life.


    "Lucas," Rachel suddenly broke the silence.


    "Hmm?" Lucas turned towards her.


    A stunning face that could steal the show and attention, even in a crowded place, stared at him. Even at the age of 32, there was no sign of aging on her, and she looked to be at the peak of her beauty: mature and regal like an empress, yet exquisite like a fairy. However, there was a complex mixture of emotions in the eyes of this incomparable beauty.


    "What''s wrong?" Lucas asked.


    Just as the words left his mouth, Rachel leaned close and kissed him abruptly.


    Being so close to each other, Lucas could smell the perfume on her, but his thoughts were distracted from that. He could feel her soft lips clinging to his and moisturizing them with the touch of her tongue.


    What felt like an eternity but was in reality a mere two seconds brought the kiss to an end.


    "...Rachel." Lucas felt confused.


    Rumor had it that a young minister had once shown interest in Rachel, promising her a life filled with luxury and relaxation, but she had rejected him. And now that beauty had just locked lips with his.


    "Don''t say anything." Rachel stopped him with a smile on her face.


    "Consider it my month''s wages."


    Saying that, Rachel suddenly took off, leaving behind a stunned Lucas.


    "Was I just taken advantage of?" Lucas whispered.


    Luckily, Rachel wasn''t close by, or she would have buried him with her fists.


    Feeling complicated about what took place as well as how to respond to Rachel''s emotions, Lucas sighed once again and kept on drinking.


    The dinner party went on, but Rachel was nowhere to be found. Lucas guessed that she felt too embarrassed and left early.


    "It''s about time we depart." A man in a black suit whispered to Lucas.


    This was one of his personal bodyguards, an assigned agent from the state''s secret security service, the Federal Interior Security Agency, or FISS for short.


    Lucas nodded and left with him.


    Outside, a limo guarded by two other suited men who were also FISS agents was parked waiting for him. Even then, the driver was one too. A sedan was parked ahead of the limo, and within it were two more agents. From this lineup, one could see how much the nation of Rhodia valued Lucas; after all, a single FISS agent was equivalent to five highly trained military agents.


    Six FISS agents were the same as 30 military guards. Only the president had more FISS agents than Lucas, while the vice president was on par.


    Apart from the FISS agents, Lucas usually had a security convoy made up of some men from the military with him. However, as this was a celebratory ball involving multiple influential and powerful guests, there was no need for a military escort. Overall, such an event would be peaceful, and no one would have enough guts to make a move there.


    After Lucas got into the limo, the agent who escorted him sat shotgun, while the other two, who stood by the side of the vehicle, sat in the backseat of the sedan.


    A few minutes after the group had left the venue, an estate appeared up ahead. It was a safe heaven made by the Rhodia government to house and protect important personnel who could be compared to national treasures.


    "We are almost home, Mr. Lucas." The bodyguard, who sat in the passenger seat of the limo, said:.


    Lucas nodded and didn''t say a word. The celebratory dinner party had been eventful but ended in a complex manner for Lucas. For the first time ever, his thoughts were currently filled with a woman and not metal. There was no doubt that Rachel''s actions today had shaken him.


    ''I guess I''ll just sleep over it and deal with the issue tomorrow.'' Lucas thought.


    As the convoy approached the estate, they slowed down before the gate for the usual security check and clearance. Just as the sedan in front of them got cleared, something abruptly took place.


    Boom.


    "An explosion!"


    The guards at the gate yelled. Some of them exited a building that stood by the gate and ran to the scene.


    "Fire! Call the fire department and the bomb squad. Get a team here!" One of them, who seemed to be in charge, ordered with a shout.


    "Whose car was that? Who was inside?" The captain asked one of the men who regularly handled vehicle clearance and security checks. As it was late in the night and he was inside the building, he failed to identify the vehicle.


    "That, that¡­" The young man was stunned.


    "Answer me!" The captain roared.


    "That was a Hondian 43LMS. Only one person has that car apart from the president and vice president." The young man didn''t give a direct answer but he believed this would be enough.


    As expected, when the captain heard those words, he froze in shock.


    "We are dead."

 Chapter 2: Chapter 2 : Transmigration

    Eretre was a planet occupied majorly by a two-legged specie known as hyumans. On paper, they looked no different from humans but they were very much different genetically. One could even say that hyumans were an evolved version of humans, just like the homo sapiens were evolved versions of the homo Erectus, but the gap was wider and not just a difference in skull or teeth size.Hyumans were currently in their prosperous age, having explored the universe and conquered the stars. This was all thanks to one of the genetic improvements they had when compared to humans, which enabled them to manipulate and assimilate stellar energy. Utilizing this ability, hyumans had grown stronger and defeated countless civilizations to become the overwhelming force they were now.


    Eretre was a planet in the hyuman occupied solar system, Kellan, and was one of eight planets.


    Currently in this planet, in an alleyway in one of the nations located on Eretre, a young man sprawled across the floor slowly regained his consciousness.


    "Ugh, where am I?" The young man, who looked to be in his early 20s, subconsciously muttered as he used one arm to support his body while the other hand massaged his forehead.


    The young man glanced around to try and see if he could recognize his surroundings, but at that moment, a strange wave hit him.


    "Ugh."


    With a low cry, he grabbed his head with both hands as he felt a wave of memories flush into his head. Those weren''t the memories of his present life or anything but his past life. He remembered who he was.


    "Hehe, so in the end, I still died again huh?" The young man laughed. However, if someone else were close by, they would sense a hint of sorrow in his voice.


    Rising to his feet, the young man glanced around until he spotted a window on a building nearby. This was an alleyway with buildings beside it after all so it was normal to find a window or two. The young began to walk towards the window and glanced at his reflection once he was close.


    "This¡­how is this possible?" The young man, or rather Lucas Saunters, was shocked.


    This body wasn''t the body of some native of this world or anything. It was actually his; or to be exact, the body of his first life.


    "Was it all a dream? Or did I go back in time? How come?" Lucas was stunned.


    However, he realized something strange. The air here was different, both from that of his previous life as well as his first life. In his previous life as Lucas Saunters, the air was a mix of very negligible compounds in the air; a product of pollution in the world.


    As for his original life, the presence of true energy and mana were the most prevalent points, but neither Earth from his past life, nor this world he was currently in had any. The air in this world was entirely different, and the closest description Lucas had for it was ''pure''.


    In that case, despite being in the body of what looked to be his younger self, Lucas realised that he didn''t go back to his previous world. He was in a brand new world but in an ''old'' body.


    ''What the heck is really going on?'' Lucas frowned as he walked towards the exit of the alley while pondering on his circumstance.


    The truth was Lucas had no knowledge or idea on how his previous transmigration had worked. Without the prerequisite strength, it was impossible to try and unravel the mysteries surrounding a mysterious phenomenon such as transmigration. However, Earth didn''t have any sources of mana or true energy, so Lucas had given up the idea.


    This was why he began to focus on the study of materials and metal; an element that fascinated him even in his first life, after all, the Lucas from then was a renowned blacksmith.


    As he exited the alley, Lucas was greeted by an impressive sight. Low altitude flying cars, or hover vehicles circled around the place in a hurried yet orderly fashion, towering buildings and floating platforms entered his sight. In the distance, he could even spot skyscrapers with heights averaging between 400-600m.


    Amidst what could be described as a jungle of advanced technology, the colourful hair atop the heads of the walking humanoids had also managed to grab Lucas'' attention[1]. Compared to the humans on Earth, those here had an abundance of naturally colourful hair.


    ''No wait. They aren''t humans.'' Lucas thought as he studied them carefully from the edge of the alley.


    Although ''they'' looked just the same as humans, Lucas felt they weren''t the same. His soul was quite powerful, a result of his training and tempering in his first life as well as his first transmigration. As such, it was quite sensitive.


    While he was suspicious and cautious, Lucas figured out that he wouldn''t achieve much by merely hiding in the dark, so he left the alley and decided to walk up to someone.


    The closest person before him was a young lady who looked no different from a human except for the naturally purple frizzy hair she had. If it weren''t for his senses, Lucas would have taken her to be a young lady on a wig.


    "Excuse me. Can you please tell me where I am?" Lucas stopped before her and asked.


    At first, the young lady was shocked and confused by his actions but then a look of disgust suddenly crept on her face.


    "Get the f*ck away from me."


    "¡­"


    Lucas was speechless as he stared at that face that displayed so much repulsion. If he hadn''t stared at his reflection a while ago, Lucas would have almost mistaken that he had a pile of dog shit as his face.


    "I''m just asking a question. What''s with your reaction?" Lucas frowned.


    No matter what, the treatment he got was strange for a simple question. Having lived close to the peak in his first life, and being a massive achiever with a status comparable to a natural treasure in his second life, it was natural for Lucas to have a degree of pride.


    Being looked at like a disgusting vermin that should be in the sewers was definitely a new treatment, and one Lucas couldn''t get used to all of a sudden; especially from someone who looked not much older than his current body.


    "Didn''t you hear me you stinking human? Get out of my face before I make you go extinct." The purple-haired young lady frowned in disgust.


    ''Wait a minute¡­ disgusting human?''


    Something seemed to click in his head but Lucas didn''t have the liberty to keep pondering on this as he noticed that the lady had caused such a commotion that the others were staring at them, or rather, him. On one hand, some had an expression almost as if they were looking at a zoo animal while the others, just like the young lady, were repulsed.


    Lucas stepped away from the lady''s sigh, returning back to the alley he exited with his heart filled with shock. The shock wasn''t just due to the experience but the fact that he also noticed that the language was quite different from any he knew on Earth, yet strangely enough, Lucas could speak it.


    ''Where the fuck did I land this time?''


    Just at that moment, a screen popped up before Lucas accompanied by a mechanical voice sounding in his ears.


    "Pre-booting process completed.


    Initializing loading sequence¡­


    Loading completed.


    Connecting to the Origin source¡­ sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Connection complete.


    Verifying host''s eligibility and assessing host''s capabilities¡­


    Verification completed.


    Assessment completed.


    Starting up programme¡­


    Start up completed.


    Welcome, Lucas Yohan Saunters."

 Chapter 3: Chapter 3 : Hyumans

    "Pre-booting process completed.Initializing loading sequence¡­


    Loading completed.


    Connecting to the Origin source¡­


    Connection complete.


    Verifying host''s eligibility and assessing host''s capabilities¡­


    Verification completed.


    Assessment completed.


    Starting up programme¡­


    Start up completed.


    Welcome, Lucas Yohan Saunters.


    Please check your inventory for the System Activation And Welcome Package."


    A few lines of words filled Lucas'' vision as he stood frozen in shock. Although there were a bunch of words, one thing crossed Lucas'' mind at that moment, ''system''.


    If it were prior to his transmigration to Earth, Lucas would be confused right now, but it wasn''t. Before the age of 27, when he became popular on the international stage, Lucas had spent his time exploring the culture and technology of earth. Even after that, he still had a few hobbies and pastimes outside his research. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of them was reading; however, it wasn''t just reading research papers, library books and informative articles but also novels. From them, Lucas knew a lot of fantasy terms and ideas, some of which, surprisingly, were real in the world of his first life.


    Seeing one play out in front of him, Lucas couldn''t help but feel suspicious. In most similar tropes, the system was a creation of a certain being who either wanted to utilize the host for a greater plot or possess him. In summary, it rarely meant he would have a peaceful ending.


    ''When did this happen? Who could it be?'' Lucas contemplated as he furrowed his brows.


    All the names and faces of top mages, witches, deserters and cultivators in his first life began to cross through his mind but none of the seemed to fit the shoe.


    ''Well, one step at a time I think.'' Lucas thought as he decided to communicate with the system first.


    At the moment, his first priority was to understand his new environment, but with the racist treatment he got earlier, that would be difficult. Luckily, this time around, Lucas had a system with him.


    "System," Lucas spoke quietly.


    "where am I?"


    "The host is currently located in the suburbs of Baylands City, which is located in the Groeten continent of planet Eretre, which in turn is in the Kellan solar system. For more details on this, host needs to explore on his own or fully unlock the system." The mechanical voice from earlier sounded once again.


    "Definitely not Earth."


    Receiving the system''s response, Lucas sighed as he had now confirmed that he was in another world.


    Earth was in the Milky way galaxy and in an unnamed solar system. Although unnamed, one thing was for sure, the solar system wasn''t Kellan and the blue planet wasn''t named Eretre.


    "System, what are you?" Lucas asked the next question on his mind.


    "I am the Training system for the Crafts god. My very existence lies within my role, which is to grow the host to be a competent craftsman and rise to the rank of god."


    ''A god? And a Crafts god at that.'' Lucas was surprised at the response as he never expected it.


    It wasn''t like the books he read where the system helped the host to get stronger and reach the peak of strength, but instead wanted to aid him in crafts.


    ''Wait a minute¡­''


    "System, are you the one responsible for my first transmigration?" Lucas asked with a serious tone.


    In his first life, Lucas was known as Yohan and he was one of the top 3 most popular and skilled forgers of all time. What''s more, he was the youngest of the three and managed to reach that level far earlier than the others.


    At the age of 443 years, Lucas or rather Yohan, had managed to become a grandmaster at forging and sixty years later, his skill was rumoured to be closely approaching that of the second greatest forger alive at that time, a man with more than three thousand years of experience.


    503 years might sound like a lot, but to Yohan and those around him as well as the society of that world, he was actually a junior who just reached adulthood. He was destined to become one of the best in history if not for that incident back then which lead to his death.


    Thinking about it now, Lucas wasn''t suspicious that the system had planned his death, but that it had taken his soul away from the cycle of samsara and transmigrated him onto Earth with his memories intact, before doing so once again now.


    "Correct."


    It was just one word but it stunned Lucas. Not even the Ancients back in his first life were capable of such, but the system was. This was both impressive but also scary. After all, Lucas now had his life in its hands.


    "Since you''re to help me, you have no evil designs on me right?" Lucas asked innocently.


    "Indeed." The system replied.


    ''If it had any ideas on me, it should have acted on them already but it hasn''t. This means that I''ve either not fulfilled all the conditions or it is truly harmless.'' However, thinking up to there, Lucas chuckled. It was clearly the first option as even the system had somewhat admitted it already.


    ''Wait a minute, don''t the systems in those novels have the ability to read minds? What if it can?''


    "I can." The system''s voice sounded again.


    ''...''


    Awkwardness filled the air as Lucas froze with an expression similar to that of child who got caught stealing candy.


    "Ahem. System, tell me more about this world. Not in terms of location but culture, race and similar details." Lucas asked with a straight face, almost as if he wasn''t the one being suspicious of the system''s intentions a while ago.


    "Due to the host not unlocking the full functionality of the system, only the basic information can be provided."


    "Go on."


    "First will be the lifeforms. The Kellan solar system has eight planets of which only five are habitable. It is majorly populated by hyumans, with three of the five habitable planets having a concentration of at least 80% hyumans, the fourth planet having 60% while the last having less than 2%.


    Apart from hyumans, there are also other winged anthropoids which is actually a common term for two winged humanoid species, the Mara and Vara. Finally, there are the Nysa, the Kerman, and the human races."


    ''That''s quite a lot of races.'' Lucas raised an eyebrow at the report, astounded a bit by it.


    Although his previous life did have some other intelligent lifeforms, they were mostly monsters that had gained sentience and very few inherently intelligent species. However, just this solar system alone six races on five planets.


    "Apart from these intelligent races, there also exist a special class of animals distinctly separated from the usual taxonomy classification[1]. Although they are still in the same domain as other living creatures, they belong to a new kingdom of creatures in the taxonomy; the Desolatum, or commonly known as Desolate beasts." The system continued.


    Lucas sighed and felt grateful that his memory was impressive as he could recall his high school biology lessons, otherwise he would be confused by the terms used by the system, just like the readers and the author a few minutes ago.


    "The current rulers of the planet Eretre is the Oklo Dynasty. The current ruler of Baylands city is the city lord who is also the head of the Bergs family."


    "What about the solar system?" Lucas asked.


    Although that was out of reach for him, being able to know this wouldn''t hurt.


    "Access denied." The system blandly responded.


    Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "Hold on. You mentioned the hyumans as the dominating race and humans as separate. Aren''t they the same?" Lucas abruptly recalled.


    "They aren''t. Although their ancestry can be traced to be the same, the hyuman race is an evolved version of the human race due to artificially controlled intervention." The system answered.


    Lucas finally had an inkling of why he was looked down on earlier, as if he were a cockroach. It was simply because the other party thought of him as a lesser existence.


    Even in his past life in Rhodia, racism, although frowned at and very much discouraged, occurred amongst a species that were the same but different due to skin colour. In this new world, the difference wasn''t simply skin colour and was on a genetic level, with one being an evolved version, so it was inevitable that the treatment would be even much worse.


    It was no longer a matter of racism but speciesism.


    "Artificial? By who? And what for?" Lucas asked the system as he felt it had the answers he wanted.


    "Access denied."


    Not too surprised by this, Lucas turned to the only exit of the alley after a sigh and suddenly asked.


    "I need information about the training system in this world as well as how to level you up."


    When he was outside, apart from noticing the difference in their soul wavelength which determined them as a different species, Lucas also discovered that the hyumans were much stronger. Some of them even seemed to possess some sort of special energy within their bodies. Without a doubt, those were practitioners of a special kind of magic system, martial art or something similar.


    "Access denied."


    "The heck?" Lucas cursed out loud.


    The system however, ignored him and continued.


    "To level up the system, host has to complete missions and make achievements. The host is also reminded not to be over-reliant on the system for information and explore this brand new world."


    It seemed that the system''s first response was to the first half of Lucas'' question which could be counted as an individual question.


    At that moment, footsteps sounded at the exit of the alley. Three figures appeared blocking the path and set their eyes on Lucas.


    ''As I thought.'' Lucas frowned.


    His intuition had sensed something which was why he turned towards the exit and in the end, he was right.


    One of the three men suddenly smiled at him.


    "A human, huh? And a young one at that. You look quite healthy and handsome. Hehe. I wonder how much you will go for in the slave market."

 Chapter 4: Chapter 4 : Slave Traders

    "A human, huh? And a young one at that. You look quite healthy and handsome. Hehe. I wonder how much you will go for in the slave market."Three men blocked the exit of the alley as they stared at Lucas.


    One of them scanned him with a creepy look on his face while the other two grinned mischievously.


    Lucas frowned but didn''t know what to do. He could sense that these men were quite strong; although they didn''t seem to possess a mysterious energy like some of the hyumans he had sensed earlier, these fellows still gave of a dangerous vibe.


    Also, Lucas had just gotten transmigrated into a new world and although it was with his body, there was no ounce of magic within him. Even his physical strength was average.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas cursed as his brain went into quick-thinking. He had just transmigrated into this world and hadn''t even seen most of it. There was no way he would let it end just like this.


    "Can I help you gentlemen?" Lucas smiled while he communicated with the system in his head.


    ''Hey system, don''t tell me you want me to go out just like this? Isn''t there usually some cheat-code or something?''


    "Please check your inventory." The system sounded in his ears.


    Meanwhile, the trio were stunned by Lucas as they suddenly began to laugh.


    "Kid, you''re really funny." The previous speaker laughed.


    All three were at least middle-aged, so addressing Lucas as a kid wasn''t entirely wrong from their perspective.


    "Indeed, you can help us. Just come with us quietly." Another one of them spoke up with an evil smirk.


    During this time, Lucas had summoned the system interface, which was only visible to him and found the inventory section almost immediately. Entering that section, he saw the welcome package, which was a red gift box with a purple coloured ribbon on top. Ignoring the trio before him, Lucas hurriedly opened the gift box and glanced inside it.


    ''I should have known better.'' Lucas sighed inwardly. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A few items had appeared in his inventory after the bundle was opened, but none of them were practical enough to get away from the situation.


    There were three sets of strange looking clothes, two sets of blacksmithing apron, a few loaves of bread, and twenty metal ingots of two different metals -ten each- weighing 1kg individually.


    There were also a few blacksmithing tools, like an anvil, a pair of tongs, a hammer, a hand-held sander, two sets of heat resistant gloves, a box of ten chisels of different sizes and shapes, another box of punch sets, a grinder, and a swage. In summary, apart from the clothing and bread, which stood out, the remaining items were portable tools related to crafting and forging.


    Even though he didn''t get what he expected, Lucas wasn''t too disappointed. While these may be work tools, in the right hands, they could also be used as weapons.


    "What''s taking you so long, kid?" The man with the evil smirk said this after noticing Lucas'' silent reaction.


    He moved his hand towards his back and withdrew an object that looked like a dagger. Having spent so much time studying metals and blacksmithing, Lucas could see that the metal used to make the dagger was uncommon and unlike any he had seen before. He could also feel a strange energy on the surface of the weapon, reminding him of special items from his very first life; magic weapons.


    Although the dagger wasn''t a magic weapon, it seemed to behave as one but was still a lot weaker.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. I just had a little bit of stomachache just then." Lucas naively smiled before walking towards them.


    The trio felt that they had successfully scared him; after all, the target was a human while they were hyumans. Although their stellar refining wasn''t anything noteworthy, they were still strong enough to handle a human youth. It was better that things went smoothly like this than cause a commotion.


    The city government might not seem to care much about humans considering how speciesism was a norm here, but that wasn''t entirely the case. On the surface, humans still had their rights and were protected by the government; after all, they shared the same ancestry as hyumans and were the predecessors of hyumans.


    So, even though slave trade was common, it had to be done under wraps. If Lucas were to cause a scene, the city patrol officers might step in.


    "Good kid."


    Seeing Lucas just a few steps away from them, less than three metres, the trio grinned as they felt they could already see their pay rolling in.


    "What''s going on here?"


    Just as Lucas was prepared to summon a chisel and kill the men, a soft voice spoke out.


    The trio abruptly turned to the exit, and even Lucas had his attention drawn. There, a stunning lady with black silky hair, a stern face, and an arrogant air around her stared at the four men with suspicion in her eyes. Dressed in a unique blue and black uniform with black trousers and a black boot, she exuded an air of indifference and a powerful aura.


    One glance was enough for Lucas to tell that she was a woman in power.


    As for the trio, they glanced at the special crest fixed on the woman''s chest alongside the medallion hanging on her neck and frowned. The lady was a city patrol officer and not just an average one.


    Although, based on her uniform, her rank of lieutenant wasn''t something to be scared of, the medallion on her neck was an insignia of a certain organization within the Baylands City Patrol Corps; the Red Fangs.


    Unlike the regular Patrol Corps members who functioned like the police, the Red Fangs were a special unit that dealt with high-risk cases. Sometimes, they even performed joint exercises with the Defense Corps.


    "Oh nothing. We just found our buddy here, who was apparently lost, and came to help him with directions." The man who spoke up the first time hurriedly replied. From how he behaved, he seemed to be the leader of the group.


    Although the crackdown on slavery wasn''t part of the job of the Red Fang, they had worked with the regular Patrol Corps members on one operation. The trio didn''t intend on drawing the attention of a Red Fang to them.


    "Ain''t I right, bro?" The man glanced at Lucas with a threatening smile.


    Lucas stared at him for a moment before smiling back.


    "Indeed. But I just remembered the road back, so I won''t be following you guys any longer."


    The trio frowned but didn''t push their luck with the female cop here. They watched as Lucas left the alley while cursing their luck.


    "Don''t think I don''t know who you guys are. Don''t push it." The woman said as she stared at them.


    "Alright officer. We will be off now." The leader chuckled and walked off with his crew.


    Once he passed the officer, he scowled and tried to find Lucas, but the latter was long gone.

 Chapter 5: Chapter 5 : First Mission

    Lucas was already long gone from the scene by the time the trio departed. This wasn''t to say that he was scared of them but that Lucas felt it was unnecessary to draw the matter. Originally, he would have killed them if the female cop didn''t show up but since she did, he decided not to. The reason was quite simple; Lucas had just arrived in this new world that he knew nothing about.Rather than creating trouble out of nowhere, it was better to leave it behind until he completely understood this world.


    One thing he had learnt was the intense speciesism but from the female cop''s attitude, Lucas guessed that not everyone was like that. However, he couldn''t be so sure that he would be treated fairly if he had killed those three and it was later found out.


    Walking around the city, Lucas tried to keep a low profile considering he was ''special''. Luckily for him, it turned out not to be too difficult. Unless someone paid close enough attention, they wouldn''t really notice his status as a human after all, hyumans and humans looked almost the same.


    ''First I need to gather information.'' Lucas thought.


    This would be difficult if he faced bigotry but Lucas already had an idea in mind.


    ''From the system''s description, this seems to be a really developed society with interstellar travel capabilities. Developed societies on Earth tend to have a place with cheap services and large traffic.''


    Recalling the pubs, open-air restaurants and cafes back on Earth, Lucas felt that was a good option. Although lack of currency was a problem, in places like this, he could simply take a seat and order anything while he tries to strike up a conversation with others.


    As for how to find such a place, Lucas simply decided to ask around. One might wonder why he didn''t use this method to get the information he needed. This was because no one would stand up for a long time and answer every one of his questions.


    After experiencing one derisive look and three stares of disgust accompanied with disregard, Lucas finally got the directions he needed from someone, who albeit wasn''t as discriminative as the others, still behaved awkward while talking to Lucas.


    ''Is the bias really that deep?'' Lucas frowned.


    Humans were innately a special existence on Earth, but despite being intellectually superior, they had certain negative qualities that were demeaning of their intelligence. Despite having evolved to a newer species entirely, it still seemed that such characteristics remained with them. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In a couple of minutes, Lucas finally appeared before an unimpressive two-storey building with a signboard that said Klein''s Pub. By the standards of Earth, the building was quite impressive and would cost no less than a couple hundred thousand, but from the various buildings he had passed by so far, the pub was indeed unimpressive.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t here to admire the scenery but to obtain information, and from the ambience within the pub, he felt that this would suffice.


    "Hey owner, send over a few bottles of jaur."


    A boorish voice sounded just after Lucas stepped into the pub.


    Klein''s pub was a popular hangout location in Baylands city. While it couldn''t compare with the four star restaurants or even the three star locations, it was impressive in its own way. With an assortment of affordable drinks and meals while still retaining good quality, an underground arena and a great location at the outskirts of the city, it was the place to be for any average hyuman or alien.


    Lucas could see the bustling atmosphere which had a mix of hyumans and winged anthropoids which he suspected to be either the Mara or Vara races. These fellows were on average 1.9 metres tall and they each had a hawkish appearances with pointed ears, feet with talons, and colorful wings. There were also some individuals who looked hyuman but not, presumably of mixed blood.


    Some had long ears and vertical eyes, others had four eyes instead of the usual two with a ferocious mouth and some even had horns on them.


    One could say that the pub was a melting point of different races and species, and with its spacious interior, there was no problem having them all together.


    Being in this place, Lucas felt somewhat comforted as he thought that even with his nature as a human, he shouldn''t attract much attention.


    He was wrong.


    "A human?"


    A light voice sounded in the midst of the noise,


    Usually, no one would have bothered or even noticed, but the content of the speech was quite shocking to say the least. All of a sudden, the pub went quiet as everyone glanced at the speaker who happened to be staring at the entrance. Gazing in that, they found an individual who kept a composed face and studied him a bit just to realise that the speaker was indeed correct; that was a human.


    "Oh my god, I haven''t seen one of them in a while now." Someone remarked offhandedly.


    Having so many individuals stare at him, Lucas felt uncomfortable, but still maintained a calm composure. In his first life as Yohan, he had met with more powerful individuals whose pressure -even just a one percent of it- was more daunting than the stares of the group here.


    Even in his second life which was the one before this, Lucas had attended events with hundreds and thousands of individuals and gave a speech. He had even stood before a Rhodian council once which comprised of the president and vice president, the senate and all the other influential individuals in the nation without breaking down.


    "Haven''t you guys seen a human before? Let the young man off and focus on your conversations." A grumpy voice sounded from the door that blocked the kitchen.


    Maybe it was thanks to the speaker, but after the first few seconds of staring, the group seemed to have gotten bored and returned to their prior actions almost as if they never looked his way. However, Lucas knew this was otherwise as he could still hear some whispering about him and glancing his way. Nonetheless, this was much better than being treated like a zoo attraction.


    Ignoring all of this, Lucas walked to a table by the corner and sat. As the pub was almost at full capacity, there were no empty tables, but the one he chose only had two other individuals. However, Lucas had no problem with this as it would make things easier for him.


    "You''re a human huh? You''ve got guts showing in the city like this." One of the men who wore a pair of glasses and had brown hair studied Lucas.


    "And why''s that?" Lucas acted natural as he asked.


    The four-eyed fellow smiled and didn''t answer, instead taking a sip from the glass in his hand.


    "Are you daft or something? Isn''t it obvious? You''d get kidnapped and sold in the slave rings." The man who reeked of alcohol answered instead.


    Hearing that, Lucas recalled his prior experience and realised that it was actually common here. Despite the laws and the existence of the patrol corps, people still kidnapped humans and traded them as slaves in broad daylight, otherwise this wouldn''t be well known in the city.


    "Seeing as you came here looking ignorant, I''m guessing this is your first time out huh? Which area are you from anyway? The Eastern Suburbs? The slums? Or is it from outside? Digress?


    I heard the city is quite amazing for something built by humans and mixed bloods." The drunkard bombarded questions right after the other to Lucas.


    The latter didn''t reply right away but smiled mysteriously. How could he reply when he knew nothing of what the man spoke. But if Lucas simply displayed his lack of knowledge, it might make things more troublesome for him, hence the silence.


    The drunkard felt his question was crossing the line so he kept quiet while enjoying the view outside.


    Lucas however, had just decided to move with his plan. Staring at the two, he now struck up a conversation.


    . . .


    At the end of the conversation, Lucas walked out of the pub with a much calmer expression. Although it was difficult, he had managed to do get some information from the strange duo thanks to his socialising skill.


    Lucas opened his interface then glanced at a section of it; the Mission tab. After opening the section, he saw at the very top a line of words:


    [[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.


    Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.]]

 Chapter 6: Chapter 6 : Vinis

    [[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.]]


    During his conversation with the strange pair, Lucas had received a notification from the system informing him of a new mission; his very first. The details surprised him and made Lucas even more irritated with the system but he didn''t say a word about it. In fact, he had to guard his thoughts for the moment as he really couldn''t ascertain whether the system was to be trusted or not.


    Only folks who aren''t cautious would abruptly place their trust on an existence that had manipulated their life and death while making a home out of their consciousness without permission or a heads up.


    While the system had indeed stated it had no negative intentions and it had yet to actually do anything harmful to Lucas, as someone who has been betrayed in the past, he wouldn''t trust it just because it said so.


    As for the mission, Lucas had asked for information about any unowned or on-sale properties within the vicinity to which he got an answer from the man with the glasses. They both scheduled to meet the next day in the pub with the property owner to discuss the deal.


    As for the price, the man informed Lucas that it would cost at least four thousand federal coins as he didn''t know the average land price here, but to complete the mission he decided to go for it.


    Lucas couldn''t determine whether that was expensive or not so he decided to do more research with the time on his hands.


    Staring at the sun high up in the sky, Lucas felt he still had a bit more time on his hands and walked in another direction.


    The reason why he had scheduled the meeting for tomorrow was to purchase the building as soon as possible, after all, he had no roof over his head. As for where his confidence to get the money came from, it was the reward from the system.


    The metal ingots Lucas had received from the system looked valuable and the energy sensation he got from them wasn''t low. As such, Lucas believed that he could pawn these metals for some cash. However, he didn''t plan on putting up more than two of them.


    It took Lucas a considerable amount of time to get to the spot he was directed to, but looking at the exterior, Lucas felt that it could be worth it. The building wasn''t luxurious per say, but it looked much better and


    deluxe than Klein''s Pub.


    "Vinis."


    Pawnshops usually weren''t popular in Baylands city, but this area of the city was different.


    From the information Lucas got from the two, Baylands city was an extremely large city. In fact, calling it a city was an understatement as it was actually a city-state. The city-state of Baylands consists of twenty districts, five of which made up the main city while the other fifteen were essentially smaller cities and towns scattered outside the main city.


    The area Lucas had appeared in was in one of the five districts of the main city, the West wing. Compared to the other locations, the West Wing district was more poorer and pointed towards the Wastelands, a large expanse of space devoid of greenery and filled with a mountainous terrain.


    If one were to head further west out of Baylands city from West Wing district, they would encounter the slums; a place where the poorest of the poor stay as well as all manners of individuals and in between the Wastelands and West Wing district.


    It was due to the relatively poor economic status of the West Wing that pawnshops thrived in this location. Offering loans and sometimes buying items was a business that profited quite a lot here in the West wing.


    But of all the various pawnshops and trade houses in the district, Vinis was well known for it fair deals, offering up to 90% of an item''s value as loan when pawning, which was much higher than the typical 75-80%.


    Since he was low on cash, Lucas wanted to get the best value for his items while he can.


    After entering the building which was guarded by some men, Lucas scanned around as he headed to one of the empty front desks ahead.


    "Good day. Pawn or sale?" The young man behind the counter spoke without looking up.


    "Pawn." Lucas replied a second later.


    "Item and amount please."


    Handing over a purple metal ingot to the young man, Lucas stated, "Full price."


    In the Vinis pawnshop, one could decided how much value percentage of the collateral they wanted to loan. Full price indicated the highest which was 90%.


    The young man received the ingot and weighed it with his hands almost immediately. Once he turned his glance towards the metal, a look of shock flashed on his face and it took him a while to conceal it, but Lucas had already spotted it. The young man finally turned his gaze towards Lucas and seemed surprised but hid it much quicker this time.


    Lucas guessed that the young man figured his identity as a human based on the second look of surprise but he wasn''t bothered. According to the words of the drunkard, although humans were rare, they weren''t extinct or endangered. In fact, the system had already stated that humans did in fact live in this world, but just in the minority.


    "This is a Purple Iridium. It''s quite rare, but the energy in it isn''t up there. The size is also quite small."


    After scanning the metal ingot with a special hand-held device, the young man began to talk.


    "I''d say the value of this item is 5,500 federal coins. 90% would be 4,950 but I''ll round it up five thousand seeing as you''re a new face." The young man smiled at Lucas.


    From his attitude, one would feel his actions were professional yet friendly to the customer. There was no doubt that the fellow was a skilled businessman, but who was Lucas? More especially, who was with him?


    "System? Is that the appropriate value?" Lucas asked.


    "No."


    "What''s the correct value for this amount?"


    "Between 10,000 to 12,000 depending on the demand."


    A simple reply made Lucas frown as he stared at the dealer. Although he was shocked by the value of the metal, Lucas was even more irritated by the fact that the dealer offered him little. While it was true that Lucas wasn''t selling the metal but rather pawning it, as he was just starting off in a new world, the more money he could have in hand, the better things would be for him.


    "Since you are aware it is Purple Iridium, don''t you think that''s a bit too low." Lucas replied with a frown.


    The dealer raised an eyebrow, surprised that Lucas seemed to know the true value of the metal but didn''t fret. Instead he kept his smile as he replied.


    "While you are indeed correct, our store has a habit of offering lower values to unregistered customers. This lessens the debt burden on them and makes it easier for them to pay back. Also, you''re merely pawning the item to us and not trading it, so there shouldn''t be much of a hassle on this. If anything, this deal is in your favour.


    Of course, if you want a loan based on the real value, which is ten thousand federal coins, we can work something out and offer you nine thousand instead. Our store values our reputation above all else."


    Although the words made sense, Lucas felt something strange with them. Also, the store presented the lowest possible price for Purple Iridium as its real value. It was clear that this was how they made their profit even while offering a high rate. By giving a lower account of an item''s value, even if the debtor ended up defaulting on the debt, they would still profit.


    And since the value they gave was factually correct, the Vinis pawnshop stood out from other pawnshops who gave lower prices.


    "If you aren''t content with that either, we can work something else."


    "How about we do this? I''ll take the five thousand and if I require more money, I''ll change my application to nine thousand, receiving an extra four thousand." Lucas replied.


    "That isn''t a problem, but understand that if you eventually upgrade to the nine thousand offer, the interest rate would be calculated based on that." The dealer countered.


    "No problem." Lucas confidently replied.


    The dealer then prepared the documents following which Lucas scanned through it and signed before handing over the metal.


    "Cash or transfer?" The dealer asked.


    "Card." Lucas said.


    "I presume you are aware of the processing fee of 20 federal coins?"


    "Fine by me." Lucas shrugged. However, deep down, he felt quite shocked.


    One of the reasons why the Vinis store was very popular was because of their treatment to customers. An example was the payment options. While cash or transfers were the go-to options, there was the alternative of requesting a pre-paid debit card. This was for individuals, who for one reason or the other, didn''t have a bank account and had no intention of moving around with a large sum of cash.


    However, from his conversation with the duo in the pub, Lucas was aware that the average monthly income in Baylands city was 500 federal coins, but this was on the higher side for those in West Wing district. The average in West wing district was somewhere around 400 federal coins. In regions outside the city, it was even lower. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As such, paying a processing fee of 20 federal coins for a pre-paid debit card that would eventually become useless was quite extravagant, but Lucas didn''t have much of a choice. It was safer to move with a card than a bag of cash.


    The dealer then handed over to Lucas a plastic card. It was a prepaid debit card that had already been loaded with the money. Once he got the money, Lucas departed the store.


    However, the dealer had a glint in his eyes as he stared at Lucas. A few moments later, he left his position and went deeper into the building.

 Chapter 7: Chapter 7 : Stellar Refinement And mDNA

    Having left the pawnshop, Lucas'' next task was to find a place to stay for the rest of the day as the next day, he would be meeting the glasses-wearing man from the pub to go purchase a store. For the moment though, Lucas intended to know more about this world."System, how do I unlock your full functionality asides missions?"


    "Upgrades come about from levelling up the system through completing missions. Asides from that, host can upgrade the system if special conditions are met. Said conditions are deemed confidential to the host and it is expected that you explore." The system answered.


    "You want me to explore a new world without any form of protection or knowledge? What if I get killed while taking a walk? Wouldn''t you be hostless?" Lucas couldn''t help but find the system''s methods to be obstructive.


    "If that were to be the case, then it means that the host was never fated to be the Crafts-God." The system succinctly replied.


    Lucas sighed at his fate that was quite miserable compared to certain main characters. At least in the books he read, the main characters would get transmigrated into a body with knowledge of the world, some in a noble family, a godly constitution, or whatnot.


    But in his case, he was brought over with no knowledge or information, has to deal with speciesism, and is in a body acclaimed to have the worst potential.


    Since the system wouldn''t give him the information he needed, Lucas decided to find it.


    This was a technological world and apart from electricity being an essential factor to such a world, there was something else equally important; the internet.


    For a world to advance, especially technologically, there must exist a vast network that holds massive information and enables an easier transmission of data or information from one point to another. On Earth, this was known as the internet and its Eretrean equivalent was what Lucas was after.


    A library was another good option but Lucas couldn''t be so sure that such would exist here. A digital version might, but it would most likely be in schools or educational facilities rather than the public area.


    During the next few hours, Lucas did his best to familiarise himself with this new world. He had managed to purchase a device known as a communicator, the Eretrean equivalent of a mobile phone. The device with a lackadaisical name referred to a more brand collection of devices which had different forms like a watch, a hand-held device or even a pair of glasses.


    Using the device after a little bit of learning, Lucas logged into the Eretrean server in the Kellan Solar System Intra-network (KSSI). This was a large network that covered an entire solar system and within this network were servers dedicated to each planet in the solar system.


    There was a similar network that spanned the entire galaxy with each star region being a server, but most times, the average individual didn''t need to log in to such networks as information and news on that level was too far from them. Having to focus on a solar system alone was more than enough most times.


    As for what a star region was, it was a new term Lucas had learnt. The system had only informed him that he was in Baylands City located in the Groeten continent of the planet Eretre, and that this massive planet was in the Kellan solar system.


    The Kellan solar system, from what Lucas read about however, was one of four (4) active solar systems out of a total of twenty one (21) solar systems in a region known as the Blue Mist star region. Above star regions was the entire galaxy which was dominated by the hyuman race, and this galaxy was called the Niera galaxy.


    Apart from that, Lucas had also managed to learn about the world in detail specifically its power system. Unlike Earth of his last life, this would seemed to cultivate a certain type of energy.


    In his very first life as Yohan, Lucas had practiced in the art of magic which was one of the most common. In his first life, there were two major forms of energy refining or cultivation based on two major mystical energies prevalent at the time: Mana and True energy, an energy equally as mystical as mana.


    In that world, there were two classifications for mystical energy users but the most used was based on the energy one refined. Those who refined and practised with mana were known as either mages or witches, while those who refined true energy were called deserters.


    Another classification was based on the usage of mystical energy with those versed in the art of summoning known as Summoners and they could either be mages or even deserters. There were also body honers who used mystical energy to refine their body and improve their physical strength and power, spell-casters, and so on.


    As Yohan, Lucas had started out as a spell-caster but when he began to venture into blacksmithing, the need to improve his body came about and so he dabbled into Body-honing as well, achieving both status by relying on mana.


    In this new world however, the mystical energy that existed was just one; Stellar energy. Just as its name implied, it was a mystical energy that existed in the cosmos and was rumoured to have birthed the stars and the universe as well.


    Although generally, the manipulation of Stellar energy is known as Stellar refinement, the classification of practitioners was based on utilisation as there was only one type of mystical energy. The equivalent of body-honers were known as Stellar evolvers and their art, stellar evolution, was the act of using Stellar energy to purify and temper one''s physical form.


    There were also summoners, but they were very rare. As for the rest, they were nominally called stellar refiners.


    Stellar Refining was the art of refining and absorbing stellar energy into the body. Based on the refining manual one used as well as the path they chose, the result would be slightly different and as such, everyone''s strength differed. There was also another determining factor of one''s strength and that was their talent.


    When reading about this, Lucas finally found out why humans were treated as such.


    Initially, the ancestors of the hyuman race were just like earthlings, humans who were occupying their home planet and had barely even explored their solar system. However with time, their technology advanced and they encountered alien civilizations.


    The ancestral humans had allied with one such civilization as a means to adapt to the interstellar society quickly, although they had the lower hand in this alliance. In the process of that, they had realised their weakness. Unlike the other intelligent species, humans couldn''t absorb and manipulate stellar energy; in fact, they couldn''t even sense it.


    All civilizations had advanced by relying on stellar energy, aiding them at higher levels to rely less on their physical needs like food, air and so on while strengthening them beyond their base form, which in turn enabled the species to explore more regions in space, move in space and even do battle.


    Without the ability to manipulate this mystical energy, it was deemed that humans would be left behind until they would eventually be conquered by a stronger alien race.


    Through the aid of their allies as well as the brightest minds in their race, the ancestral humans found a way to artificially induce evolution within themselves, creating the hyuman race; a stronger version of humans who could utilise stellar energy.


    Overtime, due to proliferation and the law of survival, humans began to go extinct while hyumans overtook them after all, who would want to remain a weakling or want their child to end up as such? S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nonetheless, not all hyumans were born equal with some more talented than others in stellar refinement. This was all because of a special DNA within them; the essential element that differentiated hyumans from humans and enabled the former to manipulate stellar energy. It was known as the mDNA.


    Every hyuman was born with a different concentration of the mDNA in their body and the more one had, the higher their future prospects would be and the greater their talent. Due to the extinction of pure-blooded humans and some other factors, an mDNA concentration less than 10% couldn''t qualify as a hyuman and would be called a human.


    At less than 10%, one had almost no future in stellar refinement as such, there was no reason to see them as hyumans.


    At the start, the ancestral humans weren''t born with mDNA so they had to manufacture it. Overtime, natural hyumans came to be. As such, there are two types of mDNA: the m(o)DNA (Metamorphosed DNA) which was naturally occurring in modern-day hyumans, and the m(z)DNA (Metamorphized DNA) [1] which was used to create the first generation of hyumans.


    Hyumans born with a low m(o)DNA concentration can inject themselves with m(z)DNA to increase the overall concentration of their mDNA and in turn increase their talent. Of course however, there were limitations to this otherwise the hyuman race would easily be able to mass produced super-powerful beings with the ability to rule the entire universe. The limit was usually a 30% increase.


    For instance, a hyuman who was born with mDNA of 20%. As they are born as such, this implies their mDNA is entirely m(o)DNA. Said hyuman now injects the special serum containing m(z)DNA, increasing their total mDNA count by thirty percent to become a concentration of 26%, as thirty percent of 20 is 6.


    Also, although the total mDNA concentration increased one''s talent, the value of the m(o)DNA was more influential in this.


    Take for instance a hyuman whose mDNA concentration is 40% with seventy percent of this (28) as m(o)DNA and the remaining thirty percent (12) as m(z)DNA. They would be less talented than another who has the same mDNA concentration value, but entirely made up of m(o)DNA. What''s more, the latter can inject m(z)DNA into their system and increase their ability thirty percent, becoming more talented.


    "So in the end, two things determines one''s strength in this world; your refining method and your mDNA value. Unfortunately, pure-blooded humans don''t have a chance." Lucas sighed.


    It was stated that the current serums containing m(z)DNA couldn''t work on humans or rather hyumans with less than 10% mDNA concentration, much less true and pure-blooded humans like Lucas. Which meant that he was destined to be at the bottom rung of society.

 Chapter 8: Chapter 8 : Ambushed

    "System, is there anyway to change my physique or something? You don''t expect me to somehow become a god without the ability to manipulate stellar energy, do you?" Lucas called the system."The system is the Training system for the Crafts god. My task is to grow the host to be a competent craftsman and rise to the rank of god. It will only be natural for there to be solutions. Host needs not bother about this and focus on completing the mission at hand." The system responded with a flat tone.


    Lucas sighed inwardly but didn''t dwell on the issue. Although the earliest version of serums used in making the first generations of hyumans could be produced again, it was much costlier and was made on order. Considering Lucas just arrived into this world without any background of the sort, much less having a custom-order serum, he couldn''t even afford the mainstream versions.


    Those were drugs capable of changing one''s future; it was natural that they would cost a lot. The best option at hand was to trust the system, even if he didn''t want to.


    ''Hmm?''


    At this moment, Lucas suddenly felt a malicious gaze on him. He didn''t turn towards the direction of the gaze but acted natural and kept walking forward while trying to guess who it was.


    Having transmigrated twice and lived two different lives, Lucas'' soul was very sensitive, which in turn improved his body''s perception.


    ''Who is it?''


    Despite being human, it wasn''t obvious at first unless one took notice of him, so Lucas eliminated the option that someone in the crowd was after him. Also, the gaze had an intensely malicious hint to it, almost as if the wielder had some past history with Lucas. As such, it definitely wasn''t a stranger, but someone he had encountered.


    But Lucas had only been in this world for a couple of hours¡ªnot even a full day.


    There were only three options: from the pub, from the pawnshop, or the trio who tried to kidnap him.


    The first was possibly a human trafficker who was after him. The second implied that the owner of the pawnshop was after the material on him as well as its source, so it made sense why they would have hostile intentions. The third was self-explanatory.


    Moving naturally and without revealing a clue, Lucas slowly moved towards a less populated area while making sure his pursuers remained close. Once he noticed they were still after him, he slowly began to make his way into an abandoned alley.


    The West Wing district was close to the slums and bothered the Wastelands, so it wasn''t devoid of abandoned areas.


    Once Lucas was in the alley, three figures appeared behind him and blocked the exit.


    "Long time, no see, kid."


    A voice called out to Lucas, who halted his footsteps.


    "Oh, it''s you guys." Lucas calmly nodded.


    The group was surprised by his calm demeanour but weren''t scared either. Rather, they were confused. Humans were known to be unable to practice stellar refining, and even if there was a miracle amongst them, their achievements wouldn''t be much; getting stuck at the Body Strengthening stage.


    It was rumoured that on the Beast continent, the humans had teamed up alongside the mixed-bloods and formed a city-state there, just like Baylands, with some impressive characters amongst them leading the state. However, Baylands city was very far from there so it was impossible for the target before them to be from there. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For that reason, even with their somewhat negligible level of strength, the trio didn''t fear Lucas. They had the upper hand both in numbers and quality so there was no reason to be afraid even if Lucas had a trump card with him.


    "Quite playing around, kid. You have two options; come with us now or we take you by force, although I can''t say how many intact bones you''ll have left if we do so." The man in the middle who seemed to be the leader of the group said.


    Lucas'' current body was that of his first life in his early 20s, and compared to the men before him, he was a lot younger, so it wasn''t exactly wrong for them to call him a kid, although it was demeaning.


    "I haven''t even been here for long, and you guys came after me. Luckily, I do have some good use for you." Lucas suddenly said.


    The trio were confused, but Lucas continued.


    "I spent quite some money getting a communicator, and I''ll have to spend some more on housing and feeding. I''m quite reluctant to use the little money I have on me, and it seems you guys understand this. So thank you, thank you for volunteering to foot my bills."


    "Is this kid crazy?" The man on the left couldn''t help thinking out loud.


    "Forget about it. Just take him down." The leader commanded.


    The stellar refinement path of the hyumans has six main stages: the Body Strengthening stage, the Aperture Opening stage, the Guardian or Origin stage, the Sage or Moon Walker realm, Star Lord realm and Paragon realm, with each stage or realm having having sub-levels. For example, the Body Strengthening stage had five levels, while the Aperture Opening stage has twelve levels.


    The current ruler of the hyuman galaxy who was also known as the Divine Galaxy Protector, was said to be at the Paragon realm, enabling him to dominate the galaxy and found the top power that controlled the galaxy.


    While hyumans had a bright future, the same wasn''t true for their ancestral counterparts, the humans. The latter''s limit was at the Body Strengthening stage and going any further was next to impossible for them.


    The trio were in the Body Strengthening stage and although their progress wasn''t anything to boast about, they could sense that Lucas had no achievement in stellar refining, so beating him was going to be an easy task. In fact, any of them could do so.


    The Body Strengthening stage had five sub-levels but the duo by the sides were at the second sub-level while the leader was at the third. They were just quite stronger than average people, but not too far off the limit, especially for the weaker two. This made sense, as anyone stronger would usually be off making a living fighting monsters or exploring the universe rather than kidnapping humans.


    The man on the left, who had a bulky physique, charged at Lucas with a low growl, intent on ending this confrontation in one move.


    Lucas calmly stood in front and stared at him. Although his body was devoid of any stellar refining art, he still had his memories. Lucas'' first life as Yohan saw him practice both body-honing and magic spells, so he knew a couple of martial arts and fighting skills. Even without having his body improved by stellar refinement, Lucas was confident in his skill and vast experience.


    "Restore."


    Staring at the incoming figure, Lucas uttered a single word without a hint of emotion.


    Suddenly, a pair of strange gloves appeared on his hands. These were the heat-resistant gloves that came in with his welcome package from the system, but since it was a product of the system, needless to say, it was definitely special and out-of-the-ordinary.


    The leader who stayed behind raised an eyebrow at this development. Although he was surprised, it was nothing too much. For starters, the current world was developed, so having storage items or items with invisibility features wasn''t rare. Also, wasn''t it just a pair of gloves? How could Lucas possibly threaten them with it?


    The man approached Lucas quite quickly and threw a punch right at him. Although his attention had been on Lucas, just like the leader, he saw no reason to retreat just because of the abrupt appearance of a pair of gloves.


    At that moment, Lucas, whose focus had already been heightened to the max, narrowly dodged the blow. Right after that, he threw a punch of his at the man with his right hand.


    A gentleman always had to give a response.


    Bam.


    The fist connected, and the impact was resounding. For a moment, the man was forced to see stars and took a few steps backward, almost falling to the ground.


    Seeing his opponent dazed and retreating, Lucas followed up with another attack, finally putting the man off his feet and down on the ground. He proceeded to ensure that his opponent was knocked out cold.


    The duo behind were stunned during this time; after all, their partner wasn''t supposed to be such a weakling.


    Although the second step of the Body Strengthening stage was nothing notable outside, it still increased one''s power, speed and endurance since it had to do with refining the muscles. In other words, even if a stellar refiner at this stage got struck by the hind legs of a horse, they would remain standing without so much as a flinch. Yet this happened.


    Meanwhile, Lucas moved his gaze from the man on the ground and faced the duo at the exit, as he said,


    "That''s one."

 Chapter 9: Chapter 9 : Taking Them Down

    The leader of the trio stared at the gloves on Lucas'' hands, thinking they were the reason for this strange turn of events. In truth, he was somewhat correct.[[ Craftsman Gloves : Gloves suited for one pursuing the path of a craftsman. Heat-resistance, penetration-proof, shock-absorption, burn-resistance, and elemental resistance guaranteed. A certain level of strength boost and increased hit-rate is also applied. ]]


    This was the description Lucas had seen when he was studying the gloves in his inventory.


    Although the gloves looked like those of a blacksmith, both its name and description implied that the former was nowhere on the same level as it. From a surface glance, the gloves didn''t seem to be any weapon of any sorts, but Lucas could see beyond just that. The strength boost advantage was clear but the shock-absorption feature could also aid in battles if used well.


    It made the gloves essentially an attacking and defending item, and since it was a product of the system -which was an entity that orchestrated his previous transmigration- it would definitely be more than ordinary.


    Also, Lucas'' current body was that of the 21-year old Yohan from his first life, and apart from his magical powers from back then, his current body retained every characteristics from the time, including his physical prowess. Although young, at the time, Lucas was quite strong and had dabbled a bit in physical development.


    When it came to mastering mystical energy, physical development would always be the first step. This was obvious even in this world where the Body Strengthening stage came first. Even with the improvement of the human species to become hyumans, they couldn''t jump right into manipulating or storing stellar energy in their body, and still had to make proper preparations.


    These preparations were the five levels of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Lucas'' current body had physical strength comparable to someone who just began the second level of the Body Strengthening stage, the Muscle Refining step. With the strength boost from the gloves as well as an element of surprise, it was no shocker that he took down the man in a few moves.


    "Get him."


    Although their companion had been defeated, the leader didn''t fret and took it as a slip-up from their side. He was still confident in capturing Lucas.


    Having received the order, the man on the right charged at Lucas just like his partner from earlier, but this time around, he took the latter seriously. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though he had lost the element of surprise, Lucas still wasn''t scared. He had a few cards up his sleeve, and from how he saw things, there was no way he would lose.


    "Ha!"


    The attacker released a shout as he pounced at Lucas, blasting a fist in his direction.


    Lucas dodged the attack and maintained his distance from the attacker. His strength might prove to the task, but this didn''t mean that Lucas'' other abilities were on par with his opponent''s.


    The man delivered a forceful kick right after which forced Lucas to block with his arms and didn''t suffer a loss. On the contrary, he grabbed the leg, offsetting his opponent''s balance.


    The leader who stood behind raised an eyebrow in surprise, but how would he know that Lucas'' gloves could absorb the force from any blow?


    While holding the man''s leg, Lucas tightened his fist and let loose a punch right at the knee.


    Crack.


    "Ahhh!"


    The man cried out, but Lucas ignored him and rained down a turret of fists on the same knee.


    "Ahhh!"


    The man let out a hideous cry, looking rather pitiful as his leg got bent in an outrageous position.


    Lucas coldly glanced at the latter and still didn''t let go, drawing him closer and striking another blow at his face.


    After two more hits, the man was similarly knocked out, and Lucas finally let go of him. But at that moment, a deadly sensation swept towards him.


    Lucas hurriedly took a step back to avoid the attack, but his senses still ticked him off as he turned on his heels and moved to the side.


    Poom.


    A low rumble was heard as the punch from the assailant released an explosive force comprised of compressed air.


    "Good instincts." The leader of the trio commented, as he stared at Lucas like a predator facing off against prey.


    Lucas inwardly let out a sigh of relief. He had underestimated the fighting ability of this group, seeing as they were still unable to truly utilise stellar energy. However, that didn''t mean they were weak or without some skills.


    For instance, the move used by the leader was one where the user would release a blast of compressed air, which could only be done by someone who is both incredibly strong and fast.


    The leader of the trio was at the third step of refining in the Body Strengthening stage; the bone refining stage.


    The Body Strengthening stage focused on tempering the body and enhancing its physical nature. This was, in essence, setting the foundation for one to truly begin absorbing and storing stellar energy in their body.


    The first step focused on tempering the flesh, the second on the muscles, the third on the bones, while the fourth was dedicated to the organs, with the fifth dealing with the blood vessels, nerves, and the blood.


    Through this method, the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, nervous, and all other systems of the body would have the appropriate foundation to ensure that no harm is done when storing stellar energy in the body. They would also experience a large increase in physical attributes.


    At the bone refining stage, the focus is on the two hundred and six (206) bones of the human body, and when completed, with the prior muscle refining stage in mind, the boost to physical abilities like speed, strength, and endurance becomes staggering.


    Although one wouldn''t be at the stage of moving at the speed of sound or something as insane, their speed and strength could easily top any of the best Olympic athletes in history. Their average punch could even reach as high as 150,000 units [2], so one could imagine how powerful their blows become when they are serious.


    While the man had yet to complete the bone refining stage, his punching power was nonetheless incredible, especially when he became serious.


    "You should have just come with us quietly." said the man as he withdrew a dagger from his side.


    This was the weapon Lucas had seen back then, which reminded him of magic weapons from his first life. Although the weapon was a lot weaker, it still contained a hint of the ever-mysterious stellar energy, making it far more deadly than an average dagger.


    With the dagger in hand, the man lunged at Lucas and thrust forward.


    ''Fast.''


    Despite having created what he felt was a safe distance away from the latter, Lucas felt like he had underestimated the man''s prowess, and the latter closed the gap quickly with the threat of the dagger looming right in front of him.


    He hurriedly brought his right hand in front of him, opening his palm and grabbing the dagger.


    The man sneered as he thrust the weapon forward. While he had some suspicion that the gloves weren''t ordinary, what he had in his hands was a stellar vestige¡ªa weapon made with stellar energy infused. Despite the dagger not being a military-grade vestige, it was far better than a normal blade.


    There was no way the gloves on the young man, which had no trace of stellar energy, could even face off against his dagger.


    ''You''re dead.'' The leader thought as all he could envision was a splash of blood from Lucas'' hand.


    Tink.


    The dagger got caught in between the gloves, not moving an inch further.


    "How?" The man was shocked silly by this.


    How could an ordinary looking glove remain intact despite being stabbed with a vestige by a third level Body Strengthener?


    Lucas had already been expecting this to happen; after all, this glove was a gift from the system and had the attribute ''penetration proof''. After seeing the effect of the shock-absorption attribute, Lucas had no doubt and was never scared from the start.


    Gripping the dagger tightly within that one second, Lucas punched out with his other hand, aiming at the right side of the man, right where his liver ought to be.


    Bam.


    A liver shot [3] connected.


    The man opened his mouth wide, yet no scream could be heard, as the pain he felt at that moment was horrendous. Even with his prior body tempering and so on, that punch dealt an insane amount of damage. He was still at the bone refining level and had yet to have his organs refined, so the weakness still existed.


    However, he was still a Body Strengthener of the third level, so one punch alone was still unable to take him down. Lucas seemed to have realised this as he let loose another left hook.


    Bam.


    With the second shot connecting, another inaudible moan escaped the man''s mouth and he seemed close to crumbling but was still on his feet.


    Bam.


    The third punch connected, and this time around, it did the job as the leader collapsed to the ground while passing out at the same time.


    If someone were to have told him earlier today that he would meet a young human who would first escape his assault but later face off against his men, defeating two of them, stopping his attack, and finally taking him down, the man would have laughed it off as the joke of the century, but yet, such had happened.

 Chapter 10: Chapter 10 : Lurking Danger

    Although the battle looked easy, it was anything but that. One shouldn''t forget that the opponents were stronger than Lucas in all physical areas. The only reason he came out on top was due to a few factors like the system''s aid. But the ones that stood out were his battle experience, the fact that he was underestimated and the element of surprise.The criminals underestimated Lucas and treated him like a simple human since they couldn''t get a whiff of stellar energy on him. At the same time, they didn''t know the qualities of the gloves and took it as something ordinary since they similarly couldn''t sense any bit of stellar energy from it. They never would have expected that it could not only absorb shock but was penetration proof.


    They also would have never guessed that their opponent wasn''t a simple human but someone with over five hundred years experience with a majority of that spent facing super-powered freaks and mages.


    After defeating the trio, then came the issue of clearing the scene.


    Lucas was having trouble deciding what to do now. If this were his home world, he would have killed them right away but it wasn''t. Back on Earth, Rhodia had security cameras on almost every street in every city so committing crimes was quite risky. For a technologically advanced world and an interstellar civilisation like this, the security measures would be even more impressive.


    Lucas wouldn''t even be surprised if there was a satellite up in the sky watching his every movement at the moment. As such, committing murder was risky.


    Although he could argue that it was done in self-defence, Lucas'' act of taking down the enemy was already enough and proved to show that there was no need to be extreme as he had already overpowered them. That added with the treatment humans received, Lucas doubted he could escape jail if he was caught.


    At times like this, it was best to stay low and not go overboard, so murder was off the topic.


    In the end, Lucas decided not to think too much about things. He simply searched the men and seized any valuables, specifically in the form of wallet cards and communicators. He wasn''t lying when he said he would have the group fund his lifestyle for the meantime.


    While this was an advanced world, the technology of credit and debit cards were still usable means. Although one could link their accounts with their communicators, for various reasons and fears, some would special cards called Wallet cards. These were special cards that functioned like a credit card and a debit card at the same time.


    Unlike the cards on Earth, they weren''t just a plastic or metal plate but made from a special alloy encoded with a high level security protocol. The more expensive ones were such that transactions couldn''t be carried out on them without a biometric confirmation to prevent theft. Of course, these trio couldn''t afford such cards.


    Once he was done collecting his spoils, Lucas dragged the bodies of the men and kept them out of sight before leaving the alleyway.


    . . .


    The Vinis pawnshop had two floors from the outside. The first floor was where they received clients and made their deals. There were also a couple of rooms dedicated to functioning as offices here for meeting high profile clients.


    The second floor was more different as it was a mix of both the office area meant for the store''s executives as well as showroom that took up to a third of the entire floor. Here, the store displayed some of their items put up for sale.


    However, there was a third floor, the basement. Unlike the other two, it was inaccessible to the public and even majority of the company''s staff couldn''t get here. While the second floor had a showroom, the basement was their storage room. But it also served an extra purpose, one that was related to the company''s dark secrets.


    "Any news?" A cold voice suddenly spoke up in a dark hall underneath the prosperous pawnshop.


    A shadow appeared in the hall and bowed towards a certain direction in the hall. "None yet, sir."


    "I need results." The voice sounded once again, this time more coldly than before.


    At that moment, the silhouette hesitated a bit but eventually spoke up.


    "...we noticed that he was being trailed by Ramirez'' people. But he managed to take them down alone."


    "Ramirez is on to him? Wait, he took them down alone? How is that possible?"


    "We don''t know. There was no sign of stellar energy or any mystical energy of sorts. He simply did it with brute strength and a blacksmith glove that seemed special. It was able to remain undamaged even after taking a direct hit from a vestige, albeit a low grade one." replied the silhouette.


    "Despite being a force worth contemplating about, Ramirez'' people are much too weak. Nonetheless, keep an eye out on him and don''t underestimate him. It seems that apart from the Purple Iridium, this fella has a few more secrets of his own. Don''t lose them." The voice said before going quiet.


    The silhouette bowed and left the room.


    Unknown to Lucas, his action of pawning just a single ingot of Purple Iridium had already alerted the higher-ups of the store.


    Purple Iridium was a rare with great value one of which was forging vestiges. Just from the fact that its base price was 10,000 federal coins per ingot was enough to show how valuable it was. There was also the fact that Purple Iridium wasn''t mined in Eretre. Even in the entire Kellan solar system, there was no Purple Iridium deposit so it was much more valuable.


    When the system told Lucas the value of Purple Iridium to be between 10,000 to 12,000 federal coins, this was actually the value when considering the entire Niera galaxy, as such it was heavily underpriced.


    In a place like the Kellan solar system that had no deposits or mines for Purple Iridium, the value per ingot was higher, reaching up to 14,000 at the base price and this was if the owner was in a hurry to sell it. Otherwise if one were to purchase it from outside the solar system, including custom duties and transport fee, it would cost 16,000 per ingot.


    This ''cheap'' price of 10,000 was why the clerk had readily agreed to Lucas'' offer. At the same time, he had reported it to his boss. There was no way someone who could afford Purple Iridium would be in the West Wing and decide to pawn it. The only explanation was that he had stumbled upon it somewhere.


    The upper figures in Vinis pawnshop guessed that there was a possibility Lucas had a stash somewhere. As long as they captured him, they could find the information, but they didn''t plan on doing that. Instead, they wanted to make Lucas lead them to this ''stash'' instead. This was a safer option because capturing Lucas did not mean success.


    If the latter decided to commit suicide or refused to talk even with the threat of death, their golden egg would be gone. They saw that as a killing the goose for its eggs which was a dumb move. It would be better to monitor Lucas and find out where he stays then ransack the location and any other suspicion area he frequents.


    While all this took place, Lucas used the money he got from the trio and rented a room in a somewhat fancy hotel, and spent the night sleeping. Even though his soul was much stronger than in the past and this improved his senses, the tracker sent by Vinis pawnshop was a professional and wasn''t at the level of Body Strengthening, so it was impossible for Lucas to know he was being trailed.


    In fact, after Lucas defeated the trio, the man tasked with monitoring Lucas had changed the tracker to a stronger fellow.


    The next day, Lucas awoke and freshened up. After scrolling through the KSSI (the solar system web) and learning more about his new world, especially so about the value of money and housing, he checked the time and departed for the Klein''s pub where he met the man with glasses and a friend of his who also happened to be the owner of the building Lucas was interested in.


    The building looked a bit run down but that in terms of this world''s development. Although it had a few faults internally, its outward appearance was still above average compared to some of the buildings in his last life on Earth.


    For instance, the two storey-building had a helipad parking space on its roof that could fit ten SUV-sized hover-cars, a backyard with a not-so-small shed, as well a balcony on the second floor.


    The structure of the building wasn''t cement nor wood, but a special soft metal alloy that felt like bamboo to the touch but was a lot tougher than cement with a suitable heat conductivity and retaining factor, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.


    Apparently, this used to be a family-owned restaurant, but its isolated location and the low profitability margin made the owner, who was in debt, want to sell it and relocate elsewhere with the money. In summary, it was a rush sale.


    The starting price was 3200 federal coins but Lucas managed to get it for less -2800 federal coins- after some bargaining. The location of the store was bad after all and the interior needed a lot of fixing. 2800 was the equivalent of seven months pay so it wasn''t a bad price. Once a price was agreed, they began the deal process.


    Unlike on Earth where purchasing a building was a big deal, Eretre had a much faster yet secure system for this. Communicators were everything and made everything 10 times easier. They simply connected to the city-state government''s office online, filled the necessary forms, made the appropriate payments and signed on them with their biometrics and accounts.


    After a few minutes of waiting, the deal was confirmed by the city-state government and the documents were sent to Lucas while he got debited the required amount. In the other side, they got the money and the name on the ownership document in the government''s database was changed to Lucas Yohan Saunters.


    When Lucas bought his communicator, he had registered an ID with the city government as well as opened a bank account and an account on the KSSI. On his ID, his first name was Lucas and surname Saunters, same as his life on Earth. Yohan was his middle name here and also the name he used in his original life. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    An interface visible to only him appeared in front of Lucas at the same time the deal was concluded.

 Chapter 11: Chapter 11 : Mission Complete

    "System, now what?" Lucas said after the duo left while he held the keys to the building.[[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.


    Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    ]]


    "To be honest, this reward is quite lacking if you ask me¡­" Lucas sighed.


    "Host is also lacking in a bunch of places."


    "..."


    To be honest, Lucas wasn''t looking down on the system''s reward. Just the abilities witnessed so far from the items he got from the welcome package were already good enough. So while the reward for his first mission was just one item, Lucas was still looking forward to it. He only made that statement to try and profit more.


    Lucas accepted the reward and he received a notification about a new item in his inventory. He opened the inventory and saw a tome in his inventory space with the title ''An Adventurer''s Manual''.


    Lucas first entered the building before he retrieved the tome from his inventory. As it appeared on his hand, a pop-up showed up right beside him.


    [[ Accept input? Y/N ]]


    "Yes."


    Suddenly, the book began to disintegrate bit by bit into a flow of light that went into Lucas'' forehead. It only took three seconds for the entire tome to disappear. At the same time, Lucas felt an increasing pain on his forehead, almost knocking him out on the spot.


    However, he gritted his teeth and endured throughout the entire ordeal while subconsciously cursing at the system for attempting to murder him. Of course, this was just a joke, as he knew that it didn''t intend on doing so.


    It took five minutes for the pain to subside and in those five minutes, Lucas felt as if his brain was about to burst. Even after the event, his clothing was drowned in sweat and Lucas had to support himself on one of the chairs in the building.


    ''What a horrible feeling.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    While it was an incredibly painful sensation, the result was worth it. Lucas could feel that there was a new set of knowledge in his brain. It was broad and could be termed as an encyclopedia''s worth. The category of knowledge focused on minerals, monsters, and even advanced information about astronomy such as calculating a planet''s orbit or direction and so on.


    Although the tome was termed ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', Lucas found it hard to believe that an average adventurer would require this much information. If someone did, they would have to be a very very high class adventurer or space explorer.


    Apart from all the aforementioned information, Lucas also got to know about the power system of this world, although he already knew that after looking it up the previous day. However, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'' gave more detailed information than what Lucas got from the communicator, which included how to achieve each level.


    Sadly, there was no information for humans on the subject, so Lucas still had no solution to his innate problem.


    After going through the information once, Lucas realised that he had spent three hours. He was surprised, as he didn''t realise he had spent that long reversing the information in his head, but he wasn''t affected by it. In a sense, Lucas was jobless, so even if he spent his time staring at the sun, there was no heavy repercussion, per se.


    "Host has finally awoken."


    The system''s voice sounded in his head.


    "What about it?" Lucas replied.


    "The building has been recorded in the system''s database, and renovations would need to be carried out. Host needs to be informed and grant the system permission to go ahead with planned renovations." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh?" Lucas was pleasantly surprised.


    He has previously been worried about renovations and how much it would cost him, but seeing as the system could provide similar services, he was amazed and glad.


    ''At least that saves me a couple of coins.''


    "Can I see the renovation plan?"


    "Access denied."


    "If I can''t access the designs to make amendments, why is my permission even required?" Lucas sounded frustrated by the system''s actions.


    "As the host gets stronger and the system upgrades, changes would be made available." The system''s bland voice sounded in Lucas'' head once again.


    With a sigh, Lucas granted the system permission to renovate the building.


    "Renovation commencing. ETA: 24 hours. During this period, the store would be closed and only accessible by the host and employees. Store activities would be on hold. Please be patient."


    "Employees? What''s that about?"


    "Access denied."


    "..."


    Despite being mentally old, Lucas couldn''t help but curse inwardly as he began to make his way to the top floor.


    The two-storey building was formerly a family restaurant. The ground floor [1] was the main serving location, and the first floor was reserved for private rooms and guests. There was also a rooftop terrace that could also be accessed from the top floor, reserved for guests who wanted to have their meal while enjoying the view.


    However, with the terrible location of the building, being surrounded by taller buildings, and lacking a natural scenic spot, there was no view to enjoy from the balcony.


    Behind the main building was a smaller building that looked like a patio of sorts, but it''s function was something Lucas was unaware of and wasn''t bothered about either. After all, the system would be renovating everything, so what it was in the past didn''t matter.


    Lucas went into one of the rooms on the top floor and decided to take his rest here. With the system upgrades taking twenty four hours and Lucas not knowing as much as he felt was enough about this world, he believed it was best to stay indoors for the time being and expand his knowledge.


    Although he had it in his memory now, Lucas had yet to completely digest the information from the manual. The three hours he spent were merely on perusing the information and just from the fact it took that long, one could imagine how much information was inside it.


    While one could say it was in his brain already, it wasn''t readily available, just like how people experience an event but find it difficult to recall it after a lot of time has passed. The memory exists, but it''s not readily recalled.


    There was also the communicator, an advanced technology that could aid Lucas a lot in learning more about the world.


    As for the matter of food, there was the bread he got from the system and if that wasn''t enough, Lucas could simply order with his communicator.


    As such, the next couple of hours were spent surfing the KSSI or the intranet [2] and revisiting the knowledge stored in his head until Lucas could completely grasp it.


    While Lucas was absorbing information on a large scale, a figure hid in a neighbouring building and kept a lookout for him. The individual was the spy currently in charge of monitoring Lucas. He had been keeping an eye on the latter the past few hours but was slowly getting impatient.


    Usually, a professional wouldn''t, but due to the pressure from his employers, the tracker felt he was running out of time.


    ''The boss already asked for an update in forty eight hours but this dude is just sitting. What the hell am I supposed to do now?''


    The spy''s mission was for him to find out about the source of the Purple Iridium and, if possible, get more. There was also a new side mission included, which was to find out where Lucas came from and how he had defeated the trio from Ramirez''s gang. Usually, 2¨C3 days would be enough to find out something about his target after spying on them for so long, but Lucas was different.


    Apart from meeting with the duo from the pub to buy the building, Lucas had spent most of his time indoors, dazing around or on his communicator.


    The first made no sense and as for the latter, there was no way for the spy to seize Lucas'' device without alerting him. Hacking it was also out of the question.


    Communicators were state-of-the-art devices with high-tech security systems and locks. Since they were linked with one''s personal information and account, it was only natural that there security was the best.


    Also, since the KSSI was an intra-network and now an inter-network, this increased the difficulty of hacking since to hack into one''s device directly and make a data request, a hacker would have to be able to hack the KSSI first, which was next to impossible.


    This was a network that served an entire solar system and so there was no doubt that the security was out-of-this world; both literally and figuratively speaking, as the data centers were in space.


    ''If he doesn''t make any move soon, that will leave me with only one option.'' The spy narrowed his eyes.

 Chapter 12: Chapter 12 : Debt Collector

    On Eretre, a day happened to be the same as Earth, exactly twenty four hours consisting of roughly eleven hours of daylight and thirteen hours of nighttime. In truth, it wasn''t the same in some of the neighbouring and farther planets.For instance, Jota, one of Eretre''s neighbours, experienced 42 hours per day; 18 of those in sunlight with 24 in darkness.


    This might seem a lot but one should recall that a day in Venus is 5,832 hours (243 Earth days) whereas in Mercury it was 1,408 hours (almost 59 Earth days) or 4,224 hours (176 Earth days) depending on how one wanted to define a day [AN: too complicated to explain but in AN section].


    Although there were places with shorter days like Jupiter or Saturn, none of the habitable planets of the Kellan solar system were like such.


    Eleven hours might seem much but they easily went by for Lucas and it was nighttime soon. At that point, Lucas realised he was hungry but didn''t leave the store either. Instead, he used his communicator and ordered for a meal before resuming his activities which was mostly educating himself on the world.


    Apart from educating himself about his new world, Lucas had spent a significant part of his time revisiting an old love of his; metallurgy, the study of metals. Back on Earth and even in his first life, Lucas loved studying about materials, especially metals. In his first life, he worked on them with his hands and developed a passion for the art.


    In his second life on Earth, Lucas developed a passion for the science of the subject and went as far as becoming a world-renowned scientist for his groundbreaking research in metals and materials.


    Now he was in a new world that seemed to have combined both of his past world experiences, Lucas'' interest was hyped. Just as he had suspected, this new world had an assortment of new and old metals and materials so there was so much to learn about even after he had finished comprehending all the knowledge from the tome.


    Before Lucas knew it, he fell asleep deep into the night after being overwhelmed and woke up the following day.


    [[ Estimated time until renovation completion: 6 hours ]]


    There were still a few more hours before the store''s renovation and Lucas decided to spend the time reading again.


    One might wonder why he lacked an interest in moving around but to Lucas, it was best to know more about the world before doing so. This wasn''t like with his first transmigration to Earth where he was born into the world and so could easily fit into it. At the same time, he was a victim of speciesism here, to the point that he was almost kidnapped less than an hour into his transmigration.


    Without being able to refine stellar energy, Lucas'' next best option was to fully understand this world before moving around.


    However, Lucas wanting to live in peace didn''t mean that he would get his peace.


    Bam. Bam. Bam.


    "Hey, open up."


    A loud knock sounded at the door just as Lucas woke up from his sleep.


    Normally, he shouldn''t have been able to hear the ravings from the speaker, but the latter was putting in so much force into his knock and yelling provocatively, such that even if Lucas wanted to ignore it, he could still hear them.


    Infuriated as well as perplexed, Lucas went downstairs to see who it was.


    "Reminder: No one except the host can step into the building." The system informed Lucas.


    "I know. I just want to see who it is." Lucas replied. He indeed wanted to know who it was. Lucas hasn''t had much contact with anyone so far as he had only been in this world for barely two days with today being the third.


    "Who is it?" Lucas asked.


    "What do you mean who is it? Did you forget it''s time to pay your weekly fees? Open up and don''t try to run from me." The voice on the other side said.


    "Weekly fees? What weekly fees?" Lucas was confused.


    "What do you...hold on. Your voice sounds strange. Aren''t you Ramon?" The speaker asked.


    Lucas'' eyes glistened strangely. Ramon was the name of the previous owner of the building; the man who sold it to Lucas.


    ''It seems like there''s more trouble with this.'' Recalling that the man he met in the pub told him that Ramon was interested in finding a buyer to settle his debts and move out, Lucas had an inkling of what was going on.


    Ramon probably owed a large amount of money and was making weekly payments on them while trying to find a buyer for the building. Once it was sold, rather than clearing the debts, he used the money to escape town and start a new life.


    The problem was that, the creditor had yet to receive their full sum with the interest, so they wouldn''t easily give up and might even try to seize the house. However, Lucas wasn''t worried about that. The deal was approved by the city government so that meant there was nothing sketchy about it.


    Ramon was also confirmed to be the owner of the building and it wasn''t being used as a collateral for his debts, otherwise the deal would have been flagged by the city government and he would have been notified back then. In other words, there was no way the creditors could take it from Lucas'' hands so Ramon''s debts had nothing to do with him.


    Once he figured that part out, Lucas confidently replied back.


    "No, I''m not. Ramon sold this place to me just yesterday. I''m the new owner."


    "He what?! The heck you mean? Open this frigging door right now!" The other party began shouting at the top of his voice. From the tone, Lucas easily identified the speaker to be a male.


    "I''m sorry but I can''t. Whatever issues you have with Ramon, go settle them yourself." Lucas ignored the other party and walked away.


    "Hey, you better open this door right now or you''ll regret it. Do you know who Ramirez is? I work under Ramirez. Ramon borrowed from him and I''m here to receive the payments. It would be wise not to make any stupid mistake and open this door right now." S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas ignored the fellow. With the system''s assurance that no one could enter this building during the renovation period, he wasn''t scared of anything. As for after that, Lucas had a feeling that the system would unveil a couple of surprises to him which might turn out useful.


    "Hey, can you hear me? I know you can. Open the door right now."


    The party on the other side kept talking and knocking, but after realising that Lucas was a ''stubborn'' individual, he gave up and left.


    For Lucas, this experience wasn''t one he liked. He tried contacting Ramon but realised that the other was avoiding his calls. This further verified his earlier suspicions. Ramon might have even been expecting this to happen.


    Nonetheless, none of this dampened his resolve. Lucas simply filed a report of harassment to the city guard corps and left it at that.


    Meanwhile, the spy who was lurking in the dark watched all this happen and it made him all the more insecure. After a moment of contemplation, he finally reached a decision as his gaze on the building sharpened.


    This night, he would strike.


    . . .


    On the other side of the door was a young man who dressed stylishly and had braided purple hair. Hyumans were genetically different from humans, and some of them had naturally coloured hair just like the young man.


    The young man had a frown on his face as he left the area after banging on the door yet receiving no response. He hailed a hover-cab and moved away.


    A couple of minutes later, the young man alighted from the vehicle at a certain virtual gaming store and watched as the cab left. He wandered around the area for a few minutes, then began walking in the direction opposite the store. At times, he would turn in one direction, then walk a circle around a block before moving in the opposite direction.


    This went on for while and looked pointless but at the same time, the young man was actually moving further and further way from his starting point. It took thirty minutes of this seemingly pointless action until he began walking in a specific direction with a smirk on his face.


    At the same time, a couple of dozen metres away, a figure appeared with a frown and mumbled, "Lost him."


    Meanwhile, the young man, who had a victorious smirk on his face, soon reached a building that wasn''t anything special. On the outside, it appeared to be a fruit store, which didn''t stand out in any way. While supplements and the like were quite popular, organic food still had its place in the market.


    He walked in and said a few words to the cashier, who then led him to a room with a hidden elevator that descended downward.


    A deep voice in an intimidating tone greeted the young man as soon as he exited the elevator.


    "What took you so long?"

 Chapter 13: Chapter 13 : Renovation Completed

    "What took you so long?"A deep, cold voice sounded just as soon as the young man exited the elevator.


    At that moment, he felt his entire body freeze and was scared out of his mind. The boss was angry, and whenever he was angry, someone had to pay. While still frightful, the young man managed to keep his calm as he responded while keeping his head low,


    "I was being monitored by some bugs. It took me a while to get rid of them."


    "Where''s my money?" The owner of the deep voice changed the topic.


    The young man looked even more nervous at this point but he knew that remaining quiet would cost him his life.


    "It''s as we suspected. Ramon escaped. What''s more, he sold the building to someone else."


    Crack.


    At that moment, a sound interrupted the young man, and he went silent.


    "Find him and get me my money."


    "...what about the building?" The young man fearfully asked.


    "What building? You mean my building?"


    "I understand." The young man hurriedly replied.


    How could he not understand what the boss meant by those words? Ramon might have thought he could play a trick and escape, but the man before him was someone not even the patrol corps could easily mess with.


    "I''ll take my leave now." Seeing as there was no command left for him, he bowed and raised his head as he prepared to leave. It was then that he noticed a corpse on the floor with the head bent in an impossible manner.


    Recalling the sound he heard earlier, the young man realised what had happened and made his exit right way.


    . . .


    Unbeknownst to Lucas, undercurrents that could cost him his life were stirring, but the latter was engrossed in his reading. With a strong soul that bolstered his physical capabilities, not only were Lucas'' senses sharp, but his reading speed and memory were better than they were in the past.


    "Congratulations host. The store has officially been upgraded and is open to launch."


    While Lucas was reading about the metals and materials in this new world and some other information that piqued his interest, the system''s voice interrupted his focus. However, Lucas wasn''t angry but was pleasantly surprised instead. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Finally.''


    Lucas smiled as he felt that his efforts were finally paying off.


    It was then that he noticed that the interior of the room was quite different from how it was before. Probably because he was too engrossed in reading, Lucas had failed to notice when the room began to subtly change. It still retained the same background colour but the cracks and damages on the walls were gone.


    There were also some new patterns and posters that brightened up the place, as well as some new furnitures that didn''t look out of place. Everything had changed so drastically yet quietly, that if Lucas didn''t know what the room looked like before, he wouldn''t even have noticed anything different.


    This in turn raised his hopes, as he couldn''t wait to see the complete renovations.


    Departing the room, Lucas began to take note of the area and easily spotted the differences. The staircases were a different colour, the same with the floor tiling. The lighting was upgraded, and on one side of the wall was a rectangular tablet fixed on the wall. Lucas walked towards it and clicked on it, finding out it was a special kind of control device with monitoring capabilities.


    It seemed like the system had installed cameras around the building, and he could monitor the situation from this device.


    Lucas walked downstairs and was amazed by what he saw. Compared to before, the ground floor looked more organised and impressive.


    The old tables and chairs were replaced with new and exquisite ones. The layout wasn''t that of a diner like before, but a waiting lobby with sofas and coffee tables arranged in a random yet mysteriously organized fashion. There were a few paintings on the wall and some plants at the corners of the lobby, adding a natural touch to the room.


    The waiting lobby was divided into two sides, but this wasn''t obvious as the demarcation was nothing more than a few pillars with plant vases. As such, one could still easily peep into the other area.


    There was a checkout counter by the wall, close to the stairs, for attending to customers. Behind the checkout was a door that led to a room at the back. Lucas walked through the door and entered the room, only to be greeted with an astonishing work area for a blacksmith. There was a furnace, a work bench, a rack filled with tools, a line of counters, and more.


    In summary, the room was quite spacious and very well equipped and ventilated. Even as he stood here, Lucas felt as if an air conditioner was turned on, but he saw none in here. Lucas had no doubt that even if he was working here, the room temperature wouldn''t be as high as the furnace.


    Lucas happened to glance behind and noticed that beside the door was a see-through window, however, he never noticed the window from the other side. He went back to the checkout and glanced at the wall before returning to the work-station with his eyebrows raised in surprise.


    It turns out that wasn''t a window but an LCD screen that displayed the lobby area of the store. It was just so thin, and the current angle displayed made it such that Lucas mistook it for a window.


    Apart from the work-station, there was another room on the ground floor as well as a restroom.


    "This is quite impressive, system. Good job."


    So far, so good, Lucas was pleased with the renovations.


    "Host hasn''t explored the store entirely. The renovations cover the entire premises and not just this building." said the system.


    "The entire premises?" Lucas was shocked, following which he left the building and checked out the entire premises. One should recall that along with the building he bought, there was also a smaller one by the side.


    It wasn''t until thirty minutes later that Lucas was done, and he had a grin on his face. The system''s renovations were definitely of the highest standard, and what''s more, it added an extra floor to the main building; a basement. The basement could only be accessed from the workshop, and what lay underneath was part of the reason for Lucas'' grin.


    Lucas walked outside and realised that the changes were indeed encompassing. Even the pavement and grass were fixed up. Behind the building, there was now a small flowerbed that was in the opposite direction of the patio structure.


    As for the structure on the other side that looked like a patio, it was similarly renovated and became a building at this point, but wasn''t on Lucas'' mind at the moment. The system''s renovations, apart from the main building, would not drastically change the contents of the other structures.


    While it looked like a storage room, there was a possibility that it might not be simple, but Lucas left that for another day. He was already satisfied with the renovations, and he couldn''t wait to get to work right away.


    "Before host begins, the system would like to give a word of advice." The plain voice of the system sounded in Lucas'' ears after he re-entered the workstation.


    "Oh, what''s up?"


    "The operating mechanism of the workstation has been modified to suit the host''s familiarity, however, changes were still made to improve the integrity of the equipment and functionality. For instance, in the forge [1], you have to select your choice of flames, and this can be done through the push of a button or mental communication.


    For the moment, there are only two options; Crimson Dragon Flames and Blue Magma Flames. As for their functionality and differences, host will discover that on your own. Do keep in mind that certain flames would need to be fed when in operation.


    "The counters are spatial storages with a maximum storage of five cubic metres and you can find some spare materials for starting up in them. Some of the equipment in the work-station are automatic, while others operate manually. Host can decide to utilise them through either actions or thoughts. There are a few other things to take notes on, but host will find out as you go on.


    As the training system, it is inappropriate if the system is to give you all related information from the start."


    With each statement the system made, Lucas'' eyes shone brighter as a smile appeared on his face. He wasn''t bothered by the fact that he had to figure out the rest of the features but was pleased that the system gave him a starting investment. Lucas wasn''t exactly financially buoyant unless he sold his Purple Iridium stock, which was both dumb and out of the equation, so this was helpful.


    . . .


    Lucas eventually got to work and lost track of time. Before he knew it, the day was coming to an end. It was at this moment that the spy, who had been monitoring the premises, decided to make his move.

 Chapter 14: Chapter 14 : Invader

    One might wonder how did the spy, who had his eyes and attention on the building for most of the time, fail to realise that the building and its attachments had abruptly changed. The answer was simple; the system''s meddling.The system was an entity that could easily orchestrate Lucas'' rebirth on Earth and transmigrate his soul as well as his past life''s body into this world. Changing a building and a few structures while brainwashing a character by the side at the same time, was nothing too difficult. Of course, neither Lucas nor the spy even knew this.


    At the darkest point at the night, the spy felt it was best to strike. He had less than fourteen hours to give results to his boss. What''s more, Ramirez'' men had come into contact with the target twice now. The spy felt a sense of urgency to make his move otherwise he wouldn''t get his commission and his profile in the community might get ruined.


    He arrived by the building and quietly scaled it, reaching towards a window by the side. Being a professional tracker at the first first level of the Aperture Opening stage, this wasn''t too difficult to pull off.


    The spy prepared to break in through the window but noticed that it was actually open. Albeit surprised, it wasn''t by much. Different people had different preferences.


    The room was dark but to the spy, this wasn''t an issue. He looked around and spotted a bed with a silhouette laid on it.


    ''Found ya.''


    The man pulled out a tranquilizer gun, but shaped like a Glock. He aimed at the silhouette and fired twice.


    The silhouette moved a bit but quickly went still. The spy smirked seeing this and approached the target.


    Suddenly, he took a step back and tilted his head to the side as his eyes abruptly narrowed.


    A chisel darted towards his throat but the previous action of the spy proved to be useful as the tool narrowly missed. However, that wasn''t all.


    At the same time the chisel flew out, a figure lunged at him from the other side of the bed. The spy had successfully dodged the chisel attack but he was put in a difficult position to dodge the next attack. Nonetheless, there was no sign of anxiety or fear in his eyes as he let go of the weapon and punched forward.


    Bam.


    Two fists collided and surprisingly, they were equal.


    Although he was slightly surprised, the spy counterattacked right away and punched with his free hand at the opponent.


    Thud.


    The attacker was forced backwards until they crashed into the wall.


    An opportunity to follow-up appeared, but the spy wasn''t in a hurry. From what he had experienced so far, the assailant was much weaker than he was, both in terms of speed and strength, so there was no rush.


    "Oh, it''s you." The spy said.


    "It seems like you noticed I''ve been monitoring you. I''m sure I was careful so how come?"


    Lucas stared at the enemy without responding, part of the reason being the intense pain he felt almost as if his internal organs were tumbling about. If not for his experiences in his past lives, the pain alone would have knocked Lucas unconscious.


    Originally, Lucas wouldn''t have been able to notice the man but with the spy constantly monitoring him all the time, it was inevitable that he would slip-up once. With his strong soul force and increased senses, Lucas would be able to spot him during such slip-ups.


    "Doesn''t matter. I''ll be taking you with me now, especially that glove of yours." The spy said. Together with the information he had as well as the earlier clash, he could see that the blacksmith gloves were quite special and probably had some force-negation effect.


    Lucas stood up from the ground with a frown on his face.


    This time around, the enemy was much stronger and the gap was larger. Lucas'' real strength averaged at the Muscle refining level of the Body Strengthening stage. Together with the special effects of the gloves, he could take on an opponent at the Bone refining level. However, the opponent this time around was different.


    Lucas could clearly sense a mystical energy within the enemy which showed that his assailant had completed the Body Strengthening stage. In this world, that would make him a practitioner of the Aperture Opening stage.


    In the Stellar Refinement system, until a practitioner reached the Guardian stage, which was the third stage, they would be a body-honer or Stellar Evolver; depending on their physical abilities and using stellar energy to boost those abilities. However, the second stage, Aperture Opening stage, was quite different from the first.


    Apart from relying on physical strength, they could also manipulate stellar energy externally. This, as well as the increase in physical prowess, made them much stronger than the first stage practitioners.


    Even with his experience and everything, Lucas was aware that this battle was one he couldn''t win. But at the same time, it was one he had to win. Luckily, he had the system.


    "You should just stay down quietly."


    The spy charged at Lucas once he stood up.


    Lucas tried to dodge, but despite having expected the attack, he was too slow to react in time.


    Tap.


    "Hmm?" S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The spy was surprised that unlike the last time, there was no reaction from his punch. The previous blow he landed on Lucas was held back with the only intent to keep his opponent down but not critically injure him.


    This time around, the spy used more power as he wanted to knock Lucas out while dealing a severe blow to him. However, Lucas remained standing and didn''t even take half a step back.


    The spy was confused but his thoughts were interrupted when he saw Lucas'' fist closing in on his face. He dodged right away but instead of retreating, the man sent a more powerful blow attack at Lucas.


    Tap.


    Without a doubt, the result was the same.


    At this point, the man suspected Lucas to be in possession of a force-negating body armour. If there could be a set of gloves, why not an armour? This wasn''t mentioned to him because Lucas'' previous enemies were unable to land a clean blow on him. Due to this, it was natural for his true skills to remain a mystery and so, it surprised the man.


    The man released another punch but the result was the same. Seeing Lucas prepare to counterattack, he hurriedly retreated and landed behind with a light step.


    "Who would have expected this to be happening? Quite interesting indeed." The spy smirked.


    At the same time, Lucas heard a voice in his head.


    "Host Protection Mechanism has been fully activated."


    Host Protection Mechanism (HPM) was a new feature Lucas had unlocked after the store''s renovation was completed. Unlike the other benefits he got from the system, the Host Protection Mechanism was only activated within the store (the additional building included) and the surrounding area of ten feet around it.


    Once the HPM was fully activated within the applicable space, Lucas would be immune to all forms of harm as defined by the system. According to the system''s description of ''harm'', this happened to be a hit with a certain level of force capable of injuring the host. At the same time, ''harm'' also referred to any dangerous substance or item capable of injuring the host.


    Essentially, within the area of the store, Lucas would be immortal and unkillable.


    As for why the first attack by the spy had injured him, it was simply because Lucas didn''t fully activate the Host Protection Mechanism at that moment. He had wanted to experience what it truly felt like to face someone on the Aperture Opening stage with his current abilities.


    Nonetheless, because the HPM was meant to protect the host, it would always be active, but in this passive form, the host could receive damage but not enough to kill or severely injure him. The excess damage from an attack would instead be converted into pain, which explains why Lucas was in severe pain after receiving a blow that should have broken a few of his ribs.


    "Although I don''t know how you did it, I don''t think a defence such as yours can stop me. To be honest, I''m quite curious. How much force can your armour negate? Which would last longer, the armour or you?" The spy''s voice sounded.


    Lucas frowned but took a battle stance right after standing up. There was no escaping here, what''s more, he had to capture the spy and interrogate him about his employers. Apart from the debt-collector and the kidnappers, Lucas didn''t recall offending anyone. Of course the pawnshop was a suspect and even the pub, but compared to the other two, they weren''t as suspicious.


    So to ensure he made no mistakes, Lucas wanted to capture this lead.


    ''I can''t lose this.''

 Chapter 15: Chapter 15: A Gamble

    Once again, the man charged at Lucas but this time around, Lucas could sense a dangerous vibe from the opponent. If the previous strikes were an attempt to take Lucas down and capture him, the pressure Lucas felt at this moment was similar but mixed with killing intent. The spy was now serious.Whoosh.


    A fist tore through the air heading towards Lucas. The latter tried to dodge but proved slower than his attacker as the strike landed. However, once again, the blow didn''t result in anything substantial, but the spy was unperturbed by this as he unleashed a flurry of attacks on Lucas.


    Even though Lucas was immune to harm, the constant hits by the spy seemed to be somewhat effective as it managed to shake Lucas.


    According to the system''s description of ''harm'', any amount of force capable of injuring Lucas would be mitigated. However, this didn''t mean that all the force from an attack would be eliminated. A slight amount of force would remain, but to Lucas, it was very negligible.


    However, with the spy constantly attacking and not giving him any breathing space, the force began to have a minimal effect on him.


    To put it into perspective, it was like using a massaging equipment on your body. The force from the equipment isn''t enough to injure and could be described as soothing. However, if one were to have hundreds of massaging equipment acting on their body at the same time, the force would become uncomfortable and might even cause harm.


    This was what Lucas was experiencing. Nonetheless, it wasn''t harmful but uncomfortable, which caused him to shiver a bit.


    The spy noticed this and presumed that his attack was having an effect, strongly believing that he was close to reaching the breaking point of Lucas'' ''equipment''. As such, he increased the strength and speed of his attacks.


    Most times, Lucas failed to dodge the attacks and was struck by multiple of them. But there were a few times he either managed to dodge or block the attacks. Even so, things didn''t look good for him as the spy successfully dodged each of his counter attacks.


    If Lucas couldn''t turn things around, the spy might eventually get tired and decide to end things quicker, forcefully seizing Lucas. The Host Protection Mechanism could only protect Lucas from direct harm, but being captured didn''t constitute as direct harm.


    Also, being sedated with a tranquillizer didn''t count as harm too, which was why Lucas had faked his silhouette on the bed with a couple of pillows to avoid the tranquillizer gun.


    Realising that at this point, things looked bad for him Lucas decided to change his strategy.


    Lucas fired a fist at the spy but the latter easily dodged it by moving his head to the side.


    At that moment, Lucas'' eyes turned vicious.


    ''Restore.''


    A chisel appeared on his other hand right when Lucas counterattacked and he flung it at man. But the enemy dodged it and instead countered with another ferocious blow to his.


    Previously, the spy had been aiming at Lucas'' abdomen and limbs, but this time around, the attack was aimed at Lucas'' head. He wanted to knock Lucas out and end the battle.


    ''Restore.''


    Lucas didn''t retreat in the face of the attack, rather he couldn''t. Nonetheless, there was no worry in his eyes as he summoned another chisel from his system inventory and stabbed at the spy''s neck. He planned on taking the hit while delivering a ruthless attack of his own.


    The spy realised this and prepared to retreat, as it was impossible for him to continue with his attack and dodge Lucas'' attack due to the angle it came from. However, he noticed that there was a slight trace of hesitation and worry in Lucas'' eyes and this made him have seconds thoughts.


    All this happened within a few milliseconds and there was not much time to think, so the spy bit the bullet and continued with his attack.


    The man''s thought pattern was that Lucas wouldn''t be able to handle his attack and was bluffing with his. The trace of worry and hesitation in Lucas'' eyes was what made him confident in his estimation so he went on with his attack.


    The man guessed that Lucas was approaching his limit and his attack was threatening to the latter. So, as long as his attack hit, Lucas would be injured and unable to go on with his retaliation.


    Puchi.


    Blood dyed the ground as the sounds of fighting went still.


    He spy had his eyes wide open as he stared at Lucas who was unharmed, however, the same wasn''t true for him. Blood spurted out from the injury on his neck as reluctance hung in his eyes, but his emotions couldn''t change the result. His gamble had failed.


    Seemingly realising something, the man glared at Lucas and wanted to say a few words, but the latter strengthened his grip on the chisel and stabbed deeper into the man''s throat.


    The spy still tried to hold onto his life, refusing to believe that this was how he would do down, but Lucas wasn''t so nice. With a frown, Lucas moved his other arm -which also had a chisel in it- and stabbed at the other side of the man''s neck. Then he took out both chisels, leading to a stream of blood flowing from the two wounds.


    The spy was now plagued with two grievous wounds and the light in his eyes became clouded until they went dark.


    In the end, the spy died despite his unwillingness. As his last thoughts turned dark, he couldn''t believe that this was how he departed this world; at the hands of a human who didn''t even have a shred of stellar energy. The man didn''t even go all out against Lucas and only relied on his physical abilities, but that decision of his had now cost him his life.


    Lucas stepped away and let the corpse fall to the ground. He let out a sigh of relief as he sent the chisels back into his inventory and massaged his head.


    Although the Host Protection Mechanism had successfully kept him safe throughout the fight, Lucas couldn''t help but finally feel relieved.


    As for how he won, it was a trick he played mid battle. Lucas made a slight expression of fear and hesitation when the spy struck out, but he hurriedly kept it back. In truth, this expression was feigned and the intention was to mislead the spy. With the skills of the man, it wouldn''t have been difficult for him to dodge Lucas'' assault if he gave up on attacking.


    As such, Lucas had to prevent that from happening, hence why he gave the man hope through his expressions. Being quite skilled, it was naturally for the spy to spot the ''hidden'' meaning behind Lucas'' expression. In the end, he took the bait and fell at the hands of one he looked down on.


    Many factors affected this battle and led to Lucas'' victory like the fact the spy underestimated him, or his lack of knowledge on the existence of the Host Protection Mechanism or its impregnable characteristic. If the spy had from the start utilised his stellar energy or gotten his hands back on his tranquillizer gun, Lucas would have lost.


    This battle made Lucas aware of weakness and further strengthened his resolve to learn magic or stellar refining at the very least. This time round, the system came to his rescue but what about next time? What if he was assaulted outside the store? He could no longer keep dulling; this wasn''t Earth. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the spy now dead, Lucas couldn''t question him about his identity and hirer, but that wasn''t a problem. Lucas searched the corpse and found a communicator just as he had suspected. From the spy''s attitude, it was clear he didn''t find Lucas a challenging opponent, and with that being the case, he wouldn''t see the mission to be stressful.


    This might not seem like much, but it meant that the spy would be less cautious, to the point of carrying evidence and traces with him. If the target was a more higher or powerful figure, the spy wouldn''t move around with his communicator, lest his leaves behind trails once caught or killed.


    Lucas used the biometric option and activated the communicator after using the man''s finger. He then scrolled towards the message app and went through them one at a time, until he found something interesting; a name that made his blood turn cold.


    Kalvin Petri.


    The name wasn''t familiar to him, but the words written beside it was what caught his attention.


    Kalvin Petri (Vinis Store vice-manager).


    It was somewhat unexpected that the spy, or kidnapper, was sent by the higher-ups from the Vinis store. While he had been a bit suspicious, Lucas had his attention more on the debt-collector from earlier or the three gang members he killed previously.


    He even felt it was more likely for a stranger who had seen him before to assault him as he had already experienced the ''allure'' humans had on his first day. The Vinis store was on the lower side of his list of suspects, after all, the store had a good reputation in the West Wing district for doing business. But it looked like that was a lie, a well-hidden one.


    ''I guess I owe them a visit one day.''

 Chapter 16: Chapter 16 : Going Out

    Seven days went by with Lucas locking himself up within the store''s premises. He spent the days doing what he loved; forging and reading about metals and materials. Apart from that, Lucas had also tried to find a solution to his ''curse'', but there was nothing on that.Rather than saying there was no solution, it was more like Lucas was on the bottom tier of the power pyramid, so the information he needed was out of his reach.


    Lucas did find something interesting, though.


    Planet Eretre was ruled by a monarchical power known as the Oklo Dynasty. The Oklo Dynasty, despite being powerful, couldn''t directly rule the vast planet all by themselves, so they came up with the idea of having city-states, with each city-state having a city lord take charge of it to administrate on their behalf. At the same time, they granted each city-state a certain level of autonomy.


    As such, the four continents of Eretre ended up being divided into thirteen city-states. However, it might be more apt to say that there were twelve city-states split across three continents, as one of the four continents only had a single city-state and was ruled directly by the Oklo Dynasty.


    Despite being called city-states, their territories were essentially as large as nations on Earth. Each city-state had its own form of division, but the main seat of command would be the main city, which would have the same name as the city-state. Take Lucas'' location for instance; the city-state was called Baylands while the main city was called Baylands city.


    The lower divisions were called districts, but the five districts at the center were special because they formed Baylands City. A district was a very large city or town, nothing like their Earth counterparts.


    Back to what Lucas found out, there was a certain city-state known as Digress on the Beast continent. Unlike the other city-states, Digress was formed by humans and mixed bloods or different species. In summary, it was a paradise for lifeforms and species rejected or mistreated by the hyuman society or other alien societies, after all, Eretre wasn''t only populated by hyumans.


    It was rumoured that there were practitioners of stellar refining there, and they had reached high levels. Even the current city-lord of Digress was a human at a high level of the Aperture Opening stage; on par with the other city-lords. However, not only was Digress city-state on a different continent quite far away, the system had based Lucas here in Baylands so leaving wasn''t that simple.


    "System, Digress city-state is run by a human. How did they pull it off?"


    "Host needs to open the store for business; otherwise, the system can''t assist the host."


    Lucas was not surprised by the answer.


    Nowadays, the system has been harassing him to open the store, but Lucas spent the past week revisiting his forging skills and experimenting with the metals of this world. The system already gave him a stock of metals to work with, and although they couldn''t compare with the Purple Iridium and Red Iris Stone -the second metal he got as a reward alongside the former- Lucas was satisfied with them.


    He planned on using a month''s time to freshen up his skills and improve his strength in some way before leaving the store to explore. It might sound cowardly, but safety was important, and this was most likely his last chance at life.


    Suddenly, Lucas'' interface opened up in front of him with a message on it.


    [[ Mission Description: The host has been delaying, and as such, the system is being forced to take action.


    Overview: Open the store within thirty six hours.


    Rewards: Basic immunity package for craftsmen.


    Penalty: Death. ]]


    "Oh wow, how supportive of you." Lucas sarcastically remarked.


    Although the system''s rewards were usually worth it, the fact it decided to use a mission with a death penalty to force Lucas to open the store made him feel uncomfortable. This time, the mission wasn''t difficult, but what about next time?


    "Host need not worry. To prevent abuse of power and to give the host free roam, the system has a limited monthly quota of self-made missions. The quotas can''t be accumulated as well."


    The system, which clearly read his mind, replied.


    "How many is that?"


    "Access denied."


    Lucas gave up and exited the work-shop with a few objects in his hand. One of them was his latest creation; an object that looked like a flat board. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apart from spare materials, there were also some blueprints and drawings for Lucas to practice and learn from. When he first spoke to the system and asked what it was, the system stated that it''s role was to train a Crafts-god, not a Blacksmith god. Originally, Lucas didn''t think much of it until he saw the blueprints.


    Lucas placed all his creations into his system inventory and left the store after taking a quick bath and a change of clothes. The clothes, surprisingly, had appeared in his wardrobe after the renovations were completed, and they fit right into the fashion standards of this world.


    With a map displayed on his communicator, Lucas analyzed his surroundings.


    The location of the store was a bit isolated, one of the reasons why Lucas had managed to get it cheap, but the good thing was that it was still in the region of the market zone. The closest building to it was a closed down shop and two warehouses, but a couple metres away, there were more buildings and stores. Some of them sold clothings and apparel, while a few dealt in jewellery or some tech.


    There happened to be two stores that sold weapons and handled maintenance, but they were spaced apart by at least one hundred metres. Despite that, they had a lot of traffic. One of the most frequented buildings ''closer'' to Lucas was a restaurant, and it so happened that this restaurant was the reason Ramon went out of business and sold the store.


    Lucas decided to check out one of the stores that sold weapons, as, in a sense, they would end up being his competitors in the future. On his way, he noticed that a few of the clothing stores around him didn''t sell regular clothing. Rather, what they had in their stores was special clothing that doubled as armour.


    West Wing bordered the Wastelands to the west, so although it was part of Baylands city and protected by the city patrol corps, it was at risk of attacks by desolate beasts. For this reason too, one of the most common occupations in the West Wing district was Freelancing.


    Not to be confused with the equivalent on Earth, freelancing was a mercenary or adventurer role, from what Lucas found out back when he spent his time indoors reading. Some stellar refiners who were confident in their skills and needed a source of income or combat experience, would venture into Freelancing.


    They would take missions from a client to either hunt down a specific desolate beast or retrieve some rare herb or material in risk-prone areas like the Wastelands. Even when they weren''t on missions, freelancers would still venture into such regions to seize materials or kill desolate beasts for their parts, which they would then sell for money.


    West Wing was the closest to a desolate beast habitat, the Wasteland, so it was only natural for many of the occupants and visitors to be freelancers. The lower ranking freelancers lived in the West Wing district, but the much stronger and better rankers lived in the better districts away from the slums. Nonetheless, to get to the Wastelands, one would still have to pass the West Wing district.


    With that in mind, many of the stores in this market zone cater to freelancers.


    Lucas walked in and took a look at the armour and special clothings the store sold, impressed by the craftsmanship involved. The armours were lightweight yet sturdy and almost impenetrable, while the special clothing looked no different from everyday wear, but the materials used to make them were not your average cotton or wool.


    Even though he merely glanced at one of them, having worked with weapons and armour most of his combined lifetime, Lucas was certain that even the sharpest daggers on Earth wouldn''t be able to pierce the t-shirt despite its simple appearance. Maybe the vestige, the special dagger used by one of the three kidnappers, could do some damage. But to what extent was unknown unless Lucas tried it out.


    One of the blueprints at the store was a design like the armours here, but Lucas was still working on the simpler designs at the moment.


    "Hello, sir, are you interested in anything here?" A salesgirl walked up to Lucas and asked.


    "Not really. I''m just looking around." Lucas replied.


    The girl nodded and was about to step aside, but then she halted and stared at Lucas a bit more before she left. He noticed this but acted as if he didn''t. Lucas understood why she reacted like that. She probably noticed that he was a human after getting close to him. From a distance, it wasn''t obvious, but under scrutiny at close proximity, a hyuman would be able to see the difference.


    Lucas walked around the store a bit more as he took in the sight of the designs and clothing, there were jackets, dresses, trousers, and even underwear, both regular and special. Just as he was about to take a closer look at a trenchcoat that caught his eye, Lucas heard a voice from behind.


    "Excuse me, sir, but the management wants you to leave the building."

 Chapter 17: Chapter 17 : Prejudice

    "Excuse me, sir, but the management wants you to leave the building."Lucas turned around and noticed the speaker was a man standing behind him. Looking at his outfit, he could easily guess that the man was an employee of the store.


    As he turned around, Lucas was a bit surprised and questioned,


    "Me?" S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right, mister. You." The man replied.


    "And why''s that?" Lucas asked.


    The man frowned slightly, seeing as Lucas was still asking questions, but he replied him albeit less pleasantly.


    "I''ve been monitoring you for a while now. From your actions, you seem be loitering around the store rather than meaning to purchase something. Our store doesn''t patronise loiterers as they consume space and might affect the business of others. As such, we have to escort them out."


    The man then pointed at a billboard hung on the wall.


    There was indeed a ''No loitering'' sign.


    Lucas was surprised that a store actually had such a rule. While reasonable, it might give off a bad impression and seem like a form of mistreatment. But then again, such a rule wasn''t exactly bad and gave off a premium air to a store.


    However, something was weird about this.


    Lucas hadn''t even spent five minutes in the store, and he was already deemed to be loitering. If someone said there wasn''t something strange happening, he wouldn''t believe it.


    At that moment, the pride of having sat on high tables and held powerful positions took over him.


    Lucas stared at the man with an enigmatic smile as he asked.


    "But what makes you think I was loitering?"


    "You''ve spent a lot of minutes wandering around the store, and it''s very obvious you can''t afford what we sell. Security, please escort this man out of the premises."


    At this point, the man was irritated and could no longer bear having a discussion on the topic.


    It was then that Lucas understood what was happening. The clothes that he got after the system renovated the store weren''t trendy or high fashion but average. That, paired with his identity as a human, Lucas understood a lot.


    The security guard wasn''t a living being, but a humanoid robot that stood guard by the door. There were three such robots, and one of them walked over after receiving the command.


    "Please come with me.


    Lucas couldn''t sense any sign of life in it, but based just on appearance alone, it looked no different from a human being, even if its bodily expressions were being considered too.


    Lucas ignored the robot and pointed at the apparel he was staring at before the drama started.


    "Wrap this up for me before I leave."


    Both the robot and man were stunned, looking at Lucas with a confused expression.


    "What? You don''t attend to customers any longer? I want this item wrapped up for me." Lucas said calmly.


    The man frowned as he was about to say something when Lucas added with a loud voice, "Last I heard, the store is open to every customer. Or am I wrong?"


    Lucas faced the man calmly, without any evident expression on his face.


    The man knew that, at this point, he couldn''t chase Lucas away. Their clash had already drawn attention, and with Lucas claiming to be a customer, they had to attend to his needs.


    Speciesism might exist in Baylands City, but that doesn''t mean everyone agrees with this point. An example was when Lucas went to the pub but wasn''t treated differently, or when the salesgirl noticed his identity but didn''t shoo him away from the store.


    With the matter now escalating, the man had to let Lucas be. However, he had a plan. The trenchcoat was quite costly, and unless one either had an impressive amount in their savings or worked a high-paying job like a freelancer, it would be difficult to afford it. On average, humans couldn''t work as freelancers due to their genetic disabilities.


    As for other high-paying jobs, those usually depended on one''s connections, and the connections a human would have in the West Wing district would definitely not be worth much. With all that in mind, the man suspected that Lucas was trying to find a way out.


    "Sure, let''s get it wrapped for you." The man smiled sinisterly.


    ''I''ll see whether you can afford it or not.''


    Lucas and the man walked towards the check counter with the security robot. An order was made for the trenchcoat. A bag was brought by a different salesgirl who was in charge of finalizing purchases.


    While all this took place, Lucas remained calm.


    The Purple Iridium ingot was pawned for five thousand federal coins. Lucas spent two thousand and eight hundred (2800) coins to purchase the store, leaving him with two thousand and two hundred (2200) coins left. However, after killing the three kidnappers and the spy from before, Lucas rummaged their corpses and retrieved a combined sum of seven hundred coins from both parties.


    In truth, he got more, but the cards with the majority of the money were inaccessible to him. The aforementioned amount was in the form of cash and prepaid debit cards. For most prepaid cards, the pins weren''t complicated and were sometimes recorded behind the card.


    With that much money, he wasn''t bothered about the cost of the clothing. The average monthly salary in the West Wing district was four hundred federal coins. Even for freelancers, this was still a sum for most.


    Also, this store didn''t look all that premium; otherwise, it wouldn''t be here. From that, Lucas estimated the trenchcoat to cost less than a thousand, even if it was of high quality. He planned on checking it out later in detail, so one couldn''t say that this was a rushed purchase, as Lucas would have both something similar while walking around the street.


    Once the salesgirl returned with the item, she also reported the price to Lucas.


    Normally, the price is reported before the item is brought, but the man made the salesgirl switch the order. Lucas gleamed from this that the man was probably a high ranking individual in the store.


    "Two hundred and seventy five federal coins." The girl said.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised it was ''cheaper'' than he thought. However, the man misinterpreted his silence as a concession.


    "Well, well well, I think it''s ti-"


    Before he could go on, he was interrupted by Lucas, who stretched out his hand with a card in it.


    "You can process the payment for me now and hand me my item."


    At that moment, everyone in the store was stunned. That was two hundred and seventy (270) federal coins, not some cheap change. Even rent in the West Wing district''s residential area didn''t cost that much, yet Lucas handed it out with an unperturbed expression. This showed that he didn''t consider it as much. Then what was ''much''? Their store probably didn''t even have such an item.


    In that very moment, the man who had singled him out was stunned.

 Chapter 18: Chapter 18 : The Old Man And The Little Girl

    Two hundred and seventy (270) federal coins was not chicken change no matter how one looked at it. While federal coins were the major unit of currency, there was a lesser unit called federal pence, of which one hundred of them were equivalent to a federal coin. This was a means to prevent inflation due to the high value of a federal coin.Generally, most everyday transaction was calculated with pences and usually didn''t exceed thirty coins. Even the latest technical gadgets wouldn''t go past this figure most times, unless it had something to do with stellar energy or freelancers.


    The impressive value of the federal coin could be seen from the fact that the Vinis store charged twenty coins for a prepaid debit card, which was very costly for an average folk.


    So when the store employees saw as Lucas was unperturbed by the price of the trench-coat despite his looks, they were shocked and realised that they probably underestimated him.


    Being human didn''t deny one of the majority of opportunities, and while there weren''t much human freelancers, it didn''t mean that there weren''t wealthy characters amongst them. At this point, the man who worked as a salesman in the store, guessed that Lucas was one of them.


    ''Damn it.''


    The store had a rule against loiterers but not customers as that would be dumb. Now, the man was stuck in a difficult situation. He could simply swallow his pride, apologize and process the deal, but he didn''t want to.


    It was just like Lucas had guessed; the man had prejudice against humans and looked down on them. Despite the obvious fact that hyumans descended from humans, he looked down on the latter and felt that the comparison was the same as placing apes on the same pedestal as humans. So even if Lucas could afford it, the man wasn''t willing to give up.


    He had some authority in the store, and refusing to sell to some random human should not affect him negatively, even if the news got to the manager.


    "I''m sorry, but the item is out of stock." The man said this to Lucas.


    Not just Lucas, but even the salesgirl by the counter was shocked. The customers in the store who were paying attention to the scene were also surprised but some had a knowing look on their face. It was clear what was going on, but there was no solid reason for them to intervene; it had nothing to do with them.


    "Out of stock?" Lucas glanced at the man as if he were a fool.


    Holding back his anger, the man blandly replied, "Yes. What you see here is the last of our stock, and it has already been reserved by a high-value customer. As such, we can''t sell it. Please come again next time, and maybe we will have one available for you."


    At this point, Lucas realised that the man wasn''t willing to give up. One way or the other, he was determined to humiliate Lucas.


    Just when Lucas was considering whether he should blow the matter up or not, two individuals happened to appear close-by. One of them was a young girl, not more than fourteen years of age. She had brown hair and orange eyes, showing that her genes were extraordinary. The other individual was an elderly man with grey hair and a friendly smile.


    He looked like a genial grandfather figure as he held the little girl''s hand and walked closer.


    "Grandpa, what''s going on over there?"


    "Oh, it seems like the store''s employee is clashing with a customer."


    "Really? That''s bad."


    Some were surprised that the two were talking without a care in the world, despite the situation at hand. Even the man who was confronting Lucas had a slight frown on his face.


    Lucas, on the other hand, felt the duo were strange, especially the elderly man. Based on his experiences and senses, Lucas felt that the man was quite powerful. There was also a special feeling the man gave off. It wasn''t obvious and was even somewhat suppressed, but Lucas was quite sensitive to it.


    This sensation was one from someone in a powerful position as well as a figure who had seen blood; and lots of it. The old man was definitely not as ordinary as he seemed.


    "Grandpa, why does that guy give me a strange feeling?" The little girl said this as she pointed at Lucas, not caring how he felt.


    The latter raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn''t argue with her, as she was a little girl.


    "Hmm, that''s cause he''s human." The old man replied. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Human¡­?" The girl knit her brows.


    "Oh, like the people they taught us in school. The older generation. That''s amazing." The girl stared at Lucas with interest.


    "But why is he so weak?" She mumbled.


    "That''s how they are." The old man answered.


    ''...system, are you happy now? Even a kid mocks me in broad daylight.'' Lucas complained.


    "Host should open the store and then maybe there''s a chance." The system replied.


    Lucas'' eyes brightened, but then he calmed down. This might still be a ploy by the system to get him to open the store as soon as possible.


    The man was tired of the charades of the two, so he faced Lucas once again.


    "Since you are not buying anything, sir, please vacate the premises so we can better attend to other customers."


    Lucas frowned and for a minute, didn''t know how to respond. Based on the man''s reply, it was clear that even if he wanted to buy something else, the same dumb excuse would be given to him and Lucas could do nothing about it.


    Just then, the little girl''s voice sounded again.


    "Are they bullying him? Grandpa, can you lend him a hand?"


    The elderly man didn''t say anything but simply nodded as he glanced at the man.


    "Young friend, could you let him off for my sake?"


    The man frowned, seeing as the elderly man was about to intervene. He wanted to speak back, but when he glanced into the old man''s eyes, the man suddenly froze. Fear was in his eyes as he began to shiver slightly. Even breathing became an issue for him as he slowly felt his head become light.


    The robot guard that stood on standby noticed this and turned to the man, but he merely glanced at it, and the robot similarly froze in place. Despite the programming within it urging the robot to make a move, it just couldn''t.


    "You will do me this favour now, won''t you?"


    The man could finally breathe, but he was still terrified. He realised that the person facing him was not an ordinary figure but a freelancer, and a very high-ranking one at that.


    "Y, yes. Process the payment, quick!" The man rushed the salesgirl.


    She was stunned but did as she was told.


    Lucas paid for the item, and it was given to him right away.


    Seeing that everything was settled, the old man turned to the young girl with a smile on his face.


    "Let''s go elsewhere. I don''t think what we are looking for is here."


    "Sure, grandpa." The girl nodded.


    The girl was previously interested in Lucas'' identity, but it seemed like she had lost interest as she didn''t bother with him again.


    "Esteemed sir, please wait. I can help you look around for what it is you want. Even if we don''t have the exact model, a suitable replacement should be available. There are also a few nice items in stock."


    The salesgirl could guess a thing or two and realised they were high-value customers. If they spent a lot, she might get a commission, so she tried to convince them to stay.


    "No, thank you." The old man responded and left with the little girl.


    The robot was now free to move, yet it didn''t make a move any longer. The duo had already exited the store, and considering they didn''t commit a crime, its programming prevented it from chasing after them. Also, the robot knew that it could do nothing against the elderly man. After all, it was equipped with machine learning capabilities, so it was intelligent.


    As for Lucas, he had also left the store, not bothering to remain behind any longer. However, he did something no one else thought of doing.


    "Why are you following us?" The old man glanced behind.


    "I didn''t say my thanks for the help sir offered." Lucas bowed slightly and smiled.


    "No need." The old man responded with a flat tone.


    "If there''s anything the elder would like, I may be able to offer my help to you." Lucas said.


    "No need."


    "..."


    At this point, Lucas felt that he was communicating with a physical version of the system that usually went ''Access denied'' each time he was fishing for important information. Nonetheless, those experiences made him adept at handling such a situation.


    "Thank you for the help, little girl." Lucas said.


    "As a way to offer my thanks, I have a gift for you."


    Saying that, he took out a box, opened it, and displayed the content, which immediately attracted the little girl''s attention.

 Chapter 19: Chapter 19 : The Interesting Youngster

    Inside the box Lucas took out was a metal bracelet with a red gem in the middle. The bracelet was designed so well that it was aesthetically pleasing just to look at. Being a girl and a less young one with not much worldly experience, the girl couldn''t resist being attracted to the jewellery.The elderly man frowned at Lucas'' actions, but when he glanced at the reed gem in the middle, he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow. Although it looked like a gem, on closer inspection, one would realise that it was actually metal. This was a rare and valuable metal known as Red Iris stone.


    It was called a stone because of its outward appearance, but under further scrutinization, one would find out that it was a metal. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing this expensive piece of metal in a bracelet, the old man couldn''t help but study Lucas once again, trying to figure out who he was.


    "I like it." The little girl said this as she left the old man and approached the trinket box.


    Even though Lucas was a stranger, she wasn''t scared and instead had her focus on the bracelet the whole time. Lucas couldn''t help but lament at how naive she was, but that helped his case.


    "What do you want?" The old man ignored the girl and stared at Lucas with a solemn expression.


    There was no way someone would give out a bracelet with Red Iris stone and ask for nothing, even if the piece was just the size of a thumbnail. What''s more, the elderly man could see that the craftsmanship used in making this ornament was exquisite.


    Although there wasn''t much stellar energy in it nor any stellar matrix on it, so much so that one could say it''s a failed product, it was the purest form he had seen in an item in the entire West Wing district.


    If the blacksmith who crafted this piece of jewellery had imbued more stellar energy into it by etching runes or a formidable stellar matrix on it, the bracelet would easily become a top-tier vestige.


    At that moment, Lucas came under the same pressure as the man in the store and couldn''t move his body. But he wasn''t afraid.


    "Nothing really. Like I said, I just want to give my thanks for the help." Lucas calmly replied.


    "Using a vestige with Red Iris stone?" The old man scoffed, clearly not believing Lucas'' words.


    Lucas smiled, but still spoke calmly, "If you don''t believe me, so be it. I found your actions helpful and decided to thank you with a handcrafted item of mine. I could see that you were of great standing, so I had to show more honesty and thought with my gift. Sir, you shouldn''t think too much about it."


    The old man was surprised when he heard this. Not because of Lucas'' reasoning, but a claim he made.


    A handcrafted item of mine.


    This meant that the skilled blacksmith who made this vestige with such pure stellar energy was actually the young man before him? The old man couldn''t help but be shocked.


    In Eretre, the classes of metalworksmen was divided into two: Blacksmiths and Vestige-smiths. The former dealt with metals, whether ordinary or special. The latter made vestiges out of these metals. This might not seem like much, but the difference was.


    Blacksmiths simply made weapons and even the best of their creations could only produce a trace of stellar energy using special metals. However, vestige-smiths could imbue stellar energy in any of their creations by relying on either formidable runes of other/ancient civilizations or stellar matrices which was the culmination of hyuman technology.


    Most vestige-makers were vestige-smiths and only few blacksmiths had enough skill to rival them or come close. The bracelet had a trace of stellar energy; the criterion for defining a vestige. For a young man like Lucas to be able to achieve this without relying on runes or stellar matrices, his skill was the real deal.


    "How come I''ve never heard of you before?" The old man asked.


    "I just moved in and haven''t opened my store yet. That will be tomorrow." Lucas replied.


    "Alright." The old man nodded. He glanced at the little girl who was taring at him with puppy eyes. Although she had dashed towards the jewellery for a closer look, she wouldn''t take it unless he agreed.


    "Go ahead." The old man smiled at her with a gentle expression, a direct contrast to how he dealt with other people.


    "Yeh!" The girl rejoiced and immediately took the bracelet, ignoring the box even though just like the bracelet, it also had a trace of stellar energy.


    Clearly, she fancied the bracelet not for its properties but just its appearance.


    Lucas couldn''t help but sigh and at the same time rejoice that a knowledgeable figure like the old man was here otherwise his plot would have failed.


    Indeed, everything that was taking place was a plan of Lucas. The system wanted him to run a store, so in the long run, profits would be a focus of his. Considering the isolated location of the store as well as the existence of reputable competition, it would be hard for Lucas to stand out. So, he had to utilise ingenious methods to steal customers.


    The elderly man and the little girl didn''t seem like ordinary people. Based on how they carried themselves, the little girl was probably born into money and power while the old man wield it.


    Using one of his experimental products to win the favour and attention of such characters could be described as an investment. Originally, Lucas couldn''t do such out-of -the-blue, but the excuse of appreciation for prior aid offered worked really well.


    As for why he was confident that he had won the elderly man''s favour without the latter asking any question in particular, it was based off their actions and reactions.


    "Is there anything else, young man?" The old man asked.


    Knowing that the old man was hinting at his departure, Lucas replied with a slight bow, "Nothing. Thank you, sir."


    "Alright." The old man responded and left with his daughter whereas Lucas now had a smile on his face.

 Chapter 20: Chapter 20 : Vestiges

    After separating from the elderly man and the young girl, Lucas began to check some other stores. His experience in the clothing store didn''t dampen his desire to explore the other stores. This trip was vital to the success of his store, after all.In the next few hours, Lucas checked out some other clothing stores, jewellery stores, and a blacksmith shop. Unlike his experience in the first store, Lucas didn''t encounter any ''special treatment '' again.


    Although some of the customers and staff were surprised that there was a human, they eventually moved on from the shock; after all, humans were almost no different from hyumans based on their external appearance alone.


    In fact, the only notable external difference was the fact that hyumans were born naturally with coloured hair and eyes, unlike humans that were limited to brown, blonde, red and black for hair, and blue, amber, brown, black and, very rarely, grey, for eyes.


    After checking out a few stores, Lucas finally reached his last stop for the day. It was a Vestige store.


    According to what he learnt during his seclusion period indoors, vestiges were special products that had stellar energy within them; this world''s equivalent of magic weapons. The advantage of having mystical energy within an object was that they would become much stronger, durable, and powerful than their regular counterparts.


    Most vestiges were weapons or armours as the main reason vestiges were made was to combat alien species who could utilise stellar energy.


    The production of vestiges was even rumoured to have come about before the first generation of hyumans, after all, humans were still exploring their star region but they faced threats from other alien species. Regular firearms and weapons couldn''t compete with the enemy, so they had to make improvements and that was how vestiges came to be.


    Stellar matrices, which was the core of vestiges, were created during this period as well.


    Blacksmiths dealt with regular items but the smiths that crafted or created vestiges were usually called Vestige-smiths. The title wasn''t just for those who made weapons, but those who made space-ships, jewellery and any object that contained stellar energy.


    Considering that the system intended for Lucas to be the Crafts-God, there was no doubt that its intention was for him to be a vestige-smith. As such, Lucas had to be familiar with the standards of this world.


    Just as Lucas stepped into the store and glanced around, he noticed a familiar figure browsing the items in the store. It was the female cop he met when he first came into this world; the lady that had intervened when Lucas first clashed with the kidnappers.


    Despite seeing her however, Lucas made no attempt to meet her nor greet her. Both parties were strangers, and based on her behaviour back then, Lucas knew that trying to be friendly with her might backfire at him. For that reason, it was best that he stayed in his lane.


    Lucas glanced around and noticed that apart from cold weapons like swords, axes, and the likes, there were surprisingly hot weapons too. Lucas saw an assault rifle on display, but unlike the ones from Earth, this has some strange carvings and groove marks on the barrel and other parts of the body. Even the cartridge[1] that was kept beside it wasn''t spared.


    There were a few other rifles in this section with differing designs.


    Both the weapons and the cartridges, especially the latter, were made of special metals and had either runes or stellar matrices on them. One of the guns by the side was marked with stellar matrices while its corresponding cartridges were carved with runes.


    There weren''t just guns though, as other popular hot weapons like grenade launchers, RPGs and so on were on display.


    Lucas was surprised to see hot weapons here but not so much. This was a technological world so it was understandable. In fact, despite seeing the designs and appearance, Lucas had a feeling that the principle of operation for these weapons were probably different from those on Earth. In other words, while it looked like an RPG, it might be a laser-type weapon.


    "Hey system, what''s going on?" Lucas asked mentally.


    The system understood his question and replied, "As host levels up the system, new blueprints would be available. For more information, please open the store for operation."


    Lucas nodded as it made sense. If he were just to get access to everything right now, he would have almost no need for the system. At the same time, some of them might be too complex for him at the moment, and being a training system, it wouldn''t make sense for the system to grant him access to these blueprints right now.


    Despite being a grandmaster blacksmith in his last life, Lucas wasn''t so self-invested or prideful to think that he could make anything and everything in this world right away. Just this past week of working on the blueprints from the system already widened his perspective and taught him a lot.


    After looking around a bit, Lucas prepared to leave. He had tried purchasing one of the vestiges but found out that he needed to have either a freelancer license, a permit or a recommendation from a registered freelancer. This wasn''t like a certain country in his past life on Earth where one could walk into a store and easily get a rifle as long as they were above 18 years of age.


    There was a strict system here that prevented vestiges from easily getting into the hands of an average individual.


    The difficulty of purchase aside, Lucas had already checked out the cold weapon-type vestiges and made some mental comparisons with his own creations as well as the vestige he took from the corpse of the kidnappers. This comparison made him more confident in his skills, with the only problem being his lack of knowledge on stellar matrices and alien runes.


    Although he could find some sort of replaceable information on the KSSI (the solar system intranet), it couldn''t compare to that of reputed vestige-smiths or companies. One could learn the meaning of certain runes and stellar matrices online, but the tutorial on inscribing them was different.


    Because runes and stellar matrices were closely related to creating vestiges, they were classified information of sorts and confidential to individual vestige-smiths and companies. Even getting access to the basic and standard tutorials required one to be influential of sorts, or have passed certain exams by the city-state government.


    However, Lucas wasn''t worried. He had done a few experiments and found out that the magic runes from his first life worked out just fine here too, after a few changes. Being the only one familiar with such runes would make his products unique, and this was intended to be one of his selling points; a branding strategy, if you will.


    Just as he turned around to leave, Lucas overheard a conversation from a couple. They seemed to be lamenting about the absence of a certain item they wanted. As he caught sight of this, a thought crossed Lucas'' mind and slowly solidified into a plan.


    A man and a woman left the vestige store and began to walk away into the distance, however, after going a few metres, they stopped and turned around. Behind them was a young man who looked to be between 21-23 years of age. Despite being so young, his eyes gave off a light of wisdom and calmness, something that an average young adult shouldn''t have so soon.


    "Who might you be, and why are you following us?" The man asked.


    Lucas, who had been following behind the couple, calmly replied with a s mile.


    "I mean you no harm. In fact, I can''t harm you. As you can see, I am a human." Lucas answered.


    "As for why I was following you, I overheard your conversation in the store. Something about looking for a spear at the third grade."


    The couple visibly relaxed after Lucas'' reply, but they still kept their guards up, but not by much. It looked like the line ''I am human'' worked a lot to Lucas'' advantage.


    "And what about it?" The man asked with a plain look.


    "I happen to know a friend who''s a vestige-smith. I went over to his place just the other day and saw a really nice spear. It gave off an intimidating vibe, and looked quite powerful, too. I could hook you up if you are interested."


    Saying this, Lucas opened his communicator and projected an image right away, not giving the duo any time to react.


    The couple glanced at the image and were quite surprised by it. The spear in the image was well made from an aesthetic viewpoint. Even without seeing the real deal in front of them, it looked like a marvelous work by a blacksmith. However, what they wanted wasn''t regular metal work but a vestige.


    One couldn''t judge the value of a vestige by mere images, so there was no telling whether the spear was as powerful as it looked. Otherwise, it might as well just be a ceremonial weapon[2].


    The man frowned and prepared to reject, but the lady replied just then. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Can we have a look too?"


    "Well, not now. You see, he just moved into town and plans to open his store tomorrow. At the moment, none of his works are for sale until then." Lucas sighed.


    The woman stared at him for a while, before asking for the address of the store to which Lucas gave her. Right after that, the duo left.


    As for why Lucas lied and claimed the store was ran by a friend, it was simple. The duo were much stronger than him and having seen the value of a vestige in the previous store as well as knowing the importance of a vestige-smith, Lucas didn''t plan on telling them lest they kidnapped him and forced him to hand over his weapons as well as his secrets.


    Who knows, they might even lock him up in a secluded location and force him to make vestiges.


    This wasn''t impossible as human trafficking was a thing even with the government''s attempts at stopping it. As for whether those attempts are genuine or not, it wasn''t Lucas'' place to say.


    Lucas was currently weak, so he didn''t intend on drawing attention on himself at the moment. Unless he was in the store, he was as a weak as a chicken in the face of any freelancer out there. Nonetheless, even with the risk, Lucas still decided to give it a shot and invite them over for his launch the next day.

 Chapter 21: Chapter 21 : Final Preparations

    The day was coming to an end, but Lucas wasn''t satisfied yet. While he had managed to draw the attention of two high-profile potential customers, he felt he could do more. Although it was true that the system didn''t give him a task to do so, it was obvious that once he opened the store, its progress and sales would affect the system.Apart from that, Lucas still owed the Vinis pawnshop, so he had to make enough sales to pay back the principal amount plus interest.


    The best method to generate hype for his store''s launch was to create a scene.


    If one''s goal was to become renowned, there was no such thing as bad publicity; this was something Lucas learnt on Earth. Even serial killers had blockbuster movies made after them, pocketing millions while in jail. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t plan on going that route, as while it would give him the publicity he wanted, it would come at a cost. Rather, he had another idea.


    Lucas found a place to sit and logged into the intranet. He then looked for an advertising agency for cheap and paid them for their services. He had made seven hundred federal coins from the kidnappers and the spy sent by Vinis pawnshop.


    Even with the expenses from purchasing the prepaid debit card, the store, the trenchcoat, and feeding as well as transportation during this one week period, Lucas still had an excess of two thousand five hundred and sixty five (2565) federal coins. Considering the value of federal coins, it was more than enough to use five of them for advertisement.


    With the advancements in technology as a whole, it wasn''t difficult for the agency to generate a design based on Lucas'' requirements. There were AIs to help sort that out, so all it took was three minutes and Lucas'' ads were up and running.


    The caption read, "Seven Sparks Forge is launching: 3 days free maintenance and upgrade for the first 10 customers each day, spin the roulette for a chance to win a custom vestige."


    "Seven Sparks Forge" was the name Lucas came up with for the store. The number seven was quite special to him, as apart from being a lucky number, it was also the number of his birth month in his two previous lives. ''Sparks'' was derived from his name Lucas [1]. In summary, the name of the store had an intricate relationship with Lucas.


    The three days of free maintenance and upgrade for the first 10 customers each day was an idea Lucas came up with to attract people to his store. Being confident in his skill, Lucas believed all he needed to be successful was an opportunity to showcase that skill. However, not everyone could afford it, hence why he gave out free slots.


    Having seen the prices other stores charged for their services as well as their products, Lucas intended not to charge even one pence less. He was a grandmaster after all, and although he was new into vestige-smithing, it was roughly the same as making magic weapons. With the experience and skillset he possessed, there was no way he would offer his services for cheap.


    As for the roulette spin, it was a fancy idea Lucas thought of to act as an entertainment of sorts for people while feeding off the innate desire of humans to gamble or risk.


    The roulette spin was simple; a roulette wheel like the ones used in game shows, would be set up in front of the store. One would have to pay a fee to spin the wheel. There would be a few sectors on the circle with differing lines on them such as ''spin again'', ''10 federal coins'', ''win'' and ''fail'', with the latter being the most common.


    Upon landing on the ''win'' sector, the player would have an opportunity to order a custom-made vestige from the store with no additional fees attached. The ''10 federal coins'' sector meant that the player would win ten federal coins. The other two sectors are self-explanatory.


    To make the roulette spin more attractive, the fees were quite cheap. There were two tickets: the student ticket which costs three federal coins and the normal ticket which costs five federal coins.


    The reason for this difference was that there was a public school close to the market zone; and unlike how schools on Earth were, most schools in the main cities of Eretre also taught students stellar-refining apart from the usual curriculum. When the students graduate, they either work for big families, corporations, the military/para-military[2], or as freelancers.


    Very few work regular jobs as that would be seen as a waste of the training and education they received.


    The students similarly used weapons, especially those in their final year or penultimate year (the year before finals), as that was when the students would be sent on more practical activities to gain experience facing off desolate beasts.


    Lucas'' market targets were not just freelancers but these students as well.


    Although the sale of vestiges was regulated, students in these schools were somewhat of an exception as long as they were in their final or penultimate year with the proper identification and registration. To purchase a vestige, the conditions were for one to be a freelancer.


    In the case that one wasn''t, you''d either need a permit issued by a city-state government, an approved recommendation from a registered freelancer, or be a member of the city-state''s military or paramilitary forces.


    Students in their penultimate or final years could apply for a permit.


    The idea of the roulette spin was to attract individuals to try their luck. The cost of the spin for students was three federal coins while for others was five federal coins.


    Although the daily wage of an average individual was thirteen federal coins, making this quite costly, compared to the price of custom-made vestige -which was at least five hundred federal coins for the lowest grade- the ticket price was nothing. That added to the fact that there was another win option -the ten federal coins sector- many wouldn''t mind taking the risk.


    As long as they came to the store, they would eventually take a look around and might even buy a product or get a service.


    The number one target of a business should be to get people to know about the business and visit it. This was what Lucas wanted to achieve.

 Chapter 22: Chapter 22 : Seven Sparks Forge Opens For Business

    The next day came soon enough. Today, Lucas was going to finally launch the store and begin operations after staying over a week in this new world.The time slated for the opening was 12pm, but there were still a few hours before then. Lucas spent the time at the work-station, improving on his skills.


    *Ding*


    Just as Lucas had spent a couple of hours at the work-station, the bell at the entrance rang, signalling an entry from the outside. This bell was special in the sense that the sound could be heard everywhere within the store''s area, even from the backyard. However, it wasn''t as loud or glaring as one would think.


    At the same time the bell rang, Lucas received a notification from the system.


    [[ Congratulations on opening the store, Seven Sparks Forge.


    Mission Description: The host has been delaying, and as such, the system is being forced to take action.


    Overview: Open the store within thirty six hours.


    Rewards: Basic immunity package for craftsmen.


    Penalty: Death.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    . . .


    Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system. The system store is now available, inventory expansion has taken place, as well as a few other features.


    ]]


    Lucas was pleasantly surprised by this series of notifications as he ignored the bell.


    "Yes."


    Suddenly, Lucas felt an abrupt sensation creep over his body as invisible changes began to take place. At the same time, the system''s voice sounded in his ears.


    "Host has received Basic immunity package for craftsmen. Heat immunity increased by up to 2000¡ãC (3632¡ãF). Cold immunity increased to -150¡ãC (-238¡ãF). Poison immunity for Grade C and below poisons and diseases is granted. Shock endurance is increased by 20%.


    "As a bonus for levelling up the first time, healing factor is increased by 1.5x. Strength, endurance, vision, and senses are increased by 30%." S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas was all smiles after the system informed him of the changes to his body. They might not seem like much, but they were very helpful, especially the basic immunity packages. These weren''t mere resistances but immunity, the difference implying the effect.


    To understand how helpful those were, the average temperature of molten magma is between seven hundred degrees Celsius (700¡ãC) and one thousand and two hundred degrees Celsius (1200¡ãC). In another context, that would be 1300¡ãF to 2200¡ãF. But Lucas was now immune to the heat of up to 2000¡ãC. This meant that he could dip his hand into magma and feel nothing. His skin wouldn''t get burned either.


    The same applied for the cold immunity effect Lucas received as well. The coldest temperature recorded back on Earth was -92¡ãC (-133.6¡ãF) [1]. The immunity level granted by the system was much higher. Although he had yet to understand the grading system, Lucas was confident that the poison immunity would be equally effective.


    After receiving his rewards, Lucas got up and went to the lobby area. He noticed that there were a few individuals already seated and checking the place out. Although there weren''t many, there were at least twenty of them present. Some had a malevolent vibe or the scent of blood on them, with a strong aura being radiated from their body.


    Just this one look made Lucas easily guess their identities; freelancers.


    It seemed like the advertisement he had posted on the intranet was quite helpful. The somewhat small number didn''t mean that the advertisement''s reach was small, but that people wouldn''t easily check out a new store in a secluded location right away. Having this many people present was already better than what Lucas initially expected.


    "Are you the owner?" One of them asked.


    "You can say so." Lucas nodded.


    "Welcome to Seven Sparks Forge. How can I help you guys today?"


    Another of the men glanced around and said, "Your store looks alright, but it''s quite lackluster for a grand opening day, don''t you think?"


    Lucas glanced at the other and noticed the man had black hair. Most hyumans usually had coloured hair, and while black wasn''t strange, it wasn''t pretty common.


    "I''m merely opening a shop, not throwing a party. All that fanfare is quite tedious for me."


    The black haired man smiled at Lucas'' response and didn''t say anything else.


    At that moment, another character narrowed his eyes as he stared at Lucas.


    "You''re human, aren''t you?"


    "What about it?" Lucas looked at him.


    "Tch. What a waste of my time." The man grunted and left the building. Some of the other guests did the same after Lucas'' confirmation.


    While it was uncertain whether they acted as such due to prejudice against humans, the most likely reason was the weakness of the latter.


    Vestige-smithing required one to not just be skilled with handling metals but also with controlling stellar energy, since runes and stellar matrices depended on them. For humans who were limited in their ability to manipulate stellar energy, due to their genetics, they were innately horrible vestige-smiths.


    In fact, it was impossible, at least to the knowledge of the citizens of Baylands, for a human to be a vestige-smith; a blacksmith was possible, but not a vestige-smith.


    Also, even if the best blacksmiths were comparable to vestige-smiths, looking at Lucas, it was obvious that he was too young to be such a blacksmith.


    Many of the guests today came to check out the store as it was advertised as one run by a vestige-smith. With a human being in charge, and one quite young at that, it was natural for them to think they had been tricked and depart in anger.


    At the moment, Lucas'' guests had dwindled down by half.


    "What about you guys?" Lucas glanced at the others.


    The man with the black hair smiled as he replied, "You don''t need to worry about me. I decided to try my luck here, so until I''ve done that, I don''t plan on leaving early."


    The others replied in a similar manner.


    The appearance of the store owner was unexpected, but they still remained behind, hoping to luck out.


    Fraud was highly frowned at and cracked down on thanks to modern technology. The penalty was also severe, so very few individuals engaged in such. This made some of the guests decide to still risk it and check out Lucas'' store.


    The advertisement stated that a custom-made vestige could be claimed if one won the roulette spin. At the same time, there would be free maintenance for the first ten individuals on their vestiges and weapons for the following three days.


    If it turned out to be a lie, Lucas would be arrested for fraud and deceit, and the guests would be compensated for their losses from Lucas'' possessions. If everything were true, they would have cashed out greatly.


    One should recall that custom-made vestiges were very expensive. Apart from that, it wasn''t easy to meet with a vestige-smith to have one made. Most vestige-smiths worked for big corporations and only took special orders from notable individuals. Having someone close by would be advantageous for these people, hence why they rushed to be the first.


    If Lucas turned out to be a grandmaster blacksmith or do the impossible and be a capable vestige-smith, being the first of his customers would help them build some sort of relationship with him; a relationship that would offer more profit than loss.


    "Alright then. As promised, the first ten individuals get free maintenance while the rest can make their orders." Lucas said. At the same time, he appeared behind the checkout counter and turned on the monitor. He went through the security footage and ascertained the order in which the people arrived, determining the first ten individuals, excluding those who departed.


    There were currently twelve individuals in the store, so only two wouldn''t be able to access the promo.


    One of the twelve, the first to arrive, walked up to the counter.


    "Maintenance. It got damaged while facing a Nolkin."


    As he said this, the man placed a short-sword on the table.


    From the special reward, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', Lucas knew that a Nolkin was a type of desolate beast that could fly and also dive into the water. It was a weird creature with wings and gills, looking like a mix between a batoid (manta ray and/or sting ray) and a bird.


    They usually spend one cycle of the day (day or night) either underwater or in the skies, then spent the other cycle in the other location.


    These creatures were quite common in the Wastelands and a popular hunt for freelancers due to the fact that there was a large market for their body parts.


    However, the problem most freelancers faced when fighting a Nolkin is that their saliva was corrosive and these creature usually coat their claws in them. As such, hunting a Nolkin was a money-burning affair because at the end of the battle, one''s weapon would usually be damaged.


    Nonetheless, as long as the hunt was successful, the freelancer would make a profit even after considering the fees for repairs.


    Lucas nodded and received the short-sword. He checked it out and slid his finger across the blade.


    "A basic repair would take thirty minutes, but if you''re interested in the advanced repair, it would take two hours."


    "What''s the difference?" The man asked.


    "Basic repair is just as it means; I''ll simply repair your vestige and it would be as good as new. The advanced repair means that I''ll make some new changes that would help. In this case, I''ll increase the corrosion resistance of the sword. If I''m correct, it gets worn out after one battle, right? I can increase its resistance and should be able to last three to four battles against a Nolkin.


    Any higher is impossible due to the materials used in making weapon." Lucas calmly replied.


    The man was surprised, as this was the first time he had heard of it. Other stores would offer what Lucas called the basic repair and it took them one hour. Compared to Lucas, that was twice the repair time. In fact, it was much more.


    Lucas had to attend to customers first before working, but those stores had a division of labour system in place, with employees dealing with customers and those handling the repairs. In other words, although Lucas said thirty minutes, it would take less time if he were to leave the counter and go work on it now.


    Also, there was no such service like the advanced repair in those stores


    "The advanced repair, please." The man replied.


    "Anything else?" Lucas asked.


    Maintenance was free for the first ten individuals, whether it was a basic or advanced repair. If he wanted to make profits, they would have to make a purchase or ask for a new service; otherwise, Lucas would have to attend to nine more people first.


    The man shook his head and went away to take a seat.


    He just wanted to check out the validity of this new store, which is why he went for the free service as well as using an auxiliary vestige. That way, even if things turned out for the worse, the man''s losses wouldn''t be much. If they report Lucas as a fraud and he gets arrested by the patrol corps, the man would be reimbursed for his weapon.


    "Next person." Lucas said.


    "No need, we can wait." The black haired man spoke up at this time. He was next in line, but in no hurry to be attended to.


    Just like the first person and everyone else here, he just wanted to try his luck. Now that someone has provided an opportunity for Lucas to showcase his skills, the man didn''t need to get attended to for the moment.


    Lucas glanced at him and everyone else in the store, easily reading their minds. He wasn''t bothered, however. Humans were innately suspicious and skeptical, and while hyumans were an advanced species, they still descended from the former.


    Lucas nodded at the men and then turned around with the short-sword in hand, heading into the work-station. It was time for him to make his official debut in this new world.

 Chapter 23: Chapter 23 : Upgrading The Short-sword

    To the twelve men in the waiting lobby, two hours wasn''t long. They were all freelancers and usually spent days in the Wastelands, where there were man-eating horrors and monstrosities that could give one sleepless night. Compared to that, sitting in a comfortable place and admiring some artwork for just two hours was no problem.In the work-station, Lucas kept the short-sword on a work bench as he prepared his equipment.


    Repairing the short-sword wasn''t a difficult task, and he could get that done in twenty five minutes or less. The problem was upgrading it.


    Due to the limitations of the materials used in making the sword, Lucas couldn''t upgrade it from its current grade, Grade 1, to the next.


    The grading system for vestiges was the same as the power system for stellar refinement. The main classes were Aperture class for Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners, Origin class for Guardian stage or Origin stage stellar practitioners, and Moon class for the Moon Walkers or Sage realm practitioners. Each class of weapon was subdivided into lower levels based on quality and power.


    In Eretre, the vestiges were all Aperture class vestiges and graded from 1-6. Grade 1 was a beginner level of Aperture class vestiges and was typically used by first or second Aperture Opening stage warriors. Third Aperture Opening stage freelancers used them too, but most preferred the next.


    Grade 2 was still in the beginner ranks, but better than Grade 1. It was also a more common option for veterans, as they were affordable but still more powerful than Grade 1 vestiges.


    Grade 3 vestiges were used by the stronger and wealthier professionals, usually freelancers at the fourth or fifth stage, as at this stage, it would take some effort to be able to afford it. Most sixth Aperture stage[1] practitioners also used this.


    Grade 4 Aperture class vestiges were even more expensive, and only the top freelancers could afford them. They were usually found in the hands of seventh Aperture stage stellar practitioners or the more powerful sixth Aperture stage practitioners. People like this usually lead famous paramilitary freelancing groups or guilds, while some hold high positions in the military or other powerful forces.


    Grade 5 vestiges, were on a different level, and some could even be considered family heirlooms. Not just anyone could get their hands on them, as the vestige-smiths capable of making them were all concentrated in the Oklo Dynasty. It was rumoured that only the city lord residences and top families of each continent had them.


    These vestiges were best suited for eight and ninth Aperture stage stellar practitioners. Even the tenth stage practitioners used it. These were individuals who led a powerful family or a very powerful force. For instance, the current city lord and head of Baylands city-state is a stellar practitioner of the tenth Aperture Opening stage.


    The head of the Ross family, which runs a few industries, is at the eighth stage. Other similar family heads, like the Mertens, were at the ninth Aperture stage.


    As for Grade 6 vestiges, they couldn''t be found in Baylands city-state or even the entire Groeten continent. Only in the Bernin Continent ruled directly by the Oklo Dynasty could one find such, and it would only be in the Dynasty''s royal palace.


    Back to the present, Lucas couldn''t upgrade the short-sword before him so easily. In fact, the process of upgrading a weapon to the next grade without smelting it and reforging it was impossible. If one were to reforge it, the runes and stellar matrices on the vestige would be ruined, and new ones would have to be traced on it.


    As such, upgrading a weapon was costly for the customer and tiresome for the vestige-smith. This was one of the reasons other stores upgrade services weren''t so popular.


    Although Lucas could pull it off, he didn''t offer such an upgrade simply because it couldn''t be termed maintenance any longer. Reforging a vestige wasn''t a maintenance service.


    The advanced repair, however, was different. It involved changing or strengthening the stellar matrices and runes. Such an act could only be performed by a skilled vestige-smith whose rune and matrix-tracing skills were much higher than those of the vestige-smith who made the vestige.


    It wasn''t easy to find someone of that calibre and this was one of the reasons other stores didn''t offer this service.


    Another reason was that, it wasn''t profitable to do so.


    Why make the customer''s equipment last longer and reduce the number of visits they make to their store?


    But none of that worried Lucas. In fact, it would serve as an advantage for him and draw customers to his store.


    Lucas performed the basic repairs on the short-sword first, cleaning it, fixing up the notched parts, sharpening the blade, and polishing the sword, taking only twenty minutes to get these done. For an average blacksmith on Earth, just fixing the nicks and notches alone would take half an hour or more, but Lucas didn''t have such issues.


    Not only was his equipment of the highest standard, but his skills were also on par.


    After the basic repairs, Lucas dipped the short-sword in a special gelatinous material and left it for five minutes. The liquid was a special compound that could eliminate the runes and stellar matrices on a vestige without damaging the product.


    Advanced repair was to either change or upgrade the matrices and runes, but for the short-sword, Lucas felt it was best to change the tracings (both stellar matrices and runes) on it. A magical rune from his past life crossed his mind when he saw the vestige and the damage done to it.


    The rune was an ancient draconic rune, meaning it was made by dragons of yore. The dragons used the runes on their flesh to strengthen the defensive property of their scales. This would in turn make them more sturdy and impervious to various attacks and damages, such as the corrosive effects of slimes.


    Lucas estimated that this rune would similarly be effective in making the short-sword more durable when facing Nolkins. Of course, it would also become stronger, but the increase wasn''t noteworthy enough to raise its grade.


    Apart from the draconic runes, Lucas also added two special magic sigils which would help with the flow of stellar energy, after all, this was a vestige. While he couldn''t trace stellar matrices, there were still similar arts in his first life, considering stellar energy was also a type of mystical energy just like mana and true energy.


    Inscribing the draconic runes from scratch took Lucas thirty minutes, and he spent twenty minutes working on the two sigils. In total, Lucas used seventy five minutes or an hour and a quarter (15 mins), to work on the vestige. There were still forty-five minutes left from the estimated 2 hours of advanced repair, but Lucas didn''t intend on using them all.


    In truth, he took quite some time working on this vestige, as it had been a while since he last inscribed draconic runes. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas then dipped the sword into another liquid for five minutes, but this time with the intention of strengthening the sword''s structure and cleaning off the surface. During the first five minutes of sword-dipping, Lucas had been working on the sword''s scabbard. He concluded the work during these five minutes and sheathed the sword right back.


    After that, he walked out of the work-station with the short-sword in hand.

 Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Taking Orders

    Lucas exited the workstation and arrived back at the waiting lobby with the revamped short-sword in hand.Once he appeared, everyone in the room stared at him, or to be specific, the short-sword. Even though it was still encased within its sheath, they peered at it, trying to uncover its secrets with their eyes.


    "Complete." Lucas said as he placed the weapon atop the counter and called for the owner.


    In fact, there was no need to do so, as the owner was already headed towards him. The man took the sword out of its sheath and looked at it. A simple glance showed that it looked almost no different from before except the fact that the notches were absent and it seemed to shine a bit more. However, having had it in his possession for months, the man knew the short-sword like the back of his hand.


    He could see that the runes on it were quite different from what they used to be, suggesting that Lucas had changed them entirely. Even the new matrices on it weren''t the same stellar matrices previously.


    "This..."


    "There''s a room by the side for testing out vestiges. You can go have a try there." Lucas pointed at a door on the side.


    Apart from the work-station and lobby, the ground floor had two more rooms; a restroom and a spare room used for testing vestiges. The testing room had a simulation feature which made it great for combat testing, and from the checkout counter''s monitor, Lucas could easily control the changes in the room.


    The man went in the direction Lucas pointed, but he wasn''t the only one as over half of the guests remaining did the same.


    It didn''t take them long before they returned, with the man displaying a pleasantly surprised expression on his face. Without a doubt, everyone could easily guess that the advanced repair was well worth it.


    "Are you really a vestige-smith?" The man couldn''t help but ask.


    Like the others, they had come to the store in hopes of finding a vestige-smith. However, when the identity of the owner was revealed to be a human and a young one at that, he had given up that idea and hoped for Lucas to be a good blacksmith or at least, in contact with one or a vestige-smith. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But from what he had just seen, there was no way a blacksmith could make something as good as what Lucas had done while still being so fast with it. This showed that Lucas was definitely not an ordinary individual.


    "Why can''t a human be a vestige-smith?." Lucas looked at the man before turning towards the others.


    "Next please."


    With a calm tone, Lucas called out the next individual on the list.


    The guests were currently shocked, but in a pleasant manner. Although some still had their suspicions about Lucas'' true occupation, the fact that he could still work on vestiges was what they were interested in. It seemed like their gamble paid off. Now, what they needed to know was the limit of Lucas'' skills. After all, the vestige the man gave Lucas was a Grade 1 vestige.


    Top class blacksmiths could fix them without too much of a hassle.


    The black haired man was next and he walked towards the counter with a smile on his face. Compared to the others, he wasn''t visibly bothered.


    "Grade 2. Damaged stellar matrix. I''d like to go for an advanced repair." The man said.


    Lucas nodded and took the vestige. This time around, it was a gun-type vestige with the shape of a pistol. Compared to cold weapons, vestiges based on hot weapons were complicated. This was because the vestige-smith would have to be versed in the technology and design of hot weapons before they can make or fix such.


    The black haired man was clearly testing Lucas'' knowledge with this task.


    "Is that all?" Lucas asked, unbothered by the request.


    "What are your rates?" The black haired man asked.


    Lucas was surprised. Truth be told, he didn''t expect anyone to actually ask for a service apart from maintenance today.


    "Due to the obvious lack of pricing system in this world as well as to prevent undervaluing, the system would designate prices for all services and products in the store."


    The system''s voice sounded in Lucas'' head before he could say a word, stunning the latter.


    Following that, a series of words and numbers appeared in his head, and a price list also popped up on the monitor.


    "System, what is the meaning of this?" Lucas was astounded.


    The prices the system gave for each product or service was eschewed. It would either be too expensive or too cheap. For example, the basic repair cost less than that of other stores. The advanced repair was different as its price depended on the grade of the vestige as well as the runes and sigils Lucas used on them.


    Generally however, it was slightly cheaper than that of stores who happen to offer advanced repairs just like him.


    However, when it came to crafting vestiges, whether they be custom-made or standard, the prices were insane. Standard products simply referred to vestiges that were made in large copies. Based on the system''s pricing, standard products would cost at least fifty percent more than the other stores while custom-made vestiges were an almost 200% increase compared to other stores.


    Lucas couldn''t help but curse inwardly, wondering how he would make money at this rate.


    "Hello?" The black haired man called out to Lucas.


    "Take a look."


    There was a display screen on the counter facing the direction of the customer. With his attention being brought to it, the man glanced at the screen and raised his eyebrows.


    "This..."


    "Our prices are fair." Lucas said.


    Since the system had already decided on the price with no way to negotiate, Lucas decided to settle with it. Also, his skills were at the peak in his last life. Even if this was a new world, he could definitely compete with high level vestige-smiths. Hence, the prices were fair in a sense.


    As for why the basic repair was cheaper, it could be some sort of advertising or maybe the system just looked down on such activities.


    The man was stunned that Lucas defended these prices and he almost had the urge to curse out. These prices were so insane that only the vestige-smiths at the Central prefecture district of Baylands City could compare.


    The black haired man hesitated, but decided to change his strategy in the end.


    "Are there any completed works?"


    Buying a created vestige was a much safer option than asking for one to be produced. The latter required one to have trust in the skills of the vestige-smith, hoping that the completed product would be of high quality. In the case of the former, one could ascertain the quality of a vestige on the spot, as even in every grade, there were still differences between each vestige.


    For instance, the vestige used by the kidnappers was a Grade 1 vestige, however, it couldn''t compare with the short-sword Lucas was given to repair.


    "Sure. Take a look at the side." Lucas gestured.


    The lobby area was divided into two, and while the second side still served the same function, it had a few items on display already. The black haired man had noticed them, but each vestige was encased in a special glass that prevented him from sensing the energy level of the items, so he couldn''t determine their grades.


    With permission from Lucas, he walked towards the area along with a majority of the guests as this was an opportunity to see what Lucas was capable of.


    "Whichever one you intend on screening, just tap on the glass." Lucas'' voice sounded from the checkout counter.


    The group nodded and did as he said, following which a series of exclamations sounded in the store.


    Their eyes were wide open as they stared at the vestiges in the glass. The view suddenly became breathtaking as a few freelancers were stunned silly on the spot, their eyes frozen on the vestiges before them.


    There weren''t many vestiges, but they were all of different grades. From Grade 1 to Grade 3, there were vestiges of high quality. Most of them already surpassed what could be found in mainstream stores in the West Wing district. Only vestige stores in the Central Prefecture could compare, but even then, there was still a slight difference.


    The black haired man stared at a certain vestige. It was a black trench coat with a belt on the waist. The energy from the trench coat signified that it was of Grade 2, but the stellar energy was so pure that the man was convinced that the trench coat could even rival a standard Grade 3 version.


    "This... how?"


    Not just the black haired man, but the others were similarly stunned. The owner of the store was a human. Common knowledge dictated that humans couldn''t achieve much in matters related to stellar energy. But what they saw before them broke this belief.


    If it were true that Lucas made these, then his skill wasn''t even lacking compared to most vestige-smiths. Heck, he could even rival the best Baylands City has to offer.


    While some were thinking of this, others had a strange glint in their eyes.


    Before them were multiple treasures valued at hundreds if not thousands of federal coins. Just one of the Grade 3 vestiges here could feed an average family of four for two years, and there were five of them. This was but the financial aspect of thesd weapons. In terms of power, they could improve the strength of these freelancers by at least fifty percent.


    If they could own one of these vestiges, their freelancing lives would be easier. However, the cost would definitely be hefty.


    But...the owner was a human.


    When they recalled this fact, a certain thought began to lay a foundation in their minds.

 Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Clash

    Lucas could sense that some of the gazes of a few guests[1] were different, but he didn''t dwell on it.Suddenly, one of them -who had a bald head- asked Lucas, "Can you remove this glass? I need to feel it up close and check if the weight is suitable for me."


    Lucas glanced at the other party before turning away. He found the question dumb and didn''t bother with the speaker any longer. It was obvious that the other party wasn''t actually interested in buying the vestiges.


    Releasing the vestige''s aura wasn''t the only thing that took place once the glass was tapped; there would be a display that appears on the glass, showing some of the details about the vestige like its name and weight.


    At that moment, a coercive force was released from the speaker as he stated at Lucas.


    "I insist you take the glass and let me have a closer look." The man with a bald head said.


    Right then and there, the atmosphere turned strange as it seemed like a confrontation was brewing; almost about to break out. The other guests knew what was going on, but none of them made a sound. Whether they were of the same idea as the man, or they were just spectators, was unknown.


    Despite the looming threat, Lucas ignored the man.


    The black haired man watched as things folded, wondering what made Lucas feel so calm and confident against a second Aperture Opening stage freelancer, as a human.


    *Ding*


    Two figures walked through the entrance of the store right when things were heated up. They glanced around before settling their sights on Lucas and walking towards him.


    "Welcome." Lucas nodded at the newcomers.


    The duo were the couple he met the previous day; the young man and woman who were looking for a Grade 3 spear.


    "I reckon what you told us was a lie?" The lady asked.


    "Not exactly. I''m just running the store for a friend." Lucas replied.


    The black haired man who was by the side was surprised by this. Lucas'' previous statements and actions always seemed to hint that he was the main vestige-smith here, but his explanation to the new arrivals showed that this wasn''t true.


    If that''s the case, then what was?


    "You might have to wait in line. The store has a first come, first serve policy." Lucas said.


    The young man who came in with the lady frowned and released a bit of his aura.


    "Can''t you make an exception?"


    Fifth stage! [2]


    This was the highest level of strength Lucas had ever seen, bar the elderly man from yesterday.


    The guests in the store were shocked and even the bald-headed man who wanted to cause a scene went quiet. He still couldn''t determine the relationship between Lucas and the newcomers. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Rules are rules." Lucas ignored his show of strength.


    The Host Protection Mechanism kept him safe from all forms of threat and harm. While the pressure the man gave off wasn''t classified as harm by the system''s definition, it was still of no threat to Lucas. In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had met face to face with the Dragon King, the Lord of all seventy-two dragon species.


    Such a powerhouse could wipe out the entire Eretre with ease and even compete with the entire hyuman Federation with its forces. Compared to the Dragon King who was like the Sun in its peak, the man before him wasn''t even worth calling a firefly. The difference was too big.


    "Don''t make things hard on the storekeeper." The lady by the side calmly said.


    The young man frowned but didn''t make things hard on Lucas as she instructed. Instead, he glanced at the guests.


    "Can you guys take a step back? The Black Lemon Squad would appreciate it."


    Black Lemon Squad!


    Once the freelancers in the store heard those words, they understood right away and couldn''t help but be shocked.


    Black Lemon Squad was one of the top freelancer squads in the whole of Baylands City, and by relation, Baylands city-state. The leader and founder of the squad was a six Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Although he still wasn''t at the top and couldn''t contend with some top family heads, the founder was incredibly strong especially when paired with his Grade 6 vestige; so much so that he could even contend with an average seven Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    A Grade 4 vestige was the limit for most freelancers, and unless one was a top figure in a city-state with some ties to the Oklo Dynasty''s region, it would be impossible to have a higher ranked vestige.


    Under the leadership of such a powerful figure, the Black Lemon Squad made its name as a top paramilitary force in Baylands City. It had also attracted other talented freelancers at the fifth and even fourth stages. As for those lower ranked, they were more, but each and every one of them was an elite.


    The young man in the store was a fifth stage freelancer, and by the Black Lemon Squad''s rankings, he would be a squad captain. In other words, he was a big shot.


    Just as the guests were about to relinquish their spots and let him go ahead, Lucas spoke up.


    "Relinquishing spots is against the rules. If you want to buy something or request a service, please queue up rightfully."


    The young man frowned and glared at Lucas, but little did he know that Lucas was cursing at the system right now.


    Just a while ago, the system had told him that queue-skipping was not allowed, neither was trading spots. This was to prevent powerful individuals from hogging the store''s services all to themselves. If they wanted something from the store, they had to line up for it, fairly and justly.


    What pissed Lucas off was that the timing of this information was bad. It would make it seem as if he was trying to purposely get on the bad side of the young man. Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t scared of offending him, but he was irritated by the system''s antics.


    "Are you messing with me?" The young man stared Lucas in the eye.


    Lucas stared at him back for a while then ignored him and glanced at the black haired man.


    "Are you buying anything else or not?"


    At this time, the young man lost it and unleashed his aura entirely. Even the young lady didn''t say a word as she too was pissed by Lucas'' actions.


    Lucas could feel a strange pressure acting on him in an attempt to get him down on his knees. Truthfully, this pressure wasn''t worth anything thanks to the Host Protection Mechanism acting up right away as it determined the pressure to be harmful. However, Lucas still felt an uncomfortable sensation on his body as he frowned slightly.


    The young man, the lady, as well as everyone else, was surprised to still see Lucas standing up straight without any sign of discomfort. In fact, the only difference between the Lucas under pressure and the Lucas not under pressure was the slight frown on his face.


    This intrigued the young man, but he was still pissed nonetheless. He increased his force and as he saw nothing come of it still, he stretched out his hand to attack.


    The young man''s movements was too fast for Lucas to see but he didn''t even bother dodging or anything. The system had his back.


    The young man''s hand caught Lucas by the neck and he grinned at him.


    "What do you have to say now?"


    Originally, everyone thought Lucas was impressive or maybe even like the human exceptions in Digress city-state. But when they saw him taken down so easily, they were surprised.


    Lucas glanced at the young man, seemingly unbothered by the situation he was in.


    Although the young man held him by the neck, the force was mitigated and Lucas simply felt as if a hand was laid on his neck with no force applied.


    "Sighs. Why do people behave like this?" Lucas said.


    The young man was surprised that Lucas could still speak after all, the force he used to clamp his neck was supposed to prevent that. It was then that the young man noticed that his hands weren''t tightly gripping Lucas'' neck as he thought. There seemed to be a strange feeling from his hand that despite being in contact with Lucas'' neck, he couldn''t tighten his grip.


    "What''s this?" The young man said out loud, but Lucas replied him with a punch to the face.


    *Bam*


    The young man was forced back and his hand released Lucas. He frowned and moved again, this time drawing out his stellar energy as he punched again.


    Until the tenth aperture is opened, hyumans don''t possess any superpower so most of their combat is done by using stellar energy in its refined form as well vestiges.


    Lucas saw the incoming attack but didn''t fret, letting it hit him.


    *Bam*


    A loud sound reverberated after the hit landed, but Lucas was still standing firm. At this point, everyone in the store was stunned silly.


    How the hell did a human take a blow from a fifth stage freelancer without taking a step back?


    The answer would remain unknown as in the very next second, Lucas had already retailated. The blacksmith glove has appeared in his hand at some point as he launched his counter attack.


    *Thud*


    The young man was punched and this time, he was sent flying.


    Again, the crowd was stunned.


    That was a fifth stage freelancer!


    The blocked strike could be explained as some high grade vestige. However, even if Lucas had some defensive gear to keep him safe, the gap was too large to be able to deliver an attack capable of sending the opponent flying. Considering Lucas'' strength, unless it was a Grade 5 or 6 vestige, it would be impossible to pull this off.

 Chapter 26: Chapter 26 : Chased Away

    The crowd was stunned silly for the second time in a row.That was a fifth stage freelancer!


    The blocked strike could be explained as some high grade vestige. However, even if Lucas had some defensive gear to keep him safe, the gap was too large to be able to deliver an attack capable of sending the opponent flying. Considering Lucas'' strength, unless it was a Grade 5 or 6 vestige, it would be impossible to pull this off.


    The spectators stared at the gloves on his hands, as that was never there from the start. They suspected it to be a vestige, but there was no aura of stellar energy on it. Even so, some didn''t give up their suspicions so quickly. Lucas was a human with no sign of having refined stellar energy before, yet he was able to go unharmed after two attempts by the young man.


    Only Lucas knew the truth. Although the gloves did improve his strength, and with the thirty percent increase to his base strength after levelling up, Lucas'' strength only added up to one at the Bone refining step of the Body Strengthening stage. The only reason he turned out superior was thanks to a feature that came out after the system upgraded.


    Host Retaliation Function.


    Like the Host Protection Mechanism, it was only active within the store. Contrary to the latter however, the Host Retaliation Function was an attacking feature. It only activated when there was a large gap in strength between the host and the attacker. The effect was that it would mimic a portion of the attacker''s strength and apply it onto the host''s attacks.


    Together with the craftsman gloves boost effect, the attack would roughly be on par with his opponent''s.


    "You bastard¡­" The young man stood up and prepared to attack again.


    Lucas frowned seeing this. The young man was interrupting his business. He had held back with his blow as he didn''t want to take things out of proportion, otherwise the young man would have been seriously injured. But if the latter continued harassing him, Lucas would take things seriously.


    "That''s enough." The lady who came with him spoke up.


    The young man glared at her, but she glared right back. Seeing her take her stand, he snorted and drew back his energy. It was clear that he didn''t want to go again after she interfered.


    "Let''s forget about the little disagreement and head back to business, okay?" The lady said.


    "No problem." Lucas nodded.


    The lady smiled seeing this, then asked, "Can I see the spear?"


    "Stand in line. Also, he needs to leave." Lucas blandly replied.


    There was no way he was going to give them special treatment, not after the young man tried to kill him. Not chasing them both away was already Lucas being nice. As for letting her see the spear? That was actually no problem as the weapon was already on display, but Lucas easily recalled it into his inventory as such, they had failed to spot it.


    After his levelling up, the system''s abilities experienced a boost and the inventory was a direct beneficiary. It experienced an expansion and was also now capable of taking in outside-items (items not related to the system in one way or the other).


    Finally, as long as he was within the store, Lucas could place anything from the store into his inventory with just a thought, regardless of the distance between them.


    The woman was surprised that Lucas was still on this even after knowing they were from the Black Lemon Squad. She guessed it had something to do with their actions, but even then, so what?


    "Can you please make an exception for us this time around? On behalf of the Black Lemon Squad, we''ll owe you one if we find what we want." The lady pleaded.


    Her actions were nice and her words were too, but, Lucas couldn''t help but get a chill.


    Venomous.


    If Lucas were to describe her with one word, it would be just that.


    The lady was prideful and this could be seen from the fact that throughout the period of the incident, she made no effort to stop the young man, doing so only until after Lucas had take him down. Despite the actions of the young man, she never apologized even at the end of it all.


    She tried to brush it off and still requested they received special treatment, using the Black Lemon Squad''s renown to pressure him.


    Lucas was no saint, but even if he was one, he wouldn''t tolerate such nonsense.


    "There''s no need to bother. I won''t be attending to you any longer." Lucas said.


    The lady froze in shock and even the young man who had yet to leave was astounded.


    They had already mentioned who they were and decided to drop the matter, but Lucas remained staunch.


    "Are you sure about this?" The young man said.


    Lucas turned towards him and replied, "What are you still doing in my store?"


    At that moment, the young man understood that Lucas was being serious. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the first time he had ever been treated like this, what''s more, it was in this backwater called the West Wing district.


    "Hmph. Fine. Fiona, I hope you''re happy now." The young man said to the woman while glaring at Lucas, before he turned around and left.


    While he could remain obstinate in the store, the young man was aware that he wasn''t Lucas'' match. His attacks all landed, but had no effect, whereas all of Lucas'' attacks took him down.


    The lady glanced at Lucas once and also left the store.


    The guests who remained behind could finally breath a sigh of relief, but some of them immediately left the store too. Lucas had offended the Black Lemon Squad, and he was a human at that too. The freelancer who left were weak and didn''t want to get caught in the crossfire between the two parties.


    After a few seconds, only seven of the previous twelve guests remained. Seeing this, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh.


    ''Running a business sure is difficult.''

 Chapter 27: Chapter 27 : New Mission

    After the entire debacle, which left the number of customers down to seven, Lucas introduced the services of the store to them, including the roulette spin. He wasn''t worried that someone would be able to cheat with the roulette spin, as doing so would require the individual to be at least a ten Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.Someone at that level would be on par with the city lord and most likely live in the Central Prefecture and not the West Wing district.


    Each spin cost five federal coins, and although the odds were 0.001%, or 1 in 100,000, the freelancers still went ahead and spun. A standard Grade 1 vestige costs at least five hundred federal coins. If one were lucky, they could get the custom-made chance without even spending that much.


    Some customers tried their luck, and naturally, they failed. Some were unrelenting, and the roulette spin awoke their gambling addiction. It wasn''t until they had lost quite a sum with the day coming to an end that they finally gave up.


    It turned out that at the end of the day, the black haired man had bought a vestige from Lucas; a Grade 1 vestige. This pleased Lucas until the system sounded in his head and took away his joy.


    The system would be taking seventy five percent (75%) of his earnings as some kind of platform onboarding fee. According to the system, this was to prevent the host from becoming "lazy and prodigal" from his earnings.


    Lucas didn''t say a word, or rather, there was no point in doing so. Throughout the period he had come into this world, the system had never backtracked in a single one of its decisions, and it definitely wouldn''t do so now. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The next day came rather quickly and Lucas met a few more customers lined up, reaching a total of seventeen. It seemed to be due to the news spread by the seven.


    Some of the customers played the roulette spin, while the rest asked for maintenance on their equipment. After the ten free slots were gone, the rest had to pay, but they didn''t mind. Some of them were friends with the seven from the previous day, while the others had arrived after spotting the advertisement online.


    When the latter saw the results of the maintenance upgrade, they similarly didn''t mind paying for it.


    Although some of them had heard about Lucas'' clash with the Black Lemon Squad, they weren''t bothered by it. Some of them weren''t scared, while others believed that the clash could not directly affect them. There was no way the Black Lemon Squad would go around harassing everyone that visited Lucas'' store, as that could potentially offend the freelancer community.


    . . .


    Four days went by like this. The store had officially been open for six days and Lucas had spent two weeks and five days in this new world; over half a month.


    Today, just like any other day, he attended to the customers interested in maintenance. The promo was over, but there were still more people seeing him for maintenance, even though they had to pay for it. However, this wasn''t an issue. The price list made by the system was considerably cheaper when it came to maintenance services.


    Ding. Ding. Ding


    The sound of a bell continuously rang from the front.


    Lucas thought it was from the door but realised it wasn''t. The pitch of the sound was different, and this bell rang out multiple times.


    Glancing ahead, Lucas noticed that it came from the roulette spin.


    Suddenly, a thought crossed his head; someone had actually won.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised and walked over to find out who won. Soon enough, Lucas was outside, looking at every face until he stared at one.


    The individual was a young teen, about fifteen years old. He was dressed in an obvious school uniform, which implied that he was a student of a neighbouring school.


    Lucas was surprised, but not by so much. The entire roulette spin was luck, with a touch of the system''s calculative approach. With six days having gone by with no winner, it was a good thing that one now popped out.


    Lucas invited the kid over to the store and sat down with him. The young boy was clearly nervous from his expression.


    "You can relax. I''m not going to deal with you or something." Lucas said.


    "Alright." The boy nodded, but he was still clearly anxious.


    Winning such a lottery no doubt made him happy, however, he was scared that he might have done something he shouldn''t have.


    Lucas smiled but didn''t try to get the boy to calm down. Rather, he acted naturally and began asking the young boy a few questions. Most of the questions asked were regarding the custom-made vestige, and he took notes on the answers. This happened in the lobby in the presence of everyone, with the intention of quelling any disbelief.


    Some had been accusing Lucas of rigging the roulette spin, which was why he had to do this. Luckily, a winner appeared; otherwise, Lucas didn''t know how he would explain himself.


    As they talked, the young boy eventually calmed down and relaxed. He then spoke about his specialties once Lucas asked. The young boy was skilled in speed, with even his physique pointing that out. So, he needed a weapon that would compliment him. One that could be carried easily in fights; light yet still powerful and deadly.


    After learning about the young boy''s preferences and skills, Lucas decided that the best option was a spear. However, Lucas made intense changes to the design, making it more suited for the young boy while retaining its power.


    At the same time, a notification popped up on his system interface.


    [[ Mission Overview: You have finally received your first custom order. It''s time to let the world witness your light.


    Mission Description: Craft a high quality weapon, using the Violent Sun ores from the Wastelands, in one month.


    Reward: Bronze Grade Card.


    Penalty: Loss of reputation.


    ]]


    ''A mission?'' it''s been a while.


    "By the way, since this is the very first custom order, I plan to make a special equipment. However, it will take a month or less to get it done." Lucas said.


    The young boy was surprised and began to fret. Although the three federal coins he used weren''t much to the freelancers here, it were for him. He didn''t come from a wealthy family but wanted a vestige. After seeing the prices, the young boy knew that there was no way he could afford it, until he remembered an ad he saw a couple days ago.


    After that, the young boy went to the location noted in the advertisement, and the rest was history.


    He never expected to win on the first try, as such, he began to wonder whether he was scammed or something.


    Lucas saw his anxious expression but didn''t say anything to calm the young boy down. That was none of his business. Instead, Lucas began contemplating the safest way to carry out this mission since he still couldn''t refine stellar energy.

 Chapter 28: Chapter 28 : The Wastelands

    [AN: Changed mission location from Beast continent to the Wastelands][[ Mission Overview: You have finally received your first custom order. It''s time to let the world witness your light.


    Mission Description: Craft a high quality weapon, using the Violent Sun ores from the Wastelands, in one month.


    Reward: Bronze Grade Card.


    Penalty: Loss of reputation.


    ]]


    "System, this says the Wastelands right?" Lucas couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yes."


    "Same region swarming with desolate beasts, correct?"


    "Indeed."


    "How am I supposed to, you know, go and not die?"


    "As a legacy inheritor of a god and the successor to the Crafts-God, the host should be familiar with the term ''miracle''. With that in mind, the mission has been with the host''s strength put under consideration."


    ''Bullshit.'' Lucas cursed internally.


    The Wastelands was one of the most dangerous places in Eretre. To the people of Baylands city, the Wastelands was a risk-filled location with many desolate beasts all over the place. It was home to a horde of desolate beast with varying degrees of strength. Here, there were desolate beasts of all levels.


    It was even rumoured that a few of them could compare with city-lord class existences, in other words, ten Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners. However, this rumour was either false or the number was far too small, otherwise, the desolate beast would have overrun Baylands City.


    With his current strength, heading over to this region was no different from suicide.


    Lucas ignored the system and began thinking of how to make it work. He could have placed an order for the Violet Sun ores and commissioned a freelancer to get it for him, but the system clearly stated that Lucas had to make the trip himself.


    ''Wait, it didn''t.'' Lucas suddenly thought of something.


    "System, do I have to do it myself? Can''t I just commission someone to get it?"


    "No, as doing so would eliminate the purpose of the mission." The system replied.


    Lucas sighed. He was partly expecting such a response, and the system lived up to his expectations. Even so, Lucas wasn''t entirely disappointed or frustrated. He couldn''t keep living like this¡ªlocked up in a store and only working on vestiges. He had to get stronger to secure his safety.


    Although this mission was very risky and even deadly, since the system gave it to him, there was a significant chance of survival. With that being the case, there was no reason for Lucas to reject it.


    This was an opportunity to see the world outside, beyond the walls of the city. He would encounter different desolate beast and people. As long as he was careful and planned properly, there shouldn''t be much harm.


    Freelancers frequented the Wastelands in search of wealth, with the lowest of them being at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. Although Lucas wasn''t truly there, relying on the craftsman gloves and some of his self-made vestiges, it was possible for him to take on someone at that level. His attack power might even compare with that of a one Apertures Opening stage stellar refiner.


    This meant that even without the protection of the store, Lucas could ensure his safety to some extent.


    ''No use thinking too much about it.''


    Lucas decided to leave the next day. After the customers were gone and the store was empty, he closed for the day and made his preparations.


    . . .


    The next day, Lucas hung a ''Closed'' sign and left the store. He had already done his research and knew that there was a public transport system to the Wastelands, courtesy of the city state government.


    The history of Baylands City was quite interesting. Historically, the Wastelands predated the city and was home to much more desolate beasts than at the moment. Back then, it was said to be the central hub of desolate beasts on the Groeten continent.


    When the Oklo Dynasty began its war for expansion, they launched multiple assaults and raids against the desolate beasts on the Groeten continent, but even then, they failed to annihilate them entirely. In the end, they forced most of the desolate beasts into the Wastelands and built a fortress city to blockade a possible desolate beast retaliation or invasion. This city was known as Baylands City.


    With Baylands City as the central area, other towns and cities propped up around it. Under the control of the Oklo Dynasty, these cities and towns were known as districts, and by swearing fealty to Baylands city, they would be offered protection and other services. This was how the Baylands city-state was formed.


    Being a fortress city, Baylands city was the wall between the rest Wastelands and the rest of the Groeten continent. To be specific, it was the West Wing district that was the real border.


    To prevent a possible desolate beast upsurge, the Baylands city-state government, which was essentially the Baylands city lord office, allowed freelancers to venture into the Wastelands. In fact, they encouraged this act and put in place different incentives to attract freelancers to the city and send them to help explore the Wastelands while cutting down the number of desolate beasts.


    One such incentive was free public transport to and from the city and the Wastelands. Although the Wastelands was said to border the West Wing district, this didn''t mean that the distance between the two places were close. One should still recall that there was a small area of land known as the Slums, just outside of West Wing district.


    One would still need to go further west, at least seven hundred kilometres (434.96 miles) away, before they reached the Wastelands. With the current technology, this distance was just alright for the Baylands city-state government to monitor the region and react in time to any changes.


    After purchasing a ticket for a ride, Lucas headed into the light-rail train and took a seat. It was surprising that he got admitted despite not having a freelancer identity, but the agency in charge didn''t care. Some people would always want to try their luck with their meagre while others desired suicide or an opportunity to run away from reality. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While this might sound sad, some saw it as a means of population control, and so, didn''t stop anyone. As long as one was of age, they could get a ride. The only difference was that non-freelancers would have to pay a fee, albeit a small one of three federal coins.


    Using a light-rail train, it would only take thirty to thirty five minutes to cover the distance even with disturbances. Despite being called a train, it was actually a flying shuttle merely shaped just like a train. In truth it could go faster, but due to the weight and weapons attached to it, as well as other safety reasons, it maintained a speed of between 1200km/hr-1350km/hr.


    Nonetheless, this speed was already fast enough for most.


    Very soon, the light-rail train had landed at its destination and everyone inside stepped out.


    The base station in the Wastelands was a small camp made up of a couple buildings. Some of these buildings were lodges and the others were varied spots like bars, restaurants, shooting ranges and even training centres. At the edge of the camp was the landing zone for the light-rail trains.


    The base station was made by the city-state government, but other forces helped with the further development, investing their resources into the place. For instance, some companies, especially those related to freelancers and basic needs, had their branches set up here. However there were few such companies.


    This was because the base station was located in the Wastelands, and very few individuals would want to work there.


    The living locations were only accessible to freelancers so if a regular individual wanted to work in the Wastelands, they would have to commute from the West Wing district. As a result, most stores were operated by robots.


    The Wastelands base station was the gathering spot intended for the freelancers who worked here. It wasn''t a strange thing for freelancers to spend months in the Wastelands. The city-state government hence built the base station just at the outer edge of the Wastelands. This was another incentive program to motivate freelancers to spend more time in the Wastelands.


    Although it didn''t have everything, the base station had everything one needed.


    Lucas admired the sight and thought to himself that it would have been better if he had set up his store here instead.


    While others could buy vestiges, the major customers of a vestige store were freelancers. Other parties, like students and the city patrol corps, didn''t engage in much combat, and as such, their vestiges were usually in top form. However, freelancers fought day and night as it was their source of income. This led to their equipment being damaged regularly.


    Just the expenses on maintenance alone was the bulk of a freelancer''s expenses. If Lucas had set up shop here, the money he would have made from maintenance in two weeks alone might have cleared his debt.


    ''No use crying over spilt milk.'' Lucas thought as he walked away from the port and towards the base station. His first task at the moment was to find a map to help him navigate to his destination.

 Chapter 29: Chapter 29 : Meeting The Guide

    The Wastelands Base station was built from scratch by the Baylands city-state government, and further developed by the different forces residing in the city-state.As a product of the city-state government to motivate more freelancers to raid the Wastelands, there were a couple of buildings built to help satisfy the needs of the freelancers living here. One such was the Guild Centre building.


    The Guild Centre was actually a government agency made by the Baylands city-state government to help monitor and oversee the activities of freelancers. While the hyuman race now had the ability to refine stellar energy, not all members were interested in such and this led to a power divide.


    The Guild Centre was made to ensure that all freelancers and other stellar practitioners didn''t misuse their power. It didn''t directly control freelancers, but it did monitor and restrict them in certain ways. It also aided them by providing incentives and help whenever needed.


    The Guild Centre had a second head office in the Wastelands Base station which was a three storey building. The first floor was open to everyone and was a store of sorts. Here, freelancers could exchange some for their gains from the Wastelands in exchange for points that could be used to purchase items and resources in the same building.


    They could also purchase information or trade with whatever they had.


    There were similar stores owned by the top forces of the city, but the advantage of the Guild Centre was that it was run by the city-state government. The disadvantage however was that they didn''t have much resources to offer so most times, freelancers traded with the other stores.


    However, none of this concerned Lucas as he just wanted to get a map so he picked the most trusted.


    "Hello. Can I get a map of the Wastelands?" Lucas said to the clerk once it was his turn.


    The clerk stared at him suspiciously, thinking that Lucas was one of those ignorant people who wanted to hit it big by killing a desolate beast. Nevertheless, he could do nothing to stop him and the clerk wasn''t interested in doing so either.


    "Your identification and occupation please."


    "Lucas Saunters, blacksmith." Lucas said as he displayed an ID in his communicator and showed it to the clerk.


    "Are you registered with the association? Where''s your badge?" The clerk asked.


    "I don''t have any cause I''m not registered."


    The clerk frowned slightly at the response, then stared at Lucas once again. It was then that he noticed the latter wasn''t hyuman but a human. His expression then took an abrupt change.


    "Are you joking with me?" The clerk frowned. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''ve already provided my details to you. If you want to have another look, I''ll gladly let you." Lucas said with a straight face, ignoring the clerk''s attitude.


    The clerk snorted before asking rudely, "What do you want?"


    "A map." Lucas repeated his intentions, getting slightly irritated at the treatment he was receiving.


    "There are two types of map, but seeing as you lack proper identification and are not a freelancer nor pioneer, I can only offer you the basic version."


    There were a couple of occupations for stellar practitioners with the majority dealing in fights. The freelancer role was the most notable of them all. However, there was another occupation quite similar to it. The role of a Pioneer majorly dealt with exploration.


    While Freelancers took missions and killed desolate beasts for resources, Pioneers explored dangerous regions and new locations, drawing maps and recording new species of alien races or desolate beasts. Very few worked as a pioneer as compared to freelancing where you''re adventuring in an explored region, pioneer was all about searching for the unknown and was as such, much more risky.


    When faced with the choice of risky and very risky, it was obvious which one people would choose right away especially since the pay gap wasn''t so large.


    Since Eretre was 70% explored, there were few pioneers here and on the Groeten continent, most of them resided close to the Wastelands; one of the few unexplored regions.


    Lucas paid five federal coins for the map, a price much more expensive than the trip from West Wing district to here. After that, he left the Guild Centre building.


    However, Lucas didn''t go straight into the depths of the Wasteland just yet. As this was his first time, he needed a guide, even with a map in hand. His destination was quite far and dangerous, so it was much safer to have someone lead the way. Luckily, freelancers could be hired for the task. This was something he learnt on his way here.


    Freelancers would take almost all sorts of jobs provided one paid well enough for it. Being a guide in a perilous region such as the Wastelands was a way for some freelancers based here to earn extra income. They were already familiar with the place, so using their knowledge to make some quick cash was not a problem.


    Lucas'' destination was the Cicalien Mountains, but it was quite far away from the base station and unpredictable in a bad way. What''s more, it was located in a region within the Wastelands known as the Astranian Forest.


    The Astranian Forest was a hunting ground for high level freelancers, but even they didn''t frequent the spot often as it was still quite dangerous. From this, one could guess that the level of desolate beasts in the area was quite high. For that reason, a guide was necessary lest he dies without knowing how.


    Lucas hired a freelancer team that was well known in the area as his guide. Although they were quite expensive, they were reputable and had even worked with a few humans before. As such, Lucas had no worries hiring them.


    Just a short while after Lucas left the Guild Centre building, two people came towards him; a man and a woman. The man had brown hair and black eyes with a calm poise even in his walking steps. As for the woman, she was a stunner, even in this world. With black hair let down behind her, a pair of blue eyes and a pretty oval face, she would have easily stood out on Earth.


    She was 169cm in height (5`6) and gave off a confident yet prideful aura with her eyes.


    Lucas glanced at the new arrivals who smiled at him.


    "Lucas Saunters, I assume, correct?" The man asked him.


    "That''s right." Lucas nodded. He recognised the duo, not because he was familiar with them but that they were his guides for the trip; part of his guides to be exact.


    The team Lucas hired was the Autumn''s Gate guild, which had seven official members. They were a well known freelancer guild and although quite expensive, the group had a good reputation and had even worked with humans in the past before, albeit not any pure-blooded ones like Lucas[1]. Even so, they were the best possible option for Lucas to travel with.


    For this trip, due to the uniqueness of the destination, four of the official team members were sent for the trip and Lucas had all the relevant information about them including their strength and appearances.


    "Alright then. Let''s go. Chad and the others are waiting for us." The lady said.


    The trio departed from the scene but unknown to them, there was someone monitoring them. A man stood beside a building with a communicator shaped like a tablet. Displayed on the communicator''s screen was an image; Lucas'' picture.


    [1] In chapter 7, I made an important distinction. There are two classes of humans: the pureblooded ones like Lucas and hyumans with less than 10% mDNA concentration. Having such a very low mDNA concentration means that their stellar refining potential is absurdly low. Even with serums, they have no future in it unless they utilise special grade serums for humans.


    But those are almost impossible to get.

 Chapter 30: Chapter 30 : Autumn’s Gate Guild

    "So where are we at?" Lucas asked the group during their break."Still a couple miles away. At the speed we are moving at, we might make it the next day." said one of the men, who had black hair but grey eyes.


    Parked close to the squad was a hover-vehicle used for traversing dangerous terrain. It was called a ''Sare'' shuttle or carrier, and looked like a space-shuttle but was much smaller and without the ''wings''. It was equipped with attack options and made with a tough material less susceptible to desolate beast attacks.


    Most freelancer teams and guilds made it their priority to get one of these, even if it were the cheaper editions. The journey in the Wastelands was usually not smooth or safe, so having a vehicle such as this was quite helpful for most teams.


    Apart from Lucas, there were seven other individuals present. These seven were the members of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Originally, Lucas was meant to move with only four of them, but coincidentally, the guild received a mission in the same direction Lucas was headed. As such, it ended up being all seven escorting him, but as this was an unplanned event, Lucas didn''t need to pay extra.


    The seven members of the Autumn''s Gate guild included their leader, the two vice captains, and the other team members. In truth, Autumn''s Gate was much larger than just the seven, however, the others weren''t official members. Also, due to the risk involved with the mission, the weaker members were asked to stay behind, with all seven official members taking part.


    The strength of the seven was impressive, as this was what led to the guild being renowned. The guild leader was at the sixth level, whereas of the two who went to meet Lucas, the woman was a vice captain and at the fifth level. She was quite a popular figure due to both her strength and potential, as it was rumoured that she reached this level just before her twenty-fourth birthday.


    A year has gone by since then, and while her strength didn''t break through to the next level, it was reputed that her current ability was nothing like the person she was a year ago.


    The other vice captain, who was also at the Five Apertures Opening stage, was a young man Lucas hadn''t spoken to yet. The other four members had their strength split between the third and fourth levels, making them all elite figures.


    It had been over twelve hours since they departed the base station, and they had yet to reach Astranian Forest. This wasn''t that their speed was slow, but because the distance was long.


    The Astranian Forest was home to many desolate beasts that could compare to stellar refiners at the third to fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. For that reason, the base station was built a couple kilometres away. Even if one were to use a vehicle, it would take over a day to get there.


    "You guys have been here a couple of times, right? How was it? Any survival tips?"


    As this was his first time outside the city, whats more in a dangerous location, Lucas wanted to know more about the area. This was a survival tactic from his first life kicking in. Back then, Lucas had lived his early years as an orphan, which was one of the worst-case scenarios for anyone in a world governed by the rule of the strongest fists.


    It was only natural to research and absorb as much information about a foreign place as possible in order to increase his chances at surviving.


    The grey eyed fellow was someone Lucas got a bit familiar with as he was chatty. He was a freelancer at the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage named Ju¨¢n.


    Ju¨¢n replied him,


    "Well, the experience was definitely one of a kind. There aren''t as many desolate beasts as the rumours say on the outer ring, but deep inside is a hellhole. For instance, while there were not many, there were still a handful of desolate beasts at the third level and a few at the fourth level. Everyone of them are more skilled than their counterparts elsewhere, like here.


    If you take too long settling a fight, the noise might attract even more desolate beasts to the area. So I guess that''s a survival tip. If you need something more detailed, it depends on the species of the desolate beasts, but the Astranian Forest has all types of them."


    Lucas nodded in understanding. Just these past twelve hours, they had encountered a few desolate beasts on the way, with each differing drastically from the other in terms of both appearances and strength. There were different ways to take on different desolate beasts, as their weak points differed. Only experienced and knowledgeable freelancers and pioneers could differentiate.


    Luckily for Lucas, the system had given him the tome, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', which was an encyclopedia of different topics. One such was desolate monsters.


    "You shouldn''t think much about it. The main key to survival is being calm and cautious at all times. Once you see a sign of danger, do not hesitate and run." The second female in the group said.


    During each fight the team engaged in, Lucas would pay attention to the techniques they used as well as their fighting style. Apart from the team''s leader and vice leaders, this woman was the next strongest in the group. Her level was at the fourth level, but by using a Grade 3 vestige, she was much stronger than your average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar refiner.


    Lucas even estimated that she could hold her own against a desolate beast comparable to a fifth level stellar practitioner.


    "Well, Anna has a point on this." Ju¨¢n said with a smile.


    Lucas glanced at him and understood the situation right away. He might not be experienced in that department, but Lucas had some knowledge of it.


    The trio chatted away and eventually rested. It was currently dark, and although there were technologies to help them see in the dark, hyumans were diurnal and preferred moving around during the day. Also, the nocturnal desolate beasts were so adept at hunting in the dark that a single misstep could cost one their life.


    Hence, it was safer to move during the day, even more so as they were heading in the direction of the Astranian Forest.


    When daybreak arrived, the group was already prepared to move, and they resumed their journey. However, they had only gone a few kilometres in when the scout signalled for them to stop.


    "What''s the problem?" The leader of the team asked.


    He was a brawny fellow with red hair and a crewcut, who gave off a thick military vibe. His deep voice and thick muscles made him look formidable and scary, but he was actually an approachable figure with the alias Crimson Fang. At the sixth level of the Aperture Opening stage, the man was quite famous in the freelancer community of Baylands City.


    It was even rumoured that some big forces had once tried to recruit him, but after retiring from the army, he had instead formed his own force; the Autumn''s Gate guild. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Today, the Autumn''s Gate guild was among the top twenty freelancer squads in the city with a total force of almost fifty men.


    "I spotted tracks of a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice up ahead." The scout, who was at the third level and controlled the scouting drones on the outside, said.


    Crimson Fang as well as the other team members in the vehicle, frowned. Ever since they were closing in on the Astranian Forest, they released a couple of scouting drones to move head of their vehicle. The team''s scout was a man with sharp-eyed vision, which made it easy for him to spot some irregularities in the terrain, using the scouting drones'' vision.


    A Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was a dangerous monster that usually operated at the Astranian Forest.


    It was on par with a fifth level Aperture Opening stage practitioner, but as the desolate beasts of the Astranian Forest were on another level compared to the others, even a fifth level stellar refiner would almost have no complete confidence in taking on this creature alone unless with a powerful vestige in hand.


    Usually, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice resided in the depths of the Astranian Forest, so most freelancers who came to the location never came across it unless they went deeper in. As such, encountering one at the fringes was unheard of before.


    Crimson Fang couldn''t help but take this occurrence seriously. Powerful desolate beasts were known to be territorial, and the only reason they would abandon their operating region was either due to a lack of food or they were forced out. None of the options were good for them.


    "Keep going, but be more cautious and monitor the surroundings even tighter. Try to avoid it, but don''t go too far out of our path. Ju¨¢n, work with him as well. The rest, prepare for a possible battle. If we can''t avoid it, we have to finish the battle as quickly as possible." Crimson Fang gave his orders.


    With his strength, a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was no problem, but Crimson Fang still had to consider the possibility that there would be even stronger desolate beasts up ahead. Regardless, he had no choice for now. The pay for the mission was very high, even for them, and there was no way they would retreat without even reaching their destination.

 Chapter 31: Chapter 31 : Blue-Gemmed Cockatrice

    It didn''t take long for the scout to calm the attention of the team again. Despite their efforts, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice had managed to locate them. It was still a few kilometres away, heading in their direction, but to monsters of its size and speed, the distance could be covered in a few dozen seconds."We can only afford thirty seconds on this with a max of forty five seconds. Any longer, and chances are high, we''d get spotted by a much stronger creature." Crimson Fang said with a slight frown. Even for him, a Blue-gemmed cockatrice was a hassle unless he utilized his vestige.


    The region they were in now was a vast expanse of land that constituted a savanna. Because there weren''t many trees to act as obstructions, a battle on a large scale would easily draw attention. Typically, battles with strong, desolate beasts always drew attention.


    "What''s its power level?" Crimson Fang asked.


    Unless one was skilled at it, it was difficult to ascertain the power level of a hyuman face-to-face. The same was even more true for desolate beasts, as their refining system was different from hyumans. As such, equipment for that was made and vehicles like the sare were usually equipped with such technology.


    Ju¨¢n, who manned the cockpit alongside the scout, began to press a few buttons, following which a reading was displayed on a holographic screen before him.


    "Peak fourth level." Ju¨¢n replied at that moment.


    "So it''s a young one." Crimson Fang nodded as he recalled something.


    Usually, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice were at the fifth level, with the only exception being the immature ones. A Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was one in its adolescent stage, almost at adulthood. It wasn''t a problem for the team to handle when compared to an adult version, but the circumstances were still strange.


    Even in the worst-case scenario, such as starvation, an adolescent Blue-gemmed Cockatrice wouldn''t leave the Astranian Forest.


    "Anna, Leno, with me." instructed the lady with the blue eyes, the second vice captain of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Leno was the last official member of the team, and just like the scout, he was at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. Nonetheless, he had a Grade 3 vestige on him. Every official member of the team had at least one Grade 3 vestige, although they were of differing strengths.


    With the combination of the female vice captain, who Lucas found out to be named Lisa, Anna and Leno, a fourth level Blue-gemmed Cockatrice should be no problem. Crimson Fang didn''t have an issue with the lineup and so gave his silent permission to it.


    The trio approached the exit of the sare, and tapped on a badge located on their chest. The badge suddenly expanded and released a material that covered them like armour. The process was alluring to a craftsman like Lucas, no matter how many times he saw it.


    The armour had a few strange lines carved on it, and there was a noticeable pattern on their back and chest regions. It was a black mist [1] in colour and had a lot of handy features added to it.


    This was a high tech armour unlike anything Lucas had ever seen before. It utilised nanotechnology, which made it portable and efficient. Despite its small size in its dormant state, the material of the armour dense and durable. The weakest edition among the team members could tank a full on hit from a fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner and not leave a scratch.


    Only top freelancers could afford it, as this equipment was expensive as hell. It was no underestimation to say that it cost a dozen years of an average family of four''s spending.


    "Activating artificial gravity." Ju¨¢n said as he pressed a few buttons from the cockpit.


    In the very next second, Lucas felt a force latch on to him strongly. This force was similar to gravity but much stronger than what he had ever felt before.


    "Go." Ju¨¢n''s voice sounded as the exit door opened up.


    Whoosh.


    Due to the difference in pressure, a vacuum was made, and the oxygen in the sare was quickly sucked outside. Lucas felt a pulling force from the exit, but thanks to the artificial gravity in place, he remained fixed in the spot. Nonetheless, he was quickly losing his oxygen supply and turning pale.


    This situation didn''t last long, as Lisa and the other two had already jumped off the shuttle and the door was closed back. Oxygen was then pumped in from the reserve tanks, and within just a few seconds, everything was back to normal. The sare also dropped its speed and began to hover not too far away from the departed trio.


    On the outside, Lisa, Anna, and Leno were currently skydiving. Suddenly, the stellar matrices on their armour abruptly glowed a dim blue light, and they began to hover in mid air.


    A few seconds later, a large azure monster showed up on the horizon. It had two thick legs with claws attached to them. Its wings were like those of a dragon, and its body was like that of a serpent. But one of the most odd features of this monster was its head, which shaped like a rooster''s.


    However, with the size of this monster, its head was much larger than that of a regular rooster and looked vicious. Another odd feature were the pair of fangs hidden behind its beak, making it look both hideous and scary.


    On its head was a crown made completely out of a blue gem that looked almost like a sapphire. This was the origin of the cockatrice''s name as well as its most valuable part.


    "Caw!"


    The cockatrice spotted the trio from afar and let out a warning sound, attempting to intimidate the latter into giving up.


    Lisa ignored it and said to the duo, "Anna, you and Leno try to take it down as soon as possible. I''ll provide cover and prevent it from escaping." Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though it wasn''t recognized for its speed, a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice still wasn''t a simple bird. From the start, the trio couldn''t fly on their own and depended on their gear to do so, which meant that their top speed was limited to what the armour could reach. This was different and also quite slower than the cockatrice, who depended on its own skill to fly.


    Since they intended on taking it down quickly to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, they had to prevent the monster from escaping.


    Some desolate beasts were very petty and vengeful, so unless one intended to avoid them from the start, it was best to finish them off rather than give the monsters an opportunity to strike back later.


    A few seconds later, the cockatrice was now only one hundred metres away. At that moment, Lisa gave the command.


    "Now!"

 Chapter 32: Chapter 32 : The Power Of A Vestige

    Hovering in midair, the trio took out their vestiges and prepared to battle.Anna had a bow that looked technical and not like a product of wood carving. The bow was metallic and made of different tiny parts linked together to make the weapon, just like a compound bow. While it still maintained the structural appearance of a typical compound bow, the crafting of this weapon was much more complex.


    Every metallic part was integral to the weapon''s efficiency and functioned a specific role, being very distinct from their traditional counterparts. Even the string wasn''t as thin as regular bows, but was a metallic string the thickness of a thumb. Instead of the usual wheels, there were instead special rails built on it.


    At a single glance, one could indeed call this a bow, but at a closer look, it was much more advanced and even different.


    The bow didn''t use physical arrows, rather, it consumed the wielder''s stellar energy to form a stellar arrow, while applying the effects of the stellar matrices and runes carved on it to the arrow. Unlike a regular bow, it even had a semi-automatic feature, meaning that as long as one had enough stellar energy, the bow could fire as fast as an assault rifle.


    The weapons Leno had were a pair of pistols, but not like the ones back on Earth. Its attacking ability was dependent on two factors; the user''s stellar energy and the rounds fired. However, the guns could still be used even without specialised rounds, as one''s stellar energy could compensate; the only difference being that its attacking power would be much weaker.


    Apart from that, Leno also had a golden staff hanging behind him. It was currently in its passive form, measuring only a metre long. Compared to the pair of pistols though, the staff''s energy level was much lower, clearly a sign that in terms of grades, it couldn''t be placed alongside the former.


    It was quite normal for freelancers to have more than one set of vestiges, as each type performed a different function and could be used a different way. Nonetheless, not everyone was financially bouyant enough to afford such.


    Most times, a freelancer would concentrate their funds into one equipment, while those who desire the path of having a backup, would have their main and auxiliary vestiges, with the latter being weaker than the former.


    This wasn''t to say that they didn''t want both to be in the same grade, but the financial resources required to not only acquire the vestiges but also maintain them, was no chicken feed.


    The duo, who were already armed, immediately headed for the cockatrice. As for Lisa, she remained on standby. Her role for the battle was to prevent the monster from escaping and also ensure that her teammates didn''t get hurt. Also, if she managed to spot a chance to deliver a heavy blow to the monster, she would take it. In summary, she was the backup for the battle.


    While they were expected to end the battle quickly, they took every opportunity as a moment to hone their skills and train. Lisa stepped out of the way to give Anna and Leno enough space as well as an opportunity to face a peak fourth level desolate beast on their own.


    To prevent the monster from escaping, Lisa had also taken out her vestige; a black streamer that was inlaid with special gems and carved with countless stellar matrices.


    Once the cockatrice got within a one hundred metres distance from them, Leno released his stellar energy and channeled it into the pistols. He took aim and at the very next second, let loose his weapon, firing multiple shots at the monster.


    *Pew-Pew-Pew*


    Aquatic blue dots with a slender shape shot out from the pistols, almost at the speed of light. The shots tore through the air, heating it immediately and striking at the cockatrice. However, a peak fourth level monster, especially one from the Astranian Forest.


    *Bang* *Bang*


    The Blue-gemmed Cockatrice gave off a light blue shimmer from its body which then solidified to form a sturdy shield in front of it. The shots from the magical pistols collided into the light shield, forming sparks with each collision yet failing to penetrate through. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even so, Leno was unbothered as he kept raining shots after shots down on the monster, forcing its speed to slow down as it focused on defence.


    Although each shot wasn''t backed with a rune-carved round, the pistols themselves were a Grade 3 vestige and had a special enhancement function. Through this, Leno -despite being at the third level- was capable of releasing fire power comparable to a peak third level or a beginner fourth level practitioner.


    Even for the cockatrice, this firepower, although not deadly, was still of harm to it, so it regarded the attacks with caution.


    In the meantime, Anna wasn''t just taking the spectator role as she gripped her bow and drew the string right from its nocking point while injecting her stellar energy into the vestige.


    An energy arrow began to take shape on the bow, giving off an intimidating aura that could quell ghosts.


    The cockatrice suddenly sensed something as its gaze shifted from Leno to Anna, but by then, it was too late.


    Twang.


    The string was released alongside a one chord melody, with the energy arrow darting at its target at a speed difficult to be caught by the human eye.


    *Bang*


    Unlike with Leno''s attacks, the light shield formed by the cockatrice shattered immediately the tip of the arrow made contact with it. Like a glass wall falling apart after a gunshot, it broke into shards, but the arrow was not done yet.


    The remnant energy of the strike broke through the shield and hit its target with next to no resistance. As the cockatrice wasn''t expecting such a powerful attack to be made available so soon, its guard wasn''t completely up and the arrow dug into its left wing.


    If it weren''t for the tough hides of the monster as well as its natural constitution, the arrow would have penetrated all the way until the other side.


    Lucas marveled at this scene as he could witness the difference between a fourth level and third level stellar practitioners of the Aperture Opening stage while using vestiges of the same grades. Albeit there was some slight difference in quality, both the bow and the pair of pistols were Grade 3 vestiges, but the effects they produced in the hands of their users differed due to their levels.


    While Leno found it difficult to shatter the light shield, Anna was able to do it with one shot.


    The cockatrice had now identified Anna to be a threat as it turned its horrifying gaze at her.


    Originally, it had kept a lookout for Lisa as its instincts could sense that she was the strongest. But the distance between them made it less cautious. Also, even though it had sensed Anna to be at a somewhat similar level as itself, the cockatrice was a proud and cocky monster and deigned to believe that a creature much smaller than it could pose a significant threat to it.


    Leno''s shots being unable to penetrate its light shield gave this conclusion more grounds of being a fact, and so, it didn''t put up much caution against them.


    There was also the fact that this Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was an adolescent and probably didn''t have much, or even, any experience dealing with hyumans so it underestimated the group.


    Being injured by creatures it considered lesser, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice didn''t get scared or consider a retreat. Rather, it flared up with anger, spreading its wings wide as it cawed at the duo. Its menacing eyes glared red as its fangs glistened with its mouth wide open.


    *Vroom*


    A blue beam of light exited from the mouth of the formidable creature, blasting its way forward towards Anna.


    Anna had already expected such a counter attack as the information regarding the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was already publicised amongst the freelancers. In fact, to minimise fatality rates, information regarding many desolate beasts was either open to the public as general knowledge or sold by Pioneers.


    Very rarely would one die at the hands of a desolate beast in the Wastelands unless they were uninformed, inexperienced, or facing a much stronger desolate beast.


    The blue pulverizing ray was a common attack method of a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, apart from its physical attacks with its claws, beak or tail.


    Anna''s battlesuit surged with an intense intense blue light and a low hum, as she hurriedly dodged the beam.


    Meanwhile, Lisa flung her streamer with at the beam, effectively blocking it with the vestige and forcing the attack to dissipate. This was to prevent the pulverizing ray from causing a commotion elsewhere and attracting the attention of other desolate beasts towards their location.


    Right after that, Lisa controlled the streamer to extend around the battle zone, forming a circle around the three combatants.


    The radius of the circle was quite large and the cockatrice was in an enraged mode, having its attention on Leno and Anna alone, so it failed to notice this stealthy action.


    Meanwhile, Leno kept firing shots at the monster, and while the damage dealt to the cockatrice wasn''t much, it did succeed in drawing its aggro towards him. When the situation looked deadly or when she spotted a chance, Anna would shoot her energy arrows at the monster.


    In this fashion, the duo kept the cockatrice busy, but this time, Anna''s arrows didn''t always hit the target as the cockatrice relied on its natural airborne talent to dodge the attacks. Even for the attacks it felt difficult to handle, it would clash head-on with them using its claws that glowed silver right before each collision.


    When Lisa''s vestige, the black streamer, formed a complete circle, the gems on it lit up and the light extended to envelope the markings of the stellar matrices. When all the matrices were lit up, Lisa then muttered a word.


    "Seal."


    A strange wave was released from the black streamer, encompassing the battlefield and forming an invisible sphere over it. Inside the sphere were the trio: the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, Anna and Leno.


    At this moment, the monster felt a shiver and immediately awoke from its enraged state, but it was all too late.


    "Bury." Lisa said with a solemn voice, like a monarch declaring an indelible command.


    In the very next second, something incredible took place. The stellar matrices ''separated'' from the streamer and turned into seven large black and red magic circles, encompassing a much larger height than the streamer.


    At the centre of each magic circle, a bolt of pure energy began to form, turning into magnificent weapons that suffused with the scent of death. In the eyes of the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, fear appeared with a trace of anxiety as the creature dashed towards the opposite direction of the duo, ignoring them and fleeing for its life.


    However, the cockatrice didn''t get far away as it crashed into an invisible barrier that forced it back. Even though it was injured from that experience, it didn''t relent as it charged once more and clawed at the barrier. But all its efforts were for naught as the monster feared by many, was incapable of passing through the barrier.


    It only managed to keep attacking for two seconds before the bolts of deadly energy took aim and fired right away.


    *Boom*


    All seven bolts, despite the distance between them, reached the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice all at the same time and exploded into a terrifying surge of energy. The attack was so powerful that even the invisible barrier materialized by the streamer failed to remain standing, dissipating alongside the creature.


    In that moment, Lucas was in awe. Even though he has seen much more powerful and stronger attacks and weapons in his first life, if he were to consider the level and strength of an Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioner, being able to produce such a formidable attack was very much impressive.

 Chapter 33: Chapter 33 : Assassins?

    When humans first began to explore the far reaches of space, they came to the conclusion that their bodies lacked the innate ability to manipulate stellar energy and survive in the vast expanses of space. The issue of the latter could have been solved by developing special suits, but the former was a drastic disadvantage, so much so that it was termed a disability for the entire race.Humans then became a naturally disabled race, a title they felt humiliated by.


    After years of research, the first generation of hyumans: an advanced species that could not only manipulate stellar energy but could also live in special regions that humans would find uninhabitable.


    However, the impairment of their genetic constitution was but one of the problems the human race faced at the time. The inadequacy of their weapons to compete with that of alien species was a flaw in their society; one so bad that the leaders at the time felt it was on the same level as their genetic impairment. The creation of hyumankin seemed to point at a solution to this.


    Relying on their newly gained abilities thanks to their advancement on a genetic level, hyumans began researching a way to imbue their weapons with stellar energy, raising its destructive prowess up by a few levels. In time, which was accompanied by intense research and progress, the first generation of vestige-smiths were born.


    Vestige-smiths were talented geniuses with a high stellar energy manipulation ability, who dedicated themselves to the art of crafting stellar energy-based technologies known as vestiges. They differed greatly from the occupation of engineers and blacksmiths, but were somewhat similar.


    If one were to describe a vestige-smith in a simple description, you could say that they were the combination of an engineer, a blacksmith and a scribe, an occupation from Lucas'' first life that focused on storing spells inside scrolls by drawing magical runes on them.


    But at the same time, vestige-smiths weren''t just a simple combination of all these occupations; otherwise, a blacksmith could just learn engineering and memorise a few runes, then inscribe them on his product, and voila, a vestige.


    The truth was as simple as the description, yet not. It was for this reason that the professions of engineers and blacksmiths were separated from vestige-smiths. To be able to attain the latter title, one would need not only knowledge of the former two occupations but also to be extremely talented and naturally blessed.


    The blessing here simply refers to having a high m(o)DNA concentration and an exquisite ability to manipulate stellar energy to the atomic level and even further below; something even a Guardian¡ªa being at the peak of a planet and referred to as its ruler¡ªmight not be able to achieve. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All these requirements gave birth to a profession that defined the next few generations of humanity and the hyumankin.


    Looking at the dead body of the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, which was taken down without a hitch by a vestige, albeit one under the control of a fifth level Apertures Opening stage freelancer, Lucas began to look forward to the extent of power a vestige-smith could realise through their creations.


    In his first life, there was an equivalent profession known as a magic weapon craftsman. However, these craftsmen were more of blacksmiths with some knowledge on inscribing runes. Compared to vestige-smiths, it was like a bicycle maker to an automobile engineering company; the difference was vast. Their creations weren''t on the same level of power.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t an average magic weapon craftsman, as he was among the top three in his world. He had also transmigrated to Earth, where he broadened his perspective and absorbed a lot of theoretical knowledge, exactly the same as those in this new world. As such, Lucas was confident that he could compete with the top vestige-smiths in time.


    ''One day, I''ll make a killing weapon like that.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the streamer that returned to Lisa''s side.


    At this moment, the trio were slowly returning to the sare shuttle, yet seemed to be bickering about something. It was only when they had gotten into the vehicle that Lucas realised that Lisa was actually reprimanding the duo on their actions. In her opinion, they used the wrong strategy and could not finish off the monster in time, forcing her to then step in.


    The team continued on their way and didn''t experience a strange event of a native monster abandoning its habitat as with before. This began to make them think that the situation with the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was different and unique.


    Eventually, it took a few more hours until they had arrived just a few kilometres away from the Astranian Forest. As it was getting dark, the team captain was against entering at that time and instead decided to go in the next day. He was the only one with a handful of experience with the Astranian Forest, as well as being the team leader, so it was natural that everyone else went with his decision.


    They landed the sare and set up camp around twelve kilometres away from the forest. The distance might seem like much, but to a desolate beast of the middle levels, it wasn''t. Nonetheless, it was an appropriate distance that would offer the team enough time to assemble their formation or retreat, depending on the strength of their assailant.


    A while after they had set up camp, the team leader walked towards Lucas and sat beside him.


    "Hey." The middle-aged man smiled.


    Lucas was confused but nodded back in greeting while trying not to seem impolite.


    "I''ll get straight to the point." The middle-aged man said.


    "Did you offend anybody?"


    Lucas was surprised and immediately became suspicious, wondering what the man''s intention was.


    As if he sensed this, the man continued.


    "I''ve noticed that we were being trailed by someone. Their strength is lower than my team''s, so I doubt they''re after us. Our enemies wouldn''t be so dumb as to send weaklings to deal with us. That leaves the only possible target to be you, which is why I asked."


    Lucas now understood the man''s actions, but at the same time, he couldn''t help but be worried. It seemed that someone was keeping an eye on him, even after he left the West Wing district. What''s more, this was the Wastelands'' Astranian Forest region.


    If anything were to happen to him here, it would be easy to make it look like a monster assault and not a planned murder, so the city-state government wouldn''t even be able to avenge him. If it hadn''t been for this middle-aged man warning him, Lucas would have been at great risk.


    "Why are you telling me this?" Lucas asked with a slight confusion.


    "Naturally, it''s because you''re our client. Until the mission is complete, your safety is in our hands. However, I''d like to clarify one point: even if the enemy is much weaker than us, we can''t interfere too much in this. At best, we can grant you secure passage into the forest and delay them from finding you for a while, but after that, we can''t do much.


    This is because of an unwritten rule in the freelancer community, so unless we''re specifically being hired to ensure your safety throughout, it would be impossible for us to neutralise your trackers."


    Although he didn''t entirely understand, Lucas nodded at the response. The freelancer profession was based on accepting missions and completing them for a designated fee. However, there were situations where two missions could clash. In such situations, the freelancers involved were expected to act professionally.


    For instance, if one was hired to find a rare special material and another freelancer was hired to do the same, the two would have to compete professionally. If one of them found it, the other wasn''t allowed to attack him for the package, as that would draw the ire of other freelancers.


    Such an unofficial rule was put in practice by the top freelancers and guilds, over time becoming common knowledge in the community. This rule helped to maintain a certain sense of formality as well as safety to the community.


    In this case, someone was tracking Lucas and might have even been sent to deal with him. However, the Autumn''s Gate guild couldn''t interfere in this as their relationship with Lucas was merely limited to a single mission of them having to escort him safely into the Astranian Forest. As for what happens after he gets there, it was none of their business.


    This met that as long as the trackers didn''t make a move on Lucas until he arrived at the Astranian Forest, the Autumn''s Gate guild could not interfere. Coming out to warn Lucas of a possible threat in the shadows was already a warm gesture by the team leader. Having even offered to delay the trackers said a lot about the middle-aged man''s personality.


    "Thank you." Lucas said as he bowed slightly at the man.


    "There''s nothing to thank me for here. I just wanted to let you know to prevent any problems from my side. It would be bad on our reviews if this trip of ours ended on a bad note." The middle-aged man chuckled before standing up and taking his leave.


    As for Lucas, he began to brainstorm a solution as the protection offered by the Autumn''s Gate guild would come to an end the next day.

 Chapter 34: Chapter 34 : Departure

    In truth, the head of the Autumn''s Gate guild was slightly hoping that Lucas would commission them with a new task, which was why he said those words.Being a top 20 freelancer squad involuntarily meant that those who could afford their services were big corporations and rich individuals. However, these parties either had their own private force, or were in an alliance with another top team, sponsoring them in exchange for their services. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even if the wealthy individual or company was looking for an independent freelancer guild for a task, there were still other top guilds, much stronger than the Autumn''s Gate guild, in the market.


    Naturally, there were the occasional wealthy merchants and so on who required their services; otherwise, they would have closed shop. Even so, the number of such missions they received in a month was still not enough in the guild leader, Crimson Fang''s eyes. He wanted his guild, the Autumn''s Gate, to become a top ten freelancer squad, and to achieve that, a lot of money was needed.


    Currently lacking sponsors, the best way for them to make that money was through missions, but they couldn''t drop down their price either.


    Although Lucas might be suspicious about the unwritten rule amongst freelancers, he could do nothing about it. The best option for him would be to draw up another contract with the Autumn''s Gate guild and have them protect him until he returns back to the base station.


    At the base station, it would be impossible for anyone to threaten him, otherwise the retaliation by the city-state''s Guild Centre would be enough to end them. Even a top 500 company of Eretre wouldn''t want to go against the city-state government.


    Unfortunately, Lucas wasn''t interested in another contract. How would they know that just this escort contract has cost him a lot? Even though Lucas could have been said to be a bit wealthy after pawning the Purple Iridium ingot, the escort mission nearly cost him 150 federal coins, and this was already cheap.


    One should recall this price was made in mind with him having only four members guarding him, of which two would be official guild members. However, he had luckily ended up with all seven official members escorting him. If Lucas were to request a new deal, he would have to consider all seven official members onboard. At that time, the price might even reach up to 500 federal coins.


    Considering his expenses from when he went shopping until now, including the fee for the escort, Lucas had only two thousand two hundred and fifty (2250) federal coins left. Spending almost a quarter of that would hurt his insides and eat him for a long time, even if it was for his safety. This was especially so since it wasn''t like Lucas was entirely out of options.


    . . .


    At the break dawn, just right when the first ray of light struck the ground, the group had already awakened and prepared to depart. Within just a few minutes, they covered the twenty kilometres distance and arrived a few hundred metres away from the Astranian Forest. This distance was nothing to the sare shuttle and one could say they had already reached their destination.


    The Astranian Forest was an astonishing vast expanse of land that could even compare with a state or prefecture in size. It was like a whole other world of its own, dominated by large greenery and massive trees towering up to twenty metres, roughly the same height as a four storey building.


    Even from the sare which was flying through the clouds, Lucas couldn''t see the entirety of the Astranian Forest. Just from this alone, he could now see why this was place meant only for freelancers with high ranks. One could only imagine how many desolate beasts were in here as well as the level of the strongest ones.


    From what Lucas knew, the Astranian Forest was merely just one of the many regions in the Wastelands. One could think of the Wastelands as a country, and the regions within it being states. The Astranian Forest was one such ''state'', and within this ''state'', there were areas the size of a city.


    Lucas'' destination, as well as the location of his mission objective, was a ''state'' known as the Cicalien Mountains.


    The escort mission was only meant to stop him within the Astranian Forest, as the cost of being escorted into the Cicalien Mountains was a lot more than he could accept. However, even though they had arrived at the Astranian Forest, the escort mission wasn''t entirely over.


    As with tradition, the Autumn''s Gate guild would drop him off a few hundred metres to one kilometre in, securing the perimeter and ensuring that nothing dangerous happened to their client.


    It was at this point that the guild leader signalled to Lucas and everyone else on the ride. Earlier on, the guild leader had already noticed the rest about the hidden party trailing them. Actually, the two vice guild leaders had sensed them, but they didn''t say a word to Lucas as it wasn''t their place to do so.


    The plan was such: the guild leader as well as one vice guild leader would drop off at a specific point and hold back the trackers. At that moment, Ju¨¢n would speed off with the sare to a destination quite far from this point where he would then drop off Lucas. The other vice guild leader was present to ensure that nothing would happen during this trip.


    As soon as Lucas was dropped off, they would move in another direction to create a fake trail and the contract would be over.


    Lucas didn''t have any problems with this plan; in fact, he couldn''t even disagree with it. From the behaviour of the team, Lucas could sense their earnestness and see how much effort they put into this when in fact, they could decide not to do so. Their contract was simply to get him into the Astranian Forest safely, and already being in the region, nothing else should have concerned them.


    But they went the extra mile, despite the fact that he was a human.


    This impressive action bred a strange emotion in him and for a second, Lucas was tempted to tip them. But when he recalled how ''poor'' he was, he eliminated that thought without any hesitation.


    "Get ready." The guild leader, Crimson Fang, said as he wore his armour.


    The vice guild leader who would accompany him was Lisa, as her vestige was very suited for hindering attackers and creating a defense. As for the other guild leader, his vestige and even fighting style, were all about offence, so he was better suited to move with the shuttle.


    Just after the group had moved three hundred metres into the forest, Crimson Fang and Lisa jumped exited the shuttle and arrived in mid air.


    Lisa unfurled her streamer and as with the battle against the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, the streamer occupied a large area around them and formed a world of its own. At the same time, Crimson Fang abruptly pointed at multiple locations in mid air, blasting an orange ray from his finger each time he did so.


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    Explosive sounds broke out as the orange rays crashed into obstacles in midair. Once the air was cleared up, four figures were forced into the open. They were the trackers who were following the group.

 Chapter 35: Chapter 35 : Separation

    The sare shuttle sped through the air within the Astranian Forest, but it didn''t fly above the canopy of trees. The reason for this was clear; the Astranian Forest was a very dangerous location filled with tons of deadly desolate beasts.Standing out would turn one into a target for the countless bloodthirsty creatures around. Under the assault of tens or even hundreds of such monsters, even a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner would die. As such, even if the defence of the sare was staunch and unbreakable, most would still not want to test it against the vicious wave of monsters.


    Inside the vehicle, the other vice captain of the squad and also vice guild leader, glanced at the screens displayed in, only taking a break away after he failed to spot any desolate beasts nearby.


    He then glanced at Lucas and noticed how the latter was calmly sitting in silence. At that moment, the vice guild leader couldn''t help but frown.


    Truth be told, he was against Crimson Fang leading Lisa to hold back the pursuers. His justification was the unofficial rule as well as another important point; there was no reason to risk offending an unknown party all because of an ''expired'' deal.


    From his senses, the vice guild leader estimated that there were four pursuers with two of them being at the third level, one at the fourth and another at the fifth. One should know that individuals at the fifth level could be squad leaders or high-ranking members of a strong guild, just like himself.


    As for fourth level freelancers, they would be elites and still valued to some extent no matter where they were. This was because the average power level of a freelancer was between the first and third levels.


    Someone who could afford to hire these figures would definitely not be an ordinary individual or faction. Intercepting the pursuers would no doubt offend the party behind them, and this might attract unnecessary trouble for guild in the future.


    When the shuttle had reached a safe distance, they slowed down and Lucas exited the vehicle right away. The shuttle then zoomed off in a different direction. From here onwards, the deal with the Autumn''s Gate guild had ended and Lucas was on his own.


    Lucas didn''t look worried, even after this reality had dawned on him. On the contrary, he made his move, heading towards a different direction that led to the Cicalien Mountains. As was mentioned before, the Astranian Forest could be considered a ''state'''' within the ''country'' called the Wastelands. As for the Cicalien Mountains, it was a ''city'' within this ''state''.


    Compared to the broad green area, the Cicalien Mountains was fraught with more danger. This was how the Astranian Forest was; every distinct region would be crawling with dangerous and powerful desolate beasts, making them more perilous than the shrub-filled zone.


    Lucas opened up his communicator and located the mountainous region to be a couple kilometres away; less than ten kilometres to be precise. This distance wasn''t much; Lucas could cover it in twenty five to thirty minutes. But with a group of pursuers right behind him, it was a risky journey. He may not even have up to thirty minutes.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to use them.'' Lucas thought as he kept on running.


    Astranian Forest was a well known danger zone, and even a simple browsing action would reveal this. Since he was aiming for here from the start, Lucas had naturally done his research previously and made proper arrangements. The arrangements were specifically for desolate beasts, but there were also some preparations he made against hyumans.


    It might come as a surprise that Lucas was looking out for any unfriendly hyuman, but if one were to recall that his first encounter upon transmigrating into this world was to almost get kidnapped, and that he was assaulted on his store within just two weeks of transmigration, then everything would make sense.


    So far, Lucas has been in this world for three weeks, but these three weeks have been filled with a handful of ''interesting'' experiences, which in turn made him more cautious.


    As Lucas was travelling through the air, he occasionally plastered a piece of paper marked with red ink, on the trunk of a tree. He did this for roughly every three hundred metres until he had plastered seven paper slips over a 2.1 kilometres distance. Each time he was nine hundred metres away from a paper slip, Lucas would change an incantation and form some hand seals.


    But the time he was nine hundred metres away from the seventh paper slip, he chanted the same incantations and former the same hand seals.


    By this time, if one were to look at the area around the first paper from an aerial point of view, they would notice that a few desolate beasts of different shapes and sizes were conglomerating towards that direction. The same held true for the other five paper slips, with only the seventh one not showing any effects yet.


    Beast attracting talisman.


    This was a special talisman made by the witches in his past life. It was the direct opposite of the ''Beast warding talisman'', a product of deserters who cultivated in True energy. The Beast attracting talisman was a weapon of war hated by many factions, and its manufacturing process was bizarre.


    It required the caster or scribe, as they were called, to use their blood and draw a rune onto a special piece of paper known as a talisman paper. The blood would be infused with mana during the inscribing process, forcefully infusing a spell into the paper, to create a talisman.


    Once the talisman was activated, the scent of the blood on the paper would be reignited and strengthened, while being forced to diffuse around the area alongside an attractive aura produced by the mana.


    However, the scent of blood as well as the attractive aura of the mana would be noticeable only to beasts and man-eating monsters.


    In summary, the beast attracting talisman was a bait for monsters. However, if done well, it could be used to create a trap. In Lucas'' case, he intended to have the beasts cover up his tracks and force the pursuers to slow down if they somehow found out the direction he moved in. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With that done, Lucas was confident that he would have enough time to make it to the Cicalien Mountains. As for when he would have to return, Lucas would naturally use a different route.

 Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Encountering A Desolate Beast

    The Cicalien Mountains was a vast chain of mountains connected to form a mountain range. Towering peaks of different heights spread all over the area, forming ''waves'' in the region. Home to many desolate beasts, the mountain range was a dangerous place even for a high-ranking freelancer. However, despite being dangerous, it was also home to many mineral deposits and lodes.A couple decades back, the Baylands city-state government had launched an exploration campaign, aimed at understanding the Wastelands more in preparation for a future beast wave that could potentially pose a significant threat to the city-state.


    This campaign wasn''t meant to eliminate the monsters in the outer region, but to understand and record the various species of desolate beasts in the Wastelands as well as to map down the entire region. If there was also any important resource stock in the Wastelands, they would think of a way to retrieve and control it. Although this campaign ended in failure, a lot of progress was made.


    At that time, the city-state government had discovered the Astranian Forest and located the Cicalien Mountains deep inside. As the campaign was an exploratory study, they had special equipment for discovering valuable minerals. Under the investigation of their scientists, the team found out that the Cicalien Mountains had a special ore, Keton, deposit on one of the mountains.


    Keton was a metallic material which wasn''t expensive and could be said to be common. However, it was very vital to various industries. It was an important component for manufacturing certain hover vehicles and furniture.


    Logically, the city-state government should have built a mine on the deposit and began operations.


    But after considering the expenses for the project: which not only included construction of the mine, but transportation of both construction materials, ores and workers, protection of the cargo and workers, the setting up of a base, as well the payment of workers which would have to be high as they would be working in a perilous area, which they then compared to the value of the metal ore, the city-state government came to the conclusion that the excavation was not worth it and abandoned the idea.


    Some powerful industries and companies came to find out about the mine, but for the same reason, they also gave up on it.


    As for individuals, any one of them who could make it to the Cicalien Mountains was definitely a strong character, and someone like that wouldn''t stress themselves with a tiring task such as mining. Also, they would be able to make more off killing desolate beasts than mining for the ore and having to travel into the city to sell it, an endeavour which was clearly time-consuming and expensive.


    This led to the special situation where everyone knew that the Cicalien Mountains had ore deposits, but no one could retrieve it. It was like a pie in the sky.


    The metal Lucas was looking for wasn''t some cheap metal like Keton or something similar. In fact, it wasn''t even among the discovered ore deposits. On the contrary, it was a mineral deposit hidden inside the mountain. Unlike the discovered mine, this one was filled to the brim with a valuable metal called Violent Sun ores.


    Due to the presence of a special element around the Violent Sun ore deposit, a natural electromagnetic field was formed, invisible to the eyes. This EM field had jammed the equipment used by the exploration team and other groups, and this led to the deposit remaining untouched for decades. Luckily for Lucas, this wasn''t a problem as he had the system to aid him.


    The system had verified its existence, but the task of finding it was left to him. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    . . .


    Once he was in front of the Cicalien Mountains, Lucas was greeted by the impressive sight of a marvelous mountain range. After admiring it for a bit, Lucas made his way into the Cicalien Mountains, making sure that he proceeded towards the northwest direction.


    According to the instructions from the system, there was an average-looking mountain amongst the rest but located deep in. Hidden within this mountain was the target for his mission.


    Just five minutes after Lucas had appeared within the Cicalien Mountains, he noticed a strange silhouette less than one hundred metres ahead.


    Without any hesitation, Lucas immediately concealed his aura and breathing, and came to a stop as he studied the silhouette in front of him.


    It was a creature that looked like a mole yet was much larger than that. It was four metres tall when standing on its hind legs and had a pair of special hands equipped with claws on them which aided it in digging through the mountain floor. It had a long snout and its huge body was covered in intense brown-green fur that was as thin and sharp as needles.


    Its long snout was coloured green, but of a darker hue.


    At the moment, the monster was nibbling on some gnawed out rocks, seemingly having a look of bliss on its face.


    ''The Green-Snout Metal mole '' Lucas thought as he stared at the monster. He then began to revisit the knowledge regarding the monster in his head.


    The Green-Snout Metal mole was a special kind of desolate beast limited to the Cicalien Mountains and any other zones with metal ore deposits. It had fur as tough as metal, which was threatening to attackers and predators. Its terrifying arms also packed a punch so powerful that it could crush a boulder with one hit.


    Above of all, the claws of the Green-Snout Metal mole was its most dangerous weapon, capable of cutting through refined steel with ease. It was thanks to this that it could dig deep into the ground and excavate metals.


    The Green-Snout Metal mole was a monster with a capable defense, offense and stamina. Its only known weakness was its speed and vision, which were nothing impressive. However, it seemed to compensate in that department by possessing a long range attack option; it could fire some of its sharp needle fur at the target.


    Generally, a Green-Snout Metal mole was at the very least a third level beast, but most times, the majority would be on the fourth level. If one were unlucky, they would stumble upon a fifth level Green-Snout Metal mole.


    Luckily, Lucas didn''t encounter such a special situation. Even more so, this Green-Snout Metal mole was at the third level, the weakest of its kind.

 Chapter 37: Chapter 37 : Sneaking Away

    The Green-Snout Metal mole joyfully feasted on a huge rock that lay in front of it. Within the rock were metallic black pieces, which were a special metal that was quite common. Despite that, the desolate beasts behaved as if this was the best meal it had ever had in its life.One could only feel pity for it, as it was clear that the beast was ostracized by its kind to the point that a common metal could arouse such satisfaction from it.


    The desolate beasts community, even for the social ones, was one in the form of a pyramid. Those at the top would enjoy all the resources, while those at the bottom would almost have to cater for themselves. It operated by the rule of the strongest fist reigns supreme¡ªa dog-eat-dog world.


    However, none of this concerned Lucas. His plan was to move ahead while escaping the senses of the Green-Snout Metal mole. As for killing it? Was that even possible?


    The current Lucas, despite all the physical training he did in his spare time, was only on par with a Body Strengthening stage practitioner at the Bones refining step. Even when paired with his signature gloves and a Grade 3 vestige, he could only compare to a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner in terms of power alone.


    As for physical abilities like movement speed and reaction speed, Lucas still wasn''t there.


    In other words, even in his strongest form, a third level Green-Snout Metal mole was beyond him. If he were to face it, Lucas might die without even knowing how.


    There was the option to escape and go elsewhere, but he didn''t fancy that. The reason was quite simple. The Cicalien Mountains was very big and as previously mentioned, on par with a city. It would take a very long time to search every high and low for the Violent Sun ores.


    If one were to consider the roaming desolate beasts and other risks within, heaven knows how long it would take and whether Lucas could live through it all.


    But the presence of the Green-Snout Metal mole changed it all.


    Green-Snout Metal moles typically loved underground and loved to feast on metals; the more precious and powerful the metal was, the greater their desire or gluttony for it. Also, they were social desolate beasts and lived in a pack known as a labour [1]. In a labour, there would be at least an average of one hundred and fifty (150) to two hundred (200) Green-Snout Metal moles.


    With such numbers, it was easy for them to cover a large part of the outer region of the Cicalien Mountains.


    Lucas intended on sneaking into the moles'' tunnels and using them to explore the outer region of the mountain range. If there was any Violent Sun ore lode in the outer region, there was a ninety percent (90%) chance that the moles had found it. As long as he followed the explored path of the moles, Lucas would definitely find the lode.


    From his position, he could see that there was a hole a few metres away from the Green-Snout Metal mole, which was most likely dug by it. As long as he followed the hole, he would be able to trace it back to their burrow. The problem, however, lay in not only getting past the beast, but also sneakily entering the hole and exploring the burrow while remaining hidden.


    For this, Lucas pulled out a couple of talisman. He had made proper preparations before coming here. As for how he made the talismans, it was through using a secret technique from his past life. The talismans required mystical energy[2] to be activated and without being a stellar refiner, Lucas couldn''t pull it off.


    But he was a grandmaster blacksmith and also talented at drawing magical runes, so it was only natural for Lucas to know a few strange methods of manipulating mystical energy without having refined it himself.


    However, such methods were limited and difficult to utilise in battle; otherwise, Lucas'' fighting strength would have been raised by at least one level.


    Of the three talismans he pulled out, one of them was an aura erasing talisman, meant to eliminate his scent as well as seal his aura and heat within himself. Green-Snout Metal moles, due to living most of their lives underground, had bad vision. But to compensate for that, they had evolved to possess infrared vision, which helped them track down predators and live prey.


    Apart from metals, these moles occasionally ate smaller desolate beasts or creatures for their source of protein.


    The second talisman was a cooling talisman. This was to counter the adverse effect of having his body''s heat completely sealed inside of himself. At the same time, it could help Lucas outer body''s temperature match that of the underground environment since, typically speaking, the underground was colder than the surface.


    The third talisman was an invisibility talisman. Compared to the others, this was much more difficult for Lucas to make. The complexities were well above-average and, logically, should have been impossible for someone without mystical, but Lucas managed to pull it off thanks to his experience. However, he could only make two of them.


    With all three talismans hanging on him, Lucas browsed through his system inventory and withdrew a pair of boots from his inventory.


    After the system had upgraded, following the opening of the store, Lucas could now store foreign objects -which were items not provided by the system- inside the inventory.


    The pair of boots were purchased the day before he left, and he modified them right after, improving their ability. The boots were meant to reduce the sound of one''s footsteps to the point that it was almost negligible. However, after trying it out, Lucas found out that the advertisement was deceitful, and so he made appropriate changes to it.


    Now, the boot could mitigate the force one used when walking, even distributing it in such a fashion that the noise generated was truly negligible. He also added cushions, which helped to reduce the sound. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After changing his shoes to the new pair of boots and storing them in the inventory, Lucas prepared to take action.

 Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Exploring The Underground Burrow

    When Lucas had made each talisman, he did so in good faith that they would work as simulated. As he was residing within the West Wing district, there was no means of testing any of his creations.For a talisman like the beast attracting, testing wasn''t exactly necessary. It was already well known that desolate beasts were attracted to the scent of blood, and most of them wouldn''t mind having a bite of human flesh. All this increased the odds of the talisman working out, and the only problem was simply the range the scent and aura radiated by the talisman could cover.


    A talisman like the aura-erasing was also not difficult to test out. With the current advancements in technology, infrared cameras sold for peanuts. There were also cameras equipped with scent-identifying capabilities. Gas detectors were already a thing back on Earth, so for an advanced civilisation like this, a scent-identifying camera wasn''t out of the ordinary.


    However, even with all of this, there was no assurance that Lucas could hide away from the Green-Snout Metal mole''s senses. He had no knowledge of its extent, and for technology capable of perfectly mimicking the creature, Lucas couldn''t afford them. Hence, his products were made using experimental data from his past life.


    To decrease the chances of getting detected, Lucas needed a distraction.


    Lucas retreated away from the monster and arrived at a different location. Here, he took out a talisman which turned out to be a beast attracting talisman. However, he didn''t just activate it. An average beast attracting talisman might work against any carnivorous or bloodthirsty desolate beast, but the major food of the Green-Snout Metal mole was metals.


    As such, Lucas had to make some small changes to the talisman.


    Lucas withdrew a slab of some slightly precious soft metal and chopped off a piece from it. He then crushed it and sprinkled the dust on the centre of the talisman while chanting some mysterious words. By doing this, the talisman would absorb the essence of the metal and attach it to itself. This was seen right away as part of the metal dust was clearly being absorbed by the talisman.


    By doing this, once the talisman was activated, it would no longer simply possess the aura and scent of blood, but also the metal used. Lucas didn''t consider using the Purple Iridium metal or Red Iris stone even if it was just a slight piece, because the value was way too much to be used as bait. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Also, any metal would do and while the aforementioned two would be more effective, there was no difference between 100% and 300% in this scenario. As long as he could draw the beast away, it didn''t matter.


    After all the arrangements were done, Lucas stepped away and returned to his previous hiding spot from which he then activated the talisman and waited.


    It took only two minutes for the Green-Snout Metal mole that was gnawing in a few metal pieces to begin sniffing its nose and turning in the direction of the talisman. A gluttonous gaze appeared on its face as it stated tightly in that direction. The beast seemed to hesitate a bit for whatever reason, but it couldn''t hold onto reason again as it stood up and immediately dashed towards the talisman.


    ''Now.''


    Once the Green-Snout Metal mole was away, Lucas activated all three talismans hanging from his body and dashed towards the hole in front. Although the Green-Snout Metal mole was quite fast as it was a third level monster, Lucas was still able to cover the hundred metres gap in time and dive into the hole.


    Inside the whole was dark with a cold breeze blowing through it at the moment. Lucas ignored all of this as he kept sliding his way deeper into the hole. By now, the Green-Snout Metal mole should have found out that there was no delicacy and would return back to its meal.


    If it were a bit cautious, it would check the tunnel, so Lucas had to make sure he had gone far enough to be safe from such a possibility.


    The tunnel was long and wide unlike what Lucas had expected. The structure was stable enough to have two Green-Snout Metal moles pass by side by side. When he had gone down for about fifty metres or so, Lucas finally landed on a horizontal surface. Thanks to the special shoes, he barely made a sound when doing so.


    The tunnel was so dark that one could barely see their fingers the further they went in. It was only thanks to the lighting from the exit point fifty metres above that Lucas could see the area five metres ahead of him. However, if he wanted to explore the burrow, he would need to be able to see past this distance. Luckily, Lucas had predicted such a scenario.


    Mineral lodes were synonymous with underground terrain and cave networks, so Lucas had considered the possibility of low lighting when he made his preparations. However, as the Cicalien Mountains was a danger-filled zone, using something like a flashlight would be a bad idea. Flashlights, however, were not the only solution. Even on Earth, there were night vision goggles and infrared glasses.


    Lucas had purchased a special goggle equipped with night vision and infrared capabilities from the base station.


    As the zone fashioned to accommodate freelancers, equipment such as this was very easy to find anywhere, including at the Guild Centre building.


    Armed with the goggles for sight, Lucas began venturing in deeper into the tunnel in a cautious format, least he attracts unwanted attention.


    At first, the tunnel was quite simplistic, despite being wide, was just a single underground corridor that led forward for up to three hundred metres. But when Lucas approached the three hundred metres point, he encountered a junction that had three paths ahead of him, all in different directions.


    Taking the wrong road would not only cost him time, but might even place Lucas at risk, so he had to consider his options carefully. At one point Lucas had even tried to question the system for help, but it was of no use. In the end, he settled for the path on the right as based on his investigation, was the most frequented path of the three.


    The reason why Lucas picked based on such a premise was because the Green-Snout Metal mole would have to regularly return to its home after scavenging for metals or monitoring the area. For that reason, the road which led to its home would be the most used of the three.

 Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Astonishing Discovery

    Lucas followed the tunnel by the right, which took him through multiple turns, making him feel as if he was in a maze. Sometimes, the tunnel would make a turn to the right and then to the left. Sometimes, it would lead downwards or even upwards, forcing Lucas to rely on his physical abilities and make the climb.There were even times when he would come across a junction, and relying on the previous method, Lucas would make a decision and pick a road. In summary, the journey was an ''adventurous'' one that Lucas never really expected.


    It wasn''t until after an hour of exploration that Lucas finally sensed some movement ahead. Relying on his strong senses and spiritual soul, Lucas could feel the movements of two creatures at the turn a few metres away. Although the talismans were still active, Lucas put more effort into maintaining his camouflage as he reduced his speed and even slowed down his breathing.


    When he got to the turn, Lucas peaked at the other side and spotted two Green-Snout Metal moles much bigger than the one above ground. Even the aura they radiated was a lot more ferocious, showing that these two were no strangers to murder, albeit he couldn''t be sure whether their targets were hyumans or other desolate beasts, but the latter was more likely.


    Not only were they larger, but they were also talked, and their fur was also losing its green colour and tilting towards brown. It was clear that compared to the first Green-Snout Metal mole he met, these ones were stronger by a factor. They were most likely at the fourth level, as this was the mainstream strength of most Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Lucas ''glued'' his body close to the walls and lowered his breathing speed by another factor as he scanned the two and waited for an opportunity to proceed. The two beasts weren''t guarding the road but had simply met each other and decided to offer a ''greeting''. Green-Snout Metal moles were social creatures, so this action of theirs wasn''t out of the ordinary.


    After a few seconds, the two monsters went their separate routes with one heading deeper into the tunnel and another moving towards the direction Lucas was coming from.


    Immediately, Lucas didn''t hesitate to remain absolutely still. He even held his breath right away, fearing that the slightest of actions would attract the attention of the beast. Fortunately, the fourth level Green-Snout Metal mole failed to notice anything and continued on its way.


    As the tunnel was large enough for two to walk by, there was enough space for Lucas to avoid coming in contact with it.


    Once the desolate beast went by, Lucas waited long enough to feel confident that the smallest movement wouldn''t attract it. From then on, it seemed as if he had closed in on the main burrow of the labour of moles as every couple of minutes, Lucas would be forced to remain still and hold.his breath, as he hid from the Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Accompanied with this was a problem; Lucas couldn''t use his previous method to choose a route amongst a group of paths. There was one junction wtih four paths, all of which had been frequented a lot. When Lucas investigated, he noticed that there was almost no difference in the amount of times the moles had passed by, based on the footsteps and evenness of the ground.


    In the end, Lucas randomly decided on a path and proceeded forward.


    After a while, he appeared in a large open cave with dozens of tunnels leading in different directions. The tunnels were so much that it was estimated to be almost one hundred of them. Lucas was stunned by the sight, even more so scared as a few metres below, at the centre of the cavern, there were tens of Green-Snout Metal moles moving about, all at the fourth level.


    Occasionally, there would be one or two exiting a tunnel and heading into another. This led to a realisation that he had finally appeared in the main network of the Green-Snout Metal moles'' burrow.


    As long as Lucas went in the right direction, he would find the Violent Sun ores. However, if he didn''t, he would have wasted his time. What''s more, he might end up unlucky and get spotted by a Green-Snout Metal mole. Once that happens, death would be the only outcome for him.


    ''Come on. Think.'' Lucas froze on the spot and stared at the various tunnels, trying to differentiate between them and find his target. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The traffic in the cavern was much, and so, it was difficult to scan every single mole and reach a conclusion from there.


    It was a good thing that the tunnel he was in barely had many users amongst the mole horde below him. This gave Lucas some breathing space to run various calculations in an attempt to choose the best possible route.


    Thirty seconds later, Lucas noticed a Green-Snout Metal mole leaving a tunnel with something in its mouth. There was a yellow object within its mouth. The object was so large that a part of it protruded out from the mole''s mouth, preventing it from closing the pair of jaws.


    Lucas stared at the mole and watched as it exited one tunnel and entered into another. He then waited for less than a minute and noticed another mole carrying a similar material from the same tunnel but heading into a different one. Another mole also left the same tunnel but ended up going in the same direction as the first one.


    It was then that a thought appeared in Lucas'' head. Some of these tunnels were entrances to various mines while others led to storage houses or even the private residence of the moles.


    For example, after spending ten minutes watching the desolate beasts, the route of the first mole was followed by a few other moles, all carrying the same yellow object in their mouths. There were a few, however, who exited the same tunnel but went in a different direction.


    To completely understand the paths of the beasts, Lucas maintained his stealth mode and spent an entire hour monitoring as many Green-Snout Metal moles as possible. The talismans would all last for at least six hours. Not more than three hours had gone by since he activated them, so spending an hour to increase his odds was no problem.


    At the end of the one hour duration, Lucas finally had a basic understanding of the cavern and its tunnels. Relying on his knowledge of metals from both self-study and information from the tome, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', he had also managed to identify the majority of minerals being miner by the Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Every one of them was valuable to some extent, and Lucas had even managed to spot two to three rare metals.


    It should be known that during the exploration campaign decades back, the Baylands city-state military had found a few lodes and deposits of various metals and minerals. However, after checking the value and estimating the size of such deposits, they reached the conclusion that it wasn''t profitable to establish a mine in the region.


    The investigation at that time wasn''t publicised, but news of it had spread to some extent, and so the freelancer community roughly knew the number of mineral deposits found in the Cicalien Mountains. There were seven such; two medium-sized ones, four small ones, and only one large lode. The classification was based on the estimations of the amount of minerals and metals in each deposit.


    Of the seven deposits, only one small one had rare minerals, but said metal wasn''t so rare as there was a supply point just north of Baylands City. The remaining six lodes were all filled with common metals and minerals.


    However, from his one hour stay here, Lucas found the truth to be more than just that.

 Chapter 40: Chapter 40 : Discovered

    The Cicalien Mountains was a rocky, mountainous region, and a personal favourite of earth- and metal-type desolate beasts. It was rumoured to be filled with metal and mineral deposits, with the difference between the two being that one held metals while the other contained materials that were in a solid form but not classified as metals.Based on the classification of metals and minerals, there were five grades: Common grade, Special grade, Rare grade, Recherch¨¦ grade and Stellar grade.


    When the Baylands city-state government carried out the exploration campaign of the Cicalien Mountains, they discovered seven deposits. Two medium-sized ones containing metals, four small ones of which three were minerals and the last one was a metal deposit, and one large lode filled with metals, were discovered at the end of the campaign.


    The classification was based on estimations of the amount of minerals and metals in each deposit.


    Of the seven deposits, only one of the small mineral deposits had rare contents, but said mineral wasn''t exactly rare in the region as there was a supply point just north of Baylands City. The term ''rare'' was used when compared to the minerals and metals in the other six lodes, which were filled with Common grade materials, as well as their supply on the general market.


    In truth, the grade of the mineral was merely at the Special grade of materials.


    This information was open to freelancers at the Guild Centre building, and many top corporations with investments in beast hunting and mining were aware of it. But what Lucas saw in this cavern implied that the city-state military''s investigation was flawed.


    Lucas had identified a total of eleven metals and four minerals among the materials the Green-Snout Metal moles were carrying. This meant that there were fifteen metal and mineral deposits in the mountain range; a whopping eight more than the city-state military discovered and two of them were Special grade metals, on par with the one found before.


    Of the eight lodes discovered, seven were metals whilst the last one was a mineral deposit. If this news were to be leaked, the Baylands city-state government would surely consider setting up a station here.


    As long as the size of the mines was worth it -with three medium sized or above deposits and at least one of the Special grade metal deposits being a medium-sized one- they wouldn''t even hesitate to launch a new campaign in the Cicalien Mountains.


    Opening a mining area within the Cicalien Mountains was a costly endeavour. The mountain range was located in the Astranian Forest inside the Wastelands. Running a mine entailed creating a new transportation route from the mountain range to the Wastelands base station.


    Even if they intended on using Light rail trains, protection would have to be provided for those trains; otherwise, they would risk getting attacked by flying desolate beasts.


    Apart from that, the mines would also have to be protected 24/7, and the miners would need to receive an enormous wage, worker benefits, and so on, otherwise, no one would want to accept the job. The materials used to build the mines and the mining station would have to be of high quality, to resist attacks by desolate beasts.


    Even the equipment would have to be of high quality, since the rocks in the Cicalien Mountains were tougher than regular mountains.


    These problems might not seem like a lot, but every single one of them was extravagantly costly, such that, the seven mines alone were only able to break even and not secure a profit. But if there were eight additional deposits added to the mix, the story would be different.


    Even if operating expenses such as protection and employee fees increased, making a massive profit would still be very much possible. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the value and attractiveness of the real Cicalien Mountains. Unfortunately, only Lucas currently knew of this, and he didn''t plan on revealing it. Instead, he wanted to monopolize this.


    The current civilisation was developed, and conflicts that would lead to death were exceedingly rare thanks to the improved security. However, there was a greater desire for resources. As such, the government tried to encourage pioneering, as they alone couldn''t provide for the masses.


    One such means, for instance, was that if one discovered a mine within the neighbouring region of a city-state, he or she could own it as long as they paid a certain amount of money as both land ownership rights and taxes to the government. This applied even to the mines in the Wastelands.


    Due to this benefit, a lot of big companies and freelancer squads would occasionally launch exploration campaigns into the depths of the Wastelands and other unexplored regions, all in a bid to discover a new resource point. Even professionals at this, known as Pioneers, would occasionally be spotted at the Wastelands base station.


    As long as Lucas went to the Guild Centre building and the City Hall to make his reports as well as file for ownership, he could gain control of the mines. But that would be for later; for now, he had better fish to fry.


    The hour of spying didn''t just enable Lucas to identify the materials being mined by the moles. It also helped him construct a plan.


    One of the seven new metals Lucas found was called Igrum steel [1] or Red-Fire iron. It was a special heat resistance metal that had above average ductility and malleability while maintaining an impressive degree of toughness. It was also a Special grade metal.


    The most important point for Lucas here was that an Igrum steel deposit had a certain chance to produce Violent Sun ores, although a very low chance.


    Nonetheless, this didn''t stop Lucas from having hope.


    The system gave him the mission to find Violent Sun ores in the Cicalien Mountains of the Wastelands, which at first seemed like a suicide mission; after all, Lucas had no powers. But prior to all of this, the system had informed Lucas that it had no intentions of killing him and that every mission assigned was done so based on his current abilities.


    Thinking in this direction, the Violent Sun ores would definitely be in the outer region of the Cicalien Mountains as this was the only place Lucas had a reasonable shot at survival; anything further in was certain death.


    It was for this reason that he had decided to use the Green-Snout Metal moles'' burrow for his exploration, as these monsters were on the weaker scale of the Cicalien Mountains monster pyramid, and they resided primarily in the outer region.


    Now, seeing that there was Igrum steel present here, Lucas was sure that the Violent Sun ores were also close by. The question was, where?


    From the actions of the Green-Snout Metal moles, it was clear that they were mining the materials and moving them over to a storage room. As such, there were two options before him at the moment: the first was to check out the moles'' storage cave as if there was any Violent Sun ores present, they would have mined it and stored it away. The second was to go to the mine and look for it himself.


    There was also a third option, which was to wait at the tunnel leading into the mine for a mole carrying the ore, and kill it. However, this option wasn''t even considered by Lucas was very obvious reasons; he was too weak.


    ''Wait. It''s been an hour already now. If there was any Violent Sun ores, I should have seen them carrying it. This means that they''ve probably not found it yet.'' Lucas thought as he stared in the direction of the mine.


    Reaching this point in his thoughts, there was now only one option left for Lucas. To go to the mines himself.


    After staking out for a few minutes, Lucas suddenly began to move towards his target; the tunnel that Green-Snout Metal miles carrying Igrum steel exited from. Lucas didn''t move hurriedly, but maintained a cautious and slow approach, ensuring that he wasn''t spotted by the moles.


    Luckily, the moles were too focused on their actions, and maybe it had to do with the fact that this was their lair, but their alertness was at its lowest.


    It didn''t take long for Lucas to reach the exit to approach the tunnel, and it only took him thirty minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, the location of the mine. This wasn''t just because the path was long, but mainly that Lucas had to proceed carefully and slowly to avoid being found. As of the moment, he had only an hour and a half left on his talismans, so he had to be quick.


    Scanning around the mine, Lucas'' eyes were filled with the colour red. The light was so intense that the mine was brightened up a bit. This made Lucas even more cautious as the possibility of his stealth being compromised was much higher in here.


    All around were ores of Igrum steel mixed along with rocks and dirt. Igrum steel was a Special grade metal with a high fire attribute, which caused it to have a resplendent crimson colour. The space within the mine was higher in temperature despite the cave being very spacious with even the rocks closest to each steel being hot to the touch; a result of the attribute of Igrum steel.


    Luckily, it wasn''t at a point Lucas couldn''t handle, otherwise, he would have to retreat and make a new plan.


    Special grade materials were just as their name implied; they were very special and possessed mysterious capabilities. In the past, the classification of all materials were simply divided into two: Common and Special grades, with Common grads being materials that possessed no special attributes, and Special grades having one.


    However, with the discovery of even more powerful and unique elements amongst the Special grades and even Common grades, the material classification system had to be rebranded.


    For instance, the Purple Iridium metal Lucas had would have been termed as a Common grade metal in the past, but its toughness and strength was above most common metals. In fact, based on the new system, it was classified as a Rare grade metal, much higher than a Special grade.


    Lucas stared around, looking out for any moles, before moving deeper into the mine. Since the Green-Snout Metal moles had yet to find the Violent Sun ores, it could only mean that their mining progress was slow. There was also the possibility that there was no Violent Sun ores in this mine, but Lucas was unwilling to believe it just yet.


    ''System, can''t you provide me with some sort of help? Otherwise, how would I find what I''m looking for?'' Lucas mentally communicated with the system as he hid by the walls of the mine, in a position that was in the blind spot of the resplendent lighting of the ores.


    "The system is intended to help train the host, and not provide a solution to every difficulty." The emotionally absent voice responded in his head.


    Lucas sighed and gave up having to request help from the system after that rejection. Instead, he began browsing the memories of his first life for a solution. Within a minute, he found one.


    A technique that used one''s spiritual sense to scan an area. This was suitable for Lucas because it didn''t require the use of mystical energy, albeit using one would double the efficiency.


    By transmitting one''s spiritual senses through matter, the user could extend their senses, turning the matter into their sensory organs and probing it. In this way, whatever comes in contact with the matter appears in their spiritual vision.


    One could think of it like channeling electricity through a metal; whatever comes in contact with the metal would have a part of the electricity transmitted to it and get shocked. The concept was somewhat similar although not exactly the same.


    Lucas leaned on the wall and placed both hands on it, turning his focus onto the wall. His spiritual senses then extended into the wall and began scrutinizing every aspect of it.


    While it sounded simple, it was anything but that, and a huge amount of risk existed. If a mistake were to be made, Lucas could potentially end up crippled mentally. However, he was already experienced with such methods from his past life, and as long as he remained calm, nothing would happen to Lucas.


    Luckily, it didn''t take long for Lucas to be done as he found his target soon afterwards.

 Chapter 41: Chapter 41: To Raid Or Not To

    When Lucas began searching the mine using the wave-style spiritual searching technique, it didn''t take him long to find the Violent Sun ores. In fact, Lucas was quite lucky. The spiritual searching technique couldn''t cover the entire mine and he had to be discreet about it.Lucas'' original plan was to search every area one at a time, but as fate would have it, he found the Violent Sun ores'' location just as he was checking the first area.


    Nonetheless, the ancients had a saying; that bad news comes hand-in-hand with good news and they weren''t lying about that.


    Just after he found it, Lucas realised that the ores were deep inside the walls nearby. They were at least three metres deep into the walls. This was understandable as if they were closer to the surface, the Green-Snout Metal moles would have discovered it and began mining for the metal. Even so, that would have been a better occurrence than the current situation.


    There was no way Lucas could dig five metres into the rock walls without making a sound. Once that happened, the moles would eventually spot and kill him.


    Lucas was now stuck in a conundrum. The current situation was such that it was equivalent to seeing the pie but not being able to eat it; a pie in the sky as one would say.


    "Chirp!!"


    Right when Lucas was preparing to risk it, an ear piercing squeal rang out in the entire mine from the cavern outside, almost deafening Lucas for half a second. Confused, he immediately froze on the spot and held his breath right away. The first thought that crossed his mind was that he was caught, but Lucas didn''t want to believe that as he was confident in his stealth.


    Before he could understand what had happened, the moles in the mine, numbering in the dozens, abandoned the metals they were mining and began to dash towards the exit. Lucas remained still and took all this in, wondering what had happened.


    The commotion outside got louder and despite being inside the mine, Lucas could overhear stomping sounds from the cavern. It seemed like all the moles in every funnel had been assembled to the cavern. Just from the sounds of their steps, Lucas estimated there to be almost a hundred moles, and the number was still increasing.


    Two thoughts crossed Lucas'' head as he began trying to understand the current situation. The first was that the moles were having a meeting of sorts, but the rate of gathering as well as the speed at which they moved was insane and violent.


    As for the second possibility, it was that a formidable invader had arrived in the burrows of the moles.


    Lucas was more inclined to believe the latter option as that would explain the sense of urgency amongst the moles. However, he didn''t act just yet, but waited for a couple of minutes to ensure that the moles had gone far enough.


    Once he felt that the coast was clear, Lucas went exactly at the wall he sensed the Violent Sun ores to be and extended his senses into it. This was to ascertain the exact location, depth and point the ores were.


    After a few seconds, Lucas frowned but was slightly relieved. The distance was about five metres deep. It was still within his reach.


    Pulling out a spear, Lucas gripped it with both hands before taking a stance.


    The spear was a Grade 3 vestige made with an alloy of various precious metals Lucas found in his workshop. It was also mixed with a bit of Red Iris stone, the second metal he received as a reward from the system alongside the Purple Iridium metal.


    Red Iris stone was a metal that had a stone-like appearance. It wasn''t suitable for making weapons on its own as it didn''t have a suitable malleability; it would crack upon exposure to intense hammering. However, the metal had a special quality; it was a superb conductor of mystical energy.


    By mixing Red Iris stone into the alloy of metals, Lucas was able to create a Grade 3 spear with impressive strength and mystical energy conductance. If a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner was using this spear, they could take down a second level practitioner.


    After taking in a deep breath, Lucas thrust the spear into the rocky wall with the entirety of his strength.


    *Bang!*


    The spear pierced the wall while shoving out a few rocks, however, it only managed to go less than a metre in.


    Lucas wasn''t disappointed by this strike as he had expected a similar result. The rocks were solid enough that even fourth level Green-Snout Metal moles had to take their time digging through them; otherwise these beasts might have found the Violent Sun ores long ago. If it weren''t for the Grade 3 spear in his hands, Lucas might not even be able to make a mark on it.


    However, the result of the strike spelt out a clear problem; his weakness.


    If it were a second level or even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, they would have been able to dig deeper with a Grade 3 vestige in their hands. Relying solely on his physical strength, which was even weaker than a true stellar practitioner, he would have to take more time digging through the rocks.


    Lucas resumed bombarding the walls with attacks from the spear. He didn''t bother to be careful with his actions as most of the moles were gone already, so Lucas didn''t hold back in his strikes. It eventually took him quite sometime, but Lucas managed to successfully dig out a five metres deep hole, about the width of an adult''s head.


    From the hole, Lucas could see a special ore that glowed just like the Igrum steel ores, but instead of a red glow, the rocks were orange. Their temperature was also higher than that of the Igrum steel ores.


    Although be already had a high resistance to heat, Lucas immediately wore his craftsman gloves before grabbing one of the ores. All of a sudden, a notification popped up in front of him


    [[ Violent Sun ores collection rate: 2% ]] Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A progress bar was displayed just below the line of text and Lucas understood right away. He used the spear to make the hole a bit wider before extracting as much ores as he could until the progress bar was filled. Even then, Lucas still emptied the hole before he stopped.


    ''Time to get out of here.''


    There were occasional vibrations and muffled sounds Lucas heard while mining, and he surmised them to be from the battle outside. It was getting furious and while there was no risk posed to him at the moment, Lucas felt uncomfortable remaining behind for long.


    Just as he was leaving, Lucas glanced at the Igrum steel ores left behind by the beasts. The sizes of the ores were very large after all, a beast at least two metres in height could mine and carry more than a palm-sized piece of rock. Every single ore weighed at least 100kg and was as big as a twelve year old or even more.


    Seeing these mined ores just laying on the floor, Lucas couldn''t help but feel pity that the ores would get cold and turn homeless. As such, he immediately stored them into his inventory. The system inventory was a mystical place that could store anything regardless of size, so even the hefty pieces of ore were no problem.


    Lucas gathered all of them up in his inventory and didn''t stop until he cleared the entire floor. Satisfied, he then ran towards the exit of the mine.


    There was less than an hour left on his talismans, so Lucas had to get away quickly. Although the battle would serve as a suitable distraction, it was better to be safe.


    When he arrived at the cavern from earlier, Lucas was surprised. The previous populated area was now sparse of Green-Snout Metal moles. The very few Lucas spotted, not numbering more than a couple dozen, were all dashing with gusto and fearsome appearances towards a certain tunnel, which was most likely the direction of the battle.


    ''The invader has to either be really strong or a group.'' Lucas couldn''t help but feel chilled.


    It was like playing witness to a war of species. His past life was filled with chaos and he was quite familiar with such events, but being in the presence of one with his current weak state was very worrisome to Lucas. He decided to get away quickly lest he gets caught in the crossfire.


    As Lucas took the first step out of the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine, he suddenly froze.


    A crazy thought appeared in his mind and firmly took root, refusing to disperse.


    Lucas glanced in the opposite direction of the tunnel, towards the part of the cavern that had the tunnels leading to the ''warehouses'' of the moles.


    A glint flashed through his eyes as the thought finally settled down and took shape. Lucas was ready to take a crazy gamble.

 Chapter 42: Chapter 42 : Windfall

    In a few seconds, the cavern would be completely empty and devoid of Green-Snout Metal moles, leaving the entire place to Lucas. On the other side was a makeshift warehouse carved out by the moles to stash their mining gains.Without any security measures, it was all open to Lucas. It would be a lie to say that he wasn''t tempted to raid the tunnels. Actually, Lucas had already decided to do so.


    In less than a minute, the cavern was completely empty, but Lucas still didn''t make a move, waiting an extra minute just to be sure, before dashing over to the first tunnel. Based on his inspections, this tunnel had the shortest length, but the metal stored inside was important to him.


    Even with the equipment and his skills from his past lives, Lucas still couldn''t work with every metal, as the higher they were, the greater the requirement for refining them. Beyond the rank of Special grades, Lucas would need stellar energy to make a complete vestige. This was why he hadn''t created a complete vestige using the Red Iris stone or Purple Iridium metal.


    All the vestiges he made using them were produced with an alloy with a small quantity of these metals¡ªjust the right proportion he could bring under control.


    With a variety of metals before him but limited time, Lucas had to make his picks based on the metals he could work with for now.


    It took him less than two minutes to make it to the warehouse at the end of the tunnel. Inside, Lucas was greeted with a mix of stones and dull yellow metal, quite similar to gold but with a darker sheen.


    Without any hesitation, Lucas moved everything to his inventory and left the tunnel.


    As he was doing so, Lucas felt that his speed was quite slow, and since the situation at the battlefield was still unclear, it would be better if he could wrap everything up fast. He took out a talisman and applied it to his body.


    Lucas called this talisman a speed boost talisman, since it increased his speed by almost a factor of two. Similar to the Invisibility talisman, it was difficult to make and he only had two of them. Lucas'' intention was to use these two talismans to escape danger and depart the Cicalien Mountains once he was done with his mission.


    But with the allure of metals before him¡ªthe love of his life¡ªLucas couldn''t resist using it to increase his progress.


    Within fifteen minutes, thanks to the speed boost talisman, Lucas managed to loot five more warehouses, leading to a total of six raided warehouses. If the Green-Snout Metal moles were to find out about this, they would surely rampage around in anger, as there were only fifteen such warehouses, and Lucas had wiped forty percent (40%) of them clean. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It should be known that each warehouse was very big, as the individual sizes of these beasts and the size of their horde were large. The metals in these caves were supposed to serve as food supplies when things turned difficult for them. So, the size of each cave was large¡ªvery large¡ªat least enough to contain a two story building with a 100m2 area.


    You could imagine how many ores were inside one of them, much more, six caves.


    Right when Lucas was about to exit the sixth cave, he abruptly halted and froze on the spot. Even though his actions so far seemed to have been careless, Lucas was on alert all the time. There was also slightly more than twenty minutes left on the clock for the other talismans he had one. The speed boost only had five minutes left on it as each talisman lasted only fifteen minutes.


    The reason why Lucas stopped was simple; he could sense that in the cavern ahead, there were living presences. In this situation, it could only mean one of two things: a victor had been determined between the two fighting sides, or the battlefield had shifted towards the cavern.


    Lucas paid attention ahead and focused his senses, deciphering a few sounds of collision right away.


    ''They''re still fighting.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    As long as the chaos remained, escaping wouldn''t be too difficult.


    Once he arrived at the edge of the exit, Lucas glanced down and finally caught sight of the invader as well as the defenders.


    At the bottom of the cavern, there was a horde of desolate beasts gathered into two parties. The strangest thing, however, was that one of the two parties was only a single beast, facing off against the others.


    The desolate beast had the appearance of a scorpion but was a chimera version. It had two chelae [1] just like a normal scorpion, but its body was different. Unlike the wide and sturdy abdomen of a typical scorpion, it had a slender body, almost like that of a snake, but still retained the stinger of a scorpion.


    At its mouth, just after the chelicerae [2], there was a pair of jaws like a mammalian creature, with gory looking teeth.


    The chimera desolate beast was in a confrontation against the Green-Snout Metal moles. Amongst the moles was one larger than the others and more intimidating. It reached a height of at least three metres when on all fours, and seven metres when it stood on its hind legs. Its claws were terrifying and longer than the average Green-Snout Metal mole''s.


    On its head were two small poles jutting out from its head. A closer look revealed these ''poles'' to actually be bones; the mole was growing two born horns on its head.


    It was now clear who the invader was.


    Even with the distance between them, Lucas could feel the menacing aura from the two sides, albeit slightly off. The chimera''s was stronger than the leading Green-Snout Metal mole by almost one factor, however, it was outnumbered.


    Staring at the grievous injuries afflicted on both sides, Lucas finally realised what the off sensation he got from their aura was. Based on the degree of the injuries, it was evident that the two creatures were not in their best form.


    Lucas estimated the chimera to be at the sixth level or the peak of the fifth level at the very least, whilst the leading Green-Snout Metal mole was at the fifth level.


    Logically, it should have lost long ago, but Lucas guessed that the moles used tactics similar to humans, aka the human wave tactics, drowning the chimera with their numbers. Even though each individual Green-Snout Metal mole was incomparably weaker than the chimera, by relying on each other, they were able to pose a significant threat to it.


    Despite the grievous state of their injuries, the two sides were still capable of putting up an intense fight. The chimera dropped from the peak of the fifth level to the peak of the fourth level, bordering so close to the fifth level. As for the ''king'' Green-Snout Metal mole, it had dropped to the early point of the fourth level, on par with most of the other moles here.


    However, this was just in terms of stellar energy capacity, not pure strength. It still wasn''t a match for the chimera alone, but relying on its species, it was difficult to say who would eventually come out on top.


    At the moment, the normal moles were harassing the chimera on the side while the ''king'' recuperated. However, the chimera was more dangerous than predicted. It tore apart every mole that could get within its attacking range, relying on its claws and mouth. But the king was unbothered by this.


    Their battle had already lasted over thirty minutes and it was aware of the prowess of the chimera better than the other moles thought, so it knew the end result. But even then, the king didn''t give the command to stop. If it were to beat the chimera, it would have to rely on this cheap trick to do so.


    Meanwhile, as he stared at the ongoing rampaging battle, another insane thought crossed Lucas'' mind; this time even more terrifying than the last one.

 Chapter 43: Chapter 43: No Risk, No Reward

    For the second time now, Lucas was breeding a daring idea in his head. Raiding the caves of the moles had resulted in him profiting a lot, but seeing the two mid level desolate beasts, Lucas felt it wasn''t enough. But even if he set his sights on them, there was a problem.The Green-Snout Metal mole king and the chimera were both heavily injured, but their aura was still on par with a fourth level and a peak fourth level stellar practitioner respectively. The battle was still far from ending, but the chimera had an advantage. If it won and managed to wipe out all the moles, no matter how weak it became, Lucas would not be of any threat to it.


    On the other hand, if the Green-Snout Metal moles won, they would still be able to handle Lucas. The weakest amongst the horde was a third level desolate beast whereas Lucas was still in the Body Strengthening stage.


    If he wanted to be the fisherman who catches both the clam and snipe [1], Lucas needed to make sure that both parties ended up dead or too weak to resist. The problem was, how?


    ''I should have spent my cash on a gun or something.'' Lucas began to regret his parsimonious behaviour.


    Vestiges used for battles were divided into two classes: cold weapons and hot weapons.


    The cold weapons were the typical swords, spears, daggers and so on. The power of these vestiges heavily depended on the user. For instance, even though the spear Lucas used was a Grade 3 vestige, which was suitable for a fourth and fifth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner, he couldn''t produce enough power to compare with a fourth level practitioner.


    Hot weapons however, worked different. Just as with Leno''s pair of guns, they could be fired with one''s stellar energy or specialised rounds. For the former, the power of the weapon would depend on one''s stellar energy level, while in the latter, the attack was mostly dependent on the rounds.


    Although one''s stellar energy level still had some influence on a hot weapon, it wasn''t as much as with a cold weapon; in essence, the bar was lowered greatly.


    If Lucas had spent a lot to get a powerful cold weapon type vestige, as well as some specialised rounds, his attack power would have risen greatly. At the very least, he could maintain a steady output at the second level or even the third, if he spent more. It wouldn''t have been impossible to blast the mole king and the chimera to pieces as long as their strength dropped one more level.


    ''Hold up, blast them to pieces...''


    Lucas'' eyes brightened up. An idea just struck him.


    At this time, the dozens of Green-Snout Metal moles were attacking the chimera with the Green-Snout Metal mole king leading the assault, but Lucas wasn''t focused on that.


    Violent Sun ores.


    There was a reason why the ores were called ''Violent'' and this had to do with its explosive nature. Usually, they were in a stable state, but they could be used as explosives after going through some processing. To prevent acts of terrorism and destruction, the process was unknown to the common people, and even few freelancers knew how to pull it off.


    But this wasn''t a problem, because the Violent Sun ores reminded Lucas of something.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas was a grandmaster blacksmith and had dealt with many different types of elements. There was a certain metal which looked and behaved just like a Violent Sun ore and it was called the Explosive Sun stone.


    Just like the Violent Sun ores, the Explosive Sun stones were incredibly stable in their natural form, but they contained enough energy to set off an explosion.


    During his first life, there was a war that broke out between the Deserters -those who used True energy- and the Mages -those who used mana-. The mages resided in the south and the deserters in the north. Both sides occasionally clashed due to ideological differences, and sometimes, those minor clashes resulted in a full blown war.


    In one such war, there was a popular DIY [2] weapon which used Explosive Sun stones to create explosive devices. The process was so simplistic for a mystical energy user that even an amateur could make a bomb within fifteen to twenty minutes. Lucas was familiar with the production method and he intended to use it on the Violent Sun ores since both metals were very similar in nature.


    While Lucas lacked the mystical energy requirement, it didn''t mean that it would be impossible to make the bombs. Rather, it would be more difficult, but his experience as a grandmaster could make up for that.


    Lucas began to sneak back towards the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine. One strange yet important requirement for making the DIY explosives was the need for heat in the process. This was quite contradictory as heat and explosives did not go together, but this had to do with the nature of the Violent Sun ores/Explosive Sun stones.


    One of the major reasons the metal was able to remain stable despite having enough energy to cause an explosion was the strange effect caused by the heat generated. This was also why one needed to be a mystical energy user to make the explosives, as they could generate heat with their energy.


    On the way to the mine, Lucas was presented with another challenge. How to ensure that the explosion didn''t go out of control.


    Until the tenth level, hyumans had to utilise stellar energy directly or empower their bodies with it. They would only unlock their innate superpower at the tenth level. However, desolate beasts were different.


    Unlike hyumans, desolate beasts relied on their physiques. At the same time, they were natural existences whereas the hyumankin was a product of intense research and development by the past human race. This meant that desolate beasts would unlock their superpowers at an earlier level. It also meant that they had a much stronger physique and body than hyumans.


    For the two top desolate beasts, even if they were severely injured, they still wouldn''t die so easily if Lucas were to drop a bomb on them. The explosion has to be intense and powerful enough to penetrate their external defence, especially for the chimera which was covered in a hard carapace.


    However, if the explosion was too powerful, it could bring about the collapse of the cavern. This was of course, bad because not only would Lucas not be able to reap the benefits of his kill, but his life would be at risk once the cavern began to collapse; escaping might become a dream that he''ll never achieve.


    Nonetheless, if the explosion were too weak, it wouldn''t do the job. So on one hand, Lucas had to ensure that the explosion was strong enough to take down the two desolate beasts as well as the ''side dish''. On the other hand, it had to not blow the entire place up.


    The calculations required to pull this off was quite high, but luckily, Lucas had majored in physics and chemistry during his lifetime on Earth. He wasn''t new to calculations.


    Very soon, Lucas arrived at the mine and vegan to take action.


    Making the explosives wasn''t so difficult, requiring -apart from the physical elements- only intense focus and a stable hands. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas made a makeshift furnace by digging a hole into the wall and stacking it with Igrum steel roughly separated from the ores. He then carved specials runes on the Violent Sun ores before making a cearful cut.


    All of this occurred whilst the chimera and the mole king facing each other.


    Soon Lucas was ready.

 Chapter 44: Chapter 44 : Hasta La Vista With A Bang

    The Green-snout metal moles didn''t hold back, even at the cost of death. There was no shred of care or caution, but simply viciousness. They charged at the chimera even if they were to get bit in half or crushed in one strike.Compared to earlier, the chimera had more grave injuries on its body. One of its legs was broken, while another was missing some flesh on it. Even with all these injuries, the chimera was still a terrifying beast.


    Lucas, who had already finished making the explosives, appeared by the edge of the tunnel. His talismans had all expired, and he was visible in plain sight. However, because the desolate beasts were too focused on the battle, they failed to notice him. Even if they did, they might be a bit surprised but would be unbothered by his presence, as Lucas was far from being a threat to them.


    To counter the issue of the explosives causing a cave collapse, Lucas had two reasonable options: to detonate within the desolate beasts or to control the size of the explosion.


    By detonating from within, the solid exterior of the beasts could act as a cushion and mitigate a portion of the explosion. This option, however, was laced with issues. For instance, it would damage the beasts'' body parts, rendering them almost unusable. Lucas did all this for their body parts, and if his gains turned out to be unusable, this entire plan would have been pointless.


    Also, he could only make one bomb in this time frame, and that meant only one target, which would most likely be the chimera. If the explosion was diminished so much, it would successfully kill the chimera but might only injure the Green-snout metal moles.


    As for controlling the size of the explosion, Lucas had never worked with the body parts of a desolate beast, much less any of the two species gathered here, so he couldn''t properly estimate the degree of toughness. In other words, he didn''t know how powerful he had to make the explosion to kill them.


    From this, one could see that both options had their flaws. As such, there was only one suitable choice; the third option of combining both.


    In Lucas'' right hand was a strange contraption that looked like a pipe. It was his home-made rocket launcher, created using a Grade 1 pole-type vestige he made as well as some other metal parts. For the propulsion system, Lucas had smashed a handful of Violent Sun ores alongside the Igrum steel.


    He also calculated the strength of the explosion to be close to the theoretical limit of the point where it could cause the cavern to collapse. The reason for this was to be sure that all the desolate beasts in the cavern would die, even if they were away from the centre of the explosion.


    Leaning on the ground by the exit of the tunnel, Lucas monitored the battle as he waited for a chance. Just then, he spotted one. The chimera was preoccupied with the king mole, having little attention for the weaker moles, which numbered less than twenty, a third of which were at the third level.


    One of the third level moles, knowing it was no match for the chimera but having no intentions of retreating, lunged to the back of the chimera. A third level Green-snout metal mole was about four metres in height when standing on its hind legs. There was enough atop the chimera for it to land.


    *Bang*


    The third level Green-snout metal mole brandished its claws on the chimera''s carapace, dishing attacks after attacks on it. Usually, the chimera would only feel a tingle from these strikes, as the gap between the two was vast, but this time around, things were different. Albeit still standing, the chimera had been beaten black and blue and covered with injuries.


    Its healing factor had fallen, and its energy was dropping too.


    The king mole and the other Green-snout metal moles saw the chimera falling behind with its attacks, and they all closed in on it from different angles, attacking furiously in a bid to end the battle then and there.


    Being assaulted by the mole king on one end, and having to split its attention to the other dozen Green-snout metal moles, the chimera was unable to pay much attention to the mole atop. It could only withdraw its tail from attacking a metal mole on the side and control it to go for the one atop.


    By doing so, it inadvertently left a particular spot open.


    ''Now.''


    Lucas, who had already set the rocket launcher on his shoulder and calculated the perfect trajectory, aimed his DIY weapon at the chimera''s pink spot [1], which was revealed as it stretched out its tail.


    The chimera''s fighting pattern was such that its tail attacked from an angle capable of shielding that precious chrysanthemum. But as it had to aim for the mole atop, the tail had to be fully stretched, which would in turn reveal that gap.


    "Asta la vista, or something." [2] Lucas pulled the trigger and fired the rocket.


    *Shhh*


    *Boom*


    Smoke blew out from the other end of the rocket launcher, and with a low but reverberating sound, a projectile shot out from the pole and darted towards the chimera''s pink spot.


    Lucas had built the rocket luncher and created the propulsion system to function in such a way that the projectile would make it to the target at the fastest speed possible. He performed his calculations while considering the distance of the tunnel''s exit to the opposite end at the bottom of the cavern.


    This was the farthest possible reach, and Lucas ensured that even if the target was there, his projectile would make the dash within a second.


    At the same time, there was a detonating sequence set for exactly one second. In other words, one second after the projectile entered the propulsion sequence¡ªjust as it began to exit the rocket launcher¡ªit would explode.


    This timing was made to ensure that it would explode close enough to the beast''s behind, but not inside of it. This way, the chimera would surely be killed, but its inside wouldn''t be damaged to the point of being unusable. With all the Green-snout metal moles literally hugging the chimera, Lucas was sure that they would all die. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even if by some absurd miracle, they lived, their injuries would be so severe that lifting a finger would be impossible.


    Lucas, though, hadn''t even bothered to check the result of his shot. The very millisecond he felt the rocket launcher lighten, he threw it aside and ran back into the depths of the tunnel with all his strength. He had even activated the second speed talisman a few minutes earlier.


    One should recall that the force of the explosion was calculated to be close to the limit of causing a cave collapse. In other words, it was so powerful that the majority of the cavern would be in flames, and part of those flames would spread into the tunnels. Standing at the entrance of the tunnel was no different from trying to turn himself into a human barbecue.


    *Boom*


    Lucas hadn''t even taken two steps when a loud explosion sounded behind him as the entire area brightened up. He didn''t even have enough time to curse his luck or pray for some miracle as Lucas felt the space behind him swiftly heat up. Despite that, he kept running and running to the point that his muscles were close to tearing up.


    The system had given him heat resistance, but this wasn''t flawless. As a blacksmith and a craftsman, being sensitive to the changes in heat was very important, so if he was completely resistant to it, his skill would drop. The heat resistance Lucas was blessed with could only make sure that he wouldn''t get killed or injured by any form of heat.


    However, Lucas could still feel the change in temperature, and therefore the pain, to some extent.


    But this wasn''t the problem.


    The problem was that the temperature of this explosion most likely exceeded his resistance limit, which was 2000oC (3632¡ãF). In other words, if Lucas didn''t run for his life, he might end up like an overcooked turkey.


    "Restore."


    A trenchcoat appeared on Lucas'' body and began to glisten with a dark light. Two seconds later, Lucas felt an incredible force slam into him, but the coat managed to protect him from the majority of it, although Lucas was still sent flying forward for a couple of metres.


    Lucas gritted his teeth and held his head with his arms to prevent getting a head injury from the incoming crash landing.


    *Whoosh*


    Flames engulfed him while still burning his coat, until Lucas'' silhouette was nowhere to be seen as the flames had blazed past his position. The entire walls of the tunnels turned black as they were being charred by the flames.

 Chapter 45: Chapter 45 : Return

    Deep inside the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine, the charred walls had hardened intensely after being exposed to extremely high heat for a few minutes. The rocks in the walls had an impressive heat resistance level, which was why they birth Igrum steel ores. This was why it solidified rather than melting due to the high heat.Even after the explosion, the entire tunnel was still intensely hot, reaching at least 200¡ãC in temperature; this was enough to turn water into steam within a second.


    *Crack*


    *Bang*


    At one edge of the wall, there were a couple of stones piled. The stones were pushed from the inside, falling off and crumbling the pile as a silhouette came out from it.


    "Damn, I almost died back there. I really shouldn''t try stuff like this again."


    Lucas, whose face was covered in soot, let out a sigh of relief. He was completely naked as both the vestige he had on and his clothing could not survive the scorching flames that went beyond 1000¡ãC.


    Lucas quickly changed to one of the sets of clothing provided to him by the system''s welcome package when he has just recently been transmigrated into this word. With a light this, he then flopped to the ground to catch his breath.


    Even though the temperature of the stones were still scalding hot, he acted as if it was nothing. Lucas'' forge back in the workshop had reached temperatures much higher than this, so he wasn''t affected by the slight heat. There was also his heat resistance ability coming into play. Thanks to it, the pain of a 200¡ãC burn wasn''t even worth mentioning.


    He took off the remnants of the night vision goggles on his face and tossed it away. During the collision, the goggles had almost cost him his vision. Luckily enough, the design was made such that even if the lens were destroyed, they wouldn''t be able to harm the user.


    After breathing in a couple mouthfuls of hot air, Lucas stood up and walked towards the tunnel''s exit. There was still his gains waiting for him there. While walking, he took out a new pair of goggles from his inventory. Lucas was a cautious individual and being as weak as he was, he had to make multiple preparations and have extra sets of every important item ready just for this trip.


    It took him only a few minutes of walking to get to the exit, but when Lucas glanced outside the tunnel, he was dumbfounded.


    Although the tunnel was dark before, he could still see it with his night vision goggles, which also had the added feature of giving colour to the view. The cavern''s walls then were red-brown, a bit like wet clay or terracotta, and there were some tiny pieces of metal ores discarded by the Green-Snout metal moles stuck on them.


    However, the current cavern looked greatly different from that. Not only was it even hotter than the tunnel Lucas exited, but all its walls were covered in soot with some areas sporting cracks on them. If the explosion was any more powerful and lasted longer, the cavern might have collapsed.


    Lucas glanced downwards to the battlefield. There he saw jet black shapes and objects, some of which were half ashes and the other half still maintained an indescribable form. Of the various figures down, only two could barely be made out and they were the chimera and the Green-Snout metal mole king.


    The other metal moles were burnt to ashes, and even the leftovers that seemed to still have a form were mere shells of disguise. A simple touch and one would watch as the figures collapse into burnt ashes.


    Looking at the work of his hands, Lucas couldn''t help but feel relieved. As for pity or worry? None of that. He already knew the power of the rapid-made explosives. Back in that war, Deserters were quite difficult to kill with a regular explosive as they would simply conjure up a magical barrier.


    In order to cause enough damage to shatter the barrier while also harming the target, lots of research was put into this explosive for various metals and compounds were tested. The Explosive Sun stones/Violent Sun ores were the final pick after checking the data. Their power was unmatched when it came to potentials in explosion amongst similar materials at the same rank.


    The next hour was spent trying to scavenge whatever he could from the two corpses, following which Lucas now went looking for the exit of the burrow. But he was in no rush.


    The deal Lucas struck with the Autumn''s Gate guild was to drop him at the Astranian Forest and pick him up too. This was only natural as going back was equally dangerous as coming. The return trip would be three days after he was dropped off, and so far, only one day had gone by.


    Considering there were some individuals looking for him, it would be wise to wait just before the last 24 hours to head to the rendezvous point.


    Also, the original arrangement was made without knowing that the Autumn''s Gate guild would be carrying out a mission afterwards. There was a chance that instead of after three days, the pick-up time would be longer. Although the odds were low, Lucas had to be prepared for anything.


    Luckily, Lucas had their contact info and the team would also message him twenty four hours before pickup.


    . . .


    "Any time you need a ride, just let us know alright?" Ju¨¢n said to Lucas as he separated from the crew.


    About four days had gone by since Lucas killed the chimera, the Green-Snout metal moles and the remaining metal moles with his explosives. After waiting a day, he received a message from the guild and reached the rendezvous location the following day. The return trip took two days, making the entire ''vacation'' from start to finish take six days.


    It had now been three weeks and four days since Lucas came into this world; almost a standard month, in terms of week-count [1].


    "No problem. I''ll seriously consider it." Lucas smiled.


    The trip was filled with ups and downs, but Lucas had to admit that the Autumn''s Gate guild was very professional. While they didn''t eliminate his pursuers, they did hold them back, granting Lucas enough time to escape and be free from worry for a long while.


    To ensure fairness in transactions between freelancers and others, the Guild Centre had developed a software for tracking mission progress and processing transactions. Once Lucas made the payment through the software, Autumn''s Gate guild would receive half after he was dropped off and the other half once he was brought back safely.


    This might as well be the reason why they intervened, but it was still not an easy decision to make.


    If it were any other team, they would have just stopped at dropping him off while receiving half their payment, and not involved themselves in the fight, even if it meant they wouldn''t get the other half.


    This attitude of the Autumn''s Gate guild which was contrary to many others, made Lucas had a better opinion about them and consider them a more likely option for any possible trips in the future; although Lucas wished more than anything that he wouldn''t have to be back here again.


    After saying his goodbyes, Lucas departed from the group and headed elsewhere.


    "He''s a strange person." Lisa, the female vice leader of the guild, said in a low voice as she stared at Lucas'' departing silhouette. Beside her, as well as the target of her statement was the guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild Crimson Fang. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Indeed. I had a feeling about that." Crimson Fang replied.


    "Is that why you decided to protect him?" Lisa glanced at him.


    "Someone, despite not even being a true stellar practitioner, decides to head into the Astranian Forest. Doesn''t that sound strange to you?"


    Lisa frowned and was about to say something, but Crimson Fang continued.


    "Even if he wanted to commit suicide, he didn''t need to pay for our services. There are other teams who would send him there for cheap. There are also other destinations he could go to and still achieve the same go. Since he asked for us, he definitely wanted his safety to be ensured. That means, he intended on coming back. However, he is still weak.


    So I wondered, what made him so confident and daring? Was it stupid ignorance, or did he really have something to rely on?"


    However, Lisa wasn''t satisfied as she countered.


    "And you decided to bet on him? But that''s not enough. We don''t even know what he was doing in there."


    "You''re right on that. But think more deeper, Lisa. What separates the Astranian Forest from the other regions?" Crimson Fang asked with a mysterious smile.


    "It''s quite big and is like a hive of different special regions. But the most notable ones are the forest area and the Cicalien Mountains. They aren''t too dangerous, yet still possess precious resources." Lisa said after some thinking.


    "Hmm," Crimson Fang nodded, before continuing in a mysterious tone, "when I shook hands with him, I felt his palms were a bit tough; tougher than normal. They reminded me of a certain friend of mine working in a particular occupation."


    Lisa widened her eyes as she knew what he was implying. This was because she had met that friend of Crimson Fang.


    "Do some more background check on him. It wouldn''t hurt to know more about our customer." Crimson Fang said before walking away.

 Chapter 46: Chapter 46 : Ramirez’ Threat

    From the Wasteland base station to the West Wing district of Baylands city was a short thirty to thirty five minutes flight, and before he knew it, Lucas was back in the city. He didn''t waste any time, heading straight to his store, as he had been pursued just a few days ago.There was no saying that his assailants didn''t prepare a plan for his return, so it was best to get to the store as quickly as possible.


    When Lucas was a few metres away from the store, he noticed a silhouette waiting just a few feet away from the building. Lucas paused for a second, before proceeding calmly.


    Although he didn''t have photographic memory, Lucas had a good recalling ability, almost like an Eidetic memory [1]. The man with a hat who stood before his store was an unfamiliar figure and not a customer from the past. This made Lucas cautious, but he didn''t let down his guard or display any outward reaction.


    "And you are?" Lucas asked as he carefully stopped a few steps away from the man.


    The store''s entrance was only seven metres away, so he didn''t worry too much. His instincts told him that the man was a second level stellar practitioner of the Aperture Opening stage. Against such a figure, Lucas was confident enough to be able to cover a seven metres gap.


    "Lucas Saunters? Am I correct?" The man asked with a smile.


    "It''s not nice to not introduce yourself, you know." Lucas didn''t answer the question as he stared at the man.


    "I''m not here to start a fight, so relax. Rather, I''m here to strike a deal with you."


    The man then pinched the ring on his left ring finger as a screen was projected from it. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas glanced briefly at the ring, which was apparently a communicator like his but shaped like a ring, before looking at the projection. It was a contract, and the terms of the contract was to...


    "Hand over the building behind me and you''ll definitely not regret it." The man said.


    Lucas slightly frowned as he wondered what kind of trouble the previous owner of the building, Ramon, got into. Last time, during the renovation period, he was visited by a rascal who tried to barge into the store. Luckily, the renovation period prevented individuals other than the host from entering. But from the looks of things, the other party didn''t give up.


    "If you''re worried about the renovation expenses, I''ll reimburse you, so don''t fret." The man calmly said, as if confident that Lucas had no other option than to sign the papers.


    "And why would I give up a building I bought with my money?" Lucas turned his eyes away from the contract and to the man.


    Truth be told, if they were willing to consider buying the property, Lucas might consider it.


    Lucas wasn''t one of those individuals who would risk his life by offending someone unless he had no choice. Also, there wasn''t much of an option since he was weak and a disregarded member of society due to being human. In other words, it was possible for the other party to harm him and nothing would be done about it.


    Until he had grown strong enough to stand on his own, avoiding fights was for the best.


    However, from the terms stated in the contract, they simply wanted to take the building in exchange for...a chocolate bar.


    Not even Buddha or a Saint could tolerate this, but Lucas remained calm.


    If anyone from any of his past lives saw this, they would be sweating profusely.


    "Because it''s not your building." The man said, not caring about Lucas'' opinion.


    "Ramon staked the building as collateral to take a loan from my boss. He didn''t pay up before he ran away. As a result, his collateral¡ªthis building¡ªis now ours. Not yours."


    "There was no data about the building serving as collateral for any loan when I closed the deal." Lucas countered.


    This was an advantage of doing deals through the city-state government''s office. There was essentially no risk of a real estate scam as long as one made the deal through the city-state government. The building and/or land would go through rigorous checks to ensure its validity for sale, which included checking whether the building was put up for collateral on any official platforms.


    If it was, the deal would be flagged and the buyer notified. If, after the validity check, nothing was wrong with the deal, it would be approved, and the buyer would be debited the required amount while the seller would get credited. The ownership details and documents would also be changed in the government''s database.


    Such a fast and efficient method was accessible to everyone, with a small fee attached to it.


    Since the deal wasn''t flagged, it meant that it was never up for collateral on any official platforms.


    ''That only means one thing.'' Lucas thought.


    ''Ramon took a loan from an illegal organisation.''


    This was understandable, as compared to the official financial institutions, getting loans from these underground organisations was faster and had fewer requirements. But it wasn''t a free lunch.


    The problem with taking loans from an underground organisation was that they had high interest rates and were run by underground kingpins; meaning that the method they used to collect their principal amount and interest was not a simple act of coercion.


    Most times, very few people patronised these underground organisations and would usually favour banks or even pawnshops, unless they didn''t want their deals to be tracked.


    Thinking back to the previous scenario, Lucas had a feeling that Ramon intended on scamming the underground organisation he took a loan from. Since the loan was undocumented in the city-state government''s database, it was, by law, nonexistent. However, Ramon couldn''t just default on the loan and remain in West Wing district, as the organisation would hunt him down.


    Even if murder was illegal, there were many methods they could use to deal with him.


    So instead, Ramon took the loan and sold the collateral, before running away from the city with everything. Usually, no one would think of doing this as these kinds of organisations were dangerous, but Ramon was probably a man with a strong liver [2].


    Although this was fraudulently smart, it brought a boatload of trouble to whoever bought the building, in this case, Lucas.


    Of course, the underground organisation would still be searching for Ramon, but in the meantime, they would want to cut their losses by collecting the collateral. The issue was that, by law, Lucas was the new owner of the building. They couldn''t just seize it, as he was registered in the government''s database as the new owner.


    Hence, the man tried to coerce him into selling it, but for a chocolate bar.


    To an underground organisation, being scammed by Ramon was already irritating enough, and so they had no intention of suffering another loss. This meant that there was no way they would want to buy the building from Lucas at a fair price.


    "Data or no data doesn''t mean anything. My words are more important, and you can even take them as advice. Sell the house." The man smiled.


    "You''re a human, right? You see, humans don''t have it easy in life, even more so in a community filled with hyumans. Just sign the contract, and we''ll offer you as much protection as you need. Like I said, you definitely won''t regret it."


    "No, thanks. If you have any issues, settle them with your debtor and not me. This is none of my business."


    Lucas ignored the man and continued walking towards the store. He appeared calm and in no rush, but this was all a facade. His direction, posture, and hand placement were all planned to set a trap. If the man were to make any move on him, Lucas would not only be capable of reacting in time, but also countering the offensive with a threatening attack of his own.


    However, the man didn''t take any action but simply smirked as he turned to face the opposite direction.


    "You''ve made a huge mistake, Mr. Saunters. Opportunities like this usually come only once. Don''t regret it."


    Lucas paused and looked up at the sky.


    A white cloud with an odd shape happened to be passing by at that moment, and he caught sight of it. But Lucas'' gaze seemed to transcend the cloud¡ªnot just the cloud but even the sky.


    "There are only three things I regret all my entire life, and even up until this moment. But after those events, I swore to never have any regrets about the present or the future."


    Lucas then turned around and glanced at the man with the hat.


    "If I were you, I would go looking for the culprit rather than harassing a bystander. If you keep up with this instead, who knows when you might end up hitting a wall in the end? But not just any ordinary wall; it might be one with thorns."

 Chapter 47: Chapter 47 : The Young Boy Worries

    Three days went by quickly and apart from the short confrontation with the man sent by Ramirez, Lucas didn''t encounter any trouble. In fact, the days had been too peaceful for his store. He barely had any customers.This wasn''t because they were threatened or anything, but simply because Lucas was bad at running a store. The previous set of customers had already received modifications to their vestiges, and those who could afford it, bought some to use. Right after, they all went to the Wastelands at separate intervals. Typically, freelancers spend most of their time in the Wastelands or the base station.


    Those who come back to the city either do so for important events or to take a break from work.


    The current period was early May, which was part of the most active window of the year for beasts. So most freelancers would have their schedule booked by this time. A good example was the Autumn''s Gate guild which had received a high pay mission to the Astranian Forest.


    Without new blood coming to the store, it was natural for it to turn empty, but Lucas wasn''t bothered by this one bit. The less work he had to do, the more time he had to research and create new vestiges. Lucas had planned on fixing his weakness by creating a special set of vestiges to cover for them and boost his strength, and this time period happened to just be the best opportunity for that.


    However, the store being empty was contrary to the system''s goals.


    "Host is reminded to up the transaction numbers of the store to level up the system and receive bonuses. Remember, once the system approaches the required level, the host can access options to enable you to refine stellar energy."


    "Not interested." Lucas replied.


    While the system''s words were tempting, Lucas knew that the level the system had to reach in order for him to be able to find a solution to his ''disability'' was definitely high and not something he could achieve soon. So for the meantime, his decision to find a short-term solution was better than nothing.


    "Host has left the system with no choice."


    Suddenly, Lucas had a bad premonition.


    [[ Mission Overview: The system has once again been forced to take matters into its metaphorical hands. It''s time to become a proper craftsman.


    Mission Description: Receive 100 customers before the month is over


    Rewards: Bronze Grade card.


    Punishment: Crippling of one arm. ]]


    "Well, fantastic." Lucas sarcastically remarked.


    He could still remember the previous time something like this happened. It was during then that Lucas found out that the system could assign missions based on its learning machine capability. These missions were different from those within the built-in algorithm of the system, and merely devices by it based on the situation it perceived.


    Luckily, the system had a limit on its ability to create such impromptu missions per month, and the counts couldn''t be stacked.


    "Hold up..."


    Lucas glanced at the reward section.


    "Another one..." He muttered as his serious face collapsed with a grin.


    The Bronze Grade card was Lucas'' reward from the previous mission. He had already checked it out and knew what it was all about. It was a special item with a very special ability; it could raise Lucas'' power level (both physically, mentally and energetically) up to the level of the card.


    In other words, if it were a fourth level Bronze Grade card, once used, Lucas would become as strong as a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    This sounded impressive, making the Bronze Grade card a very much desired item, but there were still flaws to this godly item. First, the card was a one-time use item, so once Lucas used it, it would be gone. Second and most importantly, the buff effect is temporary.


    All this made Lucas have a desire to accumulate as many of these cards as possible, since they could ensure his safety in a way more proactive and better way.


    ''All I just need to do is get one hundred customer this month, huh?''


    *DING*


    The bell at the entrance door jingled, separating Lucas from his thoughts. He cleaned himself up a bit and left the workshop to find out who it was.


    "Oh, it''s you." Lucas was slightly surprised by the appearance of the individual but not so much.


    "Hello, mister." A young boy looking about 15-16 years of age greeted.


    Lucas remembered him to be the first winner of his roulette spin, and the reason why the system gave him the mission to go to the Wastelands. What caused Lucas'' surprise though, was that he had informed the boy the trip might take up to a month, but he was here after a bit above a week.


    "So soon?" Lucas voiced his surprise.


    The boy nervously replied, "I initially wanted to wait a bit longer, but something came up. My school''s mid-term practicals are coming up."


    "What''s that about?" Lucas asked.


    When he looked up the details of this world, Lucas only focused on the important things like geography, politics, finance, and material science. Things like the school system and holidays of the year were not in his interest.


    The boy was slightly surprised by this question but didn''t think much of it.


    "Schools are typically divided into three; civil, technical and practical. The civil path caters to growing civil characters like a business genius, a political authority and so on. Technical focuses on the technical aspect of life like engineering, vestige-smithing and the likes. As for Practical schools, they raise freelancers. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This differentiation isn''t so clear in high schools but it becomes so in universities.


    "I''m currently studying at the Greendale Highschool which is a subsidiary of the Greendale School of Refiners. Although the high school is a subsidiary of a technical school, they are still required to teach all the fundamentals of the other two paths. So twice every year, we carry out practical exercises. I''m currently in my senior year, so our practicals aren''t the usual hand-to-hand combat again.


    Instead, we''re sent into dangerous regions to face desolate beasts. There are invigilators to protect us, so the death rate is almost zero. However, the purpose of the exercise is to score high. I was hoping I could get something to help increase my chances at getting a good score."


    Listening to the boy''s explanation, Lucas suddenly had a question.


    "Vestiges are allowed?"


    "Why not?" The young boy was confused.


    "A vestige is classified as part of one''s power regardless of its grade. It''s a common fact that to draw out the power of a vestige, one should equally be strong as well. A Body Strengthening stage practitioner with a Grade 3 vestige would at most draw out a Grade 1 power from it, and that''s if they''re talented enough."


    Hearing this, Lucas'' mind began to spin. It was as if he had just received a burst of inspiration which could help him complete the mission.


    Lucas was truly surprised. While he knew that students in their final and penultimate years could purchase vestiges, this was applied to university students and not highschoolers.


    ''Hold up, vestiges are illegal for use to anyone who isn''t a freelancer, a military or registered paramilitary member, doesn''t have a permit or official recommendation from a freelancer. Is it alright to actually give this kid one? I won''t get in trouble right?''


    "Debatable." The system replied. It then explained to Lucas,


    "As the customer won the vestige in a lottery spin, it can''t necessarily be classified as a transaction. However, vestiges are valued items so the host might potentially get into trouble. The simple solution would be to apply for a permit on the customer''s behalf, but he doesn''t fulfill the criteria for one. Hence, the only solution is an approved recommendation from a registered freelancer."


    Lucas frowned as he realised what a messy decision he had made. It was unlike him to make such a flaw, but making a mistake didn''t mean he would quit.


    "By the way, mister," the young boy hesitated, "the, the vestige..."


    "Hey kid, come back tomorrow. I''m a bit busy now." Lucas waved him off as he turned around.


    "But, but, the practicals are in a week''s time. I need to make preparations and get used to the vestige as soon as possible."


    "Are you doubting me?" Lucas glanced at him.


    The young boy''s statement might seem to have no problems but Lucas could sense a bit of anxiety in them. The young boy probably thought that he was scammed and wanted to make sure about it. If it turned out to be true, he would have to look for a backup solution as soon as possible, as he was running out of time. But why would Lucas even want to scam a kid? And of three federal coins at that.


    Lucas felt insulted.


    "Don''t worry. Come back tomorrow and I''ll make a vestige that you''ll fall in love with right away. I''m busy now, so see yourself off."


    Lucas walked away.

 Chapter 48: Chapter 48 : The Dark Side Of Hyuman society

    The next day came quickly, the second day of the fifth week of Lucas'' stay in this new world.Lucas had been busy all throughout ever since he met up with the highschooler. Apart from the ''encouragement'' he got from the system, another reason Lucas was desperate to make money was that his debt was piling.


    When he first came into this world, lacking any financial ability whatsoever, Lucas had to pawn an ingot of Purple Iridium metal to the Vinis pawnshop. This decision of his had brought about a significant amount of thrill and danger to his life, but it also helped him to stabilise himself in this new world, buying a communicator, a house and grocery items.


    The first month had gone by, so it was time to pay the loan. Lucas had taken a five thousand federal coins loan, and with a fifteen percent interest rate, meaning he had to pay back five thousand seven hundred and fifty federal coins.


    For every week he defaulted, he would pay an extra five percent, and not on the principal amount, but the outstanding amount after the first month, which was the initial interest and the principal.


    This seemed like a rip-off, but it wasn''t. The interest rates were bigger than banks, but for the fast response and good offer of ninety percent the agreed collateral''s value, it was a good deal. Also, the Vinis pawnshop was a registered financial institution in the government''s records, which ensured security for every transaction. With that in mind, the rate was acceptable.


    Back to reality, Lucas was in need of money; dire need. Once this week ends, he would have to pay five percent extra, bringing his total debt to six thousand and thirty seven federal coins, five pences. There was the solution of using the Purple Iridium to pay off the debts, but for Lucas, that was a last resort he had no intention of using.


    Inside the store, apart from Lucas who was sipping a cup of a drink similar to ice cola, the young boy from the previous day was on the opposite side with both knees tightened together, clearly anxious.


    Ever since he arrived at the store, the young was kept aside by Lucas. Even when the latter left from the work-station, he didn''t say a word about the vestige and just told him to wait.


    *Ding*


    The entrance door was opened as a figure walked into the store.


    "Oh, you''re out?" The newcomer said with a informal time of speaking.


    The newcomer was a black haired man and one familiar to Lucas. In fact, his arrival was as a request from Lucas. He was one of Lucas'' earliest customers and had been a regular ever since. His name was Harrison Reid, or Harry for short, and he was the leader of a team of freelancers.


    After witnessing Lucas'' skill with his eyes, Harry decided to introduce a couple of his team members to Lucas who eventually became regulars. There was no reason for this other than the fact that Lucas'' basic repairs were better and much cheaper than the others. Even if they were freelancers who made a lot of money, their expenses were also a lot, hence the desire to find a proper balance.


    If they could save more on repairs while getting better quality and service, then why not.


    "Did you bring it?" Lucas asked.


    "Of course. It''s a bit difficult to get ready with such a deadline, but you''re lucky you met me." Harry smiled.


    Lucas nodded then glanced at the young boy.


    "Wally, right?"


    "Yes..."


    Wally O''Connor was the name of the young highschooler which Lucas found out earlier.


    "Do you know what it means to have a vestige?" Lucas asked him.


    "...I don''t understand."


    "Let me change it then. Do you know the requirements to own a vestige?" Lucas stared him in the eye.


    "Y, yes. Everyone is taught about this in school." Wally nervously replied.


    "Have you fulfilled any one of them?"


    Wally turned quiet.


    "Then how do you expect to use a vestige for your practicals?" Lucas asked.


    "I, I don''t know. I, I just wanted to sneak it in and use it just this once. Even if it''s seized from me right after, I don''t mind. I just need to get a good score." Wally replied tensely while shivering a bit.


    Lucas frowned and began to radiate an overbearing aura subtly.


    "Do you know that if you''re found out, not only would you get jail time despite being a minor, but I''ll also have my store forcefully closed and get arrested? Your actions had almost jeopardised not just your future but also mine."


    "I know, and I''m sorry. But I don''t have a choice." Wally retorted.


    Tears began to flow from his eyes as he continued.


    "I''m not strong like the others. My arms are weak. I look younger and weaker than my age, and no one takes me seriously. I''ve always performed badly in the practicals, but if it goes on, my grades would be badly affected. I had no choice but to take the risk. My family is just average.


    We''re no better than a human. My parents aren''t talented in refinement and neither is my older sister. But I''m different. I''m the only hope in the family, but even then, I''m a failure."


    Wally began to cry.


    "15%." Wally muttered. "Even though I''m the hope of my family, my m(o)DNA concentration is only 15%. I''m an utter failure."


    Lucas was surprised as he didn''t think the boy''s mental resilience was this weak. He almost began to feel bad for him even.


    An individual''s future accomplishments in Stellar Refinement heavily depended on their mDna count; to be specific, the m(o)DNA. It was both the greatest creation of humankind, but it also created rifts in society. The higher one''s m(o)DNA concentration was, the more potential they had.


    Even if they reached the limit of their potential, they could increase it by injecting themselves with m(z)DNA serums, thereby increasing their total mDNA count. However, this was limited to only thirty percent of their m(o)DNA. From this, one could see the importance of a higher m(o)DNA concentration.


    Humans couldn''t produce m(o)DNA, and so serums with m(z)DNA couldn''t work on them and would instead kill them. This was why the human race was looked down upon; they couldn''t utilise stellar energy no matter how hard they try. But hyumans weren''t spared from this discrimination either.


    Anything less than ten percent m(o)DNA concentration was termed as trash and no different from humans, because the serums would similarly not work on them, although it wouldn''t kill them.


    With a very low m(o)DNA concentration and no possibility of an increase in overall mDNA count, hyumans with less than ten percent would have no future in stellar refinement. Even if they tried their best, they would most times get stuck at the Body Strengthening stage just like Lucas, or at best, make it to the first level of the Aperture Opening stage.


    It was rumoured that Digress city-state had a way around this, but no one could confirm that as the city-state was not just far, but it barely had any contact with the other city-states.


    For one to be a hyuman considered with a potential in stellar refinement, their m(o)DNA concentration had to be at least fifteen percent (15%), and this was just the barest minimum. It was exactly why Wally was depressed. He might have the highest concentration in his family, but outside of that, he was trash.


    One could only imagine how much suffering, bullying and mistreatment he had received for this.


    Even if Wally worked five times as hard, could afford serums, and gave it his all, his mDNA would reach a count of nineteen percent (19%) [1]. With such an mDNA count, reaching the third level might be his greatest achievement.


    Although mDNA count was usually used as an estimation of one''s talent and could be wrong, since it had to deal with genetics, it was mostly accurate and became the mainstream method of determining one''s potential.


    "Enough crying like a little kid already. You think I care about your sob story?" Lucas used one finger to pick his ear.


    "I came here to talk to you about how you almost got me into deep trouble and not listen to your backstory."


    "Damn. Even I can''t be this heartless." Harry muttered from one corner.


    "I, I am. Sorry." Wally hurriedly bowed down and apologised sincerely.


    "Sure, whatever. Either way, I''ve already made a promise. I can only blame myself for not predicting this situation." Lucas sighed, before stretching his arm to Harry.


    "Hand it over."


    "Hold up. That''s for this kid?" Harry was surprised.


    "Yeah, who else? Do you think I need something like that?" Lucas stared at him as if he was looking at a fool.


    Harry froze for a second, then palmed his face. Lucas was right; he was a vestige-smith, so why would he need that?


    "Sure." Harry then took out a communicator and projected a piece of paper.


    "All you have to do is scan it and it will be transferred over to the communicator." Harry explained.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be amazed by the technology of this world, but now wasn''t the time for that.


    "Oi, kid. Scan this document and go sob elsewhere."


    "Eh?"


    "Don''t make me repeat myself."


    Wally was confused but he immediately did as he was told.


    As he scanned the document, he took a glimpse into it and saw the header.


    "This, this..."


    Lucas pat his shoulder and said to him, "Make good use of it, and don''t get it lost. Understand that you''re my living, breathing and walking advertisement."


    Wally was confused by the statement, but that didn''t stop him from dwelling grateful to Lucas.,


    "Thank you, mister. Thank you very much." Wally bowed his head as his eyes gushed out with years, but this time not of sadness, but gratefulness.


    S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 49: Chapter 49 : Harrys Thoughts

    Thank you, mister. Thank you very much." Wally bowed his head as his eyes gushed out with years, but this time not of sadness, but gratefulness.In his communicator was a document detailing a request for the wielder to have and use a vestige alongside a recommendation for the request to be passed.


    That''s right. What Lucas had asked Harry to get was an approved recommendation letter.


    Harry was a freelancer and not just anyone, but one at the fifth level and even led a squad of his own. In other words, he was on the higher side of the rankings for freelancers. With his connections, prestige and power, providing a recommendation with his name wasn''t difficult, but would merely take some time.


    However, time was something both Lucas and Wally were lacking. So, Harry had to pull in a few of his strings and get a temporary permit to be used for the meanwhile. This wasn''t illegal and was made to be issued quickly in scenarios where the duration for an official permit or the period for a recommendation to be approved was too long for the applicant to wait.


    In such a case, they would be issued a temporary permit after twenty four hours; enough time to do a background check on the applicant of the permit or the sponsor/patron and the assignee for the approved recommendation.


    However, temporary permits had short lifespans; usually less than a month, depending on the results of the twenty four hours investigation.


    Lucas already had a plan in mind since he heard about Wally''s practicals. This was the time to have his goods advertised to a part of his target market.


    Although high schoolers couldn''t normally own a vestige, they could bypass the rules by getting an approved recommendation like Wally. At the same time, there was a chance they would also know someone who could use a vestige.


    As long as Wally''s performance was amazing enough to draw attention to the vestige, people would ask questions which would lead them to his store. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To ensure this plan worked, Lucas had to find out all the requirements and any issues that would interfere with it. Luckily, he was on good terms with Harry, otherwise, getting a temporary permit, much less an approved recommendation, would have been impossible.


    "Now that''s settled, it''s time to begin your training." Lucas said.


    "My training?" Wally was confused.


    "You don''t think that having a vestige alone would turn you into some superhero or something, right? Well, it could if you can draw out the power of the vestige, but you''re too weak for that. Hence the special training." Lucas said.


    "Don''t worry about it. You might bleed, cry, or even shit yourself, but it will definitely be worth it."


    "Okay."


    Wally nodded, unsure about what was to take place and a bit scared. But to score better results in this semester''s practicals, he was willing to do anything. This was why he had ended up gambling his birthday money for a shot at winning a vestige. Luckily for him, Lady Luck had smiled his way then.


    "Before you guys go do whatever it is, you owe me a favour, you know." Harry said as he smiled at Lucas.


    For some reason, Lucas felt as if he was about to get scammed, so he didn''t say a word right away. Instead, he stared at Harry without moving an inch.


    "Don''t try to play dumb with me." Harry then stretched out three fingers.


    "Three custom-made vestiges, Grade 3."


    "***king thief. I''d rather bleed to death!" Lucas fumed as he cursed with glaring eyes.


    Despite being reputed for his calm and level-headed personality, Lucas couldn''t resist cursing at that moment. It couldn''t be helped; that price was insane and no different from highway robbery.


    "Okay, okay. I''ll take a step back. Two but still Grade 3 customs. Either that or three vestiges: two one custom and two standards, all Grade 3."


    ''System, is there a blacklist function?''


    "Host is adviced to think carefully before doing so." The system didn''t directly answer him.


    Time went by as the duo continued their "negotiations" with Harry tossing out a ridiculous price while Lucas tried to resist the urge from putting him in the store''s blacklist.


    In the end, they settled for a ''fair'' price. Lucas would make a Grade 3 vestige but Harry would have to provide all the materials and pay thirty percent of the bill. This couldn''t be helped as the system refused Lucas to perform acts of service it termed as "free transactions".


    Discounts could be given on certain conditions -in this case, Harry having to provide the materials- but there was no free item. Even the roulette spin wasn''t exactly free but a discount.


    Harry exited the store with a slightly disappointed look on his face, but once he was out of the Seven Sparks Forge building, his face broke out with a wide grin.


    ''Hehe, a kid is a kid. There''s no way he could beat me in a game of negotiations.''


    Satisfied with the deal he got, Harry departed.


    It might seem much, especially since the price of custom-made vestiges in the store was twice that of other vestige stores, but Harry didn''t see that as a problem.


    Compared to other vestige stores, the Seven Sparks Forge''s services and products were on another level. Just in terms of the purity of stellar energy in them was gaps ahead of the others. There was also the fact that the runes and matrices Lucas used were different yet more efficient than those used by other vestige-smiths.


    This would end up becoming a selling point for him, and make Lucas'' goods more valuable and popular in the future. In other words, once Lucas became more popular, this vestige Harry had got for a price that seemed to be expensive, would become even more valuable. The resale value alone might even surpass the cost price he got it at.


    In the vestige-smith business, one''s runes and stellar matrices were the lifeline of their business. It was a company secret which defined their brand. The size, shape and quality of a vestige could be replicated, but the runes couldn''t unless one had studied them. This was why the famous vestige-smiths would always have customers and followers even though there were other good vestige-smiths.


    "If that is to be a reality, I''ll need to help advertise his business too. But I have to profit more before I do so." Harry smiled.


    Having decided on what to do next, Harry immediately departed for the Wastelands base station. He had arrived from there and didn''t carry any valuable items with him. At the same time, he also had to take a trip to the Wastelands and acquire more precious items and resources for his custom-made vestige.


    Freelancers didn''t usually replace their vestige often, so Harry wanted his to be as powerful as possible since it would end up being his long-term partner. Even though the Grade had already been decided upon, there were still differences between Grade 3 vestiges. His goal was to make sure that the materials used were top notch, so the result would be at the top amongst Grade 3 vestiges.

 Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Paying A Visit To The EVL

    On the road of a certain street in the West Wing district, a black haired young man was strolling while taking in the sights around him. Despite not doing anything strange, there would be a few of the passerby glancing his way with a look of disgust or surprise on their face. However, he had no reaction to this.After Lucas had made a deal with Harrison Reid, aka Harry, he wasn''t expecting the latter to make the thirty percent deposit a few hours later. With this, as well as the previous vestige sale to Harry when the store was launched and his profit from past maintenance services, Lucas was able to raise enough money to cover back both the principal amount and interest of his loan.


    A custom-made Grade 1 vestige costs at least five hundred (500) federal coins. Custom-made Grade 2 began at three thousand (3000) federal coins, depending on the materials used and the vestige-smith as there were better skilled vestige-smiths in the trade. As for Grade 3 vestiges, they began at ten thousand (10000) federal coins.


    As for standard items, they were slightly cheaper than their custom-made counterparts.


    The system, however, priced Lucas'' custom-made products at almost 200% of the base market value while the standard products at fifty percent market price.


    For instance, the Grade 3 vestige Harry requested was valued at seventeen thousand, two hundred and fifty (17250) federal coins. However, their deal was that Harry would only pay thirty percent but provide the materials; after all, one of the major reasons for vestiges costing so much was due to the materials used in making them.


    Nonetheless, thirty percent (30%) of seventeen thousand, two hundred and fifty (17250) was five thousand, one hundred and seventy five (5175) federal coins. Together with his earnings from maintenance and leftover cash, it was enough for Lucas to clear his debt of five thousand seven hundred and fifty (5750) federal coins.


    When he made the payment, Lucas was pained. Not because of ''losing'' so much money, but that he had rejected the deal from the members of Black Lemon when he had opened his store. If he had sold the Grade 3 spear vestige to them, he would have made at least sixteen thousand federal coins from that; more than enough to clear his debt.


    Regardless, this ''regret'' didn''t last long and even if time were to be taken back, Lucas would still have done the same after how they treated him.


    Lucas was currently returning from the Vinis pawnshop and on his way to the Eretrean Vestige-smith League (EVL) building.


    The trip to the Vinis pawnshop wasn''t eventful. After making the payment, the Purple Iridium ingot was returned to him. Both sides acted formal with the transaction and Lucas didn''t reveal any hint that he was aware they were behind his attempted kidnapping.


    As for the other side, they only knew that their hitman went missing. Whether the hitman had met Lucas or not couldn''t be confirmed by the group.


    With both sides reining themselves in and acting natural, the transaction went smoothly.


    As for why Lucas was on his way to the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, he was planning to get his official registration as a vestige-smith done.


    When Lucas went to the Guild Centre building in the Wastelands base station, he was asked for a blacksmith badge after declaring himself as one, a decision he made because no one would believe that a human was a vestige-smith.


    The query he received then made Lucas realise that there were associations in charge of overseeing various important occupations in the city. The blacksmiths had theirs, and the vestige-smiths did too.


    After asking Ju¨¢n about this during one of their discussions, Lucas found out that it was called the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, and it was in charge of aiding and protecting the common interest of all vestige-smiths on the planet.


    It wasn''t a strict organisation and membership wasn''t compulsory for vestige-smiths, but it did have many perks. For instance, being a member would grant one a special badge which was an identity as well as a sort of confirmation that the owner is a vestige-smith. One could also gain access to connections and network with various vestige-smiths around the world.


    However, what Lucas aimed for was the badge.


    Lucas decided to pay a visit to the league, apply for membership and get a badge, because it would be helpful in the long run. For instance, advertising himself as a verified vestige-smith and a member of the league could help increase the value of vestiges and draw more customers to his store.


    Having spent most of his money on repaying his debts, Lucas was almost broke so he couldn''t pay for a ride to the EVL building. Luckily for him, the distance wasn''t so far -in Lucas'' terms- from the market zone, which was where the Seven Sparks Forge was located.


    After a mix of walking and running for two hours, Lucas finally arrived. That''s right. A journey of two hours was still ''not so far'' for Lucas.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League building was a two storey building that didn''t have an exaggerated outward appearance, despite being the centre of vestige-smiths in the West Wing district. It was also quiet as there was no one making their way into the building. However, it was still somewhat unique.


    Unlike most buildings, the two storey structure was painted black. It had a fence around it with only one gate that served as both an entrance and an exit. In front of the gate stood an individual facing the street but with closed eyes.


    Lucas tried to get a feeling from the guard and realised that there was no sense of life from him. He derived two explanations right away: the first being that the guard was an expert who could rein in his aura entirely, and the second being that the guard was not a living being, but an android.


    The latter option was the most likely as various corporations tend to hire androids to take positions in their companies. Unlike living beings, androids didn''t need to eat or sleep, and could work 24/7, requiring no breaks at all or even a pay.


    The only problem would be maintenance expenses, but even the lowest rank amongst current models could be active for three years without any problems, if no extreme damage was incurred. After that, maintenance would only need to be carried out once a year or even once in two years.


    The bigger companies bought models which were not only stronger but also made with memory alloys, which were self-repairing metals. That way, even if the android was damaged in a fight, so long as the damage wasn''t extreme, it could still self-heal.


    Compared to hiring an expert which would cost a lot, an android -albeit weaker- was a more cheaper and suitable option to act as a gatekeeper.


    Lucas approached the gate which automatically opened as he stepped through it. All this while, the android didn''t open its eyelids, but Lucas had a strange sensation that made him realise he had already been scanned by the entity as soon as he walked by it.


    It probably had no reaction to him as it had ascertained Lucas to be of no threat; most likely because he had no weapon on him and was also a human.


    Ninety nine point ninety nine percent (99.99%) of humans couldn''t go past the Body Strengthening stage. To an android with physical abilities on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, and armed with hot weapon-type vestiges, such a character was of no threat.


    Knowing this, Lucas silently cursed, but that was all that he could do. Who told him to be transmigrated as a human?


    When he stepped into the building, Lucas experienced a slight shock. Compared to the exterior of the building, the interior was on a whole other level. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The interior of the EVL building had white and gold colours as the theme, and was decorated with art pieces hung on the walls, or plant pots set in appropriate locations.


    ''No, wait...'' Lucas glanced at the furniture and decorations once more before taking in a cold breath.


    The furniture and decorations weren''t ordinary products but top of the class blacksmith goods. Different from vestiges, blacksmith products contained no stellar energy. The best of them might however, have a very negligible amount of stellar. Nonetheless, this ''flaw'' didn''t mean that a blacksmith product was crap.


    The level of craftsmanship and skill one needed could only be gained either by being a godly genius or an experienced professional with years practicing the art under their belt.


    From his experience as a grandmaster blacksmith in his last life, Lucas could see that the furniture and decorations in this building were made by a very experienced blacksmith. The quality was so good that a few of them had a slight amount of stellar energy in them; just the size of a strand of hair, but this was still incredible.


    ''Based on skill alone, the person who made this could barely compare with a one star Exponent. He''s just lacking the mystical energy requirement.'' Lucas judged the creations with a look of appreciation on his face.


    An Exponent was the title given to a blacksmith in his first life. The rankings then were: Apprentice, Novice, Exponent, Master, Grandmaster, with each rank having at least five subranks. The Exponent rank however had nine sub-ranks, one star to nine star, with nine stars being the highest.


    After that short pause, Lucas walked over to the counter to be attended to.

 Chapter 51: Chapter 51 : Wait What?

    With the aggressive expansion of the reach of hyumankin, it was only natural for them to come across new species in space, with each species being different from the other not just in looks but also ability. Hyumankin had to constantly improve with every battle as the next opponent became stronger.At a point, when the hyumankin had yet to reach its current peak, they were facing two species of similar strength as themselves. During that period, hyumankin was the closest it had been to becoming extinct or being relegated to second class citizens, apart from its inception era into interstellar travel. There was fear on all planets and rumours of extinction spreading around.


    The people were beginning to lose faith in the Federation Assembly, and even the Congress found it difficult to manage the problems in society, both economically and politically.


    In the end, however, hyumankin had managed to turn things around and win the war, wiping out the two alien races that ganged up on them. This period marked the great ascension of the hyumankin to become one of the top races in the universe, expanding their rule, increasing their rule and gaining numerous resources.


    And the key to this victory, was the vestige-smiths.


    From then on, vestige-smiths were treated preferentially, and the Federation Assembly had even granted them many perks, building a grand school of vestige-smithing in the Pangaia solar system of the Arcadia star region.


    The Arcadia star region was the centre of the hyumankin and the home of the Federation Assembly with only three solar systems. One of them serving as the location of every important administrative facility in the galaxy, the home of the senators and supreme judges, and also the home of the founder of the Federation Assembly and de facto ruler of hyumankin; the ''Divine'' Galaxy Protector [1]. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other was the headquarters of the military and the final one, Pangaia, was the ''open area'' as well as the wealthiest solar system in the entire galaxy.


    The fact that the vestige-smiths were given a grand school in one of the four planets of the Pangaia solar system showed how much the Federation Assembly valued them. This was because not just anyone could erect a structure or even own a piece of land or building in any of the four planets. This applied to the three solar systems of the Arcadia star region too [2].


    After the vestige-smiths received such great honour, the majority of them decided to band together to form a union that could help protect their interests. The union wasn''t to be too tight as most vestige-smiths liked their freedom, hence the first vestige-smith league was formed, and it oversaw vestige-smiths on a grand level.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League was but a much smaller version that copied the former. Even though it was a mere copy though, there were some connections between the two.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League oversaw the vestige-smiths in Eretre but not in an official manner. It had no control over vestige-smiths in general, but protected the interests and safety of its members. In other words, if a member of the ESL was in trouble or in need of help, they can request aid from the league and would be provided such.


    They also had a library filled with knowledge and experience of various vestige-smiths.


    As the occupation of vestige-smithing was somewhat closed off with each smith hiding away their precious knowledge and stellar matrix inscription methods, it was difficult to move further or learn the trade without working under somebody. However, the library of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League was open to all members, and contained quite a few books about stellar matrices and runes.


    This, as well as a couple other fringe benefits, were what solidified Lucas'' decision to get registered. It would also be helpful in the long run and help him get a better idea of the vestige-smithing skill level.


    . . .


    Similar to the guard at the gate, the clerk at the counter was also an android. It was so realistic that if not for the absence of a life aura, it would have been difficult to differentiate. For a normal hyuman or human, they would fail to spot a difference, but a strong practitioner or one with a sensitive soul like Lucas would find it odd.


    Having seen two androids taking up important roles, Lucas was a bit surprised, but he didn''t think too much; on the contrary, he felt this decision to be novel and it widened his understanding of the role of vestige-smiths in society.


    Compared to the blacksmiths in his first life or the engineers in his second life, vestige-smiths were ahead of the curve. The occupation was like a combination of the two, but more advanced thanks to the utilisation of stellar matrices and special runes.


    "Good day. How may I help you?" The lady behind the counter asked with a smile on her face.


    "I''d like to register as a member of the league." Lucas replied.


    The lady raised was a bit surprised as the feedback from the guard at the gate informed her that Lucas was a human. Based on the information in her database, 99.9% of humans couldn''t get past the hurdle of the Body Strengthening stage, which made it impossible for them to be vestige-smiths.


    It was impossible to become a member of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League without being a vestige-smith. The only way for an exclusion to be made was for the applicant to be an exceptionally talented genius, showing significant potential of being a great vestige-smith even while being at the Body Strengthening stage.


    Forget being such a genius, the idea was absurd because Lucas was a human.


    "I''m sorry but, I can''t process your registration." The lady apologetically said.


    Lucas wasn''t startled by this and he had expected such to happen. What dumbfounded him however, was her attitude and reaction. If it were a hyuman in front of him, Lucas might have been thrown out from the building and given a restraining order.


    ''I guess androids are much nicer than people.''


    Even though he appreciated the gesture, Lucas wasn''t going to give up so easily.


    "I''m guessing it''s because I''m human, right?"


    The lady wasn''t confounded by this as she already guessed that Lucas would know why. Even so, she was confused as to what he was attempting to do by stating this.


    "While it''s true that I am a human, the Eretrean Vestige-smith League is open to all vestige-smiths even if they''re of a different species. On the official site, I saw some members of the Vara and Kerman races, so you can''t deny this."


    The lady nodded, "You''re right, but I have no intention of denying it either. However, we both know why they can make the cut and why you can''t."


    "There''s an exceptional basis for entry and it requires one to take an exam. I would like to apply for it." Lucas replied.


    The lady behind the counter finally went speechless. She didn''t expect this to have be Lucas'' intention right from the start.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League only accepted vestige-smiths into their numbers, but there was an exception; one had to be a very talented genius with potential to be a vestige-smith who would then be recommended to apply for an examination by the league. If the examinee successfully passed, they would be granted membership, albeit one with a lower tier due to their inadequacy.


    "But to apply, you''ll need a recommendation from a-"


    The lady suddenly went quiet as she noticed a document being projected by Lucas'' communicator. It was a recommendation letter from a vestige-smith.


    Naturally, Lucas didn''t contrive a phoney replica or something. He had asked Harry to get this for him in exchange for another favour. Luckily for Lucas, being the head of a freelancing team, Harry had a wide network and knew a bunch of people. After a little bit of convincing laced with some bribes, he managed to acquire an original recommendation letter for Lucas.


    There was nothing illegal or wrong about this as a vestige-smith recommendation letter had no real value except giving one an opportunity to take the exams. It was also somewhat common for vestige-smiths to give out recommendation letters to people they felt had potential.


    "I guess, you can apply." The lady finally relented.


    Lucas sighed with relief. If the android lady didn''t relent and kept refusing to accept his application, there was nothing he could do. Even if Lucas tried to make some noise in the net by giving them a bad review or reporting the league, no one would take him seriously.


    A human claiming to be a vestige-smith? No one would believe that was even possible. Even some of his customers still believed that Lucas could only perform maintenance and repairs on vestiges, while the standard and custom-made vestiges were done by an elusive in-house vestige-smith.


    "I''ll send you a registration form which you''ll need to fill out. After that, you''ll have to wait for the next exam. It might take anywhere between two weeks to a month from now. It could even be shorter than that. Just be on the lookout and turn on your notifications for any mail from the league.


    The exam would be at the head branch in the Central Prefecture district, so make your preparations before then."


    "Alright." Lucas nodded.


    "Wait, what?"

 Chapter 52: Chapter 52 : The Factions

    "This branch in the West Wing district only caters to the needs of members and registration of new members. We don''t have the authority to carry out exams." The android female said.Lucas was nonplussed for a while before he sighed.


    Baylands city-state government had twenty districts, each the size of a city. Even though the five districts of Baylands City comprised the city itself, they were still individually as big as a standard city on Earth. The Seven Sparks Forge was located in the market zone of West Wing district, which was pretty close to the centre.


    The distance from the Seven Sparks Forge to the Central Prefecture alone was a five hours walk.


    One could imagine how large the entire Baylands City was. It could even dwarf some of Earth''s largest cities when comparing the two sides.


    There were light rail trains and hovercars which made moving around better. Nonetheless, moving was costly. Even if one was going for a vacation, they would have to consider the difference in value between the two places. For instance, West Wing district was the bottom of the barrel among the five districts of Baylands City.


    As a result of this, the economy was poorer and the cost of living wasn''t exaggerated.


    However, stepping outside the district, one would realise how much costlier things are and how impoverished West Wing district was. The difference was especially so when the target of comparison was the Central Prefecture district, the home of the wealthiest in the entire Baylands city-state.


    Just a night at a three star hotel there might cost up to twenty federal coins. The equivalent in West Wing district wouldn''t reach up to five federal coins. Nonetheless, quality was assured in the Central Prefecture district.


    But this wasn''t Lucas'' problem. The issue was that, he was broke.


    Clearing his debts made Lucas turn from an opulent human to a miser. Even worse, he was now owing Harry a favour. All the money Lucas had on hand at the moment could only help him survive, unless he sold a vestige.


    ''One problem at a time. One problem at a time.'' Lucas massaged his temples.


    "Thanks for the help." Lucas waved and left.


    At the very least, he now has the registration form so once he had enough money, Lucas would fill it and wait.


    ''Next week is Wally''s practicals. He''s been doing well in training so far, so he''s likely to make an impressive performance then. As long as he stands out, people would spot the value of the vestige he has and they''ll be coming to me. Then there''s Harry. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If the vestige I make turns out to be amazing enough, he''ll advertise my business to his teammates and the freelancers who observe him in action would also be interested.'' Lucas thought.


    ''But that''s not enough. I can try to run some ads on the intranet again, but it''s not as efficient. Deals would fall apart too once they find out I''m human; not everyone can be as nice as an android. Do I pose as a reclusive vestige-smith?''


    Although Lucas was mentally more than five hundred years old, his experience was only in a specific niche; that is, creating magic weapons. His life on Earth had helped him broaden his mindset and knowledge, but Lucas had only spent thirty seven (37) years there, and the majority of it was studying physics, chemistry, engineering and material science.


    When it came to running a business, Lucas could only apply common sense and his experience from his first life.


    It should be known that despite being a magic weapons creator, Yohan (Lucas in his first life), did not operate a store. He simply forged on request and as he got better and better, there was no need to advertise himself or utilise marketing strategies. He had already become renowned for his high quality products.


    In other words, all of this -running a business and marketing strategies- were all new to him.


    ''The number one method of building a successful business should be to stand out. Since most freelancers already have a go-to store and pretty much every vestige-smith has a strong reputation, making something common just like the rest would get me drowned in the market until I go bankrupt. Standing out would almost be impossible. Hence, I have to do something unique.''


    Lucas suddenly stopped and gazed in front of him. His eyes stared ahead blankly, lacking focus in them as he was lost in his thoughts.


    ''There are two schools of vestige-smithing under weapons. Hot weapons and cold weapons, each with their advantages. Cold weapons are the usual blades and spears; much easier to produce but the requirement for the base material is very high. On the contrary, hot weapons, like the guns and cannons, don''t have such a massive requirement for base material.


    But they do have a significant demand for knowledge.''


    Weapon-type vestiges, apart from the grading system, were divided into two: cold and hot weapon-type. This division also defined two schools of vestige-smithing: the Forger faction and the Multiplex faction. There were other factions and schools of thoughts in the vestige-smith trade, but when it came to weapon-type vestiges, there was only these two.


    The Forger faction advocated that cold weapon-type vestiges were the best as not only were they simpler to create, but there was no need for any sort of ammunition, hence making them more lasting and reusable. They believed that cold weapon-type vestiges were the way to go, being more efficient than hot weapons and cheaper in the long run.


    After all, when using hot weapons, one would need to still purchase rounds for the weapon, but such a thing was nonexistent for cold weapons.


    There was also the fact that hot weapon-type vestiges were very complicated to make as they didn''t just require stellar matrix inscription knowledge, but also engineering, physics and sometimes chemistry knowledge. You couldn''t make a gun or a laser cannon without knowing any or all of these.


    However, the Forger faction only used blacksmithing knowledge paired with stellar matrix inscription, as such the bar for entry was lower, and it was easier to train vestige-smiths.


    Despite this, the Multiplex faction argued differently. The Multiplex faction believed that hot weapon-type vestiges were more efficient than cold weapon-type, the opposite of what their rivals said, because they believed and had proven that hot weapon-type vestiges had a low limitation for use compared to their adversary.


    When using a spear or sword Grade 3 vestige, the amount of power one could exhibit with them depended on the strength of the user. A Body Strengthening stage practitioner using such a vestige might not even be able to bring out destructive force on par with a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. But this issue was mitigated on hot weapon-type vestiges.


    If the Body Strengthening stage practitioner was using a Grade 3 gun vestige, as long as they had loaded specialised rounds inside the weapon, exhibiting strength on par with a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner was as easy as drinking water.


    If they tried their best and used better rounds, they could even possess the destructive force of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    This was what the Multiplex faction argued: that hot weapon-type vestiges reduced the bar for vestige usage, thereby increasing the overall prowess of a freelancer. Although the cost of rounds was something to consider, nothing was free. In exchange for more power, that could not only save oneself but increase their hunting ability, what was a little extra spending?


    Also, compared to cold weapon-type vestiges that required high quality metals to make, hot weapon-type vestiges didn''t necessarily need such. To make a proper and very durable sword, one would need high quality steel. The higher the grade, the higher the demand for the quality of the metal.


    However, although the crafting of hot weapon-type vestiges did utilise high quality materials, it wasn''t always a metal and the demand for quality wasn''t as extreme as with cold weapon-type vestiges. This made the base price slightly cheaper, but in the long run, the consumption of rounds might overall make it costlier.


    The debate between the two factions on whose ideology was better was something that had been going on for over a hundred years. Both sides had their advantages and their appeal, so they naturally existed even until this point in time.


    ''If I want to stand out, I can''t just follow the line. I have to be unique, but in an eccentric fashion.''


    Lucas abruptly smiled. An idea just came to mind;, one that could potentially tear down the rivalry between the two factions or better yet, create an entirely new faction to face them.


    Just as Lucas decided to continue walking, he abruptly sensed something coming his way.


    *Bang*


    The sound of a gunshot reverberated in the area.

 Chapter 53: Chapter 53 : Assassination Attempt

    Ignoring the looks of disgust and intrigue from different people who noticed his ''uniqueness'', Lucas began considering how to stand out from other vestige-smiths and stores on the spot. He came to the conclusion that he had to do so in the most distinctive way possible which was by competing against the two factions of weapon-type vestiges, the Forger faction and the Multiplex faction.There was a certain phrase Lucas had learnt from Earth, and that was ''there''s no such thing as bad publicity'', and this inspired his idea. If Lucas was to basically stay in line with the other vestiges and abide by the philosophy of one faction, it would be hard for him to stand out. Even if he practiced both philosophies, the situation would still be the same. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In fact, many would doubt his expertise as most vestige smiths focused on one area.


    Hence, the only way to really make a hit was to rely on an entirely new school of thought¡ªone that might bring about doubt but also curiosity.


    Having thought of an idea, Lucas began walking again, this time around planning to check out a few material stores in the market zone.


    Just then, Lucas spotted an individual walking towards him from the front. There were many others who were similarly walking either from behind or from the front as this was a somewhat busy street, away from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League''s building and quite close to the ever-busy market zone. As such, there were a lot of people going and coming from different directions.


    Despite the traffic, for some reason, this individual stood out in Lucas'' senses.


    At that moment, Lucas noticed that one of the individual''s hands, hidden inside his jacket, was being pulled out. Alarm bells rung in his head and without even a moment of hesitation, Lucas jumped towards the side.


    *Bang*


    The sound of a gunshot reverberated in the area, drawing the attention of the crowd to the scene. Few among the crowd on the street fled to a safe distance before glancing backwards, while the majority were merely stunned and frozen on the spot.


    At Lucas'' original position, a figure had collapsed on the ground, eyes wide open with one arm gripping their chest. The young lady was dumbfounded, being confused for second before turning anxious, scared and sad. She could feel the last bits of life flowing away from her and try as she might to run away from it, death was slowly pulling her into its embrace.


    "M-murder!"


    A bystander abruptly yelled with disbelief.


    The crowd was dazed silly.


    This was Baylands City, this was the capital region. How could such even happen? Despite the fact that this was the West Wing district, the poorest and least safest district in Baylands City due to its proximity to the Wastelands, it was actually very safe. There had been no desolate beast tides approaching the gates of the district much less invading the district in the last eighty years.


    Crime rates (against hyumans) were at an all-time low and incidents of murder were barely ever heard about.


    All these resulted to the average citizen having a very low sense to danger. One could say that their warning systems were turned off, which was why the majority didn''t think to take cover or retreat right after the gunshot. A murder, much less one with a hot weapon, had never occurred in over thirty years.


    The result of such an extended period of peace was quite obvious at this moment.


    ''Damn it.'' The man who wielded the gun vestige cursed as he looked at the corpse a few metres away from him.


    Just as he had pulled out his gun and taken aim, Lucas had jumped to the side, dodging the shot. However, there was a hyuman behind him who became the victim of the attack. That miss had caused a relapse in the assassin''s thoughts and Lucas took the opportunity to dash away from the scene.


    The man knew he was in big trouble after not only missing but killing a hyuman. If the victim was simply Lucas, although he would be arrested, his boss could pull some strings and get him out with the condition that he would be forced to never step foot in Baylands City again. He might also get a fine and some jail time due to his usage of a vestige, but that would be all.


    However, the victim was a hyuman. Even his boss would be forced to cut off any tracks that would lead to him, otherwise the consequences would be severe. The case might even be handed over to the Red Fangs of the Baylands City Patrol Corps due to the involvement of a gun vestige; and if it were, death would be an even better option for the man.


    The mission could have been done with a regular cold weapon-type vestige, but the previous attempts had shown that the target was not an easy figure to kill. Hence, why the man went for a hot weapon. There would be no trace of it, no killing intent, and it could be fired from a range. Nothing was supposed to go wrong, but it did.


    "Damned fucking bastard. This is all your fault." The man roared before chasing after Lucas.


    Lucas'' heart was beating profusely but he had managed to calm it down as he continued running. The assassin''s moment of hesitation was enough to give Lucas a fifteen metres head-start, but that wasn''t enough. The opponent had a gun and the previous attempt had already revealed him. As such, he would have less concerns about shooting again.


    Lucas maneuvered through the buildings and the crowd, weaving left and right while using any and every thing as a cover. Even if it was wrong to use a living being as a cover, in the face of such a threat, Lucas wasn''t bothered about right or wrong, but simply surviving. This was a trait he had developed in his first life when he was forced to live in a dog-eat-dog world as an orphan.


    Unsurprisingly, Lucas'' actions forced the assassin to not take aim again as another shot would potentially kill someone else and increase the crime on his head.


    The realization of the death of the young lady had awoken a sense of fear and dread in the crowd, causing chaos all around as everyone ran in different directions. This chaos proved useful for Lucas and unfavourable for the man. Despite trying his best to chase after Lucas, the man eventually lost him in the crowd.


    ''I need to get out of here.'' The man eventually gave up on his mission and decided to escape.


    Since his boss would abandon him, it was best to run away now. If he were caught, it would be the end of him. As for selling out his boss to the patrol corps, that would be a dumb move; even more so than his current crime. As such, the best cause of action was to attempt an escape from the west Wing district and Baylands City as whole.

 Chapter 54: Chapter 54 : Lucas In Trouble…?

    A couple of minutes later¡ªless than twenty minutes or so¡ªthe patrol corps had arrived and locked down the scene. The deceased had already been taken to a hospital earlier, along with some of the civilians who were involved in a stampede that broke out while escaping.Among the patrol corps members who were there, two individuals stood out from the rest. The two were both men, but one was younger than the other and had brown hair, while the older one had red hair. With a slightly different uniform from the others, their uniqueness didn''t just lie in this, but in the aura they exuded. Even the other members of the patrol corps kept their distance from them.


    They were members of the famed Red Fangs; an arm of the Baylands City Patrol Corps that handled special missions. They were highly trained and very professional in their work, but most of all, they were all very strong and dangerous. Due to this, the Red Fangs only handled high-profile cases involving a lot of risk, and they occasionally participated in joint missions with the Defense Corps.


    Founded over a hundred years ago, they even participated in the last disastrous desolate beast tide eighty years ago. Although, the members who did so were either dead, retired, or held very high positions in military or paramilitary organizations, the current members should still not be underestimated.


    "A murder in the city, and what''s more, with a gun. It seems like these underground gangs are getting quite ballsy." The brown-haired officer looked at the scene and smiled.


    "Indeed. It looks like we might have to carry out a purge sooner or later. I''ll bring this up to the lieutenant when we get back." the red-haired man said.


    "No need." A female voice sounded from above.


    The two, as well as the other corp officers present, glanced above and saw a hovercar silently descending. Hanging by the door was a stern looking lady who was also a beauty rivalling the midnight moon. She wore a unique black and blue uniform coupled with black trousers and a black boot; the standard uniform of a Baylands City Patrol officer.


    However, the medallion on her neck signified her identity; a member of the Red Fangs. What''s more, the red-gold patch marked on her collar and shoulders indicated her rank of lieutenant.


    It wouldn''t take a genius to know that she was the person the red-haired man mentioned.


    The lady jumped from the hover car, ignoring the potential risk of a ten metres fall, and landed safely on the ground close to the duo.


    "Lieutenant, ma''am." The two members of the Red Fang saluted.


    She nodded at them in response and asked, "What''s the report?"


    "At exactly 14:13pm, an attack occurred in the vicinity, leaving one dead and twelve injured due to the chaos caused by it. The victim is a female hyuman, about 20 years of age. Identification measures have currently been carried out on the deceased, and we found out she worked as a salesgirl in a store but recently got fired.


    Also from a family of four." The red-haired man projected a document as he spoke.


    "That''s not what I want to hear." The woman commented.


    The red-haired man paused, then switched the document before continuing,


    "We examined the security footage of the crime scene and found out that the deceased was a victim of circumstances. It turns out that she was never the target of the assailant, but someone who was just unlucky. As for the target, he is a human."


    "A human?" The woman was surprised.


    Humans were quite rare with the majority of them living in districts outside of Baylands City; in other words, residing in the other fifteen districts. The only city where they could be found in large numbers was Digress City, but that was on an entirely different continent.


    "Yes. We followed up from there and performed facial recognition on the target. We then ran a database check and found out the information of the target."


    As the red-haired man spoke, an image of Lucas as well as his details appeared in the projection. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''It''s definitely him, alright.'' The woman thought as she looked at the picture.


    When she heard the target was a ''human'', Lucas crossed her mind and she once had an encounter with him a few weeks back. However, that was a brief one but a bad experience for Lucas, so she thought that he would have left the city right away. Who would have thought that not only did he remain behind, but he was now a target for an assassination.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters, age twenty three. Born on the eighth of July. 179cm tall, with black hair and brown eyes. His mDNA exact value is unknown but from the spiritual feedback sensed by the onlookers and his ID, it''s too low to be classified as hyuman, hence he is human. He runs a store in the blue area of the market zone and it''s said to be a vestige store.


    He''s apparently carried out a few transactions in the store already, one with a famed freelancer, Harrison Reid, a deal with the Autumn''s Gate guild and even a clash with the Black Lemon squad. We are trying to find more information on him as we don''t anymore, except that he recently made an ID about four weeks ago. I''m guessing he''s most likely an immigrant, but not from the surrounding districts."


    "In other words, he isn''t an indigene of Baylands city-state. Not much information is known about him because of this." The brown-haired man added.


    "I always knew that stupid bill for open registration would cause such problems." The woman snorted.


    A couple of months ago, the Minister of Human Resources for the Baylands city-state had pushed for a bill to make registration easy and open to everyone, in a bid to increase the overall population of the city-state as the city-state''s population was projected to be declining.


    The bill made it such that immigrants could easily get an identification and citizenship to be able to work in the city-state. However, it sacrificed the stringent measures which were originally in place to prevent spies and criminals from sneaking into the city.


    It wasn''t like the indigenes of Baylands city-state were against the bill¡ªit wouldn''t have been passed if that were so¡ªbut rather, the security personnel had an issue with it because it affected that tracking and background-checking ability.


    "Please, lieutenant ma''am, we are in public. It would do us all well if you kept the comments about the ministry to private conversations." The red-haired man sighed.


    The woman glanced at him briefly while releasing some of her pressure.


    "I apologize, ma''am." The man hurriedly bowed.


    "Hmph. Continue."


    ''Handling the boss is always such a hassle.'' The man couldn''t help but complain inwardly, but he didn''t show any signs of doing so.


    "We are currently trying to find out who would want him dead and why, but with little information about him, we can''t be so sure just yet. However, we do have suspects in mind; a pawnshop and the underground human traffickers."


    "What about the assassin?" She asked.


    This time around, the brown-haired man spoke up,


    "The assassin is an unknown small rat from the underground, so it would take some time for us to find something on him."


    "In that case, let''s go find the other one." The woman turned around and walked towards the already parked hovercar.

 Chapter 55: Chapter 55 : The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

    About twenty minutes ago...After Lucas had lost the assassin, he didn''t return right away to the Seven Sparks Forge, but hid somewhere close by and monitored the assassin.


    Lucas might always act calm and cautious most of the time, but it didn''t mean he was one to take a beating without hitting back.


    A peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner might be able to survive gunshot on Earth, but it was still not enough to tank a shot from a vestige. The weapon might have sounded just like a gun on Earth, but the mechanics as well as the rounds differed, resulting in a more intense power. However, Lucas wasn''t scared.


    Compared to an average Body Strengthening stage practitioner, he had his self-made vestiges and the system''s equipment.


    ''Who could it be this time?''


    Lucas began pondering once he had hidden himself in an alleyway.


    There were two parties possibly after his life.


    The Vinis pawnshop had already proven themselves to be a possible main suspect after their kidnapping attempt a few weeks ago. However, with Lucas repaying the bill and taking back his ingot, they should have taken a more subtle approach than this.


    The store had a reputation and if they were found out to be related to this incident, even if Lucas was a human, their reputation and business would fall apart. They would lose customers and the City Patrol Corps would react aggressively, especially since a hyuman had been involved as a victim.


    The other suspicious party was the group of harassers who had been after him since Lucas got the building. They were an underground organisation and even after Lucas had asked Harry to help him investigate the name ''Ramirez'', there was not much information about them except that the individual was a former freelancer.


    However, their desperation to get back the land, to the point of sending a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner after him was insane.


    The two sides were equally suspicious and guessing around wouldn''t lead to any outcome. So, Lucas decided to take matters into his own hands.


    . . .


    The assassin wasn''t exactly a professional as he didn''t keep a lookout for any pursuer. Truth be told, he couldn''t be blamed. The incident had only occurred less than two minutes ago, which wasn''t enough time for the Patrol Corps to react. Also, who would have expected that the target wouldn''t retreat, but chase after him? S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From a typical logical perspective, the assassin needn''t worry about any retaliation or tracking, at least for the next two minutes. But reality gave a different story.


    The hunter had unknowingly become the hunted.


    "Damn that fucker. That bastard human. Why the heck did he have to jump at the last moment?"


    The man cursed under his breath as he ran away. He had parked a hover car about two blocks away from the scene in an isolated spot as part of his escape measure. As long as he got to it, the assassin could have a chance of leaving the district. This was only a chance at escaping the district however, not the Patrol Corps.


    ''There it is.''


    At a certain corner that had almost no hyuman traffic, an unsavoury and typical hover car was parked by the side, almost as if it were neglected. It looked like a sedan from Earth, but with some slight differences. However, with the current technology in this world, such a ride was lacking in taste.


    Despite its looks though, this hover car was packed. The engine had been switched with a more powerful one that utilised nuclear technology with heat conversion devices, ensuring that there was almost no energy lost.


    The vehicle had an exhaust pipe but hover cars didn''t use an internal combustion engine; the exhaust pipe was actually a set of nitro-benede boosters, a variation of nitrous oxide that only exists in this world.


    It was pretty much a sleeper build.


    The assassin hopped into the hover car and started the engine almost immediately. The car hovered into midair at around fifteen metres, before hanging there and beginning its taking off sequence. During that moment, the man noticed that there was a figure a few metres ahead, looking his way. The man gawked at the figure in disbelief.


    "I can''t believe this shithead chased after me." The man cursed.


    He wasn''t scared of Lucas as the latter was a human and a Body Strengthening stage practitioner at best, the same as him. However, Lucas might take a picture of his vehicle which would aid the Patrol Corps in finding him faster.


    "Dman that brat. You''ve ruined me and I still can''t do anything." The man growled.


    In order to increase his chance at escaping, the man had initiated the hypersonic drive sequence before booting his ride. That way, he would be moving at top speed as soon as he took off. If the Patrol Corps were on his heels, it would take some time to initiate the hypersonic drive sequence, hence why he started it now.


    The vehicle was a typical hover car and not a Sare [1] like the Autumn''s Gate guild''s which was equipped with attacking options. A hover car was just a civilian vehicle after all.


    Glancing at his timer that had ten seconds on the clock, the assassin decided to forget about Lucas. There was nothing he could do to this target of his, and at the same time, there was nothing Lucas could do to stop him.


    Was what he thought...


    Lucas stared at the hover car up in the air, with its engine slowly gaining momentum. Even though he had never driven a hover car nor knew its principles of operation, he could easily surmise that the vehicle was about to depart with great speed; the assassin was clearly trying to escape.


    This wasn''t what Lucas wanted, but with his target now encased inside the vehicle which offered some sort of protection, he was somewhat out of options here.


    "Retrieve."


    The craftsman gloves made an appearance once again as they wrapped around Lucas'' hands. But that wasn''t all he took from the system inventory. A spear had also appeared in Lucas'' hands -the same alloy spear he had used in digging the Violent Sun ores in the Igrum steel mines.


    This was Lucas'' most powerful weapon in his arsenal, thanks to the mix of Red Iris stone. Although he was lacking mystical energy, which would have increased the power of the vestige and ensured that it would penetrate the hover car, Lucas wasn''t worried.


    Gripping the spear tightly, Lucas took a stance and aimed at the hover car.


    The assassin, who was inside, noticed this, but smirked at it. Even though the exterior of the hover car looked nothing special, it was still not something just anyone could damage. It was durable and strong, as the intention was to survive a hypersonic speed trip. It wasn''t something that a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could wreck by just tossing a spear.


    The man was thinking how much of a fool Lucas was to try and attack his hover car when Lucas shot the weapon. In the next moment, only half a second was left before the hover car entered hypersonic drive, but Lucas'' attack had already appeared before it.


    *Bang*


    To the astonishment of the assassin, the spear pierced through the exterior of the vehicle and happened to strick the engine.


    *Boom*


    A loud explosion sounded as the hover car was forced from its hypersonic drive by force, following which it crashed towards the ground.


    *Boom*


    The hover car crashed horrifically to the ground, and with the already damaged engine, an explosion set off on the spot. Lucas retreated, but not before taking the spear which was thrown away from the vehicle by the explosion.


    Immediately after that, Lucas turned away and left the scene.


    Luckily, the area was empty -an intention of the man, which ended up killing him and aiding Lucas to cover his tracks.


    By the time the people outside had noticed what had happened, Lucas was already gone.


    A short while later, a Patrol Corps member has appeared at the scene and closed the place off before informing the others, following which more Patrol Corps officers arrived and blocked off the area while investigating. Twenty minutes later, a hover car landed close by and from it appeared three individuals; the three members of the Red Fangs.


    "Is this his last location?" The woman asked.


    "Based on the security clips, yes. He was here about twenty minutes or so. Apart from him, the assassin was also present." The red-haired man said.


    "We surmised that the assassin was trying to escape with a hover car fitted with hypersonic driver systems. But for some reason, he has failed."


    "Do you really think it''s a strange that he failed?" The woman glanced at the red haired man and asked.


    The latter was stunned a bit before shaking his head.


    "Even if we want to say he did it, there''s no evidence of that happening. Also, he is a human; how can a human destroy a hover car, especially one with hypersonic speed capabilities and structure?" The brown haired man said.


    The lady stared towards the horizon as she said,


    "There''s only one way to find out."

 Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Lucas Is Arrested

    "Based on the security clips, we''ve gathered that Lucas Saunters was indeed here before; about twenty minutes ago to be precise. Apart from him, the assassin was also present." The red-haired man said as the trio stood close to the site of the wreckage.The fire had been extinguished, but the damage was still clear. The metal on the hover car had melted in some areas due to the high heat. There was no sign of a corpse, despite the fact that a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner''s flesh was tough and sturdy. This showed that the heat from the explosion after the crash was so intense, that the corpse couldn''t even survive it.


    "We surmised that the assassin was trying to escape with a hover car fitted with hypersonic driver systems. But for some reason, he not only failed but also died while at it. The forensics are currently on it, but the preliminary scan identified a problem with the hypersonic drive sequence. It seemed to have been damaged just before it reached full output."


    "Don''t you think it''s strange that he failed?" The woman glanced at the red haired man and asked.


    The latter was stunned a bit before shaking his head. He understood what she meant, but until the forensics analysis in the place was completed, they couldn''t go around pointing fingers, especially at a human.


    "Even if we want to say he did it, there''s no evidence of that happening. Also, he is a human; how can a human destroy a hover car, especially one with hypersonic speed capabilities and structure?" The brown haired man said. He similarly knew what the lieutenant meant by her words, but he was of the same idea as his colleague.


    The lady stared towards the horizon as she said,


    "There''s only one way to find out."


    . . .


    After Lucas had murdered the assassin, he immediately made his way back to the store as that was where he felt safe. Although he was close to the market zone, the Seven Sparks Forge was still far from the area, so Lucas decided to bite the bullet and pay for a hover taxi.


    While in the hover taxi, Lucas asked the system,


    "What are the odds of them finding out I''m related to his death?"


    "One hundred percent." The system succinctly replied to him.


    Lucas wasn''t surprised by this.


    This world was much more advanced than Earth, especially in terms of technology. Even though he had never spotted any cameras, Lucas was sure that there was something keeping an eye on everyone, but he couldn''t identify what it was. There was no saying whether he was caught by the monitoring system when the crime took place, but it definitely observed him following after the assassin.


    "If I get investigated, what are the odds I''ll end up in jail." Lucas asked again.


    "Host should know that the system''s function is to aid you in becoming the next Crafts-God and not for answering a Q&A session."


    "True, but as it stands, that would be difficult to pull off if I get in jail. Who knows, it might be so long that I''ll end up dead in prison." Lucas said nonchalantly.


    "In that case, the system would take the next best course of action." S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas felt a foreboding feeling before asking


    "...which is?"


    "To abandon you and find a new host."


    Lucas silently cursed at the system for being so heartless, but he wasn''t affected by this. He took the system as an equipment to help him get stronger and improve his skills, while the system used him as a probable labrat. Each to his own, but it was still a win-win situation for both sides. There was no emotional entanglement between them and it was simply a transaction relationship.


    Lucas brought his thoughts back to reality and began analysing his situation. He had currently murdered a hyuman, which was one of the gravest crimes in Baylands city-state. Even though the target was an assassin after his life, Lucas has survived the attempt and the option of escaping was a viable course of action. However, he chased after the man and killed him.


    It would be difficult to classify this as self-defence.


    What''s more, Lucas was human. If he was a hyuman, it might be possible to fight for an exoneration on the terms of self-defence and retaliation. However, if the judge was someone who disliked humans, that would be impossible.


    Even if the judge wasn''t a speciesist, about seventy percent of hyumans didn''t consider humans to be the same as them -quite alright-, so they didn''t have any sense of relation or consideration for them.


    All this added together made Lucas realise that if he was arrested and trialled, there was a more likely possibility of him ending up in jail.


    The hover taxi soon reached the store and Lucas got down and went into the building. Right now, he had to figure out a way to not escalate the situation.


    ''Worse comes to worse, I''ll hole up in the store or I''ll just burst out of jail.'' Lucas thought.


    He went to the workshop to work on some items, almost as if he had forgotten about his impending trouble. It didn''t take long for Lucas to abruptly stop and face the entrance of the store.


    "System...?" Lucas asked as he could sense something strange in the air.


    "Host''s suspicions are correct. The store is currently surrounded."


    "Indeed. They came quite fast." Lucas smiled as he walked out of the workshop.


    *Ding*


    The bell on the door rang as a few figures stepped into the store.


    In the lead was an icy beauty dressed in a blue and black attire with stern looking eyes and an air of indifference around her. Despite being in foreign territory and looking not more than twenty five years, she was composed and still radiated a confident feeling as if everything was under her control.


    Behind the woman were two men dressed in a similar attire, with one of them looking younger and having brown hair, while the other one had red hair. The brown haired man was like a snake, with shifty eyes that scanned the entire store while giving out a dangerous vibe.


    As for the red haired man, he gave off the feeling of a veteran tiger that had lived in the jungle for a long time, mastering the art of stealth and burst.


    When the trio saw Lucas they stopped a few metres away and simultaneously studied him for a few seconds.


    "How may I help you?" Lucas plainly asked.


    Even if they were the police or whatever, he wasn''t obliged to give them special treatment and neither would he. Lucas had seen even more terrifying people in his past life, and while he might be starting anew, it didn''t mean that he would behave differently.


    "Are you Lucas Saunters?" The red haired man asked, despite having seen his picture before.


    "I am." Lucas replied.


    "Please come with us. We need your help in answering a few questions." The man smiled.


    Instead of replying, Lucas glanced at the woman. She was clearly the leader of this group, but relegated the role of talking to her deputy. For some reason, this irked Lucas a lot. The look in her eyes was almost as if she considered having a conversation with Lucas beneath her.


    This wasn''t the same as the haters of humanity who looked down on him due to his species; this was an innate sense of arrogance she possessed.


    But even with such an explanation, Lucas didn''t like it.


    "And who might you be?" Lucas asked, facing the woman, but his words were clearly aimed at the group.


    The woman''s brows wrinkled as she released a hint of her pressure.


    Fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    From his experience with the Autumn Gate guild and the desolate beasts of the Cicalien Mountains, Lucas could easily approximate the woman''s strength. Such a level of power achieved and while still being so young was amazing. But, Lucas had seen more. Even if one were to eliminate his past life''s experiences and solely consider his encounters in Eretre, Lucas had seen more powerful characters.


    For instance, Lisa, the vice guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild, who was of roughly the same age as the woman before Lucas now. However, Lisa was much stronger and already at the fifth level.


    Others were: Harry, who was at the fifth level; the chimera monster at the Green-Snout metal moles'' hideout, which was at the peak of the fifth level; and Crimson Fang, the guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild, who was at the sixth level.


    All of them were much stronger than the woman present, and Lucas didn''t react to the display of their aura. So, there was even less to say about this attempt. What''s more, this was the store; the Host Protection Mechanism was always active.


    Lucas just stared at her as normal, looking as if he felt nothing.


    The woman was surprised by this and increased her force, pressuring Lucas with it, but he still remained nonchalant.


    Suddenly, the lieutenant snorted and grabbed at Lucas.


    Her hand speed was so shockingly fast that Lucas failed to react in time; even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it. Before he knew it, his neck was clasped in her hand.


    "You''re coming with us, now."

 Chapter 57: Chapter 57: The Central Prefecture

    "Is this how you treat a citizen?" Lucas looked at the hand and asked calmly, seemingly unaffected by the chokehold."Cut the crap. Don''t think because I saved you last time that I''m on your side. You know what you did." The woman stared at him with a menacing expression on her face.


    "And that would be?" Lucas stared her in the eye, unfazed by her expression.


    The brown haired man smirked and answered, "Murdering of a hyuman and causing a commotion in the city."


    "So, self defence?" Lucas responded.


    "The deceased was a valuable asset to finding the ones behind the assassination as well as taking down an underground organisation or two. But thanks to you now, none of that would happen." The lieutenant scoffed.


    "So, I also helped you clear out some trash." Lucas smiled self-assuredly.


    Not only the lieutenant, but even the other two men were stunned by Lucas'' response. His reaction was definitely not what they expected and all too calm, almost as if he wasn''t even their target.


    "That''s enough talking, come with us." The woman let go of his neck and ordered.


    Lucas massaged his neck a bit to relieve it of the slight pain. However, he didn''t go with them just yet.


    "I''m a victim in this entire incident, but rather than treat me as one, I''ve been threatened and harmed by you. What makes you think I''ll now go with you? What if I do, and you end up trying to silence me? With such a risk, do you think I''ll take it?"


    "Are you intending on resisting arrest then?" The red haired man asked with a confused look on his face.


    Although Lucas'' actions were a bit against the law, it wasn''t too serious as he had been attacked by the assassin. However, if he resisted arrest, it would make things even more problematic for him. The man just didn''t get why Lucas would want to make a mountain out of a molehill.


    "No. I just don''t trust myself to be safe in your hands." Lucas replied.


    "From the very beginning, your actions have been recorded by a hidden camera in my store. Even if you try to accuse me of resisting arrest, I can simply present the video recording to the court and clarify the incident. By then, it wouldn''t be me who is in trouble, but you. I can sue for trespassing, assault and battery, as well as speciesism.


    It might be true that humans like myself are looked down on, but in the eyes of the law, we are all equal." Lucas smirked. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The lieutenant, her deputy and the brown-haired man finally realised that their opponent this time wasn''t an ordinary individual. He was a crafty fellow who they had to treat with caution.


    The woman stared at Lucas but didn''t say a word. As a result, the atmosphere became even more cold and the temperature was steadily dropping.


    "Fine. I apologize on her behalf. We won''t harm you or anything, but we do need your assistance for the ongoing investigations." The red haired man sighed.


    Lucas nodded as he knew this was the best he could get from them. Pushing the group more might be counteractive to his plans.


    When he stepped out of the store with the trio, Lucas noticed that the store had been surrounded in all four major directions by other members of the Patrol Corps. They were in place just in case he tried to escape.


    Lucas only glanced briefly at some of them before departing with the trio in the hover car they came with.


    It took almost an hour for the hover car to reach its destination, but during the trip, no one said any word.


    When the hover car landed and Lucas came out beside the brown-haired man while the other man and the woman walked ahead of them. Lucas scanned the area and discovered that he was in an entirely new area. This wasn''t the West Wing district as he knew it to be.


    The air was fresher, the buildings were more stunning and modern, even the roads were paved with a different material than those of the West Wing district. The hover cars in the air were also more luxurious in terms of appearance.


    "Welcome to the Central Prefecture district. You''ve probably not been here before, I take?" The brown haired man smiled.


    ''Makes sense.'' Lucas thought while ignoring the former.


    The Central Prefecture district.


    If Baylands City was the capital of Baylands city-state, then the Central Prefecture was the capital of Baylands City and the major centre of Baylands city-state. This was the region reserved for the city-state''s richest and most influential factions and powers.


    Whether it was the wealthiest families, the top freelancer guilds, top 500 companies on the continent, or the city lord''s office, they were all based here.


    Every important administrative agency was also headquartered here, and as a result, the security was on a different level.


    Unlike the West Wing district that was littered with underground organisations and human traffickers, the Central Prefecture had none of that. Describing it as being on an entirely different level wasn''t enough; it was at least two levels ahead of the West Wing district.


    The cost of housing and living was much higher, and acted as an obstacle to anyone interested in living here.


    However, the most notable barrier was the indispensable requirement of owning a Recognition Permit, which was a special kind of document granted to people who had lived in Baylands City for at least ten years and fulfilled a couple of conditions or were related to residents of the Central Prefecture in some manner.


    It was this absurd requirement which had led to the Central Prefecture being termed as the Forbidden City[1].


    There were exceptions for special guests and visitors, but the rule was applicable to those who intended on residing within the ''city''.


    "I thought I was just heading over to a station." Lucas asked the brown-haired man.


    The fellow smiled before responding, "This is our station. Ah, I think you made a mistake about our identities. We aren''t you average Baylands City Patrol guys, but members of the Red Fang. I''m Barry and the red-haired fella over there is my mini-boss, Nafir. As for the missus..."


    The brown-haired man, Barry, liked around carefully and walked closer to Lucas before muttering, "she''s my boss, Lieutenant Lily. A pretty girlish name, if you ask me, which is probably why she doesn''t like anyone calling her by that. Just call her lieutenant if the need be."


    Lucas was surprised and glanced at Barry, wondering why he told him such information. Actually, he had guessed it. Based on Barry''s cunning appearance, Lucas could fathom that his intention in saying this was to have Lucas do exactly just that; to call the lieutenant by her name at some point.


    Although he didn''t know what would happen, Lucas reckoned that the result wouldn''t be good for him.


    The trio headed into the building and were greeted by the individuals there; to be specific, it was the lieutenant, Lily, who was greeted by them. It seemed like in the Red Fangs, the rank of lieutenant was somewhat high.


    As they walked, Lucas scrutinized the area as well as the individuals here. Just like Barry and Nafir, they all possessed a certain vibe. Based on his past experience, Lucas determined this vibe to be that of a killer. Every single individual in this building, even those at the desk and the ones laughing intimately, were all killers, and professionals at that.


    ''This is like a den of monsters.'' Lucas thought as he calmly proceeded forward with the trio.


    Being a killer didn''t mean they took the lives of others hyumans. Lucas guessed that the lives they took were mostly that of desolate beasts.


    He had heard of the Red Fangs once, when he was reading about the organisations to look out for in Baylands City.


    Despite being a government agency, the Red Fangs operated almost like a private militia. They were under the command of the Commissioner of Police, just like the Baylands City Patrol Corps, but they took orders directly from the Director of the Red Fangs.


    They didn''t handle average internal security issues like the regular Patrol Corps, but mostly ones related to desolate beasts and organised murders. They also took on high risk and high-profile cases that the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps couldn''t handle.


    However, one of the most interesting discoveries about the Red Fangs was the fact that they carried out missions outside of the city -a stark contrast to the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps who always operated within the city.


    These external missions were mostly joint missions with the City Defence Force, and they entailed exploring the Wastelands and other dangerous regions, as well as quelling terrorist groups, riots and beast tides in the other fifteen districts.


    Terrorism was one of the major problems faced by the current hyuman society and it was somewhat unavoidable. With hyumankin having expanded and raided various other civilisations, they didn''t always eliminate all the intelligent lives they encountered, but forcefully assimilated some of them.


    However, in some areas, these intelligent lifeforms were treated like second class citizens, and sometimes worse.


    Considering humans, the ancestors of hyumans, were treated terribly and even trafficked by underground organisations, one could imagine how alien lifeforms were treated.


    This resulted in some of them banding together and forming terrorist organisations, wreaking havoc throughout the galaxy.


    Eretre was a planet that was ninety percent occupied by hyumans, but there were some alien life forms here. Although the majority were in Digress city-state, some were scattered all over. They lived in peace and isolation, but a few of them occasionally carried out terrorist acts.


    The Defence Force and the Red Fangs were the organisations who handled such rogues. So, it was inevitable that they would have a ton of blood on their hands.

 Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Interrogation

    Inside an interrogation room with only one table and two chairs, Lucas and Nafir, the deputy form the Red Fangs, were both seated on the opposite sides."Lucas Yohan Saunters. Age, 23. DOB, 8th of July. You run a vestige store in the blue area of the market zone." Nafir read out loud from a projected screen.


    "Those are merely your basic details, and not much is even known. Other details regarding you include your actions of severely injuring three hyumans, but their involvement in human trafficking and attempted kidnapping led to this case being buried under the tag of self-defence. You had a clash with the Black Lemon Squad just when you opened up shop.


    You were also under the surveillance of a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. At exactly 00:02 a few weeks back, he had invaded your store with the possible intention of murdering you or kidnapping you. However, based on security footage, he never left the building, but you were alright."


    Lucas was surprised by the information in the hands of the Red Fangs. Many of these were things he had carried out secretly in the past and the assault on him in his store was one he was surprised they found out.


    But along with the surprise was a slight trace of anger in Lucas'' heart. Since they knew that someone had assaulted him in his store, why didn''t they help him? Why didn''t the Patrol Corps investigate the matter?.


    Seemingly, sensing Lucas'' emotions, Nafir spoke up,


    "To be honest, your file is really interesting. It was buried amongst the masses, but this incident brought it to limelight. We were lacking information on you since your identification papers are just recent, so we had to review all footage from your arrival until now."


    "I thought I''ll be interrogated regarding the attempted murder, but nothing of the sort has taken place since we arrived here." Lucas said as he turned his eyes away from the projection and faced Nafir.


    "Don''t underestimate the Patrol Corps. Whether you say something or not, we will be able to find out who was behind the assassination attempt. However, we want to use this opportunity to find out more about you. Lucas Saunters, who are you really?" Nafir studied him.


    "Humans are well known to be unable to utilise stellar energy as efficiently as we hyumans. This makes them terrible vestige-smiths from the start. Even though the state of Digress has found a way to improve their strength, thereby defying the previous opinions, they are still unable to manufacture vestiges.


    Digress city-state had solved the problem of quantity, making it possible for them to possess stellar energy and advance in their refinement. But the issue of quality still remains, hence why they can''t refine vestiges.


    "Despite this, you''ve somehow achieved something that a city-state couldn''t. In fact, it''s no understatement to say that you''ve done something an entire civilisation has failed to do. What''s more, you did it without even reaching the Apertures Opening stage.


    "So I ask, who are you really? Where are you from?"


    Lucas was somewhat surprised by this, as most refused to believe he was a human vestige-smith; even Harry seemed to believe that there was a reclusive vestige-smith backing him. However, after recalling the past couple of minutes, he felt it was natural. The information garnering capability of the Red Fangs was clearly not something he could compare with that on Earth.


    "I''m just as you''ve found out. A human who''s also a genius." Lucas replied calmly, as if stating a fact.


    Nafir stared at him for a few seconds as if scanning him. However, Lucas'' heard the system''s voice in his head just then.


    "Detecting a mental invasion on the host. As this is the first time, the system would consume one of the host''s exoneration slots to exterminate the threat.


    "Threat detected and analysed. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Determining an appropriate response sequence in relation to the host''s current situation. Found.


    "Carrying out response sequence.


    "Successful.


    "Threat extinguished."


    Lucas was dumbfounded by the series of announcements, but he didn''t show it on his face. At the same time, his body turned cold as he became aware how much he had underestimated these people.


    "System, what was he trying to do and what response sequence did you carry out?" Lucas communicated mentally.


    "The invader''s technique is one used to pry into a target''s memory and scour through it. However, the user is clearly unskilled and merely intended to use it to determine whether the host was lying or not. Since it would not show any signs of usage, the target''s mental guard wouldn''t be raised and they would fail to spot anything. Luckily for the barely capable host, the system is active 24/7.


    The response sequence was simply a false response created and fed to the user''s technique."


    Lucas ignored the sarcastic jab by the system and couldn''t help but be startled that such a technique existed. Ever since he had been in this world, Lucas had yet to encounter someone with a special power as it was said that only at the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage would one have a chance at gaining an innate power. It looked like he had to be more cautious nowadays.


    Apart from the shock, he was also impressed by the system''s ability and rapid response. Lucas couldn''t help but wonder what exactly the system was and who made it.


    Nafir''s eyes flickered a bit, holding a variety of emotions within them which disappeared almost right away as he changed the topic.


    "Know this face?"


    An image of a man with a brawny appearance and a rough beard was projected.


    Lucas shook his head.


    "His name is Ramirez. One of the most powerful figures in the underground community of West Wing districts. We have reasons to believe that the assassin was sent by him. Do you know why perhaps?"


    "I did receive a threat from some guy about the building I bought. It was from an individual that owed some money to someone named Ramirez. The loan was supposed to use the land as collateral, but there was no information about this from the city government office." Lucas responded.


    Dragging the police in this matter would force Ramirez to consider his actions more carefully before he made a move. At least this would give Lucas enough time to complete his preparations.


    "Alright. Please write out a report concerning this as well as some of your thoughts on the matter." Nafir said. It was clear that he had put behind the previous topic and was now focusing on the incident.


    "Regarding your murder of the assassin, it would still have to be mentioned to the appropriate departments. Chances at that you might get dragged to court for it, and if your luck is bad, the judge might be anti-human. The good thing is that even in the worst case scenario, your sentencing would only be limited to a fine, as the matter could be defined under self-defence and retaliation.


    Once you''re done with the report, you can leave." Nafir added before he left the room.


    Lucas thought deeply about those words. It seemed like the Red Fangs already knew that there were people who hated or looked down on humans, but they could do nothing about it; maybe they didn''t bother themselves about it. It was quite sad.


    Humans, in some way, could be called the ancestors of the hyumankin. There would have been no hyumans without humans. Despite this obvious fact, the successors looked down on their predecessors and tried to make life difficult for them.


    Even for the hyumans who weren''t speciesist, they closed an eye to the matter, sharing somewhat similar sentiments that humans were weaker and shouldn''t be cared about as much.


    ''I guess this is just a part of the cycle of natural selection.'' Lucas sighed.


    The evolution of the human race to create hyumankin was all in a bid to survive the intergalactic era. Not only could the hyumankin refine and store stellar energy in their bodies, but they could also survive in more extreme habitats, whether they be higher or lower temperature regions, or radioactive regions. In comparison, humans were indeed too weak and not fit for intergalactic exploration.


    All that the hyumankin had achieved today would have been impossible if they were still humans.


    . . .


    On the other side, after Nafir left the room, he went up to the female lieutenant who stood in another room, watching a display screen that showed the previous room. Apart from her, there was also Barry, the brown-haired man who came with them.


    "My technique didn''t find a strange reading on him. Everything he said was the truth." Nafir said.


    "Makes sense. If he was a spy, there would be no reason for him to stand out like this." said the lieutenant, Lily.


    "But it''s still strange. Is he truly a genius?"


    "I can''t say for sure, but he should be. That''s unless he found a way to bypass my skill." Nafir answered.


    Barry shook his head. "That should be impossible. No one knows that you''ve unlocked a hint of your superpower so early. Most would have to wait until the tenth level and exceptions are very rare. Exceptions like yourself, who tap into a bit of their innate power at the third level, are even rarer. Also, superpowers are already rare much less mental superpowers.


    Apart from myself, the boss and the director, no one should know about the details, so it''s impossible to be prepared for it."


    "The ancient humans never thought that in the future, their kind would dominate the galaxy, but here we are. Nothing is impossible." Lily suddenly interrupted.


    "Once he''s done, send him back, but keep an eye on him. Don''t make it clear though; he seems to be aware of any surveillance on him. I have a feeling he will bring us more surprises in the future, but whether they would be good or not, I don''t know."

 Chapter 59 Chapter 59 Last Day Of Training

    "Again." Lucas glanced at Wally who was breathing loudly like a dog that had just run a mile.After the interrogation at the Red Fangs station and making a report of the event that day, Lucas was sent back to his store the following day. At the store, he resumed his usual daily activities, which were improving his skill, calculating and testing out the feasibility of his idea, and finally, training Wally O''Connor.


    The duo were inside the white room that was very spacious. The walls and flooring of the room were designed with criss-crossed black lines, just like a grid, giving the entire place a weird feel.


    The ground floor of the Seven Sparks Forge building had four rooms: the work-station, the lobby for attending to guests, a restroom and finally, this white room which was called the Simulation room.


    The Simulation room was the strangest place in the entire store after the system''s renovation; it was even more fascinating than the workshop, a fact Lucas had a hard time admitting to.


    The special thing about this room was that one could change its appearance and even size. According to the system''s description, it utilised advanced spatial manipulation technology to be able to expand and contract the size within the room. When combined with top-of-the-line illusory and simulation technology, the Simulation room could be changed to replicate any environment.


    Due to the sturdy nature of the room, it was the best place to test out the power of vestiges as well as to carry out Wally''s training.


    Wally held a spear in his hand as he wiped the sweat on his face. Compared to other spears, the vestige he had was lighter and more slender. But one shouldn''t be deceived by its appearance as the weapon was as deadly as a Grade 1 spear.


    Grade 1 was the limit of vestiges students could use for the mid-term practicals. As the students were still at the Body Strengthening stage, it made no difference what Grade they would use as even the most talented of them would at best display a level one stellar practitioner''s strength with even a Grade 3 vestige.


    Since there was no difference in power, it was best for everyone to be limited to the same grade of vestiges, as a difference would now mean relying on the equipment; after all, in terms of structural integrity, a Grade 3 vestige was more durable than a Grade 1.


    With a cap to the grade of vestiges allowed, Lucas made Wally''s vestige to be exactly at that grade. However, it was much stronger than the average Grade 1 vestiges and the stellar energy within the runes was even purer. At face value, it was definitely a Grade 1 vestige, but the power one could exert with it was closely approaching Grade 2.


    "Even though you''re allowed to use vestiges for the practicals, you shouldn''t depend too much on them." Lucas said as he glanced at Wally who was still trying to recover. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While the latter had a spear in his hands, Lucas was unarmed.


    This was natural, after all Wally''s opponent was a 530+ years old former Grand Magician who had engaged in intensive physical training too. Even though he wasn''t on par with his past life''s peak, for Wally who was still at the third level of the Body Strengthening stage, it was enough.


    Wally stood up and nodded. He didn''t charge in right away, but calmed his beating heart and stared at Lucas like a calculative hunter.


    ''This kid... he''s definitely something.'' Lucas thought as he smiled.


    "Come."


    Just as the words left Lucas'' mouth, Wally abruptly lunged at him with the spear aimed for Lucas'' neck.


    With a slight smile, Lucas stepped to the side and tapped the shaft of the spear with two fingers.


    The spear suddenly moved to the side and Wally almost lost control of it. Instead of resisting this change, Wally flowed with it and moved the spear in the direction of the force, making a full circle at the spot and sweeping the spear at Lucas.


    Lucas was unperturbed by this attempt as he bent low and let the spear just sweep above him. Having been fed up with dealing with attacks, he delivered a kick right away, forcing Wally to block with the spear''s shaft.


    *Bang*


    The kick didn''t have Lucas'' full strength, but it was still on par with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage, and almost forced Wally back. However, the teen was already experienced with such powerful attacks from Lucas. He didn''t even budge as he retaliated, firing a punch at Lucas with his left hand.


    Lucas retreated while taking back his foot, but Wallg followed up right away. His attacks with the vestige was almost like the wings of a hummingbird, flashing rapidly at Lucas.


    What looked like one strike would be two or three thrusts, aiming different locations in a bid to minimise Lucas'' range of motion.


    The attacks intensified so much that Lucas was nearly having a difficult time with them. After days of intensive training, Wally could now concurrently launch five thrusts with the vestige each time he made a move.


    Once Lucas tried to widen the gap, Wally would chase right after him. Even when Lucas had prepared a counterattack just for that, Wally would block with the spear before attacking with his left fist. Lucas would then be forced to either block or dodge, giving Wally enough time to attack with the spear again, resuming the same relentless assault strategy.


    This resulted in a situation were Lucas was forced to stay on his toes as any slight relapse in concentration would lead to his defeat.


    "I guess this is enough for a warm-up." Lucas suddenly said.


    Wally was startled by this, but almost immediately his muscles tensed.


    ''It''s coming.'' Wally thought.


    This wasn''t the first time something like this happened. It was about two days ago. Wally had made massive improvements and could force Lucas to be on the defense for over thirty minutes. Although it was mostly because Lucas was holding back and fighting only with the strength of a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner without a vestige, it was still impressive.


    However, Lucas became dissatisfied and burst out with more power. He was still using the strength of a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner, but the skill and expertise with which he did so made it difficult for Wally to be able to react and he was beaten black and blue soon after.


    In the end, Wally''s training became as such: the first half would be made up of him suppressing Lucas until the latter had ''warmed up'', following which it would be Wally''s turn to take a beating.


    ''Here!''


    Although he was still forcing Lucas to remain dodging on the defence, Wally noticed the air around him change.


    At the start, Lucas could be described to be giving off the air of a friendly sparring partner who was just trading blows with him, but with no intention of causing severe harm. However, when he had turned serious, the Lucas before him would become an oppressive and formidable beast that could rip him in shreds within a few seconds.


    It was almost as if what he was facing was no longer a human, but a bloodthirsty creature that had survived in the wild and knew the laws of the jungle; silent but deadly, and seizing any and every opportunity it got within a split second.


    Just after Wally had launched a barrage of thrusts and was about to attack again, he saw a fist flashing in front of him.


    Wally was stunned by the speed of the attack, but he didn''t lose his cool as this wasn''t the first time such had happened. Instead, he hurriedly retreated while moving his head to his right.


    Grasping his vestige tightly, Wally was about to attack and seize back his momentum, but a kick suddenly appeared at the edge of his right eye''s vision, aimed for his head that had tilted to the right.


    Gritting his teeth, Wally forced his body to react quickly as he placed the spear in between him and the outstretched leg, blocking the attack. But that wasn''t all.


    A fist appeared from his left side, aimed his chest. Wally''s two hands were occupied as they held the vestige in resisting the kick, so he was left open.


    *Bam*


    The fist connected and Wally spewed out a bit of saliva with his eyes bulging in pain.


    Even after seeing this, Lucas didn''t hold back in his attacks as he pummelled Wally right away. This beating, ah, training session, went on for five more minutes before Lucas stopped.


    "You managed to handle two attacks this time. That''s quite good." Lucas praised.


    However, Wally''s mouth twitched at those words. Who would be satisfied with just blocking two kicks while getting pounded like yam for five minutes straight?


    "Your practicals begin next week right? That''s in two days." Lucas suddenly asked.


    "Yeah." Wally barely responded.


    "Alright. You don''t need to come tomorrow. Take a break and get your body in peak form. You can go now." Enjoy new chapters from empire


    "...alright." Wally nodded before dragging his weakened body out of the simulation room.


    Lucas glanced at the youngster who was leaving with a mysterious look on his face.


    Wally might have taken it to be him letting out his frustrations, but the beating was still part of the training. Lucas had only been training Wally four hour sessions for barely five days, but in this time, Wally had shown so much progress that Lucas thought him to be inhumane.


    Lucas had initially raised the bar high, starting with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage degree of power while using only five percent of his skills. But within three days, Wally had actually managed to force him to remain on the defence. Although part of that had to do with the fact that Wally was armed with a vestige while he wasn''t, it was still incredible.


    To prevent being disgraced, Lucas decided to occasionally use ten percent of his skill when things got a bit risky, and in just two days, Wally had managed to react to two strikes of his. If he was a bit stronger physically, he might have blocked the third attack.


    ''Is this a hyuman thing or is this kid a genius?''

 Chapter 60 Chapter 60 The Mid-Term Practical Test

    In Eretre, the education system was somewhat different from that of Earth, but roughly the same as the standard in the other planets of the Federation. This has to do with the fact that there was a lot more to study thanks to hyumankin''s intergalactic exploration and expansion, and also because of the presence of stellar energy and the art of refinement.Education in the Federation was divided into three paths: Civil, Technical and Practical. The Civil path was the standard path and one of the most common. It included mostly art majors and social sciences such as history, languages, politics, economics, and mostly theoretical knowledge like pure mathematics.


    The Technical path focused on the more hands-on majors like engineering, vestige-smithing, nuclear studies, and so on.


    As for the Practical path, it was one of the most aspired, but relied heavily on natural talent. It was aimed at raising stellar practitioners who would either become freelancers, private workers or work for the government. Experience tales with empire


    While some comprehensive schools -institutions that taught all paths- did exist, they usually focused more on one path than the others. For instance, Wally''s high school, the Greendale Highschool, was a Technical school, but they offered comprehensive courses in the Civil and Practical paths. Such an institution was referred to as a comprehensive school with the opposite being a ''pure'' school.


    The Baylands City-state had a couple of high schools and colleges, but very few ''pure'' ones. The term ''pure'' simply referred to institutes that placed their entire focus on only one path, specialising solely in it rather than offering comprehensive courses.


    It was every student''s dream to attend such a school as the teaching standards and education offered was much higher and better then comprehensive schools. However, such institutions had high standards, were more expensive, and difficult to get into.


    But there was a shortcut to getting into one. If the student''s high school or previous institution of education was a subsidiary of a pure school, as long as they did well, they could get a letter of recommendation to get into the pure school. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Greendale Highschool was a comprehensive school subsidiary to the pure college, the Greendale School of Refiners. This made it somewhat easier for students of the high school to get into the college; but to do so, one had to show promising talent in vestige-smithing, craftsmanship and engineering, as the college was one on the Technical path.


    This seemed somewhat unfair to students of other paths who studied in the high school, as such, the mid-term and final term practicals were brought about. These were a series of tests used to quantify a student''s talent, skill and performance, which would then be recorded in the student''s data folder.


    When a student applies for college, apart from the entrance examination, the college would take into factor the information from the student data folder from their high school.


    For students who dreamed of the Practical path, the term practical tests in their final year of high school was the most important, as that was when their ability as a stellar practitioner would be tested. They only had one mid-term and final term practical tests, so failing even one would be disastrous.


    As for those of the Civil Path, their performance would usually be tested in the previous mid-term and final term practical tests. As for the Technical path, it was regularly tested, after all, the Greendale Highschool focused on the Technical path.


    Wally was currently in his final year of high school, making him a senior. It was time for the mid-term practical tests -the first deciding test for a student who dreamed of the Practical path.


    Truth be told, Wally wasn''t a fan of battles and fights, rather much preferring to sit behind a desk while working on a spreadsheet, or spend his time reading webnovels. However, his family''s circumstances weren''t the best to speak of. Although both his parents were working, and even his older sister had a job too, they could only live an average life in West Wing district.


    West Wing district bordered the Wastelands, so it was a place frequented by freelancers a lot. In recent years, the cost of living has begun to steadily increase. As such, the more successful individuals here were people whose job was related to desolate beasts or freelancers. Unfortunately, of the three working adults in the family of five, none of them worked in the appropriate sector.


    All three were busy most of the time, and barely had time to spend with Wally and his little brother.


    To give his family a more comfortable life, Wally''s best option was to become a freelancer. As luck would have it, he had a better mDNA count than the rest of his family members, and his m(o)DNA concentration of 15% meant that he had a good chance of reaching the third level of the Apertures Opening stage, which was the level of a veteran freelancer.


    But to be able to reach such a level, Wally had to work on his potential as early as possible. A pure school of the Practical path was the best option for him. The mid-term and final term practical tests were the platforms Wally needed, and he had to make the best of them.


    "Yo, Wally. Been a while." A young boy roughly the same age as Wally greeted.


    "Oh, Astar. It''s you." Wally replied.


    Astar was one of Wally''s few friends in high school. They both bonded easily and had been friends ever since their sophomore years [1].


    "What''s gotten into you? You haven''t been to classes the past few days and you''re already looking lost." Astar asked worriedly.


    "Nothing much. Just been training." Wally smiled.


    Before any of the practical tests, the academy usually gives the students a two weeks break from mandatory lectures. During this period, students are free to come to classes or not. The whole point of the break is to give them time to prepare themselves for the test.


    Wally had been practicing with Astar at school during the first week, but in the second week, he started his training with Lucas at the Seven Sparks Forge store.


    "Oh, that''s good." Astar felt glad. "How do you feel about this time''s tests?"


    "I can''t really say. I just did my best to prepare."


    "Is that a vestige?" Astar pointed at the wrapped item Wally held with his right hand.


    "Yeah." Wally smiled.


    "Wow. So cool. How did you get that? Can I see it?" Astar became intrigued.


    A vestige was costly and not anyone could afford it. Even if one could, buying it had strict requirements. They were highschoolers, making it almost impossible for them to own a vestige unless they had some sort of connections.


    Astar knew a bit about Wally''s situation which was why he was surprised that the latter had a vestige with him. It should be noted that Astar also had a vestige.


    "I had to make a deal with the owner." Wally awkwardly replied.


    Astar suddenly grabbed Wally and shook him furiously.


    "Are you alright?! It''s not those kinds of deals where you sell your organs or become a labrat, is it?"


    "N-no. Nothing of the sort." Wally hurriedly calmed his best friend.


    While the two continued catching up and discussing the tests, a commotion broke out behind them. They were at the assembly hall of the school, and every final year student was supposed to be gathered here. The other years had their gathering location.


    Turning to the scene of the commotion, Wally and Astar discovered that it was due to the appearance of three students similar to them; two boys and a girl.


    "The heavenly trio have arrived." Astar muttered mysteriously.


    Wally''s eyes glistened as he took notice of the trio.


    The Heavenly Trio was a special nickname given to the top three students of their year, who also happened to be the top 3 students of the academy. Not only were they well versed with Technical and Civil courses, but their Practical path skills were the best of everyone else.


    It was also rumoured that their mDNA count was ahead of the others and their m(o)DNA concentration could even match up with some of the top freelancers today.


    All three students were judged to have enough potential to reach the fourth level at least, and even possibly charge for the sixth level. Compared to Wally whose limit would be the third level of the Apertures Opening stage even after using serums, they were on a different plane.


    Every student envied them while the teachers looked up to them. In time, these three would be popular names in the freelancer community.


    ''I shouldn''t think too much.'' Wally shook his head.


    Unlike the trio, he wasn''t born ''blessed'', so he had to keep his dreams close to the ground. Reaching the second or third level and earning a decent amount of money was all he wished for.


    ''And to achieve that, I have to do my best.''


    After a short while, all the final year students of Greendale Highschool had arrived at the assembly hall. A few minutes later, the dean alongside a few other teachers arrived at the stage.


    Once the dean stood on the podium, the students turned quiet, awaiting the opening speech.


    "As you all know, this is the mid-term practical tests. I''d like to clarify to you all that this isn''t the same as the previous practical tests you''ve had before. Not only would the mid-term not be held on school grounds, but your opponents would be bloodthirsty desolate beasts. This is a very important test that would define the future for many of you here.


    Although it is targeted at those walking the Practical path, I sincerely hope that the rest of you still give it your all. This is a matter of your student data folder, which is of immeasurable value to you all. Do your best, but consider your safety foremost. With that well said, you may proceed to the test venue."

 Chapter 61 Chapter 61 Greendale Highschools Practical Tests

    The Greendale Highschool''s term practical tests were the most important evaluation exercises for the students, as the results of these tests would go into their student data folder.The Student Data Folder (SDF), was a digital folder that contained the performance of a student in all previously attended institutions. One could think of it like a r¨¦sum¨¦ for students.


    For the students of Greendale Highschool, the mid and final term practical exercises were very important, not just because they would be inputted into their data folders, but that the high school was a subsidiary of a pure college. As such, it''s evaluation was taken even more seriously.


    It should be noted that the term practical tests weren''t always ''practical'' in nature and could simply be a quiz or a written exam.


    For the first years, or freshmen, their mid-term and final term practical tests were written exams focused more on courses of the Civil path with the other two paths taking lower stances.


    The second year''s (Sophomore year) term practical tests focused primarily on courses of the Technical path, a bit on the Civil path, and the Practical path barely taking up much space. Much like the first year''s term exercises, they were also theoretical.


    The third year''s (junior year) term practical tests were slightly more complicated. The mid-term practical tests were an equal mix of Technical path and Civil path questions, but the final term practical tests were a mix of exercises from the Technical path and Practical path. However, unlike the first and second years, the third year''s term practical tests were hands-on exercises.


    The Technical path tests involved maintenance and repair of some technological equipment and vestiges. The Civil path tests were questions that required intense reasoning and knowledge on the application of the various topics. As for the Practical path tests, they were sparring sessions against fellow students. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The fourth and final year''s term practical tests were focused on the application of the knowledge accrued from the past years.


    For the mid-term practical tests, the students would take two tests. The first was a written examination on the Practical path. The written test would gauge their knowledge about various desolate beasts, how to deal with them and how to identify resources in the wild.


    After that, they would be shipped to a designated region for the second test, where the students would have to survive three days against desolate beasts. Survival was only one aspect of this test, as they were expected to hunt down the beasts in exchange for points.


    "Damn. I''ve never written a test so hard." Astar looked downtrodden after exiting the examination hall with two other boys his age.


    "Tell me about it." Wally, who was beside him, sighed. He glanced at the boy by his side, who looked much better and relieved than himself.


    "How did you do, Klein?"


    The third boy, Klein, was a mutual friend of Astar and Wally. The trio made a clique and were quite similar to the other, one way or the another. While Astar and Wally became friends in their second year, Klein was a longtime friend of Wally since their first year.


    "Hmm, I think I''ve decided on what I want to do in the future." Klein suddenly said.


    Although confused by the statement, Wally asked, "What''s that?"


    "I''m going to give up on being a freelancer and just take after my dad''s shop." Klein responded.


    ''Yeah, he''s fucked up too.''


    Wally and Astar thought at the same time.


    "Let''s look at the bright side. The written part only accounts for thirty percent of the final scores. The survival test is what matters most." Wally tried to cheer his colleagues up.


    "True, but it still won''t be easy. This time around, out opponents are desolate beasts. Any small relapse and we could die." Klein said seriously.


    "I don''t think the academy would let that happen. There should be some security measures in place for us." Astar countered.


    Klein nodded, but he still argued the statement.


    "True, but what if they don''t come in play at the right moment? What if something goes wrong? Or something out of the ordinary occurs? Let''s not forget, we signed a possible death contract before the practical tests. Also, accidents have happened before."


    The trio recalled that during their freshman year, the final term practical tests for the then senior years had ended with a mishap. Usually, the Practical path aspect of the mid-term and final term tests for senior years was to hunt and survive against desolate beasts in a designated zone.


    The zone would have been secured by the academy and made safe, in the sense that there would be a limit of the strength and number of monsters -just enough to make sure they don''t die. However, a mistake had happened back then.


    Apparently, the zone prepared for the Practical path trials for the senior years was secretly harbouring a third level desolate beast. For the high school students, who were usually at the peak of Body Strengthening stage or the first level of the Apertures Opening stage in their last semester, a third level beast was an opponent they could not beat, even with a Grade 3 vestige.


    That incident had resulted in ten students dying before the academy swiftly took the monster down. And this was with the academy responding almost immediately. If the desolate beast was left to roam the field a bit more, at least half of the students would have died then.


    "Well, not like we can bail out now so what use is there in worrying." Astar shrugged.


    "If we work as a team, we should be safe. Even if we encounter a first level desolate beast, taking it down shouldn''t be too much of a challenge. Escaping would be even more easier." Wally said.


    The other two nodded as he was right.


    The Greendale Highschool didn''t prevent students from teaming up during the tests, but what mattered in the end was one''s points. Points couldn''t be shared and only the student who gave the final hit would take it. As such, teaming up was an occurrence only for students who weren''t confident in their skills and strength.


    For the geniuses and talented ones, they would rarely team up together unless their target was strong. Like for instance, a late rank first level desolate beast, which was the strongest grade of monster found during the trials.


    A short while after, all three hundred or so students of the senior class were done with the written aspect of the mid-term practical test. They were then guided by their teachers to a large vehicle that was hovering in the parking lot.


    The vehicle looked like a really large bus with a ''nose'' just like an airplane. It was also wide but shaped like a cylinder. This was a Sare shuttle [1], the typical vehicles used by freelancers in dangerous regions. However, this one was much larger and could carry up to five hundred people at once.


    For the less than four hundred students of the senior class, along with some teachers and freelancers for security reasons, the vehicle was more than enough.


    When every required party had boarded the vehicle, it lifted off and blazed towards it destination: the Bayena plains.

 Chapter 62 Chapter 62 Bayena Plain

    Eretre has four continents with thirteen city-states spread across them. The Groeten continent had five city-states, of which Baylands city-state was one of them.However, the territories of all five city-states only added up to roughly sixty percent (60%) of the continent''s landmass, averaging twelve percent (12%) per city-state. The remaining forty percent were occupied by desolate beasts, with the Wastelands being the largest of them all. It was rumoured that the Wastelands was equivalent to twenty percent of the continent''s landmass, the estimated.


    The remaining twenty percent were various other danger zones and arid regions devoid of civilisation. They were occupied by desolate beasts, abominations and banished individuals.


    The Bayena Plain was one such region. It was home to a few desolate beasts and abominations. Abominations were strange creatures that weren''t desolate beasts, but they couldn''t be defined as an alien civilisation either.


    Abominations weren''t exactly a species, but a general term used to define a group of monsters.


    Once upon a time, the Oklo Dynasty as well as some other powers had conducted experiments on desolate beasts. There were also some underground organisations and terrorist groups who experimented on hyumans, humans and other intelligent lifeforms in a bid to produce something novel and powerful.


    However, all the experiments, whether they be those by the legal authorities or the illegal factions, all ended in failure and resulted in the creation of abominations.


    Compared to desolate beasts, abominations were much weaker and usually used as training targets. As they bordered between intelligent lifeforms and desolate beasts, abominations were a more challenging opponent. But their weak stellar energy prowess made them less dangerous than their desolate beasts counterpart, which was why abominations were seen as good training dummies.


    The Bayena Plain was a well known hotspot for abominations and the average level of desolate beast here was lower than the fourth level. Even the third level desolate beasts were rare.


    "That''s what the introduction manual says." Wally projected a document using a wristband-type communicator.


    The students were still on the Sare and had yet to reach their drop-off point as it would take forty minutes from the academy. If they were using a light rail train, it would have been faster, but such a medium of transport was somewhat costly. Most especially, it was needless.


    While the students waited, many of them had already grouped themselves and were discussing the strategies they would take.


    "There are five levels in the Body Strengthening stage. The Flesh Refining level, Muscles Refining level, Bones Refining level, Organ Refining level, and the Blood Cleansing level."


    "Whoever named the levels of the Body Strengthening stage is really lazy." Astar muttered, interrupting Wally''s briefing. Even though he knew the levels even before his freshman year, Astar was confident that he had a better naming sense than whoever did it.


    "Hey, hey, at least we didn''t get a Blood Refining level." Klein smiled.


    "That''s enough." Wally sighed at his friends who had interrupted him just to crack a joke.


    "As I was saying, apart from the first three levels, we get points for killing abominations from the fourth level and above, and desolate beasts. 1 point for an Organ Refining level abomination, 3 points for a Blood Cleansing level abomination or desolate beast. 5 points for abominations at the first level, but 10 points for desolate beasts.


    15 points for abominations at the peak of the first level and 20 points for desolate beasts on the same level. 30 for abominations at the second level and 50 points for desolate beasts at the second level.."


    Desolate beasts were born at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, unlike hyumans and humans who have to strive for that level. In fact, this situation was common in other alien species. Hyumankin and the human race were much weaker in comparison.


    As for why there was a stark difference in point between desolate beasts and abominations at the same level, this has to do with the fact that desolate beasts were stronger and had more stellar energy than abominations; even though the latter had more fighting patterns.


    "It''s advised not to go after second level desolate beasts though." Wally added.


    "Of course we know that. The addition of second level beasts to the scoring system is probably due to the Heavenly Trio." Astar sighed.


    "Indeed. The academy is probably trying to spur them to go all out." Klein laid out his thoughts.


    "Regardless. That has nothing to do with us. We should set our sights on the peak Body Strengthening stage monsters and first level. We all have vestiges so it should be okay to handle those." Wally said.


    "Let''s use this time to get ourselves together and rest. The test would last for three days after all." S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With that said, the briefing came to an end. There were still murmurs and whisperings here and there, but the trio tried to not concern themselves about it. They did some final checks for their supplies and decided to rest for the remainder of the journey.


    Twenty minutes later, the Sare shuttle had finally reached the drop-off location in the Bayena Plain.


    "The test officially begins today. Students, you have 72 hours to survive in the wild and accrue at least twenty points, otherwise, you will be determined to have failed this try. I wish you good luck."


    One of the teachers in charge of this trip said.


    ''Twenty points. That''s twenty abominations at the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage, the Organ Refining level. Or two desolate beasts of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Even if one is going for the easiest method, three days should be enough.'' Wally thought.


    ''But that''s not enough. I''ll do my best and shine as much as possible in this. I don''t only have my family depending on me, but Mr Lucas. He''s put so much faith in me; I can''t just end this with a mediocre score.''


    "Wally, let''s go." Astar''s voice sounded, waking him up from his thoughts.


    "Hmm."

 Chapter 63 Lucas Retaliation

    "I finally have enough time to work on this now."Lucas smiled as he stared at the skeletal framework that was arranged in front of him.


    During the last couple of days, Lucas had spent at least four hours a day training Wally. This was to ensure that the latter would perform well, especially with the vestige he had made for him. However, this has led to a drop in Lucas'' working time.


    Lucas'' time was usually spent researching the vestige-smith art, calculating and simulating the two major projects he had in mind, and improving his skill. Anyone of the activities would consume a lot of time, and with him spending not less than four hours a day on Wally, it made Lucas tight for him.


    With the training cycle over, Lucas finally felt relieved.


    ''It would have been nice if this test were a couple of months, or at least weeks away. I would have had a prototype ready by then.''


    Lucas sighed. But when he recalled that there was still a final term practical test, he wasn''t as bothered. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were currently two projects Lucas was working on: the first has to deal with his security. Lucas has been worried about how to go about exploring other places and surviving dangerous encounters against other hyumans who were at the Apertures Opening stage.


    Although he had the Bronze Grade card, it was a one-time usage item with a time limit, and Lucas didn''t want to have the fate of his life lie in such an item.


    The second project he was working on, was something that would possibly redefine the vestige-smithing society. It was the new equipment Lucas planned to create to make a name for himself and seize a part of the market. He could still remember the system''s mission to have received one hundred customers before the month was over.


    After working for five straight hours, Lucas decided to take a break. But even during his break, he was still working, at least mentally.


    ''To complete both projects, I would need a powerful control unit or CPU. The more advanced it is, the better. But unfortunately, I can''t make those.'' Lucas thought.


    What he was trying to build wasn''t something that could simply be described as a weapon any longer, so the requirements for it were... special. Sadly, Lucas couldn''t create the entire parts himself and would need to outsource some of them, particularly the most important component, the CPU. However, it was not just an ordinary CPU but a stellar processor.


    When the usage of stellar energy became more popular, technology was similarly influenced. The profession of vestige-smithing also came to be.


    A misconception by some was that vestiges were all weapons, but this was wrong. Even the two factions -the Multiplex and the Forger factions- were just branches in the weapons department of vestige-smithing. Vestige-smithing went beyond just making weapons, to reshaping technology.


    It was to the point that the lines of differentiation between it and engineering were so blurred, that one could mistake them to be the same.


    When a technology was made without the utilisation of stellar energy, it was simply an engineering technology. However, when stellar energy was used, either as a power source or an important integral of its operation, it became a vestige. In layman''s terms, a vestige was a technology made with stellar energy in mind.


    Apart from the common weapon vestige-smiths, there were also all other types of vestige-smiths. For instance, there were the vestige-smiths who built the light rail trains and sare shuttles. There were those who made consumer tech and even security tech.


    However, the most popular branch of vestige-smithing, apart from the weapons branch, was the school of vestige-smithing known as the School of Analytical Reasoning, with the leading faction being the Methodical faction.


    The School of Analytical Reasoning was the most popular branch of vestige-smiths, together with the weapons branch, because they made a very important component that almost all engineers and vestige-smiths couldn''t do without -stellar processors.


    Stellar processors were Central Processing Units (CPUs) or microprocessors made using stellar energy as a very important component.


    Compared to typical processors, they were more powerful, could handle more intensive tasks, and were very fast. Most interstellar spaceships and even hover cars were powered with a stellar processor at the control unit, which was exactly why the Methodical faction was the most popular vestige-smith faction.


    "System, I''m supposed to be a Crafts-God, but there''s no training manual to be a stellar processor vestige-smith. What''s with that?"


    "Host is clearly a bit slow." The system responded.


    "The difficulty of making stellar processors is on par with a Grade 4 vestige. As host currently lacks the ability to make such, you shouldn''t even be considering this."


    Lucas'' lips twitched, at the response as he had a sudden urge to curse the system. It could have passed the message in a much nicer way than that, but clearly, it refused to do so. Sometimes, Lucas was convinced that the system had emotions, despite its dispassionate tone of speaking.


    "Hey owner, get the fuck out right now!"


    A loud voice sounded from the lobby.


    Lucas was surprised that someone was causing trouble, after all, he had lived a somewhat quiet life here. As he left the work-station, Lucas tried to think of anyone who would do such, and only one party came to mind, but that was even more unbelievable.


    At the entrance of the store, three men stood and stared at Lucas as he walked into the lobby from the work-station. They all had menacing looks on their faces, and two of them held batons in their hands. Seated in front of them was another individual with a hat, one whom Lucas found to be familiar.


    "We meet again." The man with a hat spoke up.


    "To my disliking, yes." Lucas replied.


    The man was the second level Apertures Opening stage who had confronted Lucas the day he came back to the store from the Wastelands. From what Lucas knew, the man was a lackey of Ramirez, the underground boss who had his eyes on the land the Seven Sparks Forge was set on.


    "You thought having the Red Fangs know about our little matter could save you?" The man smirked.


    "You''re too ignorant. Not to talk of the fact that the Red Fangs base is in the Central Prefecture, the West Wing district is Ramirez''s home; it''s our backyard. Even if those Fang fellows leave a few guards to monitor your surroundings or investigate that suspicious attack, there are many ways for us to go around them or to draw them away."


    "To what do I owe this visit?" Lucas calmly asked as he took a seat opposite the man.


    One of the men behind, the one without a baton, walked forward with a bottle of wine and a glass. He carefully handed the glass to the man with a hat and then poured a bit of wine into it.


    "Ah. Refreshing." The man said after taking a sip of the wine.


    "Regarding my visit, I think you can easily guess it. My boss is interested in meeting you."


    "I''m quite busy, so I''ll have to decline." Lucas waved his hand.


    "Busy?" The man smiled as he glanced around, implying that the store was anything but that.


    "You wouldn''t know anything." Lucas ignored his scornful attitude.


    The man with the hat couldn''t help but chuckle. He wasn''t just dumbfounded by Lucas'' response, but most importantly, his behaviour. Despite being a human, Lucas showed no signs of fear even when confronted by a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    As he thought about this, the man couldn''t help but keep laughing.


    "Haha. Haha. Haha."


    *Bang*


    The wine glass in his hand abruptly exploded as his laughter came to an end.


    The man in the hat narrowed his eyes at Lucas as he said, "I wasn''t asking for your permission."


    The two men behind, who held a baton in their hands, walked up and came to Lucas'' side. They glared at him and radiated a bloodthirsty air as the grip on their weapons tightened. With such an overbearing nature, their peak Body Strengthening stage aura was on full display.


    Even without saying a word, it was obvious that they were signalling for Lucas to leave with them; otherwise, they would let loose and attack him right away.


    "So, kidnapping?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s not your first experience, but it won''t end as before." The man calmly replied.


    Lucas'' eyes glistened. The man''s response seemed to hint that the trio he met when he first came into this world were related to them, and the man was aware that Lucas had dealt with them.


    "I''m honestly tired of so much killing. It''s barely been a month, and I already have this much blood on my hands. Why must you force my hand?" Lucas sighed.


    The two by his side didn''t hesitate to strike with their batons right away. They had been informed that Lucas was at least on par with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner, which is the Organ Refining level. He was more likely to be at the peak level of the Body Strengthening stage, which was the Blood Cleansing level, the same as themselves.


    With that being the case, it would take them going all out and cooperating well enough to be able to take down Lucas without being injured. Any hesitation on their side would result in a disastrous result, even with the second level Apertures Opening stage practitioner on their side.


    Their batons swung at Lucas, smashing through the air with great force as they headed for Lucas.


    Even with the incoming threat, Lucas remained calm and maintained his sight on the man in the hat. He ignored the duo attacking him to the point that one would have to ask whether Lucas failed to sense the incoming threat or he was just dumb.


    ''Idiot.''


    Both fighters sneered at him. Even if Lucas was at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, trying to tank two full-powered hits from peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners aimed at his head, was almost nothing short of suicide. Even if he didn''t end up with his brain mushed, Lucas would suffer a severe concussion and be unable to retaliate.


    *Bang*


    The two batons connected with their target without fail, but the result astonished all sides, except Lucas.


    There was no sign of damage nor any reaction from their target. Even his head remained in the same position, not moving a slight inch.


    "How..." One of the attackers couldn''t help but exclaim.


    In the very next second, all four intruders went speechless as Lucas'' voice sounded


    "That tickles."


    Both men were simultaneously embarrassed and infuriated as they took back their weapons and swung at Lucas again. However, even if the attacks would cause no damage to him, Lucas had no intention of acting as a punching bag for the duo.


    He moved forward and dodged the two swings, then stretched out his hand towards the two.


    "Retrieve."


    A pair of daggers mysteriously appeared in Lucas'' two hands, and unlike the weapons of the two attackers, they were vestiges.


    The timing of the daggers'' appearance was such that as Lucas stretched out his hands, they appeared and stabbed into the two attackers.


    The two men had not expected Lucas to retaliate. Considering the previous shock from their first attempt, they were too enraged to evaluate the possibility of their prey attacking them. This led to a flaw in their attacks, a flaw that Lucas had targeted and successfully clinched.


    "You..."


    "Ahhh."


    The two men now had vestiges stuck on their chests, just a few centimetres away from their heart. Regardless, the damage was dealt and they were in severe pain and desperate straits.


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    But Lucas wasn''t satisfied with just a stab alone. He gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the daggers, dragging them horizontally and widening the wound.


    The two attackers only had the chance to let out a mournful scream before they fell to the floor with blood flowing from their wounds almost like a stream.


    "Interesting. I underestimated you a bit, but this is all you can amount to."

 Chapter 64 Suppression

    "Interesting. I underestimated you somewhat, but this is all you will be achieving today."The man in the hat said as he slowly stood up from his seat.


    Even with the two lackeys he brought lying dead on the floor, he showed no sign of remorse for them. It was as if they were nothing more than insects who had served their purpose and died.


    "I hope you can entertain me a bit, or I''d have to take back some interest." The man chuckled as he took off his hat.


    It was then that Lucas realised that the man was bald. However, the lack of hair wasn''t the most startling reveal; rather, it was the jarring scar on his spotless head.


    Lucas didn''t have enough time to study the blemish, as the man had abruptly appeared in front of him with a wide grin on his face.


    A fist appeared in Lucas'' field of view, and he could barely respond to it as it connected with his abdomen.


    *Bam*


    Lucas released a low grunt as he was forced back by the attack. The pain was intense, and if it weren''t for the Host Protection Mechanism, he would have been dead.


    As for why he had been forced back, it was simply because Lucas had used the HPM''s passive mode, which would allow a certain degree of damage to take effect on him but not enough to injure or kill Lucas severely. The reason he had done so was that Lucas wanted to figure out the difference in pure strength between himself and a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    ''That really hurts.'' Lucas couldn''t help but frown.


    The second stage of Stellar Refinement, the Apertures Opening stage, was supposed to focus on opening the apertures within a hyuman''s body, enabling them to store stellar energy and increase their refinement speed. For every aperture opened, the practitioner would gain an extra storage ''tank'' and their refinement speed would increase by a varied percentage.


    This step in stellar refinement was essential and unavoidable for hyumans as if they attempted to skip it, their progress speed in stellar refinement would be very slow. It would be so dawdling that even with a thousand years of lifetime, it would be impossible to get to the fourth stage of stellar refinement, the Sage or Moon Walker realm, irrespective of their mDNA count.


    Because the second stage, Apertures Opening stage, was focused on opening the body''s apertures, it was thought to be more focused on energy, with the increase in physical attributes being secondary. Despite this, Lucas felt that the casual blow from the man was on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner''s all-out punch.


    "Hmm? You''re uninjured." The man was surprised.


    He was confident that the force within his attack was enough to incapacitate, if not severely injure, an average peak Body Strengthening stage fighter. However, Lucas was still standing.


    Another thing which caught the man''s attention was that at the very last second after the punch connected, he felt a strange sensation upon collision with Lucas'' body. While the man felt the entire force of the punch transfer over, at the same time, it felt like a majority of it disappeared. The feeling was fleeting, and the man wasn''t sure if he had made a mistake in his senses or something.


    Nonetheless, he wasn''t worried. The scarred man didn''t say another word as the air around him abruptly changed.


    Lucas, who had recovered from the previous hit, could sense something brooding in front of him. His instincts went crazy, informing him that there was great danger ahead.


    Lucas glanced at the scarred man and noticed that, at some point, he now had a pole in his hands. Scrutinising the weapon, he found that there was a strange energy wrapped around it. Lucas wasn''t unfamiliar with this phenomenon.


    It was stellar energy.


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    Until the tenth level, when Apertures Opening stage practitioners unlocked their innate superpower, most of the combat was physical. Although there were a few individuals who unlocked a hint of their superpower before the tenth level, for instance, the Red Fangs member Nafir, all battles were commonly done this way.


    Vestiges were used to supplement one''s attack power, while stellar energy was used to boost one''s damage and power those vestiges.


    The vestige the scarred man had taken out was a Grade 2 vestige which was understandable as Grade 3 vestiges were costlier and could only be properly used by fourth level practitioners.


    *Whoosh*


    ''Full activation.''


    The pole, laden with stellar energy, swept through the air and struck towards Lucas. It was so fast that Lucas was only able to get one thought in before it appeared right in front of him.


    *Bam*


    The pole struck Lucas'' left arm, emitting a thud, but Lucas stood unaffected.


    The man was a bit stunned by this, but being a veteran at dealing with people, he didn''t drop his guard or slow down his pace as he unleashed another furious attack.


    The pole was immediately retrieved and lashed out in the very next second, but this time, it was a thrust.


    The head of the pole once again connected with Lucas'' flesh, but there was neither any sign of harm nor a resultant effect from it. Well, there was one, which was the clothes Lucas had on being shredded at the targeted spot, but that aside, Lucas took no damage whatsoever.


    ''Interesting.'' The scarred man grinned horrifically.


    It was like a child seeing a new toy and couldn''t help but be attracted to it. Like a predator who had found tasty prey, the man stared down at Lucas. He relentlessly attacked with the pole, striking Lucas with every hit, but the latter remained firm even after the man had increased his force.


    On the other hand, Lucas was beginning to get frustrated. Just in terms of physical prowess alone, Lucas was greatly lacking compared to the man. In terms of pure strength, he wasn''t doing badly.


    Lucas had already summoned his craftsman gloves to amplify his strength, and with the added effect of the Host Retaliation function¡ªdue to the difference in strength between him and his attacker-, Lucas'' attacking power was somewhat equal. However, his speed and reaction were a notch slower. By the time Lucas had discerned the man''s attack, he could barely react in time.


    ''I need to make an opportunity.'' Lucas thought as he tried to dodge the man''s attacks but to no avail.


    There was a reason why the hyumankin were superior to the human race, and it was thanks to the difference in stellar energy prowess. The gap between a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner and a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner was already massive, much less when the former was a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    *Bam*


    Another strike from the pole landed on Lucas, but rather than the usual indomitable response, he was flung in the direction of the attack while coughing up a slight amount of blood. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The active mode of the HPM would eradicate the force of any attack on him. While this was impressive, it prevented Lucas from being able to use the force of his opponent''s attacks to his advantage, like in retreating. So, Lucas had to deactivate the HPM''s active mode, bringing it back to its passive mode.


    There were two reasons for this, the first was to utilise his opponent''s attack to retreat, and the second was to create an illusion.


    ''It looks like whatever he''s been using is approaching its limit.'' The scarred man thought as he chased after Lucas.


    ''Retrieve.''


    Lucas swung his hand at the man while internally chanting the inventory keyword.


    A sword suddenly appeared in his hand, and it brandished its way towards the scarred man.


    The enemy wasn''t befuddled by the sudden appearance of a vestige. He had already noted that Lucas could summon items out of thin air from when he had taken down the other two men and with the gloves'' abrupt appearance. Such a technique wasn''t really special. It could be achieved with a piece of special equipment called a spatial vault.


    A spatial vault was an accessory that contained a certain amount of space within it. It was very expensive, being equivalent to a Grade 4 vestige in terms of price; which meant that it would cost at least a breathtaking fifty thousand federal coins. It was very rare, and only a few amongst the top freelancers, families and organisations had one.


    The only reason the scarred man knew about it was because he had once seen a famous freelancer guild leader use it.


    Although he was surprised that Lucas had one, the scarred man was more pleased because it would become his if he took Lucas down.


    When the sword came his way, the man took a step back and easily dodged the blade of the vestige with a smirk on his face. He followed up by swinging the pole at Lucas once again. The stellar energy revolving around the pole was even more vibrant than before, and it had a deathly feel to it.


    The appearance of the vestige had ignited his greed, and the man wanted to end the battle quickly.

 Chapter 65 Lucas Versus The Scarred Man

    When Lucas swung the vestige for the first time, the scarred man dodged it without a hassle before brandishing his pole at Lucas. The stellar energy revolving around the pole was even more vibrant than before and Lucas could sense a terrifying feel from the man.Previously, the opponent had been battling Lucas to find out his limit. However, the scarred man now intended to take him down right away.


    Even though he had managed to deceive the Red Fangs and snuck into the Seven Sparks Forge building, the man knew that it wouldn''t be long before the Red Fangs came back. At best, it would be within the next twenty minutes. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire


    Seeing the pole encroach towards him, Lucas ignored it and slashed his sword again.


    ''Stupid.'' The scarred man thought.


    Lucas had already coughed a bit of blood from the last strike, implying that he was already approaching his limit. With the strength of his attack raised a notch, it would be difficult for Lucas to tank the hit safely. So, ignoring the sword and pushing onward with his attack seemed to be the most logical course of action.


    However, the scarred man was quite cautious. He didn''t ignore Lucas'' strike just yet but grabbed at it with his other hand while channelling stellar energy through it.


    The sword gave off the energy of a Grade 2 vestige, and in the hands of a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, it would demonstrate a first level Apertures Opening stage strength at best. Even if it were a bit stronger, it was still something that the scarred man could catch with his hand.


    But he was wrong.


    *Whoosh*


    "Ahhh!"


    The sword cut through the man''s hand, slicing off half his palm, including his five fingers. The latter was stunned, and his eyes opened wide as he let out a horrifying scream.


    Because both attacks were at the same time, the man''s attack was still unaffected by this. On the contrary, it had reached Lucas at the same time. However, Lucas had already reactivated the Host Protection Mechanism''s active state and he only felt a slight itch from the pole strike.


    The pain from having his palm sliced in half prevented the man from responding in time, and Lucas made good use of that time. He quickly closed the small gap between them with a step forward and brandished his sword once again at the man.


    When the scarred man realised this, there was only one second left for him to respond. But that was on the condition Lucas let it be. After being suppressed for so long and finally finding an opportunity, there was no way Lucas would give him half a second to breathe, much less a full second.


    ''Die.''


    With eyes wide open, the scarred man could only express thoughts of regret and frustration as the vestige pierced through his chest. To make sure that he got his opponent in one hit, Lucas had aimed for the heart.


    "Ugh."


    The abrupt explosion of force, which destroyed his heart, affected the man''s blood flow, forcing him to spit out blood.


    As the life in his body rapidly drained out, the scarred man could only raise his eyes and stare venomously at Lucas. Never did he think that he would go down like this; so easily, so quickly, without even a chance at saying his last words.


    Lucas pulled out the sword, letting blood splatter on the store''s flooring as the man''s corpse fell to the ground.


    Peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners had strong vitality, and it was even more so for Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners. Usually, if they are stabbed by a blade, they could still walk away from it, albeit with the degree of injury depending on the stab.


    Weapon-type vestiges were made with this in mind, which was why they were so lethal and made stellar practitioners seem like average humans after getting stabbed by one.


    After recalling this fact, Lucas raised his head and glanced at the last man standing; the fellow who stood behind the scarred man and served him.


    "Y, you. What do you want to do to me?" The man nervously asked as he took a step back.


    Lucas was tempted to kill him right away, but he held back. As it stood, Lucas didn''t know much about his opponent. All he knew was what Harry had told him, which was pretty much open information in the freelancer community. If he wanted to know more about Ramirez and his organisation, it would be best to interrogate one of them.


    Staring at the man who acted weak but had secretly slid his right hand behind to extract some type of weapon, Lucas abruptly made his move and knocked the fellow out before he could react.


    For Lucas, who had survived his very first life in a world filled with unscrupulous humans, entities and living beings, he was quite cautious and could tell between a coward and a sly individual.


    After knocking the last man out, Lucas tied him up and hid him in the work-station. This was the only place in the store that no one could enter without his or the system''s permission. Following that, he gathered the three corpses and threw them into the furnace.


    The Red Fangs were already on to him and suspicious of his ability. This might not seem like a problem, but Lucas'' identity as a human was the issue.


    Lucas had recently learnt of something after his stay at the Red Fangs station. The various city-states, despite being ruled by the Oklo Dynasty, were somewhat independent and not exactly close friends or allies. It was even more so with Digress city-state.


    It had an isolated identity, and most of the other eleven city-states (Oklo excluded), were on unfriendly terms with it and the others were basically neutral. Baylands city-state just happened to be neutral, but it was leaning more on the opposite side, which was clearly obvious from how humans were treated in the city-state.


    If the Red Fangs found out that Lucas was stronger than a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, he would be suspected of being a spy from Digress city-state, as that was the only place on the planet where humans who exceeded the Body Strengthening stage were found.


    If he was arrested on the grounds of being a spy, Lucas could kiss his freedom goodbye. And since he wasn''t even an actual spy, neither did he have any relations with them, the Digress city-state would not be bothered to intervene for his sake.


    As such, Lucas wanted to erase as much suspicion as possible, and clearing the ''evidence'' was the best way possible. Although the city''s security footage might have caught the four gang members arriving inside his store, Lucas could just blatantly bluff that he had no idea where they went.


    Within the store, the system was god, and as the host of the system, Lucas was the proxy of god. Lucas didn''t just possess immortality in the store; he could easily ''reset'' the store''s appearance. This would bring the Seven Sparks Forge to its initial state (the state after it got renovated).


    In other words, it would clear away every single footprint, thumbprint or traces, that might lead to suspicion.


    Right after doing all that, Lucas returned to the lobby and sat down. A tablet appeared in his hands, which was a store-maintained appliance. Just like the desktop on the checkout counter, it was a piece of equipment that came with the renovation.


    It wasn''t like a communicator and didn''t have many functions except aiding Lucas to monitor the store and control its various equipment no matter where he was.


    A few minutes later, Lucas saw a Sare shuttle appear close to the Seven Sparks Forge. The shuttle looked fancy and didn''t have the usual space-shuttle design. Instead, it looked just like a sports car, but a bit bigger and without any tires. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From the vehicle, a familiar duo stepped out and walked towards the store. They were the ''cops'', Nafir and Barry. This time around, the lieutenant, Lily, didn''t show up with them.


    *Cling*


    The sound of the bell hung by the door frame rang, signalling movement from the door.


    Lucas glanced at the door''s direction after having put away the tablet into his inventory.


    "Oh, what a surprise. To what do I owe this visit?" Lucas calmly looked at the two men.


    "No visitors?" Barry asked as he glanced around, not even bothering to greet.


    "Not exactly. Although business has been slow recently, I do have a few." Lucas answered.


    "What about the men that came in a while ago? Did they leave?" Nafir asked as he stared at Lucas.


    Lucas suddenly had a feeling that Nafir was using the same technique from his time at the Red Fangs base. However unlike then, Lucas was now in the Seven Sparks Forge. Any mental spell or technique applied to the host would always be deemed as a threat, so the Host Protection Mechanism disabled the technique.


    However, the HPM didn''t give any rebound or feedback to the attacker; it simply acted like a hidden cushion and absorbed an attack. So, Nafir wouldn''t notice that his technique failed. Nonetheless, Lucas had to respond properly, otherwise, Nafir would notice something out of the ordinary and be on alert.

 Chapter 66 Monster Attack

    One day had gone by since Wally and the other senior year students of Greendale Highschool had arrived at the Bayena Plain.Thanks to the preparations by the academy''s staff, there was no recorded case of death, but there were injuries. This was inevitable, as the students were up against desolate beasts for the first time in their lives.


    Although the strength cap of the beasts was at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, the majority of the students were still at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage or below. Wally, for instance, was at the third level of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Against a first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast or abomination, he would likely end up severely injured, and if not for the security measures by the academy, killed.


    It was for this reason that Greendale Highschool didn''t prevent forming teams between students with no limit to their number. Nonetheless, they still prioritised the last hit on the monster to be the receiver of the points. In this way, the academy was testing the students'' team-working capabilities and leadership abilities.


    As for the absurd gap in strength between the mainstream students and the peak limit of desolate beasts and abominations, it was just as Astar had said¡ªthese monsters existed to test the strength of the top three students who had already reached the peak of the Body Strengthening stage.


    For the Heavenly Trio, as they were called, they could take on a first level Apertures Opening stage abomination with a vestige in hand. If they worked together, it might be possible to face a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.


    Due to this, the academy had only let in one second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast and one second level Apertures Opening stage abomination into the region. The peak first level Apertures Opening stage creatures were less than ten, while the regular first level Apertures Opening stage creatures numbered at least fifteen.


    The remaining monsters below this¡ªboth desolate beasts and abominations¡ªwere in the hundreds. There were, after all, three hundred students or thereabout, so the monsters had to be a lot.


    Apart from limiting the number of elite creatures, the academy had also provided the students with special bracelets that could project a light shield capable of blocking attacks from a peak first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. It could also survive three hits from a second level desolate beast.


    However, there would not be a need for that as the operating area of the second level creatures was limited and quite a distance away from the students'' landing zone.


    Wally, Astar and Klein had naturally teamed up for the practical test. All three had vestiges, and they have been familiar with one another for over a year. Their strengths were also roughly the same, with the strongest being Astar, who was at the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Long term familiarity, similar strength, and good understanding made it so that teamwork wasn''t an issue for the trio.


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    Klein took the lead as he was the most knowledgeable amongst them. His grades in the theoretical aspects were well ahead of the other two, and he was more logical in his thinking, making Klein the best option to be in charge.


    They were currently in a slightly bushy area of the plain. There were a couple of trees here, which made it suitable for ambushes. The tactic they used was to have Astar bait some abominations or desolate beasts towards the target location, where the other two would now launch their attacks on the prey.


    The target location was rigged with traps to help take down the monsters quicker, and after each assault, the area would be cleared out and the traps renewed.


    "We''ve already scored the required points with this." Klein said as he dropped his bow-wielding arms and sat down to take a break.


    "Finally." Astar sighed with relief.


    "Giving just three points for peak Body Strengthening stage and one point for fourth level Body Strengthening stage monsters is crazy. Had us grinding for so long just to get sixty points." Wally lamented. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I doubt just anyone can pull this off so quickly on their own like us. Excluding the obvious trio." Astar said.


    Klein shook his head as he said, "You''re forgetting the few like yourself. As long as they form a team of at least three, taking on peak Body Strengthening stage monsters shouldn''t be difficult with vestiges. They might even be able to get sixty points in a day."


    "Twenty one monsters in one day? Is that even doable?" Wally was shocked by the statement.


    Taking on just a single peak Body Strengthening stage monster, whether abomination or desolate beast, wasn''t easy. At the very least, one would need seven of those to get the required points, as each one gave three points, adding up to a total of twenty one points. Even with a vestige in hand, it would be difficult for students as this was the very first time they faced monsters as their opponents.


    "It should be. A fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner with a Grade 1 or 2 vestige can deploy strength on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, and even burst out with the power of a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. If there are three of them, it wouldn''t be difficult to take down a peak Body Strengthening stage monster in a few seconds.


    Sixty in a day shouldn''t be impossible." Klein explained.


    "It''s too bad that we can''t see the leader-board yet. It would take at least two more hours before it''s uploaded." Astar commented.


    The leaderboard was a table that displayed the students with the most points, but it would only come online halfway through the tournament, which was at noon on the second day.


    "Doesn''t really matter to us. Now that we have our points, surviving and avoiding elimination should be our main goal." Klein proposed while stretching his arms a bit.


    Elimination entailed when students were attacked by monsters and their defence shields were activated, or when they got severely injured. Once a student is eliminated, regardless of whether they had accrued the required twenty points or not, they would be deemed to have failed the test.


    Klein was of a cautious mindset and preferred that the group find somewhere safe to wait out the test, which was why he made that suggestion.


    However, not everyone was of the same mindset.


    "We should work for more points." Astar suddenly said.


    It should be recalled that the Greendale Highschool was a subsidiary of the Greendale School of Refiners, which was a pure school of the Technical path. It didn''t exactly cater to students of the Civil or Practical path, but the information that it could input to one''s Student Data Folder was very valuable.


    However, for students who dreamed to walk those two paths, they had to perform exquisitely in the required mid-term or final term practical tests. The term practical tests for the senior years was aimed at those who intended to walk the Practical path. Astar was one such student.


    Telling him to simply quit and be satisfied with the bare minimum of twenty one points was the same as cutting off his future. If Astar wanted to get into a good university or college, especially a pure school, he had to perform superbly in both the mid-term and final term practical tests. There was no way he would end up being satisfied with the bare minimum.


    Despite this, Klein wasn''t of the same mind. Klein, unlike Astar, pursued the Technical path, so as long as he passed this test, there was no problem. Whether he got twenty one points or even forty points, made almost no difference for him, as the Greendale School of Refiners didn''t care about one''s fighting ability.


    "What do you say, Wally?" Klein turned to face Wally.


    As the third member of the group, he was the deciding vote in this poll.


    Wally glanced at Klein, then turned to gaze at Astar. He could understand the latter''s feelings.


    "We can''t just quit right away. Let''s at least keep hunting for today." Wally said.


    His response was appropriate, as he didn''t truly side with any of the two options, but managed to satisfy both sides. Killing monsters for the rest of the day would help the group gain more points, benefiting Astar. However, after the day was over, they would have to stop.


    Whether Astar went on his own or not would be left to him, but at the very least, their relationship wouldn''t be affected as much.


    Klein narrowed his eyes, quite impressed by Wally''s response and nodded. Even Astar had nothing to say about it.


    Just then, a loud roar sounded a couple of metres away from them, spooking the trio. Alarmed, they immediately rushed into hiding.


    "What the hell? How did it get past our perimeter?" Astar couldn''t help but curse over the team channel using his communicator.


    When the group had found this place, they made a circle of motion sensor bots around the area to ensure that they wouldn''t get sneaked up on by any monster. This circle of motion sensor bots was nicknamed the ''perimeter'' by the trio.


    "The motion sensor bots can only cover a limited range. If we had expanded the range, there would have been too many blind spots." Klein suddenly said.


    "What''s your point?" A slightly irritated Astar questioned.


    "Even with that arrangement, there still exist some flaws in the perimeter. We''ve been overlooking it for a while, as we didn''t notice any monster that could get through the perimeter through that method." Klein calmly continued his explanation.


    "You mean..." Wally suddenly sucked in a cold breath of air as he understood where Klein was heading. He immediately raised his head up.


    Astar might have been slow, but he wasn''t dumb. It took him only a second or two later to finally guess what the two were referring to. Right away, Astar looked up as well.


    "Roar!"


    A mighty roar hollered from midair as a large beast cast a shadow down to the ground.

 Chapter 67 A Mistake

    "Roar!"Above the ''forest'' the trio hid in, a desolate beast about seven metres long hovered while occasionally releasing a frightening roar.


    Wally, Astar, and Klein felt their blood run cold as the aura of the beasts pervaded the area. Even though the monster was in midair, it was still able to give off such a presence from the distance, alarming the trio.


    "First level Apertures Opening stage. Peak level." Klein muttered with fear visible in his eyes.


    A first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast was more than enough to tear apart any single one of them, and even if the trio were to face it head-on, they only had a slim chance of success. Against one at the peak of its level, even running away would be a challenge.


    While it was said that a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could exhibit a first level Apertures Opening stage power with a Grade 1 vestige, this was on the condition that the user was at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. Otherwise, they would have to be a true heavenly genius.


    In other words, none of the students could hold their own alone against a first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.


    There was a reason why first level Apertures Opening stage monsters were limited after all. The existence of these monsters was merely for the Heavenly Trio, who were peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners. Having them hunt Body Strengthening stage monsters was of no challenge, neither was it of any meaning, as they wouldn''t have a problem against such monsters.


    As such, first level Apertures Opening stage monsters were brought in. There were also two second levels isolated in a specific region, as a sort of collaboration challenge for the trio. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    Apart from them, no one else was expected to face the monsters at the Apertures Opening stage.


    Before the test, the academy had worked with some freelancers to carve out a region in the Bayena Plain for the test. To ensure that the students didn''t face the Apertures Opening stage monsters so soon, they further separated them.


    Based on the original map, it would take at least a five kilometres journey from this small forest before one would reach the zone occupied by the Aperture Opening stage monsters. On a normal occasion, the monsters couldn''t leave that region. So the only explanation was that this was an abnormal occurrence.


    Even though they could guess this, none among the trio were bothered about the reason. On the contrary, their focus was on how to survive this encounter.


    "From the looks of things, it has yet to notice us." Astar''s voice sounded on the team chat.


    "Then why is it here?" Wally asked with a frown.


    "It''s chasing after something." Klein, who was the most familiar with the patterns of desolate beasts, disclosed his thoughts as he stared at the monster with a scrutinising gaze.


    "Chasing after something?" Astar couldn''t help but be surprised.


    The monsters of the first level Apertures Opening stage were kept away in a different area. There were also contingencies made to ensure that they couldn''t escape from the area. For a desolate beast to escape and chase after something or someone over this distance, it had to have been important.


    Just then, Astar and Wally focused their hearing and glanced towards a certain direction ahead. They could both hear the slight footsteps that sounded.


    "What''s the matter?" Klein asked in the team chat.


    "Other students." Wally answered him.


    A few metres ahead, a group of four students made their way to the point where Wally and the other two were hiding. The distance between the two parties was less than twenty metres. However, as they had remained still all this while, the newcomers failed to spot them.


    Wally couldn''t hear what they were saying as the group was communicating on a team chat just as they did.


    "Look at their energy level." Klein suddenly said.


    "At least one of them is on par with Astar, and another might be too. I''m guessing they intended to try their luck with a first level Apertures Opening stage monster. But they picked the wrong target. It''s possible that during their escape, they might have inevitably helped the monster escape too."


    Astar and Wally nodded as they felt that the explanation was reasonable.


    "However, why haven''t the instructors noticed it yet?" Wally asked the question that had been on their minds.


    Just then, the communicators of the three suddenly vibrated. It wasn''t just theirs, but also the four students who had arrived recently had similarly received a notification on their communicators. However, the communicator of one of the four had instead released a low-pitched ding.


    The trio of Astar, Wally and Klein carefully checked the notification. Almost right away, they were stunned by the contents.


    {{ Warning: The Bayena Plain has been invaded by terrorists and the resident monsters have been agitated into causing a commotion. The test will be halted as a result of this unexpected occurrence. Kindly find a safe environment and wait for the rescue team to locate you. }}


    While they were still processing this shocking information, the desolate beast in midair suddenly flew over and hovered exactly around where all seven students were. It glanced at the four students who it had been chasing for a while before turning its eyes at Astar, Klein and finally, Wally, as it sensed them around.


    The desolate beast had located all seven of them thanks to the notification by the academy.


    Most students had switched their communicators to silent mode, but one of the four newcomers made a silly mistake, which would now cost them their lives.


    Having found its target as well as a new group, the desolate beast didn''t hesitate any longer. It let out a roar and immediately charged down at the team of four first, swinging its claw at them.


    "Help." Someone amongst the four cried out as the monster''s claw reached for them. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Almost at the same time, a green light shield appeared and protected the boy. The same happened with the other three students on his team, as they were all shielded by green force fields that were projected from a bracelet worn on the wrist.


    *Bang*


    The beast''s claw clashed against the force field but failed to cause any damage to it. The desolate beast didn''t give up and continued with relentless attacks, but all it managed to do was force the group four to remain at the same spot. Seeing that it couldn''t get to its targets right away but they were also unable to escape, the monster abruptly turned towards Wally and his two friends.


    "Run."

 Chapter 68 Argument

    "Run!" Wally screamed as he took to his heels and made his escape.Astar and Klein didn''t dilly-dally either as they ran away from the scene. None of them had their four fellow students in mind, as the only thought in their heads was to escape.


    The desolate beast was at the peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. It was an opponent none of the students could take on their own. Escaping was already a challenge, so there was no need to consider rescuing their classmates.


    As the three ran, the desolate beast didn''t rush to chase right away but glanced at the four students on the ground who had a green light shield protecting them. A bird in hand was better than one in the sky, and the desolate beast seemed to be familiar with this proverb. It tried to claw at the shield but failed. It even tried to eat them, but the shield was tough.


    In frustration, the beast pounded two of them deep into the ground and threw the other two into the distance, before rushing after Wally and his crew.


    The trio didn''t run much, as their legs could only take them so far as compared to a flying desolate beast. Instead, they relied on the complicated terrain to immediately find a new hiding spot, which was a hole situated close to a large tree. The hole was barely wide enough to let one person through at a time, but the inside was quite spacious.


    It could fit in the three of them with a bit of room to spare for movement. It was most likely a burrow of some underground desolate beast, but had been abandoned by the said beast or maybe the owner had been killed. They remained there while pondering their next course of action.


    Although the light shield was an option, doing so was no different from failing the test. Even if it was temporarily halted, there was no saying whether they would be excused or not, as the Greendale Highschool is known for its strict standards. This event might even be recorded in their student data folder, together with their response to it.


    After all, in the real world, accidents and unexpected scenarios were very common; things wouldn''t always go as planned. This means that, if they performed well, it would be a plus. But if their reactions were poor, it would affect their future.


    So until they had no other option, relying on the shield was the very last decision they would take.


    "We should split up. There''s no time." Klein abruptly said.


    "We can''t. We''re no match for it on our own." Wally refuted right away.


    "Then what else can we do?"


    "Why don''t we kill it?" Astar suggested.


    "Are you crazy? That''s a peak first level desolate beast!" Klein turned and glared at Astar as if he were a mad man.


    "Look, we already know a lot about desolate beasts; their weak points and all that. Also, it''s still at the first level and we have vestiges with us. We are also split well, with ranged and close combat fighters. If you go all out, you can make a shot with your vestige that''s pretty close to the first level in terms of power. I can also exhibit something similar if I push myself to the limit.


    It''s worth taking the risk unless you want all our hard work to go down the drain." Astar stared back at Klein.


    Seeing the daring look in Astar''s eyes, Klein couldn''t help but yell back, "You''re truly a mad man. Leave me out of this."


    "Hold up first. What do you say, Wally?" Astar asked, hoping that Wally''s response would be on his side.


    "We can''t. It''s too risky." Wally shook his head.


    He felt that maybe because it was Astar''s first time facing monsters or that things had been going somewhat smoothly for them, but Astar''s danger sense was badly low. He was becoming more daring with his suggestions. Although such a mentality was good for a freelancer, they were still just students.


    "Are you guys really going to give up on such an opportunity? That''s twenty points." Astar couldn''t help but try to convince them.


    "Oh yeah? And who would be getting it?" Klein narrowed his eyes.


    "I can compensate you guys for it. But just please, let''s do this." Astar said.


    Wally couldn''t help but frown.


    Of the trio, Astar was the one in the most comfortable financial situation. This was why it was only until their second year that they became friends. On the contrary, Klein was in a similar situation as Wally, but a bit better as his family could afford a vestige for him, albeit after losing an arm [1].


    Originally, the difference in social and financial status never affected their friendship, but Wally sometimes got a certain feeling from Astar in their conversations; it was the aura of a trust-fund baby. Even right now, Astar was overconfident and detached from the reality that their ''target'' was a monster that could kill them over and over, if not for their shield.


    Instead, he felt that they could take it on, which was somewhat delusional. He even thought he could convince them to risk their lives with his money.


    "Wally, I''m leaving." Klein suddenly said as he turned around to crawl his way out.


    "Roar."


    The desolate beast''s voice sounded outside.


    "It''s close. We don''t have much time to escape. Our only option is to fight." Astar said.


    Klein ignored him and quickly crawled out of the hole before dashing in the opposite direction. Only Wally and Astar were left, but they quickly exited the hole as remaining behind was risky. The desolate beast might have been too large to crawl in, but it could bury them in the ground.


    Just as they left the hole, the roar of the monster was quickly heard and only just a few metres away.


    "It''s too late." Wally sighed as he prepared to fight.


    "You guys keep it distracted while I try to aim for its weakness." Klein''s voice sounded in the team chat.


    "You''re still around?" Wally was surprised.


    Klein had left a few seconds earlier, which was enough time for him to have gotten to a safe distance. Even if the desolate beast showed up, it would have been distracted by Wally and Astar, giving him more time to escape. Despite that, Klein didn''t run.


    "We came here together, so we have to leave together. Astar, you owe me one." Klein said. Explore more at empire


    "Sure."


    Astar grinned as he understood that Klein''s statement was the same as agreeing to let him have the points if they managed to kill the beast.


    At that moment, the desolate beast came into full view in front of the group. Previously, they were too scared and in a hurry, not bothering to take a good look, but the situation was different now.


    "A helokiel." Wally muttered.


    There were a lot of desolate beasts in the world, and the species depended on the environment and even the planet, as each planet had different living conditions. The majority of desolate beasts on Eretre had been recorded. For the Greendale Highschool students, they were taught about the monsters on their continent¡ªthe Groeten continent.


    The helokiel was a somewhat common aerial desolate beast in the region. It had a stout body with eagle wings, menacing jaws, and terrifying claws. Unlike most monsters, it didn''t have a tail.


    If one were to describe a helokiel using normal animals, it would be a monstrosity with the head of a hyena, the wings of an eagle and a muscly body similar to a tiger, but without the patterns and tail.


    "We can''t handle this." Wally said.


    "Hold on."


    Seeing as the desolate beast had yet to take action, Astar took out a certain pill and swallowed it. He grimaced a bit, but in the next moment, Astar''s face was flushed, and he looked energized. Even his aura had subtly risen to be on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


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    Wally and Klein were both surprised by this but they didn''t say a word. Now wasn''t the time to be asking questions.


    "We have fifteen minutes."


    Astar gripped his vestige, which happened to be a sword.

 Chapter 69 The Spears Ultimate Skill

    The pill Astar took was called a booster drug, which was a type of drug that was best effective for Body Strengthening stage practitioners. Booster drugs increase one''s physical prowess by pushing their body to its limit or burning one''s vitality.Since the focus of the drug''s effect was on one''s physical strength, this was the reason why it was best effectively used by a Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


    At the Apertures Opening stage, the determinant of one''s power was in their stellar energy and not just physical strength. So, booster drugs weren''t used by most Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners. But unlike the Apertures Opening stage, the Body Strengthening stage focused on honing the body and improving it. As a result, physical prowess became the determinant of one''s power.


    This made booster drugs very useful for such practitioners.


    Since booster drugs worked by either stimulating one''s potential or burning their vitality, they had intense side effects and were frowned upon by many. The Greendale Highschool had also listed booster drugs as a prohibited item for the practical tests for this reason and one more.


    The longer the effective period of a booster drug was, the costlier both its price and the side- effects would be. A booster drug with a fifteen-minute effective period wasn''t something just anyone could afford and the side effects were nothing to smile about either.


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    But neither Wally nor Klein paid attention to any of this. They were in a life-and-death situation, so the current goal was to survive.


    "I''ll take the front." Astar said as he held the sword and charged at the desolate beast, Helokiel. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the stimulation from the booster drug, Astar was currently on par with a fifth or peaky level Body Strengthening stage practitioner. Together with his Grade 2 vestige, Astar was currently capable of taking on a first level Apertures Opening stage monster. Defeating one though, was still under debate, even more so for a peak first level.


    As a flash of sunlight glittered on the blade, the sword swept forward and aimed for the monster.


    *Clang*


    The desolate beast, Helokiel, struck its claw against the vestige, managing to block it as sparks flew away from the collision.


    Wally, despite being afraid, held back his fear and recalled his training with Lucas. He had been watching Astar''s moves, looking for an opportunity. When he spotted one, Wally attacked right away with his spear.


    At some point, he was already beside the beast and thrust his spear forward.


    "Roar."


    The helokiel was incensed and shoved Astar away, before swiping its other claw towards Wally.


    *Bang*


    A loud metallic reverberation resounded as the two weapons clashed. Despite its weak appearance, the spear forged by Lucas for Wally was very strong. It was only a Grade 1 but its structural integrity and stellar energy purity could almost compare with an average Grade 2 vestige. As such, the weapon was able to hold out against a direct clash with the helokiel''s claw.


    Astar, who was flung away, managed to get his feet back on the ground and charged back at the monster.


    Klein hid behind and fired a few arrows at the monster. Since he couldn''t use stellar energy just yet, all his attacks consisted of physical arrows, which were expensive. Every shot was precious, and Klein didn''t just randomly fire them. He only made his move when an opportunity provided itself or one of his two friends was in danger.


    The helokiel was enraged by the irritating tactics and tried to go after Klein, but Astar intercepted it.


    Astar went full out, brandishing his sword in a flurry in this battle of life and death. At times he would abandon the option of defence just to force the helokiel to show an opening, which Klein would then capitalise on.


    The result of such a self-inflicting tactic became obvious as the helokiel was constantly being harassed by both Wally and Klein. Eventually, it growled furiously and ignored attacks from the two sides, before lashing out at Astar.


    "Astar!" Wally screamed as he watched his friend sent flying by the desolate beast.


    However, there was no time to hesitate as the helokiel appeared before him.


    ''Just like mister taught, use its force to my advantage.''


    Wally calmed his breath as he concentrated his attention on his opponent.


    With a formidable roar, the desolate beast swung one of its four claws at Wally. Wally waved the spear at the beast, blocking the strike while taking a few steps back as his strength couldn''t compare with it. But this in itself was already impressive, after all, even Astar¡ªafter taking the booster drug¡ªwas sent flying by the monster.


    When facing Lucas, Wally was able to force him to use five percent of his fourth level Body Strengthening stage power and still suppress Lucas. Five percent might sound so little but when Lucas was at the second level, he had killed a third level Body Strengthening stage practitioner and two second level practitioners with ease.


    Five percent of his ability wasn''t something an average inexperienced teen could handle.


    The two metres tall helokiel was incensed that Wally still stood in front of it and immediately lunged right at him once again. Wally jumped to the side and avoided the attack, but the monster''s reflexes were faster as it reacted right away and chased after him.


    ''Damn it.'' Wally cursed as he thrust his spear at it to force the monster back.


    The helokiel dodged the spear''s tip and opened its mouth as it tried to devour Wally.


    "Are you ignoring me you fucking beast?!" Astar shouted. He ignored his injuries, which were clearly bleeding, as he slashed his sword at the desolate beast''s right wing.


    *Spurt*


    The vestige managed to not only hit the monster but penetrate almost halfway through its wing, spilling blood on both the blade and Astar.


    "Roarrrrr!" The helokiel stopped its assault as it cried out in pain.


    It immediately moved its body and bashed Astar away as it retreated in fear. The damage dealt to its wing disabled its airborne capability and the monster was clearly infuriated by this.


    *Twang*


    The sound of a bowstring being drawn quietly resounded from the grove of trees as an arrow tore through the shades. It pierced through the wind and stuck its tip right on the hind legs of the desolate beast.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel almost fell to the ground but managed to barely regain its composure. However, on its left hind leg was a black arrow firmly latched.


    From the point of entry of the arrow, a mixture of green and black fluids steadily poured out, staining the shaft of the arrow and the monster''s leg. The green liquid was its blood whereas the black liquid was poisoned blood. The arrow was a unique type of arrow that could be termed as a vestige. The arrowhead was crafted with a special material that was poisonous to most desolate beasts.


    The moment the helokiel had tripped, Wally, who had been on alert all this while, gripped his spear tightly with one arm and chanted a word.


    "Rez."


    The spear suddenly gleamed with a dull purple light and released an inaudible hum as Wally lifted it over his shoulder. In the very next second, he forcefully threw it at the monster.


    The spear flew mid-air, tearing through the air and moving at a speed closely approaching the speed of sound. Even with the difference between them and the strength of the helokiel, it failed to notice the flying spear in time.


    The spear aimed for the cut on the monster''s wing and before one could even say the word ''go'', it dug deep into the injury, tearing through the flesh, muscles and bones of the desolate beast and detaching the wings off from its body.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel cried as it did its best to retreat away.


    "Wow."


    Astar and Klein were both shocked by this. Wally''s throw had impressed them, being capable of cutting off the half injured wing after being thrown out. But what was even more astonishing was the quality of the spear, and the weird effect it gave off just then.


    "Concentrate, guys."


    Although astonished as well, Wally recovered quickly and yelled at them. He had already tested this special effect with Lucas during his training, so he wasn''t as stunned by it. Nonetheless, Wally never expected it to cut through the helokiel''s flesh like hot knife through butter. If he had known this, he would have just aimed for the monster''s head or body instead.


    With its right wing cut off, depriving it of its aerial ability; its left hind leg injured, inhibiting its movements; and finally, the monster having been poisoned, it looked as if the team was on the road to success. If they kept on and defeated it, this record would be put down on their student data folders, increasing their chances of getting admission into their various academies.


    The same was true for Klein, as even though pure Technical path schools didn''t care as much about one''s fighting strength, having it as a bonus wasn''t bad.


    At this moment, ten minutes had already gone by since Astar took the booster drug. There was only five minutes left and they had to make it count.


    "Let''s end this." Astar grinned as he held on tightly to his sword.


    Just then, the desolate beast of the air, the helokiel, froze and began to shudder.

 Chapter 70 Bayena Plains Invaders

    Somewhere deep in Bayena Plain but close to the region designated for Apertures Opening stage desolate beasts and abominations, the entire ground was smeared with the colour of red. This wasn''t the natural colour of the soil, but in fact, a change brought about by the immense amount of blood flooding the surface.There were corpses and limbs strewn all over the floor, the source of the blood that had muddled the area. Some of the corpses were incomplete, with signs of either being eaten, chopped or just crushed.


    Looking closely at the corpses, one would notice that they were all hyumans, rather than monsters. What''s more, some of them wore a certain uniform, synonymous with that of the Greendale Highschool staff. Some of the corpses were dressed in special leather or metal armour, similar to what freelancers wear. Some of their armours were actually vestiges, Grade 1 and few Grade 2.


    The armours weren''t the only vestiges present, as various kinds of weapons, whether cold or hot, were scattered right beside each corpse.


    However, the most interesting thing to note about the corpses wasn''t their appearance or the clothing or weapons they had on, but their aura. Even though they had been killed, their blood was still warm and fresh, with a hint of their aura left on their corpses. Every one of the corpses was at least a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    There were even a handful of third level Apertures Opening stage freelancers amongst them.


    In total, there were at least thirty second-level and above stellar practitioners. Such a lineup should be able to handle any threat in the Bayena Plain with ease, but they had ended up mercilessly butchered, leaving behind corpses, scattered limbs, and vestiges.


    Despite the protection and weaponry, they all ended up dead with their eyes wide open in fear. One could see that even until their death, they were still haunted by the terror they faced.


    "Yawn~ Even though we exposed just a tiny trace, they still managed to catch up to us so quickly, huh. The hyumankin sure is annoying, don''t you agree?"


    A figure who stood at the centre of the corpse yard yawned lazily as he gazed into the distance.


    The speaker had two legs and two arms just like a hyuman, but his facial appearance was quite different. Although he looked like a hyuman male, he had four eyes instead of the usual two, with the upper pair appearing like a regular hyuman''s while the lower pair were narrow slits. Each pair was coloured differently, with the irises of the upper pair being brown, while the lower pair were purple.


    The individual''s ears were vertical, similar to those of the legendary elf races in human folklore, but they were much thinner and closer to the head.


    Apart from the difference in facial structure, the arms of the speaker were unique. There were a pair of blades sticking out from each arm: one on the forearm and another on the upper arm. Blood was currently dripping from the two pairs, staining his arm with a deep red colour, but he ignored it.


    The creature also had a maroon (brownish-red) skin tone, but in the Niera galaxy where hyumans had different skin tones due to the differing environments of the planets they lived on, this wasn''t special to be exact. But in Eretre, such a skin tone was unique and rare.


    The man was a mixed-race creature, born of a hyuman and an alien parent.


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    Behind the crossbreed was a creature, which was truly a monster in the simplest of definitions.


    The creature walked on four legs that looked like those of a spider. Each leg was incredibly thick, rivalling the thigh of a fully grown adult from top to bottom. Unlike the legs of a hyuman that could be divided into the thigh and the lower leg, the legs of this creature were uniform. Its upper and lower legs all had the same size and thickness. Read chapters at empire


    As for the upper body of the monster, it was unlike anything that ever existed on Earth. If one were to find an Earthling with the closest appearance to it, one would have to go back to the prehistoric era of dinosaurs. From there, one could then describe this monster as having the head of a triceratops and the body of a Borealopelta [1].


    From its appearance alone, there was no semblance of intellect; even its response sounded like the ramblings of a monster.


    However, despite its monstrous look, this creature was actually an intelligent species. Just like hyumans, it could speak, think, and innovate, but in a different way from hyumans. It was part of an alien race known as the Saurian.


    Back when hyumans were expanding their empire, the Saurians were an alien race they encountered which heavily resisted their efforts. Nonetheless, the Saurians fell to the powerful hyumankin and the majority of them were wiped out.


    Unlike other races the hyumans had conquered, the Saurians had too much hate for hyumankin and their race was well known for holding grudges. The Federation Assembly, comprising: the Military Chamber; the House of Senates, which is also known as the Congress; and the House of Lords, which is also known as the Parliament, had passed a bill to wipe out the Saurians after the war.


    Even the Universe Supreme Court, which was the highest judicial power of the hyumankin, didn''t find a fault in this act.


    However, some Saurians had managed to escape extermination, but their hate still remained. They eventually became space pirates or terrorists, trying to destroy the stability of the hyumankin''s Federation.


    "Oh, you agree with me too? Well, that''s to be expected." The crossbreed smiled.


    The Saurian ignored him and began to munch on a corpse, not caring about any possible diseases or the blood that stained its carnivorous mouth.


    "Enjoying yourself? Well unfortunately, we''ll soon have to leave. The space-sink bomb has already been launched, and the effect has been recorded. Also, with the amount of hyumans we''ve killed, the next batch would be much stronger. We might actually die if we hang around here for too long."


    The Saurian lifted its head and growled slowly,


    "Bashoko jeta kuli?" (What about your toys?)


    "Hmm, it should be acting up just about right now. It would have been a shame to show up here and not leave a gift for the new generation, don''t you agree?" The crossbreed smiled mysteriously as his upper eyes squinted.

 Chapter 71 Ill Stand With You

    Right as Wally, Astar and Klein prepared to put an end to the helokiel, it abruptly began to shudder like a human undergoing a seizure."What the hell is happening?"


    The trio were dumbfounded by the strange occurrence. There was no written record about desolate beasts undergoing frantic seizures, so the group of friends were inevitably confused about the situation.


    "We have to kill it." Wally suddenly said as his instincts yelled at him.


    Having fought against Lucas for a couple of days, Wally had improved considerably and gained certain skills he could call his own, one such being his sixth sense. Although he didn''t know what was happening, Wally felt that it was very dangerous.


    Klein nocked a black arrow with an orange arrowhead onto his bow. The arrow he used wasn''t the ''cheap'' variation he had been firing all this while, but ones that were very expensive. He could only afford three of them after scraping his savings for an entire year.


    Originally, Klein had no intention of using these arrows during the mid-term practical tests, and had only gotten them for the finals, but he brought one of the arrows just in case he would need it.


    Seeing as Wally was almost in a hysteria and the helokiel was laying down wide open, Klein decided to end it once and for all. As for the agreement to have Astar take the last hit, that would depend on his luck. If the monster was left on its last legs, then Astar could proceed. If it wasn''t, there was nothing Klein could do. Their survival mattered more than a few dozen points.


    Once the arrow was set in place, Klein aimed it at the chest of the monster, in the position where its heart was meant to be.


    *Twang*


    The bowstring was released and the arrow darted through the air as it made its way to the helokiel. The speed of the arrow couldn''t compare with Wally''s previous spear throw, but it was still not something one could dodge so easily. With the desolate beast undergoing a severe seizure, it was all the more unlikely for the arrow to miss its target.


    Just then, the aura of the helokiel went through the roof. The energy it exuded was no longer the same as a peak first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast, but closely approaching that of a second level. It was almost indistinguishable at this point as the trio felt cold sweat seep through their skin.


    The arrow was still on its way when this happened, but it immediately arrived before the desolate beast before the next second. It struck the monster and penetrated through its tough hides, almost as if it were cotton.


    *Whoosh*


    An orange flame burst out from the arrowhead which had penetrated the monster. The wound was set ablaze as the flames erupted from the spot, charring the flesh of the desolate beast black. Despite this, the helokiel was unmoved and didn''t even scream. It merely retained its jerking state while a part of its body was set ablaze.


    "What is going on?"


    Astar and Wally were surprised whereas Klein was flabbergasted.


    Klein knew the power of the arrow he had shot. It was almost equivalent to a one-time usage Grade 1 vestige in terms of power as it was an arrow that contained the outer flames of a vestige-smith''s furnace. These were flames used in refining metals for the production of vestiges. The temperature was insanely high, and its burn damage was nothing to joke about.


    Yet, even with all of that, the helokiel didn''t make any reaction.


    "Run!"


    Wally shouted as he turned around to escape.


    Although there was no explanation for what took place, one thing was for sure; remaining behind was suicide.


    Klein followed suit and even Astar, who was pro-battle before, didn''t stop to question or convince anyone otherwise and also escaped.


    While the trio ran, the aura of the monster slowly increased until it settled into the second level for the Apertures Opening stage. It didn''t stop at the ''entrance'' but went a bit in until it was completely stable. With a roar, the helokiel regained its composure and shook away its fatigue. It was in a new self, and even with the injuries previously afflicted on it, the creature felt reborn.


    Being at the second level, the poison used on it was no longer as effective and the helokiel could ignore it. The injury on its left hind leg slowly closed up as the arrow was forced out together with the poison and infected blood. Its wings couldn''t recover back, but the helokiel was more energetic than before.


    As for the seating flames on its body, the desolate beast shook once, releasing a grey streak of energy that put the flames out.


    After settling its composure in place, it glanced at the direction the trio ran and chased after them.


    Unlike before, the group of three failed to find any hiding spots and were forced to remain on the run. However, they could only go so far before the helokiel caught up to them.


    It was now a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast, and even if it wasn''t, catching a group of humans below the peak Body Strengthening stage even with a head start wasn''t anything difficult.


    "Damn it. What the heck happened?" Klein cursed as he ran.


    Suddenly, he felt a gaze on his body. His blood ran cold and without even a hint, Klein knew that the helokiel was eyeing him. It was probably still incensed by the harassment shots and what''s more, the flaming arrow Wally had used just a while ago.


    ''N,no.''


    Klein began to feel desperate as he forced himself to run quicker.


    However, his legs could only do so little so for him.


    "Klein!"


    Wally''s cry sounded as the helokiel appeared just behind Klein with a claw outstretched.


    "Damn it." Klein cursed before activating the bracelet given to him by the academy.


    Although the protective light shield could activate automatically, Klein didn''t want to take the risk and wait for that, deciding to do so himself.


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    The helokiel''s claw crashed into the shield and forced Klein back, but he was at least safe from that attack.


    But that was for now.


    The light shield could only handle three attacks from a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. Usually, that would have given enough time for the staff on duty to dispatch a freelancer to the scene, but the situation was different. The students weren''t aware that most of the staff and freelancers had already been killed by two terrorists.


    Even if they didn''t know, some could figure out that the appearance of the terrorists would lead to a delayed rescue effort. This was why the trio''s first response was to try and escape. They could guess that there was no one coming to help them, as if there were, they would have showed up minutes ago.


    "You guys should run while you still can. I''ll try to hold it back." Klein shouted at the two.


    "You can''t! You''ll die." Astar screamed.


    "Just shut up and run!" Klein didn''t look back at them but faced the helokiel with his bow in hand.


    "Don''t let us all die here. Better one than all three."


    With tears in their eyes, Wally and Astar wanted to stay back, but they knew that Klein was right. If they remained behind, everyone would die. But if Klein stood back, he could at least buy some time for the two of them. His shield had also been activated and the helokiel seemed intent on taking him, which made things easier for them.


    However, they couldn''t just abandon their friend.


    "It''s all my fault. I''m sorry. I''m really sorry." Astar cried as he ran away.


    Klein sighed, but didn''t hate him. Survival was an instinct of every living being. Just as he prepared to take on the helokiel, he noticed that Wally hadn''t left.


    "You..."


    "Shut up and focus!" Wally roared. He didn''t run as Klein had wanted; he couldn''t.


    Even if there was a chance at surviving by doing so, Wally knew that such a chance was nothing more than a fleeting hope. With the speed of a second level helokiel, it would catch up to him eventually. The only hope would be to encounter a freelancer or teacher on the way, but if that were to happen, it would have been so a couple of minutes ago.


    As it stood, death was pretty much certain no matter which option it was.


    However, there was a small viable shot at living if they fought the helokiel. It was still injured, so maybe they could kill. But Wally knew that this was also a futile wish.


    In this moment of life and death, Wally simply decided to stand by his friend. Since they were going to die either way, he might as well die with someone having his back.

 Chapter 72 Wally Is In Trouble?

    Going back a while ago..."So what about the men that came into the store a while back? Are they gone?" Nafir asked Lucas as he stared at him.


    Lucas already knew that Nafir was using his special lie detection technique, but he wasn''t worried about it. The Host Protection Mechanism of the store automatically blocked out all mental arts from affecting him. The issue however, was in the HPM.


    The Host Protection Mechanism didn''t block out attacks but absorbed them, just like a sponge would absorb water. This led to a situation where the attacker wouldn''t feel any feedback from their attack. In the case of Nafir and his mental spell, receiving no feedback, even if it was a rebound, would give rise to suspicions and this wouldn''t bode well for Lucas.


    As Lucas was unable to create a false impression for the technique to perceive, he had to figure something out quickly. Otherwise, once Nafir noticed something strange, he would have a suspicious inkling that Lucas could avoid his technique. This would then lead to him presuming that the results of the interrogation at the Red Fangs base station, might have all been tweaked to Lucas'' advantage.


    ''I hope this works. Deactivate HPM''s active state.'' Lucas gave the command.


    He usually had the active mode turned on all the time, but Lucas decided to switch it off for now. The passive mode was still there to protect him though.


    "Hmm. They did arrive at the store, but they''re gone now." Lucas responded with a calm demeanour.


    By switching off the HPM''s active mode, Lucas could reduce the obstruction of the technique. Through mixing the truth with lies, he wagered that he could deceive Nafir. As for whether it would be successful or not, only Nafir could say.


    After a short second, Nafir nodded at Lucas. His face was still the same, preventing Lucas from knowing the results.


    "By the way, I shouldn''t be telling you this but a problem recently cropped up. Normally, we have some guards stationed close to you, but we had to call them back for an emergency, which led to this." Barry, who stood on the side said.


    "And, what''s that about?" Lucas asked nonchalantly. He truly wasn''t interested in the conversation, as he wanted nothing more than for them to leave the store.


    Barry ignored Lucas'' attitude and continued, "Terrorists have been spotted close to the city, with their target being the Bayena Plain. According to our info, this happens to also be the test venue of a group of high school students. If I''m correct, they should students of Greendale Highschool, an impressive institution with good standards.


    There''s also been a weird space break there and the monsters are going out of control. To prevent more lives from being lost, the Red Fangs had to call up everyone nearby including the men who watched you in secret."


    Lucas froze and couldn''t respond at all. His face was still the same bland look, but deep inside, Lucas'' mind was in turmoil.


    Terrorists. Greendale Highschool.


    ''Wasn''t that the name of Wally''s school?'' Lucas was stunned and couldn''t believe what was happening.


    "Why are you telling me this?" Lucas stared at Barry.


    "From the information we''ve got, it seems you had some dealings with a student from the academy. This happens to be his final year in campus, so he''s one of the test-takers at the moment. His life could potentially be at risk any moment from now, so we decided to give you a heads up just in case he doesn''t make it out alive." Barry explained.


    "I guess that makes sense, but I''m not like his parents or anything. I also can''t exactly do anything about it. Civilian security is meant to be provided by you guys. Since the opponent is a terrorist, they will be an Apertures Opening stage practitioner and as you may already know, I''m only at the Body Strengthening stage.


    I feel this information may be a little needless to me." Lucas expressed as he just shrugged his shoulders.


    "True. You do have a point there. Well then, sorry for disturbing you. We''ll be on our way." Nafir said before leaving the store with Barry. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After they left, Lucas still remained seated. He took out his tablet and calmly scrolled through it for a few minutes.


    ''System?''


    "Clear." The system''s voice resounded in his head.


    Lucas sighed before his face suddenly contorted.


    "Why didn''t you tell me about Wally?" Lucas grimaced.


    In Lucas'' opinion, the system was an existence that bordered the term ''all-knowing and all-seeing''. It was nigh omniscient and omnipotent as it was able to spot him out of billions of living beings and have him transmigrated not once, but twice.


    That wasn''t something even the Dragon King could pull off; and this was a creature who exceeded many of the strongest Grand Archmages in terms of both power, knowledge and spells.


    Lucas firmly believed that the system knew about Wally''s current situation as the latter was an important customer, yet failed to notify him.


    "The system is created to train the host to become the next Crafts-God. As such, matters deemed unnecessary to this will be automatically sidelined by the system." The system''s emotionless voice sounded, a bit cold to Lucas'' ears.


    "Even if it''s related to a customer?" Lucas'' response came, even colder than the system''s tone.


    Truthfully, to Lucas, Wally wasn''t just a customer. In Wally, Lucas could see an old friend of his, one of the few people he had met during his lowest times in his first life.


    Back when he lived the life of Yohan, Lucas was an orphan who lived more than seven years on the streets and the mountains. To survive, he would beg, go through trash, or even steal from merchants. On one such occasion, Yohan had tried stealing from a baker''s stall, but was caught by the baker''s son, a young kid of the same age as the young Yohan.


    The kid looked a bit pale, but was slightly healthier than Yohan, which was strange as the latter was an orphaned beggar while the former was the son of a baker.


    At first, the young boy chased after Yohan for the bread, barely catching up to him and engaging in a fight. But in the midst of their tussle, he lost to Yohan before he ended up crying. However, Yohan didn''t get away entirely as the bread was broken and covered in gravel. Nonetheless, being literally dirt-poor, he still picked it up and ate.


    The young boy was slightly astonished by this, and holding back his tears, he questioned Yohan why he ate it, to which Yohan replied, "I don''t have a choice like you do".


    That intriguing encounter became the start of a friendship between these two young boys.

 Chapter 73 Will you be my brother?

    Later on, Yohan would occasionally come to steal bread from the stall, but the young boy would try to beat him, losing in the end. Although their clash was quite intense, Yohan felt it was more like a game of tag. Even the young boy slowly began to treat it as a contest, hoping to one day finally beat Yohan.In the end, a friendship blossomed between these two, with the young boy occasionally sneaking out some other baked goods for Yohan.


    Days passed by and turned into weeks, until two months had gone by. These two months were special to Yohan because the young boy''s father had found out about him and took pity on him, sharing some of his produce with the young Yohan in exchange for his help. At that time, Yohan had worked as a part-timer for the man after he upgraded his stall to a rented shop, making deliveries for the store.


    The young boy had also enrolled into a magic school after he was discovered to have potential for magic.


    One day, Yohan was passing by a certain street and saw the young boy getting bullied by others. Incensed, he ran and stood up for the boy. Even though the opponents knew some basic spells, the mana-less Yohan fought against the other bullies and chased them away at the cost of a few injuries.


    When asked why he did so, Yohan didn''t have an answer, but to not appear soft, he replied "Only I can bully you."


    After that he asked the boy what had happened. It turned out that the young boy had the lowest category of potential for magic and was being bullied by others in school for that. However, he hid the truth from his father and even Yohan, until then. The young boy cried that day, making it the second time Yohan had seen him in tears. At the same time, Yohan found out more about him.


    The young boy was born with a certain disorder and that may or may not have affected his magic potential, but it affected his physique nonetheless. Even though the young boy was born physically weak, his father still wanted him to live a better life than he did, so he enrolled his son into a magic academy with all his savings. However, the young boy could barely make much progress. Enjoy new tales from empire


    While others made progress with a single stroke of effort, he would have to make three times or even four times the effort to result in the same progress. But with the state of his body, it was even more difficult to do such. One could imagine how much despair he felt. On his shoulders were his father''s dream for him to have a better life, and the young boy''s wish to not disappoint his father. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But with the weakness of his flesh, it was next to impossible to defy reality.


    Despite all that, he still worked hard. Yohan could even remember the times he saw the boy late at night, carrying out exercise routines, jogging round the street, and attempting to lift any heavy object he could find. It all made sense then. Yohan felt pity for the boy, but that was all he could do as he too was young.


    However, everything changed one day. Yohan had gone out to deliver some baked goods and when he came back to the store, it was wrecked. The father and son were murdered in broad daylight.


    From the chatter of the spectators at the scene, a mage had visited the store and wanted to buy some bread. When presented with the pastry, he was irritated by the taste and caused a ruckus. When he wanted to take down the building, the baker tried to stop him and in anger, the mage killed the man.


    The baker''s son was in so much anguish, pain and anger that he attacked the mage, leading to his death as well.


    To the spectators, such a situation wasn''t uncommon. That was just how harsh their world was. But to the young Yohan, the world became a cold place; a very cold and heartless place.


    Even until now, Lucas could still hear the voice of his young friend from his life as Yohan.


    "When I grow up, I want to become a strong mage. I want to make dad proud and build a brand new bakery for him. I''ll help him hire staff so he won''t have to work as late as he does. He would have some free time to spend with us."


    "They said my potential for magic is too weak. I''m such a disappointment. How can I help dad? How can I make him proud like this?"


    "I need to work harder. Even if it takes ten times the effort, I need to do it."


    "Hey, Yohan. Dad made some pie for us. Come, let''s eat together."


    "Yohan. Sometimes, I wish you were my brother. Will you be my brother, Yohan?"


    Recalling memories from then, Lucas'' eyes unwittingly became wet, but his anger to the system still existed.


    Wally reminded him of his young friend in his past life. They both had their family give their all for them to have a better life. They both were born with the worst potential possible. But even at that, they both struggled and gave their all to be better. They both wanted to be better, not just for themselves, but for their family as well.


    Despite being so young, they were both mature mentally, held back so much pain and hurt behind their smile, just so they could hope for a brighter future.


    One was dead, while the other might soon be as well. However, Lucas had no intention of letting that happen; he wouldn''t, even if it meant losing an arm or a leg.


    "System, get me to Wally''s location or you can forget about having a host."


    "That can''t be done." The system refuted.


    "The life of the hyuman known as Wally will in no way relate nor affect the host''s progress towards becoming the Crafts-God. As such, the system sees no reason to intervene."


    Lucas'' aura flared up and his anger was through the roof. If the system were a physical entity, there was no doubt that he would be strangling it to death right now.


    "Speak." Lucas calmed down and said.


    If he tried to make it on his own, it might be too late. But the system would definitely have some method to teleport him there. This method was what Lucas was targeting.


    "The system cannot assist the host. Unless..." The system''s voice trailed off.


    "Unless what?" Lucas narrowed his eyes as he felt the system was scheming at the moment.


    "Access denied." The system returned to its monotonous mode of speaking.


    "I don''t get you. You can help me but don''t want to tell me how?" Lucas became infuriated as he slammed his fist on the table.


    After a moment of silence, the system''s voice sounded again.


    "...the host can make a trade off."


    "A trade-off? What''s that?"


    "Access denied."


    Lucas frowned as he felt there was something weird going on here. The system presented him with an opportunity, but it came at a cost which he couldn''t know anything about. No matter what anyone told him, this was filled with too much conspiracy. Who was to say that the system didn''t predict or arrange this? Despite such thoughts, there was nothing that Lucas could do about it without any proof.


    After hesitating for a bit, Lucas finally stood up.


    "I accept. Just get me over to where Wally is right now."


    It took two minutes before Lucas finally got a response from the system.


    "A teleportation portal has been established to the target''s location. The warp point is located in the restroom."


    "The restroom?" Lucas was surprised, but then froze.


    "Where exactly?"


    "The toilet." The system replied.


    "Fuck you."


    Lucas couldn''t resist cursing even if he was Buddha. After all, he was being forced to enter the toilet in order to be teleported over to the Bayena plan. Lucas could almost see a floating figure above his head.


    -1,000,000 aura.


    "Is there no other way to go about this?" Lucas asked, clearly reluctant to enter the toilet.


    "Host is free to reject." The system blandly responded.


    "Tch. Fine. Isn''t it just to enter the toilet?"


    Lucas snorted before entering the work-station. He packed up some special items and new products, storing them all in his inventory before departing for the toil-, the teleportation station.


    "If there ever comes a day you become a physical entity, dread that day, system." Lucas cursed before using the whimsical whirlpool.

 Chapter 74 Is This The End?

    Astar retreated under the cover of Klein''s existence, whereas Wally had stayed behind to fight the monster along with his friend. However, this was nothing more than a suicidal action. A second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast wasn''t something two teens below the peak of the Body Strengthening stage in their early years could take on."Roar!"


    "Watch out!" Wally barely let out his shout before the helokiel had jumped Klein again.


    *Bang*


    The creature smashed its claws into the light shield and Klein was once again thrown a couple of metres away.


    "Klein." Wally worriedly let out a shout.


    The helokiel turned and glanced at him with intense bloodlust exposed in its eyes.


    ''Shit.''


    Wally only had enough time to let out a thought before a shadow appeared in front of him.


    *Bang*


    A green flicker appeared in front of Wally, shielding him from the attack of the helokiel. However, just like Klein, he was thrown away by the impact.


    The protective shield bracelets given to the students were all high quality items. Since it was made in consideration of a second level beast''s potential attack, the deployment speed of the shields equally matched such monsters and even slightly exceeded some of them.


    In this fashion, even if the students were too slow to respond to an attack, the shield would come up at the very second before they were attacked.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel let out an intimidating roar as it asserted dominance. The nearby stellar energy in the atmosphere immediately into it and was absorbed in a flurry as the monster''s aura blazed.


    The reason the helokiel had lost the first half of the battle was a mix of the duo having coordinated perfectly with Astar, whi had taken a booster drug to help increase his strength to hold it back. Following that, they were on an aggressive offense, targeting its weak points while working in an almost perfect sync.


    The helokiel had also underestimated them from the start as they were weaker than it, so when the trio had taken hold of the battle''s momentum, it was too late for it to counter. If it had taken them seriously from the start, they might have beaten it, but after taking severe injuries.


    However, now it was different.


    Not only was the team of three brought down to two with the most important individual departing, but the helokiel was now at the second level. The difference between the first and second level was a large hurdle, almost the same as the first level and the peak of the Body Strengthening stage.


    At the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, one could still be considered as a Body Strengthening stage practitioner of some sorts. This was because, despite being able to now store and utilise stellar energy, there wasn''t so much contained in the body of a first level stellar practitioner.


    Most of the time, the stellar energy was sparsely used, and even when it was, it could only be employed to boost one''s strength.


    This was why it was still possible, but not certain, for a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner to defeat a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, especially with a vestige.


    However, when the topic of focus changed to a second level, winning was a dream. One would have to be a mythical genius to be able to win at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, but anything below was ludicrously impractical. As for a mythical genius? In the more than three thousand years of history, Eretre under the Oklo Dynasty has never witnessed such a legend.


    The helokiel didn''t move right away to finish off the duo, but intoxicated itself in the new sensation of power. Suddenly, the stellar energy visibly gathered to its mouth as the monster let out an even more terrifying roar.


    *Crack*


    Wally''s shield began to crack under the pressure of the sonic attack, but his mind wasn''t on it. Instead, he ran towards Klein to check up on him. As the roar was a stellar energy attack, the shield could defend against it, but not for long as the attacker was at the second level, which was the shield''s limit.


    "Are you alright?" Wally asked as he helped Klein up.


    Klein''s shield was heavily damaged and filled with many more cracks than Wally''s. Just from appearance alone, it looked as if it would collapse any second. This made Wally even more anxious, but there was nothing he could do about it.


    *cough* *cough*.


    "You should have run away when you had the chance." Klein let out a few words as he barely got his footing.


    Even with the shield in place, some of the force from the helokiel''s blow had got him. It was a second level desolate beast and the shield had already been damaged, so this was unavoidable.


    "Even if I got away, you wouldn''t have lasted this long. It would have come after me right away. At least with both of us, we can buy Astar some time." Wally said.


    "Yeah..."


    "It''s coming." Wally stopped talking and faced the desolate beast with his friend.


    The helokiel saw that the effect of its sonic attack wasn''t as impressive as a close-up. This had to do with the fact that it was still inept with stellar energy skills, but to the helokiel, this was an insult. The two insects that had injured it were still standing even after three attacks.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel suddenly disappeared from the vision of Wally and Klein, before appearing in front of Klein.


    "Watch out."


    Wally had guessed that it would aim for Klein first as the latter''s shield was visibly more damaged than his. The second before the helokiel had made its move, he had swiftly jumped in between the duo and brandished his spear in front of Klein.


    Just as he had predicted, the helokiel appeared in front of Klein, but with Wally in the way, it had to face him first.


    *Bang*


    "Wally!" Klein''s eyes went red as he stared at Wally''s fleeting body. He could already guess what had happened and his body shivered in response.


    The helokiel didn''t care about Wally, whom it had sent flying. It promptly turned its attention back to Klein and swung its claws at him.


    ''Is this it?''


    Klein froze at the sight of the helokiel, which had now exceeded a two metres height after its advancement.


    *Bam* Read exclusive chapters at empire


    The claw crashed into the shield, but this time around, the shield shattered on impact, exposing Klein to the remnant force of the attack.


    "Klein!"


    Wally, who had forced himself to recover quickly, gazed ahead and witnessed as the helokiel''s claw was dyed red.


    The helokiel''s blood was green, not red.


    "Ahhhh!"


    Tears gushed out from Wally''s eyes as he let out a scream like never before.


    Klein''s body fell to the floor as the helokiel turned its attention to Wally who was crying in pain. Desolate beasts weren''t entirely brainless and were actually much smarter than most animals. It stared at Wally for a second, then abruptly grinned. Although it couldn''t understand emotions as effectively as hyumans, it could understand that Wally was in pain after what it did.


    The helokiel bent down and glanced at Klein''s body, before lifting it''s right claw and brandishing at the body once again. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Splat*


    Blood sprayed once again and the helokiel grinned even more fiendishly.


    "Bastard!" Wally cursed as he bit his lips.


    He gripped his spear tightly and with his eyes filled with red, Wally charged at the monster.


    Even though Wally knew that this was suicidal, even though he knew that doing so was meaningless, even though he knew that doing so couldn''t change what had happened to Klein, Wally was still outraged at the brutality and behaviour of the helokiel.


    The helokiel maintained its grin and abruptly flashed, appearing before Wally.


    As if expecting this, Wally had already swung his vestige at it. This time around, it was glowing a dull purple lightjust like before.


    In that one second before the helokiel''s claw struck him, Wally glanced at the desolate beast who appeared at him as he had expected, managing to utter out only one word as he stabbed out.


    "Rez."


    The spear let out a muffled hum and began to visibly shudder, but Wally kept it under control as he thrust it out.


    *Bam*


    *Schtick*


    At the same time the helokiel''s claw struck his barrier, the vestige managed to pierce it, stabbing deep into its body.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel let out a painful roar as it halted in its steps. As for Wally, he was thrown away by the attack. His shield had shattered, but as the desolate beast held back at the last instance, Wally wasn''t severely injured but thrown away.


    However, not being severely injured didn''t mean Wally was tossed out unscathed.


    "Hehe. Even if I go down, I''ll make sure you regret it." Wally simultaneously laughed and cried as he bled from his head and body.


    "I''m sorry, Klein. I couldn''t make it in time. Mom, Dad, sis, I failed you. I couldn''t do it in the end, and I''m going to die here. Little Tom, your big brother couldn''t become rich and famous, and buy you spaceship collections as I promised."


    With no shot at surviving, his body bleeding and his best friend dead, Wally couldn''t see a reason to keep going. It wasn''t that he wanted to end it all, but there was literally no way to survive this scenario. His body was aching and he couldn''t find the strength to stand up and fight. Even if he could, the helokiel wasn''t an opponent Wally could beat.


    Wally knew that he would die here, but what pained him the most was that he couldn''t see his family one last time. He couldn''t call them or even anyone as for some reason, the communicators had no service.


    So, Wally decided to record a voice note and send it out to them. As long as the communicator wasn''t destroyed, the message would be sent once there was service.


    "If there''s some God in this world, please, keep them safe and watch over them for me. Mister Lucas, I''m sorry, but I might not be able to fulfill my own end of the bargain." Wally cried with a smile before closing his eyes.


    *Boom*


    Just then, an explosion sounded.

 Chapter 75 The Gauntlets Debut

    "If there ever comes a day you become a physical entity, dread that day, system." Lucas cursed before stepping into the toilet.Right as his right leg entered, the water began to spin into a whirlpool that forcefully tugged at him, dragging him into it.


    "..."


    Lucas held his breath and shut his mouth, mentally cursing intensely at the system and wondering why things had to be like this.


    Luckily, the toilet water was sparkling clean otherwise he would have torn his brain out and searched for the system to murder it.


    A mix of dark and dull colours appeared all around him as Lucas was in a state of confusion during this while. He could neither hear, smell, nor feel anything. Lucas could only ''see'' the dark dull colours that surrounded him as he expressed a strange sensation.


    In the very next second, bright white light greeted his sight, stunning Lucas'' eyes for a second as he hurriedly adjusted to it. Flapping sounds resounded in his ears as Lucas experienced a sense of weightlessness with a slight force tugging him downwards.


    When his sight had recovered, Lucas surveyed his surroundings just to find out that he had appeared high up in the sky, and was rapidly falling down.


    "..."


    For the umpteenth time, Lucas had the urge to curse out loud, but he knew that it was of no use. Also, having appeared in a new area, it was best to understand the situation than expose his location right away.


    As for the current situation? Lucas had been in worse situations and he came prepared. So, he wasn''t worried about a fall, even though it was from over a kilometre high, and would take less than half a minute to fall down.


    Staring down beneath him, Lucas saw a vast plain covered in a few shrubs and scattered groves. Lucas narrowed his eyes at a region where his instincts seemed to have alerted him of danger. Thanks to his improved spiritual senses and the advantage of a bird''s eye view, Lucas could sense an incredible blood energy from that exact location


    Based on his experience, there were only two reasons for this: there was either a blood magic user, or a large-scale murder had been carried out there.


    ''It seems that the situation is worse than I thought.'' Lucas frowned.


    He then turned his eyes towards a location closely beneath him, where he sensed an intense energy outburst alongside a roar.


    Scanning the area with his eyes, Lucas noticed a desolate beast with a thick body and one wing, as the other had been sliced off. He watched as it stared at a particular location.


    At first, Lucas thought it was a regular student and decided to save them. Once he did so, he could ask them to help him find Wally.


    However, as he kept watching whilst free-falling, Lucas managed to catch sight of a familiar silhouette.


    Instantly, his eyes widened as Lucas gripped his palms tightly.


    "Retrieve."


    The craftsman gloves first appeared on his hands, boosting his strength significantly. But that wasn''t enough. Based on the energy signature he was getting as he approached the monster, Lucas knew that it was at the Apertures Opening stage, and above the first at least. The power boost from the craftsman gloves wasn''t enough, but as was earlier mentioned, Lucas had made preparations before leaving.


    "Retrieve."


    A pair of gauntlets suddenly appeared in Lucas'' arms. The gauntlets covered the entirety of his forearms, but what was most conspicuous about them was the size of the gauntlets. They each looked to be almost as big as the waist of a fully grown adult male.


    The black metal gauntlets had beguiling red lines on them and strange patterns carved on the surface. It appeared like a piece of metal art that somehow managed to wreak a devilish energy from it.


    The gauntlets were made using a combination of Devil Mark stones and Gretac-Titanium alloy, which were metals Lucas received in the work-station after the building was renovated. There was also half an ingot of Purple Iridium metal put into the work, and despite wanting more, Lucas could only manipulate a maximum of half an ingot at a time, due to his lack of stellar energy.


    For the magic runes and sigils, Lucas used Red Iris stone, which was well known for its conduction of stellar energy, and the recently acquired Violent Sun ores for some parts, to give the runes more aggressive nature and force.


    The pair of gauntlets was Lucas'' tour de force of vestige-smithing ever since he came into this new world. It had taken him a total of eight hours to melt the metals and prepare the materials, twenty hours just to make the structure, and seven hours to carve the runes. The truth was that it could have been longer, but this was the first prototype of the deisgn.


    They were meant to be a part of a set Lucas was building to protect himself, but so far, only the gauntlets had been completed without any issue.


    The gauntlets also applied the recent ideology Lucas came up with, which was why the creation process was lengthy and complex, and the size was this large.


    *Hum*


    When he was less than one hundred metres above, a height that would take less than five seconds to descend, the gauntlets suddenly began to glow along the red lines.


    At this moment, the helokiel was about to dish the finishing blow to Wally, who had already given up. However, it suddenly sensed something above and lifted its head to take a look.


    *Boom*


    The gauntlets smashed right into the face of the helokiel. On impact, it let out a small explosion, shoving the monster down to the ground.


    The astonishing combination of the force from a free fall, the intense punch, the weight of the gauntlet, and the explosion released on impact, all dealt a heavy blow to the monster, burying it into the ground.


    "What was that?" Wally was stunned and tried to lift his head to take a look. However all he could see was a mix of dust and smoke.


    He had barely escaped the reach of the explosion as he wasn''t within its range, but the attack still caught him unaware.


    "Hey, kid. Who said you could die without fulfilling your end of the bargain?" Lucas'' cold voice sounded from the haze.


    "Mi-mister?" Wally was astounded. He couldn''t believe his ears even though he found that voice to be familiar and knew the owner.


    "Move away a bit. I need to teach this fella a lesson for messing with my plans."


    "O-okay." Wally nodded before forcing himself to stand up and leave.


    When he saw Klein''s body on the other side, Wally froze at the sight.


    "Mister, please-"


    "I got it." Lucas cut him off.


    Although he had just arrived, Lucas got a quick glimpse of the situation from above and understood right away.


    "Oi, get up. There''s no way you would go down from that alone." Lucas massaged his arms as he glanced at the crater formed by the attack.


    "Graaaaa." The helokiel rose from the crater and released a low growl.


    It was incensed by the new arrival, especially by the attack that struck it. On the helokiel''s body, a hole the size of the gauntlet''s fist had appeared, bleeding out green liquid. The edge of the hole was filled with burnt marks and even part of the injured flesh was as black as soot.


    "Second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. An irritating fellow." Lucas'' brows furrowed.


    If it were a first level desolate beast, the gauntlets he had on as well as the boost from the craftsman gloves underneath, would have enabled him to take it on. However, a second level beast was out of the equation. Taking the risk of facing it alone might end up with him dying.


    "Although I''d like to play with you a bit, I''ve got bigger fish to fry."


    Lucas took in deep breath and in the next second,


    "Release."


    *Boom*


    A burst of aura exploded from Lucas, rising quickly from the peak of the Body Strengthening stage to the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. It didn''t settle there and went one step further to the second level, before calming down a bit. His body was also covered in strange black tattoos that gave him a mysterious and somewhat culturally aesthetic appearance.


    *Whoosh*


    At the same time, a grand mass of stellar energy gushed into his body, rejuvenating Lucas and giving him a new sensation.


    ''So this is stellar energy.'' Lucas relished in the sensation of having a mystical energy flow through his body, blood, veins and organs.


    ''It''s a bit like mana but less weighty. Are all mystical energies different?'' Lucas thought. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The helokiel stared at him wide-eyed, speechless as to how the creature before it had gone straight from the peak of the Body Strengthening stage to its current level. Although it had also previously undergone a transformation, the helokiel was at the peak of the first level and had received assistance from two strange creatures before achieving its current state.


    But the little being before it simply breathed in and out once.


    *Bang*


    "Let''s get this done with." Lucas pounded the gauntlets together, generating a strange wave of electricity over them that dissipated almost immediately.


    "Roar!" The helokiel released an intimidating bellow.


    The enemy was merely at the same level as it, and had only managed to injure it by surprise. Even though it was injured, the helokiel suspected that Lucas'' current state was a sham.


    In truth, the helokiel was a tad right. Lucas'' current state was as a result of activating the Bronze grade card he got from fulfilling a mission in the past. It was a second level card which meant that for the next two hours, Lucas would possess the strength of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    "Noisy." Lucas muttered.


    In the next second, the helokiel disappeared and appeared beside him, waving its claw towards him.


    *Bang*


    Lucas'' left palm opened wide and caught the helokiel''s claw, leaving the monster dumbfounded.


    "Ro-"


    *Bam*


    A punch greeted the helokiel''s face, shutting it up halfway through its roar.


    "I said you''re being noisy." Lucas coldly stated.


    His gaze was like that from the deepest depths of the abyss, freezing the monster and making it shiver for a bit. For a second, the helokiel was confused as to who the real beast was.


    Still holding tightly onto the monster''s claw, Lucas grabbed a part of its head -which included an eye- with his right arm, and lesser firmly on it.


    "This is for making me use my equipment before it''s completed."


    The helokiel''s covered eye could suddenly see a blue light that rapidly expanded before blasting brilliantly.


    "Roar!"


    The monster let out a mournful scream as it tried to struggle away from Lucas'' grip. It brandished its free claw at Lucas in an attempt to efficiently escape.


    Lucas didn''t hold onto it any longer, letting the monster withdraw from his reach since it was counter-attacking. He wasn''t bothered about it escaping; with the combination of his new vestige and his strength now at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, the helokiel couldn''t escape even if it were at the third level.


    "Save a bit of your voice before you lose it. You''ll be screaming like this a couple more times soon."

 Chapter 76 The Red Fangs And CDF Arrive

    [[AN: CDF is an acronyfor the City Defence Force. ]]At the outskirts of the Bayena Plain, two silhouettes were moving across the grass at a steady speed. Their aura was almost nonexistent that if someone was close by, they wouldn''t even sense or hear them. Even if one were to glance in their direction at a distance, they might confuse the silhouettes for normal creatures as the duo didn''t have a hint of stellar energy on them.


    But the truth was the opposite.


    The two figures were the wanted terrorists who had invaded the Bayena Plain and interfered with the Greendale Highschool students'' practical exercises. They were currently making their escape from the region, having gone over thirty kilometres from their previous location. Currently, they were fast approaching the border of the Bayena Plain and past that was a mountain range.


    The mountain range was a suitable place to escape from as the terrain could help shield them away from satellite view. The thick rocks could also block certain scanning signals from sare shuttles and unmanned drones.


    While dashing across the plain, the monster duo abruptly came to a halt.


    "They caught up quickly." The crossbreed smiled as he glanced backwards.


    "Ho koron bo." (I told you). The saurian grunted.


    "Whatever. You pretty much know why I had us slow down. I''d like to see how good the fighters in this backwater are. Don''t act like you aren''t interested as well."


    The saurian snorted, but didn''t speak anymore. Instead, he gazed into the distance together with his companion.


    *Hum*


    A sare shuttle appeared in mid-air, quickly closing in on the duo. Within only just three seconds, the shuttle had appeared less than one hundred metres away from the two criminals. But that wasn''t all.


    Loud humming sounds broke out as more shuttles flew over from the horizon. They were a rapid response team hurriedly gathered to vanquish the attackers. There were at least six of them and everyone was an attacking model with impressive speed designs and defence.


    They hovered to a stop less than two hundred metres away and faced the terrorists, spreading out and forming a defensive net. The two hundred metres distance might seem significant, but it was nothing to a sare shuttle. However, it was still enough to keep the passengers safe from the attacks of the terrorists.


    Drones hovered away from shuttles, flying towards the other side and surrounding the shuttles. Once the drones got into formation, they released strange blue lights that connected with each other, forming an energy net.


    All of this took less than fifteen seconds, but the two terrorists remained calm at the sight. They didn''t even bother to stop it, merely glancing at the ''show''.


    "Give it up, you''re surrounded."


    A voice sounded from the lead sare shuttle as two fighters stepped out of it, encased in armour. One of them was a woman, and someone Lucas was quite familiar with. She was a lieutenant from the Red Fangs and at the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    As for the other individual, he was a lieutenant of the Baylands City Defence Force, and similarly a fourth level stellar practitioner.


    It should be recalled that the Red Fangs unit was a security uniform concerned with Baylands City. However, unlike the City''s Patrol Corps, they usually operated outside the city, with the few internal matters being high risk cases. One of the most common tasks handled by the Red Fangs was the quelling of beast tides, usually in coordination with the City Defence Force.


    But there was also another mission handled by this combination; the dispatching of terrorist groups and individuals.


    The Greendale Highschool had earlier informed the City Defence Force of a mishap in their practical exercise, after they failed to get feedback from their staff members and the freelancers sent over. So, a Red Fangs platoon and a platoon from the Defence Force were sent over. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was because the incident had occurred outside the city and involved the disappearance of many second level fighters and a couple third level Apertures Opening stage freelancers.


    A platoon consisted of sixteen soldiers and was lead by a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. In other words, there were currently thirty two soldiers split between the first to third levels of the Apertures Opening stage, and two lieutenants at the fourth level.


    "Is that a battle suit? Interesting. I never thought I''d see one here, although it''s an inferior edition." The crossbreed smirked as he glanced at his opponents.


    "What is your decision, criminal?" The lieutenant from the Baylands City Defence Force coldly asked.


    "That''s a stupid question cause you know the answer better than I do." The crossbreed chuckled.


    "You''re not from here, are you? Why are you here and why are you doing this?" Lieutenant Lily asked.


    Saurians weren''t native species to Eretre. Even if there was one that came for a visit, they would be recorded in the planet''s database. The appropriate city-state would also be informed by the planetary Transport Security Agency and update their records about the visit.


    Baylands city-state had no record of a saurian paying a visit, so the only explanation was that the latter was coming over from a different city or snuck in.


    The first possibility could be checked by asking the planetary TSA for recent visitation records of a saurian, but that would take some time. As for second possibility, it was what they decided to go with. Regardless of whether the saurian was from a different city, he had arrived in Baylands city-state''s territory and wreaked havoc.


    Since the crossbreed was with the saurian, then their situation should be similar.


    "You''re right about us being foreigners. As for why we are doing this? Why shouldn''t we?" The crossbreed turned to her.


    "You hyumans have always felt yourself to be a more powerful species, thanks to all your countless successful campaigns. Isn''t it about time you got put in your place?"


    "By killing innocent lives?" Lily frowned at the man''s nonchalant attitude.


    "''The sins of the parents are passed onto their children. No one is innocent.'' This is a line popularly said by a certain Federation senator. How can you not be aware of it?" Chuckling once again, the crossbreed shook his head.


    "You shouldn''t be like this. I understand your situation and the mistreatment you''ve received, but you can be better than this." Lily argued.


    "Oh? What''s this? Mikolos, is she actually pitying us?" Turning to the saurian, the crossbreed showed a surprised expression. The latter however, ignored him.


    "You''re an interesting fellow. But your worldview is wrong. Well, it can''t be helped as you live in such a backwater place like this. Enough talking; I know that you''re trying to buy time. I''ve already patronised your attempt enough." The crossbreed smiled.


    Lily and the lieutenant from the City Defence Force both grimaced. The crossbreed was right about that. Their two platoons was merely a rapidly assembled strike force. Although it consisted of their members, facing up against two terrorists who had wiped out dozens of stellar practitioners at the first, second and third levels, victory wasn''t certain.


    As the duo had kept their aura to themselves, it was hard to discern their power level.


    Although the two lieutenants were at the fourth level, if their opponents were at the same level as themselves, it would be a tough fight even with their platoon members offering some backup. However, if the terrorists were stronger, it would be even more challenging to win.


    This was why Lily tried to buy time for backup.


    "I guess we have no choice. I''ll take the saurian while you handle the other guy." The man said.


    Saurians were an innately aggressive race and Thier entire physical body was a war machine. The scales all over their body was extremely solid and difficult to cut through. Without a doubt, it was most likely the strongest opponent of the two, by face value.


    Lily didn''t disagree with the man''s decision, and summoned her vestige right away. Although they were both at the same level, he was slightly strongest than her and had better equipment.


    "I hope you can entertain me a bit."


    Seeing Lily charge towards him, the crossbreed calmly smiled at her and swung his arm forward.


    *Clang*


    The sound of metal colliding with metal resounded as sparks flew off between the two.


    "Feisty." The crossbreed commented as he shoved Lily away with his arm blade.


    On each arm, there were two blades sticking out of them; one from the forearm and the other from the upper arm. These were the crossbreed''s weapons, and they were almost as solid as a Grade 2 vestige.


    The human race was disadvantaged compared to other species, not just because of their inability to utilise stellar energy, but also their physical form. Although the creation of the hyumankin had enabled them to harness stellar energy, they were still handicapped in terms of physical form.


    This was why the invention of vestiges were one of the human race''s greatest ever achievements alongside the creation of the hyumankin.


    Vestiges gave them a way to contend and kill alien species, otherwise, hyumans would not have been able to be the superior species in this part of the universe.


    *Clang* *clang*


    The crossbreed dashed at Lily and swung both arms crazily, with each action moving from a difficult angle. Compared to a sword or any other bladed weapon that was an external aspect, blades that literally stuck out from one''s arms were somewhat at an advantage.


    "Come on. Faster, faster." laughed the crossbreed as he turned his attack speed up a notch.


    Lily remained calm and cold, responding to every strike with a slash of her sabre [1].


    After a short bout, the two separated and stared at the other.


    "Do you know what the outside world looks like?"

 Chapter 77 There Is No Justice

    "Do you ever wonder what the reality of the outside world is like?" The crossbreed suddenly asked."The reality of the world outside? What do you mean?"


    Lily stared at him in confusion. She could guess that he referred to the other solar systems and planets ruled by the hyumankin, but Lily still didn''t understand his question.


    "I guess you don''t." The man smiled.


    "You''re probably taught about how magnificent the world outside is, or how amazing the society out there is. Of the prosperity that exists without comparison, and the peace that thrives just like the lotus on a lake. Of the strength the practitioners wield and of how the hyumankin advances step by step, facing no solid obstruction nor observing any pause.


    Taking it one step further, you''re made to believe in how there is equality and justice, and how every race or species are treated the same, whether victor or vanquished.


    "What a joke." The crossbreed scoffed.


    "There is no peace that thrives without the suffering of another. No prosperity is achieved without exploitation. With each step hyumankin takes in the universe, many alien races fall to the cold hands of death and face extinction.


    "What about the ideology of equality that is being preached? It is a mere illusion; a painting on a wall, created to hide away the dark reality that every species face behind that wall.


    "In life, there is no justice."


    "Absurd. You don''t know what you''re saying." Lily refuted.


    The crossbreed chuckled calmly and he responded.


    "Oh, but I do. Unlike you, I''ve been to the outside world. I witnessed not just the harsh reality of this world, but that of the so called ''justice''. In fact, I didn''t just witness it; I lived and breathed in it."


    Lily hesitated as she saw how serious he was.


    Lily Mayer was someone who firmly believed in justice and the rule of law. Even though she kept a cold face, she was actually quite considerate about other species. Take for instance how she came to Lucas'' rescue when he first transmigrated into this world, preventing him from being taken away by the kidnapper trio.


    There was also how she let Lucas go even after the murder he committed in broad daylight, on the account that it was self-defence, which was a valid reason. If it were someone else, they would treat Lucas harshly, especially if they knew that he was a human.


    However, Lily didn''t look at one''s race of species in negative light. Since the law had stated that all species under the federation were equal, she held steadfast to that belief and presumed it was so, especially on a broader scale. This was why Lily always hated terrorists and couldn''t understand them.


    While it was true that the hyumankin had destroyed their civilisation and seized their lands, all was fair in war. Even after that, the hyumankin had shown mercy, not wiping them out despite their losses and still returning a portion of lands back to the original owners. They were also granted rights, freedom and access to the technology the hyumankin possessed.


    With such great compensatory treatment, there was less of a reason why one should engage in terrorism.


    But the truth was different, and terrorism became such a serious issue in the galaxy, to the point that even individual planets, like Eretre, were affected.


    Listening to the crossbreed''s speech, Lily understood a bit, but she still refused to believe it. She was convinced that while there might be people who looked down on other species and disliked them, they only existed in backwater places like this. In the grand scheme of the universe and the world outside, where the law was more firm and stable, there was peace, and acceptance.


    As for the terrorists who existed, they were simply people bored of the status quo, and desired to change it radically. They were also alien species who had lost to the hyumankin and wanted to regain back their honour, and not individuals who were mistreated.


    This was Lily Mayer''s belief.


    "You''re lying." Lily firmly refuted.


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    "You still refuse to believe me, huh? I guess it has to do with the fact that people like you, who were born in this backwater, could easily relate with other species. What''s the average mDNA count here? 18-22%?" The crossbreed held his chin as he revealed. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "With it being so low, it''s no wonder why the ''hate'' here is just average. In the outside world, anyone at your level would merely be relegated to beginner roles, and the treatment you would receive might as well be the same as that offered to other races. In summary, it doesn''t matter whether you believe or not, as you are not much different from us.


    "The truth will forever remain the truth and nothing more. You wouldn''t know that until you see it."


    The crossbreed said confidently.


    *Whoosh*


    Lily widened her eyes abruptly as a figure appeared in front of her. She immediately moved her sabre and blocked in front of her.


    *Clang*


    A blade appeared in front of her, being hindered by her sabre. However, that wasn''t all.


    The crossbreed attacked with his other arm, utilising both blades attached to it forced Lily into a retreat.


    "Ha!"


    The battle suit Lily wore suddenly glowed purple as the energy in it exploded.


    Battle suits were special types of vestiges made with different components and parts. The aim of a battle suit was to increase one''s overall strength, or in some cases, a particular aspect.


    Lily''s battle suit was equivalent to a high quality Grade 2 vestige, and it was very powerful; at least more so than a single Grade 2 equipment.


    She responded to the attack of the crossbreed vehemently, managing to make a mark on his skin, forcing the opponent away.


    "That''s the spirit! Let''s make some music and dance to the rhythm."


    The crossbreed laughed as he re-engaged Lily in a fierce battle.


    The two continuously attacked each other, forming craters on the ground after every failed attack. Even though they were only at the fourth level, their attack and reaction speeds were far ahead that of a regular hyuman. At times, there would be blurs flashing round the area as they moved at the speed of a race car.


    The platoon crew could only remain in their shuttles and monitor the situation from inside. This battle was beyond their capabilities and if they were to attack with the sare shuttles, they would risk hitting the wrong target.


    Instead, the crew tightened their surveillance of the surroundings and deployed anti-escape equipment to prevent the terrorists from running away. Some of them also contacted the approaching reinforcements and urged them to hurry over.


    Occasionally, Lily would glance on the other side to see how her partner had been holding. However, compared to her, the man was having a much harder time.


    Saurians didn''t speak like hyumans and they were also an aggressive race, so it didn''t give the man any breathing space as the crossbreed did with Lily. It was only natural for the man to have been having such a hard right from the start, even if he was stronger than Lily. However, he still held on and wasn''t in a disastrous situation. He even managed to get a few hits in.


    After a minute of constant clashing and intense battling, the crossbreed said,


    "I''m tired of this farce."

 Chapter 78 97% Mortality Rate

    "I''m tired of this farce."As the crossbreed said this, he gave up on defence as he launched a self-inflicting tactic against Lily. He was wide open to her attack, ignoring it while swinging both arms at her.


    Lily was immediately taken aback by the act, but responded quickly by lunging towards the side.


    The crossbreed waved his left arm and took a nick at Lily''s armour, leaving a mark on it.


    "You guys are too inefficient with your powers. Fourth level Apertures Opening stage and you depend so much on your vestige. Well, what can I expect from people living on the fringes. With all that power and all you can do is wave a stick, how laughable."


    Snickering, the crossbreed stretched his hand towards Lily with the palm facing her.


    "Let me show you how to truly use stellar energy."


    Suddenly, a small gust of air flowed by as a swirl of stellar energy gathered in front of the crossbreed''s palm. A green-black ball of stellar energy was taking shape on his palm and it evoked a sense of danger from Lily''s instincts.


    Just as the crossbreed was about to attack, he suddenly raised his eyebrows with his lower pair of eyes widening abruptly. The hand that held onto the energy ball quickly turned to the side and aimed to the sky.


    *Vroom*


    The green-black ball of energy exploded into four green-black energy beams, as thick as an adult''s arm, that shot into the air.


    In mid-air, another energy beam, even thicker, was rapidly descending towards the crossbreed. However, it met with the green-black beans instead and collided into them.


    *Boom*


    The two attacks crashed into each other and set off a magnificent explosion in midair. Radiation burst from the point of collision as a stunning yet lethal aurora formed right after. However, that wasn''t all.


    Almost immediately, more beams of sizzling energy shot down from the small fleet of sare shuttles, simultaneously targeted at the crossbreed.


    The crossbreed didn''t have enough time to think and simply raised both arms up, shielding his face.


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


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    Multiple beams struck him, scorching the ground black and raising a large amount of dust into the air. The explosions were so powerful and loud that even the saurian and the lieutenant from the City Defence Force paused their battle and looked that way.


    "Ginon..." The saurian said as it stared at the centre of the explosion.


    Lily had already retreated after the attack, and she gazed at the scene, narrowing her eyes at the location of the crossbreed.


    "Did we get him?" A voice sounded from her battle suit.


    It turned out that there was a communicator on it, and Lily had used it to signal the fleet to attack.


    "Good job." Lily commented, "but it''s not over yet."


    "How come?" The speaker on the other side was surprised by her conjecture.


    Lily, however, didn''t reply and remained staring at the area.


    A gasp could be heard on the other side of Lily''s communicator, but she didn''t even notice it. Rather, her focus was on the alarming energy signal she could sense from the centre of the explosion.


    "Haha. That was a nice party trick." The crossbreed''s voice sounded from the centre of the area.


    The crossbreed waved his arm once, shoving away all the dust in the area. His stature was revealed to the open, devoid of any critical injury or harm. There were only a few burnt patches on his red skin with a portion of his hair being gone. Apart from this, the only injury worthy of note was a ping-pong sized hole on his left arm.


    "You..." Lily''s eyes were wide open as if she had seen a ghost.


    She wasn''t dismayed at the fact that the crossbreed survived that assault without any serious injuries, although that in of itself was shocking. Lily''s speechless expression instead laid in what she sensed from his body.


    "This energy...it can''t be."


    "You know, you guys almost caught me there. If I were a regular fourth level practitioner, I would be dead, or at the very least, lost half my body. Unfortunately, you weren''t aware of my full capability."


    From the body of the crossbreed, the aura radiated was no longer that of a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, but a fifth level.


    "I was really thinking of holding back all through, but you forced my hand." The crossbreed sighed.


    He then waved his right hand in the direction of the small fleet of six sare shuttles. Even the seventh shuttle which was used by the lieutenants to arrive was targeted.


    A bizarre and invisible vibration coursed through the air at the speed of sound, reaching the shuttles before they even noticed it. When the waves touched the shuttles, they were immediately torn apart. There was no explosion, no flames, or any backward movement; the shuttles were simply shredded into metal scraps.


    Some of the scraps were stained red or with fleshy parts stuck to them, but neither Lily nor the other lieutenant paid attention to this. They were appalled by the ability the crossbreed had demonstrated. That wasn''t a simple manifestation of stellar energy; that was a superpower.


    For hyumans, only at the tenth level would they possess such due to their inadequate physical form. There might be exceptions, but even they could only utilise a tiny bit of their innate superpower. But the same wasn''t so for alien species. Unlike hyumans, most alien species could use stellar energy and even more so, had innate superpowers.


    The more superior races could already use it right from birth.


    The crossbreed was born of both a hyuman and an alien species, so he possessed the qualities of both sides. Hence, it wasn''t strange for him to be able to have an innate superpower at the fifth level rather than the tenth level.


    The saurian, not wanting to be left behind, similarly burst out in power.


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    The lieutenant tried to retreat, but the alien, despite its heavy body, flashed and reappeared in front of him, sticking one of its legs through his body


    "Puah."


    The lieutenant puked out blood with his eyes wide open.


    As the saurian, Mikolos, pulled out its leg, the lieutenant collapsed to the ground with blood rapidly flowing from the new hole in his body.


    "We have to get going." The crossbreed, Ginon, sighed.


    "In my eyes, you''re no different from us, but even more pitiful. So, I''ll spare you today. Bye~" Ginon smiled before tossing out a strange orb behind.


    The orb exploded and formed a blackhole which he and Mikolos stepped into before it closed up.


    Thirty-four stellar practitioners were sent on seven sare shuttles to take down the terrorists. Even if they couldn''t, they were expected to hold them back just long enough for reinforcements to arrive.


    However, in less than seven minutes, thirty three (33) of the thirty four (34) practitioners were killed; a mortality rate of 97% percent.

 Chapter 79 Uproar

    "Good morning everybody. This is the Baylands City News Network, or BCNN for short, and I''m your host for the Sunrise Programme, Fiona Von Aurst." [1]A blonde lady white yellowish skin and blue eyes sat in front of a desk and faced the camera. The news was being displayed live to multiple devices, and almost everyone in Baylands City was tuned in to it. Even the public squares in the five major districts had their display screens tuned in on the channel.


    "On today''s programme, I bring you breaking news, and I mean this both literally and figuratively. We''ve just received and confirmed information that yesterday, a group of students, along with their staff and a few freelancers on protective duty, were killed by terrorists; radicals who seek to usurp the current peace of the galaxy.


    "The affected institution was the Greendale Highschool located in the West Wing district''s Sinol street. According to our investigations, more than sixty casualties were recorded; a mix of students, academy staff, hired freelancers and members of the Baylands City Defence Force and Patrol Corps wing, the Red Fangs.


    The perpetrators have been identified as two terrorists involved: a crossbreed between a hyuman and an Evonika; and a saurian, both suspected to be at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. They have been accused of not only directly attacking the victims, but also drugging the desolate beasts in the area, increasing their abilities and violent tendencies.


    This in turn created a chaotic situation that was too difficult for the students of the practical tests to handle on their own, leading to dramatic losses and deaths.


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    "Further investigation on the identities of the culprits have yet to be confirmed, but we can assume that they might still be within the territory of Baylands city-state.


    "As a result, a notice from the Baylands City Lord Office has been released. Everyone is to move with caution and report any suspicious activities or individuals to the Patrol Corps or the Defence Force."


    On the screens of the viewers, there were two images displayed alongside the reporter. They were the images of the crossbreed and the saurian. After displaying the images for a short while, it switched to the scene of the incident, where the corpses of the freelancer and staff were being carried out by the medics.


    Many people stared horrified at their devices. Deaths weren''t so common, especially to people who didn''t work in the line of Freelancers. Even for those who did, such a large casualty count from one incident was very rare in the industry.


    The news of the attack had stunned everyone and it reminded them that even with the peace that existed, there were some who still threatened it with the power they held.


    Some of those watching the news were parents who had sent their kids off for the practicals three days ago. Others were relatives or even spouses of the freelancers and Defence Force soldiers who had passed away. Tears streamed down their eyes as they watched the news.


    While a few of them had been informed of the situation the previous day, not everyone got the memo in time. Finding out that their loved one had passed away in the morning news was definitely not how they planned to start their day.


    "Death to all foreign races!"


    No one knew who yelled it first at the public square of the Eastern Creek district [2], but very soon, many others joined to do so. Even in the public square of West Wing district, which was the most affected by the news, there were ongoing shouts and chants for alien species to be strictly monitored and investigated.


    Some even went one step further and called for all humans to be taken into custody, and the city-state of Digress to be brought to ''justice''.


    A furore suddenly broke out in the two most populous districts of Baylands City; the West Wing district to the west, and the Eastern Creek district to the east. The Patrol Corps hurried to keep things under control and prevent a riot from bursting out, but the people were still allowed to protest as it was their right.


    The anger in the air was evident, and even some members of the Patrol Corps were influenced by the news this morning. Some of them are related to the victims while another group was friends with them.


    One should recall that the Red Fangs were a division of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. The two organisations were closely related and had worked a few times on cases within the city, so it was inevitable for members of both sides to get familiar with each other.


    Hearing that their friends who they drank with, laughed with, or celebrated with, were now dead, some still felt the situation to be unreal


    With the ongoing protests and chaos, the City Lord''s office quickly organized a meeting to discuss their next measures.


    Originally, the news about the attack wasn''t supposed to be broadcast, but with the massive casualty rates, there was no way to keep it under wraps for long. Apart from that, some of the freelancers and staff had survived due to being mobilised elsewhere, like rescuing the students for instance. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    They leaked the news to their colleagues and those related to the deceased, and as the circle of those knowledgeable increased, it eventually got to the ears of some media company. These media companies circulated the information quickly the previous day, and the City Lord Office was forced to act.


    The City Lord Office at that time, had decided to use the city''s official media, the BCNN, to make a formal announcement about the deaths. This was because if the people were not given an answer to unconfirmed information circulating from the other media channels, they might lose faith in the government.


    With his reputation slightly damaged due to this incident, the current city lord decided to focus on damage control. This was why they made the announcement in the end. Since some of the people already knew and the majority would find out in the end, it was better to admit to the incident having taken place and make some reparations for it.


    Of course that alone wasn''t enough, but the government planned to perform 200% of the usual and crackdown on all crimes during this period.


    Regardless of whatever reason the City Lord Office had or whatever decision they would take, it was no doubt that the recent incident had sparked a strong sense of hate in the hearts of many.

 Chapter 80 The Board Of Trustees Visit

    After saving Wally, Lucas escorted him and Klein out of the area. As it turned out, Klein wasn''t dead yet, but was close to being so. With second level Apertures Opening stage power for the next two hours, leaving the Bayena Plain while watching over two teens wasn''t an issue for Lucas. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.The Bayena Plain was mostly home to abominations and desolate beasts below the third level, and with his new vestige, even third level monsters might not be an issue to take on.


    When he brought the duo to a safe location, which was very close to a temporary shelter set up by security forces and the academy, Lucas reminded Wally not to mention that he was there no matter the circumstance. He also made up a suitable fake story for Wally, before returning back to the store.


    It was currently the next day; Lucas, just like seventy percent of the Baylands City population, was watching the news report on the Baylands City News Network. Although he was in Bayena Plain just the other day, Lucas didn''t get to look around much, so he wasn''t aware of the casualty rate or how deadly the event was.


    ''I should really stay in the store more often.'' Lucas thought.


    Having used his last Bronze grade card, Lucas was truly powerless. The new vestige might be powerful, but without having stellar energy, Lucas couldn''t utilise its true power. Until the set was complete, activities far from the store would have to be postponed.


    "System, when will you fix my condition?" Lucas asked as he recalled that the system stated it had a way for him to use stellar energy in the future.


    "When the system reaches level 5, the host would be able to utilise stellar energy." The system responded.


    "Level five? What level are you at now?"


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    "After the host had opened the store, the system had stepped into the first level."


    "How can I get you to level up faster?"


    "Missions related to the system''s growth would occasionally be released. Also, completing regular missions, whether created by the system or originally programmed for the host, would grant the system a random number of points which would aid the system''s growth."


    "Hold up, shouldn''t it be the other way around? Shouldn''t I be getting experience points or something?" Lucas froze. This wasn''t what he read in those web novels.


    "The host doesn''t think you can simply get stronger by doing random missions, do you? Wouldn''t that invalidate the efforts of others who have been working hard? Or those who have been born superiorly talented?"


    Lucas was speechless at the system''s retort. On one hand, it had a point, on the other hand, he never expected it to give such a response.


    Sighing, Lucas gave up arguing and asked another question.


    "How difficult would it be to get to level five? Is it close or far?"


    "Well, five minus one is four, and four isn''t really a big number."


    Lucas was once again dumbfounded.


    "If I didn''t know any better, I''ll genuinely think you''re against me."


    Lucas gave up the topic and focused back to reality. Although the system has joked around, which was something quite rare, it did answer his questions in a roundabout manner. Getting to level five wouldn''t be so difficult and merely be a matter of time. However, how strong he would become in the future still largely depended on him.


    The system''s only role was to raise a Crafts-God, not a Battle God, so strength wasn''t an important point of focus for it. It would provide him with materials, training manuals and even equipment to improve his skill; the system might even help him with stellar refining. But as for battle techniques, skills and anything fight-related, Lucas would have to figure all that by himself.


    Luckily, he was a transmigrated body and soul from a magical world.


    *Ding*


    Just then, the doorbell rung, signalling a guest in the store. Lucas, seated on the checkout counter, raised his head and stared towards the entrance.


    Three hyumans had walked in. They all appeared different, with one of them having pale skin and black hair while another had a slightly yellow skintone and brown hair. The last man had medium-fair skin with purple hair. They scanned the area before walking towards him.


    The dressing of all three was quite formal, and from the way they carried themselves, it was obvious that they were people of somewhat high standings.


    "How can I help you?" Lucas glanced at them and asked.


    "Are you Mr Lucas Saunters?" One of the three men, the one with the black hair and pale skin, asked.


    "Yes." Lucas replied.


    The man immediately smiled and introduced himself.


    "Hello. I''m Mr. Gerald Veltmann, a manager at Norsegold Co. I''m also a board member for the Greendale Highschool Board of Trustees. These are fellow members of the board as well."


    "Hi, I''m a Dean at that academy." The man with brown hair and yellow skin stretched out his hand.


    Lucas shook the hand, and nodded, turning over to the last man who similarly did the same.


    "I''m also a member of the board of trustees."


    "I''m sure you''re confused, but we''re simply here to thank you for your aid yesterday." The Dean said.


    "Aid?" Lucas froze.


    Before he left, he had sternly informed Wally not to let anyone know of what happened as it might bring trouble for him. Lucas was confident that Wally would follow his orders to the last letter, so he was confused as to how they found out. The communication network was also down during the time, so it was technically impossible for him to have been noticed.


    ''Did they really find out?''


    "Indeed. A student by the name Wally O''Connor had helped save a couple of students with a vestige from your store. From our findings, the success of his rescue operations was largely dependent on the vestige. Although it doesn''t seem like much to you, we still needed to thank you for your efforts."


    Lucas calmed down but was still quite surprised.


    It seemed that Wally had participated in a rescue operation after he dropped him off at the temporary shelter. Lucas could guess that there weren''t many security personnel on ground at that time, so they were forced to work alongside some student volunteers to rescue the other students.


    From what the news had reported, the terrorists had used some sort of drug to stimulate a couple of the desolate beasts, strengthening them by a random percentage. In the case of the helokiel, it had experienced an increase in level after the drug treatment.


    This had caused the students to be in dire straits, and any further hesitation on the part of the rescue team would have lead to more deaths. The mass wipeout of the rapid response teams made things more difficult for the academy''s personnel. One hand, they needed to provide reinforcements to capture the perpetrators, and on another hand, they had to send in more men to rescue the students.


    The surviving staff and freelancers were few and only at the first level, which wasn''t enough to move alone in the Bayena Plain, even more so with the desolate beasts more aggressive than ever.


    Forming squads with a mix of talented students and surviving staff members and freelancers was the best option at the time.


    "That was nothing. It was simply a transaction." Lucas honestly replied.


    It was indeed a transaction and one he hoped would turn into an advertisement. There were changes to the original procedure, but it seemed like the end result was the same.


    "Oh please. We still have to offer our thanks for that." The dean smiled before handing a card to Lucas.


    "It''s a simple thank you from us at the board of trustees. Twenty federal coins." The dean smiled.


    Lucas was pleasantly struck by this. Twenty might sound like a small number, but when the follow-up words were ''federal coins'', it was anything but small.


    Twenty federal coins were enough for one to order a table full of food in a fancy restaurant, four times. In a more practical usage, it was enough to feed an individual in lower districts (the other fifteen districts) for a month. Even in the West Wing district, it was the equivalent of five percent of the minimum salary.


    Nonetheless, in a place like Baylands City, it was somewhat the equivalent of a tip for some of the more wealthy folks.

 Chapter 81 Interested Partner

    "It''s a simple thank you from us at the board of trustees. Twenty federal coins." The dean smiled as he handed Lucas a prepaid debit card filled with twenty federal coins.In the Vinis pawnshop, such a card was worth twenty federal coins, so in total, one could say that the ''reward'' was worth forty federal coins. However, Lucas wasn''t moved by it.


    A custom Grade 1 vestige would go for at least five hundred federal coins, and could go higher depending on the choice of materials and design. A standard version was cheaper, albeit reaching at least three hundred and fifty federal coins. Some versions even sold for up to four hundred.


    Thanks to the system''s high quality standards, Lucas'' items sold much higher than market price. The standard items sold for at least fifty percent (50%) higher, whilst the custom items sold for at least two hundred percent (200%) higher.


    This means that, even after considering the system''s 75% ''taxation rate'', Lucas would make at least one hundred and thirty one (131) federal coins on the cheapest Grade 1 vestige. For a Grade 1 custom item at base price, he would make at least two hundred and fifty federal coins. Hence, the ''generous'' tip from the board didn''t attract much of his attention.


    ''Rather than this, it would be great if they have some way to help me cut down the system''s tax rate or level up at least.'' Lucas thought.


    Lucas had once found out that one of the perks of the system''s leveling up was the decrease in its on boarding fee percentage. As long as the system gets to the second level, it would drop from seventy five percent (75%) to fifty percent (50%), and even further as it levels up.


    The system''s justification for the onboarding fee was to prevent Lucas from getting complacent with his earnings and to urge him to fulfill missions and work harder. While he didn''t like this, Lucas had to admit it was unfortunately effective. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Who wouldn''t want to pay less taxes?


    Coming back to reality, Lucas shook his head and didn''t accept the card, which made the dean a bit surprised.


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    "I''ll be more grateful if you patronise my business." Lucas pointed over to the collection of vestiges displayed on the other side of the lobby.


    "Oh, about that," Mr. Gerald Veltmann, the manager from Norsegold Co., interrupted.


    ''Here it comes.'' Lucas thought.


    He wasn''t a dummy and knew that the visit by these men wasn''t to reward him for any act of service. What Lucas had done was what any dealer or vendor would do, which was to sell their products. Even if it was an impressive work, there was no reason for Wally''s actions and achievements to be attributed to Lucas for his act of selling a vestige to Wally in the first place.


    It was clear that these men were after something else, and the ''reward'', was merely a means to bring themselves closer to him and make Lucas feel as if he owed them.


    "I saw your products in action and I''m quite interested in them." The man said.


    Lucas wasn''t familiar with the name Norsegold Co., but he could easily figure out that they were a trading company with some stocks in the vestige market; the weapons branch to be exact.


    "Oh?" Lucas appeared to be interested.


    Mr Gerald smiled friendly while his eyes flashed cunningly.


    "That''s right. I don''t know whether you''re aware, but my company, Norsegold Co., it a leading trading company in various freelancer materials and equipment. We also deal in the sale of weapon vestiges and have many branches across Baylands city-state. We would like to form a partnership with you, purchasing your goods at a solid market price rate.


    In other words, we hope you can be a supplier for our store."


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, slightly interested in the idea. However, it was merely an interest. He had no intentions of working under anybody, or doing more than necessary.


    One shouldn''t forget that Lucas only loves his hobby of burying himself in the workshop or reading about metals and materials, and nothing else; otherwise, the system wouldn''t have been giving him abrupt missions or limiting his finances.


    "The host should sincerely consider the idea of running the store properly." The system''s voice sounded in his ears. By ''running the store properly'', the system didn''t mean partnering up with some one or cooperation, but to just do exactly the literal meaning; to run the store properly.


    "Sure thing." Lucas replied with an unenthusiastic expression.


    "What would the details be?" Lucas asked Gerald Veltmann, wanting to know whether there would be an opportunity to work together in the future or not.


    Although he wasn''t skilled enough to run a mega company, Lucas has some experience in day-to-day trading activities. One shouldn''t forget that in his first life, Lucas was a blacksmith and had to run a store at one point to make a living. He had been fleeced a couple of times back then, before becoming experienced in the market.


    Apart from that, Lucas had also occasionally read some topics at random, one of which was a bit of marketing and another was contract law; but only a little bit.


    The first was due to just a random interest while the second was because Lucas needed to understand how contracts work. After he became popular in the material engineering society, there were many companies and countries interested in working with him, so it was important that he knew what each cooperation meant.


    "Ah. For that, I would have to discuss it with the vestige-smith as well." Mr Gerald said.


    "I''m the vestige-smith." Lucas curtly responded.


    Mr Gerald froze for a second, ridicule and vexation flashing through his eyes, before he composed himself right away.


    "Oh really? That''s interesting."


    Although the words were said nicely, for some reason, Lucas could feel a hint of sarcasm in them. He has also noticed the expression in Gerald''s eyes, as his powerful soul strength has heightened his senses.


    "Regarding that, it''s quite simple you see. Norsegold Co. would have priority pick for all your vestiges and purchase them at a rate ten percent above market price. We''ll purchase at least ninety percent of your creations as long as the quality fits our taste, so you don''t need to be worried about sales. For more details, you can go through this preliminary contract if you''re interested."


    A document was projected onto the air right after that. Lucas pointed his communicator at it and the document immediately flashed into it.


    This was a pretty common feature of communicators. One could download a hologram by simply pointing their communicator towards it. As long as the hologram was displayed with a public share feature, it would be downloaded into the device.


    After downloading the document, Lucas didn''t respond but began to browse through it. It was quite thick for a preliminary contract, having at least through pages, but this wasn''t a problem for Lucas. A stronger soul meant stronger mental abilities, including mental focus, which in turn meant faster brain processing speed and reading speed.


    It only took Lucas less than five minutes to flip through the document and he had just one sentence to say: this man had some balls.

 Chapter 82 Failed Talks

    To summarise the document, it would give the Norsegold Co. priority pick in any vestige he makes. This meant that they would get to decide whether they want to keep it for themselves or not before anyone else, which included Lucas himself. As long as the vestige was to their liking, the Norsegold Co. would buy it at a price ten percent higher than market price.This sounded nice to the ears, but one should recall that based on the system''s price settings, Lucas'' vestiges already sold at least fifty percent above market price. The system would never settle for less. Even if Lucas did, there was still the seventh five percent ''tax'' rate, which would make his earnings even lower.


    From a considerable one hundred and thirty one (131) federal coins in profit to only ninety six (96) federal coins, which was roughly a twenty seven percent (27%) drop in profits.


    What''s more, when the system''s rates drop after it reaches level two, the loss margin would be even wider.


    The drop in profits wasn''t the only problem with this clause. Norsegold Co. agreed to buy at ten percent of market price, which made it seem impressive, but in truth, Lucas'' vestiges could sell for more. They were made utilising never before seen magic runes, and encompassing a bit of his knowledge together with the new ideology he thought up.


    In summary, they were novel to the industry, which inherently increased their value. If launched properly, ignoring the system''s pricing scheme, they could sell for at least thirty percent above market price or much more.


    Giving Lucas ten percent above market price was quite unfair, considering that the work of production would fall onto him alone. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But this wasn''t all.


    All vestiges sold to Norsegold Co. would be tagged as unbranded. This meant that the former could simply claim to have produced them in-house and brand it as an original product. It didn''t just stop at the vestiges, but the R&D (Research and Development) rights would also be handed over to Norsegold Co.


    Which means that the production method and the rights to expand on those, would automatically become Norsegold''s.


    This might sound simple, but there existed a devious layer of trap in this clause.


    Once the production method belonged to Norsegold Co., Lucas would have to request permission to be able to forge a similar vestige again. If he forged a vestige using the same runes and production method as the vestiges sold to Norsegold Co., they could sue him for intellectual property infringement.


    This simply meant that they would sue Lucas for using ''their production method'', although it was initially his. This part wasn''t mentioned in the contract, but it was obvious to Lucas that this is what would take place.


    There was also another clause in the contract that stated that Lucas wouldn''t be able to cancel the deal for the next five years without paying a hefty sum in termination fees (fees paid as penalty for breaking a contract).


    In summary, this wasn''t a partnership contract or anything that Gerald made it to be; it was a thieving contract.


    This was why Lucas'' first thought, after skimming through the document, was to curse the man.


    "So, how about it?" Gerald asked once he noticed that Lucas'' atttention was brought back to reality.


    "I''ll pass." Lucas shook his head at the question.


    "If the pay isn''t to your liking, we can discuss that." Gerald said, but Lucas remained firm in his decision.


    How could it only be the payment rate that would be discussed?


    Seeing the behaviour of Gerald, Lucas had decided to eliminate any possibilities of cooperation with the Norsegold Co. Not to talk about the fact that this wasn''t even a cooperation, but a disgustingly thieving contract.


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    A subtle glint flashed in Gerald''s eyes after facing an unexpected rejection from Lucas, but he didn''t let it get to him.


    "No problem. Please contact me if you decide to change your mind, or if you need anything."


    Gerald placed a card on the counter before nodding to the other men and leaving. After Gerald, it turned out that the third man, the one with purple hair, was also a worker for a different company. He presented Lucas with a slightly better offer, but none were entertained by Lucas.


    The dean had similarly departed with the rest, but he didn''t give Lucas any offer. It seemed as if he was had been there to escort them or something else, but Lucas didn''t bother.


    For the moment, his attention was on how to dealt with the next wave of guests. These two has probably capitalized in their position as members of the board of trustees to get first-hand information and make it here. However, with time, there would be more agents and companies finding out exactly what happened the previous day.


    Some would also get interested in the vestige Lucas made and might either try to get it off Wally''s hands for research, or just come to meet him; the last option being the more likely one.


    Lucas wasn''t interested in a deal, but recalling the ''one hundred new customers'' mission, he had to do something to spread the awareness of his store.


    Lucas also found out that the system was against him selling the store or any rights, and working as an employee of anyone else. In the system''s opinion, to be the most suitable host and candidate for the Crafts-God role, Lucas would have to maintain the store himself and exhibit a certain level of independence; something he wouldn''t be able to do as an employee.


    He would however, be able to hire employees, but that was after the system''s next level up.


    For the moment, Lucas'' main focus was on his growth and the mission. He let the matter about cooperation rest at the back of his mind as he knew that a sincere partner would be rare to find.


    Wally''s vestige was a trial product at the new ideology, but it wasn''t what Lucas created to truly stun people. If there was one suitable, it would be his new vestige -the pair of gauntlets-, but those weren''t for sale. Lucas was already working on something suitable, and it would be ready by the next day.

 Chapter 83 The Suspicions Of The Public

    The next day, things played out as Lucas had predicted, while he was busy at the store.Try as they might, the academy wasn''t able to keep information regarding the day of the event a secret, especially since the Baylands City News Network had already confirmed it took place. Due to this, many media channels had interviewed a couple of students, staff and freelancers who were present that day, to get a proper understanding of what exactly took place.


    From the retelling, they found out that a few students had actually teamed up with the adults to rescue their colleagues. The media teams then focused their efforts on interviewing these students and covering the event.


    In order to reduce the criticism for not providing proper security, despite having hired freelancers to be on duty that day, the Greendale Highschool decided to aid these media teams by providing some footage from the day and allowing the staff to be interviewed regarding the event. Stay tuned with empire


    Naturally, the staff were to mention that the academy had made a lot of security preparations and the attack was out of their capability. Also, the security footage released were those that displayed the academy''s efforts to control the situation and rescue their students after the desolate beasts had changed.


    This was all done in a bid to present the academy in good lighting, and wash away the stain on their record as much as possible.


    In some of those videos were the fights of the students who participated in rescue operations. The idea was to show that the Greendale Highschool, despite being a subsidiary of a pure school of the Technical path, could train talents of the Practical path.


    The Heavenly Trio had caught the most attention, being the strongest of the final year students. Their fame wasn''t just due to their strength, but their skills and battle awareness. Many in the media team were wowed by their performances and couldn''t wait to interview them. However, some others also managed to stand out, one of them being Wally.


    When his battle clip was checked, the media team wasn''t as impressed as they were when watching any of the Heavenly Trio, but they soon noticed something. Wally''s fighting style might have looked a bit crude, but he had a lot of potential. The professionals amongst them could even see that he had only recently received some sort of special training.


    However, what really grabbed everyone''s attention was the power of the vestige.


    "Incredible. It appears to be a Grade 1 vestige, but its power is closely approaching Grade 2. I''ve never heard of a vestige-smith who could pull off something like this."


    "Look at the runes on them. It''s unlike anything I''ve ever seen before."


    Many of these men in the media team needed to work in dangerous regions and so, they had a certain level of power, reaching at least the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage. All of them were well versed with freelancer terms and equipment, so they could easily spot what separated Wally''s vestige from the rest.


    "That technique used with the vestige, it kind of reminds me of some cold-type weapons with the complex nature; the Magi branch."


    In the weapon branch of vestige-smithing, there were two main ideologies or factions: the Forger faction and the Multiplex factions. These were the two that had existed since time immemorial and still held the ruling positions. However, as of recent, a new school had been on the rise in the weapons branch.


    To be exact, it wasn''t really an independent school and more of a sub-branch in the Forger faction. They were called the Magi branch.


    The Magi branch was a vestige-smithing school of thought that created vestiges using technology gotten from ancient civilisations who used a system similar to stellar refinement. However, this system approached what the humans had called magic.


    An example of a vestige made by the Magi branch is the main vestige of Lisa, one of the two vice guild leaders of the Autumn''s Gate guild [1]. Her vestige was a black streamer with inlaid special gems on them. Those gems were a product made using the techniques of an ancient civilisation.


    They were what made the streamer powerful, otherwise it would have been nothing more than a piece of material with impressive defensive property. The gems contained special spells within them that would activate once the appropriate keyword was uttered by the wielder.


    Compared to traditional cold-type vestiges, the vestiges of the Magi branch were more mysterious, but they still abide by the ideologies of the Forger faction. For instance, there was no need for knowledge of physics, chemistry or engineering when smithing a vestige of the Magi branch.


    It also wasn''t as complicated as building a ray-gun for this reason, but it was more difficult than forging a spear [2]. Vestiges of the Magi branch also required high quality materials just like other Forger faction vestiges.


    Back to the point, some reporters felt that Wally''s vestige was a product of a vestige-smith from the Magi branch, but such individuals were scarcer than vestige-smiths of the Multiplex faction. There were only three known vestige-smiths of the Magi branch in Baylands city-state, and they all resided in the Central Prefecture.


    An average student from the Greendale Highschool would have no connection there, much less to those vestige-smiths.


    The reporters had also confirmed that Wally didn''t come from wealth, so after a round of questioning, they finally found out where he got it.


    The Seven Sparks Forge.


    The name was unique and unheard of for these reporters who were familiar with all top freelancer stores. However, they were sure that Wally didn''t lie to them.


    Some of them continued their investigations and interviews, while a few actually smelled a story and left for the store right away.


    For Lucas, who wanted to have a one day break after his ''stressful activity the previous day'', he was deemed not to have one right away.


    Speaking of Lucas, he was currently focused on one of his two major projects.


    Many suspected his vestige to be following the path of the Magi branch, but Lucas knew it wasn''t. He was aware of the Magi branch, as they seemed to create items similar to the magic weapons from his past life. Using that knowledge, Lucas could easily have blended as one of them, but that wasn''t what he wanted. Lucas hoped to take the world by storm and start something that had never existed before. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While others suspected that he was a vestige-smith of the Magi branch, Lucas was actually trying to create an entirely new faction in the vestige-smithing industry. And his key to doing so, was the project he was working on.

 Chapter 84 The Unexpected Guest

    After dealing with a bunch of customers that were a mix of story-hungry reporters, curious freelancers and more, Lucas sighed with relief and plopped onto the seat beside the checkout counter.Glancing at the mission progress on his interface that displayed forty three out of one hundred (43/100), Lucas felt a bit satisfied.


    The mission was to receive one hundred customers before the month was over, however, there was no distinction between old and new customers. This made the task easier, but not by much. Lucas'' old customers were few to start with, and it was not everyday one would want a basic or advanced repair. Most freelancers didn''t maintain their equipment often unless it was damaged.


    Apart from that, they were usually at the Wastelands base station, where there were other stores who could offer the same services, albeit not of equal quality.


    As for buying equipment? The only thing the average freelancer could afford without skipping a heartbeat in the Seven Sparks Forge were the repair services. As for the vestiges on display, those cost at least fifty percent (50%) more than the other stores. Even if the quality was much higher, most would go for the cheaper option as they were still technically of the same grade.


    This made it such that on average, Lucas would get from anywhere between 0-2 customers per day. Even if he got the max of two customers per day, in a thirty days time margin, Lucas would still fail to reach one hundred customers. So, he needed new customers.


    Almost two weeks, or exactly twelve (12) days, had gone by since Lucas received the mission. There were still eighteen (18) days to go and having almost reached the halfway point, he couldn''t help but be pleased.


    The crowd that had visited his store managed to score some points for him. While the majority of those interested in his services opted for the repairs, three people actually bought vestiges from him, Grade 2 to be exact. This sent Lucas through the roof as his finances were slowly dwindling to a state of abject poverty.


    Ever since the Seven Sparks Forge had opened, Lucas had only sold a vestige twice, and both times were to Harrison Reid, aka Harry. These three new sales were now added to the record.


    One of them was a custom order for a vestige while the other two simply wanted the standard items on display.


    The two standard orders were at three thousand and seven hundred (3700) federal coins, and three thousand, eight hundred and fifty (3850) federal coins respectively. As for the custom order, it was valued at five thousand and four hundred (5400) federal coins. A grand total of twelve thousand, nine hundred and fifty (12950) federal coins.


    Even after the system''s taxing, Lucas still and at least three thousand federal coins. He was pretty much a mini tycoon.


    ''I need to level up the system, fast.'' Lucas thought after realising he had ''lost'' nine thousand federal coins just like that.


    *Ding*


    The doorbell rang for the umpteenth time today. Lucas wearily glanced ahead to get a look at the figure. When he saw an old man standing by the entrance, Lucas froze.


    "I thought you wouldn''t be showing up anytime soon." Lucas smiled.


    The old man was a familiar face a few weeks back. The day before the Seven Sparks Forge was opened, Lucas had gone around the neighbouring stores and when he encountered a problem in one of the stores, the old man had helped bail him out under the plea of a little girl.


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    Lucas had then used a special bracelet he made, as a "thank you" gift to the little girl in an attempt to bridge the gap between them. Even after inviting them to his store''s ''grand opening'', they made no appearance ever since, so Lucas forgot about him. At least that was until now.


    "I really didn''t think I would be here either. But you ended up surprising me." The old man said without any expression.


    Lucas remained silent after those words. He knew that the old man was someone immune to flattery or needless talks, so he would get straight to the point soon.


    As expected, the old man continued,


    "I heard about you and decided to come take a look. You don''t need to worry as I''m not interested in your business."


    Lucas was slightly surprised by that. This was the first person who came today, except the journalists and the freelancers, that wasn''t interested in acquiring the store by some means. Apart from Gerald from Norsegold Co and his pals, there were a couple other agents and managers who came to the store to strike a business deal.


    "Even if I was interested, you''d have to be worth investing in. And from what I know, there''s nothing worth investing in here, at least not yet."


    When Lucas heard this line, his lips twitched a bit. This was the second person to brutally assault him with word; the first being the omniscient system.


    "Then what are you here for?" Lucas asked.


    "To know whether you''re worth investing in."


    Lucas was confused. The man had just said he had no interest in the store, yet he came to gauge whether Lucas was worth his interest.


    ''What kind of crazy old man is this?''


    But Lucas didn''t say that out loud. Not only was he suspicious of the man''s strength being at the sixth level or even higher, the old man deemed to be someone of status and wealth. There were more benefits to befriending him than offending the man, and even if Lucas didn''t want to make friends with him, it was still best to keep their relationship not hostile.


    "Take this."


    The old man tossed an envelope to Lucas.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. In this world of advanced technology, papers were rarely used, much less something like an envelope.


    Removing the wax seal, he took out the card that was wrapped inside and read it. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "As long as your performance is enough to get recommended, I''ll consider working with you. I don''t have any intentions of buying you out or anything like the others. But my offer will be something you simply can''t resist." The old man said as he walked out of the store.

 Chapter 85 The Truth Behind Lucas Death?

    Sare shuttles of different shapes and sizes zoomed in the air zone of the modern jungle known as the West Wing district. The streets were bustling with crowds of various skin and hair colours of different shades; a view that a human on Earth would be unfamiliar with.Even though the West Wing district was the least successful of the five districts of Baylands City, it was still a part of the city, making it more populous and wealthy than any of the other fifteen districts. The market zone of the West Wing district, most especially, was known for being the centre of commerce of the district.


    West Wing district neighboured the Wastelands, one of the largest and most dangerous desolate beast zones in Eretre. As a result of this, the district developed in consideration of this, building its economy around the trade of desolate beasts and the occupation of freelancing. The market zone, being the centre of commerce, was the go-to area for every freelancer who made their way to the district.


    There one could find all sorts of stores, buildings, malls and even stalls, dealing in vestiges, desolate beast parts, armours, shuttles, and whatever it was a freelancer needed.


    The Seven Sparks Forge was located in the western region of the market zone, in a corner far off the centre. However, it had recently gotten a bit of fame, being related to the terrorist attack and the outburst of desolate beasts in the Bayena Plain. But right when one would expect the owner of the store to capitalise on this little fame, the door was currently shut close.


    In the lobby of the Seven Sparks Forge, a burgundy coloured envelope with a broken black wax seal and a letter peeking out from it, laid atop the checkout counter opposite the entrance. The store was empty, devoid of any life except for the owner who sat down by the counter and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.


    Lucas was currently contemplating the offer of the old man. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since he came into this world, Lucas never intended on working for anybody, but being entirely independent had its flaws.


    For instance, in his first life, Lucas had lived a solo life, lacking any power or organisation backing him. When he was a nobody, this wasn''t necessarily bad, so Lucas had it somewhat easy. However, when he became famous, a lot of sects, cults, organisations, bands and whatnot tried to invite him to work for them.


    They lured him with whatever imaginable idea they could think of, and with his past world being one where the fist ruled, some even tried to kidnap him or threaten Lucas.


    The appeal of a magic weapon-smith was just as attractive as a vestige-smith in this world, and maybe even more. This was because Lucas'' first world lacked the level of technology in this world, so everything had to be done by hand. In this universe, cold weapon-type vestiges could be assembled by machines with the rune writing and stellar matrix inscription done by the vestige smiths.


    This lead to a situation where there was a large influx of vestiges as the procedure had been simplified.


    But in his first world''s situation, there was no technological advancement and magic weapons had to be created by hand from the very first step until the end. This made magic weapon-smiths valuable, and the higher one''s skillset, the more valuable they were.


    Respect would be given to them by organisations on their righteous side, but some on the dark side simply utilised threats and any means they could to have magic weapon-smiths do their bidding.


    This was how Lucas had died, but, it was more, interesting, than that.


    The experience of his first life made Lucas understand that working for an organisation was important as he could be offered protection. This was how he led his second life on Earth.


    After being recognised for his smarts, Lucas gave his skill and knowledge to the service of his home country, Rhodia. But who would have thought that even after being regarded as a national treasure, he was still assassinated in the end.


    His second death had left Lucas with a bunch of unanswered questions, and truthfully, he was suspicious about it. There was no way a foreign power could have been able to sneak past his security and planted a bomb. All the guards by his side were also members of the Federal Interior Security Service, which was concerned with his safety. None of them could be spies.


    All of this led to Lucas drawing up an insane conclusion; his home country had orchestrated his death.


    Rhodia ranked top amongst the top five most powerful nations in the world, and Lucas'' existence was steadily pushing them to be number one. Lucas wasn''t just a genius; when it came to the study of materials, including nuclear elements, he was like an incarnation of Einstein, Newton and Galileo of his time, all in one body.


    If he wasn''t such a genius, Lucas wouldn''t have been classified as a national treasure.


    His research had created new metals and materials, expanding the periodic table as we know it, by at least thirteen more slots; five of which had the potential to redefine the weapons industry, with two of them being radioactive in nature [1].


    While all this sounded great, Lucas'' existence was a threat to other nations. Even if they organized joint projects with Rhodia, Lucas being an asset of Rhodia irked them and they tried to kill him secretly. This was why Lucas was assigned security detail on par with the vice president.


    Despite this, while Lucas was secured, the same couldn''t be said about Rhodia. They had been pressured by other nations above and under the table to give up Lucas. Whether it was in trade deals, sanctions and so on, Rhodia experienced it all. Find more adventures on empire


    Lucas suspected that the harassment was getting out of hand, which was why they had decided to take him out. If that were true, then the Rhodian government must have destroyed his research on the surface after his death, while secretly hiding them for their own use.


    To further ensure that no loose ends were made, they probably weren''t the ones to have actually killed him, but an assassin from a foreign nation. But in a normal situation, the assassin wouldn''t succeed, unless Lucas'' security purposely exposed a flaw.


    With Lucas murdered by a foreign assassin and all his research ''destroyed'', the other nations would have no justification to keep harassing them lest they wanted a world war. In fact, Rhodia could cause a commotion as Lucas'' death was a direct act of one of the top foreign powers. They could showcase out a ''hurt'' display and retaliate against the other powers for a while, before calming down.


    As long as Rhodia played the act well enough, the other foreign countries -suspicious or not- would lessen their pressure on Rhodia, while the latter could explore Lucas'' research in-depth in secret.


    Of course, there was no way to confirm any of this unless Lucas could get back to Earth and find out the events that took place after his death. But regardless, his suspicions made Lucas realise that working for someone else was also not a viable option. That was unless his partner/employer was so powerful that no one would want to offend them.


    But as he was now, why would such an individual or organisation approach Lucas?


    The two options marked out, left Lucas with a new option. With the store and the system assisting him, Lucas was confident that he could do better in this life. But before that, he would still need some help.


    ''A business cooperation doesn''t sound bad, but I have too many secrets and I don''t think the system would let another person run the store with me. It''s pretty much a majority shareholder and decides most of the store''s rules already. It would be difficult to explain that to another shareholder.''


    ''But this is a tempting offer.''


    Lucas glanced at the letter on the table.

 Chapter 86 The Silver Fig Trade Convention

    "Finally, the Red Fangs have teamed up with the City Patrol Corps to crack down on many underground organisations after the terrorist incident. If I''m correct, the city lord is very likely pissed and wants to win back the favour of the people. The next elections would be in two years time, so such a drastic event like this could affect his votes then. That''s all."Underneath the Vinis pawnshop two storey building, there was a basement as wide as an entire floor. In the hall in the basement, a silhouette briefed a shadow on the current happenings in the city. The silhouette knelt infront while the shadow could clearly be seen seated in a throne.


    "So the city''s underground is in chaos now? Interesting." A cold voice sounded from the direction of the throne.


    The terrorist attack which had led to the deaths of many academy staff and freelancers, as well as a multitude of desolate beasts going berserk and slaughtering the students, had caused a lot of trouble for the city. It had also affected not just the academy, but the people''s faith in the City Lord.


    If it were a simple beast wave, then the blame would have been on the academy alone for not making proper preparations and arrangements. However, there were terrorists involved. The people began to feel that part of the blame should be assigned to the city-state government for being unable to monitor the area and prevent terrorists from sneaking in.


    On the sare shuttle the students used, it took them forty minutes from the academy in the West Wing district to the Bayena Plain. With a light rail train, it would have been much faster. The whole point was that with a vehicle, the distance wasn''t much to get to West Wing district. At such a ''close'' distance, terrorists had been spotted and they had carried out a massacre.


    It was only natural that the people wouldn''t feel safe again, and so they called out the City Lord for this.


    To regain the people''s trust, the City Lord government has ordered for harsh measures to be carried out to anyone suspected to be in relations with the terrorists.


    "Ramirez shouldn''t be doing so well now, right?" A cold voice sounded from in front of the man.


    "Yes. On suspicions of his involvement with the terrorists, his gang has been the most affected. Ramirez is currently on the run and the security personnel have yet to find him." The man responded.


    Ramirez had taken advantage of the terrorist attack, which had forced the Red Fangs to drop their guard, to attack Lucas back then. The Red Fangs had a hunch that Ramirez knew the assault would take place as his ordered attack on Lucas was too coincidental.


    With the go-ahead from the City Lord to operate harshly on any suspicious avenues, the Red Fangs had immediately raided Ramirez''s hideout and taken down most of his gang members. Even with his strength, Ramirez couldn''t do much against a government body like the Red Fangs, and was forced into hiding.


    Experience tales at empire


    "That kid, Lucas, seems to have an impressive halo. Not only was he able to mysteriously survive all the assasination attempts on his head, he also had the Autumn''s Gate guild as well as the Red Fangs protect him. I hear his vestige store is also doing well, and the prices are much more bloated than the competition''s. It would be nice if we could have him under our control.


    For now, withdraw our underground arms until the coast is clear." The speaker with the voice stated.


    "Understood." The man nodded.


    . . .


    Four days had gone by since the old man''s visit to the Seven Sparks Forge. The atmosphere in West Wing district had calmed down considerably when compared to the time of the terrorist attack. Hyumankin has advanced much, and with a wide network like the KSSI, which allowed one to browse the ongoing situations in the entire solar system, there was so much information for one to consume.


    The inevitable result was that situations like the terrorist attack, could be forgotten after a few days. But this was only in a broad sense. When the election period arrives, it would be dug out, which was why the City Lord had put so much effort into clearing the incident.


    With the incident briefly forgotten, the city has recovered a part of its energy considerably. However, today, it was a bit more festive than usual, particularly the public square.


    At the centre of West Wing district was a clear expanse devoid of any towering skyscrapers or fixed abode. It was the public square, and a place set out for hosting large scale events in the district, second to the auditorium. The public square was currently filled with stalls and temporary buildings erected to act as stores.


    There was a mammoth crowd of hyumans swarming the area, and on each stall were displayed some items; vestiges to be exact. Whether it be swords, spears, guns, laser canons or even armour, one could find them all here. This was a strange situation as such a sight was usually only common in the market zone, but today, the public square had all the attention instead.


    That was because today was the start of the annual Silver Fig Trade Convention. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was a special trade fair organised by an alliance of merchant groups and companies known as the Silver Fig Consortium. These parties ran top companies related to the freelancer role in Baylands city-state.


    They held a share of either the vestige market, danger zone logistics, sare shuttle business, desolate beasts market, materials industry or some other market/industry. They were like the Nestler and Kreft Heinzer of Baylands city-state''s freelancer industry. In summary, they were the industry movers and the market controllers of the freelancer industry.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was a trade fair organised by the consortium as a pro-bono service, and it took place for five days in all five districts at the same time.


    The public squares of each district would be rented out for the duration of the convention by the consortium, and store owners, vestige-smiths and other businesses could only open a stall or a temporary shop and display their goods.


    Usually, no items were sold during the fair and it was more of an exhibition show than a market. However, freelancers, guilds and mercenary teams could check out the various vestiges that catch their attention and place orders for the items.


    The whole point of the convention was to offer free advertisements for other small or medium-sized businesses, and have them display their prized works to the public. As for why these businesses would do such a thing, this was because appraisers of the Silver Fig Consortium would secretly move around the public squares of the five districts during these five days.


    They would create a list of items and vestiges they found captivating and with magnificent potential. The creators or owners of these items would then be invited by the consortium to present their products for a high class auction typically held on the sixth day, the day after the convention.


    Apart from that, if a member of the consortium finds the product to be worth investing in, they could initiate a trade deal with the producers. The businesses were protected from harassment regarding any affairs that took place during the convention.


    This meant that even if a deal crashed or was rejected for one reason or the other, the small or medium-sized business would not need to fear retaliation from the consortium member.


    It was this rule that ensured that these businesses could display their magnum opus with nothing to fear. Thanks to the hype of the convention and the large spectators and high-profile guests it attracted, it became the perfect advertising spot for new releases and the likes.


    From this, one could see the value of the Silver Fig Trade Convention for small to medium-sized businesses in the freelancer industry. Even some bigwigs who weren''t part of the Silver Fig Consortium would still participate in it, as the event was equally advantageous to them.


    Although the Silver Fig Trade Convention was free for participants, becoming a participant wasn''t easy. One would have to either be formally recommended by a consortium member or have submitted a bid statement for a spot prior to the convention.


    The bid statement didn''t cost much money from an enterprise''s point of view -only ten federal coins- but it would take a period of examination and evaluation by the consortium staff before one was approved through this method. Usually, this would take between one month to three months. This made the procedure very time-consuming, and one would have to begin way before the event itself.


    Lucas was new, and he only came into this world barely over a month ago. There was no way he would have been able to participate as it was too late to submit a bid statement. However, inside the envelope the old man handed to Lucas was a recommendation letter from a consortium member, so Lucas would be participating this year.

 Chapter 87 The Silver Fig Trade Convention 2

    The envelope the old man gave Lucas has only one letter inside, which was the recommendation letter as well as an approval slip attached to it, that was marked with some information. However, the old man''s departing words were that a cooperation between them could only happen so long as Lucas got a sale slot for the auction to be held on the sixth day.In other words, the old man wanted Lucas to compete with all the vestige businesses in the West Wing district, for a limited opportunity. Not only was this insanely difficult, but it was impossible for any regular individual to pull off. Even an experienced vestige-smith couldn''t say for such that they had this in the bag, unless they were one of the top in the district.


    Even then, it was possible for a nobody to get a slot over them, as what the appraisers judged wasn''t the fame of the creator, but the value and potential of the vestige.


    For Lucas, this convention was good news. He would get the free advertisements he''s been dreaming off, and he could get a boatload of money from the auctions too. As part of the pro-bono movement for the industry, there was no commission on items sold in the auction, so the entire money generated would go to the creator.


    Arriving at the public square, Lucas glanced around and was surprised; even though he left as early as 7:30 am, he was still ''late''. Many stall owners had already erected their selling point. As for the big companies participating, they had set up temporary buildings on the spot. With the technology of the era much advanced, moveable houses were a thing.


    Staring at the temporary houses a few metres away, Lucas couldn''t help but want one. Unfortunately, those weren''t sold in the West Wing district, and Lucas didn''t know how to make them.


    He ignored the others and logged into the KSSI, locating the site designated from Eretre and then Baylands City. Lucas searched for the convention''s homepage and logged in with the details on his recommendation letter.


    For the convention, participants had the option to rent setup equipment from the organizers at a fair price, and Lucas had opted for this option a while after he arrived.


    To prevent fights and disagreements from breaking out, the distribution of vendors in the public square was assigned by the organizers as soon as a participant was approved.


    On the approval slip for Lucas'' recommendation letter was marked a location for his stall to be opened. The old man''s recommendation had only enabled Lucas to get enough space to open a stall, and not a store, but Lucas didn''t mind. Even if he had enough space for a building, he didn''t have the connections to buy one of those temporary buildings, and he couldn''t make them either. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After putting in the details and paying for a stall to be set up, Lucas immediately set off for the designated location. The space wasn''t so big, but it wasn''t small either, roughly about four metres wide and three metres long. It was even smaller than a studio apartment, and roughly the size of a small bedroom, but that was to be expected.


    It didn''t take long for few drones carrying equipment to arrive at the scene. The unmanned drones immediately began to assemble the stall in front of Lucas as he waited.


    "Excuse me." Explore more stories with empire


    Just as Lucas was waiting for the assembling to be done, a voice called out to him. He turned around and noticed the person calling out was a middle-aged man in uniform, exuding the aura of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Based on the outfit he wore, Lucas figured out the man was a security guard for the event, but this shocked him even more.


    Most functions would use robots for security as they were much cheaper and could be deployed en masse. But the Silver Fig Consortium had actually hired freelancers for security purposes. The cost for this was definitely not cheap, and the convention wasn''t a moneymaking event either. This just showed the financial prowess of the consortium.


    Seeing Lucas turn, the man said, "Identification."


    Lucas handed the letter to the man to check, alongside a projected image of his ID.


    After going through them, the guard nodded, then handed the letter back to Lucas and left. He was slightly surprised but didn''t seem to be bothered about Lucas'' identity as a human participating in an event usually dominated by hyumans.


    The reason was actually quite simple; some stores had proxies running them until the last two days, which was usually when the original owner would appear and unveil their masterpiece. In the guard''s opinion, Lucas was most likely an employee of a business who was sent to look after their position for the meantime.


    After waiting for about thirty minutes or so, the stall was finally completed. Although it was called a stall, due to the available space, it was much larger than a typical booth. It had a partition inside which separated the space to create a private room for the owner. Lucas was impressed by this and intended to use that private space as a work-station.


    "System, will any transaction carried out here, be added to my mission count?"


    The system didn''t reply right away until three seconds later.


    "Yes."


    "Perfect." Lucas grinned.


    The Silver Fig Consortium banned the physical sale of vestiges during the Trade Convention, but orders weren''t prevented. In other words, one could place an order for a vestige and get it outside the convention or after it was over. The aim of the convention was the same as an exhibition show; to attract attention and offer advertisement.


    In the case of services such as maintenance, the procedure was slightly different. On-site maintenance was banned just as physical sales, but one could simply leave their vestige with the vendor and collect it at the end of the day or elsewhere.


    For instance, freelancer A could give his vestige to the smith at B, who would then fix it and return it to A after the convention was over for the day or at a later time outside the convention''s venue.


    Because of this rule, most participants would place a limit on the vestiges they would accept each day for maintenance, unless it was a big company that had dozens of workers. But even they still limited their maintenance slots per day


    The main focus of the event was still on vestiges and not services, so most of the vestige-smiths would be busy making final touches to the vestiges they planned on showcasing from the fourth day.


    But Lucas was different. Compared to other vestige-smiths, his speed at maintenance and repairs was on another level, one could even say he was two levels ahead. As such, he could accept more requests than others, and even compete with the big companies.

 Chapter 88 Vestige Duel

    On the first day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, the event had just kick-started, so there was a lot of fanfare ongoing. The convention was an annual five days long event and hosted by an alliance of the top richest companies in the vestige industry. It was only natural that it would get the best coverage and be an event worthwhile for freelancers.While the other participants of the convention had set up their stalls and showcases earlier, Lucas had just completed his. But right after doing so, he left to check out the other participants'' booths.


    It was his first time attending such an event, and it gave Lucas the opportunity to see upfront, the difference in products between the other vestige-smiths and himself. While Lucas had previously visited a couple stores for this, the convention was on a different level. Here, no vestige-smith vendor or business would hold back or hide away their prized creations.


    Everything that could be termed as the ''best'' would be put on display, and on the last two days, they would pull out their ''ultimate weapons''.


    On the second day, Lucas still left his stall empty and unattended as before. Once again, he wandered around the public square like a potential client.


    Compared to the first day that was calm and peaceful, the second day was different. There was still a large crowd, but the atmosphere was different. If one were to describe it, the atmosphere was energetic and eventful. As for the reason, it was quite interesting.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention, for big businesses, was a routine operation that they were obligated to participate in. But for others, especially small businesses, it was different. For them, the convention was an opportunity to stand out and make a name for themselves.


    The selection process for the convention''s participants, while cheap, had strict standards to prevent scammers from getting in. This was why the process took between one to three months.


    For the small businesses that managed to pass, they were glad and took it as an achievement, but the journey didn''t stop there for them. In fact, it only began.


    Due to the fact that the convention was an annual event, it gathered tons of vestige-related businesses in the district. The West Wing district was as large as a major city and close to the Wastelands, so there were a lot of such businesses in the district. Even after the selection process, many businesses of different sizes still got approved.


    This made it difficult for the small parties to compete and attract clients in the convention. So, some of them decided to utilise unconventional approaches and techniques to stand out.


    One such was the Vestige Duel.


    A vestige duel was a contest between two or more vestige-smiths or businesses, with the focus being on the quality of their vestiges. It involved having vestiges from the different competitors exposed to the various tests until there was a clear lead. It was similar to the "striking blade against blade" challenge that was used to test swords in the ancient epoch of the human race era.


    The second day of the convention was usually when vestige duels began to take place, which was why the ambience was more lively than the first day. On this day, many small businesses or vestige-smiths would go to different stalls or stores and challenge the owner to a vestige duel.


    Since such events were competitive and interesting, it attracted a lot of spectators. The winner would receive exposure and even a few interested clients. As for the loser, as long as their vestige performed well in the duel, they might still make an impression on the spectators. But there was always the risk of being ridiculed and developing a bad reputation. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The challenged side could reject the duel, but it might give birth to the idea that they were afraid, unless the difference was vast. For instance, if a random small-time vestige-smith were to challenge one of the vestige-smiths at the top, it was natural for the latter to ignore the duel and consider it a waste of time.


    Big corporations and well-known vestige-smiths valued their prestige a lot, so they didn''t engage in vestige duels as often. As a result, the ''sport'' was more common for small-time sides, and occasionally witnessed between medium-sized businesses or vestige-smiths with some reputation.


    Currently, Lucas was spectating a vestige duel. It was between a somewhat popular vestige-smith against a vestige-smith company.


    Vestige-smiths weren''t so common, but they weren''t rare either. It was an occupation just like doctor, engineer, and so on, except it had even more strict requirements. Just like an average occupation, succeeding alone as a vestige-smith was something very difficult, hence why there were more successful companies than individually-ran businesses.


    It should however be noted that vestige businesses were different from vestige-smith businesses. Whereas the former only sold vestiges, the latter sold as well as created vestiges. Despite that, a vestige-smith business was sometimes not even owned by a vestige-smith, but someone who knew how to run a business.


    Nonetheless, such vestige-smith businesses could still participate in the convention, and a duel as well.


    Vestige businesses could participate as well, but without the ability to produce a vestige, it was pointless to do so as they would be overshadowed. Most times, they attended the convention as a client, looking for vestige-smiths to partner with. The Norsegold Co., for instance, was a vestige business, and they would most likely be in attendance at the convention as a client.


    The vestige-smith was the challenger, and the vestige company was the challenged side. The vestige-smith was someone who had a bit of a reputation in the West Wing district. Many vestige businesses placed orders with him and bought his products, which they would later sell at a higher price.


    "I can''t believe ''Grey Finger'' Sofoklis is participating in a vestige duel as a challenger. It''s been so long."


    "You''re right. The last time Sofoklis challenged someone was five years ago, and it was a fellow vestige-smith. I heard that not only did he win, but he won so convincingly that he ended the man''s caterer as a vestige-smith."


    "Yeah, I heard that too. Rumours say his opponent retired from the industry and became a teacher instead."


    "That''s insane."


    Listening to the murmurings and discussion by some in the crowd, Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised as he stared at the middle-aged man who stood opposite a stall.


    The man was calm and didn''t show any reaction to the words of the crowd, only staring at the stall. ''Grey Finger'' was an alias given to the man, as that was the insignia he left on the vestiges he made¡ªa kind of logo to promote his brand.


    The stall in Grey Finger''s view was similar to Lucas'', but it was slightly larger. It was clear that even though the Silver Fig Trade Convention was open to all, the treatment each participant received was slightly different. Lucas was unknown, so the space he was given and the stall were all basic.


    But this vestige-smith company had a bit of a reputation in the district, so it was natural that their treatment would be better.


    While this didn''t seem like much, it would still affect one''s ability to attract clients.


    In the stall were five individuals who appeared slightly uncomfortable at the challenge.


    A vestige duel might seem like an opportunity, but it was one filled with risks. Even if the loser could still retain a bit of dignity after the duel, it was only on the condition that their performance was similarly impressive and the gap was not much. If it were the opposite, it would not only affect their sales but also their stocks.


    Hence why vestige duels were very risky for businesses, and avoided by the big companies.


    "Is the Gold Rain Factory going to remain hiding in their stall, or will you accept my challenge?" Sofoklis said as he stared at the five individuals.


    "Is the Gold Rain Factory catching cold feet?"


    "It can''t be helped. The title ''Grey Finger'' isn''t an unknown one. Apart from those bigwigs, not many vestige-smiths could compete with him. There''s a reason why he''s a supplier for many businesses you know."


    "Even still, if the Gold Rain Factory does nothing, they''d lose a lot of trust from the market. Can''t they at least put up a fight?"


    The crowd discussed the situation that took place. Lucas watched with interest, not intending to compete or interfere with them. It was currently afternoon and Lucas had already watched a few vestige duels, but those were between small-level businesses and vestige-smiths. This was the very first one that involved reputable parties.


    One of the five, who happened to be the manager assigned to the venue for the day, walked out with an anxious smile in his face


    "I don''t know why you''re targeting us, Mr Grey Finger. Can''t we just talk this out amicably?"


    "I''m not targeting you. I''m merely here to prove a point and test a new creation of mine. Don''t waste any time and give me a response, as my time is limited." Grey Finger Sofoklis replied without any consideration of giving face.


    It was clear that he didn''t plan on retreating just because of a few words. Experience new stories with empire


    The manager, seeing that his efforts to avoid a duel had failed, gritted his teeth.


    "Don''t look down on us just yet. Since you want a duel, a duel you shall, receive!"

 Chapter 89 The Trident

    Vestige duels were challenged that compared the performance and statistics of a vestige with another with the purpose of finding the marginally better side.Since vestige duels were created to attract attention and boost the prestige and reputation of a vestige-smith or vestige-smith company, they were typically done with fanfare; a stark contrast to the personal tests vestige-smiths would conduct on their creation.


    "So, how do you want it to be?" The manager menacingly asked the ''Grey Finger'', Sofoklis.


    Weapon vestiges differed from one another, and this was a well-known fact. The existence of the two main design schools that focused on cold-type and hot-type weapons, respectively, was a clear example of this. As a result, vestige duels became somewhat complicated to organise.


    For instance, if a vestige-smith of the Forger faction challenged another of the Multiplex faction, how would they compete? How can one determine the better of a gun and a sword, in a way that emphasizes their overall structural integrity, strength, and design? It was close to impossible as both were different. It was like asking which is a better fruit, an apple or an orange?


    Both had their advantages and might even have slight similarities, but they were innately of different families, structures, and nutrients. Similarly, the Forger faction vestiges and the Multiplex faction vestiges, despite all being vestiges, were different.


    Even among the vestiges of the Forger factions, differences existed. Some weapons could be specifically created to be used in certain environments, while others were for general purposes. Take, for example, a sword made to be able to function properly and withstand a -78¡ãC (-108.4¡ãF) temperature pitted against an average sword or spear.


    The two weapons were made for different environments, and so, the former might perform worse than the latter in some tests or vice versa.


    Hence, a variety of genres were created to be conducted during a vestige duel, depending on what was to be tested.


    "Let''s go for a general duel." Sofoklis replied.


    A general duel was pretty much the most common duelling format. It was meant to be used for standard gear. The opposite was a specialized duel, which would be used for special vestiges, like the extreme-cold-resistant sword from the previous analogy.


    Less than a minute later, the four other staff in the stall brought out a few pieces of equipment. Every stall that was rented from the convention''s organizers was given the items as a bonus. The organizers were already familiar with the tradition, so they did what they could to help it; after all, this made the event flourish in turn.


    Sofoklis stared at them, but didn''t act right away, choosing to shut his eyes instead. The manager of the Gold Rain Factory''s stall thought that Sofoklis was getting ready by meditation. This wasn''t an uncommon practice, so he felt nothing about it. However, he was wrong.


    Less than two minutes later, the spectators suddenly cleared out an area as a group of men in uniforms appeared. They were the security personnel for the convention, but they came here for different reasons. In their hands were a few pieces of equipment, which were immediately set up in the open.


    "What''s the meaning of this?" The manager was confused, but for some reason, he felt wary.


    "Nothing much. I''m already bored of using the standard equipment we''re provided with, so I applied for something better." Sofoklis said with his eyes still closed.


    The manager began to feel dread, and even his forehead was slowly being covered in sweat. Find exclusive stories on empire


    The duelling equipment provided by the organizers was naturally not of the best quality. There were hundreds of participants and the organizers had to account for the possibility that everyone would be involved in a vestige duel.


    As such, they cut corners when providing the equipment for the duels, going for second-rate items, or standard ones for the better known vestige-smiths and vestige-smith businesses.


    While this sounded wrong, there was no problem with it. The duel could still be carried out, with the only issue being that the tests would not be as accurate, but they wouldn''t be wrong either. Also, the set of equipment was suitable for testing most vestiges.


    Small time vestige-smiths, who usually participated in vestige duels, were unlikely to be able to make anything that could surpass the limit of the equipment, even if they were substandard.


    As for the standard equipment, it was usually more than enough for the more prominent and renowned business and individuals.


    For Sofoklis to make a special request for a new set of equipment, what he wanted to test was definitely not ordinary and could possibly surpass the testing limit of the standard equipment. Usually, only the ultimate vestige created by each participant could achieve such a mark. However, such creations were kept hidden until the fourth or fifth day of the convention.


    ''Is he revealing his masterpiece so soon?''


    The manager wasn''t the only one who thought this way. In fact, over eighty percent of the crowd had the same opinion.


    "Is it possible that, Grey Finger intends on using his masterpiece from the last convention?" Someone in the audience asked the person beside him.


    "That might be possible, but the Gold Rain Factory can also do the same. Also, it''s been over a year now. Everyone is aware of the quality, weaknesses and strengths of all the masterpieces from last year. Even if Grey Finger made improvements to it, the Gold Rain Factory could have done the same with theirs. In fact, that''s how most new ultimate works are made, so I doubt that''s what he did."


    A year might seem long, but in the interstellar era, it was actually quite short. In such a short period of time, it was naturally impossible to make great progress at every convention. And so, some vestige-smiths and businesses would just improve on their work from the previous year and present it as their magnum opus.


    "Then are you saying that he made two masterpieces for this year''s convention?" The first speaker was surprised.


    "...we can''t say yet, but we can''t eliminate that possibility."


    While the crowd discussed, the security had finished setting up the new equipment.


    "Let''s begin." Sofoklis finally opened his eyes. To the manager who stared at them, it felt as if hidden within those eyes was a space filled with complexity he found no words to describe with.


    The manager of the Golden Rain Factory''s stall gritted his teeth and whispered something to one of the staff. The man froze, but quickly recovered and rushed into the stall before coming out.


    "Can the two duelists present their vestiges?"


    A man who had followed the security personnel to arrive earlier spoke up. He was dressed differently from them, but this didn''t make the public treat him less. In fact, unlike the security personnel that were hired, the man was an employee of the organizers of the Silver Fig Trade Convention; an employee of the Silver Fig Consortium. He was present to act as an overseer for the duel.


    Since Vestige duels were a variety of tests conducted to find the better vestige, there was no need for a judge. However, an overseer was required to ensure the integrity of the duel and act as a witness.


    Behind Sofoklis, a young man walked out with a long box in hand. He kneeled on the ground piously and carefully laid a cloth, before dropping the box on it.


    ''From what I''ve heard, it''s said that Grey Finger is part of a sub-branch under the Forger faction and that guy should be his disciple. They call themselves the Ecclesiastics.'' Lucas thought as he watched the display.


    The Ecclesiastics, just like the Magi branch, were a sub-branch of the Forger faction. However, they were very eccentric. Unlike how most factions or branches are formed, the Ecclesiastics weren''t formed by a technological idea or belief, instead, it was a religious ideology. The Ecclesiastics revered vestiges.


    Whereas others saw the creation of the hyumankin to be the number one achievement of the human race, the Ecclesiastics argued otherwise. They held the belief that vestiges were the number one creation of the old race, and also the very important component that led to the rise of the hyumankin''s position in the galaxy.


    Whenever a member of the Ecclesiastics created a masterpiece product, they would treat it as their precious baby and, in some cases, as their god.


    Lucas had one word to describe them; they were loco[1].


    ''Best to avoid them if possible.''


    With a reverent expression, the young man carefully opened up the box and a vestige was revealed. It looked like a spear, but at the same time was not.


    ''Hmm? A trident?'' Lucas thought as he glanced at the smaller-sized prongs by the side of the weapon''s shaft.


    Apart from the alluring matching red and purple colours, a result of the metals used, the trident didn''t seem special. It didn''t even radiate any stellar energy, which was a typical sign of the power of a vestige.


    Some in the crowd were confused as to why Grey Finger had brought out such a vestige to compete, but the professionals were astonished.


    Unless the vestige Grey Finger''s disciple brought out was a flawed item, then it was powerful, very powerful. For a vestige to be able to rein in its aura was a testament to the vestige-smith''s skill.


    The manager, although not a vestige-smith himself, was familiar with the craft. He already guessed the two possible explanations for the vestige having no aura. He had similarly eliminated one of them and chose the more likely option, which wrapped him with fear. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This trident was definitely a masterpiece!

 Chapter 90 The Duel Tests

    After the unveiling of the trident by Sofoklis'' disciple, it was the turn of the Gold Rain Factory team to display their vestige. The staff who had been sent away had returned with a similar box as Sofoklis'' disciple. It was similar in length, but compared to the latter, it appeared to be more decorated.There was a ruby-like gem inlaid atop the box, and on the sides were carved some cryptic writings.


    The vestige-smiths and well-learned ones among the spectators easily identified the gem to be a special material that had a sealing-like function, and the writings as runes. The runes worked in tandem with the gem to create a seal that worked over the box. While this sounded like magic, it was just a different method of utilising stellar energy and a part of the hyumankin''s technology.


    It was just like how a caveman would consider the idea of sending messages or voices from one part of the world to another as magic, but the modern man would term it technology.


    When the box was opened, a burst of energy exploded into the air and was felt by the crowd. Roughly ninety percent of the spectators were freelancers at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage and above, so they were quite sensitive to stellar energy.


    The nature of the stellar energy was quite pure and aggressive. It was like the aura of a warmonger general whose loyalty lied to the country¡ªa man who would slaughter enemies on the battlefield until his last breath, even if he was the last man standing, simply because he had a people to protect behind him. This was the sensation the crowd could feel from the aura exuding from the box.


    "What a marvelous creation." An experienced vestige-smith in the crowd couldn''t help but exclaim.


    A vestige that could arouse emotions from the wielder and stir the crowd just by the aura it exuded was definitely not an ordinary one. This was another masterpiece. It was of a different nature to Sofoklis'' vestige, but that didn''t make it any bit weaker.


    The people who attended the convention as clients today couldn''t help but be glad. No one would have expected that two masterpieces would be revealed today, and even more so, be pitted against each other in a vestige duel.


    Masterpieces usually came out on the last days of this five-day convention, but it was merely the second day. Also, even when masterpieces were revealed, they were hardly challenged to a vestige duel. The reason for this was simple. Every participant who had a masterpiece creation revealed it for the sole purpose of attracting the attention of the appraisers from the Silver Fig Consortium.


    As long as they captured the interest of the appraisers, they would earn a sot for the auction. Since the appraisers could determine the quality of a vestige at a glance, there was no need for a vestige duel; those were used only to impress the public.


    For these auction aspirers, a loss in a vestige duel could affect their chances of getting a slot. Even if the appraiser clears their vestige to be auctioned, the final price might end up affected by that negative sentiment born from the loss. Although winning would increase their chance of getting selected for the auctions and even possibly raise the final bid price, the risk was more.


    Recovering from the shock of the stellar energy, the crowd stared at the item inside the box. It was similarly a long weapon, but rather than a trident, it was a spear; an overbearing one at that.


    The spear was coloured gold with the runes and stellar matrices engraved on it with a special white ink. There was a purple-red gem fixed on the shaft, just below the point where the blade connected to the shaft. A white tassel was attached to the joint, giving the spear a royal feeling.


    "I present to you all, our masterpiece for this year''s convention: ''Annalia''. It takes its name from the ancient human race era, meaning ''God''s grace to me''." The manager introduced.


    "It seems the rumours are true. It all makes sense now." Someone in the crowd said.


    "What rumours?"


    The man explained, "It''s said that Grey Finger has a rival in the Ecclesiastics. Both sides were talented vestige-smiths and had competed with each other ever since they got their certificates. His rival was said to have gone missing a few years back, but about two years after the Gold Rain Factory announced that they had recently attracted a new vestige-smith into their ranks.


    However, the vestige-smith''s identity wasn''t disclosed, even on their official website. However, rumours eventually came out that the new vestige-smith was of the Ecclesiastics branch. The Gold Rain Factory neither refuted nor admitted to this, so the rumours later died down. But it seems like they were true; and the vestige-smith is probably that man."


    Although no name was mentioned, the crowd could guess who ''that man'' was. When they thought about things, it finally made sense.


    Sofoklis probably knew that his rival had joined the Gold Rain Factory and that this year''s masterpiece was a product of his, hence why he challenged the Gold Rain Factory to a vestige duel. By using his masterpiece to compete, the Gold Rain Factory would be forced to do the same, unless they wanted to throw the towel or just refuse the duel.


    However, the Silver Fig Trade Convention wasn''t an ordinary exhibition fair. Any action taken here by a corporation or vestige-smith would affect their reputation in the market negatively or positively, depending on the nature of the action.


    Throwing the towel or refusing the challenge would definitely affect the public opinion since Sofoklis wasn''t a nobody, so they would most likely give it their all.


    From the start, Sofoklis wasn''t competing with them to find out the better side, but was merely re-enacting his rivalry. He didn''t come to compete with the Gold Rain Factory, but his old rival. Read exclusive content at empire


    The spectators were once again swept in emotions and couldn''t wait for the duel to begin. Even Lucas couldn''t help but look at Sofoklis differently.


    "Let''s begin." The overseer said.


    Sofoklis'' disciple wielded the trident while the staff who brought the box carried the spear in hand.


    The vestige duel was a general duel that comprised of multiple tests to evaluate the performance of a vestige. It was similar but different to the quality tests performed by vestige-smiths.


    The tests of a general duel for cold-weapon-type vestiges were focused on seven properties: durability, sharpness, hardness, strength, power, rune or stellar matrix efficiency, and finally, stellar energy purity.


    Durability was the ability of a vestige to withstand damage and wear.


    Sharpness was a measure of the vestige''s piercing factor.


    Hardness was the ability of the vestige to retain its shape under resistance.


    Strength, similar to hardness but entirely different, was the vestige''s ability to maintain its structural integrity under stress or strain. Simply put, it was the ability of a vestige to resist permanent deformation.


    The difference between strength and hardness was that the former was the measure of how much stress a vestige could handle before permanent deformation or fracturing. In simpler terms, it was a measure of how much force a vestige could handle before cracking or breaking. As for the latter, it was a measure of a vestige''s ability to resist surface deformation, like scratching or piercing.


    Power was a measure of the vestige''s grade, or better yet, the grading system for vestiges.


    Efficiency of the runes and stellar matrices was a measure of the inscriptions'' ability to function. Some runes were more powerful than others, and some stellar matrices could draw stellar energy from the vestige''s wielder faster than others.


    Even if two vestige-smiths were to use the exact same runes and stellar matrices for their creation, there would be differences in efficiency, resulting from the differing inscription expertise of the two vestige-smiths.


    Stellar energy purity was a very important property as this not only determined the grade of a vestige, but it also affected its ranking on the grade. It was well known that even within a specific grade, there would be differences in raw power between vestiges. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For instance, Lucas'' vestiges were more powerful than other vestige-smiths, which was why Harry didn''t mind paying the bill for one even though it was costlier. This was all due to the fact that the stellar energy purity was on a different level.


    Stellar energy purity didn''t rely on whether or not the vestige-smith had stellar energy. Instead, it was influenced by the material used as well as the refining process.


    Every material used in forging vestiges had some amount of stellar energy naturally stored within them, and the higher the stellar energy and its purity was, the more valuable and rare the material became. However, the purity and even concentration could be affected by the forging method of the vestige-smith.


    The ability to retain almost or the exact same quality and concentration of a vestige, defined a vestige-smith''s ability. In some cases, some vestige-smiths could even raise the stellar purity and concentration by creating a resonance with other materials used.


    For instance, if one were to create a vestige using an alloy of a valuable material and a lesser one, if the vestige-smith''s skill was up to the task, he or she could create a resonance between the two materials. By doing so, the final product -the alloy- would have a stellar energy quality and purity not just higher than the lesser material but even on par with the more valuable material.


    "For the first test, the durability test."

 Chapter 91 Another Mission

    "It, it can''t be..." The manager fell to his knees with a horrified expression.The vestige duel had just concluded. All seven tests were carried out in public and the results were displayed at the same time to everyone. Continue reading at empire


    The trident crafted by Grey Finger Sofoklis had actually surpassed the spear by a margin. Although the gap wasn''t wide, winning only four out of the seven tests, a win was still a win.


    The durability test was won over by the spear created by the Ecclesiastics member from the Gold Rain Factory. It also managed to clinch a victory in the Sharpness and Strength tests.


    However, the stellar energy properties -stellar energy purity and matrix efficiency- were won by the Trident. The Hardness test was also taken by the Trident as well, bringing both sides to an equal number of victories.


    The power test was the last test and it usually ended in a draw in most vestige duels. It wasn''t easy for one to forge a Grade 4 vestige, so that made the best piece of equipment anyone could create to be at Grade 3. Minute differences couldn''t be used to determine a victory here because that was used for the stellar energy purity test.


    If such practice was taken, it would mean that whoever won the purity test would naturally win the power test, which would imply there was no point to the latter test.


    As it usually ended in a draw, the manager was calm and felt lucky. Even if the trident won the stellar energy purity test, it didn''t matter. A draw was better than a loss, and it wasn''t like the spear performed badly in the tests it lost.


    However, just as the power test was carried out, his worst fear -which he never even considered- occurred.


    "Hand of God Trident, Grade, Grade 4!"


    The overseer screamed while staring at the result. It might be the weakest Grade 4 he had ever seen, but it was definitely a Grade 4 vestige.


    In fact, the overseer wasn''t the only one shocked by it. Everyone else was too.


    Hand of God was the name of the trident Sofoklis had created; a masterpiece that could truly be described as a one after this vestige duel.


    A Grade 4 vestige was something only the top companies and master vestige-smiths could make; it wasn''t something the Gold Rain Factory or the previous Sofoklis could create. For it to be done now, there was only one explanation, Sofoklis had advanced in rank and skill.


    As for whether he cheated and had someone else forge it, no one had that idea. It was a taboo for a vestige-smith to use a vestige not created by their hands for a vestige duel, unless they stated it prior to the duel. The other exception applied to companies. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If one were found guilty of cheating, not only would they lose their standing in the industry, but they would be stripped of the right to create and sell vestige anywhere on the planet. If the higher-ups were informed of this, they could even lose the right to sell vestiges anywhere in the galaxy. Hence, no matter what, vestige-smiths never cheated during a vestige duel.


    Sofoklis remained calm, but the slight smile on his face showed that he wasn''t truly immune to the gasps and shocking stares of the crowd.


    "Master Sofoklis, have you?" The overseer carefully asked.


    Sofoklis didn''t reply to him, but his aura burst forth. It was at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    "Indeed. I apologize for the disrespect." The overseer bowed.


    While the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage was difficult to achieve, stellar practitioners at this level could still be found here and there. Most freelancer guild leaders were at this stage. In top families and higher ranks of the City Defence Force and the Patrol Corps, one could also find them. However, the seventh level was a different story.


    At this level, one would become an influential member of society and a true leader.


    For vestige-smiths in Eretre, the common prerequisite to be able to forge Grade 4 vestiges was to be at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. It was due to this prerequisite that there weren''t as many Grade 4 vestiges in the market as there were Grade 3, because vestige-smiths capable of making such were rare.


    Being a seventh level stellar practitioner was difficult, but being a seventh level stellar practitioner and a vestige-smith was even more so difficult.


    Now that Sofoklis was confirmed to be this level, he couldn''t be treated the same as himself from a few minutes ago. Even the overseer, despite being from a hegemonic association had to be respectful and address Sofoklis as ''master'', while also apologising for the questioning.


    "Don''t worry about it." Sofoklis remained calm while signalling for his disciple to pack up the vestige.


    As soon as the latter was done, the duo left the scene, acting as if what they had just done and revealed was a common occurrence.


    ''Tsk. Such horrible acting.'' Lucas snorted, but he didn''t underrate them.


    A Grade 4 vestige was truly a powerful item from what he could sense during the test. Actually, thanks to his sensitive soul, Lucas had already identified the winner before the vestige duel even began. He had noticed that Sofoklis'' vestige was quite different from a Grade 3 vestige.


    Having made what could be described as the best Grade 3 vestige ever, Lucas had to admit that even the gauntlet could only barely compare to the trident.


    There could hence only be one explanation; the trident was at a higher grade.


    ''Grade 4 vestiges are indeed something. If I could make one of those, I wonder how much it could sell?''


    With the store''s 200% prices compared to others, Lucas couldn''t help but salivate at the amount of money he would make from one Grade 4 vestige sale. Even if the system took its usual charges, his profit would still be enough to purchase a few shops in the market zone.


    ''No, this is wrong. System, you have to bring down your charges.''


    Just as he said so, a mission popped up.


    [[ Mission Overview: The host has finally been exposed to some of the traditional practices of vestige-smithing. It is now time for the host to announce his existence to the world and stomp all other craftsmen to the ground.


    As the successor to the Crafts-God, neither failure nor mediocrity is acceptable!


    Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.


    Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats).


    Penalty: There exists no penalty for abandoning the mission or failing to complete it in time. However, if the host were to accept the mission and lose a vestige duel, one random ability granted by the system would be taken away. ]]

 Chapter 92 The Four Forbidden Techniques

    [[ Mission Overview: The host has finally been exposed to some of the traditional practices of vestige-smithing. It is now time for the host to announce his existence to the world and stomp all other craftsmen to the ground.As the successor to the Crafts-God, neither failure nor mediocrity is acceptable!


    Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.


    Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats).


    Penalty: There exists no penalty for abandoning the mission or failing to complete it in time. However, if the host were to accept the mission and lose a vestige duel, one random ability granted by the system would be taken away. ]]


    Lucas was surprised by the notification that popped up in front of him, but he wasn''t vexed by it. On the contrary, this mission actually rhymed with his plan.


    There was a reason why Lucas had yet to open up his stall even after the first day had gone by. Part of his time was indeed spent checking out the other stalls and stores, but the reason for that was to estimate the quality of the vestiges produced by others. The market zone had a bunch of stores with vestiges on display, but those were just common items.


    To see the rarer ones, one would either need to be a VIP of the store, or provide proof of wealth. It was only during the Silver Fig Trade Convention that one could see the best of the best without any stringent conditions.


    As for why Lucas wanted to estimate the ability of the vestige-smiths, it was because he wanted to outshine them. This was just how he was back in his first life. Lucas always aimed to be the best at his craft, and in this life, it was no different.


    The system mission just came in time, and what''s more, it was exactly what he planned right from the start, albeit a bit more tedious.


    "Hey, system, is it me or are your penalties much nicer? At least I don''t have to lose an arm or die, and also, I could actually reject the mission."


    The system went silent for a few seconds, before replying,


    "The fourth-wall beings filed a complaint."


    "Huh? The fourth what?" Lucas was dumbfounded.


    ''Does the system have a chuunibyou-self or something?''


    Lucas decided to ignore the system and return back to the Seven Sparks Forge store. He had seen enough for today and decided to resume his project.


    Because the gauntlet was intended to be a secret weapon of his, Lucas had decided to craft something new and exquisite for the convention.


    Due to his lack of stellar energy, Grade 3 vestiges were the best Lucas could make using the forbidden techniques from his past life -techniques that fed on his blood and mental energy. This was why Lucas didn''t have more than four Grade 3 vestiges in his arsenal. After each creation, he would need to take some time to recover his lost energy.


    "''If I want to make something that stands out, I need to go all out." S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the work-station, Lucas stood before a work bench situated at the centre of the room. Although it was called a bench, it looked more like the centre table in a kitchen.


    Atop the table was a blueprint stretched out, which Lucas was currently working on.


    ''There are currently four forbidden techniques I can use in my current state, capable of making a Grade 3 vestige or even higher. All four have high requirements for a substitute to mystical energy, and the closest substitute is blood energy.''


    In the world of Mana and True Qi, a witch had once tried to find a means for normal civilians, who could not practice magic or cultivation, to be able to contend against mages, cultivators, deserters and other witches. The said witch, after a stroke of inspiration, decided not to look for a solution outside, but internally.


    After an intense and lengthy study of the anatomy of the human body, down to even the spiritual aspects, the witch had finally discovered something: blood energy.


    Blood energy was a term used to describe a theoretical mystical energy that existed within living beings. It was the equivalent of one''s vutal life force, and the energy that kept the body alive. Once a person''s blood energy went too low, they would either die of spiritual exhaustion or become too feeble, and might end up a vegetable.


    Hence why individuals had to be careful with their blood energy usage.


    Due to the unique nature of the blood energy and the studies of the witch, it was discovered that blood energy could be somewhat used to substitute mana or true qi. The issue, however, was that unlike the other mystical energies which could easily be recovered and increased, an average human typically has a fixed amount of blood energy they could store.


    What''s more, this amount would decrease as they aged.


    The witch went a step further and created a technique that could cast spells by combining both blood energy and mental energy, a unique kind of energy that was weaker than mystical energy. But this still wasn''t enough, and was merely a stop-gap to the issue.


    One of the forbidden techniques Lucas knew was exactly this technique. However, he didn''t use it for fights, but to create vestiges. The amount of blood energy spent on creating a vestige was less than in a battle. Also, Lucas could take his time to recover after each usage. If he instead used this for fights, the effect would be detrimental to him, especially with how often he got into battles.


    The second forbidden technique wasn''t exactly a taboo per say, but was more of a lost technique. Lucas happened to have chanced on an ancient relic and found it there. The technique was one that allowed a non-mystical energy user to be able to possess mystical energy by tapping energy from a unique material.


    Unique materials were naturally occurring objects that could store mystical energy, like the metals used in making vestiges and so on.


    This technique could allow the user absorb the energy and use readily. However, there was no way to store it in the body. As such, practitioners of this technique always had to carry a unique material on hand.


    The downside of this technique, apart from having to carry a unique material everywhere you go, was that unique materials had a fixed amount of mystical energy, and it usually wasn''t much. So, unless one was lucky enough to find a heavenly metal, herb or something, with a boatload of mystical energy, they would have to constantly carry a significant amount of unique materials.


    This obviously resulted in this technique inefficient for combat, which was why Lucas never used it for so. However, in a work-station, it wasn''t bad.


    The third forbidden technique was now something that could truly be termed as a forbidden. It was a heinous technique that came about from a different research -a deserter- who wanted to fix the flaw of the Blood energy technique.


    An individual''s blood energy was fixed and would steadily decline as they grew older. There was no way to increase the cap, and even the rumoured methods required heavenly items that were as rare as a Phoenix. Naturally, this created dissatisfaction for many.


    The deserter, was a mage who got banned from the mage society after he fixed this flaw. As for how he did it, it was with a method he deemed natural.


    Since one''s blood energy was limited, why not plunder from others?


    The deserter created a technique that could allow the user to steal blood energy from other living creatures of blood. Needless to say, this harmed the target of the technique. If the user were to go all the way, the victim would be totally drained of their blood energy and die.


    The most suitable targets for this blood energy were living creatures of blood, but the closer the living creature was in nature to the user, the more in sync the plundered blood energy would be with the user. Hence, humans were the best targets.


    Both the mage, witches and cultivation societies collectively agreed to ban this technique and hunt down anyone who practiced it, terming them as devils.


    As for how Lucas got his hands on this technique, that was for another day.


    The final technique was equally atrocious. However, while it did plunder from a living creature as well, it didn''t have the same limitations as the previous one. This technique aimed not at blood energy, but the soul of a living being.


    The soul was a mystical existence that couldn''t be seen or described as it was an enigmatic concept. However, a certain crazy cultivator had made a study in secret. This was after the discovery of blood energy, and that research had paved the way to it. The cultivator theorized that since the body possessed a mystical energy of its own, why not the spirit?


    He tried to work with mental energy, but felt that was lacking.


    Having made no achievements, the cultivator decided to stop looking for an energy, but a form. If there was no energy, why not use the form as a fuel? After all, a human body, when burnt at the right conditions, could form charcoal which could fuel a fire.


    After working in that direction, the cultivator chanced on the soul, and then created a technique which could be used to strip this incorporeal form away from the target. The technique would not just seize the soul, but also decompose it to form soul energy, a new kind of mystical energy.


    Compared to the previous forbidden technique, this was even more nefarious because it would deny one an opportunity at reincarnation. As it targeted all existences with a ''soul'', it wasn''t only limited to lifeforms of blood, as even trees had spirits.


    The flexibility of this forbidden technique to direct its spear at any lifeform and also deny them the opportunity of reincarnation, made it even more hated than the Plundering Blood Technique. The creator was not only caught, but he was also executed in public. Every record of the research was also destroyed by the joint alliance of witches, cultivators and mages, or so they thought.


    Because if that were so, Lucas would have never learnt about it.

 Chapter 93 Buying Desolate Beasts

    The Blood Energy circulation, Materialization Technique, Blood Plundering Technique, and the Soul Dismantling Spell were the names of the four forbidden techniques.The Blood Energy Circulation dealt with utilising the blood energy of the user.


    The Materialization Technique enabled powerless humans to be able to draw the mystical energy within unique materials for their own use.


    The Blood Plundering Technique was a modified version of the Blood Energy circulation, but it relied on alternative sources of blood energy apart from the user.


    As for the Soul Dismantling Spell, it was a forbidden spell that could be used to absorb and decompose souls to form soul energy, an artificial mystical energy.


    Of the four forbidden techniques, Lucas had only been using the Blood Energy Circulation and the Materialization Technique. Usually, he used either one, but for more powerful vestiges, Lucas would have to rely on both methods to cover up for his lack of stellar energy.


    For instance, during the forging process of the gauntlets, Lucas had used the two forbidden techniques in tandem to create the vestige.


    Looking at the blueprint on the work bench, Lucas sighed. Since he wanted to defeat everyone with one item, it had to be very powerful; at least on par with the gauntlets. But even making those was too difficult for Lucas.


    When making vestiges, the importance of stellar energy was not to be underestimated. For some unique materials, they couldn''t simply be melted or shaped by exposure to high heat. Stellar energy was also used in the quenching process, making the final product more durable.


    In summary, stellar energy was used in a whole bunch of places during the vestige-smithing process. The more stellar energy one had, the easier the process and better the final product would be. This was because some of the processes in vestige-smithing couldn''t be paused, so the vestige-smith wouldn''t have the time to recover their stellar energy.


    The higher the intended grade of the vestige, the more one would encounter such processes.


    If the vestige-smith was forcefully stopped or used an inadequate amount of stellar energy in the process, probably due to being drained out, the quality of the vestige would be affected and it might even turn out to be a failure.


    To avoid a failure during the forging process for the gauntlets, Lucas had spent eight hours just to melt the metals and twenty hours to create the form. That was the most intensive task he had ever taken ever since his death in his first life.


    However, Lucas was currently lacking time. He had less than sixteen hours to work with, and this was with pulling an all-nighter. The only way Lucas could conclude before the deadline was if he used a different forbidden technique apart from those two.


    ''Should I pay some underground gangs a visit?'' Lucas thought.


    ''Forget it. Security has been tight recently. I should have kept those corpses intact if I had known I would be doing this.''


    Sighing, Lucas opened his communicator. After scouting the net for a while, he visited a certain site, and made an order.


    "System, do you believe that there''s such a thing as an evil technique?" Lucas suddenly asked.


    After four seconds, the system responded,


    "The system doesn''t concern itself with such remarks. What matters in the end is the end goal."


    "Hmm, I guess we''re the same, but not at the same time." Lucas said.


    "How so?" The system asked; a situation that rarely ever occurred.


    Albeit slightly surprised, Lucas answered,


    "I don''t believe in evil techniques. A technique can only be called good or evil depending on what it is used for. Even good can be done for evil reasons."


    "Isn''t that the same?"


    "No, my ideology differs from yours. You believe in the end goal, but not the principle. If I were to sacrifice innocent lives to forge the greatest vestige ever in order to save the world, the end goal would be achieved, but the act would still remain evil.


    However, if I were to sacrifice criminals, or individuals who willingly give up their life for the cause, to achieve the same result, then the act would be more justified." Lucas answered.


    "Isn''t that hypocrisy? Isn''t all life being equal a common belief of humanity?"


    "All life should be equal, but unfortunately, all life is not equal. It''s the same way a mother would value the life of her child over that of a stranger. In her heart, her child''s life is of more value than the stranger''s, and even hers." Lucas said with a strange tone, staring out in the air.


    Less than an hour later, a hovercar appeared in front of the building. As it landed, a humanoid robot walked out with a form.


    It glanced at Lucas and scanned his face at the same time to confirm his identity.


    "Good evening, esteemed customer. Please sign here."


    Lucas took the form and signed where necessary. After the robot confirmed the signatures, it went into the hovercar and carried out a few cages. There were four in total and inside them were desolate beasts.


    West Wing district had the nickname of Freelancer city and this was due to the many businesses that catered to and supported by the freelancer community. The trade of desolate beasts was one such.


    Desolate beasts had different physical and anatomical structures compared to hyumans, with some of them having bones as strong as metals and fireproof skin. Due to this, it was only natural that people would want to acquire their body parts, which was how most freelancers made their money. However, some enthusiasts wanted desolate beasts as pets, or might just want to have a taste of their meat.


    As a result, a new career in freelancing was born, which was capturing young desolate beasts.


    Young ones were targeted because once they matured, they would be at the Apertures Opening stage, and capturing a matured desolate beast, although not impossible, was quite difficult.


    Two of the desolate beasts brought out looked like rabbits, but their appearance was more wild and ferocious. They had a pair of fangs with ears as long as a child''s arm. On their feet were sharp talons that could year apart their earthly counterparts. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of the remaining two desolate beasts looked like a crossbreed between a wolf and a lion. While standing on all fours, it surpassed the waist level of an average human adult. On the two hind legs, it could easily tower an adult. The lion-wolf desolate beast didn''t only have a set of vicious fangs for teeth, but it exuded a bloodthirsty aura even in captivity.


    Its crimson eyes stared at Lucas like a beast eyeing a prey. There was no doubt that once the cage was opened, it would pounce on him right away.


    The final desolate beast was a viper-like monster, and unlike the other three, it looked docile. However, Lucas knew better than to treat it as harmless. Of the three types of desolate beasts, the snake was the most dangerous.


    This was because while the other two were termed desolate beasts, they were younglings and below the Apertures Opening stage. However, the snake was closely approaching that level. One could even say that it was equivalent to a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner who just needed a slight push.


    Thanks to his sensitive soul, Lucas could ''see'' that the snake had already accumulated almost enough stellar energy to break through. It was a suitable offering for the forbidden techniques.


    ''Good thing there''s no such thing as animal cruelty for desolate beasts, otherwise I would have my store shut down.''


    Lucas thought as recalled his past life on Earth where a certain animal-lovers organisation constantly hampered down on people. Although their goal was a respectable one, they tend to take things too far, even at the cost of harming other humans.


    With the purchase of four desolate beasts, Lucas'' newly acquired wealth had dwindled considerably. Desolate beasts, even if they were young and of the lowest grade species, cost a lot. However, these expenses were necessary for what he wanted to do.

 Chapter 94 Im Not Showing, So What?

    The third day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention kicked off at the ninth hour of the day (9:00 am). Although there was no grand style commemoration or performance, that didn''t diminish the interest or excitement of the crowd. Find exclusive stories on empireThe previous day was the start of the vestige duel fever and the clients had witnessed a lot of fascinating matches. There were many winners and losers the previous day, but regardless of the result, none of the participants closed down their stall.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was the biggest event for vestige-smiths and vestige-smith businesses in Baylands City, so just leaving after the second day was a loss no business planned on taking.


    Losing a vestige duel didn''t mean that a stall would fail to attract clients during the convention; that was unless the losing side lost drastically and underperformed expected targets. And so far, only a few losers have underperformed so badly that the convention might as well be tagged over for them. As for the big companies and famous names in the industry, they still kept their stands.


    However, none of them had exposed their masterpiece yet; the situation with the Gold Rain Factory was a rare one and the Factory couldn''t really be classified as a large member of the industry.


    With the start of the third day, expectations were high. Everyone was looking forward to the upcoming vestige duels and wondered if they would be a reputed company participating in one just like the previous day.


    "Hmm? This stall is finally open?"


    A freelancer who had attended the event as a client glanced at a stall by the side. He had been coming to the event for the past two days and followed a similar route each time. According to his memory, this stall, although set up, had been closed each time.


    At that time, he presumed that it was run by a vestige-smith and the latter was probably ill or something, and so couldn''t attend the convention.


    ''I guess he''s back to good health.'' The freelancer thought.


    He then walked over to the stall to check it out. By its design, it was clear that this was run by an unknown vestige-smith, but to be able to participate in this convention was a testament to the person''s skill. The freelancer decided to find out more, probably in hopes that he would stumble upon a good vestige-smith and be able to close a cheap deal.


    "Welcome." Lucas greeted the man who stood in front of the stall.


    The man glanced at Lucas with surprise. There were two reasons for this and each was equally astonishing. The first was that Lucas was a human. Why would a human be here? A suitable explanation could be that he operated the stall on behalf of the actual owner, so this calmed the man a bit. But the situation still made him stunned


    It was because Lucas was relaxing by the side of the stall.


    Between each stall was enough space for three people to work side by side. Just within that gap, Lucas had set up a retractable deckchair and laid on it calmly. He also wore a pair of sunglasses, a pair of floral-patterned khaki shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops on his feet. Rather than a convention, it looked as if he had gone to the beach.


    The freelancer couldn''t help but be speechless at his appearance.


    "Is there a problem?" Lucas asked.


    Of course he was aware the man''s surprise probably had to do with his outfit, but that was exactly what Lucas wanted. Acting out of the ordinary would always attract attention. Yes, this was all a strategy, and not because Lucas was too poor to afford proper clothing. Definitely not that.


    As for where he got the outfit, the system had provided Lucas three sets of clothing as well as a couple other items and equipment in his welcome package. The entire outfit made up one set of clothing.


    "Uhm, no. Nothing really. I just wanted to see your goods." The freelancer asked.


    "Not showing." Lucas waved him off.


    "..." The freelancer was once again dumbfounded.


    "What do you mean, ''not showing''?"


    "I mean not showing." Lucas straightforwardly replied.


    "After being exposed to so much crap lately, you wouldn''t be able to differentiate silver from stainless steel."


    The freelancer was stunned. This was the first time a participant not only shooed him away, but humiliated him. Although he wasn''t renowned, he still had a name to himself and as a third level stellar practitioner, not anyone could treat him so badly.


    "Do you want a beating? Call your boss right now and if I don''t receive a proper apology, I''ll make sure to report you and have your stall torn down." The freelancer grimly stared at Lucas.


    "Well, I''m the boss."


    "Do you think I''m stupid?"


    The freelancer got tired of talking and grabbed at Lucas.


    Fights were banned during the convention, but considering that Lucas was a human and the owner of this stall was a low and almost unknown vestige-smith, teaching Lucas a small lesson shouldn''t be a problem. At best, the freelancer would have to pay a small fine after that, but so what?


    In exchange, Lucas'' bones would be broken and he would know his place as an attendant and most importantly, a human.


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    Lucas struck the palm of the man to the side and glared at him.


    "How?"


    The freelancer raised his eyebrows in surprise. He recovered almost immediately, and with cheeks burning in shame, he attacked once again, but this time more ferociously.


    Lucas frowned and unlike before, he didn''t go easy on him again. The Craftsman gloves appeared on his hand and he grabbed the freelancer''s fist and responded with a punch to the latter''s face.


    *Bam*


    The freelancer''s face scrunched up after the punch, but before he could even recover, Lucas released a flurry of attacks on his face and body.


    *Bam* *Bam*


    Every punch was resounding, but it was executed with just the right force and form to ensure that the target wasn''t hurled away yet.


    After delivering fifteen blows to the man, Lucas landed a final hit and knocked him out.


    "If I say, not showing, I mean, not showing." Lucas declared.


    The system had already informed him that the stall was counted as an outlet of the Seven Sparks Forge for the duration of the convention; therefore, all abilities of the system could be used here as well. As such, he had no fear of attackers or troublemakers.


    With the commotion caused by the fight, a lot of attention was drawn towards the area. The neighbouring stalls and guests who walked by all stared towards Lucas. In their eyes was not only shock due to seeing a human take down a freelancer, but there was also a bit of mirth.


    "Dimwit. Doesn''t he know the rules?"


    "Haha. He''s a human, what do you expect from such archaic species? Let''s just watch how the show turns out."

 Chapter 95 The Bigger The Better

    "There is no such thing as bad publicity."These were the exact words spoken to Lucas by a friend of his on Earth. This friend was a graduate of the esteemed Pavard Business School and he had a degree in marketing as well.


    Back then, Lucas had just graduated from college and was seeking sponsorships for his research on materials. However, as a fresh graduate and an unknown individual in the science community, getting grants for his research was no doubt extremely difficult.


    Lucas had to compete with prestigious academies and famous names in the community, and even if he was a genius, he lacked the experience and connections of these parties.


    In order to achieve his goal, Lucas had once asked his friend for advice. This friend of his gave a suggestion that was somewhat ridiculous, but also valid. He told Lucas that the best way to achieve his goal was to gain publicity and the method didn''t matter, whether good or bad.


    As long as one carried out an action that gained enough media coverage, the higher-ups would be the ones to decide whether it was worth punishing or rewarding. Even the scientists of a certain formerly powerful nation were absorbed into the forces of a superpower on the winning side, despite their hands in the sinful crimes committed by their warlord.


    So, the main point of worry wasn''t what action to take, but whether Lucas had something worth offering. As long as he did, then all Lucas had to do was gain as much publicity as possible by carrying out an insane stunt. The bigger the act, the wider the publicity.


    Back then, to be rewarded a grant, Lucas rented a boat and sailed to an unoccupied island. Once there, he set off a nuclear explosion, sinking the island while filming the entire process.


    What Lucas had to offer was a new material he had discovered, or to be specific, artificially created. It was radioactive in nature and had the potential to rival hydrogen when used to create a bomb. Lucas had controlled the amount and made proper calculations to ensure that the bomb would damage the island, but he had slightly underestimated its power as it caused the little island to sink.


    When the video came online, it attracted a ton of attention as some had testified to hearing a loud explosion and seeing a mushroom cloud on the day of the explosion. The secret service of Rhodia had even caught on to it from their satellites, and within two days, Lucas was arrested.


    He was eventually released and given whatever amount he wanted in grants to continue his research, proving his friend''s point.


    Now in a new world with new intelligent species, Lucas decided to once again employ the same tactics. He wasn''t going to set off an explosion, as that would obviously be more disadvantageous than advantageous to him, but Lucas still intended on causing a commotion.


    That''s right. From the very start, Lucas had intended on goading the freelancer to attack him. Lucas was aware that fights were banned during the convention, and together with his identity as a human, it would surely attract a lot of attention.


    The security personnel for the convention arrived and they surrounded Lucas'' stall. At this time, the freelancer was still knocked out, but they managed to get him back to his feet while one of them interrogated Lucas.


    "What is the matter here?"


    The captain of the security team asked.


    "Nothing if you ask me." Lucas shrugged.


    "What do you mean ''nothing''? A fight broke out and someone was knocked out. From the report, you''re the known cause of this incident. Is that what nothing sounds like to you?" The captain frowned.


    "oh. If you''re talking about that, it was merely me handling a troublemaker." Lucas calmly replied. But at the same time, he studied the captain and couldn''t help but have a thought.


    "A troublemaker?" The captain asked.


    Pointing at the freelancer who just awoke, Lucas said,


    "That''s right. That stranger over there. He came over to my stall to cause trouble for no apparent reason."


    The freelancer flushed and screamed,


    "Liar. I just asked to see your vestiges, but you denied me and even knocked me out. This is a convention; since when was glancing at a vestige a crime? Please treat this matter sincerely."


    The latter part was said to the captain of the security team, a third level stellar practitioner just like the freelancer.


    The freelancer knew that if he was found guilty, the usual punishment would be a ban or suspension from the current and future Silver Fig Trade Conventions. For any freelancer who intended to further their career, this was quite devastating.


    The security captain then turned to Lucas.


    "What do you have to say for yourself?"


    Lucas glanced at the freelancer, but wasn''t surprised. Read the latest on empire


    It might seem like Lucas had attacked a random person, but the opposite was true. From the man''s reaction to Lucas'' words back then, it was clear that he looked down on humans and people he considered lesser. A normal response at that time would have been to ignore Lucas and walk away, or if one was still interested, question him on the criteria to see a vestige.


    But the freelancer''s mode of response was to launch an attack right away.


    For someone so violent, Lucas saw no reason to be nice to him.


    ''I guess I''ll play with you a bit.''


    "My stall operates a special rule. Due to the nature of the vestiges, not just anyone can be allowed to take a look at them. The man over there didn''t qualify, hence why I didn''t show it to him. As for his claims of attacking him, I only acted in self defence after he assaulted me."


    "That''s enough fraudulent accusations. What do you take me for?" The freelancer argued back.


    "One more word and I don''t mind showing the clip to the security." Lucas glared at him.


    "What, what clip?" The freelancer stuttered as his eyes held a trace of suspicion in them.


    "The stalls aren''t fitted with security devices as no one expects any individual or party to cause trouble during the convention; offending the Silver Fig Consortium over a minor argument is clearly a stupid action. The lack of security might have emboldened you to act, however, I have a habit of making sure my surroundings are filmed as a result of my special identity." Lucas smiled.


    The freelancer finally froze as his blood turned cold. He could now understand what Lucas meant. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he attacked Lucas, the freelancer was aware that there were no security cameras around. He also knew that even if the security team were to arrive, most of the bystanders would side with him as eighty percent of hyumans in the city were anti-social and critical about humans.


    Even if there was one good Samaritan amongst them, it wouldn''t matter; the victim was a human so even the security team wouldn''t take it seriously.


    However, he never expected that not only would Lucas be capable of retaliation, but he had also filmed the entire act.


    Also, Lucas'' statement that somewhat offhandedly mentioned not offending the Silver Fig Consortium was actually a slight way to pressure not just the freelancer, but also the security captain. It was a clever use of words that would force the security captain to handle the matter properly.


    Humans might be looked down upon, but if a situation where a hyuman was in the wrong first was brought out to the open with hard evidence, even the security team couldn''t act like hypocrites. After all, the city-state''s law covered both hyumans and humans, and the Silver Fig Consortium was an alliance of businesses operating under this law.


    "Let the matter go." The security captain suddenly said.


    "He was in the wrong and you''ve punished him for that. I think we can end this here."


    It was clear that the security captain wanted to end things here, and not mete out the full punishment or even carry out a proper investigation.


    Lucas turned to him, at first with displeasure, but then quelled his rage.


    ''It seems like I''ve forgotten the true nature of reality.'' Lucas thought.


    Having associated with a few friendly individuals in this while, Lucas had actually forgotten his ''place'' in the city. He was a human, and in Baylands City, that was no different from being a second class citizen; in some cases, it could be even worse.


    "Sure."


    The freelancer sighed with relief, but before he could walk away, Lucas'' voice sounded.


    "But that depends on something."


    "What?" The security captain frowned.


    He had thought that Lucas would be smart enough to figure out his intention and act accordingly, but it seemed like he was wrong. Either that, or Lucas just wanted to make things more difficult. Regardless of which, he had already aggravated the situation and irritated the man.


    "The usual way matters are settled; a vestige duel."

 Chapter 96 A Bet

    "Let''s have a vestige duel.""Haha, are you delusional or dumb? I''m not a vestige-smith." The freelancer mocked as he breathed out with relief. He had expected Lucas to ask for something impossible, but the latter just had to be half-witted.


    "Of course I know you aren''t one, but that doesn''t mean you can''t participate in a vestige duel." Lucas smiled.


    "Typically, vestige duels are between vestige-smiths. Even if you want to challenge him to one, how would you go about it?" The security captain glared.


    "There''s never been an official rule about who can participate in a vestige duel, so it''s simple. We just compete."


    Lucas explained.


    "I''ll also toss in a handicap for him. All he has to do is present his best vestige and I''ll match its grade with mine. How''s that?"


    The freelancer was stunned, but he felt something was wrong.


    With the proposal by Lucas, it essentially gave him the advantage. As a third level stellar practitioner, it was natural for him to have a bit of wealth accumulated which he would invest into his gear. Although his best vestige wasn''t a Grade 3 vestige, it was still one of the top quality Grade 2 vestiges available, and a customised version at that.


    Typically, apart from higher grade vestiges, only a few vestiges of the same grade could beat it in terms of quality. So, it seemed destined that he would win.


    However, something still felt off.


    ''Maybe he''s just ignorant and underestimated me.''


    Thinking of this, the freelancer couldn''t wait to compete and put Lucas in his place.


    "I accept. But let''s make it a bit more entertaining. If I win, not only would this matter end here, but you will kneel down and apologize to me while compensating me with a suitable fee for my wasted time." The freelancer declared.


    Muffled bursts of surprise came from those who stood by the side to watch the scene. None of them had expected the freelancer to be greedy, despite being the one at fault.


    Lucas however, had an idea after those words.


    "In that case, if I win instead, you don''t need to kneel and apologize. Just a small compensation fee of one hundred federal coins should do."


    This time around, the crowd''s astonishment shifter towards Lucas. Not only was he greedier, but he also claimed a fee of one hundred federal coins to be a ''small compensation ''.


    However, in some sense, it was ''small''. Freelancers made a lot more than the average worker and just the cheapest vestige alone already cost the average monthly salary in West Wing district. Hence, in some sense, one hundred federal coins was indeed ''small''. At least compared to the freelancer''s vague compensation that could imply anything, a stated fee was cheaper.


    "Sure." The freelancer agreed, confident in his victory.


    Lucas smiled once he got the reply he wanted and asked the security team to clear some space for the duel.


    The captain glanced at Lucas and was annoyed by the look on his face, but he still did as told.


    As for Lucas, he had already walked into the stall to retrieve the necessary items for a duel. As he was the only one around, it took quite some time for him to do so.


    "I''ll need a volunteer to act as an overseer." Lucas spoke towards the crowd.


    Since the vestige duel wasn''t between participants of the convention, the organizers of the convention didn''t need to send in a staff to act as an overseer. For that role, Lucas would have to outsource elsewhere, and his best bet was the crowd.


    An overseer didn''t hold much influence over the results of a vestige duel as it was clear to everyone; their role was more of a referee without significant authority.


    "Let me."


    A middle-aged man walked from the group of spectators. He was a vestige-smith participating in the convention, and his stall was only a few metres away from Lucas. He had taken note of the clash that occurred earlier, and had his interest piqued by Lucas'' way of settling the issue.


    For a vestige-smith, there was no glory in challenging a regular individual to a vestige duel. If one were to win, there were no benefits. However, a loss would affect their reputation. This brought about confusion for some vestige-smiths regarding what Lucas was trying to do. Although he wasn''t a popular vestige-smith, having his image stained in a big event like this would affect his growth.


    "What test do you want to start with?" The man asked.


    Vestige duels consisted of seven tests each aimed at seven major and common characteristics of a vestige:, Durability, Hardness, Sharpness, Strength, Stellar matrix efficiency, power and stellar energy purity.


    "I''ll leave the decision to the challenged." Lucas replied.


    The freelancer smirked and called out the first test.


    It was the sharpness test.


    After that, he took out his vestige.


    "That''s...!"


    "Oh my goodness, this vestige-smith is done for."


    Exclamations burst out from the crowd once the freelancer revealed his vestige.


    It was a Hozier-class Halberd, a special series of halberd made by a certain popular vestige-smith company, and what''s more, a custom-made variation.


    The company was founded by a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, which was the rank for vestige-smiths capable of creating Grade 4 vestiges. Due to the rank of the founder, the company became renowned and quite popular. It also had a couple other vestige-smiths to support production.


    The Hozier-class Halberd was one of the bestselling vestiges made by the company in their premium line. It covered vestiges from Grade 2 up to even Grade 4. The Hozier-class Halberd in the freelancer''s possession was a Grade 2 edition, even then, it was very powerful and few other Grade 2 vestiges could compare.


    The man who acted as the overseer for the duel was visibly shook and somewhat worried for Lucas. Not many vestige-smiths could make a vestige that could beat a Hozier-class Halberd, even more so for an unknown vestige-smith.


    However, when the man turned to glean Lucas'' reaction, he noticed that the latter was calm and unaffected by the vestige.


    ''It''s either he''s confident, he''s putting up a front or he doesn''t know what that vestige is. If it''s the former, that would be nice. But if it''s the latter, then he''s a failure of a vestige-smith.''


    The man shook his head. He had already surmised it was most likely the former. After all, no average vestige-smith could beat a Hozier-class Halberd.


    He was visibly disappointed that Lucas still put up a front, and if it was the last option, then that was even worse. As a vestige-smith, one should be familiar with all top vestige-smith companies and vestige-smiths. It was like being an athlete and not bothering to research other athletes, especially the top figures in the sport. It showed that one was either too proud or too stupid.


    While the spectators expressed their different thoughts yet similar thoughts about the duel -already judging that Lucas had lost-, the man at the centre of this stared at the halberd, unimpressed.


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    ''Oi, system, why are people thinking that this piece of junk could win?'' Lucas couldn''t help but ask the system.


    Although he already had a certain understanding of the vestige-smithing skill in the West Wing district, that was only for the common models. As for the ones in the Silver Fig Trade Convention, except for the ones from small-time vestige-smiths, they were all a notch or two higher than what was on the market.


    At the very least, with the exceptions remaining excluded, everything here was at Grade 3 and above.


    In other words, this was the first time Lucas was seeing a vestige from a premium line that was lower than Grade 3. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m glad the host feels the same way. As such, the system hopes you understand the pricing scheme for the store.''


    ''I definitely do alright. If I had stellar energy, I could even make something like this with my eyes closed.''


    Ignoring the cacophony in the background, Lucas browsed through his system inventory for a suitable vestige.


    ''I need to wow them, but not overdo it just yet. That''s difficult.''


    All the vestiges Lucas had made were stronger than the Hozier-class Halberd before him, that was unless it was of a lower grade.


    ''Let''s go with you.'' Lucas glanced at a vestige in the inventory. He then left for his stall to create the illusion that he wanted to retrieve the vestige from there. If the general public were to know that he had a spatial inventory quite similar to the Grade 4 vestige, Spatial vault, Lucas would be in big trouble.


    After a few seconds, Lucas returned with a dagger in his hand.


    The crowd was surprised by this. One should know that typically, a dagger was weaker than other types of weapons. This was because its small size made it lighter and weaker in comparison to weapons like a sword or a spear. It was also more difficult to fend against such weapons using a dagger. The same applies with vestiges.


    "Is he giving up already?"


    "Well, what else can he do? He''s up against a Hozier-class."


    While some questioned the choice of vestige while others weren''t surprised by it, the major consensus was that Lucas was giving up on the duel. Even the freelancer thought the same as he had a mocking grin on his face.


    "Let''s get this started."

 Chapter 97 Hozier-class Halberd Versus An Ordinary (?) Dagger

    Among the testing equipment Lucas brought out for the duel were two robots about a metre tall. They were known as robo-testers and they were the personnel that carried out the testing.While society had advanced to the extent that quality tests could be carried out in a few short minutes with a simple scan, vestige duels were made a bit more traditional in order to generate more suspense.


    In a situation involving a living being, it was easy to manipulate the test, but with programmable robots, integrity and accuracy were ensured.


    Robo-tester was a type of robot capable of exhibiting strength up to a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, because the Silver Fig Consortium cut costs in the vestige duel equipment, the robo-testers were models capable of only exhibiting the same strength as a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


    While it might seem lacking, this wasn''t a problem as the purpose of the robo-testers were to test the vestiges and not participate in battle.


    The two vestiges -the Hozier-class Halberd and the plain looking dagger- were each handed over to a robo-tester.


    "The first test, the sharpness test." The man who acted as the overseer announced.


    In front of each of the two robo-testers was a strange block of metal with a screen at the top. The metal block was taller than the robo-testers, reaching a similar height as an average human adult [1].


    This metal block was forged entirely out of an alloy of a special hard metal known as Deophene. Deophene was a metal stronger than steel with an very compact molecular structure. This made the outer and even inner layer quite difficult to cut through. It was so tough that it made cutting through diamond look like child''s play.


    The name Deophene was also adapted from an ancient human language known as Latin, with the ''Deo'' standing for God. This was to imply how difficult it was to slice through the metal. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Deophene, despite being so tough, wasn''t used for a vestige-smithing as not just any vestige-smith could work with it. It was also quite expensive despite its difficult nature, but not so much as it wasn''t a rare metal. However, Deophene had a special allotrope [2] that was much tougher, costlier and rarer.


    For the sharpness testing metal block, it was an alloy of Deophene and two other metals. It had a low concentration of Deophene, which made it easier to cut through, otherwise this test would have been pointless. Nonetheless, the presence of Deophene still made it almost impossible for any vestige below Grade 4 to completely slice through it.


    As for testing the sharpness of higher grade vestiges, the metal block used for that would have a much higher concentration of Deophene than the one before Lucas and co.


    The sharpness testing equipment didn''t just consist of the metal block alone, but two other parts; the screen and a special x-ray scanner tool.


    The purpose and procedure of this sharpness testing was quite obvious. The robo-testers would utilise the same amount of force and land one attack at the metal block, with the intent to cut through it. The one that cut further into the block would win.


    The x-ray scanner device had the responsibility of measuring the cut and it would send the result to the screen to be displayed.


    "First would be the slashing."


    As the overseer''s voice went low, the robo-testers immediately swung their weapons at the metal block.


    *Clang* Discover hidden content at empire


    A resounding metallic sound rung in the air. It was almost as if the two vestiges had struck an iron plate except it was something harder.


    However, upon closer inspection, one would notice that a cut was made on the rocks; it wasn''t deep, but it was still clear. But as which of the two cuts were deeper, it was difficult to tell from the angle and distance the crowd stood.


    The freelancer frowned, not expecting Lucas'' dagger to not be garbage. Nonetheless, he wasn''t bothered. He has to admit that Lucas must have something to rely on to be so arrogant, and it was probably this dagger.


    ''But it''s not going to be enough.'' The freelancer grinned.


    "Next, thrusting." The overseer''s voice sounded again.


    The scores wouldn''t be displayed yet until both segments of the sharpness test were concluded. Then, the processor attached to the screen would combine both figures and judge the better side after running some calculations.


    The robo-testers immediately took their stances once again, but this time, they thrust their swords at the metal block.


    *Clang*


    The familiar metal ring but of a different pitch, sounded once again. This time around, the crowd could glimpse a few differences between the two based on the depth the swords managed to fix themselves at.


    "The dagger seems to be better."


    "I don''t think so. It''s probably due to its small size, that''s why you think such."


    When they surveyed the vestiges, many noticed that the dagger seemed to have gone deeper in when compared to the halberd, but this sparked an argument. Most of the spectators refused to believe that it was possible for an unknown vestige-smith to be able to beat the Hozier-class Halberd in any thing.


    Although sharpness wasn''t the halberd''s strong quality, it still performed well above average in this department.


    After the robo-testers retrieved their vestiges, the crowd didn''t resume arguing and decided to just await the results.


    *Ding*


    The display devices fixed atop the separate metal blocks simultaneously released a tune as they lit up with figures.


    On the testing equipment of the halberd, a few numbers were displayed: 182.


    One hundred (100) was the standard sharpness measurement for a Grade 2 vestige of the lowest quality. Anything below this was a failure for a bladed weapon.


    One hundred and twenty (120) was the standard mark however. As from one hundred and sixty (160) and above, this was the average digits for a premium model bladed Grade 2 vestige.


    A score of one hundred and eighty two (182) was an impressive performance, as not many vestiges could top that.


    "Heh." The freelancer grinned, before turning over to look at Lucas'' score.


    "How can this be?"


    Exclamations burst from the crowd.


    The display screen on Lucas'' testing equipment was already lit with a value: 192.


    One hundred and ninety two (192) was a really high number. This was because above two hundred (200) was the entry point for Grade 3 vestiges in terms of sharpness; anything close to this was the peak in terms of sharpness for a Grade 2 vestige. As such, every one digit after one hundred and ninety (190) was of deep meaning and power.


    "This is impossible!" The freelancer couldn''t help but shout.


    "He must have cheated somehow and tweaked the equipment beforehand. Yes, that must be it."


    The accusation was heavy, but it managed to still convince some amongst the crowd. This was because Lucas'' opponent wasn''t just any vestige but a Hozier-class Halberd. What''s more, he had managed to score a peak value in terms of sharpness, using a plain looking dagger.


    To top it all off, Lucas was a human and the vestige-smith behind his stall was unknown, otherwise, they wouldn''t have gotten such a basic stall.


    No matter what he wanted to say or how he wanted to defend himself, it would be difficult for Lucas.


    Soon enough, a couple of individuals in the corner were convinced and began pointing fingers of accusations at Lucas.


    "That''s right. He probably cheated."


    "True. This makes no sense. How could he beat a Hozier-class? If he could, we would already know who he was."


    "Are you kidding me? He''s clearly a human. There''s no way he can forge such. He probably works for an Elite vestige-smith or even a Master. Who knows where he got this vestige. You can''t call that cheating." Someone tried to defend Lucas.


    "If he was representing someone, he should have stated so right from the start. Not doing so is cheating." Another countered.


    Lucas however, was simply picking his ears at the commotion.


    ''Working for some Elite or Master? What''s that? Also, why would they still think I can''t forge even after I''ve said so?''


    "Hehe." Lucas smirked coldly and chuckled.


    "What''s with you?" The freelancer glared at him.


    "Nothing much. I just find it funny that even after taking a loss, you can''t admit it. I cheated? Then prove it. Otherwise, stop barking like a dog and let''s proceed to the next test."


    The crowd went silent seeing Lucas'' strong stance. For a second, some of them began to hesitate.


    Vestige duel was a tradition of the vestige-smith trade, and it was an abomination to desecrate this tradition by cheating. Anyone found guilty would not only be sidelined by the other vestige-smiths, but in some cases, they could even have their license revoked.


    "Putting up a strong front, are you? I''m not scared. Overseer, please confirm that he isn''t cheating." The freelancer turned to the middle-aged man acting as the overseer.

 Chapter 98 Surprise Turn Of Events

    With the accusation of cheating being laid out, the duel was put on hold. The overseer, who was also a vestige-smith, approached the equipment and performed a status check on them. He also did the same with the other equipment, to prevent a possible reoccurrence. The entire process wasn''t time-consuming and was eventually wrapped up within"Everything is fine."


    The middle-aged man announced after looking through the equipment.


    "How can that be?" The freelancer was bewildered. He couldn''t believe that Lucas had actually won fair and square.


    "I understand that while I might be somewhat unknown, you might not trust. Do, however, not doubt my judgement as an overseer." The middle-aged vestige-smith coldly said.


    The freelancer decided not to cause a scene any longer, lest he offends the man. Vestige-smiths took pride in their occupation as it was one that the entire hyumankin civilisation relied heavily on. Offending one of them through false accusations could harm his career in the long-run, so it wasn''t worth it.


    With the results being confirmed, there was nothing else to say. Even if the crowd was surprised, they still went on with it after the investigation.


    The Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t extraordinary in terms of sharpness, so losing out on this round didn''t really affect the spectators'' belief in its victory. However, they were impressed at Lucas'' vestige and couldn''t wait to see if there were more surprises it could give.


    "Begin the next test."


    The hardness test was next. It wasn''t particularly difficult or complicated as it was a test to see how much a vestige could resist surface deformation like scratching, indentation or piercing.


    There was a machine that was roughly half a metre tall. It consisted of a special hydraulic component with three different types of attachment. One was an attachment with a sharp tip, another with a blunt tip, while the final one had three tips. All three tips were made a Deophene alloy for better effectiveness.


    For the hardness test, the three attachments would be used on each vestige while a sensor takes note of when the vestige approaches its limit. The sensor was to ensure that the limit would be discovered before any irreparable damage was done to the vestige, as that could potentially affect the other tests.


    After the halberd and the dagger were tested, the results were once again calculated. This time around, the halberd came out on top, unsurprisingly to the spectators.


    The values were of the same parameters as the sharpness test, and this was so for all the other tests; a decision made by the Hyumankin Galactic Vestige League (HGVL). The halberd had scored an impressive 191, which was typically a score for thick vestiges like a staff. The dagger however, only landed a 182 on the score board, which was still pretty high, but lacking compared to the halberd.


    Typically, winning the hardness test would mean the same for the strength test and vice versa, although this wasn''t always true. However, it did happen this time around.


    Once again, the halberd snatched another win, scoring 192 in the strength test while the dagger scored 185.


    At this point, even though the crowd believed that Lucas would lose, they were still impressed by the quality of the dagger. It was a vestige that could be sold as a premium model, yet it was unknown. This made them interested in the vestige-smith as some believed that if the latter gave their all, they could probably make something on par with the Hozier-class Halberd or close.


    Some had already decided that once the vestige duel was over, they would meet with Lucas and try to speak to the vestige-smith to close a deal. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even the freelancer was a bit tempted, but knowing that he had offended Lucas, he wasn''t confident he could make a deal with the latter.


    Find more to read at empire


    ''I''ll just meet with the vestige-smith instead. He should be easier to talk to than this crappy bastard.'' The freelancer thought.


    With three tests done, only the durability test was left for the physical aspect, after which the latter three tests would all focus on the stellar energy aspect of the vestige. Since both vestiges were of the same grade, the power test didn''t matter, so the results of the six other tests would define the winner.


    With the Hozier-class Halberd on a two test win streak and Lucas'' dagger having only won on the sharpness test, there were three more to go. Due to the fact that the Hozier-class Halberd was a premium model of a popular company and the blueprint was originally designed by a Tier 1 Grandmaster, many believed it would win the stellar energy categories.


    In other words, defeat was already certain for Lucas. All he could do now was lessen that by winning the durability test. That would at least prove that the dagger was a good premium model.


    The durability test was aimed at a vestige''s ability to withstand wear or tear and to last long under pressure.


    While the strength test focused on finding out the maximum force a vestige could handle before breaking or cracking, durability was a bit similar but with respect to time [1].


    It was conducted with the same equipment as the strength test but with different settings. The equipment specially ensured that there was no need for the vestiges to experience irreversible damage to figure out the values.


    Since it was time-based, the durability test was the easiest test to determine a winner as the audience could spot a winner without having to wait for the sensors to display the results.


    It usually took thirty seconds for the durability test of a Grade 2 vestige to be completed with this equipment. But even after that time had elapsed, both equipment were still being tested.


    "Past the thirty seconds mark is usually reserved for premium models, yet both are still going."


    "That''s to be expected for the Hozier-class Halberd, but this dagger is truly a premium model."


    "Indeed. All that remains for confirmation is its performance in the stellar energy category, but asides that, it''s doing just fine."


    While the crowd discussed, a chime was suddenly heard, signalling that one participant was down.


    Many weren''t surprised by this and glanced to the site expecting to see the dagger, but they were surprised when the vestige signalled out was the halberd.


    "How come?"

 Chapter 99 A Tie

    Sharpness Test: Lucas'' Dagger 192, Hozier-class Halberd 182Hardness Test: Lucas'' Dagger 182, Hozier-class Halberd 191


    Strength Test: Lucas'' Dagger 185, Hozier-class Halberd 192


    Durability Test (physical aspect) : Lucas'' Dagger 52 seconds, Hozier-class Halberd 45 seconds.


    "How come?"


    The durability test involved exposing the vestige to varying proportions of pressure and force over time, aiming to figure out the vestige''s longevity and resistance to wear, fatigue and environmental factors. Due to this, similar to the other tests, it had more than one phase.


    When done in a lab, it was more complicated, but for a vestige duel, the process had been simplified into three phases; the physical, chemical and environmental aspects.


    The scores displayed were for the physical aspect of the durability test, which many expected the Hozier-class Halberd to easily win. After all, it performed greatly in the hardness and strength tests, so by logic, it should be much more durable than the dagger. Yet, the results turned many speechless. The dagger has actually lasted longer.


    "This should be impossible, right? I mean, the halberd is stronger and harder which implies it''s of a better build and material. So logically, it should be more durable." Someone couldn''t help but utter.


    "What do you know? A vestige''s durability isn''t only dependent on the material used. Some vestige-smiths can make their vestiges longer-lasting even if they make it with plain plastic." Someone said.


    As it turned out, the performance of Lucas'' dagger in the vestige duel was so splendid that it had managed to garner some fans. Some of the vestige-smiths were at the lowest rank and compared to a huge company like the one behind the Hozier-class Halberd, they were nothing. It has always been a dream of theirs to top such an entity, but they lacked the talent to do so.


    With someone capable of pulling off such a miracle, while some might be envious, it was natural for a few others to support him.


    "Indeed. There''s a stellar matrix known as Hulmit''s Prism. It''s a somewhat complicated stellar matrix and quite difficult to inscribe. One would have to be at least a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith to be able to pull it off. However, it''s capable of increasing the durability of a vestige by making some ethereal changes to its internal physical structure.


    Because of this, the vestige''s hardness and even strength might not exhibit much improvements, but its durability would skyrocket." Another explained.


    Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith was the rank for vestige-smiths capable of making Grade 3 vestiges, and it was a very respected rank in Baylands city-state, second only to Tier 1 Master.


    The freelancer doubted the score and was about to protest, but he held back the urge. The overseer has already confirmed that the pieces of equipment weren''t tampered with. If he protested, not only was his doubting the overseer''s judgement, but the freelancer would inadvertently be questioning his victories.


    The freelancer''s anxiety couldn''t be helped, after all, he had wagered one hundred federal coins for this duel.


    ''It''s not over yet. There are still two more phases and even if I lose this, I still have two wins. My halberd should also be able to win the Steller energy categories, so the win is still in the bag.''


    The chemical aspects tested a vestige''s resistive ability towards toxic chemicals that could be found in certain desolate beasts and regions. Most of these toxins were harmful to the hyuman body, but they could also damage vestiges. As such, a vestige-smith had to consider making their vestige durable against such toxins, hence why this test came to be.


    The environmental phase test measured a vestige''s resistive ability to various environments, such as cold, hot, increased gravity and so on. This was because each planet had different environmental parameters and in some planets, the regions drastically differed. Take for instance Earth, where the north and south poles were exceedingly colder than the regions along the equator.


    Vestiges had to be made considering contrasting environments in mind. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nonetheless, this didn''t mean that the average vestige could be used in all environments, but that they were made to still maintain their form at least for a while and a few short battles; the longer the period was, the better. However, there were still unique vestiges for special regions which differed from the typical vestige.


    Despite his hopes, the freelancer actually went on to lose the chemical and environmental aspects. When all three results were collated and formulated into the final durability test rating, Lucas'' dagger won by a large margin.


    Durability Test : Lucas'' Dagger 196, Hozier-class Halberd 184.


    "Incredible. This is a score equivalent to some of the top premium model vestiges."


    "Indeed. Beyond the 189 mark is left for top class premium models at Grade 2, but above 195 is for the best of the best. This dagger could already compare to them in terms of durability."


    "Hey, forget about that. Haven''t you guys noticed it yet?" Someone said.


    "Noticed what?"


    "They''re tied." Experience exclusive tales on empire


    "!!!"


    The statement finally brought the crowd''s attention back to reality -the vestige duel. Both sides had two wins each from the four physical tests and were now tied. Even though the majority of the crowd didn''t believe Lucas would win, drawing with a premium model vestige while using an unknown vestige model was downright unbelievable and breathtaking.


    It was enough to appear on the front page of vestige magazines and freelancer gossip sites.


    In fact, some had even begun hoping, praying even, for a miracle to happen.


    "It would be remarkable if that dagger can somehow come out on top."


    "Heh. Why do you think that?" A supporter of the Hozier-class Halberd scoffed.


    "Isn''t it obvious?" Someone else replied. "The dagger was able to win the durability test by relying not only on its materials but the matrices inscribed on it. This means that in terms of stellar matrix designs, the vestige-smith is better."


    The doubter was stumped and didn''t have a reply.


    "Delusional." A vestige-smith who wore glasses sneered.


    "What did you say?" The man who had replied before snarled.


    "I said you''re being delusional. So what if he won based on a matrix? It could just mean that he was more knowledgeable about unique stellr matrices. Also, the Hozier-class Halberd is a finished design; adding an extra stellar matrix would be difficult, which would explain why it lacks something like the Hulmit''s Prism stellar matrix.


    The material used is also firm and of good quality, so there''s no need to abandon an existing attack matrix for a durability-boosting. We can see that from its score. The dagger just won simply based on luck, so saying that the result already implies that the vestige-smith of the dagger is better than the veterans of the Ninth Arc Company is absurd and risible."


    The nearby vestige-smiths, freelancers and other attendees froze. They thought deeply on the words and realised that he was right. Even the new supporters Lucas had just gained were slowly losing their newfound fervour.


    Even after tying after four tests, the odds still weren''t in his favour.


    "Now that we''re more than halfway through, why don''t we take a short break?" The overseer suggested.


    "No need. Let''s round this up quick." The freelancer said.


    He was scared that Lucas would try to pull something sneaky during this break, so he wanted to finish things right away.

 Chapter 100 Peak Premium Model Rating

    With the freelancer asking for the vestige duel to continue without a break, the overseer looked towards Lucas for his opinion. After all, both were the two sides of the duel and their input was needed before any decision was taken."Sure." Lucas expressed his thoughts.


    "Okay. For the next test, it would be the stellar energy purity test."


    The robo-testers took the vestiges from the durability testing equipment for the environmental phase, and stood before the crowd. On one hand was the vestige and on the other metallic mechanical arm was a small piece of equipment. It was a stellar energy meter, which was used for measuring stellar energy and determining its purity.


    It was a pretty common piece of equipment not just for vestige-smiths, but also freelancers and a couple other professions.


    The stellar energy meter used for the vestige duel was one specifically for vestiges.


    For the stellar energy purity test, the vestiges would be tested by the meter which would then take the readings. Compared to all the other tests, this was one of the simplest and least complicated, as just about anyone could carry it out.


    *Beep*


    *Beep*


    *Beep*


    The meters began to make beeping sounds once their probes were placed on the vestiges. After a short while, the beeping stopped and some values appeared on the meters. However, the crowd couldn''t see this just yet.


    "Announce the results." The overseer said to the robo-testers.


    "Hozier-class Halberd. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Median Orange."


    Unlike the physical test that utilised a uniform system in their calculated values, the stellar energy purity test used a different value system.


    The Greek alphabet was used to identify which stage of stellar refinement the quantity of stellar energy within the vestige was qualified as. The grading was for the grade of the vestige. As for the class reading, it was the purity of the vestige''s stellar energy and was identified via a six-colour scale, from the least pure to the purest: Red, Orange, Yellow, Ice-Blue, Grey, and White.


    Each colour was further separated into three sub-groups: light, median and deep.


    An Alpha reading implied that the tested vestige was at the Apertures Opening stage. As for the stellar energy purity, it ranked orange which was pretty high. In Baylands city-state, the highest reading ever recorded was median Ice-Blue, and this was for a Grade 1 vestige. Going higher, it became more difficult to achieve better purity levels, even for a Tier 1 Grandmaster.


    Orange was pretty much the standard for premium models irrespective of the grade of the vestige, although the entry point was light orange. Very few premium models could achieve deep orange.


    The freelancer smirked at the result. A median orange class was pretty good as the average Hozier-class Halberd was at the light orange class. It was probably due to the fact his vestige was a customised model that it had managed to be better than the standard models.


    ''Let me see you beat this.'' The freelancer waited to Lucas'' robo-tester to announce its result.


    "Unknown dagger. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Deep Orange."


    Another win.


    "Impossible!" The freelancer yelled.


    Despite interrupting the contest, no one actually stopped him. In fact, the crowd was stunned speechless that they couldn''t even help but doubt their ears.


    "What did you say? Repeat it." The overseer glanced at the robo-tester.


    "Unknown dagger. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Deep Orange." The robo-tester repeated the exact words with the same tone.


    The overseer inhaled a large amount of air at the response. Still doubting, he asked the robo-tester to conduct the test again, but this time it swapped the stellar energy meters with the other robo-tester. As for the other robo-tester, it re-conducted the test on the Hozier-class Halberd as well.


    Once done, the two robo-testers announced the results and it was still the same. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Pe-peak premium model rating." Someone in the crowd stuttered after regaining himself.


    With the robo-testers having re-conducted the tests after exchanging meters, no one could doubt the results any longer. Lucas had one, and he had done so in a terrific manner.


    While the crowd was still shocked by this, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh. Unlike the other vestige-smiths, he never had a habit of testing his vestiges after they were created. By mere glancing at it, he could instinctively estimate its quality. This was a skill Lucas had learned from his extraordinarily long time as a magic weapon forger, and his powerful soul improved this ability.


    However, Lucas'' estimates were usually done with the standards of his past life in mind, and not that of the vestige-smith community. With this being the first time a vestige of his was tested by this world''s methods, Lucas couldn''t help but release a sigh.


    ''If it''s deep orange class then it means the others were at light yellow or even median. I guess this is how far I can go without stellar energy.''


    The dagger was the weakest item. It was so weak that even Wally''s spear was of a better quality. However, this allowed Lucas to be able to estimate the quality of his other works. The result was disappointing for him and it made Lucas want to learn stellar energy refinement desperately.


    ''I guess I finally know why the system charges so high now. Orange class is the standard for a premium model, but my creations are already an entire class above that. Charging two hundred percent more doesn''t sound so absurd now. In fact, I think it''s even cheap.''


    Lucas suddenly had this feeling that maybe Harry was aware of the truth, which was why the latter would always try to get Lucas to owe him a favour and cash that in for a vestige.


    ''I''m not letting him go easy the next time I see him.'' Lucas thought.


    While he was absorbed in his thoughts, Lucas failed to notice that many in the crowd were staring at him. When they heard his sigh and saw the look of disappointment on his face, they couldn''t help but twitch their lips. Some of them had almost ran towards Lucas to strangle him.


    Who the hell would sigh and display a disappointed face after taking our a vestige that has achieved a deep orange class?


    What kind of two-faced shameless actor was that?


    This was deep orange class!


    Only those top companies, like the ones in the Silver Fig Consortium could actually make one of these. Even though the vestige was Grade 2, which dropped the difficulty for achieving purity, deep orange still wasn''t something just any riffraff or average vestige-smith could pull off.


    "Hmm? What are you still waiting for? Let''s wrap this up." Lucas glanced at the overseer.


    The latter almost spewed out blood and cursed, but as Lucas was a competitor and he simply acted the role of an overseer, the middle-aged man held back his temper.


    "Fine."

 Chapter 101 Final Test

    Looking at the overseer that had almost lunged at him, Lucas was confused for a second, but quickly understood. Nonetheless, he didn''t care.To the people around him, a deep orange might be impressive, but it was lackluster to Lucas. Having been aware that there was a much wider world out there, Lucas couldn''t keep his sights on Eretre alone; and this was not even considering the fact that he had transmigrated from another world.


    Deep orange class might seem impressive to the crowd, but Lucas believed that it was nothing in some planets out there.


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    Eretre was one of five inhabited planets in the Kellan solar system. The Kellan solar system was one of four populated solar systems in the Blue Mist star region. As for the Blue Mist star region, it was one of five star regions in the hyumankin''s Niera galaxy. The number of planets alone in this galaxy was staggering, even after the abandoned and uninhabitable ones were taken out of consideration. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Blue Mist star region was an average star region. It couldn''t compare to the Eastern star region that was the centre of production, or the galaxy''s centre of wealth and power, the Arcadia star region. It also couldn''t compare to the Calux star region that was inhabited by many alien species, making it a melting point of technology and culture.


    What''s worse, the Kellan solar system was a miniscule solar system in the Blue Mist star region, that didn''t get as much attention as the other three solar systems in the star region.


    From this, one could see that Eretre was a kind of backwater planet in a backwater solar system. The citizens were aware of this, but they didn''t think too much about it. Just exploring the entire planet alone was a herculean task for many, much less the entire solar system. As for the star region? That was left for the powerful or excessively rich folks.


    But what Lucas took from this was that he shouldn''t base his standards with this planet''s. He should always aim at least three floors higher.


    The system wanted him to be a Crafts-God and to be honest, Lucas wanted that too. Who wouldn''t want to be the God of a hobby or activity they loved? As such, Lucas always had to walk more than three steps of the crowd. If others worked hard, he had to work at least thrice as hard. Even one hundred times as hard shouldn''t be out of the equation.


    There was no such thing as too much hard work on the path to becoming a God. As a former grandmaster for sixty (60) years, and the youngest at four hundred and forty three (443) years old, Lucas knew the importance of hard work and dedication. From the tender age of 14 until 443, all those years were spent building the foundation of one who was to become the youngest ever grandmaster blacksmith.


    But to build a god, the difficulty level would be incomparable, even with the system assisting him. The mentality was still very much needed.


    "Next test and the final test. The stellar matrix efficiency test."


    The stellar matrix test was quite similar to the stellar energy purity test, but the main difference was that it wasn''t the vestige''s dormant stellar energy being tested but the runes and matrices inscribed in it. This was done by having stellar energy power them to check their functionality, while a scan would also be carried out to check the skill level of the inscription.


    For accurate measurements, a stellar energy meter was also used, but the settings would be rewired, not to measure purity but efficiency.


    Fixed to the meters were a pair of extended probes with one side connecting to the vestige and the other side free.


    "Can we get two participants to assist us?" The overseer looked towards the crowd.


    After a short while, two people stepped out with one grabbing the halberd while the other took hold of the dagger. The robo-testers then attached the free probe of each meter to the practitioner holding the vestige.


    As soon as the practitioners released stellar energy through their hands and into the vestiges, the meter would quantify the amount of stellar energy released. Once the stellar energy flowed from one end of the vestige to the other, through the runes and stellar matrices, the other probe would similarly quantify the amount of stellar energy flowing through the inscriptions.


    Both values would be gathered and their differences taken by the sensor''s processors.


    If there exists a loss in stellar energy, the processors would be able to determine the size of the loss. The amount of losses experienced would equate to the quality of the stellar matrices.


    Losses during transmission were a natural and almost unavoidable incident for vestige-smiths. It was the same even for modern technology. The more complex the matrices were, the harder it was to prevent stellar energy losses. It was only in an ideal situation that there would be no losses.


    However, an ideal situation was only a theoretical situation and couldn''t exists in reality due to various reasons and conditions.


    When the signal was given to the two participants, they released their stellar energy into the vestiges. The two were at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage. This made them suitable to test out the Grade 2 vestiges as their stellar energy was neither too strong nor too weak.


    After about thirty seconds pumping in their stellar energy into the vestiges, the two stopped and retrieved the energy. Only a negligible amount was expended since they didn''t battle with it.


    As the crowd waited in abated breaths, with even the freelancing tightening his fists, the robo-testers called out the readings.


    Just as with the stellar energy purity test, the values for this test didn''t follow the standard for the physical category.


    It simply made use of a 0-10 range, with 0 meaning no loss and a count of ten signifying 100% loss. However, this didn''t mean that every one digit was a ten percent loss.


    For a premium model, the typical value was around 4 points. The halberd was expected to get just around that, or maybe even 3.


    This time around, Lucas'' scores were called out first.


    "Unknown dagger, rating of 3."


    "It''s over." Someone quietly whispered.


    Even though the Hozier-class Halberd''s rating hadn''t been called out yet, many doubted it could beat Lucas'' dagger. A rating of 3 just about meant that the energy loss was at the level of a premium model vestige.


    Even if by some stroke of luck, the Hozier-class Halberd was at the same rating, it would be a tie, but Lucas would win the duel as he was currently leading. As for winning? Only a peak premium model vestige could top this level and the Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t one.

 Chapter 102 A Lie

    "It''s over." Someone quietly whispered.Even though the Hozier-class Halberd''s rating hadn''t been called out yet, many doubted it could beat Lucas'' dagger. A rating of 3 just about meant that the energy loss was at the level of a premium model vestige.


    Even if by some stroke of luck, the Hozier-class Halberd was at the same rating, it would be a tie, but Lucas would win the duel as he was currently leading. As for winning? Only a peak premium model vestige could top this level and the Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t one.


    As expected, when the robo-tester called out the rating for the Hozier-class Halberd, it was a rating of 4, which meant that Lucas had won the vestige duel.


    "Incredible."


    Many stared at the dagger, not Lucas, in surprise. To the crowd, Lucas was just someone running the stall on behalf of the actual vestige-smith,so they didn''t pay much attention to him. Rather, it was the vestige as well as the mysterious identity of the vestige-smith behind it, that got them talking.


    "Since we''re done, pay up." Lucas beckoned the freelancer.


    "You, you cheated. Otherwise how?" The freelancer pointed at him and spat.


    "This again?" Lucas frowned.


    "That''s enough." The overseer appeared angered as he glanced at the freelancer. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Are you doubting my judgement once again?"


    The freelancer hesitated a second, but bit the bullet.


    "It can''t be helped. Otherwise, how do you explain some unknown brat pulling out a dagger that could beat a Hozier-class Halberd?"


    "The new replaces the old. It''s not impossible for an upstart to be able to surpass an existing company." The overseer argued.


    "Ha. That only works after a bit of experience. As for the vestige-smith of this dagger, we know nothing about them. Heck, we''ve never heard of them before." The freelancer mocked as he pointed to Lucas.


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    "What''s more, this fellow claims to actually be a vestige-smith? A human? As a vestige-smith? Don''t make me laugh. He''s clearly hiding the real identity of the vestige-smith for a reason."


    The freelancer made a good point which caught the attention of the crowd. Although stalls could have anyone operate them and even participate in a vestige duel on the behalf of the vestige-smith -like with the manager of the Gold Rain Factory had done the previous day- this was only for the owner of the stall. If it were otherwise, one would have to declare the vestige-smith they were representing.


    The freelancer''s argument was that Lucas didn''t use a vestige forged by the vestige-smith who owned the stall, but had used a different vestige from a higher ranked vestige-smith, and failed to declare such. While there was no evidence for this, suspicion didn''t necessarily need one as long as the statement was convincing.


    Lucas, at this point, was tired of the farce and accusation.


    "You can say whatever you want, but you still owe me and you can''t default on that. Considering that the overseer had already done a preliminary investigation and found nothing, by tradition, I''m innocent and your accusation is a sham. Since you''ve lost, you have to fulfill your side of the bet.


    As for any other concerns, those should be touched upon after further investigations, if you wish to do so. The convention will be ongoing for at least two more days, which should be enough time for your investigation."


    In a vestige duel, the overseer played the role of a referee and monitored the process. Since the overseer had previously admitted that Lucas was not cheating, by right, Lucas was innocent of all accusations. Even if the freelancer had his suspicions, he still had to go by the rules of a vestige duel.


    The freelancer could continue his investigation after the duel, and if he turned out to be right, the duel''s result would be cancelled. A new one might also be done, or the win awarded to him, depending on what the freelancer wanted.


    However, at the moment, the freelancer had to follow the rules, and by the rules, it was technically his loss.


    "He''s right about that." The overseer suddenly chipped in.


    Originally, he intended to stay out of this, but the freelancer had been calling his judgement to question which had irritated him. Also, what Lucas said made sense. It followed the standard, and it also gave leeway for doubt.


    The five-day Silver Fig Trade Convention would still be going on for two more days as this was only the third day. Two days was enough time for the freelancer to request some experts from the organizers to check the equipment for any modifications.


    "Indeed. He''s right."


    "True. This is a vestige duel so we have to stick to the rules of a vestige duel."


    Lucas'' supporters, or rather, the supporters of the dagger, all sided with Lucas'' statement. Not only did they do so because it was correct, but because the freelancer had actually offended them by questioning their tradition.


    Vestige duels were almost ritualistic to vestige-smiths, and they abhorred the practice of cheating. But at the same time, they hated when someone questioned a duel without solid evidence and only mere prejudice.


    "Hmph. Fine. But I''ll see how long you can laugh."


    The freelancer snorted and sent Lucas the money.


    With one hundred federal coins in his wallet, Lucas could finally let out the stifled breath he had been holding in. He could finally eat good food and not be frugal with his money.


    As soon as the duel was settled, a few freelancers and agents from vestige businesses came over to Lucas. Without a doubt, they all wanted to know more about the vestige, its creator, and its availability status.


    If Lucas handled the matter well, he could easily complete the one hundred customers mission from the system.


    "Good day. Can we talk to the vestige-smith please? Or at least have his contact info?" One of the men said.


    Lucas didn''t answer right away. From past experiences, it was clear that no one would believe he was the vestige-smith. Even Harry, his number one customer and closest acquaintance, still believed that there was a reclusive vestige-smith behind the store despite Lucas having stated otherwise.


    If Lucas were to be honest to these men, many would doubt him and presume he intends to swindle them. Some might also look down on him for that. Although Lucas could prove the truth by displaying his skill before them, that would be very disadvantageous to him.


    If he did so, Lucas might end up being tagged as a ''spy'' from Digress city-state, as his techniques -which allowed humans to create vestiges- was something that should probably only be possible in Digress city-state.


    There was also the glaring issue of Lucas'' weakness. Who could tell when one of these men would attempt to kidnap him in order to steal his techniques for themselves or have him slave all day and night for them?


    All these added to his worries and made Lucas reach a simple conclusion; to create a fake individual.


    "I''m sorry, but my master strictly mentioned that I do not provide any of his personal details."

 Chapter 103 Day 4

    "I''m sorry, but my master strictly mentioned that I do not provide any of his personal details. But I can facilitate any deal on his behalf, so no need to hesitate." Lucas answered the group.Creating a false persona to wield the identity of the vestige-smith was a much safer option than being honest. It would also shift some attention away from Lucas as people would take him to be an errand boy. But with Lucas being the only point of contact to the vestige-smith, this would ensure that he wasn''t mistreated by anyone.


    "No problem. Why don''t we continue this conversation inside?" The man suggested.


    The reason he said this was to see the other vestiges made by the vestige-smith and decide whether he would only purchase the dagger or not.


    "Sure." Lucas nodded and turned around.


    . . .


    [[ Mission Description: Receive one hundred customers before the month is over.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    ]]


    "Finally." Lucas smiled as he glanced at the notifications.


    The awareness brought about by the previous vestige duel was very beneficial towards completing the mission. Previously, Lucas had already achieved forty three visits out of the required one hundred, but he didn''t have much hope of completing the requirement if he kept at it with his previous pace. And so, Lucas had decided to attend the Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    The exposure from the Greendale Highschool incident added together with that from the vestige duel made it easier for Lucas to close a few deals. Some of them were maintenance-related as the agents who came over wanted to know more about the vestige-smith''s capabilities.


    The name, Seven Sparks Forge, was now beginning to stand out in the vestige community. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Accept."


    Lucas gave the command and a new Bronze grade card appeared in his inventory. Ever since he had spent the previous one, Lucas had been a bit desperate to get a new one as it made him feel safer. With that now successful, he could let out a sigh of relief.


    . . .


    A new day began with the rising of the Kellan solar system''s orange sun, Lomarus. The fourth day of the five-days Silver Fig Trade Convention officially began. Different from the other days, there were more people in attendance today. The reason was for none other than the fact that today would be the first day top vestige-smiths and vestige-smith companies would finally display their masterpieces.


    The incident with the Gold Rain Factory was uncommon. On one hand, usually, no one would challenge such a company so early. On another hand, the Gold Rain Factory couldn''t truly be deemed as a top vestige-smith company just yet. The top companies included those who were members of the Silver Fig Consortium, and some others in the industry.


    They usually waited until the fourth or fifth day before they unveiled their masterpieces.


    With today being the fourth day, it was the first day of masterpiece revelations, and many agents of vestige companies, reporters, and freelancers from top guilds in West Wing district would be in attendance.


    "Are we going to check out the usual stalls this time or work around a bit?" Ju¨¢n said as the team walked into the public square.


    "It''s been a while since we''ve explored so no need to stick to routines. You can go around and see if you can find something useful for us. I have a feeling that this year''s event wouldn''t be the same as usual." Crimson Fang glanced around the public square.


    The group of seven who just walked into the Silver Fig Trade Convention were the main force for the famous freelancer guild based in West Wing district, the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Autumn''s Gate guild was a pretty popular guild in the West Wing district and the Wastelands base station. This was due to the fact that the guild leader and founder was at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage, while the two vice guild leaders were at the fifth level. The other four were pretty strong as well, being between the third and fourth levels.


    Even the weakest was armed with enough power vestiges to enable them to take on an average fourth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast at least for a while.


    While their strength and status were impressive, what mattered to vestige-smiths was transaction size. The Autumn''s Gate guild didn''t only consist of the seven, as there were a few dozen more members. For such a big and famous guild, they were an important customer to any vestige-smith or vestige-smith company.


    "Why do you say so?" A purple haired young man who stood slightly behind Crimson Fang asked.


    The young man had purple eyes as well, which were alluring, and with his hair that would easily stand out on Earth, he had an attractive face and could be termed as both a beauty and a handsome talent. There was no doubt that if he was born on Earth, he would be a feast for the eyes especially for the ladies, married or not; a natural homewrecker.


    The young man, apart from being the second vice captain for the Autumn''s Gate guild, was also the scion of a rich family. His father operated a vestige business[1] that had chains in the other minor districts of Baylands city-state. Those areas lacked a vestige-smith as they were concentrated in the city, so they mostly relied on vestige businesses to supply them.


    Young, handsome, strong, and rich, this was the perfect recipe for a lady-killer.


    Crimson Fang smiled at him and replied, "You guys didn''t do your research? There''s been a small upheaval recently. It started around two days back. It''s giving me a feeling that we might soon see more surprises this year."


    The group was surprised by this and a bit of anticipation welled up in some of them. They couldn''t wait to explore, and who knows, if their luck was great, they might spot an unknown vestige-smith with a masterpiece collection in their hands. Bidding for a masterpiece was difficult and costly, but with unknown vestige-smiths, they would have no competition.


    Only the purple haired young man and Lisa were calm. For the young man, he was from a wealthy background and has seen a few masterpiece vestiges growing up. There was even one in his father''s collection, so these vestiges didn''t really draw much interest from him.


    "We''ll move in groups. Ju¨¢n and Anna will form one group. Lisa and Scout, Nathan and Leno would form another group. I''ll move alone." Crimson Fang said.


    "If you find anything impressive, do make sure to note it down and let us all know."


    Nathan von Klaus, the purple haired young man, had a slight frown on his face because of the pairing. He glanced at Lisa, who was to move with Scout, and then towards Crimson Fang, but he didn''t say a word.


    Right away, the team split and departed in different directions.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only freelancer guild present today, neither were they the only reputable faction in attendance. Lots of guilds, associations, agents of vestige businesses, and reporters of vestige and freelancer magazines showed up. But at the same time, some parastatals were in attendance. For instance, the Red Fangs.


    "Ugh, another Silver Fig event. Yeah..." The brown-haired Barry sarcastically celebrated.


    "Behave. We are here to get a new deal for a batch of vestiges, so don''t be dramatic." Lieutenant Lily Mayer chastised.


    "Yes, ma''am." Barry saluted, but then he smiled slyly. "But wait, if I recall correctly, doesn''t that human fellow run a vestige-smith store?"


    "Oh, really? A human? Well, what about it? I don''t think he can make it to such an event, or am I wrong?" A Red Fang member who accompanied them asked.


    Nafir was busy with work, so someone else tagged along. However, this new face wasn''t as familiar with Lucas as Nafir.


    "Oh, you might be. Who knows? But from a certain investigative report, I found out that his store has been closed for the last three days. This is something only common for small-time vestige-smiths who are participating in the convention." Barry smiled.


    "Oh? That''s impressive then. But what does it have to do with us? Don''t tell me you want us to source our vestiges from a human?" The man laughed.


    "I wouldn''t say that close to, ehem, if I were you." Barry whispered as he glanced briefly at Lily.


    Lily ignored his statement and kept leading the way.


    Seeing he got no reaction, Barry smiled and felt emboldened.


    "My point was, while we are here to find a new batch supplier, we could go see how he''s doing. It shouldn''t be so much of a hassle right?"


    The Red Fang member was confused as to why Barry spoke so much about this human. But at the same time, this confusion brought about interest in this mysterious figure.


    "Lieutenant Mayer, what do you say?" The man asked.


    He was of a similar rank as Lily, so he still had to ask for her input.


    "That''s fine." Lily said after a bit of thought.

 Chapter 104 A Frog In The Well

    "Duel over. The win goes to Seven Sparks Forge." The overseer announced."Wow. That''s the seventh straight win now, right?"


    "Damn. He''s been steam rolling everyone that came by."


    "Incredible."


    After beating the freelancer in a vestige duel, Lucas didn''t have the time to take things easy. He was swarmed by a group of agents and reporters, who were covering the convention. The discussions mostly centered on the dagger, whether there were other vestiges like it, and the identity of the vestige-smith.


    Lucas answered the first two truthfully, while sticking to his cover-up lie for the last question.


    However, even when he was done with all the queries, Lucas still had a lot more to do. There was still the other mission from the system, with even better rewards. Lucas didn''t plan on letting that mission go, as the rewards were too attractive for him, and it would also help boost his renown.


    Luckily, Lucas didn''t have to do much. Less than two hours later, a vestige-smith had appeared to challenge him to a duel.


    The news about what had taken place had already made some rounds, and alerted a few vestige-smiths. After all, the dagger had managed to beat a Hozier-class Halberd in a vestige duel. This meant that the vestige-smith''s skill was worth taking note of, and beating such a person would aid their fame.


    Those confident in the task had appeared to challenge Lucas to a vestige duel. They were smart enough to use a Grade 3 vestige, as the stats of the Grade 2 dagger was something none of them could beat. However in the end, they failed; all of them.


    Seven vestige-smiths and businesses, seven duels, seven wins for Lucas.


    "Is there anyone who can even stop him?"


    "In this region? I don''t think so. The difficulty level of his opponents need to be increased for us to find the boundary."


    While the spectators and ''analysts'' discussed about the duels, Lucas was quietly seated beside his stall as before.


    The seven vestige duels were quite profitable, not just in terms of the exposure they gave him, or the fact they helped fulfill his mission quota; they were actually profitable in monetary terms.


    Following the vestige duel with the freelancer, Lucas decided to add a bet to all other duels. The vestige-smiths, who were desperate to beat him, didn''t mind as they were confident in their works. But with their loss came expressions of shock while Lucas smiled counting his earnings.


    From all eight vestige duels, Lucas had made more than three hundred federal coins.


    ''Seven duels are done but I have to complete twenty. However, the second Bronze grade card''s power level depends on the strongest vestige-smith I''ll face.'' Lucas thought. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By vestige-smith, the system referred to the creator of the vestige and not the person standing in for the duel. So, if Lucas were to beat a stall''s Grade 4 vestige as his highest rank duel, once he completed the mission, the second Bronze grade card would copy the power level of the vestige''s creator.


    The creator of a Grade 4 vestige was usually at least at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    A Bronze grade card at the seventh level was enough for Lucas to easily take on any opponent in the West Wing district. Even the entire Autumn''s Gate guild would lose to him in combat. Sadly, the requirements for Lucas to make a Grade 4 vestige capable of challenging a Grade 4 masterpiece were arduous. He would also have to depend on one of the more heinous forbidden techniques to pull it off.


    However, that didn''t men''s that he couldn''t aim for those just a bit lower.


    "Today''s the fourth day of the convention. Aren''t you going to reveal your masterpiece?" Someone suddenly asked Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at the speaker and saw it was a previously unfamiliar but now familiar face. The speaker had been present for a few of his duels and also participated in the negotiations the previous day, making Lucas recall her identity. The speaker was a woman, and from her introduction the previous day, she was an agent of a vestige business called Novanio Tech.


    Novanio Tech was a vestige business that dealt in the wholesale and retail sale of types of vestiges, specifically stellar processors. They were quite big for a company, but the vestige industry was a difficult one and Novanio Tech had many competitors due to that.


    Recently, they''ve been trying to expand into the weapons market, but as all the top vestige-smiths were either working for a vestige-smithing business or started their own, Novanio Tech was facing difficulties entering the market.


    The famed tech company decided to search low for vestige-smiths with potential and have them sign a supply contract with them. However, their standards were quite high, so they had yet to find a good partner. Even Lucas was still on their consideration list.


    Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t care about that.


    "My masterpiece? I don''t think there''s anyone here worth making me show it." Lucas stated as a matter-of-fact.


    The crowd went wild at his statement and soon enough, those words were spread around the region.


    The public square was large and was segmented into three regions for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The region Lucas stayed in was for the lower ranked vestige-smiths and companies -those at the bottom and near it. In this region, Lucas was already quite popular and many people were watching his every move, waiting to see his masterpiece.


    So, within the first thirty minutes after the statement was made, over seventy percent of the stalls in the region have already gotten the info.


    "That bastard. Who does he think he is because of a few wins?"


    "A mere errand boy actually has such guts?! And a human being at that? We need to put him down to his place!"


    "Just one good win, and a mere seven lucky ones and he thinks he''s something?"


    "...I don''t agree with you there. Seven wins can''t really be lucky, right?"


    "Yeah, true. Ahem, I meant, seven wins against weak opponents, how''s that?"


    "Much better for our propaganda."


    The various vestige-smiths and stall managers reacted differently, but one thing they all had in common was that they believed Lucas was tooting his horn.


    Just then, a fresh announcement appeared on the forums.


    A masterpiece from one of the top 10 companies had just been unveiled.


    This immediately attracted attention as everyone wanted to know more about it. However, this was just the start. By the time it was 12pm, four hours after the start of the day''s event, eight more companies had unveiled their masterpiece and six vestige-smiths who were popular in the community joined in as well.


    West Wing district was home to a lot of freelancers, so it was filled with many vestige-smiths; after all, vestige-smithing was an occupation just like any other, only much more difficult to succeed in and requiring more talent. As a result of this, there were quite a few companies and businesses founded by vestige-smiths, but only less than twenty stood out in the West Wing district.


    In a virtual press conference by one of the top twenty companies, the reporters caused a commotion, trying to have their questions answered.


    "Sir, you just released your masterpiece vestige today, rather than tomorrow. Are you that confident in your work?" One of the reporters asked.


    "Of course. As a vestige-smith, it''s only natural to have faith in our products. This time around, although our masterpiece is only at Grade 3, it''s still capable of competing with some Grade 4 vestiges out there, in the right hands." A middle-aged man with silver hair and black eyes responded.


    He was a vestige-smith and the creator of the masterpiece. Usually vestige-smiths wouldn''t attend the convention until the fourth or fifth when the masterpiece would be unveiled, and the man had appeared just for that.


    Another reporter asked, "Excuse me, sir. I don''t know whether you''re aware, but there''s a stall from the lower grounds making rounds recently. The stall has consecutively won eight vestige duels and one of them was against a Hozier-class Halberd, albeit a Grade 2 one, while the other duels were with Grade 3 vestiges.


    Recently, the manager of the stall announced that no one is worthy of seeing their masterpiece. What do you think about that? Or to be specific, do you think your vestige is up to the task?"


    It was clear what the reporter''s intentions were, but he wasn''t reproached by anyone. Gossip sold better than documentaries, and what these reporters wanted was a tale to sell. Intentionally brewing rivalry was also a common tactic they used to create a story.


    The silver haired man was aware of this, but he simply smiled in response.


    "A stall from the lower grounds actually thinks no one is worthy? Well, I don''t have much to say about that. It''s like our ancestors used to say; a frog in the well knows nothing. As for challenging the stall to a vestige duel? That would be equivalent to insulting our masterpiece. But I don''t mind playing around with him with some random vestige.


    I think that alone should be enough."

 Chapter 105 Tomans Workshop

    3pm."That''s another victory. He extends his streak to ten with this."


    "Whoever made these vestiges is talented. If they aren''t a popular vestige-smith yet, then in a few years, they would be."


    The crowd conversed as Lucas seized his tenth win. That''s right, excluding the vestige duel against the freelancer, Lucas currently sat on ten wins now. What''s more, they were consecutively without suffering any loss.


    ''Ten more to go.'' Lucas thought.


    As he was soon to round up the mission, Lucas decided to turn his eyes elsewhere. At this rate, he needed to challenge someone more difficult, so that his reward would be even better.


    At this moment, the agent from Novanio Tech walked over.


    "Aren''t you tired of beating these people over and over? It''s quite clear that you will find no competition amongst them."


    Lucas glanced at her, understanding what her intentions were.


    Among the group of agents that came over the previous day, not all of them made a deal with Lucas, and even those who did, didn''t ask for much. Although the volume helped Lucas complete the mission, it equally displayed the degree of trust the agents had in him. They has yet to see anything extraordinary, as the dagger was simply just a Grade 2 vestige.


    There were a few other vestige-smiths who could make something on par or even better.


    For these agents who wanted to build a relationship with such type of vestige-smiths, they didn''t invest much effort in talking to Lucas. However, there were a few of them who believed that the vestige-smith backing Lucas was worth the wait.


    Today was the day most vestige-smiths and companies reveal their masterpiece, and they were expecting to see Lucas'', but he didn''t show any. Now some of them, like the lady, were getting a bit impatient.


    "What I do is my own business. I think that should be obvious, right?" Lucas asked.


    "True, but I''m guessing your master had you attend this event to help advertise his crafts. You would get a better effect facing off against more reputable vestige-smiths rather than what you''re doing."


    Lucas couldn''t help but mentally agree that she was right, but he didn''t say anything as she continued speaking.


    "As it just so happens, a certain top twenty company had a few words to say about you."


    Lucas was surprised by this as he asked, "About me? That''s quite interesting."


    "Well, it wasn''t really complimentary so I don''t think so. They also offered an open invitation to a duel. What''s your opinion about that?"


    "What''s my opinion? Of course I have to take a look." Lucas smiled. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The news came just in time as he wanted to change his opponents. Without further delay, Lucas closed the stall and went towards the location of the mid tier region.


    The mid tier region was an area in the public square designated for slightly renowned and somewhat popular industries for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The Gold Rain Factory belonged in this category, albeit at the top ranks. Even if this area was left for mid rank companies, there would naturally still be a difference between them.


    "Hmm, aren''t you going there?" Lucy, the agent from Novanio Tech asked.


    As she was still one of the few agents seriously interested in Lucas, she had been monitoring him from the start of the day.


    "Do you think they''d be bothered with me, if I did? They can simply ignore my challenge and no one would think anything about it. For the moment, I need to build momentum." Lucas smiled as he walked towards the first stall.


    A graphic signboard was hung in front, written on it ''Toman''s Workshop''. Toman was a somewhat popular vestige-smith who operated a store on his own. Despite being a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, he refused to work for any company and decided to open a workshop and operate independently. He was skilled enough to make his name known and gain a few contracts from vestige dealers.


    Lucas appeared in front of the stall with a shield in hand. He laid the shield in front of the store and announced.


    "I''m challenging you to a vestige duel."


    "Who are you?" A man in the stall asked. He was Toman''s eldest son and manager of the stall in his father''s absence.


    "Who I am has no meaning, only my intentions." Lucas stated with a nonchalant expression.


    "Heh. I don''t know what makes you think that some rag-tag individual can challenge us, but leave. We''re busy." The man pursued Lucas.


    "Acting like a big business when you''ve been constantly rejected for three years now. Where''s all this attitude coming from?" Lucas commented.


    Toman''s workshop had previously participated in the Silver Fig Trade Convention and this was their fifth attendance. However, for the past three years, they had failed to make a masterpiece worth being invited to the auction on the sixth day. This had been a thorn in their hearts as being invited for the auctions would raise their prestige.


    But having failed to achieve this for three years in a row, especially when they had done so in their first attendance, now roughly placed them with those beneath.


    The young man became incensed at the comment, as this was something that pained him. He was soon to take over the workshop and it was a dream of his to break this ''curse'', and with this year''s event being his first time in charge, he hoped to do just that.


    "Hehe. Fine. You want to be humiliated? Then let''s go."


    Lucas smiled. He didn''t just come to the mid tier region with no plan in mind.


    Previously, Lucas had asked Lucy for help; to be specific, he asked for information on some of the notable vestige-smiths and companies in the area, irrespective of their ranking. Toman''s workshop was one such popular one, but it had recently been going downhill.


    "I don''t intend on making it difficult for you, so I will go easy on you." Lucas suddenly said.


    The young man was confused about what he meant by going easy, but before he could even question that, Lucas continued.


    "All six tests, excluding the Power test. If you manage to beat me in just one, it''s your win."


    "!!!"


    The young man was immediately livid at the statement and the spectators who gathered upon hearing a vestige duel were stunned silly.


    This was the first time someone had suggested such a format, and it said a lot about their confidence. However, the opponent was Toman''s Workshop, and even if they hadn''t been invited for the auction yet, they were still pretty good at making vestiges. Looking down on them like this was something only the best vestige-smiths in Baylands City might be capable of doing.


    Not even the top vestige-smiths in the top ten companies could disregard them this much, when the contest is with vestiges of the same grade.


    "Are you crazy?" The young man growled.


    "What do you-"


    Lucas interrupted, "You''ve accepted so don''t waste so much time talking. I''ve already taken out my vestige. Where''s yours?"


    The young man tightened his fist and was incredibly pissed, but he began to chuckle furiously.


    "Sure."


    "Oh, I forgot. Fifty federal coins. Winner takes all." Lucas slapped his head.


    At this point, the young man was just a bit away from losing it at lunging at Lucas but he forcefully held back his anger. Gambles weren''t new in vestige duels, so there was nothing wrong about it. Also, Toman''s Workshop might have been going downhill, but it wasn''t to the point where they couldn''t afford fifty federal coins for a vestige duel.


    Soon after, the young man returned with a box. Stellar aura suffused from the box despite it being closed, signifying the quality of the vestige. It was clear that even though he saw Lucas as a fool, the young man didn''t underestimate him.


    When the box was opened, a cold-weapon vestige was revealed. It was a blue sword that appeared to be made of glass, but that was actually a special type of metal that was pretty rare. Inscriptions decorated the blade of the sword and the hilt was carved with runic marks. The aura of the sword was cold, like a killer assassin.


    Mere glancing at the sword would make one filled with chills and a longer look for those below the third level of the Body Strengthening stage would hurt their eyes.


    "This is the masterpiece from last year, Aquilo''s Sword."


    One of the bystanders who was familiar with Toman''s Workshop said.


    "If they''re using the masterpiece from last year to compete, does it mean they have something new this year?" Someone couldn''t help but ask.


    "They should. After all, it''s been a dream of theirs to get back into the auction."


    With the reveal of the sword, more and more people were attracted by the commotion. This was the only vestige duel currently ongoing in the region, so it was unavoidable that it would garner some attention.


    The young man glanced around felt sullen. A win was pointless and could be termed as bullying since Lucas was unknown. But a loss would greatly affect their reputation, although he didn''t believe that he could lose.


    Aquilo''s Sword was a very powerful Grade 3 vestige, so much so that it was close to the ranks of a Grade 4. However, the auction had limited slots for each district, and the West Wing district only had fifteen slots. Aquilo''s Sword had lost out as it only managed to take the eighteenth position -three spots always from invitation.


    This time around, they had worked on a new creation, but that didn''t make Aquilo''s Sword any less valuable. The vestige was still a weapon many freelancers desired. Unfortunately, the materials used to make it were very costly and the effort was tedious, so it couldn''t be mass produced.


    The old man, Toman, has rather kept it in his collection, as a reminder of how close they were and why they should work harder.

 Chapter 106 14 Wins

    "Overall winner. Brown shield." The overseer announced with shock."How, how come?" The young man was astonished.


    Lucas calmly retrieved the shield from the robo-testers and dusted it a bit.


    Brown shield was the name of the shield. There was no hidden meaning or anything; the shield was simply brown so Lucas decided to call it that.


    Lucas ignored the commotion and walked to the next stall on his list. Similarly, he beat them after a few minutes. But he didn''t stop there.


    By the time Lucas arrived at the fourth stall, Lucas noticed that it looked a lot different from the one he had. In fact, the stalls in the mid tier region were all improved compared to his in the lower tier region. However, this particular one had a drastically different appearance. At this point, it was no longer a stall, but a small building.


    "West Wing district, rank 15 store." Lucy said as she stared at the building which belonged to a vestige-smith company.


    Above the mid tier region was the high tier region, but only the top ten companies and vestige-smiths in West Wing district had a shop there. A store with a rank of 15 was one quite close to the top ten. The ranks were determined from the previous year''s rating.


    Aquilo''s Sword had taken the eighteenth place for Toman''s Workshop, but compared to that, this store had seized fifteenth place last year, which meant that their masterpiece had qualified for the auction. They were definitely not a simple opponent.


    However, compared to them, the vestige-smith who had mocked Lucas had achieved the thirteenth place last year, and was poised to earn a spot this year once again.


    "A mere fifteenth spot. It would be good if they can make me work a bit." Lucas said as he approached the building.


    At this point, the staff had noticed them coming thanks to the small crowd following behind the duo. They were a bit confused, but after one of them said something, they appeared stunned and a bit nervous. This was unavoidable. As a result of his consistent run of thirteen victories without a loss, Lucas had built some level of reputation already, especially amongst the participants.


    Although ten of those wins were against those from the low tier region, the other three were against some names with a level of reputation, especially his first win here which was against the rank 18, Toman''s Workshop.


    While the low tier region had hundreds of participants, the mid tier region had a couple dozens. Nonetheless, being capable of appearing in the mid tier region was an achievement, but above all, being in the top 20 rank. Even if they were outside the top fifteen, the other five in the top 20 rank were characters capable of fighting for the slot, unlike those below them.


    This was why the victory against Toman''s Workshop, especially using a shield, was impressive.


    One should recall that among the seven tests, there was a Sharpness test which favoured bladed weapons. Despite that, Lucas had managed to beat Aquilo''s Sword using a shield. Although it was because the shield had detachable bladed teeth around its edge, winning was thought to be impossible, but he still achieved it.


    "I''m here for a vestige duel." Lucas announced right as he stopped in front of the building. Just a few steps away was the entrance, which was without a door, but he didn''t go any further.


    "Should we accept?" One of the staff inside the building whispered to another.


    "We don''t really have a choice. He''s not like the other challengers, so we can''t ignore him." The manager of the stall sighed.


    "Bring out the masterpiece."


    At the moment, many had already begun to consider the brown shield Lucas had used to beat Toman''s Workshop and the next series of participants as a masterpiece item. This was a vestige that beat last year''s eighteenth place masterpiece, so it was definitely strong enough to enter the top 15 of last year, and maybe even this year.


    So, avoiding a challenge from Lucas was equivalent to damaging their reputation as avoiding a vestige duel against another masterpiece was a sign that one was lacking confidence in their own masterpiece. Even if the appraisers from the Silver Fig Consortium didn''t look down on them, the public''s opinion would be that their creation was weaker.


    Since they would be facing Lucas, the only worthy opponent would be their masterpiece for the year''s convention. Using last year''s product was the same as asking for a loss, since Lucas already proved that this product was more than capable of entering the ratings of last year.


    "Winning by his terms won''t be enough, so we have to bring down his momentum entirely. Doing so with our masterpiece would not only raise its value, but also the reputation of our company. Our stocks could even rise a bit from this." The manager motivated his staff.


    A box was soon brought out and the manager walked out alongside three other staff members.


    "You should be aware of my usual terms, or do I need to repeat them?" Lucas asked.


    "No need." The manager confidently smiled.


    The usual terms were that if Lucas lost even one test out of the seven tests, it would be the same as admitting his loss. There was also the fifty federal coins bet as well. There was no way Lucas was letting that go as it was almost free money to him. From just the last three vestige duels alone, he had made one hundred and fifty federal coins "tax-free".


    Making so much without the system''s evil hands stretching towards his money felt a bit addicting.


    "Let''s begin." Lucas smiled.


    15 minutes later, Lucas was spotted calmly departing the building''s environment with the same iconic brown shield in hand. Meanwhile, the crowd was dumbfounded, even more so the manager of the store, who stared at the vestige he had brought out.


    The vestige was a red saber that gave off a fiery glow and the energy around it was tumultuous. It was like a weapon of the god of flames, incarnated into a mortal form. Just mere staring at it for long would give one the illusion that their body was on fire.


    If the person looking at it was below the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage, they would feel dehydrated the longer they stared at it. However, it wasn''t true dehydration, but simply the body responding as if it were indeed dehydrated.


    Below the third level and looking at the saber for longer than three minutes could lead to death, as by then, the brain would truly believe that it was dehydrated and give out.


    Despite such impressive abilities and strength, the results didn''t end in the favour of the saber.


    "Another win. The record continues." Someone in the crowd widened his eyes in utter disbelief.


    No doubt, this saber could have been able to enter th top fifteen for the year; it had a very good shot at doing so. Despite that, it had lost to a nameless brown shield.


    "A legendary masterpiece. It''s probably on par with those from the top vestige-smiths in the Central Prefecture." An old man who looked knowledgeable said.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was not only held in the West Wing district. It was an event for the entire Baylands City, but due to the massive size of the city, the event has to be split. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For five days, there would be a convention held simultaneously in all five districts of Baylands City, and the top fifteen rated vestiges from each district would be brought to the Central Prefecture district for the true Silver Fig Trade Convention on the sixth day, which was the auction.


    Seventy five top class vestiges from all five districts in one place. Such an event was one every single vestige-smith in the city desired to attend.


    West Wing district had the most vestige-smiths, but it didn''t mean they had the best. That record was held by the Central Prefecture district, which was the home to not just the best vestige-smiths, but also the strongest freelancers, powerful families, and also headquartered top companies and conglomerates. The Central Prefecture was truly the best in all regards, and the centre of the city.


    The top vestige-smiths there were steps ahead of this in the West Wing district, and the same was true for the companies based there.


    "Old man, isn''t that a bit overboard?" Someone asked.


    Describing the brown shield as being on par with the masterpieces from the Central Prefecture was typically a compliment left only for creations of the top ten West Wing district vestige-smiths.


    "Hah. What do you know? I''ve been to the auctions at the Central Prefecture before. I can tell you that that brown shield had what it takes to qualify." The old man snorted.


    "Don''t take that old man seriously. He''s a drunk who says too much nonsense." Someone else interrupted while staring at the old man with disgust.


    "Not to talk of the fact that the top vestiges from the Central Prefecture district are all Grade 4, even their Grade 3s are capable of seizing the top spot here. The Silver Fig Trade Convention being held in five different locations at once was to simply give everyone an equal opportunity to qualify for the auction.


    Otherwise, the entire auction would be filled with vestiges from the Central Prefecture district. That''s just how accomplished they are."

 Chapter 107 Newfound Fame And Riches

    After that bout with the fifteenth place, Lucas went on to carry out two more vestige duels before the day finally concluded. Unsurprisingly, the other two opponents had surrendered before the duel even began. The news had already spread, and no one was foolish enough to bother engaging in a vestige duel with Lucas.Luckily for him, the system still considered them as victories, so his count was now brought up to sixteen. There were now only four more vestige duels left and Lucas would have completed the mission.


    Just as he returned to the stall to close up, Lucas was surprised to see a crowd of people gathered in front.


    "What''s going on?" Lucas asked.


    "You''re finally back." The man lined up in front smiled. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We''re here to check out your services, and get our gears fixed."


    Lucas was surprised by this, but on second thought, he understood.


    Having generated a buzz recently and made a name for himself, or at least the vestige-smith supposedly behind him, it was only natural for there to be more customers interested in the services offered. It was just like when he had won his very first vestige duel against the freelancer and was flooded by a few agents and freelancers.


    Except this time around, Lucas had defeated vestiges much more impressive than the Hozier-class Halberd, and this made people take him more seriously and even want to patronise the stall for their own benefit.


    "If you''re here to take orders, you can copy the code in the stall and check out our price list. But if you''re here for services, unfortunately, there''s a limited slot for those."


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention banned on-site trading and maintenance, however, the organisers had purposely left some loopholes to this rule. For the first, one could simply draw up a contract for the sale of vestiges and the matter would be settled at a later date.


    As for maintenance, the vestige-smith stall could accept maintenance orders and fulfill them outside of the public square or at a later date after the convention.


    However, due to this, vestige-smith stores would become busy after the convention. To reduce the load, they would limit the number of transactions, especially maintenance works, that they accepted.


    "No problem. Just let us know and we''ll figure it out." The man smiled.


    Lucas nodded and went into the stall before bringing out a small plastic board, the size of a palm. The board was turned on and it projected a special diagram that looked like a QR code.


    The diagram could be scanned by a communicator to reveal the information on it; the pricing list of vestiges in the Seven Sparks Forge.


    When the crowd scanned it and went through the list, one could hear occasional sounds of astonishments and deep breathing. Lucas, however, was already used to this and wasn''t bothered. He now has a good understanding of the vestige-smithing ability of the West Wing district. As such, Lucas was more than confident that his prices were fair.


    "These prices, aren''t they a bit too much?" Someone carefully asked.


    "A bit? With these prices, I can buy two vestiges. If I want to consider quantity and not quality, I might even be able to get three vestiges." A middle-aged man grumpily complained.


    Lucas glanced at him for a brief second before ignoring them all and walking towards the stall.


    Whether they wanted to buy or not, Lucas didn''t let that bother him. Those who could afford it and understood the real value would buy it. Those who couldn''t afford a vestige here, yet still understood its value would inform those around them about this. But there are those who could neither afford nor understand the value of the vestige.


    For such kind of people, Lucas deemed it unnecessary to dawdle on their matter.


    Seeing him ignore them, the group went speechless. Usually, a vestige-smith stall would try to convince them otherwise. They would use all sorts of linguistics, marketing tactics and lines all to make them consider buying something. But Lucas straight up ignored them.


    "Who does he think he is?"


    "You''re wrong. The question should be who do you think he is? He beat the top eighteen and fifteenth place from last year. He''s currently on a sixteen win streak; seventeen, if you count his victory against the Hozier-class Halberd."


    "Yeah, but the one who did all that was the vestige-smith. He''s just a representative." Someone else argued.


    "True, but that makes him the only connection between us and the vestige-smith. So, we might as well act politely." The man who stood on Lucas'' side said.


    Eventually, some from the group had departed over the prices, while the others entered the stall and made their orders. At the end of everything, including previous orders, Lucas had now made over thirty thousand federal coins in revenue. Even after the 75% deduction by the system, his profit was large.


    After he was done with that, Lucas left and returned back for eh Seven Sparks Forge building in the market zone.


    . . .


    Meanwhile, somewhere in the West Wing district. A fleet of hover-bikes with members of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. There were at least ten of them, and behind the pursuing group was a hover car with the logo of the Patrol Corps.


    "Catch him." A voice sounded in the helmets of the Baylands City Patrol Corps as they pursueed their target.


    Inside the hover car were three members of the Red Fangs, with the one leading them being a familiar face. It was Nafir.


    Soon enough, the pursuing team caught up to the target and pinned him down on the ground.


    The target was actually a green-skinned alien who appeared in a humanoid form. However, despite having two legs, the lower part of the legs branched out to form a pair of lower legs. As a result, the alien had two upper legs but four lower legs.


    Also, rather than hair on his head, the alien had a few tentacles. Each tentacle was laced with enough poison to knock out a full grown adult horse, making the alien a walking danger. He also had three fingers as opposed to a regular hyuman.


    The hover car arrived and Nafir stepped out of it alongside the other.


    "A mixed race? Tell me, what are you doing in a Baylands city-state unregistered?" Nafir glanced at the creature who has been cuffed with special handcuffs.


    "Kekeke. You might have caught me, but don''t think I''ll talk. A mere patrol corps, don''t get too high on yourselves." The alien grinned.


    Nafir fromwed and waved, signalling to his men to take him away.


    Suddenly, the alien began to convulse before frothing from the mouth.


    "Poison, hurry!" Nafir screamed.


    One of the Red Fangs near him rushed towards the hover car for a medical box, but by the time he returned, it was already too late. The alien had died.


    "There goes our lead." One of the Red Fangs duo sighed.


    "To be able to commit suicide, just to prevent leaking any type of information. Such a kind of dedication to his belief, is incredible, but also dangerous in this case." Nafir frowned as he studied the corpse.


    "Baylands city-state might soon get less peaceful in times to come."

 Chapter 108 Anticipations Of Day 5

    While the Red Fangs were hunting for a lead to the terrorists who had attacked the Greendale Highschool students at the Bayena Plain, the fifth and final day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention drew closer until it arrived.Similar to the fourth day, there was a gigantic crowd in attendance for the event today. Being the last day of the convention right before the auction, it was only natural that everyone in the industry would try as much as possible to be in attendance today.


    "You guys heard about what happened yesterday?" Ju¨¢n looked at his teammates as they arrived at the public square.


    "You mean the ''masterpiece killer''? Yeah. It''s been awhile since the convention has been this eventful." Crimson Fang said with interest.


    "The ''masterpiece killer''?" Nathan asked.


    "Hmm. It''s the title given to some new fellow representing a vestige-smith. Apparently, it''s his first time in the convention, but he''s defeated sixteen other participants -six of whom were based in the mid tier region. One of them was at the eighteenth place from last year, Toman''s Workshop. They had contended with the same vestige, Aquilo''s Sword, but lost the duel.


    Fifteenth place from last year was also in attendance, but even after using their masterpiece, they similarly lost." Ju¨¢n enthusiastically explained.


    "That''s impressive, but I don''t see why he should be nicknamed ''masterpiece killer''. The only notable opponents were one party that barely qualified for last year''s auction and another that didn''t even make the mark." Nathan dismissed. Although the record was astonishing, he felt that people were overreacting.


    "If that was all, then yeah, you''re right. However, it isn''t." Ju¨¢n mysteriously said.


    Nathan raised an eyebrow, waiting for the latter to continue, but he didn''t. After a bit of hesitation, curiosity got the best of him and Nathan asked,


    "What else? Did he beat someone more impressive?"


    Ju¨¢n smiled seeing that he was hooked.


    "It''s not that. Rather, it''s how he beat his opponents. The ''masterpiece killer'' had challenged the six opponents from the mid tier region to a vestige duel using the same grade vestiges. The win condition was for the challenged side to win just one test out of all seven, yet they all failed to do so. What''s more, the ''masterpiece killer'' won using a shield."


    Nathan was immediately stunned, halting at the spot. In fact, he wasn''t the only one shocked by this as Lisa and Anna reacted the same. It was clear that the duo similarly didn''t know much about the ''masterpiece killer''.


    "He won such a contest?" Anna dazedly questioned.


    "That''s exactly why he''s making rounds and why we should go check him out today." said Ju¨¢n.


    "He''s currently on a sixteen win streak and has been challenging from the lowest level up. Speculations suggest that he would still challenge more people today, maybe up to twenty. It''s also believed he would soon aim for the top ten since his vestige us quite powerful." Leno, who was a fan of vestiges, replied.


    "Well, I guess we can go check it out together then." Crimson Fang decided.


    "However, if any of you have a different opinion, feel free to go with it."


    The others didn''t say anything contrary as they were actually all interested, including Nathan. A vestige capable of beating masterpieces at the same grade without losing a single bout was definitely something rare, even if it came from the hands of vestige-smiths of the top ten companies. Maybe only those old fellows in the Central Prefecture could do better.


    It was common sense that a sword would be sharper than a shield, an axe stronger than a dagger and so on. However, this ''masterpiece killer'' had defied such logic as the vestige fielded for the fuel was actually a shield. A shield that was sharper than a sword was something no one would have ever thought to be possible.


    "So where should we go?"


    "There''s only one answer." Ju¨¢n took it upon himself to answer the question.


    "I heard that he was dissed a while ago by a certain vestige-smith in the mid tier region, ranked eleventh place. However, he hasn''t challenged them yet. Let''s go over there and wait."


    "Alright then." The group agreed and made their way over.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only group making their way there as well. Many other freelancers and drama-lovers who had heard the news were also heading towards the building.


    The silver haired vestige-smith who had insulated Lucas -calling him a frog in a well- had already caught onto the news. He couldn''t believe that this frog was actually so deadly, but that didn''t change the man''s mind. At best, Lucas'' store was okay and has corrected his earlier prejudice, but it didn''t mean that he was scared that he would lose.


    "Unlike his opponents, we''ve appeared in the auction for seven years now. The Silver Fig Trade Convention auction only began ten years ago. I can confidently say that I''m not worried about anything. He might be worthy to gaze at our masterpiece, but if he thinks he would win, then he''s being delusional." S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When those words were spread around the convention, the guests and spectators were pumped. They could sense an intense rivalry brewing and many expected this vestige duel to be the highlight of the convention.


    Eleventh place ranking might be out of the top ten, but it was the closest one could come towards it. At the same time, the silver haired vestige-smith had once made a vestige that appeared in the top ten rankings, about three years ago.


    While his next two works failed to get the qualification, rumours had it that the man was confident of usurping the top ten rankings this year. The vestige duel against Seven Sparks Forge was said to be the first step towards this. Winning it would raise the prestige of his creation which could also influence the judgement of the secret appraisers sent by the organisers.


    At the same time, this was seen as another difficult challenge for the Seven Sparks Forge stall.


    Compared to previous opponents, the current target was someone who had previously made it to the top ten and confident to do so this year. Defeating the opponent in the same style as the previous duels would imply that the brown shield vestige was very capable of getting a top ten spot; as for the top fifteen, many already believed that the brown shield was more than qualified for that.


    Due to the stakes, many had begun to term this as the first battle for top ten. As for the current top ten, they held no opinion nor displayed any reaction to this. However, rumours had it that they were secretly spectating this duel. After all, the winner of this vestige duel would be their opponent for the ranking. This was especially so for the tenth, ninth and eighth places.

 Chapter 109 The Anticipated Duel

    When Lucas arrived on the fifth day, he noticed a crowd of people gathered around his stall but he wasn''t surprised by this. Lucas had already gotten used to having people follow around him ever since the previous day.Ignoring them, he opened up his stall before leaving once again. The act of opening the stall was a somewhat mandatory action as it implied to any passerby or potential client that the owner was around, even if there was no one present at the moment.


    The entire point of this was to make it so vestige-smiths wouldn''t lose out on an opportunity, but at the same time, they would be able to freely explore the convention.


    If anyone interested in the stall wanted to have a conversation with the owner or see more vestiges, there was a contact info pasted on the side of the stall.


    Leaving the low tier region, Lucas stepped into the mid tier region. It was just as many had speculated -he wasn''t going to stop challenging at just sixteen wins, and he was going to face the vestige-smith who had mocked him. Having built a reputation now, Lucas was confident that he wouldn''t be rejected on the grounds of being "too weak" or unknown.


    If the other side were to avoid the duel, it would be perceived both by the system and the people as a win.


    But before that, Lucas stepped into a random mid tier region stall and smiled at the staff. When they saw who it was, their blood froze and they glared at him.


    Even though Lucas was human, he was currently the most feared character for all stalls and vestige-smiths outside the high tier region. Although the losers in the low tier region didn''t have it as bad after comparing themselves to the others who lost, the participants in the mid tier region were scarred by his presence.


    They would display a hint of fear upon seeing him as the outcome was generally known even before the duel began.


    Some of them had even tried to bribe Lucas in secret to prevent him from coming to their store, even though the odds were low. However, despite his recent love of money, Lucas refused the offers. To Lucas, no amount of wealth could compensate for the mission.


    "I''m here for a vestige duel. " Lucas stated.


    "Is there even any meaning to this?" The manager in the stall complained. However, Lucas paid him no heed and waited for an appropriate response.


    After hesitating, the manager finally sighed and shook his head.


    "It''s our loss. We surrender. "


    [[ Congratulations to the host for the seventeenth win in a row. ]]


    "Time to round this up." Lucas said before leaving for the venue everyone expected him to be at.


    A few minutes later, Lucas was now at the scene. As he walked, a few eyes moved towards him as he scanned the area. Compared to the crowd following him, there were a lot more people present here, seemingly having anticipated this final showdown. Lucas even spotted Autumn''s Gate guild and some members of the Red Fang in the scene.


    He would have seen a lot more but unfortunately, these were the only ones Lucas was familiar with.


    "Are you the one?" A man who stood at the entrance of the building like a guard asked as he saw Lucas walk forward.


    "I don''t know what you mean by that, but I''m here for only one thing." Lucas calmly said.


    "State your purpose." The guard glared imposingly at him.


    "A certain vestige-smith had once called me out for being a frog in a well. So today, I decided to come pay him a visit to broaden my vision and experience." Lucas smiled, but beneath that smile, many could feel a lurking blade hiding underneath.


    The security guard clearly understood why Lucas was here and couldn''t stop him, so he went in to call the vestige-smith.


    Meanwhile...


    "Hey, isn''t that that guy from back then?" Ju¨¢n pointed at Lucas.


    "It''s him. What''s he doing here? Don''t tell me he''s the ''masterpiece killer''?" Leno was surprised.


    "It''s said that the ''masterpiece killer'' has never really made an appearance in public, and all the duels have been carried out by his human employee. I''m guessing that''s him." Crimson Fang commented.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only one with something to say after spotting Lucas. Lieutenant Lily wore a shocked expression, and even her lower rank, Barry, was also surprised by this. The other Red Fangs lieutenant who showed up with them was confused by their expressions. However, when he sensed that Lucas wasn''t a hyumankin like him, but a human being, he pieced two and two together.


    "Is that the guy? I thought you said he runs an average vestige-smith store?" The man felt like he had just discovered a shocking detail.


    "I also thought the same." Barry appeared stupefied seeing Lucas there.


    Unlike the crowd, the Red Fangs had done some digging on Lucas'' background, so they were aware that his vestige-smith store wasn''t being backed by any notable vestige-smith. It was difficult¡ªalmost impossible¡ªfor someone that good to sneak through the Red Fangs network. The only reason the terrorists made it past was due to the possible existence of a mole, otherwise, it would have been impossible.


    However, Lucas never had such a connection, and there was no other mole found after the department''s cleansing. So, it was clear that the store belonged to Lucas, although how he made the vestiges was unknown.


    Never in their lives would they have thought that the human they ignored and considered to be just a side character, would have developed into a main character in just a few days.


    "Do we ask him to help us?" Barry''s eyes flashed as he expressed his thoughts.


    The lieutenant frowned slightly but began to actually consider the subject. He had previously joked about it, but with Lucas now turning out to be the ''masterpiece killer'', or at least related to the real fellow, having him help them with a new vestige batch was looking like a reasonable idea.


    "Let''s see whether he wins and can make it to the auction first." Lily Mayer cut in.


    Just then, a group of people walked out from the building. One was the recognisable silver haired middle-aged man who had made the comments that sparked all of this the previous day.


    Beside him was someone dressed in a suit with a monocle on his left eye. The monocle was actually a communicator with appraisal capabilities.


    Seeing this ''one-eyed man'', the crowd was surprised.


    "That''s an appraiser from the consortium!"


    "Indeed. Today is the fifth day, so they should already be moving. Considering this is the most hyped duel, it''s not impossible for at least one to be in attendance."


    Many whispers broke out, but the gist of the matter was that the man was an appraiser from the Silver Fig Consortium, sent over to rate the masterpieces of the various vestige-smiths.


    Usually, there would be at least ten appraisers who moved around both secretly and in the open. The appraisers would inspect the masterpieces of each stall that had one and give it a detailed rating in a similar format as a vestige duel, m from one to ten, with ten being the highest.


    After the day came to an end, the ratings would be gathered and calculated, with the rankings being formed from it. The top fifteen on the rankings would be announced the morning of the next day; from there, proceed to the auction to be held the evening of the same day.


    A trip from any district in Baylands City to the Central Prefecture usually took roughly five hours or less using a light rail train, so there was no issue with the process.


    It was because the system of rating used by the appraisers was similar to vestige duels that the top companies and vestige-smiths usually avoided challenging a masterpiece with a masterpiece. If they were to lose, it would make their vestige look bad even if it was quite strong.


    The appraisers wouldn''t turn biased because of a loss, but with a comparison in mind, the public would have their own thoughts. Also, with a clear lead, it was unavoidable that the loser would end up with a worse rating than the victor.


    Apart from the appraiser, there was someone else who happened to be with the silver haired man. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh, Lucy. Is that you?" The man asked.


    Lucy glanced at the brown coloured man by the side who had orange hair. Just like her, he was also an agent from Novanio Tech.


    Novanio Tech was a company that designed and developed stellar processors. Novanio Tech was a really big company in Eretre, but the branch in Baylands city-state wasn''t doing really well. As such, they wanted to delve into the weapons market.


    However, the weapons market was already somewhat fixed, and it would be difficult for a new competitor to be born, especially if the existing players in the industry found out the competition was started by a multi-million federal coins corporation like Novanio Tech.


    To ease their entry, Novanio decided not to develop their own vestige-smith industry for weapons, but to start a dealership or a vestige business. However, for this to succeed, they needed a supplier.


    Most top vestige-smiths were already in exclusive deals with other dealers, or were hired to work in top vestige-smith companies. So, the board at Novanio Tech Baylands city-state branch decided to search low.


    On this matter, there were three factions with differing opinions. One opted to find some established vestige-smiths and poach them from other companies or steal exclusive rights from other vestige dealers.


    The second faction thought to aim a bit lower and find the less renowned vestige-smiths and sign deals with them.


    The third faction went even lower and wanted to find vestige-smiths with potential and invest in them. The advantage of this was that if Novanio Tech ever had a change in mind and decided to start a weapons vestige-smith branch company, these low ranked vestige-smiths potential can become the core force and foundation of that company.


    After all, unlike established or renowned vestige-smiths who were quite prideful, a vestige-smith they invested in and supported from the hardest stage up, would definitely feel like they owe them a lot and wouldn''t mind working under them.


    Lucy belonged to this third faction, which was why she was in the low tier region. As for the orange haired man, he was a member of the first faction; the faction that aimed to find top vestige-smiths and get exclusive sales rights from them.


    The top ten were all companies with a couple of vestige-smiths under their belt. Only the eleventh place wasn''t a registered vestige-smith company but a single vestige-smith doing the work. Such a party was exactly what the first faction wanted best.

 Chapter 110 My Vestige Was Incomplete

    The top ten were all companies with a couple of vestige-smiths under their belt. Only the eleventh place wasn''t a registered vestige-smith company but a single vestige-smith doing the work. Such a party was exactly what the first faction wanted best."I never thought we''d meet again so soon even more so like this, Lucy." The orange haired man smiled.


    Lucy grimaced upon seeing him. Even though all sides worked under Novanio Tech, the three factions were competing with each other, so they kept their movements hidden from the other. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Arlott." Lucy nodded at him.


    "Oh don''t be like this. You seem to forget it''s your side that''s challenging mine, so no need to act offended." Arlott smirked.


    Lucy frowned and ignored him. On one hand, Arlott was right, but on the other hand, all this started because the vestige-smith had decided to mock Lucas during his press conference the previous morning.


    "Are you the little guy who''s been making so much noise recently?" The silver haired vestige-smith asked as he stared at Lucas.


    "If that''s how you want to address me then fine." Lucas shrugged.


    The inspector suddenly walked out and stared at Lucas.


    "I''ll be the overseer for this vestige duel."


    Lucas had no problem with that and wasn''t worried. An overseer didn''t have much influence in a vestige duel after all.


    "Both contestants bring out your vestiges."


    "Since you''ve been competing with a Grade 3 vestige, I''ll entertain you today."


    The silver-haired vestige-smith smirked. While Lucas'' streak of victories might seem troublesome to others, to him, he wasn''t bothered by it. The reason was quite simple; he was very close to the Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, meaning he could barely make the weakest Grade 4 vestige with assistance from others. However, he didn''t field such a vestige for this duel.


    In fact, even his masterpiece wasn''t Grade 4.


    Unless one was a bona fide and experienced Tier 1 Master, a Grade 4 vestige wasn''t necessarily stronger than a Grade 3.


    For instance, Sofoklis, who had just ascended into the ranks of Tier 1 Master, had competed against the Gold Rain Factory using a Grade 4 vestige he made, the Hand of God Trident. Despite the difference in grades, the Gold Rain Factory''s Grade 3 Annalia spear had managed to beat the Hand of God in three tests -durability, sharpness and strength tests.


    The Hand of God only managed to win the vestige duel rather than draw simply because it was a Grade 4 vestige, thereby winning the Power test.


    Forget being an experienced one, the silver-haired vestige-smith wasn''t even a Tier 1 Master yet. Trying to make a Grade 4 vestige would only result in what could be termed as a half-baked creation. Putting the effort and resources into making a powerful Grade 3 vestige was much better.


    An assistant walked out from the building with a box. However, the box was so large and heavy that he needed the aid of two lift robots to carry it. Lift robots were robots that appeared to be automated mini forklifts. Their main function was to assist one in carrying a heavy load.


    The fact that the box needed to lift robots to aid the assistant was a testament to its great weight.


    "Defeating you with just any vestige won''t do it. So I''ll let you know the difference between us." The silver haired man spoke.


    When the contents of the box was revealed, it turned out to be an axe and a really large one at that. The full length of the axe was equivalent to a door, while the blades were half the size of it. Their edges were black with red runes inscribed on the left blade while blue runes were on the right. The shaft of the axe was unsurprisingly metallic with a silver sheen to it.


    At the point where the two blades connected to the shaft, there was a strange red and blue crystal fixed on the point.


    "My masterpiece for this year''s convention: Winter-Summer axe." The silver haired man introduced.


    The Winter-Summer axe was a very powerful vestige that made its debut just the previous day. It was a masterpiece created by the silver haired man, Nicholai, and was one everyone was confident would get accepted into the auction. All that remained was for its final ranking to be determined.


    There was no doubt that this was a top fifteen rank vestige in the entire West Wing district, and it could potentially rank in this year''s top 30 Grade 3 vestiges in Baylands city-state.


    "The Winter-Summer axe is designed with the ability to deal out two varying types of damage, making it suitable for battling in two different environments. Due to the dual kinds of damage, the danger value of the Winter-Summer axe is increased to a whole new level." Nicholai said with a proud smile on his face.


    The Winter-Summer axe was most likely the only vestige he had that could beat the brown shield from their investigation.


    A vestige duel was a duel where the results were open to all, hence why there was no need for a judge. However, this was somewhat problematic for some. In this case, Lucas had participated in over sixteen vestige duels, with six of them involving the brown shield, the results of the vestige duels were pretty much known, as well as the details of the vestige.


    This allowed Nicholai to pick the most suitable one he could find to achieve a clear victory.


    As for why Lucas'' opponents didn''t use such a method before, it was because there was no time. Unlike with Nicholai, who had a couple of hours to prepare and was facing a somewhat popular foe, the other vestige-smiths were seeing Lucas for the first time during their duels. Their experience was the same as with Toman''s Workshop -looking down on Lucas and not taking the duel seriously.


    It was only after a couple of wins with the news spreading around that the details of the brown shield were finally spread around. That was after Lucas'' duel against the fifteenth place on the list; the fourteenth match. The next two duels ended with the opponents surrendering as they were now aware of the abilities of the brown shield and knew they couldn''t compete against Lucas.


    But now, such a decision was against him. Lucas, however, wasn''t worried about this. On the contrary, he had a smile on his face.


    "It''s your turn." The overseer glanced at Lucas.


    While the majority in the crowd didn''t think much, some already realised that Lucas had the lower hand in this duel already. Nicholai had enough information about his vestige, and so could field a much better option.


    On the other hand, Nicholai''s masterpiece, which was only just revealed the previous day, had gone unchallenged by any other participant until today. As such, there was no single detail of information about it, except what Nicholai had mentioned in public.


    However, Lucas was very sensitive to mystical energy, and he could tell that the brown shield as it was would surely lose to the axe. The gap wasn''t so wide, but it was enough for a clear winner to be determined.


    Nonetheless, Lucas smiled and still took out the brown shield. However, he didn''t hand it to the robo-tester just yet.


    "I never really said anything about it before, but the brown shield is incomplete."


    "Incomplete?" Nicholai was stunned for a moment before frowning.


    "What kind of stupid tale are you spouting here?"


    "Whether it''s stupid or not, we''ll find out soon enough."


    Lucas'' free-hand suddenly appeared to have a metal plate sitting on it. The metal plate was black in colour and roughly the thickness of a newborn''s arm. It was decorated all over with yellow runes that gave it a mysterious yet somewhat solemn feel.


    Once the plate approached the brown shield, a compartment formed on the shield, roughly the same shape as the metal plate, revealing a space available for the plate to be fitted in. Lucas did just exactly that and the metal plate attached itself to the shield with a click.


    "You see, when I made this shield, I didn''t finalise the designs. I held back a bit as I thought it was unnecessary to compete with the final product."


    As the metal plate fitted into the compartment, it let out a low hum and the yellow runes on it lightly glistened.


    "The final product is a vestige I made by combining two major philosophies; a new path I''ve decided to pave myself. You should feel proud being the very first vestige-smith to experience this first-hand in a duel."

 Chapter 111 Winter-Summer Axe Versus Upgraded Brown Shield

    "The final product is a vestige I made by combining two major philosophies; a new path I''ve decided to pave myself. The idea is still under realisation, but it''s more than enough for today. You should feel proud being the very first vestige-smith to experience this first-hand in a duel." S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.After Lucas said that, the hum quietened and the glow disappeared. The entire area was silent as the crowd was stunned by just what took place. They could all feel that the brown shield became different after the metal plate was inserted, but they couldn''t put their finger on what the difference was.


    If anything, the brown shield gave off a strange solemn sensation.


    Ignoring the confused looks, Lucas finally gave the shield to the robo-tester to begin the vestige.


    "First test, hardness test."


    The overseer recovered himself and adjusted his monocle. The overseer had his reasons for choosing the hardness test as the first test.


    After the brown shield''s transformation, even he, despite being an appraiser of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, was unable to spot the change in the shield. To be exact, he had sensed a rise in stellar energy purity and quantity and spotted slight changes to the runes, but that was all; if he were to have truly noticed nothing, then he was incompetent.


    However, the appraiser believed that the change wasn''t limited to just that; in fact, he felt it was much more. This was why he went for the hardness test.


    The hardness test was a priority test for shields to pass, alongside durability and strength tests. Passing alone wasn''t just enough, as they had to ace it. A premium model shield vestige had to score the highest in these tests. Even an average model had to score within the highest possible range for an average model vestige.


    The performance of the brown shield was already known to all, but the appraiser felt that there would be a surprise waiting after that transformation, hence why he wanted to figure it out right away.


    Nicholai glanced at the appraiser and could guess his thoughts, but he wasn''t bothered. From the start, the advantage was in his hands, and he had made proper preparations. What could a metal plate attached to a shield change?


    The robo-testers carried the two vestiges to the hardness testing equipment, which was a complicated piece of equipment about a metre and a half tall (fifty-nine inches or roughly five feet tall). It looked like something one would get straight out of a factory or a laboratory, with its arms, sensors, displays, and hydraulic press.


    There were three stages in the hardness test, each done with three different attachments used on the equipment.


    The first stage was carried out with the first attachment, which was a probe with a sharp tip, similar to the Vickers hardness testing machine. The probe would stab the vestige with a specific force that would be slowly increased to find the vestige''s penetration point.


    The second probe had a blunt round tip and was used for finding the dull indentation point of the vestige.


    As for the third probe, it was shaped like a trident. Its function was a bit more complicated than the other two, but it worked for checking the scratch resistance and rune defence features of a vestige. As there were runes that increased the strength and hardness of a vestige, it was only natural for the effects of such runes to be tested in this regard.


    This was a different test from the stellar matrix efficiency test carried out in vestige duels.


    Compared to his previous vestige duels, as this was one with great stakes, the equipment used for testing was a level higher than the ones Lucas was more acquainted with. Just the difference in height between the hardness tester used here and the one used in his vestige duel against the freelancer was enough to show the difference.


    The preparations for these pieces of equipment were done earlier since many had already predicted he would be challenging Nicholai today.


    Both vestiges were tested at the same time, with all three stages carried out at once. It came as no surprise when the Winter-Summer axe began to show signs of damage before the brown shield. In all three stages of the hardness test, the brown shield came out on top.


    The point systems followed the same logic for the Grade 2 vestige duels. From the 201 points mark up to 500 was left for Grade 3 vestiges. This was quite a vast range compared to the 100-200 points for Grade 2 vestiges.


    The reason for this was simply because Grade 3 vestiges could be made in various ways and by different people, who were even more skilled and creative than Grade 2 vestige creators, the Tier 1 vestige-smiths [1].


    For a Grade 2 vestige, it usually had to average at least 400 and above in all tests to be considered a masterpiece. The even more powerful ones could go past 500 points in some tests, touching the level of a Grade 4 vestige. The Winter-Summer axe, for instance, was rumoured to have achieved such a feat.


    For the results of the hardness test, Lucas managed to do very well, scoring an incredible 484 points. As for the axe, it only got 467.


    Lucy appeared relieved at the result. One could say that apart from Lucas, she was the next person whose results affected the most in their camp. This wasn''t just a contest between Lucas and Nicholai, but one between Lucy and Arlott, and the factions behind them as well.


    Whichever side came out on top, as long as they could sign a deal with them, the Novanio Tech board would reward the agent who aided the deal.


    Supposing Lucy got Lucas to sign a deal, but he lost to Nicholai, the aftermath would be negative. Usually, the loss wouldn''t be an issue, but if Arlott were to bring Nicholai, the victor, over to his side, then it would definitely be a big deal. It would affect how much interest and resources the company would invest in Lucas.


    This in turn would also affect her, the agent who brought along a ''failure" to the company, after all, comparisons breeds discontent.


    "Hmph. Lucky strike." Arlott snorted.


    However, unlike the agent from Novanio Tech, Nicholai, the overseer and some others were stunned at the result.

 Chapter 112 Another Win

    Whereas Arlott saw the scores to be a lucky win for Lucas, Nicholai and the overseer¡ªas well as a few others¡ªsaw things differently.Previously, Lucas had competed in multiple vestige duels. This led to there being a boatload of information about the performance of the brown shield. However, comparing that to the current information, they realised that there was a problem; the two weren''t the same.


    The brown shield got 484 points in the hardness test, but in the past, it only managed to get 459.


    ''Is this change brought about by a single metal disc? He didn''t make any previous adjustments, now did he?''


    Improving a masterpiece wasn''t against the rules or anything, but it was easier said than done. Nonetheless, Nicholai felt this was the most likely explanation. He just couldn''t believe that a simple metal disc could improve the stats of a vestige by so much, even if one were to consider Lucas'' words that the brown shield was previously incomplete.


    The crowd regained themselves and the duel had to go on. The overseer wanted to confirm his suspicions, so the next test was just the same as the first¡ªone that gave the shield an advantage. The strength test.


    In this test, Lucas once again scored higher with the brown shield.


    Then came the durability test, and surprisingly, it was a draw, which was very rare.


    The current scores were two wins with one draw for Lucas, and one draw for Nicholai.


    Even though he was losing, Nicholai wasn''t as worried as one would expect. However, he was a bit anxious. This anxiety didn''t come from the fact that Lucas was taking the lead, but rather that the points the brown shield scored in the following two tests after the hardness test differed from previous records.


    It was just as he had feared, Lucas, or the vestige-smith behind him, seemed to have upgraded the masterpiece by a notch. It was closely approaching the level of work for the top ten companies.


    "Shall we go on?" The overseer asked as he glanced at the two sides.


    "Of course. I don''t know about you guys, but I haven''t had breakfast yet. So, I need to get this done as quickly as possible." Lucas said.


    Nicholai didn''t say anything either, silently accepting the same decision as Lucas.


    With both sides having come to an agreement, the overseer could only do as they wished, as his role was simply that of a referee.


    The vestige duel went on, but with each test carried out, the gap increased.


    ''How come?'' Nicholai gritted his teeth and widened his eyes, both in shock and fear.


    At this point, Nicholai didn''t want to win the normal way again. He simply hoped he could win just one test. Even the sharpness test was similarly lost to the shield.


    The stellar energy tests of purity and matrix efficiency came along then. The brown shield''s clean sweep of the Winter-Summer axe was so unexpected, that the overseer had even personally inspected the runes of the brown shield himself.


    While no one had said it, some were beginning to consider that the duel was rigged in Lucas'' favour because everything that took place was unexplainable. But the issue with this judgement was that the Silver Fig Trade Convention would be drawn as a suspect. The entire equipment for this vestige duel was provided by them, and Lucas had no way to interfere.


    So, the only explanation based on this suspicion, was that the organizers wanted to side with Lucas for some reason. Maybe he was an industry plant, or his backer had connections with them, who knew which exactly?


    The overseer feared such news breaking out and tainting their image so, he decided to actively participate in the vestige duel in an attempt to find a fault. However, he was astonished to realise that he couldn''t identify any of the runes on the brown shield.


    Not all appraisers were vestige-smiths, but they knew the trade as well as the latter, especially when it came to runes and stellar matrices. While vestige-smiths learnt the application, appraisers learnt the history and identification. Despite this, the overseer had failed to identify the runes on the brown shield when he had inspected it personally.


    ''Just who was the vestige-smith behind this creation? Did he explore ruins? Does he have connections with the pioneers? Is he from Baylands city-state?''


    The overseer had so many questions, but now wasn''t the time to be asking them.


    When it was time for the stellar purity test, the Winter-Summer axe scored an Alpha reading Grade 3 with a class reading of light Yellow.


    Greek letters were used to refer to the stage of stellar refinement. Alpha, being the first letter of the Greek alphabet, represented the Apertures Opening stage, which was the first stage of true stellar refinement.


    The class reading was divided into six colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, Ice-Blue, Grey and White, each further sub-divided into three shades: light, median and deep.


    Baylands city-state''s highest-ever class reading on all Grades was median Ice-Blue and this was for a Grade 1 vestige made by a Tier 1 Master from the Central Prefecture district.


    For the Winter-Summer axe to land a light yellow reading was pretty impressive. It easily surpassed at least eighty-nine percent of vestiges in the convention. However, the brown shield was not one of them.


    "Alpha reading Grade 3. Class reading light Yellow." The robo-tester announced.


    When the score was called out, everyone stared at the brown shield in shock. It was another draw, but in the stellar aspect.


    This was the last test, and totalling it with all the others, Lucas won five and drew two. Although it wasn''t a devastating loss as with the previous challenges, the result still shook many. However, having reached the stage, not everyone was stunned. The constant victories and one draw had already made it clear that Lucas would win.


    "You can forward the payment to my account," Lucas said before picking up the brown shield and walking away. He still had two more victories to take.


    ''Ah. This is getting boring now. I''ll just wrap it up with some small wins.'' Lucas thought.


    Nicholai was a Tier 1 Elite and the strongest Lucas had met. He was at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage. Having a card at that level was pretty powerful and could help Lucas deal with most of his problems and some in the future. For instance, Ramirez, who was at the fifth level.


    As Lucas left, he noticed someone was after him. He stopped and glanced behind to see there were two people following him. One was Lucy, and considering she wanted to sign a contract with him, it was understandable. However, the second person was actually the overseer for the vestige duel, who was an appraiser from the Silver Fig Consortium.


    "Pardon my actions, but I needed to clear some of my doubts." The man said once he got within talking distance.


    "First, I''d like to invite you to the auction. Your masterpiece is more than capable of qualifying for such a prestigious event. As this is your first time, I''ll be forwarding to you the rules regarding the auction as well as an invitation card. It can be used to attend either physically at the conference venue in the Central Prefecture district, or the online broadcast." S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention organising committee has access to the information and contact details of the participants, so Lucas wasn''t surprised this could be done.


    "Next, if possible, I''d like to discuss with you about those runes. Preferably in private." The man sneaked a look at Lucy.


    "No need. I don''t know anything about that, as I am not the vestige-smith." Lucas flatly declined.


    This was one reason he had decided to create a persona to take on the role of the vestige-smith. At the lower level, one might not notice anything, but the professionals and veterans might spot something different between Lucas'' vestiges and the ones in circulation. Unlike them, Lucas couldn''t use stellar matrices or the runes concocted in this world.


    On one hand, it was because Lucas was lacking stellar energy. On the other hand, it was because he didn''t know them.


    Having a fake identity to take all the blame and suspicion would put him in a safer place.


    "I am aware of that, but I just want you to help connect me to him." The man pleaded.


    Lucas hesitated, before replying with a sigh, "I''ll see what I can do, but the master isn''t a fan of outsiders or guests."


    "Thank you." The man smiled before walking away.


    As an appraiser, he still had to mind his behaviour as well as public perception, especially with how the vestige duel had ended. Spending too much time conversing with Lucas might raise suspicions about the result of the vestige duel.


    "Let''s talk at the stall." Lucas said to Lucy before walking away.

 Chapter 113 Notification From The EVL

    [[ Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats: sixth level).


    Status: Completed


    Accept Rewards: Y/N ]]


    Seating opposite the checkout counter in the store, Lucas accepted the rewards for the mission. His stock of Bronze Grade cards was now brought up to three, making Lucas feel much safer.


    The first card came from the mission he received to get one hundred customers within one month. The card was at the third level, and the weakest compared to the other two, however, Lucas wasn''t bothered. In his hands, the strength of a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could compare to a fourth level''s.


    Even with the advancements in genetic research, hyumankin was still with a limit. As for Lucas, he had lived for over five hundred years and experienced so many events and battles. His battle experience was something no hyuman on the planet could compare to. At the same time, he was also a genius.


    However, the said genius was now counting his profit with a money-grubber-like smile on his face.


    ''Hehe. Twenty vestige duels but if I exclude the three who gave up before the duel, that''s seventeen duels. If I include the one with that freelancer, that''s eighteen. Multiply that by fifty and I''m rich. Damn you, system~ You can''t touch this.'' Lucas couldn''t help but chuckle like a kid who just stole a lollipop.


    Although odd, this behaviour couldn''t be helped.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention let Lucas know the difference between himself and the other vestige-smiths. This didn''t just apply to skill but also finances. Whereas the vestige-smiths didn''t mind gambling away fifty federal coins, Lucas was penniless at the start. Fifty federal coins deducted from his account was enough to bring him close to debt.


    One cause for this was the system''s taxes, but in truth, it couldn''t be blamed as much. The major reason for Lucas'' miser behaviour was the crazy expenses he made when making a powerful vestige.


    Lucas'' limit when solely using the Blood Energy Circulation technique was Grade 2. Any higher and he would have to use the other forbidden techniques instead, or Lucas would die of exhaustion.


    The Materialization Technique required quality materials, and the higher the grade of the vestige, the more valuable and powerful the material had to be. To a vestige-smith or blacksmith, using precious materials just to draw energy out of them was wasteful and Lucas felt the same.


    This meant that only the last two techniques could be considered. However, of the two, the Soul Dismantling Spell was ruthless and denied one a chance at reincarnation. Hence, the only available option was the Blood Plundering Technique, but for this, Lucas couldn''t go around committing massacres, so he had to pick the next best option; using the blood of desolate beasts.


    Each Grade 3 vestige Lucas made took a lot from his pocket as he had to buy enough desolate beasts to provide the energy for the creation. So, even with the impressive amount he regularly made from sales, he would still have to spend a boatload for the next vestige-smithing. This would continue until the system reached level 5 and gave him the key to practising stellar refinement.


    "Now, to settle this." Lucas stared at a few documents projected in front of him.


    Today was the sixth day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, and although not officially a part of the event, it was the day of the auction. However, Lucas didn''t attend it. He didn''t even put the brown shield up for auction. The reason was a bit complicated.


    Originally, Lucas thought the process for the auction was simple: create a good vestige, it gets appraised, you get qualified for the auction, it''s sold, and you get your money. But the truth was different.


    First off, being qualified by the appraisers and invitee was just one step. To boost the value of the goods and reassure the participants of the auction on the values of the vestiges, there was a contract every vestige-smith, who has their vestige recommended, had to sign. It was an exclusivity agreement.


    The details of the agreement went two ways, and the vestige-smith could decide which of them to go by. The first option was that the auctioned vestige would not be replicated or reproduced in another form within the next three years. The only exception to this is if the vestige-smith intended to use an upgraded version to partake in the following year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    The second option was that the vestige-smith would be granted a limited number of replica slots for five years, and not produce more than that. Usually, the number of slots was limited to seven, but could be reduced to five, depending on the Silver Fig Trade Convention organisers'' evaluation of the vestige. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Another important detail in the agreement was that the organizers would take a seven per cent cut from the vestige. There was also a priority sell option to them if the vestige-smith chose the second option and intended to sell the replicas.


    These, as well as a few other little details, were what caught Lucas'' attention and made him refuse the invitation. Although the popularity and money he would make would have been significant, Lucas didn''t like the binding nature of the contract. He wasn''t averse to contracts, but the clauses just weren''t to his liking.


    Irrespective of whichever option it was, Lucas refused it and, as a result, didn''t use his invitation to attend the event. What point was there going, especially since the destination was an expensive area?


    Lucas changed the documents being projected into something else. This time around, it was still a document, but the details were different. This was a draft contract; an MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) sent by Lucy. The document detailed how their cooperation would go. Lucas, or rather the vestige-smith behind him, would mass produce as many vestiges as he could, and they would buy them all.


    It wasn''t a labour contract, as Novanio Tech could not determine a fixed number of vestiges Lucas would make. It was a contract of equality where whatever one side produced, the other side would buy.


    The MOU also detailed that Novanio Tech would have exclusive distribution and sales rights in the regions outside of Baylands City. This wasn''t a problem for Lucas, as he only had and operated one store, which couldn''t cover the entire city-state. The city alone was more than enough for him at the moment.


    Overall, the contract was okay, but what Lucas had a problem with was the pricing. The MOU stated that Novanio Tech would only purchase the items at a maximum price of twenty percent above market price. However, the system set the prices of the vestiges and all of them exceeded seventy percent, much less a meagre twenty percent.


    This contract might be attractive to others, but to Lucas, it was bland and out of consideration.


    Just as he thought this, Lucas'' communicator let out a ding. As he glanced at the mail, Lucas was surprised as well as delighted.


    The mail came from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League and it was a notification to inform him about the date for the exceptional basis examination.


    When Lucas had gone to the EVL building in the West Wing district before, he was rejected from the registration process as he was a human. Being an official registered vestige-smith with the league would give a ton of benefits, and it would create connections for Lucas. He would also have an official identification badge that would have him recognised as a vestige-smith.


    If he were to keep running the shop without these, it might end up troublesome at some point in the future. However, the rejection had affected his plans.


    In the end, Lucas chose the second option, which was to take the exams for exceptional individuals.


    The EVL only accepted bona-fide vestige-smiths, and the only time an exception was made would be when the applicant was a genius with potential and a passion for vestige-smithing. They would then, under recommendation from a registered vestige-smith, apply for membership on an exceptional basis. After an exam, the individual would be registered as a member if they passed.


    Failure, however, didn''t just mean that they won''t be accepted but that one could no longer try to register as a member through this method.


    The notification was a message informing Lucas of the time, date and location for the exam.


    "Central Prefecture district. I guess in the end, I''ll still be going over there today."


    The location was within the Central Prefecture district, and the date for the exam was the next day. In order not to miss it, Lucas had to depart today as the exam was in the morning of the next day.

 Chapter 114 Revisiting The Central Prefecture District

    The notification was a message informing Lucas of the time, date, and location of the exam."Central Prefecture district. I guess in the end, I''ll still be going over there today."


    The location was within the Central Prefecture district, and the date for the exam was the next day. In order not to miss it, Lucas had to depart today as the exam was in the morning of the next day.


    He left to pack his things, and once done, Lucas hung a "Closed" sign on the door. As long as the sign was up, the store would be locked by the system, with only Lucas being the one capable of undoing that. After closing the store, Lucas left in the direction of the light-rail train station.


    A few hours after Lucas had left the store, a hover car parked close by, and from it, two figures descended.


    "Such a lacklustre and low-traffic area. Are you sure this is where he is?" A man asked as he walked around the place.


    "Looks can be deceiving, right? But don''t worry, sir. We''ve confirmed with a few visits that this is the place." Barry said.


    This group was roughly the same team sent by the Red Fangs for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The only difference was that Lieutenant Mayer, who was a part of them, was sent to the auction instead of all three. The goal of these two was Lucas, but unfortunately, the latter had just departed for the Central Prefecture district.


    "It''s closed. I guess we''re late."


    . . .


    Lucas was currently in a light-rail train heading for the Central Prefecture. Light rail trains were so fast that even the 700km (434.96 miles) distance between the West Wing district and the Wastelands could be covered within thirty-five minutes.


    For the Central Prefecture district, which was about three hundred kilometres from the light-rail train station, the journey was a mere fifteen or so minutes. Nonetheless, Lucas left a short while after he got the notification because the procedure for getting into the district was strict.


    The last time Lucas was here, he was under arrest and so, did not need to go through the usual process. However, coming in as a visitor, he had to go through procedures. At the same time, Lucas decided to take a look around the district.


    With over one thousand federal coins in his possession and more to come thanks to the agreement deals he made during the convention and the maintenance works he took, Lucas wanted to enjoy himself a bit. What other better place to do so than the centre of the entire Baylands city-state?


    The light-rail train stopped at a station located just at the border of the Central Prefecture district. Stepping out of the vehicle and inhaling the air, Lucas had a sense of deja vu, which was expected as he had been here before. After enjoying the refreshing air that was almost addicting, Lucas checked out the place.


    The station was massive and well-furnished, almost like a museum. The interior design and decor were almost like they was made by a world-renowned architect. Even the chairs weren''t standard items you''d see outside.


    With paintings hung on the wall to give a vibrant touch and decorated pillars that gave off an imposing yet dignified feeling, the light-rail train station would have been a must-go tourist destination on Earth.


    The station had only two entrances and exits on opposite ends. One of them was for the light-rail trains, while the other was for civilians. In other words, as long as one came in from the outside, they could only follow a single path into the district from here on out. At the same time, if one wanted to depart the district, they would have to do so through the light-rail train exit.


    This was because the entire Central Prefecture district was covered by an invisible shield to prevent invaders.


    Unlike the other districts, the Central Prefecture district''s security was on an entirely different level. Not only did it have the headquarters of every security agency in the city, but it also had a powerful invisible barrier preventing spies and intruders from sneaking in.


    The only way to enter the district was through the light-rail train stations at the border, but getting through the gates required strict checks and searching.


    With the email from the EVL, his identification card, and some of the previous letters of recommendation he got from Harry, Lucas managed to get through the checkpoint after fifteen minutes. It took this long simply because this was his very first time. For constant visitors or citizens of the district, the checks didn''t take more than a minute but usually averaged around half a minute.


    Walking through the gates of the station, Lucas was now able to see the Central Prefecture district in its glory. The sky-high skyscrapers scattered, the aesthetic monuments set up in strategic positions, or the roads that were paved with a material comfortable to walk on, yet capable of withstanding wear and tear¡ªevery single aspect of the district spelled advanced technology.


    Even though the West Wing district was pretty advanced compared to Earth, the Central Prefecture district raised the bar up a notch.


    If you could imagine it, it probably already existed there.


    "I guess it''s time I do some exploring," Lucas said to himself. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ever since he arrived in this new world, he had limited himself to the West Wing district; the only exception being the mission that forced Lucas into the Wastelands. Part of the reason for his unwillingness to travel was Lucas'' weakness. But with three Bronze Grade cards in his hands now, Lucas didn''t need to worry too much.


    He opened up his communicator and activated the GPS function. The Central Prefecture district''s map, which was normally unavailable, became available as he was within the district.


    Lucas browsed through the map before finally settling on his destination; a restaurant. It was a crime to travel out and not try out the local cuisine, even more so in such a gentry-dominated environment.


    Throughout the next couple of hours, Lucas was spent trying out the district''s unique features until he got tired. He then found a motel and stayed the night. The next day would be the day of the test, so Lucas needed all the energy he could get.

 Chapter 115 Oder Family

    Before 9 am, Lucas left his lodging and located the EVL head branch in Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district.Staring at the skyscraper that towered over one hundred floors, Lucas couldn''t help but admire the stunning building like a piece of art. Although he had seen even more massive and impressive buildings in his past lives, the architectural style of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League main branch was of a different taste.


    "What a stunning sight to see. Am I right?"


    A voice interrupted Lucas'' thoughts.


    Lucas glanced sideways to discern the speaker. It was a young boy about eighteen years or so of age. He had brown hair and amber eyes with a light smile on his face.


    "I''m Havos. Nice to meet you." The young man extended his arm and introduced himself.


    Shaking his hand, Lucas replied, "Lucas."


    "What''s a human like you doing here?" Havos asked his question after they were done with the pleasantries.


    "I''m participating in the exams. I''ve been a vestige-smith for a while now, but they won''t let me get registered, and so, here I am." Lucas explained his situation.


    "Oh. A human vestige-smith? Is that even possible?" Havos stared at him astonished.


    "Why shouldn''t it be?" Lucas countered.


    "Haha. You''re right. You''re one funny guy indeed." Havos laughed right after.


    Suddenly, the duo turned towards the side, where they noticed a young man walking towards the building. He looked to be of the same age as Havos, but unlike the latter, he had a cold bearing and an arrogant look on his face. His eyes seemed to say that all existences were beneath him as the young man ignored the bystanders and made his way forward.


    "He''s here too?" Havos suddenly appeared uncomfortable.


    "Who is he?" Curious, Lucas asked.


    "Maximillus Oder. He comes from the famous Oder family, which is a family with a deep vestige-smith history. It is said that their ancestor had studied under the guide of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith from the Bernin continent for a while. He then relocated to the Groeten continent during the expansion phase of Baylands City, some three hundred hundred years ago.


    "Maximillus is said to be a genius in blacksmithing with a high education degree in engineering. He even completed college at a Pure School at the age of 18. It''s rumoured that he''s already made his first vestige at the age of seventeen, but this hasn''t been confirmed yet.


    I''m guessing it''s true but he held back the information because he wanted to participate in the tests and stand out." Havos said with a sorrowful expression. Competing against such a talent meant that there would be no competition for first place.


    The exceptional basis exam had a ranking system. The whole point of the exam was to permit geniuses to be registered under the EVL, even if they couldn''t vestige-smith yet. At the same time, it also allowed for one to be registered as a vestige-smith in the EVL even if they had yet to meet certain standard requirements.


    The ranking system was included to identify people with better potential and talent worth investing in. It also made the exams competitive for the applicants and made them give it their all.


    As for the Oder family, it was a very influential family with a deep background. Tracing their lineage up to three hundred years in the past, and to a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, was a boastful heritage to be proud of. Although the Oder family wasn''t among the top four families, it was still a famous and powerful family.


    The Oder family had records and training manuals from the time of their ancestor and controlled a vestige-smith company as well as owned shares in a couple of vestige dealerships. They were somewhat of a behemoth in the industry.


    During the Silver Fig Trade Convention in the Central Prefecture district, the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. made a masterpiece which managed to clinch the second position. At the same time, Prestige Star Ltd was also a member of the Silver Fig Consortium.


    From this, one could see how powerful the Oder family was in the vestige industry.


    Lucas only stared once at Maximillus before turning away.


    So what if the young teen was a genius and had a college degree at 18? When he was still in his mother''s womb, Lucas was busy winning international prizes and more Earth. Before Maximillus'' father was born, Lucas was already a grandmaster. Before the Oder family''s ancestor was even born, Lucas was already a famous blacksmith; one much better than a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    Maximillus Oder might be a genius, but Lucas had seen even more absurd geniuses. A college degree at 18? He has seen someone swallow a star at 12. A college degree at 18 doesn''t sound as cool again when compared to that.


    The duo walked together without needing to make a verbal agreement. Havos kept talking about the exam and even the building, but Lucas noticed that his tone had a bit of disquietude in them. It was clear that Maximillus'' presence added a bit of pressure on him. Regardless, Lucas didn''t bother to comfort him or anything.


    Inside the building was a large waiting hall with many people present. As it turns out, Lucas, despite leaving early, was still later than most. Many were either anxious about the exam or, for one reason or another, had decided to make it to the venue extraordinarily early.


    Some of them were as young as Havos and Maximillus, while others were as ''old'' as Lucas, and some even older, although not exceeding twenty-four (24) years of age. Even though there were many vestige-smiths, there were many more who failed to succeed in wielding the title. Despite that, they still wanted to gain some benefits from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League.


    As long as they could pass the exams, they would gain access to the library of the league, which was a large pool of information that could increase their odds of being a successful vestige-smith.


    For the blacksmiths in their early to mid-20s who wanted to advance in occupation, the exceptional basis exam was their best option unless they had some sort of connection or enough financial resources and talent to apply to a Pure school.


    After waiting for a while, a man walked out from a door by the side of the hall. Lucas didn''t sense a sign of life from them and reached the conclusion that this was a robot. Robots were pretty common and used for menial tasks and roles, as they were cheap to maintain and required neither wages nor breaks.


    "Welcome everyone. As you all know, today is the day of the exceptional basis exam. For the first-timers, if you check your communicators now, you will see a message with the rules and format of the exam. You''ll be given ten minutes to go through it, after which the exam will commence."


    The robotic man went silent right after, and the first-timers like Lucas and Havos, began to check their mail. However, not all first-timers were like this, as some already knew the rules and format. For instance, Maximillus Oder.


    ''So the exam is a two-part exam, both written and technical. Well, crap.'' Lucas thought.


    Engineering was not his major on Earth, and he didn''t study that here either


    Luckily, the exam was made with consideration of the various branches in vestige-smithing: the weapons vestige-smith branch''s Forger faction and the Multiplex faction; the School of Analytical Reasoning''s Methodical faction; and various other branches.


    There was no one-size-fits-all in vestige-smithing, so the exam had to be done after proper consideration. The result was to test the basics of vestige-smithing. Stellar matrices and runes knowledge, inscription skills, analytical skills, forging techniques and so on were tested.


    When it comes to stellar matrices and runes, Lucas didn''t know any, as such knowledge was kept tight and one could only learn such in a Pure school or to study under a vestige-smith, neither of which Lucas has done.


    ''Whatever. I just need to pass, right?'' Lucas thought as he turned off his communicator.


    Soon afterwards, the ten minutes was up and the robotic man spoke up once again,


    "Any questions?"


    After waiting a short while and no response, the robot continued,


    "You should all now be familiar with the procedure of the exam. Please comply with the rules and not cheat. The punishment for cheating won''t just be a simple failure, but you will be banned by the Eretrean Vestige-smith League from practicing vestige-smithing. If it is discovered that you have broken these rules, you would be imprisoned or have your stellar refinement crippled."


    While the Vestige-smith League didn''t control vestige-smiths, they protected their interests, and in exchange, most vestige-smiths just went with their decisions as long as they were fair and weren''t extreme.


    The group of examinees walked behind the robotic male, who led them to a different hall for the first part of the exam, which was going to be a theoretical exam. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a science major, vestige-smithing had a lot of emphasis on theory. Just like engineering, it relied on physics, material science, chemistry and more, depending on one''s area of expertise. Apart from that, there were still the stellar energy courses like matrix and rune inscription, material refining methods, vestige-smithing techniques and so on.


    In summary, being a vestige-smith didn''t just rely on skill, but also a wealth of knowledge, and the theoretical exam tested just this.


    For many of the participants, this was the exam they were least worried about. For Lucas, this was the exam he was most worried about.

 Chapter 116 Rankings Released

    In the exam hall, Lucas sat before a table with a single small cube on it. The cube was a mini-computer¡ªmuch like a communicator¡ªbut only contained the questions for the exams. It was a foolproof device that could relay and receive questions and answers within a second.The cube achieved this by making the exam a silent one. All the examinee had to do was touch the cube and the questions would be projected into one''s mind. The examinee would then mentally answer the questions and the cube would capture and process their brainwave signals, before sending the answers over to the main system.


    The main system would now compile the answers, score the students and record the results.


    The cube could also take note of the changes in its surroundings, whether they be physical or astral. This would prevent the examinee from cheating even if they had a communicator with them.


    The questions were divided into two sections: the general and the specialised sections. The general section contained questions relating to basic knowledge and the know-how of vestige-smithing. The specialised section dealt with questions relating to the examinee''s focus on vestige-smithing.


    Not everyone present was interested in the same branch of vestige-smithing, so, questions for each branch would be given to the student interested in it. The EVL knew this from the form they had filled out earlier.


    For Lucas, he had selected weapon vestige-smithing. When it came to which branch he was¡ªcold or hot¡ªLucas decided to go for the cold weapons branch. So far, he has been making only cold weapons. However, picking this didn''t mean that he would go under the Forger Faction; Lucas was still intent on building a new school of thought.


    ''It''s not as bad as I thought. In the end, the physics in this world is still pretty much the same.''


    Lucas, whose eyes were closed, calmed down a bit. He proceeded to answer where he could and left empty the ones he couldn''t. Even with his thirty years on Earth, the knowledge from there was somewhat antique compared to Eretre''s; new theories had been made, phenomena discovered and much more.


    Nonetheless, Lucas was still able to do fine with his Earthly knowledge, and substituted some parts with what he knew from his first life.


    After a while, the exam was over and everyone was asked to leave the hall with the cubes remaining where they were.


    Once outside, Lucas spotted Havos walking out with a relaxed composure. He looked much better than earlier when he saw Maximillus.


    "So, how was it?" Havos asked.


    "I probably did okay." Lucas replied, unsure of how the examiners would consider his answers.


    Havos froze as he stared at Lucas, but then laughed it off. The theoretical exam was usually the easiest, and if one were to find it average or difficult, their performance onwards would usually be below par. Regardless, Havos didn''t think much about it. He didn''t know Lucas personally, so he couldn''t really judge him.


    "How did you do, Maxxy?" A voice spoke loudly, not considering the people around.


    Lucas and Havos turned to the side and spotted a flashy-dressed teen who was sporting opulent attire from head to toe. Lucas identified a vestige brand on his jacket, and the watch gave off the energy of a vestige.


    A typical communicator was just an electronic device. Very few would be powered by a stellar processor, and even fewer were made as a vestige. The latter was very expensive due to its rarity, as the vestige-smiths capable of making such were rare. Just the price alone was enough to limit those who could afford it.


    The affluent teen with black hair smiled at Maximillus as he called out to him.


    "Vergil." Havos said with a strange expression.


    "Who''s he?" Lucas asked, feeling that the information was quite important.


    "He''s similarly from a powerful family like Maximillus. However, compared to the Oder family, Vergil''s Mertens family is wealthier and more powerful. They aren''t into the vestige business, but food production and the desolate beast industry. They''re also younger than the Oder family, but thanks to their incredible line of family heads, they rose to a bigger rank than the Oder family."


    The desolate beast industry was another industry that thrived in Baylands city-state thanks to the Wastelands close by. It was the industry that encompassed the selling of desolate beasts (dead or alive), their body parts, and even their flesh. Freelancers hunt desolate beasts for their body parts, which are valuable as materials for vestige-smithing, medicine, or even food.


    Some desolate beasts'' blood could be used to produce either a life-saving medicine or even a strong alcohol.


    For instance, among the common desolate beasts, a Helokiel''s skin could be used for leather as it was much tougher than that of farm animals. A Nolkin, which had corrosive saliva and looked like a mix between a batoid and a bird, had tasty meat, and its saliva could be used to produce medicine. In the underground world, the same saliva was also used to produce a special hallucinogen that sold crazy.


    Some even used this hallucinogen as a replacement for alcohol in making wines.


    Overall, there were many utilisations of desolate beasts depending on the type, which was why the freelancer community was one of the biggest and wealthiest in existence, creating other industries from it alone. And the Mertens family was a family that capitalized on this to become a top three family in Baylands City.


    Havos continued, "I heard that their young generation has two geniuses, but one of them is a potential vestige-smith genius. The family has invested a lot in him in hopes of finally entering the vestige-smith industry. I didn''t think the supposed genius would be such a playboy."


    Lucas glanced at Vergil once again. The playboy personality didn''t come as much of a surprise to him, but it was the fact that there were so many people with deep backgrounds here. It was just his second day in the Central Prefecture district, and Lucas had already come close to two individuals from the top four families of the city and, by relation, the city-state.


    Chances were that the others around him were all from some sort of significant background, albeit not as much as Vergil and Maximillus.


    Lucas suddenly turned to Havos.


    "Who are you?"


    Havos was struck speechless by the question, but he understood and smiled lightly.


    "Me? I used to think of myself as a genius, but seeing so many others, I don''t really know. My family isn''t rich or powerful either. I''m just a guy who came all the way here through a scholarship."


    After the response, Havos asked back, "What about you?"


    "I''m human." Lucas replied.


    Havos raised an eyebrow, surprised that was his answer, but then understood. A human can never be influential or have backing in Baylands City or anywhere else, apart from Digress city-state. The answer "I''m human" was a perfect response.


    . . .


    While Lucas was taking the exam to get an official registration under the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, the Silver Fig Trade Convention auction was still underway.


    Although the auction was alluded to kick off on the sixth day, which was the previous day, that was merely the opening ceremony and formalities. Since the convention would end on the fifth day, the auction began on the evening of the sixth day, giving the participants enough time to make preparations and arrive on time.


    Some items and vestiges would be sold at the same evening, but not too many of them. The best, as always, would be left for last, which was exactly on the seventh day since the start of the Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    On this day, not only would all the approved vestiges be sold, but a ranking would also be released midway into the event. The ranking would determine the annual ranking of vestiges for the year as well as those who would be appearing in the high and mid tier regions for the convention the following year.


    For vestige-smiths, this ranking was the highlight of the event for them and mattered a lot. Only the top fifteen vestiges from each of the five districts, adding up to seventy five (75) vestiges, could participate in the auction. But the top fifty masterpieces of each district would appear in the ranking, meaning it was a top two hundred and fifty (250) ranking out of tens of thousands of vestiges.


    Sometimes, one might spot a vestige-smith saying they wouldn''t mind going celibate for a year as long as they could appear in the rankings. That was just how much they valued it.


    Roughly at the same time Lucas had concluded the theoretical exam, coincidentally, the rankings were released at the auction. Fifty vestiges had already been sold, leaving behind twenty five more. Releasing the rankings would affect the final prices of the vestiges, but with most of the weaker ones already sold, the organizers weren''t bothered.


    If anything, the rankings could even influence the final prices for the remaining twenty five vestiges positively.


    "Ladies and gentlemen," The auctioneer spoke. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Before I call out the next item, we will now release the rankings for this year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention."

 Chapter 117 Virtual World

    The top two hundred and fifty vestiges of Baylands City were announced at the auctions, and the list was uploaded to the official site. As vestige-smiths, staffs, and corporation leaders glanced at it, some rejoiced while others felt down. There were a few who didn''t have any reaction to it, but they were mainly the top companies who felt the results were expected.Although the rankings only judged vestiges, many used it as a way to rank vestige-smiths and vestige-smith companies; after all, if one''s best work was ranked high, it meant that their skill was stupendously remarkable.


    The top 250 had a couple of changes as those ranks were easy to subvert. In the top one hundred, there were still significant changes in some spots, but it wasn''t as much as with the top 250. The top 20 had even fewer changes, especially concerning new entries. Most on the list were all familiar names in the vestige-smith community. However, there was one new entry to the rankings this year.


    Brown Shield by Seven Sparks Forge.


    "What''s that?"


    Many questioned as they found the name of the creator, Seven Sparks Forge, to be unfamiliar. Only those in the West Wing district knew of the name and couldn''t help but be astonished.


    Many of them in the West Wing district had expected Lucas'' vestige to gain an auction qualification after beating Nicholai, and, in turn, get ranked. But this was only in terms of the district ranking, and not the city ranking that was being announced.


    "How, how did he do it?"


    At the same time, the district rankings were also dropped. When those in the West Wing district went through it, they found out that Lucas'' black shield somehow took the seventh position. It didn''t just beat last year''s eleventh place, Nicholai, but proceeded to defeat the tenth, ninth, eighth, and seventh places. For a debut, that was a spectacular achievement that even the media took notice of.


    However, while this occurred, Lucas was unaware and faced the second exam-the practical exam.


    . . .


    Just like the first exam, the second was also done on a mental plane. This was not only cheaper, but it could also ensure the accuracy of the exam and prevent cheating.


    For this round, the examinees were given special VR headsets. Upon activation, their consciousness would be transferred into a virtual plane where the exam would be conducted. Since it was a virtual world, every material needed could be provided without consideration of cost, and time wasn''t an issue.


    A procedure that may take four hours could be shortened to take only thirty minutes, thanks to the time management system in the virtual world. In simpler terms, time moved faster in the virtual world.


    To ensure the accuracy of the exam, the examinee''s physical condition was mimicked close to perfection. This would ensure that the integrity of the exam in the virtual world was sustained, and there would be no complaints right after.


    Looking at the vast expanse of white space, Lucas couldn''t help but admire this futuristic technology. In this white space, anything can be created. The dead can be brought to life, the fabric of reality torn apart, and more, as long as one could imagine it, it would be so in this world.


    However, for the exam, limitations were put in place, otherwise, there would be no need for an exam if the examinee could just imagine the right answer.


    "Applicant," a voice sounded in the white world.


    "You are to attempt creating a Grade 1 vestige. The closer your attempt is to an actual vestige, the higher your score."


    "So I just need to make a vestige." Lucas was surprised. He never thought it would be that easy; however, on second thought, it wasn''t.


    The exceptional basis exam was made for two types of people. The first was the younger generation, who were potential geniuses. As they were yet to fulfil the criteria to join the EVL, the exam was made for them as a means of early access to the EVL''s resources. However, some under this age group were already qualified as vestige-smiths, but had yet to register under the EVL or graduate from college.


    The second category of individuals were those, who, for one reason or another, didn''t reach the requirements of the EVL, yet were still very skilled. Most under this category were skilled blacksmiths and engineers, who lacked the necessary and final push to become a vestige-smith.


    Usually, candidates from both categories weren''t vestige-smiths, so the exam was to make an attempt at vestige-smithing, which was very difficult. The closer one''s attempt was to a successful vestige, the higher their score. This score would then be calculated alongside the theoretical exam scores and their age¡ªsince the point of the exam was to find geniuses¡ªto give the final exam score.


    As long as one passed the cut-off mark, they would be accepted into the EVL on exceptional basis. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite supposedly being difficult, for Lucas who had already made a few grade 3 vestiges worth calling a masterpiece, it was too easy. Nonetheless, there was a problem.


    "System," Lucas called out. Since it was his consciousness that was brought into this world, Lucas believed that the system has tagged along as it was rooted within him and could even access his subconscious thoughts.


    "Everly present." The system sounded.


    "Can you make the security system here fail to identify my techniques?"


    Lucas'' method of making vestiges was different from mainstream ones as it could allow even a powerless human to become a qualified vestige-smith. However, this would bring trouble to him once it was discovered, so Lucas had to do his best to keep it hidden.


    In this situation, the system that had brought him back to life twice, and given him superpowers, was his strongest support. For the system, invading a virtual world shouldn''t be a problem. It was more of whether or not it would do so, but Lucas wasn''t worried about that as he believed it would.


    "Initiating the protection sequence for the host."


    After a short while, the system''s voice sounded again.


    "Successful. Host is free to move as you please."

 Chapter 118 Sixth Place

    In a room elsewhere, a group of individuals¡ªabout eight in number¡ªwere seated staring at a display screen ahead of them. The display screen showed the virtual world of a few select participants, enabling the people in the room to spectate their actions. These men were of different age groups, but none younger than 33.Despite appearing ordinary, their bearing was anything but that; their backgrounds were even more awe-inspiring.


    Every single individual in the room, whether woman or man, was someone of significant wealth, influence, and background. Whether they ran companies in the vestige industry, the food industry, or even politics, they were all accounted for here.


    "The exceptional basis exam is held every six months, but this period''s talents are said to be the best in the last three years. How accurate is that?" A middle-aged lady who looked to be at the prime of her beauty asked as she stared at the screen.


    The lady was a second-generation heir to a conglomerate and was pretty popular in the upper circle of people in the Central Prefecture district.


    "It''s as accurate as it could ever be, Giselle." A man with a large beard replied. With red hair and a red beard, he looked as if he descended from a direct line of ancestry belonging to intimidating Vikings.


    "The little kid from the Oder family and the Mertens'' special case are among the participants this year. It''s definitely going to be a show."


    "The results of the theoretical exams are out. Let''s look at them." Someone said.


    The display screen split into two, with one side still showing some of the examinees. As for the other side, it broadcasts a list. The list contained the names of all the examinees as well as their scores from the last exam.


    "Unsurprisingly, first place is the Oder kid." The man with the red beard said as he narrowed his eyes.


    The Oder family''s business was a direct competitor of his company, and seeing a genius being raised in the family was an uncomfortable feeling.


    "Thank you for your compliments. It''s just the theory and doesn''t matter much." A young man around 27-28 years of age smiled as he sipped from a glass of wine. The young man was Maximillus'' older brother and a high-ranking manager in the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. company.


    With one of their descendants participating in the exams, it was only natural for a representative of the family to be present at the scene.


    "At second place is that playboy." The middle-aged lady, Giselle, faintly smiled.


    Her words might have seemed like nothing, but she was hinting that Vergil Mertens was closing in on Maximillus, and with the older of the Oder brothers claiming the theoretical exam was nothing, her words further implied that the gap wasn''t much between them.


    Even though the individuals in the room were gathered together and appeared to be friendly, the truth was quite different. Being from wealthy factions that controlled various industries, it was unavoidable that they would have clashed often on the business frontlines. The red-haired man''s company and the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. were a good example.


    As for Giselle, while her family wasn''t directly into vestige-smithing, they sold and maintained hover vehicles and sares, a special kind of hover vehicle used by freelancers and government agencies operating outside the city-state. For sares, a certain branch of vestige-smiths helped maintain them.


    The Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd also had a branch company that maintained hover vehicles and sares, so the two families were competitors.


    Nothing would make her more happy today than seeing the acclaimed genius of the Oder family being brought down.


    "Hmm, who''s this kid?" A man with white hair glanced at a name on the list.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters, a human?"


    The man was dumbfounded as he saw the word in the species section.


    "What''s a human doing here?"


    The others asked with a strange expression.


    "Not just that. Look at his score." The white-haired man said.


    "Sixth place?" Red beard exclaimed.


    For this year''s exceptional basis exam, there were sixty-four examinees, and a few of them were even repeats. For a human to take sixth place was an amazing feat. Red Beard''s exclamation was very much justified.


    "He''s probably a bookworm and sixth place is all that will get him." Someone else in the room calmly said.


    "That''s harsh. Maybe he''s trying to prove us wrong with his talent." Giselle smirked, but her eyes made it obvious that even she didn''t think so. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While harsh, there was nothing wrong with the statement. Humans had an innate weakness when it came to stellar refinement, and due to this, they couldn''t become vestige-smiths.


    However, while the rest mocked Lucas, Red Beard had a different emotion in his eyes. He had a suspicion, but couldn''t confirm it as Lucas'' virtual world wasn''t one of the selected ones on display


    . . .


    In the virtual world, Lucas was currently creating a vestige. Since the requirement was a Grade 1 vestige, he didn''t intend on going past that. There was no reason to show off, and making a Grade 1 vestige could easily be done with the Blood Energy Circulation with little side-effects.


    Since the virtual world could mimic his body''s conditions and various scenarios, Blood Energy circulation could be replicated. If it couldn''t, Lucas would have to resort to the Soul Dismantling Spell and consume a part of his soul, but he would rather fail the test than do so. Luckily, the Blood Energy Circulation worked without a hitch.


    For the exam, Lucas didn''t put much thought into the vestige. Instead, he decided to give himself a handicap and experiment a bit. The vestige he had in mind was a gun, and it was his very first time making such in all three lifetimes. Although Lucas was familiar with the mechanics, making one was entirely different from reading about it. However, the gun he would make was not just an ordinary one.


    Gun-type vestiges, although not as common as cold weapons, were still popular in the freelancer world. Lucas'' new vestige-smith philosophy was to combine the mechanics of both types of weapons to create an all new one. He had somewhat succeeded in this with the gauntlets, which could shoot out lasers and has special boosters attached to the sides to increase the user''s punch speed.


    However, that still wasn''t enough. The philosophy Lucas had in mind was one that could perfectly combine hot and cold weapons, and not just adding a few features.


    ''Let''s give it a shot.''

 Chapter 119 First Place Is A What?

    "Time''s up."A voice sounded in the virtual world.


    Lucas glanced at the finished vestige before him and felt a bit satisfied. It looked like a handgun but with a futuristic appearance and strange hieroglyphs carved all over it. The weapon was powered not by bullets but by a stellar energy capsule Lucas had also created at the same time.


    This meant that even if one was a Body Strengthening stage practitioner, or even worse, a human, they could still use the vestige. However, compared to a stellar practitioner who could utilise stellar energy, their power output would be weaker and they would be using only a portion of the vestige''s real power.


    ''Doesn''t matter anyway. This is a virtual world and none of this is real.'' Lucas thought as he studied the handgun.


    Since it was a vestige created using his new theory, it wasn''t just as simple as a weapon that could shoot stellar energy lasers. Apart from the runes that could boost the power output of the rounds depending on how much stellar energy the user imbued, or the other runes with complementary features, there was one special rune inscribed on the handgun. It was called a transformation rune.


    When the transformation magic rune on the handgun was activated, it could reshape the handgun into a dagger. However, it was not just any normal dagger. As the original form of the vestige was a handgun, some of its properties would be maintained despite the modification made to it. For instance, the magic runes inscribed on it.


    While this might not sound as much when one considers that in its handgun form, the vestige''s working principle, it becomes a bit different.


    The vestige, in its handgun form, is powered by a stellar energy capsule, which can be substituted with the user''s stellar energy. Through the internal workings with the assistance of some runes, the stellar energy is compressed into a somewhat unstable pellet that is fired at great speed.


    The pellet is capable of withstanding the air resistance for a while before setting off once it exceeds its maximum tolerance level. It could also explode upon contact with an obstruction, giving it impressive firepower that could even damage the scales of a defence-type desolate beast. However, that''s not the point.


    The point is that this entire mechanic is preserved even after the handgun transforms into a dagger.


    In other words, the dagger would possess the ability to fire projectiles, albeit not as accurate or enhanced as its handgun counterpart.


    ''However, in close range, the effect is much more impressive.'' Lucas smiled.


    Hot weapons have the problem of limited power. A gun would usually produce roughly the same amount of power even if fired multiple times. One could use factors such as wind direction and speed to their advantage, especially in the case of a sniper rifle, but it''s not like the environment would always be on your side.


    That limitation also exists for gun-type stellar vestiges, and it''s more pronounced as factors such as wind can''t affect it as much. Although runes can help boost the power considerably, it remains limited. But this is entirely different.


    It is a well-known fact that the maximum velocity a bullet attains is at its muzzle. Upon exit, it begins to lose this velocity with time. Velocity, in turn, affects the power of a gun. This is because momentum is affected by velocity, and it can define how much damage a bullet can cause. This law also applies to stellar energy, as all energy possesses mass.


    If a gun was fired at point blank, it would possess its strongest force at that moment. Then imagine if it was fired from the inside of the target.


    When transformed into a dagger, the vestige could be used to pierce the target. Once successful, the user could activate the runes and fire a laser from within the target. Compared to shooting from the outside in its handgun state, the damage caused by this would be more deadly to the enemy.


    ''This should sell well in the real world.'' Lucas thought as the virtual world began to fade out of existence.


    In the next second, his consciousness recovered in his body. Lucas knew this because he could feel a weary sensation as he opened his eyes, and his soul felt different here. In the virtual world, it felt free and open, but at the moment, it was somewhat stuffy and contained.


    Taking off the headgear, he left the room filled with people just like him and exited.


    Continue reading at empire


    As with the theoretical test, the examinees won''t be made aware of the results just yet. Only after everything had been calculated and no cheating was confirmed, would the results be announced.


    ''System, nothing should go wrong, right?'' Lucas asked the system once he returned to the waiting lobby.


    Recalling how he had requested the system to prevent the virtual world''s artificial intelligence from monitoring him, Lucas was a bit worried that the examiners would feel something was up.


    "Host should not be afraid. The system ensured to cleanse all tracks, up until the point the vestige was completed. As it is a virtual world, cheating is almost impossible, and no one would believe that it could be hacked either, even more so by a human. The examiners would most likely summarise it as an equipment fault.''


    Lucas felt relieved by the explanation.


    "Hey, Lucas," Havos called out as he walked towards him.


    "Well, how was it?"


    "It was okay." Lucas calmly responded.


    ''Another okay?'' Havos'' lips twitched as he began to feel sad for Lucas.


    ''It was okay'' was a line used after an exam by people who usually didn''t do great. That, or a genius who felt nothing about it. But no matter how Havos looked at things, Lucas was definitely not a genius.


    "Oi, Maxxy. How did you do?" Vergil appeared once again and shouted.


    "You should stop being so obsessed with me." Maximillus glanced at him and frowned.


    "Tch. You don''t always have to be so stuck up. Chill out, party a bit more often, and hang out with the ladies." Vergil grinned.


    "I wonder what your sister thinks about your lifestyle."


    Vergil froze at the comment and gritted his teeth, before walking away with a huff.


    In the Mertens family, there are currently two geniuses in the younger generation. One of them was the family''s first-ever vestige-smith genius, who was Vergil. However, the other was a stellar practitioner genius and Vergil''s older sister, Laura Mertens.


    Born with an m(o)DNA count of 27%, Laura was termed a destined genius from birth. With such bloodline purity, it meant that she could boost it using m(z)DNA serums to get a total mDNA concentration of up to 30%. 30% was the hallmark requirement to reach the peak of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Every family head, famous freelancer, and even the city lord had at least this much mDNA concentration in their body. In other words, Laura was a potential family head figure.


    Being born with potential was one thing, but she exhibited the skills and growth rate of a genius. It was said that Laura achieved the first level for the Apertures Opening stage at fourteen. At the age of sixteen, she had already reached the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, a level that most would get to in their early or mid-20s.


    When Laura was eighteen, she was well into the third level. At the age of twenty, Laura had achieved the fourth-level status.


    At the moment, she was currently twenty-four years old, and not much was known about Laura''s stellar level. But by following the pattern of progress every two years, it was estimated that she was at the sixth level. Even if one were to consider the fact that going higher became more difficult as of the fourth level, she would still be at least at the fifth level.


    With such a sibling older than him, it was rumoured that Vergil was overshadowed by her brilliance and had focused more on vestige-smithing rather than stellar refining, as he saw no chance to surpass her. Many also suggested that his bad boy behaviour was his act of rebellion against the ''treatment'' he received from his family.


    As for what was true or false, only Vergil and the direct family members of the Mertens family knew, but that didn''t stop Maximillus from attacking him.


    Lucas took all this in strides and didn''t think much about it. Second, third or fourth generation rich kids¡ªeven one-hundredth generation- Lucas had seen all. He could surmise, from his experience, that the upper class was a murky water.


    After a few minutes of waiting, it was time for the results to be announced, but there was a delay in the examiners'' room.


    "What did you say?!" A man in a white gown roared at the humanoid robot before him. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite being a robot, the humanoid being actually displayed signs of fear at the man as it stuttered.


    "F, f, first place, is a human."

 Chapter 120 Level Up

    "First place is a what?"Inside the room, which held the main processor system for collating the examinees'' results, a man in a lab coat stared at the humanoid robot as it informed him of the final scores.


    "F, first place is a human." The robot, which looked just like a male teenager, stuttered.


    Although it was a machine, it was a high-end product equipped with emotional reaction capabilities and a special algorithm known as ''Reading the room'', which allowed it to act more hyuman. The robot could sense and process the man''s emotions, reacting in the most proper way that would make it seem emphatic. In this case, it was now truly afraid.


    "How the heck did a human get first place?! How am I supposed to announce these results? How the gaggle-lore am I supposed to explain this?" [1] The man roared.


    Your journey continues at empire


    "Do you think anyone would believe these results? There''s the genius of the Oder family, the Mertens'' star child, Master Bolks'' personal disciple, Kalerka Pure College''s number-one student in the last decade, and so many other freaking geniuses. How do you think their backers would feel once they hear that a human outperformed them? Who would even believe this crap?!"


    No matter how the chief examiner looked at it, it was just ridiculous. A human being taking sixth place in the theory was already strange enough, but not entirely impossible. However, to take first place in the practical was practically impossible. The craziest part wasn''t just a human doing so well in the exam, but surpassing certified geniuses who participated alongside him.


    No logic, mystery, or magic could explain it. Even Digress city-state didn''t have any human vestige-smiths despite having figured out a cheat code to improve their stellar energy level. So, even if the main system had calculated the results and given them to him, he refused to accept them.


    The humanoid robot kept silent, but in truth, it was calculating plausible explanations or a justification for this incident. There were two possible conclusions it had calculated.


    The first was that Lucas had cheated in the exam, but that was impossible as the technology was foolproof. The virtual world was a technology the Baylands City''s EVL branch got from the head office in the Bernin continent. The only way to cheat was to hack the system, but doing such was incredibly taxing and difficult.


    What''s more, how could a young adult human male pull it off without anyone noticing something strange?


    The second possibility was an equipment fault. However, the robot had conducted a test of all the pieces of equipment and found nothing wrong. It then decided to check the footage of the virtual world to see if it could notice something strange.


    Suddenly, its eyes flickered.


    The man in a lab coat had been paying attention to it as he knew it was trying to figure out an explanation. Seeing the change in expression, he hurriedly asked,


    "What did you find?"


    The robot blinked its eyes and responded. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The recording of the vestige-smithing process is nonexistent. It seems like a fault occurred at that moment, and so, there is no footage available."


    "Damn it." The man cursed.


    None of them suspected Lucas for this. The idea that a human could tamper with the footage of the virtual world was as absurd as an ant lifting a planet on its back.


    After a bit of thought, the man''s eyes glistened.


    "Release the results, but place that human kid in twenty-third place."


    There were sixty-four examinees, so having the human take twenty-third place, although unbelievable, was still not as bad as first place. At the same time, such a ranking would draw attention to him. This was because the top twenty were those who had either successfully made a vestige or their final product was 90% close to a real Grade 1 vestige.


    Being just three places behind would mean that Lucas was lacking only a little, but not a vestige-smith. This made sense, as a young human couldn''t be a vestige-smith. However, being a skilled blacksmith was still doable.


    If Lucas wanted to argue the result, who would believe him? A human, making a vestige? That sounded like the joke of the century.


    Placing twenty-third was already impressive, and since everything was in a virtual world, there was no evidence that he had made a real vestige. The examiner also had the right to decide whether or not to release the footage, and deciding not to do so would not be seen as an issue by the others, and that was all that mattered.


    "What about first place?" The robot asked.


    "Who''s second?"


    "It''s a tie between Maximillus Oder and Vergil Mertens."


    The man was surprised by this but then sighed with relief.


    The two individuals were from top families that could somewhat influence even the EVL branch in Baylands City. Having their descendants caught in a tie was a safe bet. It could also motivate the two to become true rivals, and maybe the city would witness the birth of two more Tier 1 Masters. Tier 1 Masters were hard to come by, and Sofoklis was the most recent one in the last four years.


    "Release the results as they are." The man ordered.


    . . .


    "What''s going on? Why haven''t they released the results yet?"


    A commotion burst out in the viewing room filled with powerful individuals and the waiting room for the examinees. It usually takes less than fifteen minutes after the exam has been concluded for the results to be released. But thirty minutes had gone by, and there was still no sign of it.


    "Sorry for the delay." The robot who had spoken with the examinees at the start arrived.


    "I will now display the results."


    Meanwhile, Lucas wasn''t paying attention because he had just received a notification from the system.


    [[Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: The One Above All.


    Mission Description: Take first place in a vestige-smith registration exam.


    Rewards: Random precious materials x10, Special ability card x1]]


    The notification was pleasing, however, it wasn''t that notification that got Lucas'' attention but the next one.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for leveling up the system. Inventory expansion takes place. One new system ability granted. Host can now earn system coins per mission.


    Rewarding 10 system coins. One drop of Icarus'' tears. ]]

 Chapter 121 Icarus Tears

    [[ Congratulations on completing the hidden achievement: The One Above All.Mission Description: Take first place in a vestige-smith registration exam.


    Rewards: Random precious materials x10, Special ability card x1]]


    The notification was pleasing, however, it wasn''t that notification that got Lucas''attention but the next one.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for leveling up the system. Inventory expansion takes place. One new system ability granted. Host can now earn system coins per mission.


    Rewarding 10 system coins. One drop of Icarus'' Tears. ]] sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Finally.'' Lucas felt glad.


    It had been almost a month since the previous time the system had levelled up, which also happened to be its first. With this, the system was now level 2, and that meant three levels left until level 5, which was a turning point for Lucas.


    ''In this one month, I''ve four missions; one of those was forced, two were in line with its programming or so the system would. As for the last, it was actually a hidden achievement. The levelling requirement is either dependent on the number of missions or how many experience points the system gets from them, if any at all.'' Lucas analysed.


    For so long, Lucas had been trying to figure out how to level the system up faster, but the system didn''t give him any information on that except to keep completing missions. What''s worse was that there was no progress bar, so Lucas couldn''t monitor his progress or witness the value of his efforts.


    He had almost given up and decided to just keep going along with the system, but this experience helped him to have a slight understanding about how things worked.


    ''A hidden achievement. If I''m correct, the experience points the system gains from this should be more, seeing as the rewards are quite different from the usual.''


    Lucas had ignored the description of the hidden achievement as he felt nothing about it. First in the exams? That was a given.


    Although he wasn''t confident about the theoretical exam, when Lucas had stepped in for it, he was surprised it wasn''t as difficult as he had expected. Some of the laws, principles and practices were similar to those on Earth and even his first world''s. However, there were still those Lucas knew nothing about, which made him not confident about his result.


    As for the practical exam, if Lucas took second place, who would dare take first place?


    Even if he had held back and used the exam as an opportunity to experiment, the stellar energy purity of the Grade 1 vestige Lucas made was on another level. Based on vestige duel standards, it had an Alpha reading Grade 1 with a final class reading of Median Orange, which meant it was close to a premium model vestige. Premium models began from a final class reading of Deep Orange and above.


    For these first-timers and even the examinees who knew how to make a Grade 1 vestige, creating something on the level of Orange was a dream. Even the best amongst them could barely achieve a standard of Deep Red.


    With such a wide margin in the most important aspect of the exams, it would be easy for Lucas to close the gap created in the theoretical exam and snatch first place. As such, he never worried about it. Instead, he had his interest on the rewards from the notifications.


    ''Special ability card?''


    Lucas opened his inventory and saw a card much like the Bronze Grade card, but of a different colour and design.


    A short detailed description of the card appeared once he tapped on it.


    [[ Special Ability Card: For a limited time, possess a random superpower with limited effects. ]]


    In the next second, Lucas ignored the card and searched for the other item.


    A random superpower with limited effects? That could be good or bad. If anything, Lucas felt it was almost useless.


    What if he was in a near-death scenario and the random superpower was the ability to tell good jokes? Whose life could that save?


    Turning his to the other rewards, Lucas was now pleased.


    The ten random items all seemed to glow from his inventory screen and they possessed a strange energy around them. They were definitely valuable materials and good for vestige-smithing. Some might even be better than the Purple Iridium ingots he had, and those almost cost Lucas his life.


    ''That reminds me, I need to pay those guys back for all the special treatment.'' Lucas thought.


    The next item he checked out were the system coins.


    When Lucas had first levelled up the system, he had unlocked the system shop. The system shop was a feature tied to his system. On the shop were special items with unique properties that Lucas could purchase. However, he needed system coins to do so, but there was no way to earn them. Seeing the notification and the coins in his inventory, Lucas finally understood.


    Based on the prices in the store, ten system coins could get Lucas a few items there.


    The final physical reward Lucas received from the system was the unique item called Icarus'' Tears, of which he only got a single drop.


    Glancing at the description for the item, Lucas almost stumbled despite standing.


    ''This, this, damn!''


    Lucas couldn''t believe his eyes.


    [[ Icarus'' Tears: A unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug, or a potion to change one''s physical condition. Consuming in its raw form would grant the user a random percentage of gaining a mysterious superpower related to transcendence. ]]


    The contents of the description tab was breathtaking, but what caught Lucas'' eyes was a certain phrase: a potion to change one''s physical condition.


    This was a material that could be used to fix Lucas'' special condition. Continue reading at empire


    Suddenly, Lucas had a thought. To confirm this, he asked the system.


    ''System, is this what you meant by waiting until level 5? After each level, I would get a material to make the potion, am I right?''


    "Host has finally unlocked his inner wisdom. Yes." The system responded.


    Lucas'' lips twitched at those words, but he understood that it was the system''s way of telling him that he was right. There were three more levels to go which meant three more materials needed to make the potion.


    However, Lucas was somewhat tempted by the last line. Consuming the drop of Icarus'' Tears would grant him a mystic superpower, and with how the superpower is said to be related to transcendence, it definitely wasn''t an ordinary one.


    Nonetheless, Lucas held back the temptation. Gaining the ability to use stellar energy was more important than having a random superpower. With stellar refinement, he would eventually wield a superpower once he reached the tenth level.


    While he was thinking this, Lucas overheard a few shouts.


    ''It seems like the result has been released.'' Lucas thought as he moved his line of sight from the invisible system interface to a hologram that was recently projected in the air.


    "What the fuck?"

 Chapter 122 Questioning The Decision

    Having lived two lifetimes, witnessed the rise and fall of multiple empires and famous individuals, himself included, Lucas had subconsciously believed that nothing could shock him into cursing. That was until today."What the fuck?"


    Staring at the displayed results, Lucas was left with his mouth wide open.


    When he first glanced at the list and failed to spot his name in first place, it took Lucas only half a second to understand what had happened. An act of speciesism which he was already familiar with. However, even witnessing such unfair treatment, Lucas held back any complaints and kept scanning the list for his name.


    What mattered to Lucas was passing the test so he could get registered under the EVL. As for his position in the test? That didn''t matter. There was no reward for being recognised as first place by the EVL, and the system had already given Lucas his rewards for achieving first place. So, public recognition wasn''t necessary.


    However, Lucas was stunned to see that he was given the twenty third place; not because of its distance from first, but that he had been made to fail the exam. Beside his name on the display screen, there was an intimidating red word floating beside.


    Failed.


    This was the source of Lucas'' anger; not the fact first place was taken from him or that he was given the twenty third place. But rather, for an exam he had performed undeniably so well in, Lucas was made to fail it.


    "I can''t accept this."


    At the same time, some were rejoicing while many were disappointed. Only the top twenty had managed to pass the exam. This wasn''t to say that there was a limit set, but coincidentally, only twenty people had performed just enough to pass.


    "I got in." Havos rejoiced as he glanced at his name on the twelfth spot. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he began looking for Lucas'' name and saw it on the twenty third spot, he was astonished.


    ''He''s amazing.'' Havos thought.


    He wasn''t mocking him but was truly stunned. One should know that the top five spots after twentieth places all scored at least 70%. The score attached to Lucas'' name was 77%, meaning he was just 3% away from the pass mark of 80%. He was infinitely close to the level of a vestige-smith. For a human being, this was something to be proud of.


    Only the greatest human blacksmiths could cross that gap and succeed in making a Grade 1 vestige, and Lucas looked to be close to that level.


    Without the blessing of using stellar energy, he had surpassed forty one of the other examinees, and was so close to making a real vestige. Compared to a hyuman vestige-smith, a human blacksmith who could make a Grade 1 vestige was even rarer and well respected. This was because for them to achieve such, their talent, hard work and efforts were more than ten times that of others.


    ''Maybe in a few more years with some practice, he would finally do it.'' Havos thought as he glanced at Lucas. But then he seemed to spot an expression of anger and frustration on the latter''s face.


    ''I guess he''s unwilling, huh?'' Havos thought as he patted Lucas'' shoulder.


    "Don''t be so down. If it makes you feel any better, you''re the best human blacksmith I''ve ever seen. You''re really close to the mark as well. You know what, once I get in, I''ll borrow a few books and materials to help you realise your goal." Havos said.


    However, Lucas ignored him. Instead, he glanced at the robot who had been in charge of the examinees.


    "Excuse me."


    Lucas'' voice broke the murmurs and sounds of celebration in the hall, drawing attention towards him.


    "What is it?" The robotic man asked. It recognised Lucas as it held the information of the students in its memory.


    "Are you sure these results are correct?" Lucas asked.


    The entire hall suddenly went silent.


    This was the first time in years since one had doubted the results of the exam. Even those from significant backgrounds did their best not to do so. For instance, despite coming to a draw with Vergil which affected his pride, Maximillus Oder didn''t question the results and only settled with it.


    Unlike other associations, companies and so on, The Eretrean Vestige-smith League wasn''t a Baylands city-state existence. It was an association that wielded power all over the planet and was based in the Bernin continent, the home of the Oklo Dynasty who were rulers of the planet.


    The EVL, despite claiming to be a guild designed to simply protect vestige-smiths, had quietly developed a significant influence and force. Even if they couldn''t utilise this power as they wished, it became a dissident to any malicious thoughts. Many parties would rather not give them the opportunity to do so.


    "What do you mean by that?" The robot asked.


    "You should very well know what I mean, or better yet, where is the chief examiner?" Lucas stared at it.


    The robot was confused as to why a candidate would challenge the authority, even more so a human being. He had failed and that was expected. However, his performance was much better than many others.


    ''To think he wouldn''t be satisfied.'' The robot thought.


    It wasn''t aware of what had happened in the examiners'' room as the chief examiner had wanted to keep things under the wraps and limit the number of entities aware of the truth.


    "Candidate, please refrain from any false accusations or outbursts, otherwise you''d be mete with punishment."


    "I would like to speak to the chief examiner or whoever is in charge." Lucas didn''t give up.


    "Shut your mouth, you insolent worm." A young man coldly said.


    Being frustrated with scoring behind the dandy known as Vergil, and the Oder family''s Maximillus, the young man was further annoyed with Lucas speaking out of place. If someone such as him had settled with the results, who was the latter to speak out?


    Lucas glanced at the young man who spoke. He looked handsome and had brown hair. But his eyes were clearly cold and filled with arrogance and disdain. Lucas recalled him as Havos had once introduced the individual to him before. The young man was the disciple of a certain Master Bolks had taken second place in the exam; only behind Maximillus and Vergil, and was of the same age grade as they were.


    Master Bolks was a famous Tier 1 Master vestige-smith in Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district. In the just concluded Silver Fig Trade Convention, the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd had taken second place whereas Master Bolks had clinched the fourth position. This irritated his disciple and the latter swore to regain their atelier''s honour in this exam.


    However, he had failed to do so which made him more irate than usual.


    Luca only took a quick glance at the young man before ignoring him and facing the robot once again.


    Argue with a spoiled brat? What value would that bring him?


    "As I was saying, I would like to speak with the head examiner."


    "You...!" The young man raised his hand and pointed furious at Lucas.


    The robot was beginning to find Lucas annoying, but as this was the first time it had encountered someone who questioned the decisions, it didn''t know what to do. In the end, it sent a message to the chief examiner, the man in a lab coat.


    "You bastard, self-obsessed ingrate. Who do you think you are to ignore me when I''m speaking?" The young man roared as he began to make his way towards Lucas.


    "You''re a dirty human. You should be glad you managed to clinch the twenty third spot on the list, yet you bring it question? That''s right. It''s probably even a mistake. How can an existence as useless as yourself even be that spectacular? Yet, rather than celebrating a mistake in your favour, you bring it to question.


    Who do you even think you are?"


    By the time the young man had concluded his rant, he was face to face with Lucas.


    At this point, Lucas had enough.


    *Pa*


    A resounding sound echoed as the young man had his face staring at the floor in stupor. The other examinees who were witnessing the situation were stunned silly and Havos was almost about to convulse at the sight.


    Lucas had slapped the young man.


    "A word more and it won''t just be a slap." Lucas coldly said.


    Ignoring the fact that the young man was just eighteen years of age, which was five years younger than Lucas'' current body, his strength wasn''t much to speak of and was only at the peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Not everyone could be like Laura Mertens who was at the third level when she was eighteen.


    For someone who could barely be called an adult and was still at the first level, Lucas didn''t see any reason to hold back. His background? And so what? As long as Lucas didn''t kill or maim him, nothing would happen to him. One should know that Lucas was currently under the surveillance of the Red Fangs.


    The Red Fangs, despite being under the same power, were different from the City Patrol Corps that have to consider backgrounds and the likes. Harming someone under their protection or surveillance without any justification or right would bring trouble to the assailant even if they were from a significant background.


    The robotic male took all of this into attention, but didn''t do anything to stop it. Why? Because there was no reason to do so. The fight between examinees and the next generation of future leaders had nothing to do with it.


    "You-" The young man roared and lifted his head but what greeted him was a punch to the face.


    He tried to dodge it but the fist was like a snake, moving deftly and appearing in his line of motion.


    *Bam*


    Compared to the slap, the punch carried more force and sent the young man back a few steps, almost falling to the floor if he hadn''t regained his balance at the last moment.


    At this point, everyone was dumbfounded by Lucas'' guts. Even Havos stared at him from head to toe, wondering if this was the young man who replied "okay" nonchalantly each time he asked how he did in the exam.


    ''B-bad ass.''

 Chapter 123 Rejected

    "Hey, you guys should take it easy."At this point, some others stepped into the matter and tried to calm both sides.


    There were those who were disgusted at Lucas for his actions, but having seen how he beat down the young man, not caring that he was a disciple of Master Bolks, they decided not to intervene. In their opinion, Lucas was done for. Only those who didn''t want to see the situation spiral out of control had stepped forward. One of them was surprisingly Vergil Mertens.


    "Oi, oi, that''s enough." Vergil glanced at the young man who was itching for a fight.


    "Get out of my way." The young man glared.


    "You started it by cursing at him out of nowhere. From the start, his act of questioning the results has nothing to do with you, yet you interfered. You''ve received your punishment and that''s enough. Go sit down and cry elsewhere." Vergil waved him off.


    "Don''t shit with me you, fucking bastard!" The young man roared.


    Vergil froze at those words. In the next second, his aura changed from that of a dandy who played with women and spent money without regard, to an experienced freelancer who had cold blood running through his veins.


    "Hey, say that again."


    The young man jolted and held back his tongue.


    Unlike him, Vergil was already in the second level, and he was a descendant of a powerful family. The Mertens family didn''t deal in vestige-smithing like the rest of them, but was into the beast industry. To succeed in this industry, one didn''t just buy and sell beast parts; they also had to hunt. As such, the Mertens had their own freelancer organisation.


    It was said that their family members -especially direct descendants- would be sent to work there at least for a year to garner experience, just as certain countries would have their youths participate in a compulsory military service. This was usually at the age of 17.


    Vergil was eighteen years old this year, which meant that he had already participated in his compulsory service. Whether it be strength or battle experience, the young man definitely couldn''t compare to him.


    "Tch. This isn''t over." The young man snorted before walking away.


    Just as things began to cool down, a couple of footsteps were heard. The eight individuals from the viewing room who held real power, unlike the younglings participating in the exam, had finally appeared.


    "Looks like I was right. There seems to have been a clash." The red haired man, who was nicknamed Red Beard, smiled as he took a look around.


    All eight of them had significant stellar energy power levels. Even the weakest of them was at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage, while the strongest were closing in on the seventh level. For experts of their calibre, they could sense the commotion from a distance, but didn''t rush to interfere. Instead, they felt that such fights were necessary to help foster their juniors.


    Competition breeds growth, and what better way to create rivalry than a fight or an argument?


    Giselle, Red Beard, Maximillus'' older brother, the white haired man who had noticed Lucas and four others smiled as they scanned the area. However in the next second, they froze.


    From the looks of things, none of the reputable individuals were involved except for the young man who was Master Bolks'' disciple and Vergil Mertens. From the way the crowd arranged themselves, those two seemed to be the centre of attention. No, not the centre, rather they were close to it.


    Reading the room more carefully, their attention was drawn towards a black haired young man who had a calm appearance on his face. As they studied him, their spiritual senses went off. This usually happened when the target of focus was one who lacked enough mDNA to create a synergy, and was defined as a human.


    Hyumankin differed from human beings in more than just physical differences like a different eye or hair colour. There was also a spiritual difference. It couldn''t be explained with words, but hyumans could resonate with one another at a mere glance. They could feel that the other was one of them.


    It was theorized that this was an effect of the mDNA reaching a significant concentration in one''s body. In other words, hyumans with an mDNA concentration of less than this value, which happened to be 10%, could not generate this resonance with a hyuman with a higher concentration. This was why hyumans with an mDNA concentration of 10% or less were typically not considered as hyumans but humans.


    "A human? Interesting." Giselle licked her lips.


    "What could have happened with a human at the centre of it all?" One of the eight muttered.


    At the same time, the man in the lab coat arrived from a different entrance.


    "Who is the little brat causing a scene?"


    When the man arrived, he glanced at Lucas. He already knew who the ''troublesome'' fellow was.


    "What''s the problem?" Red Beard man suddenly asked.


    The man in white lab coats glanced at the group and understood that they seemed interested in the matter. Albeit irritated by this, he kept his composure.


    "Someone''s questioning the results despite not being aware of his own limitations."


    Once they heard this, the group finally understood the situation. The human probably failed the exam but refused to accept the results.


    "Haha." Red Beard laughed.


    "Kid, do you think you''re a miracle worker? Stop raising a fuss and go whine about things at home."


    Compared to Lucas'' physical age which was twenty three years old, Red Beard was in his early 30s, so addressing Lucas as a kid wasn''t wrong. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "He might have a point though." The older of the Oder brothers suddenly said.


    "Hmm?"


    "Let''s ignore his for a second and even look elsewhere. It''s very weird for an exam to end in a tie. When was the last time such has happened? Im fact, has it ever happened before? We''ve had previous generations of geniuses appear at once, but never has it ended in a tie. Why today then?


    Of course, this is just my mere speculation."


    When phrased like that, those words began to shake some. Indeed. The scoring system of the exams were so precise and rigid that it was almost impossible for two individuals to get the exact same scores at the end. It might be possible to do so for the theoretical exam, but the practical exam''s grading sequence made it impossible for such to happen.


    What''s more, Maximillus had taken the lead in the theory, so saying that he had lost out in the practical to tie with Vergil was scarcely credible. This would mean that Vergil''s vestige-smithing skill was much better than his, but this was an outlandish thing to say out loud. One was from a family of merchants while the other from a generational line of vestige-smiths.


    When looked from this perspective, the exam would show signs of possible meddling.


    ''What the heck is wrong with you guys? I admit there''s meddling, but it is in your favour.'' The man cursed silently.


    It was absurd to think that the people he wanted to help save their faces were now accusing him of manipulation.


    "This can easily be solved by showing you the scoring sequence, and their performance in the virtual world and in the theoretical exam." The man said.


    Seeing how confident he looked, the doubts lessened as the group decided to forget about it.


    "No worries. I was just merely considering things from his point of view. I have never doubted the league''s judgement." The older of the Oders said with a faint smile on his face.


    Lucas couldn''t stomach watching these people play intellectual games as it had nothing to do with him, so he interrupted them.


    "Chief examiner, I would like to see the scoring sequence for my exam. Since you can offer to present it to those who aren''t related to the exam, there should be no problem for an examinee to go through it."


    The man froze, and the eight individuals who had arrived were similarly stunned. Even the other examinees were surprised at Lucas'' guts. The statement might have seemed simple, but it put the man in a tight spot. Unless he wanted to pass on the idea that the EVL has something to hide or was unfair in its conduct, he would have to let Lucas view the grading scheme.


    However, if Lucas did so, he would see that there were signs of meddling in the results, and that would affect the man''s reputation greatly as well as the integrity of the test. Past examinees and even the present ones could sue, and the reparations would be costly.


    "Normally, I wouldn''t mind, but for your case, there''s no need. It''s merely a waste of time and energy, so leave now while I''m still being nice." The man not only flat out denied but also pursued Lucas away.

 Chapter 124 Chased Out

    "Normally, I wouldn''t mind, but for your case, there''s no need. It''s merely a waste of time and energy, so leave now while I''m still being nice." The man not only flat out denied but also pursued Lucas away."He''s right, young man. It''s about time to call this a day." Giselle said.


    Lucas was incensed, but he was trying to think of what to do. He couldn''t prove them wrong by making a vestige on the scene as that would then raise suspicions of him being a spy from Digress.


    Although all thirteen city-states of Eretre were under the rule of the Oklo Dynasty, they were semi-autonomous states and were free to compete against each other. Naturally, apart from the thirteenth state, Oklo, the other eleven city-states had pushed Digress city-state to the side.


    The reason for this was a mix of bias birth out of their contempt for humans, alien species and mixed races, especially those who didn''t appeal to the standard aesthetics. At the same time, it was due to a certain suspicion of theirs.


    Most of the terrorist groups in the galaxy were usually one of the three or even a combination of two or more. The Digress city-state, which acted as a safe-house for these three groups, goes without saying became a suspect of harbouring terrorists. If it weren''t for the protection of a certain faction in the Oklo Dynasty, they might have been invaded by the other eleven city-states.


    Being associated with such a force would no doubt bring bad public opinion to Lucas, even if he was a legal citizen and not a spy. However, there was no information on his registration documents that indicated that Lucas was from Digress city-state, so be would most likely be treated as a spy if some sort of connection surfaced up.


    In this case, that connection would be his vestige-smithing techniques.


    One might wonder why Lucas participated in this exam if a human who could vestige-smith can be suspected to be related to Digress city-state, the reason was simple: not all humans were suspects. Although it was supposedly impossible for human beings to be vestige-smiths, human blacksmiths with enough experience and skill could create a Grade 1 vestige. However, this was their limit.


    Coincidentally, the requirement to pass the exam was just that. So, as long as Lucas passed it, he wouldn''t be suspected of having a mysterious technique with relation to Digress city-state, and would just be taken as a genius blacksmith who had reached the limit of his potential.


    ''It looks like I won''t be getting registered.'' Lucas thought. ''Or so I would say. If a regular blacksmith can do it, why can''t I?''


    Lucas stared at the man without moving an inch.


    "You said I failed and the others ahead of me passed, am I right?"


    "Excluding the twenty first and twenty second places, you are right." The chief examiner said while being slightly confused by Lucas'' actions. However for some reason, he became anxious.


    "That means as long as I can beat any one of them in a vestige duel, that proves you wrong, right?"


    The crowd was speechless at the question. A vestige duel was a traditional rite of challenge used to determine the better of two or more vestige-smiths in a face-off. Due to the traditional meaning attached to it, the result of a vestige duel was held as the ''truth''.


    If Lucas wanted to prove the chief examiner wrong, what better way to do that than using the ''truth''?


    "It seems you didn''t understand me before. I will no longer tolerate your childish acts. Leave now." The man said.


    The virtual world surveillance system had failed to identify how Lucas had done it, but there was no doubt that the vestige he made was a Median Orange class reading. If he pulled it off here, the exam results would be laced with suspicion, and the man would have his dignity and reputation affected negatively. There was no way he would let that happen.


    "Security, please escort the young man out."


    A robot on the side received the command and walked towards Lucas.


    No one spoke on Lucas'' behalf although some of them were interested in seeing what he wanted to do. Offending the EVL for a human was not worth it.


    Seeing the robot beside him, Lucas frowned for second and stared at the chief examiner. In the end, he left the building calmly. It was clear that the chief examiner had purposely set him up and trying to force his way would cost Lucas more than he would gain.


    Lucas wasn''t like those webnovel main characters who would make a stupid decision for the sake of their pride and then be on the run for years; it wasn''t worth it.


    Ten years isn''t too late for a gentleman''s revenge.


    This was one of Lucas'' motto is his past life and to would be coming into effect again in this life.


    Outside the building, Lucas was the only one there. A congratulations ceremony was usually organised for the successful examinees, and it was open even for the candidates who failed to spectate. The majority of them would all be gathered there at this moment, so Lucas was the only one out.


    "So this is how society in this world feels like? Logic doesn''t have a place in the system when pit against prejudice and disdain. I''m really pissed right now."


    "A suggestion to the host would be to find a stress releasing mechanism or exercise." The system''s voice sounded. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was quite rare to find the system being so considerate.


    "Hmm, I think I know just how to do that. But first, I need to lose a little weight." Lucas said as he departed from the building.


    In a cafe opposite the EVL building, two men sat quietly and with a cup of coffee opposite the other.


    "He''s left the building." One of them said.


    "Check out what happened in there. I''ll follow him." The other man said.


    "Alright."


    The two then calmly stood up, left the bill for the drinks on the table and exited the building.

 Chapter 125 Meeting Kalvin Petri of Vinis Pawnshop

    The notification message inviting Lucas for the exceptional basis exam had granted him a three day pass in the Central Prefecture district. As this was the first time he was here -not counting his arrest- Lucas decided to make the most out of the time and visited a bunch of places.Finally on the third day, Lucas departed the district.


    ''The difference between the Central Prefecture district and the West Wing district is really large. Not even considering the difference in air quality, the technological advancements and prices alone are quite scary.''


    Lucas sighed at the situation as he stepped into the light-rail train departing the district.


    ''Still on me, huh?''


    A few steps behind Lucas, one man approached the same train. He wasn''t the only one as there were a few others doing the same, but Lucas could clearly sense something different from him.


    Firstly, most of those leaving the Central Prefecture district were visitors, as the denizens rarely had any reason to do so. It was like comparing a first and third world country. Citizens of the latter would often migrate to the former, but you barely spot a situation where the opposite occurs.


    Second, the majority of visitors who arrived into the Central Prefecture district recently and were departing exactly at this time were those who participated in the exceptional basis exam. In other words, they were all either vestige-smiths or vestige-smiths in training. Being one himself, Lucas could easily differentiate people like him from normal folks in a single glance.


    The third was that the man''s stellar energy level was much higher and stronger than the others. It was like the difference between a layman and an expert.


    Apart from the man directly behind Lucas, there was also someone else with a similar build by the side.


    ''Two, huh?'' Lucas thought.


    He could easily guess where they were from.


    After the incident with Ramirez''s gang and the terrorist attack on the students, the Red Fangs had hunted down the underground gangs, but Ramirez managed to escape with his group. The Red Fangs then placed Lucas under their secret surveillance in hopes that Ramirez would target Lucas. If that happened, they would now be able to track him down.


    However, Lucas didn''t like being bait for someone else''s plan. Most of all, he knew that Ramirez wouldn''t easily fall for this. At the very least, there had to be no one monitoring him for that plan to work. But if that happened, the Red Fangs wouldn''t be able to track Ramirez down.


    Nonetheless, Lucas had his own plans.


    The ride back to the West Wing district was smooth and without trouble. When it was time to depart, Lucas came down from the train but didn''t head back to his store. Instead, he decided to visit an old ''friend''; the manager at the Vinis pawnshop.


    The two agents carefully followed after him, but unbeknownst to them, Lucas was already aware of this. In fact, he intended to make use of their presence to aid his plans.


    . . .


    "Welcome to the Vinis pawnshop." The clerk greeted Lucas as she saw him arrive. Unlike most stores, the Vinis pawnshop still hired hyumans.


    The clerk stared at Lucas, not finding him familiar which was understandable as she wasn''t the one who attended to Lucas at his first visit. Regardless, she managed to notice something different about him.


    ''A human?'' She thought as she recalled an instruction from her boss when she was recently hired.


    "Jenny, if a human with black hair, black eyes and a somewhat handsome yet cold face comes around, let us know. Take a look at his image and keep it memorised in your head."


    ''I think he fits the description.'' Jenny the clerk thought as she compared Lucas'' appearance to the image she was shown then.


    "How can I help you today?"


    She sneakily clicked a button hidden under the desk.


    "I need to speak with the manager. I think his name is Kalvin Petri." Lucas said.


    "Do you have a reservation?" Jenny asked.


    "You should already know who I am so let''s cut to the chase. Call the manager for me." Lucas stared at her.


    Jenny froze and was filled with fear. For some reason, she felt that the eyes of Lucas was like that of a beast.


    "O, ok." She nodded and prepared to leave.


    But just then, footsteps were heard from the staircase close by as a middle-aged man descended from them.


    "What''s the rush, dear customer?"


    A man with a silver hair appeared and smiled at Lucas.


    Although he had never met him before, Lucas could guess that the middle-aged man was Kalvin Petri, his target for this visit.


    "Let''s have a conversation in my office, shall we?" Kalvin invited Lucas.


    "Sure."


    The duo left and walked towards the staircase. Staircases were almost nonexistent, being entirely replaced by escalators and elevators, but the Vinis pawnshop seemed to not be interested in that. In fact, the entire interior decor of the store was somewhat antique compared to the standards of other stores. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The owner is a man whose tastes are, unique." Kalvin said as he noticed Lucas'' curious looks.


    In a short time, the duo reached the office and both took a seat.


    "I''m surprised you came over." Kalvin smiled as he began to make tea.


    "Lies like this don''t work on me. You should have seen this coming."


    Kalvin chuckled, "That''s right."


    "So, what is it you wanted to see me for?"


    Lucas didn''t answer right away, picking a cup of tea that had been poured out by Kalvin and take a whiff of its steaming scent.


    "Haven''t you wondered how the assassin you sent after me had died?"


    The atmosphere suddenly went quiet.


    "Haha. I don''t know what you mean." Kalvin laughed.


    "I told you, such lies don''t work on me." Lucas calmly sipped from the cup.


    "...indeed. I''ve been wondering how he went down." Kalvin said.


    "You drank from the cup; weren''t you scared of being poisoned to death?" Kalvin suddenly asked.


    "You wouldn''t dare." Lucas replied without any emotion as he took another sip.


    "And why''s that?" Kalvin curiously asked.


    Glancing at him, Lucas replied, "Unless you want to die as well."


    "Haha. That''s the first time I''ve had anyone threaten me like this before." Kalvin chuckled before switching up abruptly.


    "Hey kid, do you know who you''re talking to?"


    "I do actually. Kalvin Petri, originally I didn''t know much about you, but I found out something in recent times. The Petri family, it''s a pretty influential family based in the Central Prefecture district,right? Not that I care either way."


    Kalvin froze.


    The Petri family might not be big or powerful like the Oder or the Mertens, but from the fact that they were based in the Central Prefecture district, it was obvious that they were wealthy and not your average family. However, despite knowing this, Lucas was unbothered by this fact. It could only mean one thing.


    "What do you want?"

 Chapter 126 Employee Hire Function

    After an hour, Lucas departed the Vinis pawnshop building without any expression. The two Red Fangs'' agents didn''t go in with him to prevent suspicion, so they didn''t know what had happened back there. Their mission was simply to keep an eye on Lucas just in case he got attacked again, and not to play the role of bodyguards who followed him into every nook and cranny. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.However, staying inside a pawnshop with a somewhat sketchy history, based on their logs, was something worth looking into. As such, one of them walked into the store two minutes later, while the other one remained following after Lucas.


    Lucas left the pawnshop''s vicinity and returned to his store. This time around, he wanted to take a look at the other rewards he had received from the system two days ago.


    Apart from the physical items that followed up, there were changes to the system after its level up. These changes weren''t regarding the appearance of the system interface, but the functionality of the system.


    The first was the fact that Lucas could now earn system coins from missions, and those coins could be exchanged for valuable items in the system shop.


    The second was the new system ability Lucas had gained. The Host Protection Mechanism and the Host Retaliation Function were two system abilities he currently possessed, and both were very convenient in ensuring his safety within the store. On multiple occasions, they had saved his life and proved incredibly useful to him, and this made Lucas anticipate the new ability he had gained.


    The third new function Lucas was looking forward to wasn''t exactly a new one. It was the system shop, and had been available for a while. But lacking the currency used there -which was system coins- Lucas had ignored it. Now however, he had some coins in hand and also had a way to earn more, so Lucas was looking forward to it.


    "So system, what''s the new ability?"


    Lucas asked after he walked into the store and settled on the seat opposite the checkout counter.


    "Introducing the Employee Hire Function. Host can now hire employees to oversee the business, giving the host more free time while still having the store in operation."


    "...did you decide on this because I haven''t been running the store properly?" Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    "Being aware of your sins is a good first step towards success. Host has shown signs of being more responsible."


    "..."


    Lucas didn''t argue back because in truth, the system was right. The store, according to it, was an important aspect towards his growth as the Crafts-God, even if Lucas didn''t understand how so. For this reason, the system had constantly reminded him about it and distributed missions centred around the store''s operations.


    "Worry not, host. All system abilities have been programmed and can''t be influenced by the system. They exist to benefit, and not hold back the host." The cold voice said, somewhat reassuring.


    "Then what''sthe benefit of this new function?" Lucas retorted.


    "Employees can receive the same status effect as the host within the store''s area. At the same time, the host can reflect the abilities of the employees onto himself. Also, employees can function as external body parts of the host as you deem fit."


    "Hold up, then that means..."


    "Yes." The system confirmed Lucas'' thoughts.


    Lucas suddenly stared ahead into empty space, before smiling abruptly.


    The features stated by the system might not seem like a big deal, but they were very important; as valuable as they could ever be.


    The employees being able to use the system abilities in the store was a means of protection, and in some sense, added more security to Lucas'' store. After all, what could be better than one immortal individual with the ability to utilise a portion of the enemy''s strength? Naturally it was more of such individuals.


    However, this wasn''t what got Lucas'' attention. It was the line ''host can reflect the abilities of the employees onto himself ''. What ability did hyumans have that Lucas desired the most?


    Stellar refinement.


    Using this new system function, Lucas could copy the stellar refinement level of his employees and reflect it onto himself, enabling him to be able to use stellar energy in his vestige-smithing. There would no longer be a need for forbidden techniques, which had caused harm to Lucas, both physically and fiscally.


    Holding back the urge to laugh out loud, Lucas checked decided to check out the system store.


    [[ Warning: 100 federal coins required for entry.]]


    The system interface popped up in front of Lucas.


    "Hey, system. This warning wasn''t here the last time." Lucas couldn''t help but be astonished.


    "The system had experienced a recent level up, as such some of the facilities of functions of the system has been upgraded. For instance, the -as the host calls it- ''tax'' has been dropped from 75% to 60%. The system shop also experienced a new upgrade which the host might find interesting." The system said.


    "But one hundred federal coins for entry alone, this is robbery."


    "Would the host prefer to pay with system coins?"


    Lucas turned quiet.


    Pay with system coins? It might as well ask for his blood instead.


    Even though the system had informed him that he could now earn system coins from missions, based on the fact he was rewarded a mere ten coins and also from what he knew about the system, Lucas could guess that the earning rate was abysmally low. It was no understatement to say that system coins were even more valuable to Lucas than one hundred federal coins.


    "Whatever. Take the payment." Lucas snorted.


    Thanks to his winnings riot at the Silver Fig Trade Convention, Lucas had earned a ton of cash. He also struck deals with some freelancers and agents, and even received repair deals. Federal coins were something Lucas was now abundant in, albeit he spent a few of them during his stay in the Central Prefecture district.


    ''That reminds me, it''s almost time for these guys to come collect their vestiges. I''ll wrap up the work after this.'' Lucas thought.


    After paying the fee, a beep sounded from the communicator on his wrist but Lucas ignored it. He already knew it was a transaction notification from his bank.


    "Please head into the work-station." The system''s voice sounded in his ears.


    "The work-station?" Lucas was confused, but did as he was told.


    Once there, he noticed something different. As the work-station was his go-to spot in the store, even more so than his room upstairs, Lucas was familiar with every single detail about it. He could even identify the spots with a speck of dust on them, and could even differentiate areas that were recently stepped on the most.


    The strange detail Lucas spotted this time around was a door by the side. Atop the door was a name plate that read "System Store".

 Chapter 127 The System Shop

    Seeing the door, Lucas was completely nonplussed. He never expected for the system to bring the system shop into reality. It wasn''t that he believed this was impossible; the system had already done greater feats. Rather, Lucas never considered that it would do such, and never saw a reason to do so.Lucas opened the door and could only see white. It was as if a white film had covered the view.


    ''Well, I''ve already paid so I might as well check it out.''


    Walking through the door, Lucas felt a strange sensation over him as if he was moving at high speed and crossing dimensions. It was a strange sensation that made Lucas feel like a spaghetti being stirred in a pot; a strange analogy, but that was just what Lucas could think of at the moment.


    After a second, the feeling disappeared and Lucas appeared in a brightly lit room. In the room were two display shelves with some items on them. Counting only twelve items in total, Lucas was a bit disappointed but didn''t think much about it. Instead, he went straight over to browse them.


    ''Costly.'' Lucas thought as he checked out the first item.


    It was an orb the size of a Longan fruit with red runes inscribed all over it. It exuded an eerie yet mysterious feeling. What''s more, the orb gave off a medicinal scent and an enticing feeling which got stronger the longer one stared at it.


    Seeing the price tag on it, Lucas couldn''t help but swallow a mouthful of cold air.


    The item was five hundred system coins.


    Lucas only had ten.


    ''I knew it.'' Lucas'' lips twitched.


    Despite its value, earning federal coins wasn''t difficult for Lucas. Even after the system took its charges, Lucas would still have a lot of money on hand after selling two or three vestiges. However, the system coin was a new currency that seemed to even have a higher purchasing power and value.


    At first, Lucas wanted to check out the other items, but he decided to find out what exactly this orb was for it to cost so much.


    "System, how do I find out the descriptions?"


    "Tap on the price tag, and the description would be transmitted to the host."


    Lucas glanced at the silver coloured price tag and touched it. Immediately, a bunch of information flowed into his head in an orderly format without causing harm or confusion to Lucas. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "This...!"


    Lucas abruptly glanced at the orb as he went speechless. Although he had already imagined it to be some kind of impressive miracle drug, Lucas had underestimated its function.


    The orb was called a Red Dragon Heaven Pill, which sounded like something straight out of a wuxia novel. However, the name wasn''t the most noteworthy characteristic of the pill, but its ability. Ingesting the pill could cure all and every ailment whatsoever, whether they be a terminal disease or chronic or hereditary illness; they would all be cleared at once.


    But most of all, it could help one form a peak quality body capable of conducting and storing mystical energy.


    This was exactly the kind of drug Lucas needed.


    "System, is this intentional?" Lucas asked.


    First was Icarus'' Tears as a reward, next was the feature of the employee function, and now was this Red Dragon Heaven Pill. No matter how one looked at it, it was strange that within the span of just two days, Lucas had come in contact with various options to help fix his problem, but they were either out of his reach or a temporary solution.


    It felt weird and seemed as if someone was controlling things from behind the scene to create a desire within Lucas. It was like having a very fragrant pie in the sky; just based on its scent alone, one would have their mouth watering, yet they couldn''t even have the smallest of bites. Such a feeling was irritating and would make one want to do their best to attain it, no matter the cost.


    "Host has developed a misunderstanding. The system is merely operating based on pre-designed programming." The system replied.


    Whether it was lying or not, Lucas couldn''t say so he let go of the topic. Nonetheless, it was working.


    Currently, Lucas had two permanent solutions before him. The first was to reach level 5 and gather the complete ingredients for making the miracle medicine to heal him. The second was to complete as many missions as possible and earn the required five hundred system coins to purchase the Red Dragon Heaven Pill.


    "System, the medicine made with Icarus'' Tears wouldn''t happen to be this? If it isn''t, which is a better option?" Lucas questioned.


    "Answering the host, both medicines are different. As for the more efficient and effective choice, that is a tricky question as both medicines have different effects and only just one common point. However, in terms of quantity of effects, it would be the medicine created from the combination of Icarus'' Tears and all the other precious ingredients.


    But if the host''s focus is on crafting a perfect body, then the Red Dragon Heaven Pill is the most optimal pick."


    Lucas paused and began to consider his options, but eventually gave up. As it stood, both items were still out of his reach, so there was no reason to think too much about them.


    ''Let''s see the other items.''


    With the first of the twelve items he checked out being so amazing, Lucas was looking forward to the other eleven. But at the same time, he was slightly worried. If they were all as expensive as the Red Dragon Heaven Pill, then there would be almost no meaning to his coming here. On the contrary, it would make Lucas feel pressured and desire to earn more system coins.


    ''Not like that desire hasn''t taken root already.'' Lucas sighed as he checked out the next item.


    "...as expected."


    Lucas'' lips twitched before he moved to the next, then the next, and the next, and the next.


    Of the six items on this shelf, the cheapest cost at least one hundred system coins. There was even one item that exceeded the price of the Red Dragon Heaven Pill, reaching a staggering eight hundred and forty system coins!


    When he browsed the information contained in the price tag, Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised. This was because he couldn''t access the information. That was when the system informed him that he was too poor to do so.


    ''Then why have it displayed in the first place?!'' Lucas almost cursed at the system.


    Moving onto the second shelf, Lucas said a silent prayer before checking out the items on it.

 Chapter 128 Tomans Financial Crisis

    Toman''s Workshop was a previously popular workshop for vestige dealerships and freelancers to get custom-made products. However in recent times, the management found it difficult to keep the business afloat.Vestige-smithing was a popular career just as freelancing was. Just like the latter, it required incredible dedication, hard work and talent to succeed. However, there was one more factor that came into play, and that was business acumen.


    As there were a lot of vestige-smiths in the Baylands City, becoming successful as an independent manufacturer was exceedingly difficult. The majority of them worked for other manufacturers, rather than starting up a company of their own. If one wanted to succeed independently, they needed to be well versed in business, as just skills alone weren''t enough.


    Unlike the freelancer industry that was difficult to be saturated, the vestige-smith industry could easily be saturated. Most freelancers and organisations valued quality more, while some found a balance between quality and pricing. This in turn meant that only a few select vestige-smith companies would receive the bulk of orders from freelancers compared to the others.


    Toman''s Workshop was founded by a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith named Toman. The store wasn''t grand or rated in the top ten, but it made quality products that garnered the attention of some freelancers and vestige dealerships. The deals from these parties managed to keep the workshop afloat and develop a name in the community.


    In their first two attendances in the Silver Fig Trade Convention, they had managed to appear in the top fifteen spots for West Wing district. This performance gave the business a lot of exposure and made Toman a lot more confident. He began to vigorously expand the business.


    During the third year, they failed to make it to the top fifteen, but weren''t downtrodden, regarding it as a slight setback to success. However, when they failed to do so the following year, the workshop became worried.


    Having failed to secure a spot in the top fifteen twice in a row, despite previously appearing in the rankings twice in a row, the fame of the company took a hit. Although they still made quality vestiges, the drop in ranking affected their sales, especially in their premium models.


    There were now better options available at a reasonable price for freelancers. At the same time, those options had made it to the top fifteen ranks, proving that their ability to forge premium model vestiges was better than that of Toman''s Workshop.


    What''s more, newer companies popped up and the top ones began a rapid expansion project, acquiring other companies and releasing more powerful but affordable vestiges. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Losing a share in the premium model market, Toman had to try and compensate that by putting in more effort in the lower end market. However, that section of the vestige market was occupied by the smaller vestige-smith companies who sold at a more affordable price.


    For Toman, who had to cover the bills of his workshop, new materials, employees and family, he couldn''t sell his vestiges below a certain margin as it would affect his livelihood greatly. Instead, he took loans and invested them into the workshop and the new vestige he made for the following year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    In the fifth year of their appearance at the Silver Fig Trade Convention, Aquilo''s Sword was presented to the public. It was a vestige with an intense energy and looked very powerful. However, such a vestige, just like its predecessors, had similarly failed to make it to the top fifteen, clinching the eighteenth spot instead.


    Once again, Toman''s Workshop was facing a financial crisis, but an even more deeper one as Aquilo''s Sword was made after taking loans.


    Toman had intended to pay off those loans after selling the vestige in the auction, but since it failed to qualify, paying off the loans became difficult. Even if he sold it off on his own, the revenue would only be enough to pay for the principal amount of the loans, but not the interests. Rather than doing that, Toman held on to the sword as a reminder of his failure.


    After scrapping back and forth and expending a lot of personal contacts and savings, he managed to repay most of the loans and gain an extension clause on the others. With the remaining funds, he put it into making the last masterpiece for this year''s Trade Convention. It was termed as the final masterpiece because if it failed to qualify, the workshop would soon declare bankruptcy.


    Even if they didn''t, they wouldn''t have enough money to make a new masterpiece any time soon.


    For Lucas, he had no one to care for except himself. The store didn''t need any staff and had an automatic cleaning feature. His materials were also provided by the system most times. There was still the bulk of materials and metals that came with the work-station after the system had renovated the building.


    Unlike with Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge store, other vestige-smiths had to cater for their staff, their family and the store''s operation fees. They also had to purchase materials at costly prices or hire freelancers to acquire those for them.


    As such, after they sold a vestige, they made less profit compared to Lucas; after all, Lucas'' items sold for more than seventy percent market price and in some cases up to two hundred percent, so even after the system''s levy was taken out, he still had a considerable sum as profit.


    "Kelvin, come with me." Toman, the founder and owner of the store glanced at his son.


    Kelvin was Toman''s oldest child and first son, as well as the young man who had overseen their stall during the Silver Fig Trade Convention. In other words, he was the one who represented the workshop to face off against Lucas back then.


    Inside a study in the building, the old man sat that with his son sitting opposite him.


    "You should know the situation of our store," Toman sighed.


    Kelvin tightened his fist as he paid attention.


    "This year makes it the sixth year of our participation in the Silver Fig Trade Convention. However, it is now our fourth consecutive year, failing to make it into the top fifteen."


    "Father, I''m sorry." Kelvin bowed his head and cried.


    "It''s not your fault." Toman waved.


    "On the contrary, it''s mine. I shouldn''t have been overconfident in those years and expanded without regard. Who would have thought that that decision would come back to bite us one day?"


    Although their failure to qualify as a top fifteen company affected their sales, it wasn''t the only cause of the store''s downfall.


    In their second consecutive year appearing in the top fifteen, which was four years ago, Toman had capitalised on that popularity to expand the workshop''s reaches, acquiring more stores and properties. Albeit costly, this wasn''t a bad move and had many advantages for the store.


    However, two years later, the top five companies began an aggressive expansion. They began acquiring multiple formerly renowned vestige-smith companies and hired popular vestige-smiths. With their deep funding, expert staff and astonishing reputation, it was very easy for them to take over the market.


    That period was so turbulent for the vestige-smith market that one of the previous top five had ended up declaring bankruptcy after a terrible decision had cost them. For a top five company to have fallen from grace, one could imagine how much harder the smaller and medium-sized businesses had it.


    Toman''s Workshop was eventually targeted by a big company which was speeding its way to the top. Having acquired multiple businesses and staff before, but facing troubles in sales after failing for two consecutive years to qualify in the top fifteen, they became a meaty target to other vestige-smith companies.


    Although Toman''s Workshop had survived, the company had lost many of its business arms and even skilled staff to other companies. The losses had severely impacted their business, so much so that they had yet to recuperate even until now, and this became the start of their downfall.


    If Toman had not expanded his business back then, but focused on making a stronger foundation, the company might have survived the incident much better then they did now. There was even a chance that with the stronger foundation and excess funds, they would have been able to make a better masterpiece than they had all those years back, and qualified for one of the respective top fifteen spots.


    A decision that looked brilliant, but had cost them so much; this became Toman''s greatest regret.


    Toman sighed recalling that incident, but he regained his focus right away.


    "In time, we would soon have no option than to declare bankruptcy. Before then, I''d like for you tof leave the company and find a new place to work at. Build a foundation for yourself and stand out from the others. That way, even if the company falls apart, you''d still be able to support your brothers."


    Kelvin froze. A mixture of emotions welled up within him. There was pain, sadness, regret, frustration, refusal, but in the end, a feeling of resignation, gloom, and anger.


    Even if he didn''t want to give up, even if he wanted to keep working until the end, Kelvin knew that his father was right. They had a family to feed, and once the store went bankrupt, life would be difficult for them.


    As it stood, Toman didn''t have much in his savings after spending the majority of it paying off the loans and making new masterpieces. Someone would need to take care of the family soon after the company went bankrupt, as there were too many expenses to cover. Those masterpieces would be sold to clear their debts, so it was out of the equation.


    The only option was to look for a job, and the only one capable of doing so was Kelvin.


    As for Toman, his heart was broken and Kelvin knew that his father was slowly losing his skills because of that. Aquilo''s Sword was Toman''s last work, and its failure had hurt him deeply. The masterpiece they fielded this year was more of a collaborative work between father and son, because Toman couldn''t work on it alone.


    Seeing his son in a mix of emotions, Toman felt hurt and tried to comfort him.


    "Don''t worry to much. The store can keep running for seven more months. Until then, just focus on yourself and let your father handle the rest. I''m still quite strong you know."


    Kelvin nodded, but deep down, he was unwilling and in pain.


    He hated how they had failed to qualify every year. He hated himself for losing to Lucas. He hated how things turned out. He hated those who targeted them. But he never blamed his father for his decision or any of this. Kelvin simply blamed fate.


    ''Yes, fate. We were just unlucky.''

 Chapter 129 Alleva District

    [[System Shop has been closed]]Lucas watched as the mysterious door, that had made its appearance in his work-station, disappeared from the spot replaced with the grey wall that was previously there. In his hand was a tome, which was the item Lucas had got from the store.


    In the store, there were two shelves with six items each, making a total of twelve goods. The first shelf had expensive items, with the most affordable costing one hundred system coins and the most expensive going for eight hundred and forty system coins. Lucas only had ten coins, so the items on this shelf were out of the options.


    The second shelf was considerably better, but it was still costly for him. In the end, there were only two items Lucas could afford.


    The first was a carving pen that cost only five system coins. It could be used for inscription and didn''t require the user to be able to utilise mystical energy. It achieved this thanks to a special matrix drawn on it which passively absorbed mystical energy in the atmosphere and targeted it at the pen''s tip. The item was really helpful to Lucas but he didn''t go for it.


    Instead, he went for the second item. It was the tome in his hand. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The book was called ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' and it cost Lucas his entire ten system coins. From his experience with books from the system, Lucas knew that they held more information than the title pointed at. They were as valuable as a detailed encyclopaedia, and for Lucas, knowledge was more valuable than any equipment or wealth. Since he could afford it, he didn''t hesitate to do so.


    "Absorb." Lucas said with the book in hand, right after he took a seat.


    The tome immediately turned into starlight which flowed directly into Lucas'' head. As it did so, Lucas could feel a wave of new information appear in his head. It was all technical and related to topics like engineering, material science, blacksmithing, stellar energy and so on.


    Lucas might have learnt blacksmithing in his first life and a bit of engineering in his second life on Earth, but none of that could compare to what the tome had just delivered into his memory.


    ''Sure enough, the system''s version is always better.'' Lucas thought.


    Compared to the previous time he absorbed a system tome, this time was much better. Lucas only felt a bit drowsy and tired, but nothing intense. A simple rest and he would be back to normal. However, Lucas'' thoughts weren''t on recovering, but adapting to the new knowledge he just gained.


    Prior to using the tome, Lucas had underestimated the information contained within it. It was called an introduction, but the details didn''t seem like what a beginner''s guide should have. There was information on not just making swords, but guns, canons and even fighter jets, all stellar-powered. This meant that they were all vestiges.


    But it didn''t stop there; there were also production blueprints and manuals for stellar processors, communicators and more electronics.


    ''Is this what the system meant by being a Crafts-God?'' Lucas thought.


    When he first transmigrated and interacted with the system, it informed Lucas that its only purpose was to grow the new Crafts-God. At first, Lucas thought a Crafts-God was simply the same as a Forger God or the greatest existence in blacksmithing. When he adapted to the society here, he realised he was wrong, but not entirely as vestige-smithing shared many traits with blacksmithing.


    However, it was only until now did Lucas understand that he had always been wrong.


    The system''s intention wasn''t to grow him into someone good at making just weapons; it was to turn Lucas into an omnipotent and omniscient craftsman.


    Whether they be home-use appliances or weapons capable of world destruction, Lucas would be able to make it. At this rate, Lucas wouldn''t be surprised if one day he could make something like a Destroyer or an artificial star all on his own [1].


    "System, I apologize for looking down on you." Lucas said.


    However, the system didn''t give any respond. Regardless, Lucas wasn''t bothered. He simply decided to take a nap first. Later on, he would have to finish his work on all the deals and vestiges he got for maintenance during the convention. The pickup date was a week from then, and it was already two days since the end of the convention.


    With five days left to finish work on sixty vestiges, Lucas would have to do a lot for overtimes.


    . . .


    Baylands city-state comprised of twenty districts, but the five major ones made up the central area of the city-state, Baylands City. As for the other fifteen, they were significantly large and had wide borders, many were even larger than the five major districts.


    Each of the fifteen districts formed a type of miniature state, with the districts themselves being the centre while around them were much smaller cities and towns. Eretre was a planet larger than Earth by 1.5 times, and with only thirteen city-states to accommodate the 7 billion population, one could imagine how large the territory of each city-state was.


    The West Wing district alone was already as large as more than 400km2 or 154.4 square miles. There was still the East and South district which were much larger.


    The five major districts, compared to the majority of the fifteen outer districts, were much smaller. After all, the five major districts formed a city and were the centre of the city-state, whereas the other fifteen districts were focused not on quality but quantity¡ªin this case, fitting more people over ensuring a high standard of living.


    However, compared to Baylands City that was close to the Wastelands, the other districts were much farther away, making them safer in comparison, or so it was supposed to be.


    One of the fifteen districts, Alleva, was situated in a region called the grey zone. The grey zone was a border line that existed in the past, during the founding of Baylands City about six hundred years ago. On one side of the grey zone was the risk-filled area which, at the time, was considered a border of the Wastelands.


    On the other side was the safe region where there were almost no desolate beasts at the time.


    In modern times, although the border of the Wastelands has been pushed back to the point it was still some distance away from the West Wing district, the grey zone still kept its name. To the average citizens, it now symbolised the boundary point of desolate beasts'' existence.


    On the side that once counted as the Wastelands'' border were now the location of Baylands City, two other districts, and a couple of desolate beasts habitat like the Bayena Plain. As for the other side, it was the safest region in Baylands city-state, where there was literally no sightings of desolate beasts. The last recorded sighting of a wild live-desolate beast was over three hundred years ago.


    Alleva district sat in between both regions and was nicknamed the grey district. Part of the origin of this nickname was due to its location which was called the grey zone, but another reason for this was because of the existence of a thriving black market here.


    Where there was light, there would always be shadows, and Alleva was the home of the shadows of Baylands city-state.


    "Ramirez, I never thought I''d see you back here."


    In an underground cellar, a man in his early fifties glanced ahead where in front of him stood a middle-aged man.


    "If I had a choice, I wouldn''t be here either." The middle-aged man spoke.


    He was Ramirez, currently the most wanted criminal on the Red Fangs'' database, as well as the man whose gang had a few clashes with Lucas.

 Chapter 130 The Plot Thickens

    "Ramirez, I never thought I''d see you back here."The old man who sat comfortably on a throne grinned as he stared at the middle-aged man in front of him.


    "If I had a choice, I wouldn''t be here either." Ramirez responded as he stared at the man.


    "Haha. Feisty as ever." The old man laughed.


    "So, what brings you to my city?"


    Ramirez stared at the old man, not answering right away.


    The man''s words might have sounded absurd, but he wasn''t wrong. Their current location was a city within Alleva, known as High Brunswick. It was one of the more populated cities within Alleva, but at the same time, had a lot of shady ongoings within it.


    Things were so bad, that even the mayor of High Brunswick was said to be in cohorts with some of the top underworld gangs in Alleva, making High Brunswick their base of operations.


    The old man before Ramirez wasn''t the leader of any underworld gangs as one would expect. On the contrary, he was the mayor.


    That''s right. While many suspected the mayor to be working together with the cartels and underground syndicates, with some even suspecting that he was a pawn they had installed, the mayor was actually the ring leader of them all.


    What pawn? What partnership or cooperation? Rather, the old man controlled them all.


    No gang, mafia, syndicate, cartel or any underground organisation could exist within Alleva, and most especially High Brunswick, without his permission. By occupying the seat of mayor, he could better cover up for his syndicate and those associated with him, while also providing them benefits under the table.


    Another boon that came with being the mayor and the simultaneous ringleader was that he had access to every information in the city of High Brunswick. Whether it be information about the new visitors to the city, or even the names of the newborn babies delivered today, he could find out about them all. Information was power, and the old man valued it well, which was why he seated himself as mayor.


    "I''m on the run." Ramirez finally answered, knowing that any lie of his would be figured out in a mere couple of hours. It might even be possible that the old man already knew everything.


    "Oh? Although the capital is quite strict and secure, it shouldn''t be a big deal for you to survive out there. What kind of crime did you commit?" The man narrowed his eyes.


    "I''m being framed for having an association with some terrorists that attacked a few weeks ago." Ramirez answered.


    During the Bayena Plain incident, Ramirez''s gang members had coincidentally attacked Lucas at the same time. When they did so, they confidently hinted to Lucas that there were ways to draw the Red Fangs'' eyes away from him. At that point, this statement sounded unimportant to Lucas and for the gang members, they saw him as a dead man and had no issues saying this.


    However, not only did Lucas survive and kill them, but he also captured and interrogated one of them before finishing the man off. Later on, he met with some Red Fangs agents who told him about the incident at Bayena, which was why they didn''t make it to him in time.


    When Lucas mentioned what he heard from the gang members as well as the details of his interrogation¡ªwhich he also claimed they told him about¡ª to the agents, they easily pieced the two pieces of information together. Doing so, they realised that Ramirez''s gang had inside information about the attack in Bayena Plain.


    There were two possibilities with the first being a spy in the Red Fangs, but they wiped out that possibility. Not only was it difficult to place a spy in the Red Fangs, but it wasn''t something the likes of one such as Ramirez could do. The second and only option was that Ramirez was related to the attackers some way.


    With that in mind, a manhunt was launched and they used the opportunity to also clear the underground gangs residing in the West Wing district.


    The old man stared at Ramirez, as if trying to decipher whether or not he was lying. He wasn''t scared of offending Ramirez as he was a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner just like the latter. However, the old man had more fighting experience as well as a small unit of men under his control.


    What''s more, being the mayor, he was in charge of every security personnel and this was his home ground.


    "So you seek asylum?"


    "You could say so." Ramirez replied.


    "Alright. Fine by me." The old man nodded his head, granting Ramirez his permission.


    This simple act didn''t just mean that Ramirez could stay, but that he could also form a gang of his own if he wished.


    Ramirez left the place right afterwards. He wasn''t exactly close with the old man, and there was no reason to overstay his visit.


    "Sir," A figure walked out from the shadow behind the old man.


    "Are you sure about letting him stay?"


    Very few people would dare question the old man''s decision, but the dark figure was one of them. Not only was his a close aide of the old man, but he was also special. Just like Nafir of the Red Fangs who could read minds to some extent, the dark figure had unlocked a hint of his superpower. It was related to shadows and he gained the nickname ''Shadow Dweller'' due to it. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was the old man''s number one hitman and most trusted companion.


    "Why not?" The old man smiled.


    "Something about this is all fishy." Shadow Dweller said.


    "Indeed." The old man nodded.


    "Then why?" Shadow Dweller was confused.


    The old man smiled and stared at the door Ramirez exited through.


    "It''s because it''s fishy that I have to keep him close. Depending on what it is he has, that little fellow could be of value to me. I could either use him for my own gains, or just hand him over to the Red Fangs. The bounty on his head is quite hefty, you know."


    Shadow Dweller widened his eyes, but the calmed down.


    "Looks like I''m still too far from grasping your methods."


    "Don''t think too much about it." The old man smiled and shook his head.


    "Then should we, should I follow him?" Shadow Dweller suggested.


    "No, not yet. He just arrived, so he would still be on guard. Give him some space for a while before you do so." The old man said.


    Meanwhile, after leaving the underground cellar through a secret path, Ramirez appeared in what looked it be a supermarket. The supermarket looked ordinary, but no one would have expected this to be the base of the kingpin of all illegal activities in Alleva.


    Leaving the area, Ramirez returned to his hotel room he had rented earlier on, then shut the door and the windows tight. He even drew the curtains and activated a special device to cancel out any outgoing signals that could be generated from spy cameras and devices.


    After waiting for five minutes, Ramirez then pulled out a communicator that looked a lot like a tablet and connected to a hidden network. The connection wasn''t jammed by his signal interruption device as Ramirez had ensured it wouldn''t be targeted.


    Thirty seconds later, a connection was established between Ramirez''s device and another one through the network. A face then appeared on the screen; it was the face of a mixed breed creature with four eyes¡ªupper pair brown and lower pair purple in the shape of narrow slits¡ª, maroon skin, and thin vertical ears like an elf.


    The mixed breed was surprisingly the terrorist who had attacked the freelancers and Red Fangs'' agents at Bayena Plain.


    "Arrived yet?" The mixed breed asked.


    "Yes." Ramirez coldly answered.

 Chapter 131 Stellar Circuits

    One week later...The past week had gone by with Lucas focusing his efforts on the open deals and commissions he had. Thanks to the tome, ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'', Lucas had an abundance of knowledge to try out. Compared to his previous self, his skills had increased by at least one step.


    Using the new knowledge, Lucas incorporated it, together with his techniques, into the vestiges he was either commissioned to make or repair, creating an entire new brand and ideology that belonged to him. Once he was done with any crafted vestige, Lucas would carve an insignia on it¡ªa hammer surrounded by seven stars.


    A logo was very important in building a brand, even in the vestige-smithing industry. Every renowned vestige-smith had one, and a vestige with their crest on it was usually treated as a high quality artefact. Although Lucas wasn''t exactly renowned, the "vestige-smith behind him" was.


    As the one behind the brown shield that appeared in the top 20 vestiges for the year rankings in Baylands City, it was only right for such a vestige-smith to be termed as renowned and highly skilled.


    During this past week, many people had come to check out the store that belonged to this mysterious vestige-smith. However, when some of them found out the one running it was a human, they were turned off and left. A few of them did remain behind, but after seeing the prices, their disgust was raised to another level and they stormed off.


    Nonetheless, Lucas was unbothered. This was because there were still some who remained, squeezed their purses, gritted their teeth and paid for the items, hoping they would luck out and the rumours worth something. When they compared the vestiges with the seven star hammer insignia to other vestiges, they were pleasantly surprised and relieved.


    News began to spread about a vestige-smith store that made high quality goods, much better than the others and Lucas was getting more customers daily. However, there was still a limit to this.


    In the end, prejudice came out on top. Many of those who heard the news were skeptical about it. The fact that a human ran the store and the identity of the vestige-smith was mysterious, made them all the more inclined not to even bother. So even after all the publicity Lucas had gained, he only had an average of twenty to fifty customers a week; most of whom were there for the maintenance services.


    Business was slow, and could even be called bad, but it didn''t dampen Lucas'' mood. Unlike the other vestige-smith stores, Lucas didn''t take on any losses. Although he had to give the system a cut, and settle taxes with the city¡ªsomething he discovered recently and almost got arrested for¡ª Lucas still made a lot of money.


    Today, he was working on a vestige which he intended to release in the market through the Novanio Tech. He had already agreed on an MOU with the company through Lucy, but Lucas didn''t want to release typical vestiges into the market. To make a name, he needed to stand out.


    As for why Lucas wanted to make a name for the business, he found out that missions were related to that in some way. The majority of missions he got from the system were all related to a hallmark achievement with the store.


    Whether it was his first customisation order which brought about the mission to go to the Wastelands, the mission regarding gaining one hundred customers, or even the vestige duels, they were all in some way related to the store. Lucas figured out that the bigger and more popular the store got, the more missions he would receive.


    The more missions he received, the faster the system would level up, aiding Lucas to achieve his goal of stellar refinement.


    The vestige currently on the work bench was shaped like a spear, but it was different. The shaft was slightly thicker than regular spears, but the difference wasn''t so much as to be recognisable at a glance. There were more cryptic runes on the vestige and some of them even appeared to be stellar matrices. This was the very first vestige of Lucas that had a stellar matrix on it.


    However, that wasn''t all.


    Inscriptions, as they were generally called, were carvings and scribbles that possessed the bizarre ability to act as a conduit for mysterious energy, utilising it in such a way that they would generate a desired effect. A Strengthening rune or matrix would make whatever it was inscribed upon stronger once stellar energy was imbued into the rune or matrix.


    ''The major inscriptions commonly are runes and matrices, and every vestige-smith knows one or two about them.''


    Stellar matrices are the products of the hyumankin and humankind''s utmost efforts and struggles. As for runes, they were techniques from archaic or conquered civilisations. The magic runes Lucas used could similarly classified as runes, although they have never appeared in this world.


    ''However, from the tome, it seems like there''s an additional type of inscription known as circuits.''


    Based on the tome, Circuits were inscription methods quite similar to the hyumankin''s stellar matrix but with its differences and innovations.


    A stellar matrix could be considered to be an amalgamation of humanity''s electrical circuit theory and ideas with the runic technology of alien species. This didn''t make it superior to the runic methods, but introduced a whole bunch of new concepts and ideas, while simplifying runes for humans, enabling them to use it even with their lack of stellar energy manipulation.


    Circuits appeared to be similar, having an almost identical conception and foundation with stellar matrices, but it was more complex.


    To understand better, it was like the difference between high school mathematics and engineering mathematics. Both were indeed mathematics, but the latter was much more complex, and advanced than the former. This was the same with stellar matrices and circuits.


    Compared to stellar matrices that were a version of runic technology made simple for humans and hyumans, circuits were a much more complex inscription system that focused on performing more intense calculations and activities.


    In other words, the effect a circuit could generate with a limited amount of stellar energy was more than a rune or a stellar matrix could do with the same amount of stellar energy.


    Naturally, with this massive difference in effect, there was also an intense difficulty in learning. But, who was Lucas?


    A genius blacksmith and forger as well as the youngest grandmaster of his world, a three-time Renobel prize winner in both physics and chemistry and could have been more if he didn''t spend his time working for his country or meet his untimely death at the age of 37. In summary, Lucas was a heaven-defying genius when it came to material science and runic technology.


    If it would take others thirty years to figure out, it would take him only three months of dedication.


    What''s more, the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' tome had smoothly transferred all the required knowledge into his head, so Lucas had no trouble understanding it.


    In this past week, Lucas had already gotten used to inscribing stellar circuits, which were circuits made to support stellar energy activation and usage. For the advanced repair jobs he got, he wiped off the runes and stellar matrices on the vestiges and replaced them with magic runes and stellar circuits.


    One raason for this was that the latter were more efficient, but another reason was that only he had this knowledge. In other words, if a problem crops up, or the owner wanted an upgrade, they would would have to come back to him.


    "Capitalism at its finest."


    The system had commented after it read his mind and understood his thought process.


    However, Lucas couldn''t really be blamed for this. It wasn''t his fault that no one knew about stellar circuits or the magic runes from his world. Although he could share the knowledge with others, was there any reason to do so? Ignoring that part, doing so might bring trouble for him, and trouble was the last thing Lucas wanted right now.


    "Let''s get to work."


    Lucas took a deep breath and stared at the vestige. He was yet to hire an employee, so Lucas still depended on the forbidden techniques for stellar energy. This time around, he used the Materialization Technique which extracted mystical energy from unique materials.


    The reason for choosing this technique was that unlike blood energy, the mystical energy contained in Eretre''s unique material was stellar energy. In the future, Lucas would be able to use stellar energy, so it was best to have his presentation item appear as close as how it would be in the future.


    Stellar circuit doubled as a conduit system for stellar energy while also using said stellar energy to generate an effect just like runes and stellar matrices. However, it required more calculations to pull off than the other two, and there was no margin for errors when inscribing one.


    Staring at the vestige before him, Lucas activated the Materialization Technique and began to draw stellar energy from an ingot of Purple Iridium metal, which was more than capable of serving his needs. He achieved this through a use of formations and runes he drew, which required no mystical energy to pull off.


    After all, the Materialization Technique was made with the idea that the user couldn''t harness mystical energy. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The formation and runes combined together, appeared like a magic circle from a fantasy novel as they began to glow green. Lucas took out a carving pen, which was a vestige he made to help carve inscriptions better and accurately on vestiges. The vestige also had a similar formation as with the ingot, but it was slightly different.


    At the same time, it also released a glow, but the time with the colour blue.


    The stellar energy that was drawn out from the metal was attracted onto the carving pen through the formation inscribed on it. The energy then flowed into the pen, which let out a hum as this happened.


    Lucas took a deep breath, focused his mind and leaned closely to the vestige. He had already determined the appearance and function of the stellar circuit, had made the right calculations to ensure that the designs were perfect, and had simulated its effectiveness as well as the inscription procedure. All that was left was to carry out the task.


    Carving an inscription was just like carrying out a surgery. It required utmost concentration and steadiness, as even a slight inappropriate shift¡ªeven down to a millimetre¡ª during the process could potentially influence the effectiveness of the inscription. As such, one needed an incredibly stable hand.


    It was said that a grandmaster could carve an inscription so precise that it wasn''t even a picometre [1] off.


    One might wonder why this process wasn''t done by machines and it was simply because, it wasn''t advised. The simulation and calculations could be, but the carving process was needed to be done by hand. Using a machine would greatly lower the effectiveness of the inscription. No one could explain why, but it had been proven countless of times.


    But that didn''t bother Lucas because he was never a fan of using machines.


    Holding his focus, Lucas began to carefully carve the simulated inscription on the vestige.


    Since the material of the vestige-smith usually had good strength and hardness, not just any item could be used to carve on it. At the same time, to ensure the inscription remains and was not damaged even during battle, special items methods could be utilised. Some used a unique ink while others instilled more mystical energy to create a protective layer. In Lucas'' case, it was a special ink.


    The ink was one of the special items provided by the system after the store was renovated.


    As the carving pen made a mark on the vestige, thanks to its durable and powerful tip, the stellar-energy infused ink submerged into the vestige, leaving behind a mark on the surface.


    *ssss*


    A sound similar to that of acid acting on an object could be heard, but Lucas ignored it as he kept his attention on his job.


    As the carving went on, a mark could be noticed on the vestige which was the rudimentary form of the stellar circuit. It took Lucas a full two hours before he had etched the entire circuit on the vestige, but the work wasn''t done yet. This was merely the first step, while the second step involved repeating the process but with a different ink.


    There was also a third step, but not many knee about it. However, Lucas just happened to be one of them. It was still the same focus as the other two steps, but involved a bit more processes. Due to how strenuous it was, Lucas only used the third step for premium model items like the brown shield he made. As for this vestige, it wouldn''t be so lucky as to experience that third step.

 Chapter 132 Stunning The Group

    "Welcome to the Seven Sparks Forge." Lucas glanced at the guests who had just arrived.Indeed, they were guests and not customers. The group that had just arrived consisted of Lucy and a few executives from Novanio Tech. The executives weren''t from the same factions, but similar in nature.


    With Novanio Tech planning to enter the weapons vestige space, there were three factions at the helm. The first aimed for reputed and established vestige-smiths, while the other two aimed for upcoming vestige-smiths to partner with. Lucy''s faction was one of the latter two and had gone further than their counterpart when looking for vestige-smiths, and that was how she met Lucas.


    Two of the five who had walked in with Lucy were part of the third faction.


    As for the first faction, they had no one in attendance here, as their ideals greatly differed from the others. S§×ar?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s nice meeting you again, Mr. Saunters." Lucy smiled as she greeted.


    Previously, the two had reached some conclusions on their cooperation and signed an MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) to that event. They had also scheduled a meeting where Lucy would come along with some other executives of Novanio Tech to inspect the vestiges Lucas would sell to them. The decided date was exactly today.


    "Hmm."


    Lucas nodded his head, not bothering with the formalities. To him, those were all just excess words and not necessary at the moment. However, some frowned at his behaviour.


    It should be noted that although the discrimination against humans wasn''t to the point of burning them alive in the middle of the street, the hate still existed. On one hand, it was because of the fact that many hyumans thought of humans as lesser versions.


    On the other hand, it was a sense of fear and hatred brought about by the actions of terrorist organisations, some of which consisted of humans among other species.


    Lucas glanced at the five executives and took notes of their expressions.


    Of the five executives that showed up with Lucy, two of them gave him a weird look, which made Lucas believe that they had disgust for humans. As for the other three, they were somewhat neutral with their expressions, which was a good sign.


    "Let''s take a look at the vestige."


    Lucas said as he directed the group towards the simulation room. He wasn''t one for unnecessary chats and usually got straight to the point especially on formal occasions.


    The seven of them arrived in the pristine white room devoid of any furniture or design. The size of the room which nearly rivalled that of the store shocked them as they guessed it was a spatial feature. Although such a technology was really rare and expensive, it did exist. It was a unique and bizarre technology that could widen the space within a room.


    However, only certain top factions into the city with connections to the Bernin continent might have something like this, but even theirs probably couldn''t compare to the Seven Sparks Forge''s. This made them begin to question who exactly was the store''s backer, but that thought would be left for another day.


    Looking around, they finally managed to spot some items in the white room; there was a table at the centre with two vestiges displayed on it.


    One of them was the spear Lucas had been working on the previous day, and another was a dagger. The form and structure of the dagger appeared to be a lot like the one he had made during his exceptional basis exam in the EVL branch at the Central Prefecture district.


    The seven individuals walked towards the table and stopped at it. The five men who came alongside Lucy glanced at the vestiges with not much of an expression on their face.


    Although the vestiges appeared to be well made, what mattered most wasn''t appearance but functionality.


    "These are the vestiges my master prepared for our deal."


    Lucas introduced the items.


    The vestiges didn''t have any names so he randomly went with ''Blue spear'' for the spear, and ''Dark dagger'' for the black dagger. Such a lackadaisical name naturally attracted a mix of contempt and surprise from the group, but Lucas didn''t care. What mattered most was a vestige''s ability and not its name. If it was good, then even with such a silly name, it would sell.


    If it wasn''t, then even calling it the Namsung Galaxy X24 blade wouldn''t save it.


    "Any special effects? Something unique or worth taking note of?" One of the men who had a pair of glasses asked.


    Of the five men, two were vestige-smiths, albeit not of the weapons branch. They came with the others to inspect the items as even though they weren''t experts in the area of weapons, being vestige-smiths, they could still identify a thing or two about the vestiges.


    The man in glasses could see that the spear was not only larger, but also heavier than typical spears which made him begin to doubt Lucas'' skill. However, he held back any harsh words and decided to put forth the question.


    "Naturally there is one." Lucas said as he lifted up the spear before aiming it ahead of him.


    The simulation room generated a strange particle wave that gathered in front to make a humanoid target about one hundred metres away. The group watched this, amazed and were astonished, but they held back their shock, waiting to see what Lucas wanted to show them.


    Suddenly, the spear''s tip split into four, creating a fixed centimetres (~2 inches) gap as a barrel was revealed behind the gap. The barrel abruptly lit up with a purple light as a beam shot out from the spear and struck the target.


    *Boom*


    A 0.1m hole (six inches) formed on the target, letting out smoke as the spectators took in the sight.


    Lucy was horrified while the rest felt their blood run cold. A spear armed with long range capabilities was something they didn''t expect to see. Although there were some vestiges like this on the market, the destructive power and range of the spear was astonishing and greater than those ones. This could revolutionalise the vestige-smith market and freelancer warfare as they all knew.


    However, before they could remain shocked for long, Lucas'' voice sounded in their ears.


    "That''s one."

 Chapter 133 The Ideal Possibility

    "That''s one."Lucas said as the target struck by the spear''s laser beam began to crumble.


    "What was that?" One of the executives couldn''t help but ask. From how he stood and after throughout, Lucas identified him to be the leader of the group.


    "That''s a feature of the Blue spear. It''s a vestige that combines the philosophy of the Forger and Multiplex factions in the most ideal way possible." Lucas answered straightforwardly.


    "In the most ideal way possible? Don''t joke with me." One of the men said.


    Be had black hair, which was rare among hyumans, and was the second vestige-smith in the group. He also happened to be one of the two who had shown irritation when they first met with Lucas; a speciesist who looked down on humans.


    "What''s the matter?" The leader asked.


    "The most ideal way of combination of the Multiplex and Forger philosophies is one that combines both capabilities perfectly into one. Why I do admit that the Blue Spear is impressive and powerful, it''s not worth calling ''the most ideal way''. It''s merely the same as some of the vestiges in the market, albeit more powerful." The man snorted.


    He wasn''t a member of Lucy''s faction, but rather came from the allied faction. He was also incensed that not only did his faction''s upper heads ally with Lucy''s faction, but the vestige-smith they all placed their hopes in was a mysterious individual who could only be contacted through a human. As such, he couldn''t help but disparage Lucas'' vestige a bit. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although it might sound like a dumb idea, pointing out faults would aid them in getting an upper hand in negotiations later on. This was why the leader didn''t stop him, and the black-haired man knew this as well and used it to his advantage.


    Lucas glanced at them, not surprised by the act. He wasn''t a business genius and so couldn''t see the underlying plot, but he did expect to receive some chiding once he presented his work.


    The idea of combining the two major philosophies wasn''t something new, and many vestige-smiths had tried it in the past. Sadly, they all failed. Although some did succeed in making a vestige with both properties, it would usually align towards one side.


    For instance, there was a similar vestige in the market as with the Blue Spear. The vestige had the ability to fire laser beams and appeared to be a staff weapon. However, its weight was ridiculous and its size was larger than most staff weapons, as it had to fit in a whole bunch of different technology.


    This made it difficult to use the staff as a cold weapon, since the strength requirement of the user was now raised to a new threshold.


    At the same time, to lessen the recoil, the power of the laser beam was made weak. While this was a rational decision, it had affected the vestige''s ability to function as a hot weapon. The laser beam was so weak that its range was limited when compared to other hot weapons. It also got weaker the further it went, approaching the point of nil damage at around eighty metres.


    For a hot weapon to only have an effective range of less than eighty metres in this era was a huge disappointment, and such a vestige would unequivocally be termed as a failure.


    There was also the fact that reloading the vestige was complicated due to its structure; maintenance was also complex, heating problems, stability problems, and so on. Most of all, issues arose when the staff was used as a blunt weapon to collide with a solid target. The impact was found out to cause damage to the internal system of the vestige, affecting its ability to function as a hot weapon.


    In the worst case scenario, the staff could even explode due to a malfunction.


    Despite the fact that in later versions, the severe problems and a majority of challenges faced were fixed, some of them still remained. Most notably being the weak laser beam power, weight and size challenges.


    If the Blue Spear''s only speciality was firing laser beams, then it couldn''t really be called a hot weapon due to these existing problems. Even if they were fixed in the Blue Spear, it would still be used majorly as a spear with the shooting feature as an auxiliary service.


    "That''s why I called it, the first feature." Lucas answered.


    "You don''t need to worry about the drawbacks and complications in similar models in the market as those are nonexistent here. For instance, you can see that while the size and shape of the Blue Spear is a bit larger than standard spears, it isn''t by much. In fact, the difference is so little that it''s still less thicker than a heavy spear, while the weight is only 1.5 that of a standard spear.


    "But as I was saying, that''s just the first feature."


    Saying so, Lucas glanced at Lucy and signalled at her.


    Lucy was surprised and confused, but she came towards him.


    "Pump in a bit of stellar energy into it through this matrix."


    Lucas then handed the vestige to her and pointed at a stellar circuit. He called it a matrix as that was what they were most familiar with.


    Lucy did as told, controlling her stellar energy to enter the vestige through the matrix. Being a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, this wasn''t a challenge, and most of all, she worked with a vestige company, so she was familiar with such acts. However, what happened next left her agape with incredulity.


    Within a second, just as the stellar energy flowed into the matrix, the Blue Spear abruptly transformed into a sniper rifle. The process was so swift and smooth that Lucy didn''t sense any uncomfortable sensation on the hand wielding the vestige. She still firmly held onto it, but the form and shape had changed into something distinguishable from what she previously held a few moments ago.


    "!!!"


    Everyone¡ªwhether it was the human-hater, the team leader or even Lucy who held the vestige in her hands¡ªhad their eyes opened wide at the scene. If someone had told them earlier that they would be witnessing a vestige with two forms; hot and cold, they would have laughed at the speaker and maybe even mocked them a bit. However, they were now seeing such a marvel in front of their eyes.


    "When I called it the most ideal way possible to combine both philosophies, I meant it." Lucas uttered calmly, amidst the dumbfounded looks and open mouths.

 Chapter 134 Talks

    The group were speechless at the sight of the transformation and their heads immediately began to spin. It should be recalled that all six of them were individuals with a business acumen. They could see the potential Lucas'' product had. They could already visualise the disruption it would bring about in the market.Amongst freelancers, there were some who used both hot and cold weapons. However, there was a glaring issue with this; it was the effect of the combined weight on the user. For a pistol, there wasn''t much to speak of, but for more powerful weapons like a rifle, the additional weight would impede the freelancer. There was also the fact that it was difficult to use both weapons at the same time.


    However, the Blue Spear, though heavier than a regular spear, was much lighter than the combination of the two vestiges. The logic was the same as with the principle of two perpendicular points. In a right-angled triangle, the diagonal line, or hypotenuse, might be the longest by length, but it was shorter than the sum of the other two lines.


    This was the theory of perpendicular points: the shortest distance between two perpendicular points is a diagonal line.


    The same logic applied here as with the right angled triangle; the Blue Spear, which combined two types of vestiges, was much lighter than the sum of the two vestiges'' weight.


    At the same time, it was much easier to use the Blue Spear than carrying two vestiges at once, after all, the Blue Spear¡ªeven in its spear form¡ªcould shoot out lasers.


    Seeing that he had their attention, Lucas went ok to introduce the other features of the vestige. Similar to the spear he made for Wally, the Blue Spear was also fitted with a spell that would activate upon a said keyword. The spell was the same with Wally''s, and could boost the user''s strength and speed for an attack.


    It could also be powered by the same stellar energy capsule used by the vestige in its gun form. Doing so would greatly increase the boost effect of the skill, albeit at the cost of the capsule''s energy.


    After introducing all the other features, Lucas also projected the test results of the vestige. The test was pretty much the same as those in a vestige duel, but it was more comprehensive and detailed. With this data, the executives could better realise the value of the vestige.


    As for the Dark dagger, it was the same as the vestige Lucas had made during his exceptional basis exam and it functioned just like the Blue Spear. The only exception, apart from the obvious drop in power, was that its second form was a pistol and not a rifle.


    Once Lucas was done describing the abilities and features of the two vestiges, it was now time for negotiations. For this, the two vestige-smiths stepped up and inspected the vestiges themselves, after receiving Lucas'' permission.


    The leader had asked for two vestige-smiths to accompany him on this inspection, so as to check the viability of the deal. There was also another reason he had asked for their presence. It was to find some faults in the vestiges, no matter how small. By pointing out those faults, they could target the negotiator and help his confidence, which would then help him gain advantages in the deal.


    Despite this sounding unscrupulous, it was a common tactic in business.


    "I noticed that the transformation time of the vestiges is roughly above half a second, correct?"


    The vestige-smith with black hair suddenly asked.


    "Indeed." Lucas nodded.


    "I don''t know whether it''s because you lack battle experience, but you should know that half a second is too long in a fight with experts." The man said with a slight smile.


    For an average person, a second might seem too short or quick, but for experts, especially in professions that depend heavily on reflexes, a second was long. While half a second was indeed shorter than a complete second, it was still enough time for an expert to react or even attack.


    If a freelancer spent that long waiting for his vestige to transform, he would probably be dead by the time it was all over, even if his opponent was a desolate beast.


    "You''re right," Lucas didn''t refute the man, shocking the others.


    He ignored their glances and continued.


    "But you made a little mistake. The transformation time isn''t above half a second; it''s roughly 0.3 seconds." Lucas raised three fingers.


    "The actual demonstrated time was 0.7 seconds, but this was to let you all witness the process easily. The market-fit product however, would have a transformation time of no more than 0.3 seconds. In the future, this would be shortened to 0.1 seconds."


    When Lucas was done, the group didn''t know what to say. The vestige had already impressed them and the talk about transformation time was simply to lower Lucas'' confidence and get a better deal for themselves. However, by revealing the truth about the demonstration, Lucas had dropped their confidence.


    What''s more, the added plans for future upgrades already made them unsure of how to go about the negotiations.


    ''At this rate, we won''t be gaining much.'' The leader of the executives thought as he stared at Lucas.


    He was beginning to wonder whether the latter was a business guru who had figured out their plan, and made preparations by revealing a slower transformation time. That way, he would create a shock effect during negotiations, just as had occurred.


    "Oh, okay." The black-haired vestige-smith stuttered with a flushed face as he focused back on the vestige.


    The other vestige-smith, the one with a pair of glasses, was glued to the inscriptions on the Blue Spear.


    "I might not be an expert in weapons-type vestiges, but I do know a lot about stellar matrices as it is our area of focus. If I''m correct, this isn''t a stellar matrix, unless it''s something novel. In fact, I believe it is more likely to be something entirely different as I see no principle or theory relating to stellar matrices in them."


    Vestige-smithing was similar to manufacturing occupations on Earth. In fact, it could be termed as Earth manufacturing occupations combined with stellar energy. Due to that, there were many branches in vestige-smithing. As there were monsters, which were very valuable for their body parts, weapons became popular and the weapons branch of vestige-smithing naturally came to light and stood out.


    However, in the end, the majority of hyumans were common folks who relied on everyday technology. Engineers could handle those issues, but some pieces of equipment or technology required important components that could boost their productivity and capabilities. As such, the branch that dealt with making this component was one of the most popular branches in vestige-smithing.


    They were known as the School of Analytical Reasoning and they focused on making one very important component called stellar processor.


    Unlike weapons, that had a lot of emphasis on form, stellar processors were more efficiency- and accuracy-focused, giving zero care for aesthetics. As such, vestige-smiths of the School of Analytical Reasoning didn''t learn forging or much about material science, albeit they dabbled a bit in the latter. Their major focus rather, was on calculations and inscriptions.


    This led to them becoming the most knowledgeable when it came to stellar matrices, and the vestige-smith was from this branch.


    Lucas turned to the man and nodded.


    "You''re right. They aren''t the typical stellar matrices. It''s something my master uses as a sort of branding. He calls them stellar circuits." S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The vestige-smith nodded.


    It wasn''t uncommon for vestige-smiths to be familiar with a certain style or technique of inscription and keep it to themselves. This helped them in building their brand, or even a school, as they were, typically, the only ones aware of such methods.


    It was the same with how restaurants had their secret sauce, or how food and cosmetics companies kept the measurements used in production a secret, even if they printed out the ingredients on the back of their product packaging. With the ingredients alone, it would still be difficult, if not impossible, to perfectly replicate the product.


    The fact that one could see the inscriptions used on a vestige, but that doesn''t mean they could copy it, as they lack the formula for it. An inscription wasn''t simply just a scribble or a carving on a vestige. It was a combination of geometrical and mathematical calculations as well as stellar energy complications.


    Due to the intricacies involved, vestige-smiths would use it as a sort of branding for their products.


    "For these stellar circuits, can anyone work on them?" The man asked.


    This was a very important question. Usually, even if a vestige-smith used a unique stellar matrix in a vestige, other vestige-smiths could still work on the vestige to some extent. They might not be able to clone the matrix, but repairing parts of it or making adjustments wasn''t an issue, for the experienced ones that is.


    If the stellar circuit was a new technology, it would mean that the difficulty of repair was high, if not impossible for anyone except the original vestige-smith. In that case, it would bring more business to the vestige-smith, but it might also attract some concerns.


    "As it is an entirely new inscription system, for now, no one except the original vestige-smith, or someone knowledgeable about stellar circuits, could do so. However, my master is working on a solution for that. Within six months to a year, there should be a solution for that."


    Lucas estimated that six months to a year should be enough time for him to get the system up to level five or at least make, five hundred system coins. There was still the fact that he could hire a strong employee and borrow their power within the store.


    "Alright then." The four-eyed man [1] nodded.


    The leader of the executives could see that none of the vestige-smiths accompanying him could find much of a fault in the vestiges, so he sighed secretly. Regardless of that, he was determined to make a deal with Lucas to be the sole distributor for these vestiges, even if he had to sacrifice an arm or a leg.

 Chapter 135 Fallen City

    After the vestige-smiths'' queries were met with apt responses from Lucas, they had gone on to discuss the financial aspects of the deal and set out the terms. The deal was that the Novanio Tech company would form a dealership business to handle their weapons vestige business.The dealership would buy a fixed number of vestiges from Lucas every month for the next year, which couldn''t be increased nor decreased, unless both sides came to an agreement. Also, the dealership would be made the sole distributor of Lucas, or rather his master''s vestiges in the surroindg regions of Baylands city-state. As for the city itself, Lucas would naturally be the sole distributor.


    There was no reason for Novanio Tech''s dealership to compete with Lucas as not only was it pointless, but their vestiges would be higher priced compared to the source. But in other regions, Lucas'' influence and reach was limited, so they could truly embody the title of sole distributor.


    The arrangements were done to protect the interests of the two sides in the deal.


    Lucas didn''t find any issue with it, but the problem came down to the price and quantity.


    Regardless of what happened afterwards, as long as the vestige was to be bought from the store, it had to be sold at the system''s set value. Which meant that the vestiges would cost almost twice the market price.


    When he was told the price, the leader of the executives was shocked and tried to bargain. However, try as he may, Lucas refused to budge. Although the truth wasn''t that he refused but had to abide by the system''s rules, it made no sense to the executive lesder.


    In the end, Lucas had performed a live test and made them understand that the vestige was on par with some Grade 4 vestiges. This managed to convince the crowd and they accepted the price.


    As for the quantity, Lucas fixed it at ten per month. Naturally, this raised some concerns from the executives. But once again, by referring to the vestige''s quality and comparing with the number of Grade 4 vestiges the top companies sell per month, the complaints were quelled.


    An average top company with the capability of making a Grade 4 vestige, usually sold between four to seven a month. The reason for this was that Grade 4 vestiges required expensive and rare materials, while the level of focus and skill needed was high, making the task intense even for a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith.


    Combined with the fact that most of the Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths either ran the company or spent the majority of their time on research, it was unavoidable that there wouldn''t be many Grade 4 vestiges being produced in a month.


    Another reason was that scarcity generates demand and creates value. So, when Lucas had explained his thoughts, the executives didn''t have anything to say about it.


    In the end, the negotiations were concluded and a deal was struck between the two sides. As such, it was time for the group to leave.


    "Thank you, Mr. Saunters for the warm treatment. We will contact you later on and finalise the details through Lucy." The leader of the five executives said as they approached the entrance of the store.


    Novanio Tech was to hold a conference in a few weeks during which they would announce to the world their plans to open a dealership as well as unveil some of the vestiges that would be sold through it. The leader of this group of executives told Lucas that he would try to file for a slot for the Blue Spear and Dark dagger during that event.


    As it was closely approaching, there was no certainty on whether he would succeed or not, which was why they would give Lucas a feedback soon after this.


    When the group left, Lucas sighed with relief as it meant that he could.keeo working. He closed the store early today to attend to the guests, and now that they were gone, Lucas didn''t plan on reopening today. Instead, he decided to spend the time working on more vestiges.


    Meanwhile, as Lucas was working in the work-station, in one of the cities in Alleva district, a calamity had unfolded. The city was in Alleva district and closer towards the less safer side of the grey line; where Baylands City was, as well as a few monster habitat regions.


    A sudden beast tide had assaulted the city; an event that hadn''t occurred in over sixty years. Not only had the beast tide appeared out of nowhere, but it was too powerful for the city''s security forces to hold down the fort. Though they had tried to contact neighbouring towns and cities for help, there was a malfunctioning with their emergency communications network.


    Within only a few hours, the entire city was laid to waste by the beast tide. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thousands of people were dead and the financial losses were in the billions. There was no doubt that once the news became public, thousands of citizens would be stunned by it.


    As for the beast tide, they resided in the ruins of the city, with some of them wandering outside or heading towards other areas.


    A few hundred metres away from the city, three individuals stood by and watched as the city was being terrorised by the monsters. Of the three men, one was someone very familiar; Ramirez.


    "Today''s experiment doesn''t look bad. The results are also great. I can say I was quite entertained by then." One of the men said.


    "The machine is indeed working, but it''s still expensive and needs more adjustments." Another voice sounded.


    "The range has been increased and duration as well. What other adjustments are there and what could they be needs for?" Ramirez asked, staring at the two.


    One of them had a horn on his head and he was the one who spoke first. As for the other one, he looked like a hyuman with no noticeable differences. This was because he was one, however, with an mDNA count lower than 10%, he was called human.


    The human answered, "That''s a secret for now."

 Chapter 136 Info On Ramirez

    While Lucas waited for the feedback from the Novanio Tech executives, he continued running the store peacefully. There were also a few other agents from businesses who had contacted him during the Silver Fig Trade Convention, however, some of them eventually didn''t reach back at all. For the ones who did, Lucas found out that they weren''t straightforward and simply wanted to dupe him.In the end, those conversations crashed and Lucas prioritised only the Novanio Tech company.


    At this time, someone walked into the store. Lucas stared ahead and saw that it was a familiar face; the young teen Wally. Behind him though, there was someone else who came in.


    "Good day, Mr. Lucas." Wally smiled as he greeted.


    "It''s you, kid. What brings you here today?"


    Seating at his signature spot behind the counter, Lucas stared at Wally, before shifting his glance to the person by his side.


    "Good day, Mr. Lucas." The young lady greeted him.


    Similar to Wally, she had a brown hair and looked alike. It was easy for Lucas to surmise that they were related, and by roughly estimating her age, which was quite close to that of his physical body, he guessed that she was his older sister.


    "Same." Lucas nodded without any expression on his face.


    Feeling awkward, the young lady tried to clear the atmosphere.


    "I''m here to give my thanks to you for helping my younger brother. I know it''s a bit overdue, but please, accept my gratitude." She bowed her head while stretching her hands forward. Locked in between them was a card.


    "What''s this?" Lucas asked.


    "It''s payment for the vestige. There is about four hundred federal coins. I know it''s not much, but please accept it." She replied as she handed the debit card to Lucas.


    "I don''t need it. He won it in a contest fair and square, so no point in doing this."


    Despite being a money-grubber at times, Lucas had his principles.


    Previously, when he had just opened the store, Lucas had a spin-the-wheel contest set up in front of the store, where for a low amount, one would get the chance to spin the wheel for prizes. The intent was to attract customers to the store with the top price being a custom vestige. Wally, as luck would have it, was the first and only winner of the game.


    This was because after Lucas came back from the Wastelands, he took it down.


    "If that''s all you''re here for, the door is open."Lucas said, before turning his attention to the tablet in his hand.


    ''What the heck is wrong with him?'' The lady couldn''t help but wonder.


    As someone who had worked as a clerk in some top stores in the city, this was the first time she had witnessed a store-owner pursuing away customers. Sure, they might not be here to buy something, but they could. Since the possibility existed, it was only natural to treat them with some courtesy.


    Despite what she thought though, Lucas didn''t care. Right now, his attention was on a mail he had just received from the Kalvin Petri.


    When Lucas had visited the deputy owner of the Vinis Pawnshop, who also acted as its front-end manager, he managed to strike a deal with him.


    Kalvin, being a member of the Petri family, was aware that Lucas was now under the sight of the Red Fangs and had made contact with them. If the latter were to go to the Red Fangs and present evidence of an attempted murder on his life by the pawnshop, not only would they be shut down, but Kalvin might also have to serve jail term.


    Although he didn''t know how much evidence Lucas had, based on the fact the latter took down the assassin sent after him and had also managed to identify Kalvin as the perpetrator, it was safe to say that Lucas had solid evidence against them. To prevent what could be a catastrophe, both sides struck a deal. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Using the Petri family''s connections as well as the pawnshop''s, Kalvin would aid Lucas in finding out about Ramirez''s whereabouts. In exchange, Lucas wouldn''t hand the evidence he has over to the Red Fangs or any security agency.


    Kalvin could have asked for the evidence to be destroyed, but there was no saying how many copies Lucas had. Rather, an agreement to not divulge the information was better. That way, even if Lucas did so, Kalvin could sue him for breaking the contract. As long as he won the case, the evidence in the Red Fangs'' hands would become null, as it would be termed as ''illegally obtained'' by the court.


    To Kalvin, winning the court case wouldn''t be a problem, so he wasn''t at a loss.


    As for Lucas, compared to Kalvin Petri, Ramirez had ordered several attempts for his head. Lucas didn''t mind setting aside his grievance with Kalvin, as long as it would help him get his hands on Ramirez. For some reason, Lucas didn''t feel comfortable knowing the latter still walked around safely; it was simply an instinctive feeling, and it troubled him a lot.


    The mail Lucas was going through stated that there were sightings of Ramirez in a district outside of the city. There were a couple of them and based on the direction and timeline of each sighting, Ramirez was clearly headed to the east. Eastwards happened to be towards the safer regions and if one kept on going forward, they would approach a sea.


    Crossing that sea would lead them to the next city-state.


    The last known sighting of Ramirez was in the Alleva district, which was in a region called the grey zone. Lucas couldn''t determine whether the latter was planning to hide there or relocate to the next city-state, so he didn''t decide right away whether to go find him.


    "Uhm, Mr Lucas." A voice called out.


    Lucas raised his head to see that it was the young lady who happened to still be around.


    "Since you don''t want to accept the payment, how about dinner this evening?" She shyly asked.

 Chapter 137 Chaos In The Exchange Market

    Evening came around and Lucas...was still in the work-station.Earlier in the day, Wally had arrived with his elder sister to offer their appreciation for Lucas'' help as well as the vestige he gave Wally, however, the latter refused the monetary gift. In the end, Wally''s sister had invited him over for dinner with the family as a way of saying thanks, but Lucas had also rejected that.


    There was a reason why he was single despite living two lifetimes, and that was because Lucas prioritised his work more than anything. To Lucas, nothing was better than studying metals and working with them. Everything else came secondary.


    "It''s about time I closed the store." Lucas murmured as he paused his work and left the room.


    One might wonder why he would leave the store open while staying elsewhere, questioning whether Lucas wasn''t afraid of being robbed. The truth was, he wasn''t. There was no better security than the system, and within the store, the system was an all-seeing existence.


    Just as he walked towards the door and prepared to close it, Lucas glanced ahead and saw a drone flying towards him.


    Drone delivery services were very common in this world and had almost entirely replaced the need of a deliveryman. Only a few companies who did so for aesthetic reasons had a deliveryman, while the majority of companies used drones as they were much cheaper.


    ''Did I order anything?'' Lucas thought as he stated at the drone hovering in front of him.


    A hologram displayed out of it with a rough message.


    Reading it, Lucas finally understood what was going on. The drone was sent by Lucy from Novanio Tech, and it contained an invitation for the convention. The invitation was an embroidered card, so it could only be delivered physically.


    ''Seems like they agreed.''


    Lucas wasn''t surprised by this as he felt it was inevitable. He had seen the level of vestige-smithing in this city and had a good understanding of it. Although the vestiges, Blue Spear and Dark dagger, were still classified as Grade 3, they exceeded all the current Grade 3 vestiges in the market, and could even compare to some Grade 4 vestiges.


    But what made Lucas glad about this news was the future profit he would make.


    Custom Grade 3s sold for around ten thousand (10000) federal coins. As Lucas'' prices were set by the system, adding onto the fact that the vestiges were still Grade 3, each spear cost at least twenty thousand (18000) federal coins, while the Dark dagger went cheaper for seventeen thousand (15000) federal coins. If they were custom-made variations however, the price would be even greater.


    Unlike standard vestiges which had replicas and many created units, custom vestiges were rarer and built based on the customer''s request. The Blue Spear and Dark dagger were considered standard items, since they followed a standard built design and would be mass-produced.


    ''That solves my money issue. But I haven''t gotten a mission in a while now.'' Lucas thought.


    It seemed like the process of earning system coins or even levelling up the system was much more difficult than he thought.


    Lucas walked back into the store and went to the computer on the checkout counter. He wanted to look up details of the event as well as its location.


    Logging into the Eretrean network on the Kellan Solar System Intranet, Lucas spotted a headline news on the Baylands city-state section, which was his target. The caption was "Two towns found rampaged by a beast swarm in Alleva district. No survivors found." S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Alleva district? Isn''t that the place where Ramirez was last sighted?'' Lucas thought before clicking on the news.


    As he did so, he found out that there were other similar topics being reported by various media channels. It seemed like Alleva district was experiencing a mysterious desolate beasts tide that caused multiple casualties.


    The reason why the beasts tide was reported as mysterious was because there was no prior information to it. It was almost as if the beasts had appeared out of nowhere. If they had followed a route, security agencies and freelancers who worked on the outskirts would have spotted them. Also, Alleva district was at the grey zone, and in today''s grey zone, there were no desolate beasts'' hotspot.


    This made the presence of a massive horde of desolate beasts even more concerning and eerie.


    After a short while, Lucas left the news section as it had nothing to do with him. Not only was Alleva district really far, but Lucas wouldn''t be going there any time soon. He has only taken a look at the news out of curiosity.


    . . .


    A few moments ago outside the store, just as Lucas received the package from the drone, a shadowy figure stared at him from the distance.


    ''So that''s the guy that''s given Ramirez so much trouble lately and got him into this situation? Interesting. I never thought it would be him. I guess this is what they call fate.''


    As the figure wore a very dark hoodie and hid in the dark corners of the alley, it was difficult to ascertain who their identity, their gender or even presence.


    The figure deemed to smile while staring at Lucas before disappearing into the darkness.


    . . .


    A couple more days passed by and soon a week went by, which eventually became two weeks.


    The day of the conference approached and Lucas attended the event, accompanied by Lucy. The event was held at the Central Prefecture district, and was filled with incredible personages from the vestige-smith industry, electronics industry and so on.


    The conference felt more like an extravagant dinner party as all the guests appeared in formal attires, with attendants shuffling to and fro with trays filled with drinks and finger foods.


    Being a special guest, Lucas didn''t have anything to do, apart from appearing on stage when Novanio Tech would announce their partnership together. The night of the event went by somewhat smoothly following which Lucas returned home.


    However, while the event was peaceful, the chaos it caused on the stock market was drastic.


    A vestige with the capability of transforming into either a hot or cold weapon in under half a second was something no one had ever seen before. Not even the Tier 1 Grandmasters at the Bernin continent had pulled it off, and these were people who could create Grade 5 vestiges.


    What''s more, the power of the vestige was unaffected during each transformation, and the weight wasn''t so much as to affect a freelancer''s abilities. Overall, the new vestige had a ton of advantages with almost no disadvantages.


    The stock prices of the other vestige-smith companies began to drop after the announcement, and Novanio Tech''s stock price rose on the Baylands Stock Exchange (BSE). The dealership that would be selling the vestiges was a subsidiary of Novanio Tech and wasn''t made public on the exchange, but its speculated price range had increased.


    Many began considering investing in the dealership as they could all see the potential it had. As for existing rivals, they began contemplating how to find the vestige-smith or at least, get their hands on the vestige for sale.


    Meanwhile, the vestige-smith companies and individuals were shocked at such a marvelous creation that they couldn''t wait to order theirs and attempt to reverse-engineer it. Although they would most likely not succeed as most vestige-smiths usually added an anti-reverse matrix for that, these companies still wanted to give it a try.


    They could all see that this technology would become a trend, and if they were yet to hitch onto the ride, they would be left behind and possibly even go bankrupt. That was a regret none of them were willing to experience.


    It was like the event from two years ago which had caused the decline of multiple companies and businesses¡ªlike Toman''s Workshop¡ªand had even managed to take down a top five company at the time. The events of that year had caused a financial catastrophe in the market, which took two years for the industries involved to recover from, with some even failing to do so.


    Except this time around, the event was started off not by any of the top five companies in the weapons vestige-smith market, but a company that came from producing electronics and hardware.


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    It sounded crazy that such a company had decided to delve into the weapons industry as a dealership, and on the day they announced that, they also dropped a figurative bomb that shook the entire stock market.


    While all of these took place, the man behind it all, Lucas, had long returned to take a break. As it was late at night, he couldn''t head back to the West Wing district and had instead stayed at a hotel in the Central Prefecture district. It was paid for by Novanio Tech, so Lucas had no concerns about it, and had instead decide to enjoy himself.


    This was because, not just the hotel fees, but his entire travel and stay in the Central Prefecture district this time around was funded by the company.


    For the first time since he has transmigrated into this world, Lucas felt at peace and happy. However, this tranquility wouldn''t last long.

 Chapter 138 New Mission

    "Toman, have you decided yet?"On a table in the lobby of the building, Toman''s Workshop, the old owner and another friend of his sat opposite the other with a board in between them. It was a game called Ruler''s Chess. It was a more complicated version of the ancient human civilisation''s chess. The game was filled with new rules and pieces, with the board now one column and row bigger.


    There were so many complications added into the old chess, which made Ruler''s Chess more difficult to play. However, it was a favourite pastime for vestige-smiths.


    As an occupation that dealt not just with forging, but also calculations, vestige-smiths had to explore different methods to train their responses and mental processing speed. Ruler''s Chess was one such method, and due to its challenging and competitive nature, it became a favourite hobby for most experienced vestige-smiths. This was even more so for those of the School of Analytical Reasoning.


    Toman remained staring at the board in silence, not giving a response yet. It wasn''t until he made his move that he let out a sigh. He then glanced towards his opponent, as well as his close friend.


    "What other choice do I have? You don''t really think I would give up my hard work and sweat to someone else, now?"


    "Haha. As expected of you my friend." The man laughed.


    He then moved a piece on the board before asking,


    "But what about your family?"


    "I''ll have Kelvin find a job elsewhere. Since the company is already going to go bankrupt, there''s no use having him hang around." Toman responded while making his move on the board.


    "Have any company in mind?"


    Toman shook his head.


    "In that case, why don''t you have him go work for that new company? The one in a deal with Novanio Tech. Their future seems quite bright." The man adviced.


    "The dealership? Are you insulting my heritage?" Toman frowned.


    To some vestige-smiths, working under a vestige-smith dealer was insulting. Usually, those who worked for such companies were vestige-smiths with little future or technicians. The more experienced and ambitious ones would either start a workshop of their own, or work under a vestige-smith company; in summary, they targeted places where they could shine, and their innovative ideas were supported.


    "No no. I never insinuated that." The man hurriedly explained himself with a chuckle.


    "I''m talking about the store in a contract with them, Seven Sparks Forge."


    Toman, who was about to make his move, froze for a while.


    "The one with a mysterious vestige-smith and a human running it from the front?"


    The Seven Sparks Forge was a rising store that gained its popularity from the Silver Fig Trade Convention. But it only made headlines and became a name known by many vestige-smiths after the conference by Novanio Tech. It had already been three days since then and every interested party already had all the information they could get about the store.


    This wasn''t difficult as not only was the Seven Sparks Forge recently formed, but it also didn''t have any data protection.


    "Yeah, that one. It''s exactly cause it''s currently run by a human that I think you should seriously consider it."


    "Why?" Toman asked, confused.


    "You''re losing your edge, Toman." The man sighed.


    "It''s being run by a human, so that would mean many would refuse to work for him. However, the store has a bright future, especially with this recent deal with Novanio Tech. It''s pretty much a unicorn [1] at this point. It would be best to hitch this ride just before it takes off; the earlier the better. Otherwise, you might regret it."


    Toman frowned and began contemplating as he placed his piece on the board. His friend could see that his attention wasn''t in the game, but he didn''t care as he moved his own piece.


    "Checkmate."


    Toman finally turned his attention to the board and realised that he had lost, yet his mind wasn''t there.


    "Good game." Toman said.


    . . .


    Lucas was currently in the store attending to customers. After the entire conference, his customerbase had once again increased.


    The following day after the conference, many were interested in checking out the store that had invented the transforming vestige. Even if it was run by a human, they held back their disgust just to see the store.


    The insane prices caught the customers'' eyes first, but after one of them both the vestige and tried it out, they realised that it was worth the price. Just like the Blue Spear and Dark dagger albeit not as much, the vestiges in the store were stronger than the ones found elsewhere.


    With such an attractive feature, the visitors turned customers and soon became regulars. Lucas, in turn, now had his hands full with work.


    ''I should really find an employee for this.'' Lucas thought. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His intention wasn''t really to find an assistant, but to borrow their stellar energy and boost his work speed.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for aiding five hundred customers. An achievement has been unlocked.


    Congratulations on completing the hidden achievement: Rising-Star.


    Reward: Five system coins ]]


    ''Oh, there''s an achievement for this? That reminds me. System, why haven''t I gotten a mission in a while now?''


    Lucas turned his attention away from the notification.


    Five system coins were good, but what Lucas wanted was to know why he had yet to receive any mission in over a month now.


    "Missions are given depending on the host''s growth rate. Host should recall that the system is operating by a programme." The system''s emotionless voice sounded in his head.


    "Then what about you? If I recall correctly, you can give out missions limited to a certain quota. Use that instead." Lucas said. Find exclusive stories on empire


    This time around, the system couldn''t answer him.


    [[ Mission Overview: You have completed five hundred orders, while becoming a popular rising-star in the area, but that isn''t enough. Your journey has only just begun. There is more to being the Crafts-God than being a professional at metal works.


    Mission Description: Using the hide of a Jaburian desolate beast freshly acquired by the host, create an exquisite leather armour at Grade 4, within one month.


    Reward: Bronze Card x1, Special Ability Card x1


    Penalty: Possible death or system downgrade ]]


    "Speak of the devil." Lucas grinned.


    "Excuse me?" The customer in front was confused.


    Lucas glanced at him, then shook his head before turning to leave.


    "Give me a second."


    "So, what changed?" Lucas asked the system once he was in the work-station.


    "There was no change. Host has fulfilled the condition for the next mission." The system responded.


    Lucas didn''t say anything else instead studying the details of the mission. He first noted the penalty, which came with an "or". After asking the system, Lucas knew that the reason for that was due to the possible choice that he would encounter.


    If he refused to do the mission and a month went by, the system would downgrade a level and Lucas would lose all the abilities and rewards he got from the last level up. The same applied if he accepted the mission yet failed to complete it within a month. As for the possible death clause, it was due to the risk attached to hunting a Jaburian desolate beast.


    Opening his communicator, Lucas began to look up all he could about a Jaburian desolate beast. Something about this mission reminded him of the one that had Lucas go to the Wastelands, so he wanted to confirm it.


    Based on the search inquiry, a Jaburian desolate beast was a kind of desolate beast that looked like a jaguar, except it was two metres tall. The beast also had great strength, rivalling that of four polar bears. At the same time, it was incredibly fast; even a cheetah could only bite its dust. Luckily, it wasn''t as fast as a Peregrine Falcon, otherwise Lucas would refuse the mission.


    Facing something like that as he is, was no different from suicide.


    Apart from its absurd strength and speed, the Jaburian also had a remarkable defence. Its hide was so tough that a regular Grade 2 vestige couldn''t pierce through it. Even one''s arm strength had to be astounding to be able to to cause a significant amount of damage.


    With all these factors considered, the overall strength of a Jaburian was definitely not ordinary. It was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.


    "Oi, system, be honest with me. You want me dead, right?"


    The fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage was the basic requirement for the rank of lieutenant in the Red Fangs. It was also the mid-range or average power level of the Autumn''s Gate guild main members. The fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage was at the entry point to being an upper echelon of society in Baylands City. It was by no means weak, especially in a desolate beast.


    An average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could not take on a desolate beast of the same level solely relying on their own strength. They would need to aid of a vestige to be able to solo one, otherwise the chances of death was very high.


    As such, it was not strange for Lucas to be questioning the system at this point.

 Chapter 139 Lucas Tears || Baylands City Patrol Corps Responds

    "Hey, owner, it''s been a while. A voice called out to Lucas just as he was attending to the customers in the store.Lucas turned to the direction of the voice and saw a familiar face. It was Harry, the freelancer who has been a regular customer. He was also one of the very first people to patronise Lucas'' store and had been a loyal customer for a long time now.


    He had even convinced his teammates to patronise Lucas'' store, and after the first experience, the Seven Sparks Forge had became the group''s unofficial vestige-smith store.


    "It''s been a while." Lucas nodded at him.


    "Such an unenthusiastic welcome despite my disappearance." Harry sighed.


    As a freelancer team leader, Harry spent most of his time in the Wastelands. Thanks to the existence of the Wastelands Base station, to provide support for freelancer, Harry hardly made it into the city. That was unless he needed a new vestige or had to carry intense maintenance on his current ones.


    "Playing victim wouldn''t get you any discounts." Lucas replied.


    "...that''s about right." Harry smiled as he glanced around.


    "Business doing great?"


    Although he had expected it, seeing that there were more people in the store than usual surprised him. It had been over six weeks since he was last at the store, and never did Harry expect it to be popular within that short time frame.


    "Well, better than it used to be, but not quite."


    At the moment, there were twelve people in the store, excluding Lucas and Harry. Four of them were queued in front of Lucas, while the other eight were on the other side of the lobby, checking out the vestiges on display.


    The main lobby of the store was divided into two with one side, which was the largest, being the checkout and service area, as well as the waiting spot for customers. As for the other area, it was a display section for vestiges. Some of the custom-made vestiges and standard types Lucas had made in his spare time were kept on display there.


    The vestiges were inside a special glass casing given to Lucas by the system. As a system product, it was incredibly sturdy and theft-proof, so Lucas didn''t worry about the items.


    With the system upgrade, the store also experienced some changes. In the display area, as long as one was close enough and had their hand against the glass casing, they could feel the aura of the vestige within it. This would help customers in determining which vestige they felt suited them the most.


    Harry left Lucas to attend to the customers on the queue while he headed towards the display section. It wasn''t until half an hour later that the store get empty.


    "So, what''s the matter today?" Lucas stared at Harry.


    "It''s my son''s birthday in a bit. I need to get him a present." Harry said.


    From what Lucas knew, Harry was 53 years old and had two children; a son and a daughter, twenty four and eighteen years respectively. Due to the nature of his work, Harry didn''t spend much time at home, but luckily, his wife was still alive to watch over the children.


    When his son turned twenty however, he moved out of the house and now resides in the East Crown district. The East Crown district was the district located in the eastern part of Baylands City. Unlike the West Wing district, it was a residential area. Geographically, it was also the safest region in Baylands City as it was the furthest away from the Wastelands.


    "A vestige for a gift? Are you sure?" Lucas asked carefully as he added,


    "I make weapons. Not those fancy ones you know."


    "Just a trinket. I would like it to be shaped like a sword. I want him to know that his father would always protect him, no matter where he is." Harry smiled.


    Lucas felt quiet, feeling a strange emotion well up within him. Lucas didn''t really experience much when it came to familial ties.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had a family up until the age of eleven. He then lost his family at a tender age during a unique incident. A rogue mage¡ªa deserter¡ª had appeared in their village and captured everyone for an experiment. His parents were victims of the mage''s experiment and had died a horrific death.


    It wasn''t until a passer-by saved them did Lucas gain his freedom. But by that time, he was the only survivor of his village. The passer-by had no intentions of taking care of anyone and had left them to be. Knowing no one, Lucas had ended up having to survive all on his own in a forbidden forest that housed all sorts of monsters and criminals.


    For three years, he had struggled all on his own until Lucas met his master who took him in after admiring the little boy''s willpower and talent. His master has taught him how to survive in the magical society, how to cook, how to practice magic, and most especially, how to create magic items. It was all thanks to his master that the little Yohan had grown up to be a successful man.


    As for his master, the man eventually did; unlike Yohan at his prime, the man was just a regular blacksmith. He couldn''t stand out among his group, much less stand atop all other blacksmiths. On his death bed, he has stated that his greatest act was raising Lucas.


    Although not related by blood, Yohan looked up the man as a father.


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    In his second life as Lucas Saunters, Lucas was born into a family; an average one with no special feature. However, with the soul and awareness of a five hundred years old being, it was quite difficult for Lucas to relate with his new family.


    While he wasn''t rebellious or cold, Lucas couldn''t feel that sense of love and connection as he did with his master. At the same time, his parents didn''t pay much attention to him as they were occupied with their jobs and their last child, a daughter who got all their attention.


    Despite knowing this, Lucas didn''t care. This was because he found it difficult to see them as his parents, albeit he treated them as such on the surface.


    This was his third life, and Lucas pretty much started it as an orphan.


    Seeing Harry look emotional when talking about his son reminded Lucas of his master and his dad, the father he had in his first life. Both men had cared for him sincerely and did their best to ensure he grew up well. They were the masons who laid the foundation for the existence that became the third grandmaster of that world, and one who was a Crafts-God candidate.


    "A trinket, huh. Okay." Lucas nodded and turned to leave.


    "If you have any special requests on it, send them to my mail. I''ll be off to work now."


    Harry was surprised, watching as Lucas left. He called out to the latter, but was ignored, which made him even more confused. Regardless, since Lucas had agreed to the request, Harry didn''t stress himself and left the store soon afterwards.


    In the work-station, Lucas faced the work-bench located at the centre of the room with his eyes closed. Memories flashed by and emotions welled up within him. A tear drop leaked from his eyes, but Lucas was unaware of it.


    ''I hope you''re in a better place.''


    Despite having not believed in the existence of God, at this moment, Lucas silently prayed.


    . . .


    The Red Fangs building was currently in a state of distress. The employees could all feel the ambience which was intensely serious and worrisome. It was clear that they were experiencing a dire situation that needed all hands on deck.


    Deep in the building was the office of the director of the Red Fangs Unit. The Red Fangs were the only unit under the City Patrol Corps that had a different director due to their independent nature.


    Usually, a director of the City Patrol Corps was stationed at every district in Baylands city-state, with the Chief of Police, an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner who stayed at the Central Prefecture district, being the supreme authority over them.


    In turn, the Chief of Police was under the direct order of the commissioner, who wasn''t necessarily a uniformed individual [1] and was usually voted into place by the board of officials of the city. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Twenty districts implied twenty directors, but with the Red Fangs having an independent director, there were twenty-one directors in total. Every director of police was at the very least a sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, albeit some were at the seventh level.


    The director of the Red Fangs, for instance, was part of that exception, and he was currently holding a briefing in his office.


    "The beast tide in Alleva district is getting worse, and the district''s security unit can''t handle it on their own anymore. It''s been raised to a Class B situation, and there are still calls to make it into a Class A case."


    To understand the threats they were facing as well as make appropriate responses to them, a scale system was put in place for the possible dangers the city-state could face. This system was used not just by the Red Fangs, but the other units in the City Patrol Corps as well as the City Defence Force.


    By having a general system, it could help in the transmission and interpretation of information better.


    The various ranks were as such:


    Class D, which was the lowest threat level, was for situations that could only threaten an entire street or borough.


    Class C was for threats that were aimed at a town, a city or a borough, which were common divisions in the other fifteen districts.


    Class B was for threats that could affect an entire district. Such threats had to be apprehended and reported right away to the command centre at Baylands City once they were discovered. Backup could also be requested from the command centre in such a scenario, albeit most times, the local forces tried to take care of it on their own.


    Class A was for threats to multiple districts at once. In such a situation, the affected districts'' security units were to work together, and at the same time, a petition for support would be sent to the command centre. Usually, the City Defence Force or the Red Fangs would then be dispatched to aid in defusing the threat.


    Class S were for threats that the entire city-state was encountering, or at the very least, a danger faced by four or more districts at once. During times like these, everyone was dispatched the quell the problem, and even the city lord, a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner expert, could get involved.


    There were other classes of threat, such as the Class X, which was higher and pertained to threats encountered by two or more city-states, and also the planetary threats. However, such situations were incredibly rare and had yet to be encountered in the last one hundred years. Also, regarding planetary threats, only the Oklo Dynasty could make such calls.


    After the previous meeting with the director at Alleva, it was agreed that the issue was a Class B danger, but there were findings that it could expand into a Class A situation if not stopped quickly. Because of that, the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps at the Alleva district had requested for backup from the command centre.


    Since it was an "external matter", the Red Fangs, who were first responders, were handed the case.


    "For this matter, I''ll be having your team handle the issue. Understand the situation first before dealing with the desolate beast tide, do I make myself clear?"


    "Yes."


    The group in the office replied.


    "Good. Now, depart."

 Chapter 140 Making A Decision

    "A Jaburian? No, never heard of it.""Jaburian? Is that a pantherian desolate beast? Those are quite rare. I''ve never seen one in my life."


    "Jaburian? Nah."


    "You won''t find a Jaburian around. They''re fourth level beasts, so they don''t live on the outskirts of the Wasteland, but deep within. Only those top guilds and teams dare go so far into the Wastelands."


    Lucas sighed at the various responses he got from his customers, as none could give him any lead. Since the system had given him a mission, Lucas intended to complete it and get the rewards. With ten system coins on the line, and the fact he didn''t know when next he would get a mission, there was no reason to miss this.


    However, regardless of whom he asked in the store ¡ªfreelancer or not¡ª no one had any information on the Jaburian. Many didn''t even know what type of desolate beast it was, and for the few who did, they confirmed to him that they had never seen it before; all, except for one


    "I think you should check on the news or so. There was a similar looking beast in one of those broadcasts on the beast tide in Alleva district. You might as well go through the intranet and search for some clues."


    Taking the advice, Lucas opened his communicator browser and began searching for information regarding the Jaburian, thanks to the lead of the man. He focused his efforts on news regarding Alleva district, but even that was difficult.


    The beast tide was a large horde, it consisted of different species of desolate beasts, which was a unique occurrence.


    The desolate beast biological kingdom was much different from the animal kingdom as on Earth. They were more than just an entirely new species, however, they did possess similarities with typical beasts on Earth. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For instance, some lived in colonies while others are independent; there were also some classes of desolate beasts of different species, who could still live in a particular niche in peaceful unison. However, there were also desolate beasts that preyed on the other.


    A desolate beast tide, also called a desolate beasts wave or swarm, was a massive throng of desolate beasts of different species and habitats. What stood out from this was that such beasts might be natural enemies, but in a tide, they moved without wreaking havoc. Such an eerie detail had been noted by zoologists, who now also studied desolate beasts as well, long ago.


    Since there was a beast tide in Alleva district, there was a significant chance that Lucas might find a Jaburian there. No reason other than the fact that the mission was well-timed and a desolate beast tide could have up to twenty three different species of desolate beasts.


    After spending half an hour checking through the various databases and public investigation details on different platforms, Lucas finally found something.


    On one certain website, there was a report about a pantherian beast sighted in the desolate beasts swarm. Further confirmation by the experts had suspected it to be a Jaburian. The reason why this was a suspicion was because the image wasn''t clear as the creature was moving too fast and blended amidst the horde of monsters.


    While the image was restructured using AI, there was no certainty regarding the final result. Nonetheless, it was supposedly accurate, at least an 80% likelihood.


    ''I figured.'' Lucas sighed.


    Just as with last time where the system had him go to the Wastelands, Lucas was suspicious that this mission would also send him somewhere dangerous.


    As it stood, the only known sighting of a Jaburian was in the Alleva district, but that was a place at risk of a desolate beasts tide, and it was also the last known location of Ramirez.


    ''Oh, they''re gone.'' Lucas glanced at a certain direction.


    Since the murder of the assassin a couple of weeks back, the Red Fangs had kept an eye on him just in case Ramirez retaliated. They used Lucas as an open bait to fish in Ramirez. However, the latter didn''t bite. As such, it was only a matter of time before the Red Fangs gave up the plan.


    Lucas had always sensed two individuals watching him from the dark. They would occasionally leave, but be replaced by another two right away. However, today, Lucas noticed that there were no replacements. It seemed like the Red Fangs had finally given up the plan, and with the situation at Alleva district, there was all the more reason to do so.


    ''The situation has to be more dire than it seems, considering they''re calling back their agents.''


    Thinking of this, Lucas narrowed his eyes. He had already made his decision.


    . . .


    The next day came about and the new customers were surprised to find out that the store was closed for the day. The old regulars however, weren''t too stunned by this and just smiled.


    One of the recent regulars couldn''t help but stop one of them.


    "The store''s closed. Do you know where the owner went or what happened to him?"


    "Oh, nothing. The owner does this sometimes. He leaves closes the store for a while and goes on a trip." The man replied.


    "But why would he do such? His business just started off well. Isn''t it a bad idea to suddenly take a break?" The young man, who was interested in the situation, pestered on.


    "How would I know what goes through his head?, But if I''m correct, it''s probably because he''s going to meet his master."


    "His master?"


    "Yeah. You know the store owner is a human, so there''s no way he''s the vestige-smith behind all these products. I''m guessing he went out to find his master and restock." The man said after some thought.


    If Lucas were to hear this, one could only imagine the kind of expression he would have on his face. No one knew who had started up this explanation, but many went with it as it made sense. All points were logical, and there was never any sign of vestige shipments to the store.


    It was only natural for many to seek a possible explanation as to how Lucas gets his vestige, and many believed that he did the shipping himself.


    "I see." The young man narrowed his eyes.


    "Thanks for the help."


    The young man then left the area, but not entirely. He snuck into a corner and opened up his communicator.


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    "The target has left the scene. I repeat, the target has left the scene."

 Chapter 141 Alleva District, The Abode Of Crime

    "Welcome to Alleva district. Please ensure that you depart with your luggage, and kindly enjoy your stay in our district.""Welcome to Alleva district. Please ensure that you depart with your luggage, and kindly enjoy your stay in our district."


    "Welcome to ..."


    In the light-rail train station, the announcer''s soft yet pleasing voice sounded over and over again, and despite how many times it repeated the same words, there was no sense of irritation from the listeners whatsoever.


    Lucas stepped out of the light-rail train and glanced around the place.


    ''Sure enough, it can''t compare.'' S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the very first time Lucas had left Baylands City for a different district, with the trip to the Wasteland Base station not counting.


    Compared to the districts of Baylands City, Alleva district was of a lower standard. The air was less pure, and the stellar energy concentration was lower. Even if he couldn''t use it yet, Lucas could sense the differences in concentration levels. He could also sense the life energies of the people around, as long as they were weaker than he was, thanks to his sensitive soul.


    Lucas could see that compared to their counterparts, they were less healthier.


    This was understandable as an old research paper had found out that stellar energy could affect one''s health. However, this didn''t mean that more stellar energy in the air was good, as the health-improvement effect was only limited to a certain concentration level for average hyumans.


    Although Alleva district sounded like a backwater, it was much more advanced than any place Lucas had been on Earth. To be exact, the city Lucas currently was.


    "Sunrise City, the capital of Alleva district." A voice interrupted Lucas'' thoughts.


    He glanced to the side and saw a man with a blue moustache, which would have been strange on Earth, but was common here.


    "Don''t mind me. I couldn''t help myself seeing a fellow human." The man smiled. His smile seemed to carry some sort of relief and comfort, with a hint of sadness.


    Lucas was slightly surprised and then paid more attention to the man. He felt something different about him. Although the latter wasn''t a true human as he was, the man was different from the hyumans Lucas had met and seen.


    ''So this is a human.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the man.


    In this world, pure humans were extinct. There was no such thing as a true human, and Lucas was the only one in existence. Everyone was a hyuman. However, hyumankin inherited certain traits from humanity, and one of them was the deadly sin of pride; or to be more apt, the disgusting desire for superiority complex.


    In the human era, skin colour differentiation was a situation more or less brought about due to the environment one lived in. Dark skinned people came about due to living in a region where they were exposed to too much sunlight and UV rays ¡ªparticularly regions closer to the equator. Although vital to the production of Vitamin D, UV rays were dangerous in excess amounts.


    And so, the body had increased their melanin concentration to protect them, to be specific, eumelanin.


    When humans moved to regions with lesser UV concentration, the body adapted in an attempt to effectively absorb more UV rays, and dropped its eumelanin production but not pheomelanin. Eumelanin was the melanin that resulted in a dark skin tone whereas pheomelanin was for lighter skin tones. The drop in one with the increase in the other, resulted in a different skin shade or colour.


    In summary, the difference in skin colour was a result of the human body reacting to various environments, but humanity had thought differently. Even after the truth was found out, it didn''t matter.


    Why? Because of the innate nature to be better, to hold pride over another; the desire to stand above themselves. No one wanted to be equal, and so the concept of races came about.


    The same situation repeated itself with hyumankin, but it wasn''t due to skin colour. Rather, they found a more ''solid'' basis for segregation, and that was the mDNA concentration. The segregation was no longer on skin colour, but who was of the advanced species and who was of the lesser.


    Stellar energy was everything in modern society, and not being able to use it was termed as a defect, a deficiency or even a terminal illness. Of the hyumans who had this ''sickness'', they became tagged ''humans'', as they were seen to be no different from the preceding, archaic and incompetent species.


    "We humans should stick together, don''t you think so?" The man said with a smile on his face.


    "Here''s my contact info. If you need any help, just let me know." The man smiled and handed Lucas a card.


    At first, Lucas wanted to reject the card as he knew nothing about the stranger, except that he was a ''human''. But when recalled that he was new here and knew nothing about the city or district, Lucas decided to accept the card.


    Business cards weren''t as common in this world since everything could be done and projected through a communicator. But that didn''t mean that it was out of use.


    "Do you know any good spots in town? I''m new here." Lucas asked the man.


    "Oh, sure. That''s easy." The man smiled.


    "Check out, Virginia''s Motel on Gale block. It''s a nice and comfy spot with a cheap price tag for a night. You don''t need to worry about yourself as well since the owner treats us humans just as well. For your meals, I would suggest Don''s Cafeteria. They make the best burgers, meatballs, stuffed cabbages, you name it. Rumour has it, his recipe is based on dishes from the Human race''s era."


    However, Lucas wasn''t paying attention to the latter part of his words, but focused on just one.


    "I don''t need to worry about myself...?"


    Lucas was confused about that line.


    "You don''t know?" The man was shocked. He then face-palmed as he let out a sigh. Read new chapters at empire


    "Oh wait, I forgot you''re new here. But still, it''s insane that you came to the district without knowing.


    "Alleva district is a district full of vim and vigour. You could find anything you want and get it done here, so long as you can afford it. There are many things to do and places to see, like the old Grey zone line, so it''s a tourist spot as well. However, it also has another side to it; one easily recognised by Alleva''s other name."


    The man carefully glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then he leaned in and whispered to Lucas.


    "The Abode Of Crime."

 Chapter 142 Abode Of Crime

    After their short introduction, the human male with a blue mustache left the light-rail train station for his destination, while Lucas made his way over to the Gale block, where the motel that was recommended to him by the man, Virginia''s Motel, was situated.Before doing so, however, Lucas had made an agreement with the man to meet up once again later in the day, at the second recommended location, Don''s Cafeteria.


    This meeting was brought up by Lucas, and it was to learn more about the city and the district. Being a newcomer, Lucas barely knew much about Alleva district. Although he could look up some information on the intranet, that couldn''t compare to a local''s knowledge.


    For instance, the man had claimed that Alleva district had the nickname of the Abode of Crime, but there was no mention of this on any site.


    When evening came, Lucas made his way to the meeting point. It wasn''t difficult to locate despite being a newcomer, thanks to the aid of a GPS.


    "Yo."


    Just as Lucas stepped into the building and looked around, he heard a voice calling out to him. Lucas was sure the voice was speaking to him because it was a familiar one¡ªthat of the man he had met earlier during the day.


    "You''re early." Lucas said as he took a seat opposite the man.


    "Well, I had nothing going on for me today, plus someone''s taking me out for a treat, so why won''t I be?" The man chuckled before ordering some items through the virtual display on the table.


    "So, what is it you want to know?" Discover hidden stories at empire


    "Everything. I''m pretty much new here, and I don''t know how the district works. Heck, I''ve spent all my life elsewhere, so I don''t even know how districts work." Lucas responded.


    His behaviour at the moment was different from his usual self. He was more free and expressive.


    Growing up alone and having to move from one place to another with his foster father, Lucas had learnt to blend into society, adapt, and relate with others. The only reason why he always kept a cold and unperturbed face in his store was because that was how Lucas wanted to be perceived¡ªsomeone who was serious and couldn''t be joked around with.


    Since he was in a different place and needed to fish out information, Lucas decided to act appropriately.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve got you." The man laughed as he received his order from the robot that approached them.


    "Hmm, let''s see. I''ll start with Alleva district. Unlike how it supposedly works with the five districts of the capital city, the fifteen districts are different. Each district is like a small state of its own and has a bunch of cities, with one of them functioning as the capital. In Alleva''s case, that''s where we are now, Sunrise City.


    While each city might have a city lord, the district has no head ruler. There''s no central authority or standout leader, as with Baylands City''s five districts that have the city lord in charge. Instead, each district is governed by a council."


    Lucas was amazed by the system of government.


    Overall, there was Baylands city-state and the centre of the city-state was Baylands City which was ruled by the Baylands City''s city lord, and made up of five districts. At the same time, the city lord of Baylands City was the head of Baylands city-state.


    However, the other fifteen districts didn''t pair up to form cities as with the five districts of Baylands City. Instead, they expanded their reach and independently created cities of their own, which they lorded over. Alleva district for instance, had over five cities under its rule, excluding the central city, Sunrise City.


    Each of the cities had a city lord, but the city lord''s jurisdiction only applied to the city. As for the district, it was governed by a council.


    "Each district council might have a different number of members, but it has to be a multiple of three, and the minimum is twelve members. For Alleva, we have twenty-one. Large right? Well, it''s due to the fact that many interests are involved, so everyone has to be a part."


    "Interests? What interests? And who''s everyone?" Lucas probed.


    "Interests are those stuff that we can''t talk about in public. As for the latter part of your question, haven''t you ever wondered why, despite being called the Abode of Crime, the central government at Baylands City has done nothing to stop the organised crime activities in Alleva district?" The man smiled mysteriously.


    Lucas nodded. He had in fact conceived such a thought in his head before arriving here.


    "Well, that''s simple. They don''t do anything to stop it because they silently approve of it. The best way to stop evil isn''t to challenge it or attack it, but to have it under one''s control. This is a philosophy the city lord of Baylands City and the head of Baylands city-state abides by, and it has been this way for generations of city lords.


    As long as the crimes aren''t ''overboard'' and done in Alleva district, it is looked over by the government."


    Lucas was surprised by this. He felt that such a decision by the city lord was extreme. There were too many dangers and problems associated with it. But regardless, he had to admit that the ideology wasn''t entirely wrong.


    "Since it''s approved to some extent, it is only natural for various parties to want a share of the underground businesses here. After all, dirty money grows faster than clean money. There''s a district in Baylands City called the Central Prefecture district, right? I heard it''s the place for the fancy and rich guys in the city. But do you know that some of them make their money here? Heh.


    Like I said, dirty money grows faster." The man chuckled.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow and although he was surprised by this information, it wasn''t to the extent of being shocked speechless. Even back on Earth, there were some countries that had secret departments which generated money for them illegally. It was either through drug trafficking or scams. Finding out the same happened here, wasn''t much of a shocker.


    "Back to what I was saying, ah yes, the council. Alleva''s council is made of twenty-one members, and some of them are either voted in by the people, or installed by various influential powers. In fact, the majority of them are as the so-called votes are usually rigged to favour. But don''t say that out loud or say you heard it from me. Hehe." The man took a swig out of the large cup of beer.


    "Ah~ Beer here hits perfectly."


    Lucas didn''t rush the man but instead took a sip for the beer as well. On the table in front of them was their meal, which had been brought a while ago by a robot. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The beer tasted nice and it was much better than anything Lucas had on Earth. He tried out the food as well and it was great. Some of them reminded him of some local cuisine from Earth, and Lucas couldn''t help but feel nostalgic.


    "Great, right? Like I said, Don''s recipes are based from human civilisation''s era. You can''t find them elsewhere but similar stores." The man laughed.


    "That''s right, I don''t even know your name and I haven''t introduced myself. You can call me Ardeen." Ardeen said.


    "Yohn." Lucas responded.


    Since he was in a dangerous place that was risky to trust everyone, it was only natural that Lucas would use a fake name. who was to say that the man before him was truly called ''Ardeen'', or that he wasn''t a member of some underground mafia that could be connected to Ramirez?


    Ardeen didn''t suspect a thing and nodded before continuing.


    "Back to what I was saying. Alleva district is a pretty dirty place. Since the council is made up of people whose focus is the interests of their backers, the government here is awful. I guess that''s why they couldn''t handle the beasts tide situation properly and it swelled up."


    Lucas'' eyes flashed, but he didn''t ask about that just yet. So far, he only knew about Alleva district as a whole, or to be particular, the situation of the government. He had yet to truly understand the district itself.


    "If that''s the case, the cities should be the same, no?"


    "You''re smart, bro." Ardeen gave him a thumbs up.


    "That''s right, the cities are no different. The city lords aren''t installed by democracy or what shit. The council decides the city lord for each city. Naturally, every one of those corrupt members would try to fight for a position of city lord and install their puppet up there. Having a city under their control makes it easier for them to go around their illegal activities without any worries."


    "Why would they be worried? Isn''t Alleva open to crime?"


    "That''s underground, but on the surface, it still has to maintain some level of civility. The security officials also have to squash crime as well. And finally, every member of the council is an opponent to the other.


    "Let''s say you and I are in the council. I would want to make more than you, cause why not? Without a doubt, you would want to do the same as well. This could create a clash of interests, and we would inevitably become enemies. Once that happens, I will be on the lookout for whatever means I can use to ruin you.


    Say, I happen to notice your men trying to pull a stunt in a city under my control; I''ll interfere and try to profit from it. Let''s say your men are trying to smuggle some nasty drugs or something through my city. I''ll have the security agencies seize it, then have you pay a fee or give me an advantage in some other situation in exchange for your shipment to be let off.


    "This is what most members are worried about, so they try to control as many cities as possible, while some even make alliances where their interests align."


    Lucas couldn''t help but finally be stunned by the complexities that hid underneath the city. A web of lies and corruption, one could call it so.

 Chapter 143 Suspicions

    "That''s roughly the politics in this place, and I guess explains what goes on here." Ardeen drank from his glass."Then, why are you here?" Lucas asked him.


    The question might seem simple, but there was an underlying meaning.


    Humans were second-class citizens. In some areas, they were even treated as prey. They were occasionally kidnapped as sold as slaves, or even lab rats for biological research purposes. With Alleva district being the centre of crime, human trafficking should be mainstream here, which would make it dangerous for a human to stay in.


    "It might sound strange, but Alleva district is actually the safest place in Baylands city-state for humans. Trafficking of intelligent species is the one crime collectively frowned upon, even by the council. The situation with humans here is quite strange to be honest.


    "The main reason why human trafficking is illegal is because the various underground organisations need foot soldiers. Most hyumans either pursue a career in freelancing or some other lucrative job. Unlike hyumans however, we humans don''t have the luxury of such options. We can only take on menial low-paying jobs, that''s if we''re lucky to find some. I mean, we have robots doing everything nowadays.


    However, in Alleva, it''s different." Ardeen said as he glanced at the robot attending to the customers in the building.


    "Since most hyumans aren''t taking on dirty jobs, and robots aren''t, how do you put it, efficient? Yeah, let''s go with that. The only option now left for these organisations are humans, and the few hyumans with a low mDNA concentration and no opportunity to turn their life around."


    Lucas now understood the situation properly. Thanks to Ardeen''s explanations, he could picture how the city worked, which would help Lucas a lot. He then went on to ask for more details, especially about the organisations that ran the district and those who were backed by the council members. Ardeen answered them all as there was no harm in doing so.


    Although this information wasn''t common knowledge, it wasn''t exactly confidential either. People just barely spoke about it in public, but from how he acted, Lucas felt that Ardeen was different. Maybe he just didn''t care, or he was a member of one such organisation, but Lucas didn''t care.


    After getting a rough idea of the district, Lucas then asked for information on the beast tide.


    "The beast tide? Why the heck would you want to know about that? Take this advice from me; steer clear of that death wave." Ardeen said as he took a bite from his food.


    "The death toll on paper is around five hundred thousand or so, but it''s much worse in reality. At least two towns or cities have been wiped out. Considering Alleva district isn''t really a place anyone wants to be, a city averages around three to five hundred thousand folks. A town might be the same or a bit less, but two got wiped out.


    Sure, emergency measures were in place and many were evacuated from the second town during the raid, but the first¡ªa city¡ª had at least six hundred thousand folks. The second, based on inside reports, were around two hundred thousand casualties, that''s a total of eight hundred thousand.


    But the news drops this number down to five hundred thousand, which is the population of a single town and 63% of the original number."


    "Why would they do that?" Lucas was confused. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It just made no sense.


    Five hundred thousand was already a very large casualty count, and in the grand view of things, it as almost no different from eight hundred thousand. A few deaths were a sorrowful event, but large numbers were simply statistics. There was no reason to hide the numbers as the margin wasn''t so wide as to matter.


    Ardeen didn''t respond right away, instead he stared outside the window.


    After a short while, he sighed,


    "Because those ''excess'' casualties are humans."


    Lucas went silent at the statement. It was an answer he never expected to receive. He had experienced some prejudice over his species, but over the weeks, Lucas realised it wasn''t that bad. The people around eventually warmed up to him and not many treated him as bad.


    Even the bad treatment wasn''t so terrible, except for the time he was almost kidnapped or the time he was mistreated at the EVL head branch office.


    But hearing this, Lucas understood the situation other humans, who weren''t as lucky as he was, faced. Lucas had the system to help him when he almost got kidnapped; the same when he was close to death after an assassination attempt, but the other humans didn''t. They were also weaker than him, and weren''t lucky enough to be a reincarnated genius.


    "I need to know more about the beast tides." Lucas seriously said.


    The injustice committed against humans wasn''t something he could fix as he was. Even if Lucas wanted to do so, he first of all had to get stronger. And to do that, Lucas had to complete all the missions from the system that came his way. Experience new stories on empire


    "Still stubborn huh? Well, no problem." Ardeen refilled his cup and drank from it. He then projected a map onto the table


    "The first city destroyed was here, Rosewood city." Ardeen pointed at a mark on the map.


    "It''s towards the south from here. The next was Garena town, northeast of Rosewood city, so roughly southeast of here." Ardeen traced his finger from Rosewood city on the map, to another mark, which was Garena town.


    "The security agencies suspect that the desolate beasts are moving eastwards due to this, albeit rising towards the north, so the next possible target would be between these two locations, but this one is more likely."


    Lucas glanced at the mark Ardeen''s finger currently rested beside.


    "Amer city.


    . . .


    Knock. Knock.


    "Come in."


    The door opened and a middle-aged man walked in. He glanced at the old man ahead who was going through some documents. Seeing the aged figure, the middle-aged man bowed to him.


    "What''s the matter?" The old man asked without raising his head, his attention still on the papers in front of him.


    "Our men have sent news from the capital. Apparently, they''ve spotted the young fellow who got Ramirez into this mess." The man said.


    "Hmm? They found the kid?" The old man finally lifted his head, revealing his identity.


    He was the city lord of High Brunswick city, as well as the man Ramirez had met with shortly after arriving into the city.


    "Interesting. What''s that kid doing out here?" The old man asked.


    "We haven''t ascertained that yet, but I decided to inform you of his presence right away, just in case something might crop up." The middle-aged man replied, his head still bent low.


    "You made the right decision. Keep monitoring him for now, and make sure he doesn''t notice. Meanwhile, what has Ramirez been up to these days?"


    "We can''t keep watch on him much as he seems to be on guard almost 24/7. However, we found out that he spends most of his time outside the city with some mysterious figures. While we couldn''t track his entire movement, we did notice that one of his recent spots was Rosewood city."


    The old man suddenly narrowed his eyes.


    "Rosewood city? Before or after?" He asked.


    The middle-aged man clearly understood what was meant by the question as he answered without hesitation.


    "Before."


    "What about Garena?" The old man asked.


    "We can''t say as we have no men there."


    Tap. Tap.


    The old man rapped his fingers on the table.


    "Get some men to Amer city and Lurdwick town. Have them survey the area to the best they can and to keep a lookout for Ramirez." The old man stopped, then added after a bit of hesitation.


    "And that kid too. I have a feeling that we''re about to stumble upon something interesting here."


    "Yes, sir."


    "What about the men Ramirez met with? Anything on them?"


    "... nothing." The middle-aged man hesitated before answering.


    The old man stared at him, his fingers still tapping the table.


    "You know how much I hate hearing those words."


    "I, I apologize." The middle-aged man immediately fell to his knees.


    The old man then picked up a paper, on it were the details of a certain shipment of drugs.


    Even though Alleva district allowed crime to some extent, and he was the city lord of High Brunswick, the old man preferred to record all information related to illegal activities using a paper. This made it possible for him to easily destroy copies and make them irrecoverable.


    "The Red Fangs are coming as well, correct?"


    "Yes, sir." The middle-aged, who still remained on his knees, responded.


    "Have our shipments cleared as quickly as possible. Although their destination isn''t here, they would still have to pass by on their way over to Amer city. We can''t let them sniffing out our trails. Those fellows don''t agree with the rules of the city, and we can''t stop them even if we want to. Don''t mess this up, otherwise your head alone won''t be enough to appease me.


    Also, find out the identity of those men Ramirez met with."

 Chapter 144 An Uncanny Meeting

    After Garena town was destroyed a couple of days back, the desolate beasts horde didn''t make any major moves again. Instead, they roamed around the region, ensuring to not go further than a limited distance away from the town. The situation was exactly the same as when they had invaded Rosewood city.Back then, the loitering behaviour of the desolate beasts made many think that they were simply planning on having Rosewood city as their next location for a habitat. Such an act wasn''t uncommon as it has been previously recorded that desolate beasts would migrate from a certain location to another, for various reasons such as shortage in food supply.


    Many had in fact, believed this to be the reason behind such a massive number of beasts.


    However, that wasn''t what had happened. After roaming the area around Rosewood city, the desolate beasts made their move once again and struck Garena town, taking only two days to reach the destination and wipe the entire town out. Luckily for the citizens of the town, they were properly informed and the security agencies were prepared.


    Evacuation measures were carried out and many lives were saved, albeit some were still lost.


    This was a few days back. As of now, the desolate beasts had not made any moves yet, but the security agencies were on high alert.


    There were frequent campaigns carried out to cull down the number of desolate beasts, but that didn''t do much. Modern weapons, unless single-target, didn''t do much to the horde. Some of them had already developed a tolerance to radiation, had tough skins, and were immune to high heat, so nuclear explosions weren''t used.


    Also, using nukes was dangerous and would adversely affect the environment, so the government didn''t consider them. The same went with other WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction).


    Without such equipment, it became difficult to take down the horde quickly, so their only option was to slowly exhaust the horde with different tactics.


    Your adventure continues at empire


    To monitor the beast wave, there was a security perimeter set around the area; specifically the surrounding couple of kilometres close to Garena town. Without proper clearance or an identity permit, it was impossible for anyone to enter within this region. However, leaving wasn''t difficult as there was an ongoing evacuation procedure.


    "We''ve arrived."


    A red-haired man stated as the sare approached a blockade only a few metres in front.


    Inside the sare were seven other individuals, two of whom were familiar faces to Lucas. The team of eight formed a platoon, which compared to other security outfits, was much smaller.


    The director of the Red Fangs had ordered a captain to lead a company to investigate the situation regarding the desolate beasts before they make a final decision. In the Red Fangs, a company consisted of four platoons and was led by a captain, who was at the very least a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    In other words, apart from the captain, there were four other powerful individuals at the rank of lieutenant, and one of them was the ever-familiar Lily Mayer.


    This time around, lieutenant Lily came with her entire platoon of eight men¡ªherself included.


    "Lots of people are being displaced due to this event." The sneaky brown-haired member of the team, Barry, commented as he stared at the screen showing the situation below.


    Garena town was a major town the size of a city, but there were much smaller settlements around it. It was just as the slums was neighbouring West Wing district but wasn''t classified as a part of the district. Due to the risk of the desolate beasts tide, those neighbouring settlements were being evacuated.


    Even the nearby Amer city was slowly being evacuated, although there was no official announcement for such by the city lord''s government. Nonetheless, fear permeated the citizens, which led to them leaving.


    "It can''t be helped. This is the reality of things." A member of the platoon by the side sighed


    "But it''s still weird. Even if Alleva district is in the grey zone, there shouldn''t be a desolate beasts niche capable of housing this many beasts close by. That now begs the question, where did they come from?" Nafir frowned.


    "Make contact with the guard unit and request passage access." Lily said, interrupting the conversation.


    The company''s mission was to investige just that, so there was no reason to be dwelling on the question before they had done their search. There were also other platoons involved in this investigation mission, so the group didn''t need to carry the entire matter on their shoulders.


    At the same time, now wasn''t the time to be discussing that. If they were to enter the security perimeter without clearance, their vessel would be shot down from the sky by the defence system set up. If they were killed, especially in such a laughable manner, then they could forget about investigating the situation.


    "Hold on, that figure looks familiar." Barry suddenly said.


    "Isn''t that..." sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    . . .


    After getting as much information about Alleva district, the situation with the desolate beasts tide, and Amer city, Lucas had returned back to his motel room that evening. The next day, he packed his bags and left for Amer city.


    However, upon reaching the city, Lucas was stunned to find out that it was under strict surveillance and security. Entering the city wasn''t difficult and one simply needed a method of identification. However, going beyond that was next to impossible. A simple ID card wasn''t enough as one needed a permit to do so.


    About two kilometres away from the city, the local Defence Force had set up a barricade consisting of not just physical structures but an invisible force field as well. The force field didn''t stop objects from entering or leaving, but it sensed them and notified the control centre about such movements.


    The control centre, using the received signal, would now attempt to identify and communicate with the Unknown Flying Object (UFO). Based on the results of the identification and communication, they would then decide to either detain the object or shoot it down. However, there was never a situation where such an object was permitted entry, even if it were a bird.


    That was just how strict the surveillance here was.


    Rumour had it that this was because some illegal traders might want to sneak in and capture a few desolate beasts, while another story was that the beast tide was man-made, which was quite ludicrous. Regardless of which, it didn''t matter to Lucas. All he cared about was to get there.


    There was no way Lucas would be able to take down a Jaburian from the safety of the city walls. Forget taking one down, Lucas would definitely not be seeing any within the city. If he wanted to complete the system''s mission, he had to get to the region behind the barricade. The problem was how to do so.


    While he queued up behind the erected border gates that served as an exit and entrance, Lucas silently began thinking of what logical reason he could use to get through.


    Just when it was his turn, a sare floated down closeby. The hatch of the sare was open and a figure stood within with a smile plastered on his face as he stared at Lucas.


    ''You''ve got to be kidding me.'' Lucas couldn''t help but turn speechless, as he stared at a figure he so desperately wished to never meet again.


    Although he knew that the Red Fangs would be making their way here, Lucas never thought that he would encounter them so soon. He had even left as quickly as possible, but somehow, arrived just exactly the same time as they did. Such an uncanny coincidence naturally left Lucas stunned.


    Nafir, the sergeant in Lieutenant Lily Mayer''s platoon, as well as the man with the superpower equivalent to mind-reading, smiled as he waved at Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at him, considering whether to ignore the latter, but he suddenly realised that he couldn''t.


    Unlike himself, there was a high chance that the Red Fangs'' platoon had clearance to make it past the gate. As long as he hitched a ride with them, Lucas could easily get through the security. However on second thought, he had this feeling that they thought the same way. There was a very high chance that they could guess his intentions and so, approached him.


    This made Lucas cautious, but he still felt that he needed to accept the hand they stretched out.


    All these thoughts crossed Lucas'' head within just a second, following which he waved back at the latter.


    The sare approached at a safe height before Nafir dropped down from it.


    "Who would have thought we would be meeting once again in this situation?" Nafir smiled as he stretched his hand.


    "Trust me, I wish it wasn''t so." Lucas replied as he shook hands with him.


    "So, what brings you here?" Nafir queried.


    Lucas went on guard. He still had knowledge of the special power Nafir possessed; the ability to ascertain the truth in a statement. Without the protection of the HPM or the system, Lucas had to deceive his way through.


    "I''m looking for something. Something very important to me." Lucas replied.


    His statement was grammatically true. As the Jaburian was a beast, describing the creature as ''it'' was appropriate. Furthermore, what Lucas wanted from it was its skin. Hence, the word "something" was valid.


    "A family heirloom?" Nafir asked.


    Lucas cursed inwardly about how nosy he was but he answered right away.


    "Not quite. It''s still as important either way."


    That wasn''t a lie. Since the hide was related to the mission, and to Lucas, the mission was as imporyas a life-or-death scenario, then the hide was equally very important to him.


    "What about you guys?" Lucas quickly switched the topic.


    Nafir smiled.


    "She''s waiting for us. Let''s go."


    He then turned around and walked towards the sare that had landed a short distance away.


    Lucas'' lips twitched a bit, but he followed right after him.


    There was still another challenge waiting for him.

 Chapter 145 Trouble

    "We''re back."Nafir said right after he stepped into the sare with Lucas following close behind.


    The sare wasn''t designed like a private vessel, so there were only two areas: the cockpit and the bay area, which was the area where the others stayed. The separation between the cockpit and the other area wasn''t significant, so one could even speak to the pilot from the bay area.


    As they walked in, the group glanced at Lucas, and those who were meeting him for the first time couldn''t help but take a longer glance at Lucas.


    Just as they had heard, Lucas was a human, but it was still surprising that their lieutenant paid attention to this human. Although he had the rare black hair, there were still others with a similar hair colour. Appearance-wise, Lucas couldn''t even be compared to the models on tv or those second- and third-generations in the Central Prefecture district [1].


    "What are you doing here?" Lily stared at Lucas.


    ''Ohhh, it''s starting.'' Barry grinned as if he were watching a soap opera.


    "Is there any rule that says I can''t be?"


    Oblivious to the thoughts of the Red Fangs crew members, Lucas was getting irritated with the incesaant questions.


    Nafir''s presence made it difficult for him to lie, but telling the truth might raise unnecessary suspicions.


    If he were to say he was after a desolate beast, they would think Lucas was either being delusional or suicidal. If it turned out that he came back alive, misgivings would arise about Lucas'' identity, as after all, it was impossible for a human to win against a desolate beast. The only exceptions were with a powerful cold-type vestige or they were from Digress city-state.


    Supposing they went with the second scenario, Lucas would be arrested and put under surveillance while they try to contact Digress. Once the city-state denies knowing about his identity, Lucas would be killed.


    If it were the first situation, misgivings would still be brought to his identity. The notion that he was a spy could be speculated by the others.


    "This place isn''t safe. You should have just stayed at your store." Lily said.


    "Don''t worry about it."


    After Lucas''reply, she said nothing else and gave the order for their shuttle to depart. As they were on an official job, the platoon had their permits with them as well as clearance.


    The border gate wasn''t anything majestic or the sort. It was just a simple barricade gate. The true security was the invisible forcefield that detected any movement in the air or below. It was a foolproof technology that couldn''t easily be bypassed even by anti-radar vehicles.


    A couple of minutes after passing the gate and heading into the region, the shuttle receiver a signal.


    "Lieutenant, we just received an emergency signal." One of the men, the pilot at the cockpit, said.


    "Connect."


    Following Lieutenant Lily''s command, the pilot picked up the signal and connected it to the shuttle''s speakers.


    "Mayday, mayday. Re-sshdhs. Requesting-shshhshshh-kup. Request-shhh-re. Shhhhhts sstshhh backup- shshshhh."


    The speakers suddenly went silent.


    "What''s going on?" Nafir couldn''t help but frown. It wasn''t that he didn''t understand the sound, but he found the contents to be unbelievable.


    Requesting backup.


    What could have happened for a unit to request backup? The desolate beasts wave was being monitored. If there was any movement, the outpost station should have already found out by now and notified everyone else. Discover exclusive tales on empire


    "Pinpoint the source of the signal and move towards it. Norman, connect to HQ and inform them of this. Then reach out to the outpost and ask them for details on any forces stationed out here and their current status. Everyone else, prepare for battle." Lily hurriedly gave out commands.


    Although the signal was jammed, they could still hear bits of it and understand the situation somewhat. The frequency the signal came through was a coded frequency, used only by security operatives of Baylands city-state. Based on the contents, It looked like a squad had encountered trouble and were requesting for help. However, there was something eerie about all this.


    After the region around Garena town was isolated, an outpost was built by the security forces to serve as a rapid-response base. The base organized the forces here and communicated with them, while also handling logistics. It also monitored the desolate beasts wave from a close point.


    Logically, they should be able to reach out to anyone within the region through their communication network, no matter how far the receiver was from the base.


    Despite that, there was no sign or notification from the outpost about this matter, which meant that they weren''t aware of the situation with the squad that sent the signal.


    Unless the squad was a fake, there could only be one answer. Something was preventing the signal from getting far out, and this could be seen from the fact that it was jammed.


    But then came another problem.


    There was no record of any desolate beast with the ability to interfere with signals in Baylands city-state. Also, the frequency the security personnel communicated with was one known to be least affected by desolate beasts with such abilities. Despite all of this, the signal was jammed and its range limited. This could only mean one thing; the jamming was artificial and done by someone, but who.


    Lily narrowed her eyes as her team members followed her commands.


    Lucas was surprised that he would be in such a situation, but he wasn''t worried about it. If anything, staying with the Red Fangs was much safer than moving on his own, although he would have preferred the latter option more.


    Lucas wasn''t privy to how the military worked, but he knew that Baylands city-state didn''t have a desolate beast that could interfere with signal transmission. This was all thanks to one of his first rewards from the system, "An Adventurer''s Manual", which gave him a lot of information about desolate beasts.


    Since this wasn''t the work of a desolate beast, it could only mean two things from Lucas'' perspective. The first was that the equipment was damaged, but he was unaware of the fact that the military''s equipment was high tech and couldn''t easily be damaged.


    The second conclusion Lucas thought up came from a previous known fact. During the incident with Greendale Highschool students, it was said that the terrorist attack was connected to some underground gangs in the city, with Ramirez''s group being one of them. That incident had also led to a weird behaviour among the desolate beasts in the area, while the abominations were left unaffected.


    Ramirez is currently in Alleva district. There is a desolate beasts tide in Alleva district.


    Although there wasn''t substantial evidence to connect the two facts, and there was also the part where the beasts appeared out of nowhere, Lucas felt that if someone could have an answer, it would be Ramirez.


    Also, this signal jamming was done by an individual and based on the previous conjecture, it was possibly related to Ramirez, or at least his terrorist buddies.


    "Full speed ahead." Lily suddenly said, her face with a strange expression.


    As Lucas stared at her for some reason, he felt that she had reached the same conclusion as he was. No. It was possible that she had even been suspecting it long before.


    Lucas was aware of Ramirez''s location thanks to the underground network of Kalvin Petri. From what Ardeen told him about the top families in the Central Prefecture district, Lucas believed Kalvin found out about Ramirez thanks to the Petri family''s connections in Alleva district. Regardless, he refused to believe that the Red Fangs similarly couldn''t find out about this information.


    This wasn''t 1960 or the 1100s, but a futuristic world way ahead of Earth.


    It was very likely that the Red Fangs knew, but couldn''t do anything to Ramirez due to the nature of Alleva district. Yes, he was a suspect of cooperation with terrorists, but there was no hard evidence, except the confession statement Lucas tortured out of one of his men.


    Without concrete evidence, it would be difficult to make such an arrest in Alleva district, especially if the local forces were to protect him. Hence, they still monitored Lucas, hoping to use the latter as bait to get to Ramirez. However, that didn''t work out.


    Nonetheless, that was all a thing of the past. The current focus now was to get to the source of the signal and understand the situation. For some reason, both Lucas and Lily felt that they would get the answers they were looking for once they got there.


    While the sare was speeding towards the destination of the source, which as tracked down by the shuttle''s artificial intelligence, Lucas suddenly had a weird thought. It was a new conjecture that could explain the situation better.


    Although he didn''t know much about the military''s arrangement, from how things usually worked on Earth, there would be an outpost closeby to help with command, logistics and communication. But from Lily''s reaction and commands, the outpost didn''t seem to be aware. This made Lucas'' blood suddenly run cold with a thought.


    What if the problem wasn''t that the signal was jammed or limited? What if there was a spy in the outpost? S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 146 The Mother Who Fought Till Her Last Breath

    While Baylands city-state could be described as a large nation, the districts within ¡ªapart from the five districts of Baylands City¡ª were somewhat of states within this nation. Alleva district was a ''state'' with many cities and large towns within it. In turn, these cities and large towns had little towns or villages surrounding them.Garena town, for instance, was surrounded by a few small towns and villages. Some of them were caught in the attack, while the others were emptied of their citizens, who managed to flee before the process.


    Southvale Village was an example of the former.


    Being slightly far away from Garena town, Southvale village was one of the lowest-ranked villages in the area. Its population wasn''t large, and the only way the village held onto its economy was that it was a large producer of a specific type of grain.


    The grain, when dried, could be processed into a special mixture that was used in the process of making an alcoholic beverage much like beer. However, it wasn''t until a couple of years ago that the grain was used for producing a new strain of hallucinogens¡ªillegal substances with hallucinatory effects.


    Due to the fertile land in the area that was suitable for growing this grain, the underground force that ruled close by took control of the village. However, they didn''t treat the inhabitants poorly, as one would expect from an underground gang.


    The villagers were recruited as farmers and duly compensated for their hard work. Many of the villagers were either mixed-breeds or humans, and such treatment was very well appreciated by them, who had been abandoned by society. Life in the village might not have been the best it could be, but it was okay for the people.


    That was until the beast tide approached.


    When Rosewood City was first struck three weeks ago, while there was fear, no one had evacuated from their residence. Although the prices of items had skyrocketed due to the attack, everyone was still somewhat calm. They believed that the security forces would be able to handle the situation, and even then, it was unlikely that the desolate beasts would head in their direction.


    There was no reason for them to have been targeted, and so, the people in Garena town remained calm. This same feeling spread around, and soon, even the villagers in Southvale village were not worried about the desolate beasts wave.


    Things proceeded on like so, until about a week later, when the desolate beasts tide was discovered to be approaching Garena town.


    Emergency measures were put in place, and an evacuation order was given out. Similarly, the news reached the surrounding smaller towns and villages, who were requested to leave as soon as possible. Your next read awaits at empire


    Being located right in the grey zone yet far from any desolate beasts habitat, Alleva district wasn''t properly equipped to handle a desolate beast wave of such calibre. Added to the fact that it was created to be a grey zone for illegal dealings, the security, as regards to handling desolate beasts, was inadequate. An evacuation was the only move they could make at that point.


    Southvale village was at the outer edge of Garena town''s vast territory, and even after receiving the news, many didn''t want to leave. To abandon their heaven for a place where life could be much worse? Why would they? They''d rather pray to any God for a miracle, or hope that the desolate beasts wouldn''t move in their direction.


    As fate would have it, they were quite lucky, and the wave only affected Garena town and the villages closest to it. Southvale village was safe, but some of the villagers knew that it was only for a moment. However, the new reaction by the district''s military gave them more faith and confidence to remain.


    After the destruction of Garena town, the district''s military was more aggressive in their actions and managed to force the wave to remain in the surroundings of Garena town, preventing them from expanding their influence. Everything finally looked like it was coming to an end, and the villagers sighed with relief. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Until yesterday.


    Yesterday, a small group of desolate beasts had escaped the perimeter set up by the military around Garena town [1]. The group consisted mostly of avian desolate beasts, which made it difficult to track down, and by the time the military had done so, they had already attacked Southvale village.


    "...run, run as fast as you can. As long as you can still breathe, keep running, my daughter." An alien lady stared at the young girl before her.


    The woman had pale blue skin and a pair of antennas on her head, making it quite obvious that she wasn''t hyuman, but an alien species known as Nysa.


    The girl before the woman was her daughter; a crossbreed between a Nysa mother and a hyuman father. However, she inherited more of her father''s DNA, appearing exactly like hyuman. Despite being so young, she already had the making of a beauty, but that was all washed aside by the clear signs of malnutrition.


    After the destruction of Garena town, the people of Southvale village went for more than a week with little food and inventory to survive on. Prior to Garena''s destruction, the prices of food had already increased after Rosewood city''s fall. With Garena town following suit, it made life even more difficult for the people.


    Many experienced dramatic changes in the span of those three weeks or so, and for those whose financial situation wasn''t the best from the start, their changes were even more pronounced.


    The little girl and her family were somewhat ostracised in the village. While the treatment wasn''t severe, it was still pronounced. This was a unique situation but not entirely. The majority of villagers were mixed breed and humans, whereas her parents were a hyuman and an alien species.


    Even though they tried to adapt and live in harmony, some in the village would sideline them due to their hatred of "pure bloods".


    Another factor was that her mother, despite being an alien, appealed to the tastes of many men in the village and they envied her father for that. Many wanted her, but the risk of offending a hyuman with stellar cultivation strength was a problem to them. While they held themselves back from extreme actions, they mistreated the family of three with whatever chance they could get.


    For instance, some might overcharge them during a transaction or deny them the right to purchase an item, and so on.


    Alleva district was an abode of crime. It was a place where one would find it difficult to find someone truly good and compassionate. Even the poor and less privileged had dirty hearts, so such behaviours weren''t unheard of.


    Having already lived a difficult life, one could only imagine how worse it became after food prices rose. But they held on. That was until the village got attacked.


    As one of the few stellar practitioners in the village, the little girl''s father was supposed to join forces with the other men to defend the village, but he didn''t. Instead, he did his best to protect his family and tried to evacuate them. As a matter of fact, he wasn''t the only one who acted selfishly, as all the other practitioners made the same decision.


    Defend the village? Against such powerful beasts? That was simply suicide.


    However, compared to avian desolate beasts whose home was the skies, there was no way anyone could escape far. Many of the villagers were killed, and even the little girl''s father died protecting his family. And now her mother has followed suit.


    "Please. Please, don''t look back, and keep running. Survive! Run!" The woman yelled at her daughter as she stood behind her.


    With her meagre strength of second level Apertures Opening stage, she had decided to sacrifice herself and seize the attention of a fourth level desolate beast, so as to offer her daughter a chance at survival.


    Her husband was already gone, and all she had left was their daughter. To the woman, having lost the man she loved most, she was already heartbroken and beyond fixing. To her, losing her daughter was much worse than dying at this point. As such, she had no fear in her eyes as she faced the desolate beast two levels stronger than her.


    Rather, deep in her eyes were emotions of anxiety, desperation, and vigour.


    Even amongst alien species, the deep meaning of motherhood existed. Just as humans and hyumans had emotions and empathy, they did as well. They could cry, they could laugh, they could smile, and they could love.


    At this moment, the greatest act of love was being demonstrated, but there was no one to witness it.


    Afraid, yet abiding by her mother''s instructions, the little girl ran away. Tears streamed down her eyes, her body hurt in multiple places, her lungs hurt from the intense breathing and speeding. But no matter what, she kept running and never stared back.


    With her eyes glaring cold blue light, the woman stared at the avian desolate beast, bursting out with strength beyond her level and engaged with it in combat. She was prepared to die, but wanted to make sure her death was worth it. A minute, half a minute or even a second longer, she wanted to delay the desolate beast as much as she could.


    Regardless of how dire and hard she fought, after a few minutes, the light in her eyes darkened as the embers of life within her dissipated. Her last thoughts weren''t sadness, relief or the such, instead it was regret; regret that she couldn''t hold back the monster even a second longer for her daughter to escape.

 Chapter 147 Warning

    "We''ve reached out to the outpost and gotten a response." A young man among the crew shouted.His name was Norman, and he was assigned by Lieutenant Lily to inform HQ of the situation and contact the outpost for details on any active units close by.


    "What did they say?" Lily asked.


    "A military unit the size of a company was dispatched two days ago. They were to investigate the surrounding region. However, news came in last night that a group of avian desolate beasts had escaped the black box perimeter. As for the unit, outpost has been unable to reach them ever since." Norman said.


    The black box perimeter was the name given to the security perimeter set around Garena town about two kilometres away. It differed from the border perimeter the team had just passed.


    "A company? Most likely they encountered the beasts." Nafir analysed.


    Unlike the Red Fangs, the size of units in the military and other agencies was much larger. A platoon in the Red Fangs had eight men including the lead lieutenant. But in the military, there were at least sixteen. It could be more depending on the size of the military, but district militaries used the 16-count.


    A company consisted of four platoons in district military, but five in the city-state''s military. In the Red Fangs, the company captain wasn''t included in the official count, but there were in the military.


    For instance, in the case of the company sent over by the Red Fangs'' director, there were four platoons, bringing the total to thirty-two (32) agents, but this count excluded the company captain. In the Red Fangs, a captain could operate on their own, so they weren''t given a platoon to lead. Including them would bring the total to thirty-three (33) men in the company.


    For the company the group was discussing, the unit numbered sixty-four (64) men, including the company captain who led a single platoon when split apart. This was a sharp contrast to the Red Fangs'' company captain who operated alone when split apart.


    "How far are we from the target?" Lily asked.


    "Closing in on them in a few seconds. About three kilometres."


    The team had been heading towards Garena town from the north, but the source of the signal came from the west. Furthermore, the distance was quite lengthy. Southvale village was far from Garena town, being located close to the edge of sphere of influence. With the team having moved a few kilometres into the region, they were quite far from the village.


    However, moving at full speed enabled the shuttle to close the gap quickly.


    Just as the reply had mentioned, it only took a couple of seconds for the group to see a settlement that was currently dilapidated. The settlement was littered with wreckage and signs of intense battle. There were flames at some locations, coloured blood, corpses and even metal wreckage.


    There were also footprints belonging to desolate beasts all around, and if one looked carefully, they could spot smaller ones.


    Despite all that, the group had ignored it with their attention glued ahead. In front of them, a few dozen desolate beasts of different kinds hovered in midair. There were a couple of them on the ground terrorising the area. The desolate beasts, whether on the ground or in the air, reached heights of at least two metres tall, with a wingspan of over three metres.


    They were humongous and terrifying, with sharp claws and bloodthirsty eyes, all staring in one direction.


    Before the desolate beasts was a blue forcefield that blocked them out. Within the forcefield were a few individuals attacking the monsters from the safety of the barrier. Occasionally, a few of them would exit the barrier and attack the monsters, before retreating back in when they felt exhausted. Through this rotation-based system, the group was able to fend off the monsters and hold on for long.


    "That should be them." Barry said with a strange tone. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The company was supposed to be made up of sixty-four men, but the numbers below were barely up to twenty.


    "Prepare for drop off." Lily ordered before turning around and moving towards the hatch.


    When they heard the words, the members of the team, excluding the pilot, immediately approached the hatch with their armour on. Some of them didn''t have it on earlier, but when they fixed their badge on their clothing and pressed firmly on it, a change occurred. Nanobots, with a replicative characteristic, exited from the badge and covered them, forming the Red Fangs standard armour.


    Lucas marvelled at the scene, impressed by how far technology has come. Although he could make a lot of weapons and even some equipment, certain technology was still foreign, or rather difficult, for Lucas to comprehend. The nanotechnology was one such technology. Not many companies used it, since spatial expansion and compression technology was more advanced and a clearly better option.


    However, Lucas found nanotechnology to be cool and fascinating.


    The artificial intelligence that controlled the sare shuttle interrupted Lucas'' thoughts at that moment.


    "Unlocking hatch in 3, 2,1, drop."


    The door opened and the team of seven immediately jumped off the shuttle, after which it closed back up. Only Lucas and the pilot were left on board.


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    Although the artificial intelligence could be left in charge, it was standard practice to have a pilot active on the shuttle, just in case a situation out of the ordinary, like an EMP bomb being set off, occurred. With a pilot present, they could control the shuttle and ensure that it doesn''t get destroyed during such events.


    Watching as the team descended, Lucas suddenly had a thought. What if he were to use this opportunity to leave?


    While he wasn''t in custody or anything, Lucas knew that they wouldn''t just let him go wherever or whenever he wanted. There was also the fact that the longer the stayed with them, the greater the possibility that Nafir would spot a lie. Since that was the case, leaving during this commotion seemed like the best thing to do.


    Lucas had already gone past the border security, and he was within Garena town''s area of influence. Although it might take a day or two before he made it to the town itself, that was no problem.


    Once that thought took root, it became difficult for Lucas to get rid of it. However, just before Lucas could even work on the idea, the system interface popped up on front of him.


    Don''t do it.

 Chapter 148 Valiant Men

    Just as Lucas was about to carry out his escape plan, the system interface popped up in front of him with a few words written on it.Dear hOst, Negligence of your duTy woulD nOt be Ignored or Tolerated.


    The words didn''t seem to carry any meaning and seemed impromptu, but Lucas noticed that some letters were of a darker shade than the others [1]. Taking out the unique letters, Lucas managed to spell out a sentence.


    Dontdoit, which would roughly translate to ''don''t do it''.


    This sentence, which was more like a warning, caught Lucas offguard. It wasn''t like this was the first time the system had ever warned him about something, but this was the first time it did so through a secret text.


    Usually, whenever the system had anything to say, it would inform Lucas through their mental connection. This time around however, it didn''t do such, but had instead called up the interface with some words written on it, then darkened specific letters to pass on a message.


    The cautious nature of this system gave Lucas a bit of chill as it implied a certain fact; there was someone, or even something, that the all-powerful system was afraid of. But what could it be?


    Despite being curious, Lucas knew now wasn''t the time for questions. He killed his idea of leaving, and didn''t even bother to respond to the system while acting as if he never even noticed the interface. Rather, Lucas glanced at the display screen that hung at the centre of the bay area. It was currently streaming the situation below, and through it, Lucas could monitor how the battle was going.


    He behaved so naturally that one would find it difficult to notice anything suspicious.


    . . . S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Below the sare, there was a blue transparent barrier with a group of people hurdled inside of it. Some of them were treating their wounds while the others were recuperating.


    Outside of the barrier was another group that had formed a circle around the barrier. They defended it and aggressively attacked the desolate beasts that came close.


    Despite being outnumbered three to one, the group fought valiantly with their lives on the line. Blood splattered on the floor, a mixture of theirs and the desolate beasts. Limbs of different shapes and sizes alongside body parts and corpses were sprawled all around the floor, be they monsters or hyumans.


    The battlefield was a ferocious ground with no space or time for remorse. Taking a second to mourn a fallen comrade could cost one their lives, so even as they witnessed their friends, loved ones or even brothers fall lifeless to the ground, the soldiers gritted their teeth and fought harder. They fought not just for themselves, but for the people that were kept safe behind the barrier.


    To many, the Alleva district was a world of corruption and crime. It wasn''t a rare thing to spot an office-holder accepting bribes from a gang leader. As such, the authorities who were in charge of security had to pretend they saw nothing. As long as things didn''t go overboard, they didn''t have a choice than to do so. But this did not mean that everyone in the system was corrupt.


    There were still people who sought to do the right thing, those who fought for justice and those who preached good.


    The Alleva district military, the Grey Zone Defence Force, was an organisation of individuals trained to prioritise the safety of the district and its people. While they didn''t have a say in how things ran, leaving some dissatisfied with the situation in the district, when push comes to shove they would lay down their lives for the safety of the people.


    The desolate beasts tide was a first for many, but thanks to their previous joint exercises with the Baylands City Defence Force, they had some experience facing off against desolate beasts. It was all thanks to those experiences that the team was able to hold on for over an hour against a desolate beasts assault that numbered four times theirs at the start.


    "Holler, any news yet?" One of the men inside of the barrier asked the man behind him without turning around.


    The man behind held a complicated equipment that was linked to a backpack hanging behind him. It was the emergency relay system and was provided to every company each time they went out on missions.


    In a scenario where the communication capabilities of a communicator was not responding or functioning as it should, the emergency relay system would be used to send signals to the nearest station or unit.


    An emergency relay system could reach up to four hundred (400) kilometres. Although this sounded small compared to what communicators and mobile phones on Earth could do, one should understand that emergency relay systems could function even after an EMP bomb, a signal distorter or similar equipment was in effect. In such situations, a mobile phone or a communicator was as good as useless.


    "A strange signal is interfering, limiting the range of the emergency relay system. Although I managed to send out a message, the signal is also interfering with the reception function so I don''t know whether it would reach anyone. We can only have hope and hold out for as long as possible." Holler sighed.


    The man who asked the question didn''t say anything, simply staring ahead with his hands tightened on his sword.


    The military typically used hot-weapon-type vestiges, but as they had been fighting for so long, their ammunition was out. They could only fire the vestiges using their stellar energy, but that was wasteful. Hence, the team had immediately switched to their cold-weapon-type vestiges.


    "If the heavens so wish that we die today, let it be. But the ones we rescued can''t just go out like this." The man said.


    "Get ready. We''ll have to storm out and create a path for them to run. If we are to die, at least, even if just one of them, let them be saved."


    The atmosphere turned solemn, but there was no sign of fear, regret or anxiety on the soldiers'' faces. They were all prepared to die, but just as their captain had said, they couldn''t die without ensuring at least one of the civilians survived.


    Just as they were about to make their last ditch effort, Holler''s face lit up.


    "Captain, I just received a signal!"


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    "A signal? Where?" The captain was shocked, but hurried to ask the important details.


    Holler began tracking down its source, but it only took three seconds for him to become stupefied.


    "Holler, what''s the matter? Where''s the signal?" The captain, confused, asked his lieutenant.


    "Above us. They''re, they''re already here."

 Chapter 149 The Culprits

    As the captain and Holler turn their gazes toward the sky, they made out a few silhouettes dropping from the sky; Lieutenant Lily and the rest of the Red Fangs had already begun their descent."Listen up!" The captain yelled.


    "Those outside, hold the line. Everyone else, prepare for combat."


    "Captain..." Holler was confused.


    With the appearance of a combat unit, it meant that their message had been passed. Logically, the next command should be to hold on until more reinforcements showed up. From what they could see, there were only seven men descending from above. Unless those seven were really strong, it would be pointless to carry out an all-out attack.


    "A team of seven with a sare shuttle pilot, there should be eight of them. Only one division has a unit of eight men that would dare move around in this area on their own." The captain explained.


    "The Red Fangs." Holler widened his eyes as he now understood his captain''s orders.


    A unit of eight men in the military only formed a squad with a staff sergeant leading. However, due to the severity of the desolate beasts wave, squads weren''t allowed to operate alone. The lowest unit allowed to operate alone was a platoon, which had sixteen men.


    The Red Fangs were the only exception, as their platoon consisted of eight men, and just happened to be the lowest unit allowed to operate in this situation.


    A single Red Fang member was at least equal to two or three men in the military. The soldiers were outnumbered three to one by the desolate beasts. However, if the Red Fangs were added to the equation, they should be able to win the battle.


    Lily and her team descended on the ground in the next few seconds, and they immediately lunged at the monsters. They had already begun attacking while in midair, but proceeded to up the ante of their assault once on land.


    With the fervour and skill displayed by the Red Fangs, the soldiers were gingered up for battle. They burst out with renewed vigour and managed to force the desolate beasts back slowly. With elites like the fourth level Lily Mayer and the Holler, together with the fifth level captain of the squad, the alliance was able to hold their own and slowly win back some ground against the monsters.


    In the end, it only took less than half an hour for the entire battle to have been rounded up.


    . . .


    At the same time the fight was ongoing, a trio stood by a couple hundred metres out and monitored the situation. They used special googles to be able to see clearly that far out, and considering there was no sign of providing help, it was obvious that they weren''t security personnel.


    "Are you sure he''s here? You said he''s with them, but I don''t see any sign of him here." One of them asked.


    "I''ve seen the image, I''ve crossed check the database to be sure. It''s him."


    The individual who responded had a horn with a dark red skin tone. Although he looked to be humanoid, that was only in terms of his overall appearance. He had a pair of brown wings on his back and two holes on his face that acted as his nostrils. His ears were also pointed, like the elves in mythology, with his height reaching close to two metres.


    It was obvious that he was a mixed breed, but not of hyuman blood. The individual was a cross breed between a Kerman and a Vara, two alien species that existed in the Blue Mist star regions.


    Kermans were originally from the Eva solar system, while Varas were from the Kellan solar system. The latter had no similarities with hyumans, but Varas were different. They had more in common with hyumans, especially their physique, which was the anthropoid physique.


    However, they were quite tall ¡ªat least 1.9m (6''2 feet)¡ª which was a direct contrast to Kermans that were usually short ¡ªnot more than 1.5 metres (4''9 feet).


    The first person who spoke kept silent as he monitored the situation. But he still failed to find his target. After a short while, he then took off the googles, revealing his face completely, and it was a familiar one.


    "He''s not there." Ramirez said.


    "Maybe he dropped off elsewhere before they came over here." The Kerman-Vara crossbreed spoke.


    "Or he could be lurking in the shuttle."


    The third person among them said. He was family with the standard code of conduct for military forces, so he surmised that the target was possibly still in the shuttle with the pilot.


    The man was one of the men Ramirez had met ever since arriving at Alleva district. He was a human, and despite that, no one dared to mess with him because he was an underground street boss. He also had a couple of connections in the Sunrise city, as well as backing from a Central Prefecture district influence.


    All three men were spectating the battle scene up ahead, but this wasn''t the first time they had done such. They had once gathered together like this before, and the previous time they did so was when the desolate beasts tide appeared in Rosewood city, which led to the fall of the city [1].


    "It doesn''t matter anyways. Since he''s in the district, you can get to him. Just don''t forget what our mission is." The Kerman-Vara crossbreed said.


    "I know, Gandra." Ramirez replied before turning around to leave.


    The three men had been ordered by the higher-ups to test a new equipment in the area as well as to monitor the response speed, and military force of the city-state. Of what value these data was to the higher-ups, they couldn''t figure it out, but they gave no questions as to what or why it was needed. They were foot soldiers, and all they had to do was simply as they were told.


    "I don''t get his obsession." Gandra, the crossbreed, said. Discover more content at empire


    "Of course you wouldn''t. Ramirez was a fellow who ran a gang in the main city. That''s not something just anyone could do, and the profits from there is way more than I could scrap here with my entire forces. Having lost all of that because of a brat, he would definitely be pissed beyond measure.


    It''s already a good thing he can still keep his cool and doesn''t go around cursing at anyone who irks him." The human laughed. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "If he tried that with me, I wouldn''t mind plucking off his head." Gandra said.


    "Sure, sure. Only someone like you can say something like that. As for me, I''m too weak." The man sighed.


    Gandra stared at him and snorted before walking away.


    "Only a fool would take you as weak, just because you hide under the description of human."


    The man didn''t say anything but simply smiled as he departed from a different direction.


    The meeting between these three wasn''t caught by the radar system on the Red Fangs'' sare shuttle, and not even the satellites in the sky would have caught a hint of their presence.


    Unbeknownst to anyone, the culprits of the desolate beasts tide walked the district with them.

 Chapter 150 Lilys Suspicions

    "Thank you for the help." The captain said to Lily."Don''t mention it. We are here to help." Lily responded as she glanced around.


    "I''m sorry we didn''t make it on time." Lily said with a heavy voice.


    She could easily make out the fact that the company has lost a lot of men. A unit of sixty-four soldiers now remained only twenty two. One could imagine how gruesome the earlier battle must have been.


    "Don''t worry about it. It wasn''t your fault. Let''s leave this sad matter for later. The main task at hand is to get these people to a safe place."


    The captain pointed at the civilians that were rescued. There were initially about fifty of them, but more than half had died in the course of retreating, leaving behind just twenty-four.


    "Our shuttle is down so I hope you can help them."


    "Don''t worry. We have a mechanic with us. As long as the shuttle isn''t turned to scrap, he should be able to get it running." Lily comforted.


    "Okay. In that case, I''ll relinquish the command of my unit to you. I need to take a break for now."


    While Lily was weaker than the captain and of lower rank, she was a member of the Red Fangs so it was possible for her to take command of the company, especially considering it was much weaker than it should be.


    Lily nodded and didn''t debate the motion. The captain clearly needed his rest. At the same time, it didn''t matter whether or not she was in command of the surviving soldiers, as her team was all she needed to handle any threat.


    "How did this happen? Can you brief me on it?" Lily asked Holler, who was the lieutenant and second-in-command of the company. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The name of this village is Southvale village. We are on patrol and the region around Southvale village and two others are under our jurisdiction. During the late hour dog yesterday, we discovered signs of desolate beasts on our radar system which we found strange, but not entirely out of the ordinary.


    As you know, the desolate beasts wave is at Garena town right now, but even with the barrier set up around the town, some of the beasts manage to escape, which is why we carry out patrols of the surrounding regions.


    "At first, there were only just a few avian desolate beasts so we fought them off with our sare shuttle. However, more started gathering at our location almost as if they were attracted here by something. In the end, the force grew to a size three times our company."


    "Wait."


    Lily was surprised by the statement, and hurried to stop Holler.


    Three times a company was one hundred and ninety-two (192). There was no way that many desolate beasts would be wandering outside the black box perimeter and not be noticed by the outpost.


    It was either there was a negligence of duty from the outpost, or the desolate beasts appeared out of nowhere. As for equipment malfunctioning? In this situation, that would be impossible. Every equipment used in the outpost was of high grade and properly maintained, because any failure resulting from it could potentially cause the loss of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives.


    Suddenly, Lily narrowed her eyes as one more possibility crossed her mind; one she refused to believe but had to admit was likely to be true. The existence of a spy.


    Coming into Alleva district, the entire idea that a large wave of desolate beasts appeared out of nowhere and destroyed a city and a large town was entirely surreal. It was unbelievable, and so, many theorists, biologists, military tacticians and so on tried to figure out how such had happened.


    Some claimed that the monsters came from underground why others suggested that there might have been a desolate beast habitat hidden away from public notice that had expanded over the years. This idea was plausible as it had been a long time since a proper sweep of the district had been carried out.


    Regardless of which conjecture was thought up, there was not enough evidence to reach a conclusion on it. However, one military tactician had thought up an alternative occurrence. He believed that this was the work of the terrorists, and he has his reasons.


    During the last assault, terrorists had displayed that they could facilitate spatial movement. The Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed, Ginon, and the Saurian, Mikolos, [1] had escaped the scene using a space-bomb. Space-bombs were high-grade weapons that could create a distortion in space-time.


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    If created with destruction in mind, it would be a devastating weapon as it could create a black hole after detonation. Due to such destructive prowess, space-bombs were banned on a solar system level and made illegal by the Federation Assembly.


    However, space-bombs could also be used for other functions apart from violence. A space-bomb could create a wormhole if the space within the distortion is stabilised to some extent, although the destination of the wormhole would be random within a certain radius. If one found a way to set coordinates, it could then be used to transport something over.


    The military tactician who claimed that this was a terrorist act believed that they had managed to figure out how to set coordinates for space-bombs and had transported the desolate beasts tide over there Alleva district. This man was the Red Fangs director, and he based this knowledge from Lieutenant Lily''s report after her battle with Ginon.


    Despite the possibility of this suspicion being valid, it was rejected by the majority as they believed that the terrorists in Eretre were incapable of possessing such technology. Forget about rh terrorists, even the Oklo Dynasty''s military ¡ªthe number one military force on the planet¡ª didn''t have such space-bombs.


    From this, one could infer that it was impossible, if not outrageous, to think that some rag-tag terrorists had access to space-bombs with fixed coordinates.


    Truth be told, Lily also found the idea unreasonable despite it being brought up by her boss. However, after hearing what Holler had to say, she was beginning to suspect that the idea might not be impossible again.


    If the terrorists could have a spy in the military, it wasn''t impossible to think that they found some way to smuggle in space-bombs into the planet. What''s more, that terrorist, Ginon, was an Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed. Evonikas weren''t native to Eretre or even the Kellan solar system. Unlike other alien species Evonikas didn''t wander outside of their solar system as much.


    Also, the Saurian, Mikolos, was the same.


    It was clear that the duo weren''t from Eretre, and there was a very high chance that they weren''t even from the Kellan solar system either.


    Lily took in a deep breath, held back her thoughts, then had Holler continue. No matter whether they were true or not, her thoughts were merely suspicions, and until there was enough evidence to clarify them, it was best not to speak about it just yet.

 Chapter 151 Target Found, But Who Else Is Here?

    The group eventually made their way to the outpost with the survivors. The outpost was located further in, but since there weren''t enough shuttles, the civilian survivors had to be carried out with them as well. Once there, they could then be assigned to the appropriate transportation vehicles which would ship them out of the area. Naturally, Lucas tagged along.The outpost was much like the Wastelands base station, but on a smaller scale. There were a couple of buildings, with some serving as residential areas for the military or training facilities. There were also places where they could go and relax or stock up on resources. The streets of the outpost were filled with individuals who were at least at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Due to the fact that the outpost was only recently completed, it had even less facilities than the base station. But it still has just enough to serve its purpose.


    Thanks to the efforts of modern day technology, building houses could be completed quickly. One could either utilise nanotechnology or robots for the construction of a building. They could also buy a moveable one and erect it on the designated foundation. This was the typical method used by the military.


    With the large amount of annual funding, the military had bought a lot of moveable buildings which they used for setting up outpost stations. These moveable buildings had impressive defence, so much so that they could survive a direct missile shot. This was all thanks to the fact that the building was properly made with durable materials, all thanks to experienced vestige-smiths.


    That''s right; the moveable buildings used by the military were all vestiges. Although they weren''t as useful as other vestiges, and were only limited to Grade 1, these buildings were made with defence in mind. As such, they were capable of withstanding a desolate beast''s assault for a long while.


    The outpost consisted of these buildings, especially the core buildings that served as the operating centre for the army. The majority of buildings were either two floors or less [1], but there were about three that towered more than three floors. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One of them stood out the most and was located right at the centre of the outpost, reaching an impressive height of about seven storeys, or at least 23 metres.


    ''That''s probably the control centre.'' Lucas thought.


    Later on, the group''s sare shuttle landed on the helipad at the landing strip. The civilians were escorted to a new site for their departure. Many of them profusely thanked the team before leaving.


    "So where are you going from here on?" Nafir asked Lucas.


    "To find what I came looking for." Lucas answered before walking away.


    Nafir smiled but didn''t stop him. Instead, he left with Lily for a briefing with the outpost''s head.


    . . .


    A few days passed by, the majority of which Lucas spent moving around the area in search of traces of the Jaburian desolate beast. If he were still at the outpost, Lucas might have been able to ask for help, but he didn''t want the Red Fangs to have any idea of his purpose here.


    Luckily, Lucas had managed to find a trace of the monster, and he was currently tracking it down. Although the Jaburian was rare, the rumoured sighting of it here turned out to be true. The problem, however, was that Lucas was already deep into the area, and if he kept going on ahead, he would soon approach Garena town.


    Garena town was currently surrounded by a frontier known as the black box perimeter. The black box perimeter was about two kilometres away from Garena town and circled around the entire town. About sixty-six (66) kilometres away from black box perimeter was the boundary perimeter, which was still within the region covered by Garena town''s influence.


    The outpost was about twenty-seven (27) kilometres away from the black box perimeter.


    This meant that in the last three days, Lucas had already covered almost twenty kilometres of distance. Truth be told, he considered this quite slow, but the reason for his pace was due to the fact that Lucas still had to keep a lookout for the monster he was looking for.


    "The black box perimeter is said to keep out the majority of desolate beasts, but there''s still quite a few that got through." Lucas sighed as he stared at the footprints on the ground.


    Compared to the boundary perimeter, the black box perimeter was more thorough and secure, but there were still a ton of escapees from Garena town. The footprints, for instance, came from two different desolate beasts. One belonged to the Jaburian desolate beast Lucas was pursuing, while the other was from a different desolate beast.


    Apart from this, he had also encountered a few desolate beasts on the way, most of which he avoided, but for those that sought death, he granted it to them.


    Lucas sighed before continuing his hunt. He was cautious enough to avoid the attention of other desolate beasts, not because he was afraid, but because he wanted to avoid drawing attention from the surveillance drones that occasionally flew by.


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    After tracking the footsteps for a few minutes, Lucas finally arrived at what seemed to be a cliff wall. Two desolate beasts aggressively faced off against each other in the area, damaging the terrain beyond repair.


    One of them was a huge ape-like monster with sharp fur and long arms. Under the sunlight, the fur glistened as if it were made from metal. Its red eyes gave off a demonic glare with the vertical pupils staring ferociously at its target. Two fangs dropped out from the upper jaw of the ape making it appear like a vampiric creature.


    However, the most noteworthy feature of the monster wasn''t its appearance, but its size. It was simply very large.


    In terms of height, the desolate ape easily dwarfed a three storey building. Just the size of its fist alone could compare with some of the smaller sedans on Earth. The thickness of its arm was the same as having two hyumans stand side-by-side.


    Such a ferocious beast was an opponent very few freelancers would want to face. What''s more, its energy was clearly on par with that of a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    The desolate ape''s opponent was similarly not ordinary. The creature looked like a panther but was massive, reaching up to two metres on all fours. While it was much smaller compared to the desolate ape, the desolate beast showed no signs of fear. It easily dodged the attacks of the desolate ape, twisting and turning at the right moment to dodge the attacks with minimal effort.


    Speed wasn''t its only speciality as each time it counter-attacker, the force of its attacks could create a dent on the hard ground and even force the desolate ape back. Despite being at the same power level as the desolate ape, anyone could tell that the pantherian was the stronger party of the two and would end up as the inevitable winner.


    However, Lucas surmised that this would only be true as long as the pantherian managed to keep dodging all the attacks of the desolate ape. If any blow managed to land or even graze the pantherian, it would be all over. This was because compared to its opponent, the desolate ape''s strength and power wasn''t something the pantherian could compete with.


    "Found you." Lucas smiled.


    The pantherian was exactly his target for this mission; the Jaburian desolate beast.


    [[Mission Description: Using the hide of a Jaburian desolate beast freshly acquired by the host, create an exquisite leather armour at Grade 4, within one month.]]


    According to the mission details, Lucas had to retrieve the hide of the monster with his own hands. Although it wasn''t spelt out, the mission required that Lucas freshly harvested the skin himself, which was essentially the same as killing one.


    Although unlikely, if Lucas waited for the desolate ape to win, he would save himself the stress of killing the Jaburian himself. However, the ape would surely have a bite out of the monster ¡ªa behaviour amongst desolate beasts¡ª and this would damage the skin. If he wanted to prevent that, Lucas would fight the ape right away.


    On the other hand, the most likely scenario was the Jaburian winning against the desolate ape, but if that happened, Lucas would be facing the stronger of the two. Even if it were a bit tired out or injured, the battle won''t be an easy one.


    ''Well, the situation is already much better than I''ve wanted, so any result is okay.'' Lucas thought.


    He then began to survey the area, understanding the terrain and environment to the best of his abilities.


    As soon as a winner was decided between the two, Lucas would have to kick-off another fight. If he wanted to win with less difficulty, Lucas had to be able to make use of the surroundings to his advantage.


    In the course of surveying the area, Lucas'' sight was suddenly attracted to a spot on the cliff, where a small shallow cave existed.


    Staring at the cave, Lucas noticed a silhouette inside which turned him speechless.


    ''Is that...!!''

 Chapter 152 A New Vestige

    On the face of the cliff, there was a tiny cave barely capable of fitting an adult. Although the cave was dark, it was quite shallow, which made it possible to see the inside of the cave.As Lucas stared at it, he could make out a silhouette inside the cave. There was a little figure hidden inside the cave. He surmised the figure to be a child, but as for how they got here, Lucas didn''t know.


    ''A survivor from the village raids?'' Lucas wondered.


    The desolate ape and Jaburian fought ferociously, so for the moment, the child hidden in the cave was safe. But there was no telling for how long this would be so.


    Although he didn''t call himself a hero, Lucas found it difficult to just sit still while an innocent child was at risk. He couldn''t see the figure properly, but for some reason, Lucas was reminded about his past life.


    As Yohan, Lucas had lived three years, from the age of eleven (11) years, all on his own in a forbidden forest. Back then, Lucas had to be on the lookout for magical beasts, vicious monsters and deserters who wandered in the forest away from public screening. Any one of those characters could have easily killed him and they wouldn''t take pity on him, Yohan had to be extremely careful.


    That period was a dark and lonely series of months for Lucas; a period he tried his best to forget. However, seeing the little silhouette, Lucas was reminded of the time when he was just as weak.


    Just as Lucas was lost in his memories, the desolate ape and the Jaburian ''s battle was already heated up, but still far from the end.


    "Roar!"


    The desolate ape lunged at the Jaburian, irritated by the countless attacks it had made being dodged by the latter. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Jaburian was aware that while it possessed immense strength, it couldn''t compare to the desolate ape. At the same time, its defence wasn''t up to the task of holding out, unlike the desolate ape. So, the monster hurried to retreat out of the path of the desolate ape. With its speed, this didn''t prove to be difficult for it.


    Once again, the desolate ape was enraged. It was aware that it was the stronger of the duo, but due to its lower agility and dexterity, it could do nothing to the Jaburian. The ape roared, stretching out its hands and grabbing a tree trunk, before uprooting the entire entity from the ground and swinging it as a weapon.


    Such attacks still did nothing to the Jaburian, but it succeeded in forcing the monster back as it found it difficult to approach.


    ''This won''t do.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the two.


    With the way things were going, the battle would only end when either of them ended up tired. But that would take far too long for Lucas. The longer he stayed here, the more at risk he was. This was because the battle of the two desolate beasts was becoming very loud, and it would soon attract attention; not just that of the military''s drones, but the other vagabond desolate beasts.


    At the same time, there was also the fact that the Jaburian looked to be the most likely winner. What''s more was that it would achieve this feat while taking little or no serious injuries. If that were to happen, even if it was tired out, it would be very difficult for Lucas to win unless he used one of the more powerful Bronze cards (he currently has three: a third, fourth and sixth level cards).


    Lucas decided to level the playing field and make the battle even and more dire.


    "Retrieve."


    The ever-familiar pair of craftsman gloves appeared on Lucas'' fists, but this was just the start.


    "Retrieve."


    The gauntlets which made their debut at the Bayena Plains appeared once again today. Made with a combination of Devil Mark stones, Purple Iridium metal, and Gretac-Titanium alloy for the framework, with Violent Sun ores and Red Iris stone for the runes.


    Compared to its previous form during the Bayena Plain event, there were slight changes to the gauntlets. This was because Lucas had acquired the knowledge of stellar circuits since then, so he added a few to the gauntlets to boost its power.


    Having the same thickness as that of an adult''s waist, the power of the gauntlets were not to be underestimated. Just its brute force was enough to make a massive dent on a vehicle. As for the grade of the vestiges, it was naturally Grade 3, the highest that Lucas could make at the moment. However, a combined effect could be generated using both gauntlets.


    The power effect created could easily compete with a Grade 4 vestige.


    But that still wasn''t enough.


    "Retrieve."


    A pole appeared in Lucas'' arm. The weight of the pole was immense and it immediately acted on Lucas'' arm right away. He hurried to support the pole with his free hand while frowning his face.


    ''Damn, this stuff is heavy.''


    The pole was a new vestige he designed, explicitly for hunting desolate beasts. It was a projectile weapon and had firepower equivalent to a Grade 4 vestige. However, the other features of the vestige were substandard, even for a Grade 3 vestige. The speed of the projectile was roughly the same as a standard Grade 3 bow.


    Its recoil was immense; requiring at least a third level stellar practitioner to support it with their full strength. Finally, the durability of the vestige was low; it could only handle 10 shots before breaking down, if repairs weren''t made. Even with consistent repairs, the vestige could only tolerate thirty shots before the material would fail.


    The reason for this fault was the lack of an appropriate material as well as Lucas'' low skill level at the moment. Purple Iridium metal was a good option for the base metal and Lucas had a lot of it. However, he couldn''t handle much of the material without enough stellar energy. Even the gauntlets only used half an ingot, which was the max Lucas could use in a vestige with his current strength.


    Despite its flawed design, the vestige was very powerful. As was previously mentioned, it could unleash firepower equivalent to a fully activated Grade 4 vestige. That was enough force to take down a sixth or even seventh level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. It was currently Lucas'' strongest vestige in his arsenal.


    However, the slow firing speed of the vestige made it unusable against desolate beasts that strong. By the time he had fired the vestige, they could easily dodge the projectile.


    Regardless, it was just about enough to take on these fourth level desolate beasts; that was as long as Lucas didn''t go head on against them.


    ''Shooting the ape isn''t worth it and would bring the battle to a close. It would also alert the Jaburian, and it might escape. The Jaburian is quite fast, and it would be hard for me to get a clean shot after that.''


    Lucas sighed recalling that his target was a creature that could reach top speed equivalent to the fastest animal on Earth.


    ''Aiming for the Jaburian is also a difficult task.''


    The recoil of the vestige was too powerful for him to handle even with the gauntlets on. He might be able to get a shot in with the right circumstances, but its accuracy would be about seventy percent even then.


    ''I still have to try.''


    Lucas switched positions just in case the desolate beasts might have sensed him but pretended not to. Although they were called beasts, they couldn''t be compared to the same creatures on Earth that operated based on instincts. From the third level and above, desolate beasts got smarter and could scheme.


    Even animals on Earth were quite smart, so one could imagine the intellectual capacity of a fourth level desolate beast.


    After relocating to a new spot, Lucas hid himself and aimed the weapon at the battle zone. His plan was to try and get both monsters with one shot, but if he couldn''t, it would then be to injure the Jaburian just enough to weaken it greatly.


    The reason for this pick was that the Jaburian had been dodging the attacks aimed at it while dishing out attacks on the desolate ape, resulting in the latter being riddled with injuries. Although none of them were serious, the desolate ape was constantly losing blood from the wounds and would soon be tired out. Enjoy more content from empire


    From this, it was clear that the Jaburian was aware of the strategy of tiring out an opponent, but this wasn''t strange; even lions used this tactics while hunting a larger and stronger prey.


    Since the desolate ape was injured and would soon be on its last legs, added to the fact that it was never Lucas'' target to begin with, it was only right for him to have the vestige aimed at the Jaburian.


    Lucas adjusted the attack power of the weapon in order to boost its attack speed. This was a feature he had designed with smaller opponents in mind. There was a setting to decrease the power and increase, within the range of power for a fully activated Grade 2 vestige and a fully activated Grade 4 vestige.


    Lucas adjusted the output to match a fully activated Grade 3 vestige, which in turn resulted in the rest of the excess power being channeled into the firing chamber. This meant that the attack speed was now boosted from a standard Grade 3 bow, to a high quality Grade 3 bow. In comparison, a Peregrine Falcon at top speed would easily be shot down.

 Chapter 153 The Little Girl

    ''Now.''After monitoring the battle for a while, Lucas attacked at the very first opportunity he had when the Jaburian had just dodged an attack from the desolate ape, leaving behind an opening. Discover hidden content at empire


    *Boom*


    The vestige released a loud noise, but by the time the sound had reverberated, the projectile was already before its target. It was too late for the Jaburian to dodge, and it only barely managed to flinch its body before the projectile ¡ªan energy bullet¡ª penetrated right through its flesh and gouged out a large wound.


    The wound was so large that it almost severed the Jaburian into two. Its body was barely intact as it lay on the floor, inhaling and exhaling heavily through each motion. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the first shot, Lucas didn''t stop and reloaded right away, this time aiming for the desolate ape.


    The latter was stunned by both the noise and the attack, and barely responded in time for the next shot.


    *Boom*


    The second projectile was shot out of the cannon of the vestige, but as it was a rushed shot, both its power and speed couldn''t compare to the previous one. This resulted in the desolate ape having enough time to react at just the last second, tilting its body to the side.


    The projectile grazed the monster, but it took with it a significant portion of flesh which caused the desolate ape to cry out loudly. However, compared to the Jaburian, one could say it was let off easily. The latter laid flat on the ground, incapable of propping itself up, whereas the desolate ape could still stand.


    "Hmm, letting you go like this would be such a waste."


    Lucas, who had already stored the vestige back into his inventory, walked out of his hideout.


    "With that injury and the previous wounds, you should be around what? The third level? Maybe the second? That''s just your strength though. I can''t say much about your reflexes and movement. Regardless, you should be the perfect sparring partner."


    Lucas was planning on taking it on alone without using the Bronze cards.


    Thanks to his physical training and intense vestige-smithing, Lucas was at the peak of the Bodey Strengthening stage long ago. During this period, he had managed to forcefully surpass that level in terms of raw physicality. This was all thanks to a secret technique he knew off, but said secret technique could only enable him reach the second level of the Apertures Opening stage in terms of physicality at most.


    At the moment, Lucas'' body could compare to that of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, this was merely limited to muscle strength. Without stellar energy, he couldn''t display the boost in strength nor could he truly take on a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner without using his vestiges.


    But for this battle, Lucas wasn''t felt he didn''t need stellar energy. The desolate ape was already much weaker than its basd form, which shouldn''t be a problem for him.


    . . .


    A few minutes later, the brawny large figure of the desolate ape fell to the ground with a resounding boon, sending dust into the air.


    Lucas stood opposite it, panting lightly as he flexed his arms. The battle was over, but despite his calm composure, it wasn''t an easy one. Even with the severe injuries it bore, the desolate ape was a thorny opponent that had almost got to Lucas a couple of times. In the end, he focused on worsening its injuries rather than making new ones, which resulted in Lucas coming out on top.


    Turning his attention to the Jaburian that he had left unattended, Lucas realised that it had died due to blood loss, which wasn''t a surprise.


    With the two monsters now dead, Lucas walked towards the cave in the face of the cliff. He could still see the small figure shivering within.


    "Oi, come out." Lucas stood before the cliff and called out.


    A whimper sounded from the cave and the silhouette appeared to have moved backwards. However, the cave was shallow and the figure had already occupied whatever space was left.


    "If you keep remaining there, more monsters will come and you''ll die. Come with me, I''ll find somewhere safe for you."


    Seeing no reaction still, Lucas sighed.


    ''Why do I have to be a nice guy?''


    He then jumped and grabbed onto the cliff, before climbing towards the cliff. The cave was around ten metres off the ground ¡ªroughly the same height as a three storey building¡ª so it didn''t take Lucas long to get to.


    He stared inside the cave and finally got a good look at the silhouette. It was a little girl with silver hair, who looked to be around seven years old based on her height. However, Lucas couldn''t confirm that as she showed clear signs of malnutrition.


    "Hey, little girl. What are you doing here?"


    The girl didn''t answer him, instead staring frightfully at Lucas.


    The latter sighed before extending his arm and seizing her.


    "Ahh, ah!!!"


    The little girl was shocked and screamed, but Lucas ignored her as he jumped down from the cave and landed on the floor.


    "Don''t, don''t hurt me."


    "I wouldn''t hurt you kid, so stop making a fuss." Lucas said as he brought the girl down.


    "Who are you? Where are you from? And your parents, where are they?"


    The girl froze after the bombardment, but suddenly bent her head low and shivered.


    "My parents... they''re gone."


    Lucas went silent. Although he had somewhat guessed this, he also had some other ideas in mind. However, reality turned out to be the worst possible option. The little girl was an orphan, and most likely a victim of a desolate beast attack, just like the people Lucas had encountered a couple days back.


    "A little kid like yourself shouldn''t be out this far. There are a lot of dangerous monsters like the ones you just saw. If you remain on your own for any longer, you might end up dead. So tell me, which settlement did you come from and what''s your name?"


    "Name, settlement?" The girl was confused.


    "I, I don''t know."

 Chapter 154 Break Out; The Wave Moves Out

    With the Jaburian taken down and stored in his inventory, Lucas made his way back to the outpost. While Garena town was closer to Lucas and there was a landing strip there with a small outstation, going over there was quite risky. Apart from the risk involved, Lucas would have to answer a bunch of questions from what he was doing there, how he made it over despite being a human, and why he was with a little girl. He might end up holed inside the outstation while being grilled by the men on duty.As such, heading back to the outpost, even though it was farther away, became the best option for Lucas. The outpost was already familiar with him and had him on their record, so even if Lucas were to return after quite a few days, he would merely be subjected to some standard checks before being let off. From there, Lucas could charter a ride back to the boundary perimeter.


    Staring at the little girl who walked half a step behind, Lucas sighed.


    After a bit of questioning, Lucas had surmised that the girl had acute amnesia. All she knew of was that her parents had died. As for her name, their name, or even the settlement they came from, Lucas had no idea. There was also no hint or clue on her that could help Lucas figure out her identity. Even a scan with his communicator revealed that she wasn''t registered in the city-state''s database.


    At first, he presumed that she was from Southvale village or the surrounding villages that had recently gotten attacked when he just arrived in the region, but he quickly cancelled the thought. Southvale village was over twenty-two (22) kilometres away from where he found her. It was illogical to believe that a girl this little had walked so far without any food or water all the while.


    What''s more, while there weren''t so many desolate beasts on the run, there were still a few that had escaped the black box perimeter. For the little girl to not have encountered any during a more than twenty kilometres journey was nothing short of a miraculous and unbelievable amount of luck; something which Lucas fathomed to be impossible.


    As such, Lucas instead deduced that she was probably a survivor of some close by village or settlement that got destroyed by a wandering desolate beast. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Something about the girl struck him, which was why Lucas cared for her. Just like his little self in his first life, Lucas was in a similar situation. With no parents or guardians, his eleven year old self had to survive in a forbidden forest filled with magic creatures and ferocious entities for three years before his master found him. During that time, it was no exaggeration to say that Lucas had experienced far too many life-and-death crises that stuck with him.


    In the end, he had developed a soft spot for orphans as Lucas felt that they were the only ones to truly be able to understand what he has been.


    During his time on Earth, despite having made millions from his research, Lucas was known to be frugal with his spending unless it came to research. He had instead spent most of his earnings sponsoring a few orphanages and supporting broken homes. This had caused him to have a new nickname apart from "Father of Material Science", which was "Father of the Fatherless". It was a title he didn''t boast about nor felt proud of, but Lucas had taken it upon himself to act as a father for the orphans he took care of.


    Seeing the little game reminded him of the oath he swore as well as his past self, so there was no way Lucas would just let her be.


    ''Best to find an orphanage to keep her safe.'' Lucas thought.


    As for adopting the little girl, he didn''t consider it. Lucas felt he was too busy to be raising kids.


    "Something''s wrong." Find your next read at empire


    Lucas said before suddenly picking the little girl up and giving her a piggyback ride.


    "Ah." The little girl let out a soft shout.


    "I can''t let a little kid like yourself walk the way back. That would make me look irresponsible."


    "System never expected host to have a soft spot." The system''s voice, which had been quiet since the incident at the rescue mission, sounded.


    "Oh shut up." Lucas responded.


    The little girl was confused seeing him speak out loud and almost mistook Lucas for a mad man.


    The duo, appearing like an elder brother and a little sister, made their way to the outpost, but unbeknownst to them, trouble was brewing close by.


    . . .


    Garena town, black box perimeter.


    Garena town was a very large town, comparable to a city. Most of the large towns were the same as cities, but the lack of official recognition made them unable to take on the title of ''city''. The reason for this was due to a lot of political struggles by the ruling powers of Alleva district and Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district.


    More cities would mean more city lords, which would then bring about another struggle for power and dilute the influence of the current city lords. To prevent that, all sides had agreed on a fixed number of existing cities, unless otherwise simultaneously decided upon. This led to most of the developing towns which had experienced population and economical boom to still remain classified as a town.


    Although called a town, Garena town was very well developed. In its heyday, it was a city filled with hovercars, neon screens, holographic displays and many more. The economy was very healthy, and since it was located in the grey zone known as Alleva district, there was a lot of money-exchange going on. Gambling dens existed everywhere, racing tracks for hovercar races were located in one area, and so on. But gambling wasn''t the only speciality of the town.


    Due to its unique geographical location, being right at the centre of Alleva district, it was a good channel for commerce and trading. Some companies had even set up shop here, selling hover cars, communicators, electronics and more. There were even security companies here who would provide guaranteed safety to their clients. Also, being in the grey zone, there were naturally outlets to hire underground assassins here.


    One could say that Garena town was a thriving town in every sense of the word. However, that was all in the past. The current Garena town couldn''t even be described as a shell of its old self. The skyscrapers that once stood side by side with the clouds were nothing more than rubble. The hover cars and technological devices that gave the city its vine were littered all across the streets as scrap metal.


    Garena town had become an unrecognisable location with the only inhabitants being a large number of desolate beasts of various shapes and sizes. Some of these monsters appeared like dragons while others like basilisks, rhinos, apes and so on. They rampaged around the area and caused damage all over again. There would be occasional fights amongst themselves, but it was sorted out quickly. This was a mystery of desolate beast waves; one which zoologists had yet to figure out.


    Most desolate beasts were apex predators or even archenemies on the food chain. When they sight each other on the wild, they would clash in a heated battle until one was dead. However, when they were in a wave, the monsters'' instincts would strangely be toned down greatly. So much so that they wouldn''t engage in life-or-death fights anymore, at best having a small scuffle. No one knew why this was so and no one could explain it, but it was believed to be a strange deviation in their genetic makeup.


    At the moment, the desolate beasts that formed the tide, which numbered up to a five thousand or more, suddenly stopped wherever they were. Whether roaming the streets, playing with the broken buildings and metal scraps, facing off against the other, or even having some alone time, they all froze on the spot for a second.


    In the very next moment, all the desolate beasts unanimously turned towards one direction and began to advance.


    The desolate beasts tide that had kept silent for over a week now, had begun to make their move again.

 Chapter 155 The Higher-ups Meeting

    The desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was something the district had never experienced before. Due to the unavailability of local freelancers and the weakness of the security operatives, they were forced to hire from outside the region.Baylands City was one of the most experienced regions when it came to dealing with desolate beasts. They had various forces, split between weak and strong, which could only hold their own against different levels of desolate beasts. Naturally, they were the ones who responded the most after the recruitment message was sent out by Alleva district.


    Many freelancer guilds, associations, teams and even private militia, had journeyed to Alleva district. Apart from the reward from the district''s council, there was also the fact that they could keep the loot from the battles for themselves.


    Based on sightings, some of the desolate beasts in the wave were quite rare and uncommon in the area, for instance, the Jaburian Lucas has hunted. With such valuable attractions around, it was difficult for these freelancer parties to resist participating in the raid. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Welcome."


    An officer in military clothing smiled at the group that had just exited the sare shuttle in front of him.


    "It''s our pleasure to be here." Crimson Fang smiled.


    Just like other freelancer guilds, the Autumn''s Gate guild had also made an appearance here.


    "The Colonel is waiting." The officer said. He was a Major and at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    The military system in Eretre was standard in the same level, but different at different levels.


    The basic unit ¡ªwhich was a team¡ª was the same at all levels, consisting of 4 soldiers, with the leader, a Sergeant, included in the headcount. Even the next basic unit, a squad, was standardised at all levels and made of two teams which were eight soldiers. However, other units in the military differ when it comes to a district''s military, city-state''s official military, and even the planetary military.


    The reason for this difference in numbers was because the jurisdiction and area of operation for each military were in contrast, hence it was unreasonable to use a fixed number.


    For the next basic level ¡ªa platoon¡ª the numbers varied quite obviously. As was previously mentioned [1], a platoon in a district military consisted of sixteen soldiers which was two squads. But in the city-state''s official military, it was a bit complicated. A platoon led by a second lieutenant maintained the same number of two teams, sixteen soldiers. But for a platoon led by a first lieutenant, there were four squads, adding up to a total of thirty-two soldiers.


    A company had four platoons in a district''s military reaching sixty-four soldiers. However, in the city-state''s official military, there were five platoons (first lieutenant standard) which resulted in there being one hundred and sixty (160) soldiers.


    Due to the difference in platoon size and unit numbers, a city-state''s official military ended up being much larger than that of a single district. This was why whenever a district encountered a serious issue, they would request help from Baylands City.


    Crimson Fang, under the lead of the major, went into a meeting room escorted by Nathan Von Klaus, the second vice guild leader. As for Lisa, she was charged with organising the team and keeping them in check.


    For this raid, the Autumn''s Gate guild didn''t just come with only the seven main members, but around twenty more fighters. This was a desolate beasts wave, so it was much more difficult. Also, in order to reap more rewards at the end of everything, they had to have more men in battle. Crimson Fang would have ordered the whole guild over, but he had his concerns and the guild had also accepted missions from other parties.


    "Any news on the situation?" Crimson Fang asked the major.


    "Not yet. Based on the last info we got from the team stationed at the black box perimeter, there''s been no major movements from the monsters." The officer responded.


    "So I guess the battlefield would be Garena town then." Crimson Fang sighed. He had once been to the town long ago, and marvelled at the economy and prosperity, despite it being located in Alleva district.


    Garena town was one of the few large towns that could truly be compared to a city. Even the nearby Amer city couldn''t compare to the previous Garena town. It was even almost as prosperous as the capital city, Sunrise City. Pi


    The officer sighed and nodded, "With the way things are, most likely. The town is already in rubble, so it doesn''t matter anymore. The damage has already been done."


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    At the same time, he sneaked a glance behind.


    The purple haired man beside Crimson Fang, Nathan Von Klaus, had remained quiet all this while. From what the major knew, the young man was from the Von Klaus family, which was based in Baylands City. Recently, the family had achieved the right to live in the Central Prefecture district and were currently in the process of moving in.


    The Central Prefecture district was the centre of the entire city-state and the region that played home to the top 3% of Baylands city-state. Everyone who owned a property there was a multi-millionaire at the very least. To be a multi-millionaire in terms of federal coins was a challenge that not many could pull off, after all, the currency was very valuable.


    Usually, only those who dealt in vestige-smithing business could pull it off, but it was difficult to do so thanks to the various restrictions and difficulties in the business.


    The Von Klaus family, however, didn''t focus on vestige-smithing, but rather, vestige dealerships. They did what others didn''t which was to sell vestiges to regions with little or no vestige-smith presence. Alleva district was one of their main markets, and they had a store exactly in Garena town.


    Seeing the young master of the family without a reaction to the discussion, the major couldn''t help but be slightly impressed.


    It showed that Nathan had proper control of his emotions, which was a good sign of a leader. It could also mean that the Von Klaus family was unbothered by the loss, but that was unlikely.


    The trio finally made it to the central building in the outpost, where the meeting was to be held. A bunch of figures were already present, many of which were guild leaders like Crimson Fang. Some were leaders of private military services run by either top families, businesses in the desolate beasts industry, or even vestige-smith companies.


    As vestige-smithing companies required a large supply of materials, it was only natural that some would have their own freelancer guild, although the usual means was to sponsor one. The same went for businesses in the desolate beasts industry, like the Mertens family''s company.


    In the meeting were also senior managers of establishments, vestige-smith businesses, and many more. All parties that were related to desolate beasts and vestige industries in one way or the other were gathered at the moment.


    After Crimson Fang''s group settled down, they had to wait a while before the meeting kicked off.


    "Good day, everyone." The man who sat at the head seat spoke.


    Based on the uniform he wore, he was the official in-charge of the Alleva District Defence Force.


    The highest military officer in a district was the Lieutenant Colonel, who was in charge of five companies in the area, which made up for three hundred and twenty men (320). A lieutenant colonel in a district was a much weaker contrast to a lieutenant colonel in the city-state''s official military, who led the same number of companies but for a total of eight hundred (800) men.


    The numbers might seem small, but one should understand that below a planetary scale, robots and unarmed drones were the mainstream fighters in battles. There might be three hundred and twenty men in a district military battalion, but the number of unarmed drones and robots could be at least double that.


    Hence, the power under the control of the lieutenant colonel before the people wasn''t to be underestimated.


    The man was also at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage, just like the majority gathered here. But apart from his rank and influence, he was also very powerful.


    Although levels and stages were the main means of determining someone''s power, it wasn''t exactly reliable. A fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could beat a fifth of even sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner with the right conditions, even more so when vestiges were called into consideration.


    The lieutenant colonel had two Grade 4 vestiges, when people at his power level usually had either one or none. Of the Grade 4 vestiges, one of them was a custom-made version, which further boosted his power more so than the other vestige. He also had three Grade 3 vestiges, and when armed with his entire Arsenal, the lieutenant colonel had no issues holding off a seventh level desolate beast, or surviving the assault of an eighth level desolate beast.


    Although his vestiges counted for a significant portion of his power, it was due to the man''s strength, skill and abilities that he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, so he was not to be underestimated, even by the other sixth level stellar practitioners gathered here. It was no understatement to say that he could take on at least three of them at the same time yet still win.


    "Today, we would be discussing about the raid to take down the monsters at Garena town."


    Just after the lieutenant colonel spoke, an alarm abruptly sounded.

 Chapter 156 The Higher-ups Meeting 2

    "Today, we will be discussing the raid to take down the monsters at Garena town. But apart from that, I will also brief everyone of our findings."Read latest chapters at empire


    The lieutenant colonel said as the meeting started off.


    "As you all know, it''s been over two weeks since the desolate beasts tide appeared in Alleva district and took down Rosewood city. Ever since, we''ve carried out investigations to understand their mysterious appearance into Alleva district, which is known for not having any monsters.


    "Our investigations showed signs of spatial passages having existed within the same dating of the wave''s appearance, which suggests that there was a spatial transmission." S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The crowd was surprised by this, but some seemed to have a look of understanding on their faces.


    A spatial transmission meant that there was teleportation involved. Teleportation wasn''t some magic in the current era, but it was still something out of reach for Eretre.


    The Kellan solar system, despite having a few planets far more advanced than Earth, was still termed as a backwater when the entire galaxy was being considered. Even within its star region, the Blue Mist star region, the Kellan solar system was ranked third out of the four active solar systems.


    Planet Eretre was similarly in a difficult situation. Of the five habitable planets out of eight in the solar system, Eretre was near the bottom, if the desolate beast-occupied planet, Jota, was excluded in the count.


    All these unfortunate circumstances resulted in the planet being well behind in technological advancements, such that even the teleportation was a problem for them despite the existence of star engines used for long distance space travel.


    "Does that mean that the space-bomb theory is true?" Someone in the gathering asked.


    The individual was an influential person and privy to confidential information, like the meeting held by the security agency heads in Baylands City. That was how he knew about the space-bomb theory brought up by the director of the Red Fangs.


    "Plausible, but there''s no sufficient evidence to suffice." The lieutenant colonel rebuked the statement with a nonchalant expression.


    He then added, "There''s similarly a likelihood that a void-type desolate beast was involved, or even a Void beast. I''m more inclined to believe this as the cause since it''s occurred once before."


    Apart from hyumankin and the animals that previously existed in the Human era, a new biological kingdom of creatures was discovered, under which aliens were classified. There was also a new kingdom which was reserved for desolate beasts known as the Desolatum. However, desolate beasts were just one class of creatures in this biological kingdom.


    Desolatum was used to refer to Astral Monsters; a unique breed of organisms that possessed stellar energy innately, and could live in different environments. Under this taxonomical classification, there were other classes of Astral Monsters, with desolate beasts being the most common in Eretre.


    The other classes, Stellar creatures and Void beasts mostly wandered in space or higher regions. Compared to desolate beasts, they were more powerful and possessed unique abilities. It was no underestimation so say that a horde of Void beasts could wipe out the entire planet, while only a single Stellar creature could pull off the same.


    Stellar creatures were very rare, which made sense otherwise planets like Eretre would be living in constant fear. However, Void beasts weren''t as rare, albeit a horde of them together was.


    It was due to the unique abilities of Void beasts which made the lieutenant colonel suggest that the appearance of the desolate beasts were related to it. Chances were that a Void beast with spatial powers might have been wandering in Jota, the planet of desolate beasts, and created a spatial passage in the process. Said spatial passage''s destination coincidentally led to Alleva district in Eretre which resulted in an army of desolate beasts, some of which were rarely seen or even extinct in Eretre, appearing at the moment.


    Although this theory could be described as wild, it was very plausible as a similar situation had once occurred in a different city-state. However, the main reason why many supported this idea was that it sounded more logical and ''nicer'' to believe that this was a mere coincidence and not the act of terrorists who possessed complex space-bombs. The latter theory, which meant that the terrorists possessed connections and weapons that the Oklo Dynasty couldn''t even fathom, was a lot scarier and many refused to admit to it.


    The man who spoke up remained quiet. Since the lieutenant colonel was the leader of this meeting, it was best to not argue too much with him.


    "As was mentioned in earlier disposed memoirs, the desolate beasts we''ve discovered are a mix of unique and common ones. Some haven''t even been seen in the Wastelands for over two decades, and others believed to be extinct. So, it''s safe to say that this is an incident of a Void beast. But it spells great fortune for us all so long as we can handle the issue well." The lieutenant colonel stared at everyone in the hall, one at a time.


    "Now, let''s begin discussing the raid to take down the monsters, which our defence force terms ''Operation Wild Strike''."


    Just as the lieutenant colonel was about to continue the meeting, an alarm rang out.


    Waaaa. Waaaa. Waaaa.


    "What''s going on?"


    The guests of the meeting were all confused and looked to the lieutenant colonel for an explanation.


    However, as soon as they saw the expression on his face, everyone had a bad feeling.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, this is THE alarm." The lieutenant colonel suddenly said with a solemn expression on his face.


    Although there didn''t seem to be much information in those few words, the people gathered here weren''t slow. There was only one type of alarm that would spark such a reaction from the lieutenant colonel. The desolate beasts tide has made its move.


    The lieutenant colonel stood up from his seat and began to walk away while saying,


    "I''ll be sending a rapid response team to ensure that the situation is kept under control as much as possible. Meanwhile, please return to your respective parties and make your preparations as quickly as possible. The details of Operation Wild Strike will be altered and sent over to you.


    "While it might look as if we would come out victorious, please take this battle seriously."

 Chapter 157 Plot

    Amer city was the city in Alleva district closest to Garena town. After the destruction of the latter, the former entered a state of high security alert with some of the citizens even relocating elsewhere. However, the city was still greatly populated as the military had released a statement, informing the civilians to not be worried by the beast tide close by.Just like the rest of the cities in Alleva district, Amer city was controlled by the city lord who belonged to a major faction in the district. The various gangs and organisations of said faction thrived within the city, thanks to the support of the city lord.


    One of the leaders of an underground organisation here happened to be the human Ramirez had previously met a couple of times. The man was currently overseeing a shipment of new drugs in his underground warehouse.


    Drug trafficking was one of the biggest businesses in Alleva district, but the drugs trafficked weren''t simply hallucinogens, psychedelics, or euphorics. Some of them had special effects that could boost one''s strength albeit with intense side effects. However, there was a particularly new drug that had entered the market, but it wasn''t being supplied yet. It was precisely this new drug that the man came over to inspect.


    *Ding* *Ding*


    The man''s communicator rang.


    With a laid-back attitude, the man tapped the communicator on his wrist, following which an image was projected into midair.


    A figure appeared in the projection; a human just like the man. It was Ardeen, the man with a blue moustache that met with Lucas on his arrival at Alleva district''s Sunrise City.


    "What''s the problem?" The man asked right as the call connected.


    "The desolate beasts tide has begun moving, and it would reach Amer city within six hours without intervention." Ardeen replied.


    "Also, the young man is on the move."


    The man raised an eyebrow before revealing a slight smile on his face.


    "So I''m guessing Ramirez already knows about that."


    "That''s right. I''ve made sure he did, and I also left a bug on him. His movements are within my grasp." Ardeen said.


    "Wonderful." The man clapped with a cherry expression.


    "Now, I need you to do something for me. Keep an eye on the two of them and make sure they never come back."


    The man''s eyes glistened as he gave out his orders.


    "There''s a small shipment of Xalox tubes coming this way. I''ll have them redirect over to your location and hand you a few. Those should be enough to help you display fourth level Apertures Opening stage power. Take advantage of the situation and make sure that both sides die, especially Ramirez. It would be best if you make it look like they both killed each other. The Red Fangs have no confirmation about that young human''s strength, so they might not find it unbelievable."


    Ardeen was surprised as he knew that Ramirez was a partner of his boss, but he didn''t ask any questions. As a lackey, asking questions was the last thing to do when given an order.


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    As for killing his targets, Ramirez is a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner and Lucas'' strength was unidentifiable. Even though he had met the latter and sensed no trace of stellar energy from him, the past investigations had stated that Lucas had once taken care of a second level stellar practitioner. As such, his abilities would be somewhere around the third or fourth level despite being human.


    With fourth level strength, Ardeen was confident that he could defeat the two, especially since he would be attacking from the dark and taking advantage of the situation.


    "Alright." Ardeen nodded before cutting the call.


    The man smiled as he stared at his shipment. In his hand appeared a game piece which he played around with. The piece was a knight from the game, Ruler''s Chess.


    ''Ramirez, oh Ramirez. You actually believed that the higher-ups would let you leave after that foolish mistake? What a fool you are. They simply wanted to extract as much use from you as possible, and now, you have nothing to offer any longer.


    ''The Red Fangs are already on to you, and with their suspicions that the beast tide is our doing, having you close is like showing an opening, and we can''t have that. You actually thought you''d be safe in Alleva? They already know you are here, but are merely occupied with the beast tide. Once that is settled with, they would begin looking for you and your tracks, which might cause some problems for us.''


    The man crushed the chess piece into dust, but he didn''t throw away the remnants.


    ''However, as long as you die at this opportune time, everything will be done and end here. If you''re unlucky, your corpse might be taken care of by the desolate beasts, but that might actually be for the best. Hehe.


    ''Take this bullet for the cause. Your sacrifices won''t be forgotten.''


    He then glanced at his fist that held the remnant particles that were once the knight chess piece. Opening his hand, a new chess piece had appeared, formed out of the dust of the knight chess piece. It was the pawn chess piece of the Ruler''s Chess game.


    "For the cause."


    . . .


    Unbeknownst to Lucas, undercurrents were forming with him at the centre of it all.


    At the moment, Lucas carried the little girl on his back and made his way back to the outpost. He wasn''t in a rush, so as to conserve his energy, so they hadn''t gone quite far. It was at this moment Lucas'' communicator beeped with a strange rhythm; one which he found unfamiliar.


    For some reason, Lucas felt stressed out. He quickly took out his communicator to see what was up, and spotted a notification from the Alleva District Defence Force.


    The notification read:


    "Warning! All individuals within the range of this message, please evacuate to a safe place. The desolate beasts tide is on the move. All military personnel, immediately make it to your designated stations and prepare for combat.''


    The notification was a ranged message targeted at every communicator within the range of the message; in this case, that was every communicator between the border perimeter and the black box perimeter. It was used by the Alleva District Defence Force to notify everyone on duty or in the area about the approaching danger.


    Reading the notification, the first thought that crossed Lucas'' head was that he was in danger. At the moment, he was less than nine kilometres (5.59 miles) away from the black box perimeter. The black box perimeter was only two kilometres (1.24 miles) away from Garena town. This meant that Lucas was less than eleven kilometres (6.83 miles) from Garena town. For a desolate beast, this distance could easily be covered in a few minutes. The avian desolate beasts could even cover it faster, and the time dropped the stronger the desolate beast got.


    Delaying even just a few seconds was the same as relinquishing the right to live.


    ''Run.''

 Chapter 158 Lucas Versus Ramirez

    Being aware that there was a pack of desolate beasts on the way, Lucas knew that he couldn''t afford to dull a second longer. It was now or never to escape."The ''Retrieve'' command has been upgraded. You can now recall more than one item from the inventory without needing to repeat the key word as many times."


    Lucas recalled a notification the system had given to him a while back. He then dropped the little girl for a second as he said,


    "Retrieve."


    Immediately, Lucas became clad in a special suit of armour. On his arms were the pair of gauntlets from before, but this time around, there was a pair of vambraces on his arms as well as cuirass. There was also a pair of boots with greaves, a helmet with a visor and so on. All in all, it was a suit of armour, but didn''t appear to be the same as mediaeval ones. Rather, the armour appeared a bit more futuristic. If one were to imagine how it looked, it appeared a lot similar to a certain superhero from a superhero movie franchise on Earth.


    This suit of armour was Lucas'' self-made and designed Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, or SCB for short. It was a combination of vestiges that could either be utilised individually, or paired up like a set to form the SCB. Just as its name implies, the suit was powered by stellar energy, a feat Lucas had achieved using the stellar circuits he had learnt about.


    It worked by using a stellar energy gathering circuit, which constantly absorbed stellar energy from the atmosphere into a storage unit within the armour. The various vestiges were then powered by the stored stellar energy.


    Lucas had achieved this feat of vestige-smithing by using precious items like Red Iris stones and Violent Sun ores for the stellar energy flow-path; Gretac-Titanium alloy for the main framework of the individual vestiges, giving them high durability, hardness and strength; and other precious metals or materials. This set of vestiges was Lucas'' greatest masterpiece since coming into this world, and it was something he had been working on ever since, only recently completing it after months.


    The original design was more flawed and didn''t have a main stellar energy storage mechanism, instead relied on individual small storage containers in each vestige. However, after learning about stellar circuits, Lucas made adjustments to the design and created the main stellar energy storage, while still retaining the initial concept of the suit.


    The main stellar energy storage was a device located at the upper right side of the suit''s chest area; which was pretty much parallel to where the hyuman heart is. The device''s function was to provide supplementary energy to the various vestiges, increasing their duration and power. It could also act as a main power system, taking over the role of supplying stellar energy from the built-in storage containers in the vestiges. All this sounded complicated, but in summary, one could think of it like the main battery of the suit.


    It was a feat of engineering that had taken Lucas a month of testing and designing to complete. This might not sound like much, but this was only because Lucas was a genius. If it were anyone else, they might need at least half a year of research just to design a prototype, and another half a year of testing; which totals at least ten times the amount of time Lucas had used.


    Once the armour had fully covered him, Lucas picked up the little girl and jumped.


    The boots on his feet let out a blast of ocean-blue aura as he took to the air at high speed. That''s right; the suit was capable of flight, albeit not for long. It wouldn''t have made sense for a futuristic armour to not be capable of flight, now would it?


    While in mid air, Lucas stared through his visor and at a projected image that served as a map, navigating his way back to the outpost.


    A few minutes later, he could hear loud noises from behind. The vanguard portion of the desolate beasts tide had arrived and they were close.


    ''To be able to reach so soon, they should at least be third level desolate beasts, if not fourth level.'' Lucas frowned.


    He immediately dived down and flew at a low altitude, hoping not to catch their attention. However, it was too late as one of the avian desolate beasts made a loud noise before moving towards his direction. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With a grim look on his face, Lucas immediately landed on the ground and began running with his two feet. The armour was designed in such a way that even with the weight of the vestiges, there was a stellar circuit that created a weightless effect on them. Although the effect wasn''t perfect and didn''t truly make the vestiges weightless, it did drop their weight by at least eighty percent, which was well enough for Lucas to move around in.


    Lucas found a dark spot behind a few trees and hid there, waiting for the desolate beast to give up and leave.


    The monster flew around and scanned the area, but as there was a forest below, it failed to find Lucas. It then dashed in a different direction, which was the route to Amer city. The outpost was in a different direction than Amer city, so as long as Lucas could keep going forward, he would eventually be safe.


    "That was close." Lucas sighed with relief.


    The little girl who hung behind him was shivering at the moment, but Lucas comforted her. He could guess that her previous experience was too traumatic for her, and the sight of the monster would trigger that trauma.


    *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*


    "Spectacular. I can see why you were able to survive all those numerous assaults."


    Lucas was shocked and hurriedly turned to the direction of the speaker. There he saw a figure that he had never met before. However, not having met the latter didn''t mean Lucas didn''t know who it was. On the contrary, he was very familiar with that face as he had burned the image into his memory.


    "Ramirez." Lucas grimaced.


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    "You know my name. As expected of you." Ramirez smiled.


    The distance between the two was at least one hundred metres, but Ramirez treated it as nothing, staring calmly at Lucas despite the gap between them.


    "You see, you''ve cost me a lot of losses; so much so, I can''t even cover for them. To be honest, I''m still surprised I am alive after all of that. Maybe this is the universe giving me a second chance or hinting at something. Regardless, I will be making sure that today, you do not leave this place in one piece."


    Lucas remained kept his composure cool, bringing the little girl down and keeping her by the side.


    "Just give me a sec." Lucas said to her, before turning his attention to Ramirez.


    "You shouldn''t have come here." Lucas uttered with his gaze fixed at Ramirez.


    "And why is that so?" Ramirez mockingly smiled at him.


    "Because you won''t be leaving here alive." Lucas disclosed.


    Ramirez chuckled before spreading his arms wide open,


    "I don''t know how you did it, taking care of those men I sent you, but I can tell you this; the only one who would be leaving here alive is me."


    A sword appeared in Ramirez''s two hands, one blue and the other red. They both glistened under the miniscule sunlight that made its way down through the canopy of trees. The two weapons were Grade 3 vestiges that had previously appeared in the Silver Fig Trade Convention vestige rankings for the West Wing district. In other words, they were top class vestiges.


    Together with his own strength which stood at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage, Ramirez was easily a terrifying opponent for any average freelancer. Even geniuses such as the two vice guild leaders of the Autumn''s Gate guild had to be on their toes against him, as any slight flaw could cost them their lives in combat.


    Ramirez was fully aware of his strength, hence very confident in this battle. No matter what Lucas'' unique abilities may be or the mystery behind the death of his men ¡ªone of which included a second level stellar practitioner¡ª Ramirez was unbothered. He believed that with his strength alone, Lucas would fall to him this day.


    Standing face to face with a ferocious Ramirez emitting a bloodthirsty aura, Lucas didn''t say a word, merely tightening his fists.


    What he wore was his tour de force of vestige-smithing. It was a vestige created from a set of multiple individual vestiges, each very powerful on their own. Take the peak Grade 3 gauntlets for instance, which could allow Lucas to go toe-to-toe with a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. When various vestiges of the same grade as the gauntlets were all assembled into one set, one could imagine how powerful this one set became.


    Grade 3? Peak Grade 3? No.


    That''s right; through combining multiple extremely powerful Grade 3 vestiges, some of which were very close to being Grade 4, Lucas was finally able to cross that bridge that held him back for so long. The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour in its complete form was without a doubt, a Grade 4 vestige; Lucas'' very first in this world.

 Chapter 159 Lucas Versus Ramirez 2

    *Bam*A loud noise burst out as the two opponents clashed against the other using their top tier vestiges.


    A wave of air flowed from the point of collision, raising with dust and particles as the two sides separated from each other unscathed.


    The first contest of strength had ended in a draw.


    Ramirez was surprised by this, but it evoked a desire within him.


    "I was thinking this would be boring, but you might be able to entertain me a bit."


    Lucas didn''t respond to him, instead tightening his fists and preparing for combat once more. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Originally, the SCB would have been a Grade 3 vestige, even after combining so many powerful Grade 3 vestiges. However, the catalyst that brought about its upgrade was the stellar energy container device. The device, which Lucas aptly named Vis receptacle, could be said to have reached the peak of vestige-smithing when it came to what Grade 3 vestiges could offer. This triggered a dramatic change in quality when paired with the other top notch Grade 3 vestiges of the set, becoming on par with a Grade 4 vestige when combined.


    However, in the end, each individual vestige was still a Grade 3 vestige. Also, Lucas didn''t possess stellar energy, so the degree to which he could truly utilise the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was limited, even though the armour had its own energy supply.


    It was quite possible, with future improvements, to enable the armour sustain a Grade 4 capability even if the user was a human, but for the moment, it wasn''t.


    "Ice and Fire." Ramirez chanted, following which the two vestiges glowed blue and red respectively.


    In the next moment, his figure flashed as Ramirez rapidly charged at Lucas.


    *Humm*


    The gauntlets on Lucas'' arms released a low hum as stellar energy flowed in from the Vis receptacle.


    *Bang*


    Lucas'' right fist clashed with the blue sword, setting off blue sparks that gave off a cold aura that slightly froze the air up.


    Ramirez swung the red sword from below, trying to catch Lucas off guard. However, the latter had already seen that coming and blocked the sword with his free left hand.


    *Bang*


    This time around, red sparks went off from the collision, heating up the air within the region.


    ''Interesting.''


    Despite being in armour, Lucas could sense the surrounding changes quite well. He was amazed at the skill put into making the twin swords and couldn''t help but compliment the vestige-smith again.


    Ramirez didn''t know what was going through Lucas'' head, but he wasn''t bothered to find out.


    Brandishing his vestiges like a sword god that had descended, Ramirez unleashed multiple attacks at Lucas, targeting from different angles while trying to force out a flaw from Lucas. Despite all the effort, his opponent was a double-transmigrator who had experienced five hundred years in a magical world run by the law of survival of the fittest. Lucas'' battle experience was nothing to laugh about.


    After the two were caught up trading blows, Lucas managed to find an opening by dodging a swing from the red blade and thrusting his fist towards Ramirez. The latter was then forced to block the blow with his blue sword.


    However, just as it was about to connect, the gauntlet flickered with a blue glow that was appealing, yet hidden behind that aesthetic appearance was a degree of danger that tug at Ramirez''s senses. However, it was already too late as the distance between them wasn''t much.


    *Boom*


    The punch connected, letting out a small explosion as it did so.


    Ramirez, despite his impressive strength, was forced back and crashed into a tree, toppling it down as he fell back along with it. The strength of that bunch was easily on par with a peak fourth level desolate beast and very close to a fifth level desolate beast, so bringing down a tree was nothing.


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    The duo were quite lucky since their location was in a different direction from the path of the desolate beasts wave; otherwise, this attack would have drawn a ton of attention.


    ''This vestige is really powerful. So, this is a Grade 4 vestige...'' Lucas couldn''t help but suck in a mouthful of cold air, impressed by the work of his hands.


    A Grade 4 vestige was a powerful vestige at the top of the rankings in Baylands city-state. Although there were still Grades 5 and 6, the former was essentially the same as a family heirloom and was reserved only for top figures in the most powerful families or the city-lord. As for the latter, in all four continents and thirteen city-states, only in one of them could a Grade 6 vestige be found.


    The reason for this was because unlike the other vestiges, a vestige-smith capable of making a Grade 6 vestige, which was a Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith, was literally nonexistent in Eretre. There was no one at that rank within the entire planet; even within the entire solar system, the numbers weren''t many.


    Apart from being insanely costly, Grade 6 vestiges were also banned in the hands of any other than the Oklo Dynasty. What''s more, the penalty for breaking the law was very severe with one having to face extermination together with their family and company, if any. As such, no one broke the law even if they could somehow afford a Grade 6 vestige.


    Grade 5s were rare as the only vestige-smiths who could make them were concentrated in the Bernin continent, under the direct supervision of the Oklo Dynasty. This led to Grade 4 vestiges being the epitome of power in individual city-states.


    With one in his possession, it was no surprise as to how Lucas was able to hold his own against a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. And this was with the fact that Lucas wasn''t even utilising the full power of the vestige.


    Typically, a Grade 4 vestige was meant to be suitable for sixth, seventh and eighth level stellar practitioners. Displaying only a fourth level Apertures Opening stage strength was a terrible showcase of a Grade 4 vestige''s quality.


    *Crack*


    Ramirez stood up from the splinters with an expression clearly fuming at his situation. Never would he have believed that the human he looked down on could beat him to this level. But at the same time, he was also astounded.


    "Fourth level? No. It''s not your energy. It''s the vestige...Grade 3? Or Grade 4?!" Ramirez gawked wide-eyed at the Lucas, or to be specific, his armour.


    The only explanation for Lucas'' unreal strength which was never revealed until now had to be the vestige he has on. But even a Grade 3 vestige shouldn''t be able to cause this much of a difference especially since the user was a human. The only explanation would then be a rise in quality, which meant that the vestige was of Grade 4.


    Apart from the shock, there was also greed within Ramirez''s eyes. With a Grade 4 vestige in hand, his strength would definitely shoot up greatly.


    ''If I have that vestige with me, I can easily take on those Red Fangs bastards.'' Ramirez a thought.


    "Your strength is definitely linked to your vestige, but I still don''t get it." He asked as he stared coldly at Lucas.


    "A vestige can only boost your abilities, particularly one''s raw power. However, you are able to react to my attacks on time. Tell me, how did you do it?"


    This was what had Ramirez confused. Even with a Grade 4 vestige, Lucas shouldn''t be able to read his moves like they were nothing, and even counter-attack. Yet, that was the reality he faced.


    "How did I do what? Catch up with you? You''re just too slow." Lucas stretched his arms as he said.


    Ramirez was immediately incensed and began to laugh out loud.,


    "Hahaha. Nice one kid. You think just cause you pushed me back, it makes you some kind of powerhouse? Play time''s over. I''ll show you what it means to be a feared underground lord. I''ll show you the true strength of a fifth level stellar practitioner."


    Suddenly, Lucas appeared in front of Ramirez with his fist blocking his sight.


    "I don''t care."


    *Bam*


    The fist missed, creating a shockwave as the force of the punch was transmitted through the air. Ramirez, who had dodged at the last moment, was furious as he swung his blades at Lucas. Being this close, with Lucas having already executed an attack, it looked as if Ramirez would finally get a hit in.


    However, just as he felt so, a surge of energy blast from the soles of Lucas'' boots, propelling the latter backwards into the air.


    *Swoosh*


    The two vestiges, just like Lucas'' punch, likewise missed their target. But Ramirez didn''t give up.


    Lucas hadn''t actually taken flight but was simply launched in midair ¡ªabout seven metres away¡ª to avoid the attack. As he began his descent, Ramirez chased after him and hacked the blue sword forwards.


    A deep blue aura suddenly burst from it and darted towards Lucas, bringing with it an intense chill that immediately affected the surroundings.


    "Arctic Slash."


    Lucas, who was still descending from midair, appeared to have nowhere else to go. In fact, he truly didn''t as one of the flaws of the vestige was that it couldn''t perform consistent boosts. As for the flying function, there was too little energy left, so it looked like Lucas was doomed at the moment.

 Chapter 160 Lucas Versus Ramirez 3

    "Arctic Slash."A deep blue aura suddenly burst from it and darted towards Lucas, bringing with it an intense chill that immediately affected the surroundings.


    Lucas, who was still descending from midair, appeared to have nowhere else to go. In fact, he truly didn''t as one of the flaws of the vestige was that it couldn''t perform consistent boosts. As for the flying function, there was too little energy left, so it looked like Lucas was doomed at the moment.


    The blue blade aura from the sword brandished its way to Lucas, and just when it seemed like the battle was coming to an end, Lucas thrust both arms forward.


    Once again, the blue light glistened on his gauntlets, letting out a small explosion that impeded the blue blade aura. Thanks to that, Lucas was able to land safely.


    However, Ramirez wasn''t a one-stroke man. He had appeared beside Lucas just as the latter had landed on the ground, brandishing both swords at Lucas.


    At first, Lucas was able to keep up with the attacks and even respond back. But as the battle went on, he noticed that Ramirez was getting faster and faster. Lucas turned to defense and tried to hold his edge, but his opponent''s attack speed increased once again and Lucas was now on the receiving end.


    In the end, Ramirez was right. There was only so much a vestige could do for Lucas and this was in regards to raw power and not reflexes. The only reason Lucas was dominating at the start was due to his battle experience and knowledge. This allowed him to utilise the raw power effect of the vestige to increase his attack speed.


    This was the same logic as using an explosion to move faster, but Lucas did this on a smaller level with more precision. At the same time, he relied on his battle instincts to be able to predict and react to Ramirez''s attacks.


    Regardless, there was a limit to what Lucas could achieve through this method, and it was still lacking to be able to take on a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. If the opponent were a third level, Lucas would easily win. Against a fourth level, he could fight and retreat as he pleased.


    However, he still wasn''t willing to use a Bronze card just yet. It would grant him a fixed level of strength for two hours, so Lucas valued the item more than anything; except his life of course. Unless he was truly being threatened, he would rather not use it yet.


    "Is this all you got?"


    Ramirez grinned as his sword managed to slip last Lucas''s defence, sending the latter flying back a few metres.


    "Where''s all that vigour and attitude, huh? In the end, you''re just a measly ant relying on a fancy tool."


    Lucas lay flat on the ground, groaning as he held on to his side. Although he had on a Grade 3 cuirass that protected him, the force from the slash had passed through. This was still considerably better than being cut into two, but it was still painful.


    "Damn it." Lucas cursed as he stood up.


    "You still don''t know when to quit, huh? No problem, I don''t mind having you entertain me some more." Ramirez chuckled as he flexed both wrists.


    *Bam* *Bam*


    *Dum* *Dum*


    Just as the two were about to resume their battle, they froze due to their senses picking up something. The stones on the ground shook while the trees vibrated. A series of low dull and thumping sounds were heard by the two, albeit it was still quite faint. The air felt eerie as the events that took place increased in intensity.


    This was the sound of death and destruction; the desolate beast tide was approaching.


    Although the desolate beasts tide was heading in the direction of Amer city ¡ªwhich was in a direction away from where the duo stood¡ª due to the expansive size of the tide, there was a chance that some of the desolate beasts might spot them. Once that happened, it would be more than just a mere one or two heading towards their location. In the best case scenario, it could even be a small unit, which wasn''t too much of a problem.


    However, in the worst case scenario, it would be a force as large and powerful as the one that wiped out Southvale village. Against such a force, the duo would have to wait for their deaths as their chances of survival would be slim.


    ''Looks like I have to end this quickly.'' Ramirez thought.


    Despite being one of the culprits for this situation, he didn''t have a guarantee to ensure his survival if he was caught in it. Hence, Ramirez needed to end the fight quickly and leave.


    "I guess you die here then." Ramirez said as his energy shot up once more.


    Compared to before, Lucas could sense that he was much stronger. This was the true strength of a fifth level stellar practitioner and not what he has seen earlier.


    It probably had to do with the fact that it had been so long since Ramirez had to fight with his full strength, which was why he was losing at the start. But having now warmed up a bit, it was getting back to him.


    "Sigh." Lucas took off the helmet that covered his face.


    Ramirez raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on.


    "Release." Lucas said, activating the lowest ranked Bronze Grade card in his collection; one that would grant him third level Apertures Opening stage power for two hours.


    Ramirez widened his eyes in shock as he could sense the nearby stellar energy being drawn into Lucas'' body. Following this dramatic occurrence was a drastic change in Lucas as Ramirez could now sense stellar refinement effects on him. It started from the first level of the Apertures Opening stage before abruptly rising to the second level, only settling down at the third level.


    "What was that?"


    Ramirez was shook, displaying an obvious expression of both confusion and stupefaction.


    Although he had not been to Digress city-state, Ramirez was aware of the secret that allowed humans to exceed the limit of the Body Strengthening stage. However, even that secret could not hide one''s strength in plain sight, and it was clear at the start that Lucas was without stellar energy.


    This left Ramirez stunned, as he couldn''t understand who or even what exactly Lucas was.


    However, he quickly recovered after seeing Lucas'' newfound energy stabilise. It was only at the third level and shouldn''t be a threat to him.


    ''Wait-''


    Just as Ramirez realised something, it was too late; Lucas had already appeared in front of him, even faster than he had ever been before.


    ''Shit!''


    Ramirez cursed inwardly as he moved to the side, but it was as if Lucas had read this move as his leg mover in the same direction and struck Ramirez.


    *Bam*


    Ramirez widened his mouth in pain as he was shot back by the force of the kick. The blow was so intense that he had barely maintained hold over his swords.


    But Lucas wasn''t done yet.


    Lucas spread his palm open and faced it in the direction of Ramirez. In the next second, a blue beam of light burst from the gauntlet, darting over to Ramirez at a speed that he could barely react to.


    *Clang*


    Ramirez blocked with the blue sword, but it was forced out of his arms by the beam, leaving him exposed to the attack.


    *Spurt*


    A hole opened up on Ramirez''s right shoulder as he stared appalled at Lucas with lain coursing through his mind. He could feel cold air formed from the passive chill aura of the blue sword go through his wound. He couldn''t even feel his right arm again which meant that it was essentially disabled. But despite all of that, Ramirez''s thoughts weren''t on them. Instead, Ramirez was stricken with fear and agitation.


    For the third time in his life as an underground boss, Ramirez was afraid.


    The very first time was an incident that made Ramirez retire. The second was when the Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed, Ginon, had met with him and convinced Ramirez to work for them. That was about five years ago, and it was the very first time Ramirez had understood what it meant to truly face death, despite being a former freelancer and at the fifth level.


    Today happened to be the third time, but unlike in the previous times, Ramirez was very well aware that he would die today.


    Even though he still had his stellar energy, a working arm and his peak quality Grade 3 vestige, Ramirez had no confidence in retaliating. Instead, he felt that doing so would make him no different from a cockroach trying to cling to life by all means, yet dying in the end.


    "You, you can''t do this to me! You can''t! They''ll come for you. They''ll hunt you to the ends of Eretre if you do so!"


    Ramirez yelled, fear clearly visible in his eyes as he gripped the red sword tightly with his left hand.


    However, his wails did nothing to deter Lucas as the latter had made up his mind long ago. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Be quiet and die."

 Chapter 161 Ardeen Makes His Move

    Lucas stood in front with a headless corpse before him. The menace that had once hunted him was now dead.Despite that, Ramirez''s last words were still in his head. Although he didn''t mention who ''they'' were, Lucas could guess that it had something to do with the terrorists from before.


    Based on what he knew and speculated, Ramirez was a member or a lackey of the terrorist organisation related to the two attackers from the Bayena Plain incident. The desolate beasts tide was also related to that organisation, seeing as it happened roughly at the same time Ramirez was spotted in Alleva district, which was an uncanny coincidence.


    Putting two and two together, Lucas surmised that Ramirez was threatening him using the organisation. For Ramirez to have been so confident albeit desperate, it was clear that the organisation was nothing to joke about. Just based on the fact that they could raise an underground organisation in Baylands City, the centre of the city-state, it was clear that they had quite a lot of resources and connections. From that, Lucas wouldn''t be surprised if they had more arms in Alleva district, or even a liaison within the Central Prefecture district.


    Sighing, Lucas turned around, but he didn''t deactivate his vestiges just yet.


    "You can come out now. I already know you''ve been watching."


    Lucas stared in a certain direction up ahead of him. The area was blocked by trees making it dark and unwary, but he had sensed a presence there mid battle against Ramirez.


    "Oh my. And here I was thinking that my stealth was good."


    A voice which Lucas found to be familiar sounded as a figure walked out from the shadows.


    Seeing the party, Lucas frowned.


    "So it''s you."


    The newcomer was someone Lucas was slightly familiar with. It was the very first person he had met upon arriving at Alleva district; a character who had given him some tips and helped him make his way over.


    Ardeen smiled at Lucas and nodded.


    "That''s right. Surprised?"


    "Indeed. But it doesn''t change anything." Lucas responded calmly.


    Although he didn''t know why Ardeen was here, it was obvious that the latter wasn''t a friendly party. To have waited so long and even remained in hiding throughout the battle, one could only wonder what Ardeen''s goal was, but Lucas wasn''t interested in that. All he cared about was who was friend or foe, and he believed that Ardeen was the latter.


    Ardeen smiled and walked over while saying,


    "Relax. I came over to try and profit from the beast tide when I happened to sense a battle here. I decided to spectate for a bit and not interfere. You should know that Alleva isn''t a safe place; it would be best not to poke your nose inside every situation, and that was exactly what I did."


    "Makes sense." Lucas nodded his head.


    But in the next second, he raised his arm and a laser beam blasted out from it.


    At the same time, Ardeen had popped out a vestige and fired at Lucas.


    *Boom*


    Both sides happened to attack just at the same time, and they retreated while doing so. The result was that the two attacks had missed their targets, but the atmosphere had now changed.


    "What gave it away?" Ardeen asked, still maintaining his friendly smile even though he had just tried to kill Lucas.


    "You may try to hide it, but your energy is clear." Lucas said.


    "The last time I met you, you were at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. It doesn''t make sense how you''re now at the fourth level, unless there''s something you''re hiding."


    Ardeen was a human based on what Lucas knew. By human, it didn''t mean he was a pure-blooded human like Lucas, but a hyuman with an mDNA concentration of less than 10%. This made it virtually impossible for him to exceed the limits of the Body Strengthening stage and enter the Apertures Opening stage, just like Lucas.


    However, while they were talking, Lucas ¡ªthanks to his acute sensitivity¡ª could discern that Ardeen''s ability was at the fourth level, which didn''t make sense. From what he knew, there was no equipment or technique that could hide one''s stellar refinement progress, and there was no way Ardeen possessed something like the system as the odds were very low.


    Hence, the only explanation was that Ardeen was in league with an underground force that had connections to Digress city-state. They were the only force that could grant humans stellar refinement capabilities, and from what Lucas knew, such a group was likely related to the terrorists on Eretre. Since he had just killed one of them, it was only natural for Lucas to become a target.


    "Ah, that''s true." Ardeen face-palmed.


    "Well, I guess this is the part where we try to kill each other."


    Lucas didn''t respond or even make a move yet. He just couldn''t understand; since Ardeen had been watching, he should know that Lucas had a Grade 4 vestige. With a fourth level strength, it was impossible to take on the third level Lucas who wielded a Grade 4 vestige; even Ramirez despite having two Grade 3 vestiges and fifth level ability, had lost. Despite knowing this, Ardeen still stood before him.


    "Seal." Ardeen muttered, following which four pillars of light rose into the air around them.


    Within the four pillars of light was a 200m2 region with Lucas and Ardeen. Although the pillars simply stood there, Lucas felt an awry feeling from them.


    "A Grade 4 vestige is really impressive. I never expected that to be your reliance, but it doesn''t matter. Today would still mark your memorial date." Ardeen said. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the next moment, he charged at Lucas, firing the gun in his hand at the latter.


    Lucas raised his arms and created an energy shield using the gauntlets, blocking the shots being fired. However, the energy shield eventually cracked under the relentless gun shots.


    But at the time it did so, Lucas had already closed the gap and sent his fist flying towards Ardeen.


    However, as he did so, Lucas saw his fist pass right through Ardeen''s body as the latter smirked at him.


    In the next moment, the ''Ardeen'' before Lucas dissipated as another one appeared a few metres away with his vestige pointed at Lucas.


    *Bang*


    A stellar round was fired from the vestige, but unlike the previous shots, it wasn''t created out of Ardeen''s stellar energy, but was a unique round made with special materials.


    The bullet struck Lucas'' armour, leaving a mark that dug slightly into the armour, creating a dent on it.


    *Bang* *Bang*


    Ardeen released a few more shots, but Lucas rushed to get out of the way. Although the vestige might be able to handle them, there was still a threshold to its durability.


    While dodging, Lucas closed the distance between him and Ardeen, and once again, he was right in front of the latter.


    *Boom*


    Lucas released a powerful punch that split apart the air, creating a blast that went through Ardeen and struck the ground.


    However, just like before, Ardeen''s figure dissipated and he appeared elsewhere again. This time around, Lucas was prepared, so he managed to dodge the attacks. Regardless, the strange outcome was bugging him.


    ''Teleportation? No. It doesn''t seem like such. Then what exactly is it?'' Lucas thought as he switched to long ranged tactics


    The speed of the beams fired by the gauntlets could compare to bullets, so he wasn''t worried about not getting a hit even as Ardeen managed to dodge them.


    The duo began to move around the area, using the trees as obstacles while attacking the other.


    At the same time, Lucas was moving towards one of the light pillars closest to him. Although he didn''t know how Ardeen happened to be escaping his attacks at the last moment, Lucas knew that it was related to the pillars of light.


    "What happened to your vigour and aggression when facing Ramirez? Why are you simply running away?" Ardeen chuckled as he pursued after Lucas.


    Seeing Lucas heading towards the light pillar, Ardeen could easily guess his intentions.


    ''It''s about time I end this.'' Ardeen thought.


    The light pillars would definitely attract both the attention of the Alleva District Defence Force and the approaching desolate beasts wave. Ardeen estimated that he had only three minutes left before the desolate beasts would reach them as they were the closest group to the duo. If those three minutes elapsed and he was still here, then it would be difficult to kill Lucas.


    Extending his hands towards Lucas, Ardeen exposed a glove that looked like a complex amalgamation of futuristic technology and runes. As the gloves glowed with a yellow light ¡ªa similar shade with the pillars¡ª Ardeen clenched his fist.


    A strange invisible wave was released from the four pillars spreading into the two hundred metres square space. The wave moved rapidly, with the one coming from the pillar closet to the duo, taking only three seconds to reach.


    As it passed by Lucas, he suddenly felt a change take place within him; a drastic change that changed the scales of the battle.

 Chapter 162 Arken Pillars

    A strange invisible wave was released from the four pillars spreading into the two hundred metres square space. The wave moved rapidly, with the one coming from the pillar closet to the duo, taking only three seconds to reach.As it passed by Lucas, he suddenly felt a change take place. The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour he had one began to feel heavy.


    Originally, the set of vestiges was indeed hefty, however, thanks to a special magic rune drawn on it, the weight of the vestige felt light to the user. This allowed Lucas to be able to perform high-speed manoeuvres and attacks despite the bulky weight of the vestiges, like the gauntlets or the boots. However, the runes seemed to not be working as well even though Lucas was powering them with his stellar energy.


    ''So this is the cause.'' Lucas thought as he sensed a strange frequency permeating through the air.


    The closer he got to the pillar, the more intense the frequency was, forcing Lucas to abandon his plan of approaching it.


    The frequency was interfering with the magic runes, affecting the flow of stellar energy into them, which in turn prevented the runes from performing their functions. In this case, the magic runes were for a weight-less effect, which made the vestiges weigh less than they really were, allowing Lucas to move comfortably in them.


    To counteract this effect, Lucas had to expend more stellar energy than usual, using a part of it to block out the frequency. Nonetheless, this was only a temporary measure as it wasn''t so effective. The frequency had the strange ability to ignore his stellar energy hindrance and act on the magic runes regardless.


    Lucas'' attention was suddenly drawn to some of the inscriptions on his vestiges. They were still functioning properly despite the influence of the frequency unlike the weight-less rune.


    "I told you; you will die here today."


    Noticing that Lucas'' speed had dropped, Ardeen sneered before taking aim at Lucas once again.


    *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*


    Multiple shots were fired, but unlike the previous ones, these were without any special rounds. In other words, it was just compressed stellar energy.


    Ardeen could see that even with the frequency''s interference, Lucas'' speed had only dropped and not come to an abrupt stop. He suspected it had to do with Lucas resisting the effects, so he decided to instead deplete Lucas'' stellar energy while conserving his most powerful shots. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas dodged the shots he could and blocked off the rest using a stellar energy shield, which was just as Ardeen had predicted. However, while he did so, Lucas was also trying to understand the abilities of the light pillars.


    ''The first was some kind of spatial displacement. But I didn''t sense any signs of that, so it could either mean the technology is too high-end for my senses to capture it, or it wasn''t spatial displacement.''


    Lucas'' eyes flashed as he rapidly guessed the various possibilities that it could be, until he found one.


    ''Illusions.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    It would make sense to think that the scenario was an illusion created by the light pillars. It was either that all he saw at the moment was an illusion, or that the light pillars would structure one at a certain point in time, for instance, right when Lucas moved to attack Ardeen.


    ''It could either be passive or active. If it is the latter, then I just need to time my attacks properly. However, if the illusion is passive and already being played out, then I have to find a way to discern the real from the false.''


    As his thoughts whirred into motion, Lucas detected that the frequency had increased in intensity. It was becoming difficult to impede it, costing Lucas more energy to do so.


    Frowning, he delved into the matter, hoping to identify what exactly it was. In the course of doing so, however, Lucas had taken a lot of shots from Ardeen and his energy was depleting rapidly. The cuirass vestige of the SCB was visibly damaged at this point. If it wasn''t due to the qualitative change brought about by the Vis receptacle ¡ªelevating the cuirass'' defensive ability to Grade 4¡ª it might have turned defective.


    With his brain running at full power, it took Lucas only a few seconds to understand what exactly was going on.


    The frequency seemed to target runes and stellar matrices, inhibiting their ability to conduct stellar energy and generate a desired effect.


    The weightless rune Lucas used on the vestige was a lot similar in structure to the runes used in this world. As such, it was affected by the frequency released by the light pillars. However, the other runes carved on the vestiges were entirely different in structure and design, resulting in them not being affected. The same held true for the stellar circuits Lucas had inscribed on the vestiges, as those were even more complex than stellar matrices.


    Without having studied such inscriptions before, it was inevitable that whoever made these might pillars would not be able to interfere with the inscriptions. The weightless rune just happened to be a victim of a coincidental circumstance.


    As long as Lucas could switch the rune, it would be immune to the frequency. However, forget switching the rune, he couldn''t even take off his vestige as the very second he did so, Lucas might die.


    ''There''s no time left. I guess I''ll just have to do this.'' Lucas hardened his resolve.


    ''Retrieve.''


    In the next second, the cuirass, boots and some other parts of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour disappeared, leaving behind only the pair of gauntlets.


    Ardeen was surprised by this, with the revelation of Lucas possessing a spatial vault making him question who exactly the latter was. However, he was more stunned by the fact that Lucas had taken off his armour, albeit not surprised by it. Ardeen had once tested out the Arken Pillars himself, and he knew how frustrating they were.


    For Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners below the tenth level, who could only perform their best with a vestige, losing the ability to use one was equivalent to losing an arm and a leg. The Arken Pillars were made to target those arms and legs, interfering with a rune or stellar matrix'' ability to use stellar energy, thereby making a vestige no different from a block of metal.


    With Lucas taking off his armour, except for the gauntlets, Ardeen was confident that he could end the battle right then and there.


    ''90 seconds left.''


    Ardeen immediately switched his vestige''s cartridge to utilise specialised rounds.


    For gun-type vestiges, although they could be fired using one''s stellar energy, their most powerful form was when the rounds being used were specialised ones.


    Specialised rounds were made with unique materials and methods, enhancing the firepower of a gun-type vestige to the peak of its rank. As such, even an average Grade 3 gun-type vestiges could explode with the power of a peak Grade 3 vestige using a combination of specialised rounds and one''s stellar energy.


    Also, Ardeen''s vestige, despite its handgun appearance, wasn''t an average Grade 3 vestige, but a very powerful Grade 3 vestige, close to the peak of the rank. With a combination of specialised rounds and his fourth level energy, taking on Lucas who was with only a pair of Grade 3 gauntlets would be no problem.


    "This is the end for you." Ardeen said as he aimed his vestige at Lucas.


    *Bang*

 Chapter 163 A Name

    News report; sixth level desolate beast. Lucas finds nothing on Mel''s parents then decides to give her a name and adopt her."Good evening everyone. This is Fiona Von Aurst of Baylands City News Network, or the BCNN for short. I''m your host, and I welcome you to today''s episode of the Evening News Updates. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Breaking news coming in that the desolate beasts tide has finally been routed, after two days of constant battles and raids carried out by the military and the supporting freelancer organisations and parties The military, to be exact, is an alliance of the Alleva District Defence Force and the Red Fangs, who fought on the front lines with the assistance of the freelancer community.


    "Casualties after the battle were at minimum compared to estimates, adding only up to twelve in total, with no deaths. The record victory was a result of the splendid command of the Lieutenant Colonel of the Alleva District Defence Force, who took control of the situation as soon as the wave had made its move.


    "Through a combined effort of hyuman forces and robotics, the allied military was able to not only hold off the impending disaster, but also retaliate and successfully eliminate the entire desolate beasts in the horde. Thanks to their efforts, it''s expected that there would be a rise in desolate beast parts supply at the moment, creating a fall in price. More on that would be discussed later this evening on our business broadcast."


    The host continued to talk but at this moment, Lucas was no longer laying attention. It was just as the host had said; the desolate beasts wave that had plagued Alleva district was successfully wiped out within the space of two days.


    Two days ago, Lucas was still in Alleva district and had just hunted down the Jaburian. As he prepared to leave, he was interrupted by Ramirez and the two had a battle, with the latter breathing his last there. However, Ardeen ¡ªa false human Lucas had met with on his first day in Alleva district ¡ª had appeared with the intent to eliminate him.


    After a tough battle that saw Lucas having to rely on only one vestige, he had similarly defeated Ardeen. Following that, Lucas immediately left the scene with the little orphaned girl he had encountered.


    Upon arriving at the military''s outpost within Garena town''s area of influence, Lucas was lucky to have made it in time for an evacuation ride that was preparing to depart. He boarded the ride with the little girl and made his way to Sunrise City. From there, he hurriedly purchased two light rail train tickets and left for Baylands City.


    As for why Lucas left with the little girl, he had no choice than to do so as the military was preoccupied with the desolate beasts wave and had no time to cater for a little girl. The Hyuman Care and Rehab Society ¡ªan agency that handled victims of disastrous incidents¡ª was also too busy at the time as there were too many victims of the desolate beasts for them to care for.


    If Lucas were to leave the little girl with them, he didn''t know how long it would take or whether she would be cared for well. One should recall that she was a mixed blood, and could be a victim of speciesism.


    There was no way Lucas would let such a young girl face such horrors when he could avoid it. In the end, he opted to leave with her, but not before providing his contact details and as much information about the girl as possible to the HCRS. Surprisingly, they had let him leave with the young girl in his care, which was either a testament to how busy they were or how much the people despised dealing with non-hyumans. Regardless of which it was, Lucas wasn''t bothered.


    Having provided his contact details and as much information about the girl as possible, it was left to the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society to do some digging and try to find any relatives of the young girl around. If there were none, they would then try to find a new home for the little girl, or send her to an orphanage. But in the meantime, she was under Lucas'' custody.


    "Here."


    Lucas handed the little girl a bowl of soup he had just made in his workshop.


    Although the workshop was meant for making vestiges and not meals, Lucas could utilise it as a makeshift kitchen. It had a stove ¡ªwhich was the forge; a pot ¡ªwhich was actually a vestige Lucas had made; and a kitchen table ¡ªwhich was actually his work bench.


    The little girl was still shy around him and a bit scared, but she could feel that Lucas had no violent thoughts against her. She could also feel a strange sense of warmth from him which was why she had left with Lucas, rather than the HCRS members who made her feel uncomfortable and scared.


    Slightly skeptical about the meal''s taste after seeing its appearance, the little girl hesitated to eat it.


    "It''s not poison." Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "Look."


    Taking the spoon from her hand, Lucas drank from the plate.


    "Very delicious."


    He said before freezing for a second, then puking out the soup.


    "...forget. I''ll just order something."


    Lucas took the plate away and threw it into the dustbin, before turning on his communicator and ordering enough food for two.


    While waiting for the food to arrive, Lucas decided to ask some questions that had been on his mind for long.


    "So, you don''t have a name and don''t remember anything, huh?"


    The little girl bent her head shyly and nodded.


    Lucas felt pity for her and shook his head.


    "That can''t do. Let''s settle on a name for you for now. I can''t just be calling you ''little girl''."


    The little girl muttered, "A name?"


    "That''s right. It''s something you use to identify yourself." Lucas answered, surprised she didn''t even know what a name was.


    The little girl nodded, seemingly having understood his explanation.


    "If you''re okay with it, how about Melissa?" Lucas asked.


    "Melissa..."


    The girl raised her head and looked at Lucas.


    "Is it okay?" Lucas asked.


    His expression was something unique. Lucas looked a bit scared, almost as if he was afraid she wouldn''t like it.


    When it came to naming people or objects, Lucas was horrible. This could be seen from the fact that the market-disturbing vestiges he had made were horribly named ''Blue spear'' and ''Dark dagger''. If the little girl were to reject the name ''Melissa'', Lucas felt that he would have to go through the arduous task of thinking up a new good name, and that was a suffering he didn''t want to be subjected to.


    The little girl nodded happily. Read latest chapters on empire


    "Hmm. I like it."

 Chapter 164 One Month Later

    A month passed by over time; a period Lucas felt to be one of the most peaceful he had ever lived in this new life. During this one month of peace and solitude, Lucas spent his time creating vestiges, taking orders, and running the store with the assistance of his new employee, Melissa.Melissa stayed with Lucas for two weeks before the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society reached out to him. They had informed Lucas that there was no record of Melissa or her parents on the Alleva district''s citizen database, which meant that Melissa''s parents were illegal migrants. Such situations weren''t rare, especially in the grey zone known as Alleva district. However, the result of that was problematic for Melissa.


    Being an illegal lifeform in Baylands city-state, Melissa would have to be sent back to her hometown or be taken under an orphanage. Since her memories were lost and her parents were dead, it would be almost impossible to figure out where exactly she came from. It wasn''t as simple as presuming that since she was of a certain species, then her hometown was most likely in the species habitat.


    In this interstellar era, it was common for people of a certain alien species to live elsewhere from their natural habitat. Hyumans for instance, were the best example of this practice. The hyumankin had actually originated from the Elysium solar system in the Arcadia star region. However, with their rapid expansion, many hyumans no longer lived there. As the hyumankin got stronger, the Arcadia star region became the centre of power, and only individuals of high status on a galaxy or star region scale could now live there. Now, many hyumans called other star regions and solar systems their hometown.


    Without knowing her hometown and after finding out she had no close relative, Lucas was reluctant to hand her over to an orphanage. At the same time, Melissa was unwilling to live. In the end, Lucas had decided to take care of her, and adopted her as his sister, granting the little girl the last name ''Saunters''. Explore more at empire


    For additional protection, Lucas had also taken her as an employee of the store.


    According to the system, Employee Hire Function could grant employees similar privileges as the host. This meant that employees could gain the Host Protection Mechanism and Host Retaliation Function as long as they were within the store. With these abilities, Melissa would be able to protect herself within the store.


    Although Lucas doubted anyone would target her, he was still a possible target for different parties, with the terrorist organisation now being one of them. There was a possibility that they would go for Melissa in a bid to get to him, hence it was only right for Lucas to ensure her safety.


    One might call it wasteful, but Lucas had three slots for employees at the moment, so using one of them like this wasn''t a problem for him.


    Apart from adopting and hiring Melissa, Lucas had also found a new employee for his store in the meantime; one who just happened to fit the category he originally had in mind.


    "Yo, boss. A new order for a vestige just came in." Kelvin said.


    Kelvin was the oldest child as well as the first son of the famed Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Toman. He has studied under his father for years and was quite skilled compared to other vestige-smiths his age. Although Kelvin couldn''t be termed as a genius, his honest personality and hard work had enabled him to become a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith just like his father, albeit he was less skilled than the latter. He was at the entry level, which meant that he was also a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Although Lucas would have preferred his father ¡ªa sixth level stellar practitioner¡ª instead, that was asking for more than he could chew. The family business might have been declining, but it wasn''t at the stage where Toman would work for a new and unknown store.


    With Kelvin helping to run the store, Lucas was able to dedicate more of his time to actual hands-on work. According to the system, Lucas could also pass on some of his skills to Kelvin, to ease his workload, but Lucas still had Kelvin on probation for the moment.


    "Hmm, that''s right. Today should be the day." Lucas suddenly recalled his agreement with Novanio Tech.


    Thanks to Novanio Tech and the announcements they had previously made, Lucas had more work on his hands. There were more orders as of recent, and despite his human appearance, the prejudice against him seemed to have dropped quite noticeably. Of course, this was all thanks to the existence of the ''mysterious vestige-smith '' backing Lucas.


    According to the agreement between Lucas and Novanio Tech, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger would be launched within the week. The vestige dealership formed by Novanio Tech would handle the sales of the two vestiges outside of Baylands City while the sales within the city was left to Lucas. This agreement was made to protect the interests of both parties and help them profit on their own.


    While Lucas could sell the same vestiges in the city, the influence and reach of Novanio Tech was more powerful, so they could not only sell within the other fifteen districts, but even ship it off to some nearby city-states, where the vestiges could be sold for a much higher price.


    Based on his memory, today was supposed to be the day the dealership would be open for business. It was originally supposed to be two weeks ago, but the effects of the desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was still being felt, and the region was recovering from the damage. So, Novanio Tech had postponed the launch by half a month.


    Lucas had been invited to attend the event, but he had almost forgotten about it due to the amount of work he had on his table.


    "Dress up, guys. We''re closing the store early." Lucas said to Melissa and Kelvin.


    Since Novanio Tech was an important business partner, it was only natural for Lucas to make an appearance at the event. What''s more, the dealership also affected him as it was the grounds of partnership between the two sides.


    "Uhm, where are we going?" Kelvin couldn''t help but ask.


    He was surprised that they had to close up early and leave for somewhere else, even thought there were still a few customers in the store.


    "It''s important. Enough with the questions already." Lucas said as he left with Melissa to get ready upstairs.


    The store was a two floor building, but the second floor was the residential area for Lucas and Melissa.


    Kelvin didn''t know what to say, but as Lucas the boss ¡ªdespite being visibly much younger than he was¡ª he had to do as he was told. He closed up the store and left for his home to prepare.


    Three hours later, the trio met up again.


    "Hmm? Why is there a vehicle parked in front?" Lucas couldn''t help but ask.


    The hover car looked like a classy sedan and gave off a luxurious vibe. From what Lucas knew about hover car models, although it was a bit antique, the vehicle in front was the same as a fancy sports car on Earth. Not only was it expensive, but it was worth every single penny. Its speed was top-notch and there was a defence system installed within the vehicle. Although the defence system didn''t have retaliating capabilities, the shield was powerful enough to endure second level Apertures Opening stage assaults.


    "It''s mine. I was thinking since we''re leaving, I should get a ride ready." Kelvin said.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by his thinking and also his wealth. But then again, Toman''s Workshop used to be a big deal back in the days, so it wasn''t weird for Kelvin to still have a vehicle of this standard. However in truth, it wasn''t needed. Since it was an event by his partners, Lucas could have ringed Lucy and a ride would be sent over. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Since he''s already done this much, I might as well just go along with it.'' Lucas thought.


    The trio then hopped into the hover car with Kelvin driving. While he could have just turned on the auto-pilot feature, Kelvin was the kind of man that preferred being behind the wheels. There were many similar people like him, which was why hover vehicle manufacturers still installed a manual control system in their vehicles.


    The destination for the event surprisingly wasn''t in the West Wing district or even the Central Prefecture district. Instead, it was at the Eastern Crown district, the most populous district in Baylands City. This caught many by surprise as the Eastern Crown district was neither close to the Wastelands like the West Wing district, nor was it the place with the most wealth like the Central Prefecture district. However, while many questioned this act, Novanio Tech gave no response to them.

 Chapter 165 The Meeting

    The venue of the location was at the new store located in the Eastern Crown district. The store was actually a skyscraper which served as the corporate headquarters for the new vestige dealership business. The first up to the third floors made up the actual store, while the floors above were either warehouses or the administrative offices."They invested a lot into this." Kelvin couldn''t help but say.


    He was dressed in a classy two-piece navy-blue dinner suit with a luxury watch on his wrist. It was an item his father had gifted him back when their business was still doing well. Despite being ''old'', it was classified as a vintage accessory and was still of significant value.


    Half a step in front of him was the sibling duo, Lucas and Melissa. The little girl wore an elegant flowery gown, which Kelvin had argued wasn''t appropriate for the event, but Lucas didn''t care about that. Since she liked it and wanted to wear it, he decided that she could


    Lucas, on the other hand, was dressed more lackadaisical than his little sister. He wore a grey sweatshirt with a black pair of trousers. When it came to formal outfits, Lucas wasn''t a fan of those and usually only wore them back on Earth after the harassment of his personal assistant. With no one to play the role, he felt liberated as he could finally dress pleased.


    Kelvin had a headache with the sibling duo, but as he was of the lowest rank amongst the trio, he could do nothing about them.


    With a confused expression, Lucas questioned Kelvin.


    "Why do you say so?"


    Although a skyscraper might seem impressive back on Earth, it wasn''t anything special here. Pretty much any company, as long as they weren''t tiny, could afford one. This was because both the cost and duration of building a skyscraper was greatly shortened when compared to Earth, so it wasn''t out of the reach of many companies. Regardless, many still opted for smaller businesses unless there was a need for so much space.


    "The location of this building isn''t ordinary. The Eastern Crown district might not be able to compete with the Central Prefecture district, but due to its nature as the most populated region, the cost of land in economical areas here is very high." Kelvin explained.


    Lucas was surprised by this. To be able to be compared to the Central Prefecture district, the cost of land here was definitely not ordinary.


    "For a land this big, it would probably cost at least the price of at least one Grade 4 vestige." Kelvin added.


    Looking at the massive space Novanio Tech had bought, Lucas couldn''t help but swallow a cold breath of air. A Grade 4 vestige had a starting price of fifty thousand (50000) federal coins. In a city where the minimum salary was at five hundred (500) federal coins, one hundred times below the price of the above vestige, one could imagine how costly this plot of land was.


    Most individuals couldn''t even fathom such amounts as their daily expenses were all carried out using federal pences, of which one hundred of those was equal to a single federal coin.


    "Welcome, Mr. Lucas."


    A young man dressed in a uniform greeted Lucas at the front door once he saw the group arrive.


    "You know me?" Lucas was surprised.


    "I''ve been charged with serving as your guide and assistant for today''s event, so it is only natural for me to know who you are."


    The young man responded. He was somewhat surprised seeing how the group dressed. Only one of them was accoutred in a fit that was duly appropriate for the event. The little girl was dressed in a floral spring gown when it was autumn and nighttime. As for the VIP, he appeared even more ridiculous, but it wasn''t the guide''s place to make a comment on that.


    "That''s nice."


    Lucas couldn''t help but add a few more points to his mental image of Novanio Tech. Unlike other companies, they valued him the most despite his nature as a human. It goes to show how they were able to survive in the electronics and vestige-smith industry as stellar processor distributors.


    Under the guide of the aide, the trio walked into the building where the event was to begin. The entire flat had been rearranged to host the party wtih some pedestals fitted with pricey vestiges stationed in strategic locations. There are also a couple of guests present already, who were either appreciating the view or chatting with each other. It looked just like what one would think of a formal dinner event.


    As they walked across the hall, Lucas couldn''t help but glance at the vestiges and mentally judge them. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''The quality is alright for this world''s standards, but it''s still a bit tacky. It can''t really compare with the top vestige-smiths or companies. Are they planning to compete for the middle market?'' Lucas wondered.


    Usually, whenever a big or renowned company was moving into another industry, they would try to position themselves as a premium option, boasting better quality than the market standards. But from what Lucas could see here, it seemed like Novanio Tech was planning to do so. They were instead targeting the middle level of the weapons market, which was mostly Grade 2 vestiges and the weaker Grade 3s.


    This strategy seemed to be reasonable as this market was the one with the largest sales. However, it was hotly contested by the top companies and middle-level businesses. It would be very difficult for Novanio Tech to interfere in the market.


    ''Actually, it would be difficult irrespective of which level of the market they aim for. But the middle level is better since no one really holds a monopoly here.'' Lucas thought.


    "This way." The guide directed them until they arrived at the other end of the hall.


    At this end, there was a door that led to another hall. Passing through it, the group arrived at a location filled with a different group of individuals. Compared to those in the previous hall, the crowd present here were of a different class. Just from how they carried themselves ¡ªtheir gestures, gait, and body language¡ª along with their attire, Lucas surmised that they were the true upper-class of the city. Everyone of them probably had assets in the hundreds of thousands or even millions.


    "Mr Lucas, welcome. I''ve been waiting for you." Lucy walked over with a smile.


    Lucy was a senior staff of Novanio Tech who had helped bridged together Lucas and the company, playing a vital role in the partnership.


    "Long time no see." Lucas smiled.


    Since it was a joyful event, there was no reason to be walking around with the usual cold face he carried around in the store.


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    "You never cease to surprise me." Lucy said as she glanced at his ''unique'' dressing.


    "I''m glad to be of some use." Lucas joked.


    "It''s nothing serious. Anyways, I''d like to introduce you to a few people. They might be of help to you." Lucy said with a mysterious smile.


    The guide was permitted to leave while Lucy took over. She led the group to an area in the hall where Lucas saw a few familiar faces. One of them was the manager who had met up with him to finalise the deals for the negotiation. The other two Lucas was slightly familiar with were a white-haired man and a man with a red beard. He had met the two during his exceptional basis exam at the Eretrean Vestige-smith League headquarters in Baylands City. They were part of the prestigious group of eight individuals who had attended the exam to spectate the examinees.


    After Lucas greeted the manager he was familiar with, the red beard man chuckled and extended his hands,


    "We meet again."


    To be honest, Lucas has no good feelings or opinions to any of the eight he met that day. When he was being pushed aside by the chief examiner and had called the results to question, none of them came to support him. Lucas didn''t blame them for this as it was understandable since they were strangers and he was human. However, when Lucas tried to prove himself through a vestige duel and was forced out of the building after that, he was still ignored.


    This might not be enough to generate hate, but it was enough for Lucas to not have any special positive feelings towards them.


    "Sure." Lucas said as he shook hands with the man.


    If he were on his own, Lucas would have ignored him. But if he did so right now, the one who would get caught in the crossfire would be his partner, Novanio Tech; to be specific, it would be Lucy who had brought him over. Lucas didn''t want to put her in an uncomfortable position just because of himself; at least this wasn''t worth it.


    The white-haired man also greeted Lucas, but unlike the red beard, he was polite and even complimented him.


    "I have to apologise for the previous event on that day. It seems like we underestimated you." The man said with a smile.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow and asked, "I don''t think so. All this is the work of my master and not myself. So, it''s a bit too much to say that.*


    "Don''t be like that. The fact that an accomplished man such as your master had decided to choose you as a disciple says a lot about you. He probably sees something in you that we failed to see." The man replied.


    Lucas couldn''t help but feel surprised, but that was all he felt. He wasn''t someone that would easily be swayed by sweet words.


    "Since everyone''s introduced themselves, let''s move over to the main stage. It''s about time to kick-start the event." The manager said.

 Chapter 166 A Familiar Face

    The CEO of Novanio Tech company came onto the stage and gave the opening speech. It was a simple and standard speech, relaying the journey of the company, its achievements, main goals, and objectives for opening the new vestige dealership. He also spoke about the focus of the business and their long term goals, before finally going to the topic people were interested in¡ªthe new business'' name and focus."This new company will be a beacon of development and quality products. We aim to become a reputable business in this industry, and will provide all our customers with suitable vestiges at an affordable price. Without any further delay, I would like to declare the official opening of our store, Legacy Crafts."


    A logo was suddenly projected above the CEOs head, and it was the logo of the new dealership, Legacy Crafts.


    "A vestige dealership owning a vestige dealership. I don''t think that''s something you see every day." Lucas sipped from a glass of champagne he had taken off the server''s tray.


    "True. But it''s not exactly rare. In this case, the two dealerships focus on two different sectors, although they''re still of the vestige-smith industry. Novanio Tech is more into the distribution and sale of electronics and stellar processors, while Legacy Crafts is into weapons." Kelvin explained.


    "True that." Lucas nodded.


    Apart from the guests present, there was also a press crew that was invited for this occasion. Right after the speech, it was time for the press conference.


    "Sir, will the new vestiges, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, be sold here?" The first reporter asked the question on everybody''s minds.


    The reason why this opening event had attracted so many reputable guests wasn''t because it was hosted by Novanio Tech, but rather, the two vestiges that had been announced over a month ago. Many of the guests were interested in this vestige and wanted to know whether the benchmarks were really true, and how Novanio Tech would handle them."


    "The CEO smiled as hre before responding,


    "It''s just as you have said. First off, the benchmarks for the vestiges are as they were advertised. However, due to the limited amount we can acquire every month, there would be a limit to how much we sell; reaching up to seven per month."


    The press conference continued while some of the guests socialised with each other, but Lucas was bored. Although that was true, he had noticed that some of the guests shot strange gazes at him, which made Lucas irritated which was why he left.


    Lucas headed over to the buffet table along with Melissa. Following that, the two siblings began to try out the different food options.


    "Oh, I never thought I''d see you here."


    While he was serving himself, Lucas heard a voice call out to him. He turned around just to see a black-haired young man walk towards him. Lucas focused a bit before recalling where he had seen the latter and who he was.


    The young man was Vergil Mertens of the Mertens family, as well as a fellow examinee from the Exceptional basis exam back then.


    Vergil was from the famous Mertens family, one of the big four families in Baylands city-state. The Mertens family''s main business wasn''t in vestige-smithing but food production and the desolate beasts industry. Through the ingenious command of their previous family heads, the Mertens had managed to become a billionaire family two generations ago; Vergil''s grandfather''s generation. Their current net worth was said to be around 2.1 billion federal coins, which was a massive amount of wealth that few could imagine. When converted to federal pences, which was the standard currency for most daily and even weekly expenses, that was 210 billion federal pences.


    Being of such acclaim, it was only natural for the Mertens family to attend this classy event. With Vergil being the second genius of the family and a family head candidate, his attendance wasn''t surprising despite his young age.


    "Do we know each other?" Lucas asked.


    "Come on. Don''t be like that after I helped you back then." Vergil said.


    "Your performance back then was bold and courageous; amazing I might even add. Who would have thought that the guy from back then would be a prized partner of a billion FeC company." Vergil laughed.


    FeC was an acronym used for the currency Federal coins while FeP was for Federal Pences. It was mostly used by the younger generation however, which was why it wasn''t common.


    "Why don''t we get to know each other a bit more?" Vergil smiled. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Your little sister or cousin? She''s so cute."


    Vergil bent and faced Melissa.


    "Hello there."


    The little girl hid behind Lucas and avoided Vergil, making the latter feel awkward.


    Lucas could sense that Vergil didn''t have any bad thoughts about him. Unlike the others who looked down on Lucas and avoided holding conversations with him, Vergil didn''t seem to care about that. This was just like that time at the exceptional basis exam, where despite having beaten up a teen with a background, Vergil had stepped in for Lucas.


    "She looks cute, unlike mine that keeps a harassing me all day." Vergil said.


    Lucas was then reminded of the other genius of the Mertens family, Laura Mertens. She was Vergil''s older sister and was a prodigy in stellar refinement. Rumour has it that she was already, at least, at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage despite being only twenty five years of age. The only woman who could come close to comparison was Lisa of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


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    "Are you interested in meeting her? She might be a bit stubborn, but she''s a hottie. All I want is a Blue Spear and you can have a beauty in your arms." Vergil gave Lucas a knowing look.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be disgusted for a second. Vergil was truly a dandy, and it was even crazier that he was trying to pimp his sister.


    "I''ll pass."


    "Come on. You won''t regret it, I promise. Everyone says she''s worth dying for, so why don''t you just say yes? Alright, forget the spear. Just give me early access or a pre-order spot, okay?" Vergil pleaded like a little child who wanted a lollipop.


    Lucas couldn''t believe that this was the genius of a billionaire family, but he held back the urge to curse out loud because of the venue.


    Just as he was getting fed up with Vergil''s actions, a voice called out.


    "There you are."

 Chapter 167 A Bossy Prodigy

    "There you are."A young lady dressed in an elegant gown walked towards the group. She had stunning blue hair with a mesmerising pair of blue eyes and gave off a noble aura, like a pristine goddess that had descended from the heavens. Her gait was perfect rivaling those of professional models, with a unique grace to it. Her physique was like an elaborate work of art that could please all souls. She had a seductive charm to her, yet appeared dignified and pure; a beauty that could reach out to all hearts and appeal to all eyes.


    ''He definitely didn''t lie about her looks.'' Lucas thought as he felt the young lady was belle in the truest sense. Nonetheless, he was simply appreciating her looks and not falling for her.


    For Lucas, he believed that only the love between a man and metal was the purest form of love. The love of the flesh was temporary and would eventually come to an end, but metals lasted for eternity.


    The newcomer, Laura Mertens, glared at Vergil who responded with a sly smile. She then glanced at Lucas and Melissa who stood by the side. Kelvin was busy socialising, so he wasn''t with the duo at this time. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m sorry for whatever troubles my younger brother might have caused you." Laura said.


    "Don''t worry about it." Lucas calmly responded, surprising Laura a bit.


    The latter then turned to Vergil, suddenly grabbing his ear.


    "Ow ow ow. It hurts." Vergil cried out.


    "It''s going to hurt a lot more if you keep fooling around." Laura said, shocking Lucas who already had a graceful image of her in his head.


    After giving her little brother a beating, Laura then turned to Lucas with a bit of interest.


    "You''re the young man who owns the store, Seven Sparks Forge, correct?"


    Lucas nodded, wondering what else she wanted to say.


    "Will your store be selling the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger vestiges as well?"


    Lucas now understood where she was going. It seemed like the vestiges had attracted even young scions and geniuses, but this was natural. Not only was the power of the vestige close to that of a Grade 4, but the unique ability to transform was something that could come handy in various situations.


    "Yes, I will. But with a limited supply."


    Lucas answered as he turned back to the buffet table. The two siblings had kept him away from the food long enough, and he was starting to get hungry once again.


    Laura couldn''t help but widen her eyes a bit seeing Lucas ignore her right after. It wasn''t like this was the first time she had met a man acting nonchalant in her presence in a bid to attract her attention. However, she could truly feel that Lucas just didn''t give a damn about her.


    Even Vergil, who had recovered from the beating, couldn''t help but make an O with his mouth.


    ''Nice.'' Vergil mentally rated Lucas as a ten star entity.


    "Is it possible to make an order now? Even if it is a pre-order, I don''t mind. So long as I am among the first group, then it''s alright."


    "Not yet. My master is still a bit busy with other projects, so that would be later." Lucas responded as he filled his mouth with the delicacies from the table.


    There were rare and unique seafood species he had never seen back on Earth. The sumptuous meat was also gotten from an exotic desolate beast, so the taste was no doubt foreign to Lucas'' tongue. Despite that, it was still intoxicating and exceedingly delicious.


    With the different meals in front of him, he could barely pay attention to Laura any longer. In fact, Lucas had failed to hear the next question she threw at him, which made the damsel irritated.


    ''Here it comes.'' Vergil took a deep breath.


    He knew that despite the image his sister kept, she was a stubborn and proud lady. Maybe it had to do with her talent, her background, or her nature as a genius, but Laura wasn''t one who liked to be ignored.


    "Excuse me, shouldn''t you pay a bit more attention here?" Laura frowned at Lucas. However, the latter didn''t even flinch at the statement, much less respond. He was already lost in the taste of the food here.


    ''Gosh~ I should really ask them what type of meat this is and the preparation method.'' Lucas thought.


    Suddenly, Lucas felt a cold sensation brewing behind him. He froze for a bit as he felt it was strange.


    ''This aura...'' Lucas narrowed his eyes. Continue your journey on empire


    It wasn''t a mere figurative drop in temperature, but there was actually a cold energy creeping from behind. When he glanced at Melissa and noticed her shivering, Lucas grimaced.


    Turning around, Lucas glanced at Laura who was glaring at him.


    ''A hint?'' Lucas thought with a frown on his face.


    It was common knowledge that only at the tenth level would one be able to use their superpower, but some talented individuals were able to display a hint of it. Regardless, that hint was barely useful and only showed that one had potential or was simply lucky, like Nafir of the Red Fangs.


    Seeing Laura''s blue hair and eyes, Lucas had a feeling that the cold sensation was coming from ; or to be specific, she was displaying a hint of her superpower.


    ''As expected of a prodigy.''


    Vergil, who was already aware of the situation, began to laugh awkwardly as he came in front of his sister.


    "Sis, calm down a bit. We''re at the party, okay? No need to get so worked up."


    Laura scowled before storming away from the scene before Lucas could even say a word. Vergil laughed awkwardly before following after her. Luckily, most of the guests were in the first hall where everyone was as the CEO was still addressing the press agents. As such, the matter didn''t attract much attention nor blow up.


    Meanwhile Lucas, his attention wasn''t on the entire event that had just happened, but instead on Laura.


    "Rich kids sure are hard to deal with. I''m sorry for the treatment." Lucas bent and comforted Melissa a bit.


    In the end, he had to leave the event early because Melissa wasn''t feeling well.

 Chapter 168 Amassing Wealth

    "Have you heard? The Blue Spear and Dark Dagger are already on pre-order? I plan on placing an order today.""You''ve only just found out? Haha. I already made a pre-order yesterday and got into the list barely in time."


    "Heh. Step aside, peasants. While you guys make pre-orders, I''ve already gotten mine."


    "No way."


    "Yes way."


    "Show us."


    The speaker pulled out a black dagger and after channeling stellar energy into it, it transformed into a handgun.


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    "Oh my god. It''s the real deal."


    "Of course. I had to depend on my family''s connections just to get this."


    With the launch of the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, as well as the grand opening of the Legacy Crafts dealership, many freelancers and vestige enthusiasts all rushed to get theirs. However, Legacy Crafts had announced that there was a limited supply of the vestiges and as such, people would need to apply on a waiting list.


    For the launch, there were twenty pieces of each vestige, adding up to forty, but the number of people who wanted to get a hand on the products greatly exceeded this number. As such, even getting on the waiting list was a hassle and one would need a certain level of influence or wealth to do so at the moment. But then again, the vestiges cost so much that only such individuals could even afford it.


    Those with deep connections to Novanio Tech made use of those connections to get early access to the vestige, but they had to pay an even higher price than the official price just to do so. Through this method, the Legacy Crafts dealership was able to make an incredible amount of money following their opening.


    Lucas also had his own share of the profits as the vestiges had to be purchased from him at the system price, but he was unable to make more than that due to the system regulations. Naturally, this irked him considerably, but Lucas wasn''t one to be greedy. The pricing of the system was already exaggerated compared to market prices, so Lucas'' profit was hefty.


    Only a week had passed since the opening of Legacy Crafts dealership, but after selling the forty vestiges to the dealership, Lucas was now loaded.


    Previously, his Grade 3 vestiges sold for between sixteen thousand (16000) to twenty thousand (20000) federal coins. However, Lucas'' vestige-smithing skill had constantly been on the rise, and with the acquisition of stellar circuits theory, the quality of his vestiges had soared even higher, thereby increasing the base price. At the moment, a Blue Spear sold for twenty-four thousand (24000) federal coins in the Seven Sparks Forge while the Black Dagger sold for twenty-two thousand (22000) federal coins. The market price at Legacy Crafts dealership however, cost even more and was at twenty-seven thousand (27000) for a Blue Spear, and twenty-five thousand (25000) for a Black Dagger. This was the base price, and it could go higher if one cut through corners and went behind the waiting list to get the vestiges.


    One of the reasons why the Legacy Crafts dealership sold at a higher price ¡ªapart from desiring profit¡ª was that they did so in other districts, which added to their cost of operation.


    In summary, the profit being made was satisfactory to both sides of the deal. Even Lucas, despite having to pay ''taxes'' to the system, was making a ton; the rates had dropped from seventy five percent to sixty percent, which expanded his potential earnings.


    The reception of the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger in the vestige-smith market was incredible as many wanted to get their hands on it. Those who couldn''t wait to do so went to the original store to order, which added to Lucas'' profits, albeit he couldn''t sell much; after all, scarcity breeds demand.


    The agreement between Lucas and Novanio Tech was that the Legacy Crafts dealership would only sell his vestiges in their branches located in the other fifteen districts, while Lucas would also put a cap on the amount he sold. However, there was nothing stopping those in Baylands City from ordering the vestiges from the other Legacy Crafts dealership branches, although there was the added delivery cost. This made the Legacy Crafts dealership capable of still profiting from Baylands City without breaking the agreement.


    Logically, they shouldn''t have been able to compete with Lucas, but some individuals would rather order from the dealer than the store. However, Lucas didn''t bother himself about that because in the end, he was still making a profit.


    From the twenty pieces of each of the two vestiges, Lucas had already made nine hundred and twenty thousand (920000) federal coins in revenue, a sum that made his brain fry. If it were some other vestige-smith, they would have to subtract production cost from the amount, but Lucas had no worries about that since he was still depending on materials provided by the system. However, after the system''s taxing, he was left with only three hundred and sixty-eight thousand (368,000) federal coins.


    If it were in the past, Lucas would have cursed at the system. But he recently noticed that his stock of materials was constantly being replenished by the system, as such, he consider the deductions as a production cost.


    After settling Kelvin for the month and covering some other important bills, Lucas had around three hundred and sixty thousand left. He was planning to go material shopping since he couldn''t be limited to only working with the materials the system provided as that would limit his creativity.


    Apart from the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, the Legacy Crafts dealership was also open to making more deals with Lucas, after the Novanio Tech higher-ups realised that the quality of vestiges Lucas had created was of a higher level than the majority in the market. They were planning to have the Legacy Crafts dealership target both the mid and higher-end levels of the vestige-smith market using quality. Some of the higher-ups ¡ªspecifically those in Lucy''s faction¡ª were hoping Lucas could help them with this.


    As such, Lucas decided to take the day off an go shopping. But unbeknownst to him, the performance of the two vestiges had set up a storm that would soon bring him troubles and challenges.


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 Chapter 169 SS Vestige Craze

    throughout the entire ss vestige craze, the biggest winner in this event wasn''t actually lucas, but legacy crafts dealership.the ss vestiges ¡ªas they became called due to the branding on them as well as the fact the vestiges originally came from the seven sparks forge store¡ª were rare pieces of equipment that could potentially define a whole new era of vestige-smithing. as such, the technology behind it became desired by various vestige-smithing companies.


    there were only forty ss vestiges released by the legacy crafts dealership which made it very difficult for people to get one. the main method was to apply on the waitlist, but even doing so didn''t mean that one would get a vestige right away. in the most case, they might only get one after a month or two, when lucas had resupplied the dealership with a new stock.


    due to this, the only way to be able to truly get one was through backdoor access, where one would have to pay an inflated amount for this. this was thought up by the hierarchy at legacy crafts dealership, which was mostly those from lucy''s faction.


    the executives knew that many vestige-smiths would want to research on the ss vestiges and would do whatever they could to get their hands on one for this reason. so, they decided to profit from this desperation by charging those who went through the backdoor with sky-high prices for the ss vestiges.


    naturally, this would delay those on the waitlist from getting their hands on the vestiges. but the executives countered this by putting a limit on how many ss vestiges could be sold through a backdoor. this in turn raised the value of the vestiges even more, as once someone got it from the backdoor, they could sell for an even higher price on the black market.


    the reason why this was possible was because of the fact that the legacy crafts dealership sold the ss vestiges in limited quantities, and what''s more, they hadn''t officially sold any yet. they were still in the pre-order phase where people would have to first make a pre-order, get on the waiting list, and then, wait. however, there were now some who could skip this process with their connections as well as an incredible amount of wealth.


    all this in turn, generated so much fanfare and attention to the vestiges, which was good for business. those who got theirs through the backdoor would have a sense of value-for-money, since they had the ss vestiges earlier than others. they would then find it difficult not to show off the vestiges, after all, who wouldn''t want to?


    through the attention they received from showing off the vestiges, the legacy crafts dealership would become even more popular. in a sense, this was like a free advertisement for them, but it also worked in lucas'' favour as well. through all this, whether it be profits or advertisement, the legacy crafts dealership became the biggest winner.


    however, lucas didn''t care much about that. he now had way too much money and decided to lessen the ''load''.


    while there was chaos in the vestige-smith society, lucas went material shopping. be was planning to take on the challenge and become a supplier for the legacy crafts dealership. but to do that, lucas would have to depend less on the materials provided by the system as that would limit his works. for instance, elemental materials and metals, like igrum steel or violent sun ores, were not provided by the system. this made it impossible for lucas to make vestiges with elemental affinities, unless he sourced for those materials himself. read latest chapters at empire


    . . .


    in a research facility located somewhere in the south mountains district, a group of scientists, vestige-smiths and engineers were working on a blue spear.


    "have you reverse-engineered it yet?" a man in a luxurious outfit walked into the laboratory, glancing at the led researcher who was a vestige-smith.


    "n-no, not yet. it''s just too cryptic and complicated. the technological base might seem common, but the matrices and runes are unique; unlike anything we''ve ever seen before." the vestige-smith replied.


    "what do you mean? do you know how difficult it was to get a hold of this thing? find out the secret. unwrap this shit and tell me how it works!" the man growled before storming out of the laboratory.


    similar to others who got their hands on the ss vestiges before they officially came out, he had pulled on his connections and spent an outrageous amount of money just to get one for this research. despite that, the research team had failed to find a clue as to how the vestiges worked. inevitably, he would become pissed by this.


    "team head, what do we do now?" one of the vestige-smiths on standby asked.


    "what else can we do? we have to break the secret of these inscriptions, otherwise, we won''t be able to understand this technology." the project head said.


    when a vestige-smith created a new design, apart from applying for a patent to protect their work, they also installed certain measures to prevent it from easily being copied. plagiarism was quite common in the vestige-smith industry, and due to the nature of the industry, it was very easy for one to be creative about it.


    such situations were quite common in fact, and as a result, vestige-smiths tried to install protective mechanisms in their creations. one such protective mechanism happened to be the hiding of stellar matrices and runes knowledge.


    to vestige-smiths, their inscriptions and techniques were their life and what made them stand out. inscriptions were the main difference between a vestige and a piece of modern technology. although there were other factors required, this was one of the necessary ones.


    due to the importance of inscriptions, vestige-smiths rarely taught any unique knowledge or self-discovered principle to outsiders. only their direct students or family members in the craft could know about it. hence, there existed differences in each vestige.


    another method was to create a ''safelock'' mechanism on the vestige, which prevented people from studying the nature of the runes or stellar matrices. in his case, lucas had done so, and with the added fact that stellar circuits were rare, it was impossible for anyone to be able to figure out how they worked.


    while this went on, the man in luxury clothing who had visited the research team, connected online to a secretive meeting.


    the research facility he owned wasn''t the only one performing experiments and reverse-engineering analysis on the ss vestige. there were a few others, most of which belonged to the top corporations in the industry. similar to it, the others had all failed to make much progress on their individual research. s§×arch* the n?vel?ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "since we are stuck like this, there''s only one thing we have to do to avoid being pushed away from the market." one of the attendees of the meeting said.


    "and what''s that?"


    "we have to go to the source and get the technique." the man said.


    "oh wow. why didn''t i think of that?" someone said sarcastically.


    "you don''t really think he would just hand it to us cause we asked nicely? and i doubt he''s stupid enough to even sell the concept, otherwise, novanio tech would have beaten us to it." another person challenged the suggestion.


    "naturally i didn''t mean something as simple as pleading or compensation." the man who gave the suggestion said.


    "since we can''t do things nicely, let''s go ahead with the old ways. it''s time we show these newborns how the industry works."

 Chapter 170 Attack From All Sides

    "that should do it."after a round of shopping, lucas returned back to the store with a satisfied expression. of the over three hundred and sixty thousand (360000) federal coins he made, lucas spent one hundred and sixty thousand on materials, metals and other products. he had also purchased some desolate beasts to work with.


    although with the recent hire, kelvin, lucas wouldn''t need to worry about his stellar energy issue within the store, he decided to experiment on desolate beasts. there were a bunch of various different techniques he could use with them, and the blood energy from these monsters could be used to forge talismans. lucas wanted to use the talismans as insurance for his protection, rather than depending on bronze grade cards.


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    considering how much purchasing power federal coins had, the items lucas could get with one hundred and sixty thousand of them was surely significant, but the reality was contrary to this. there was a reason why there weren''t so many billion fec businesses even though vestiges cost a lot.


    when buying low, one hundred and sixty thousand federal coins could purchase mountains of items. however, the rarer and more exceptional the item was, the steeper its price would get. this was why some of the biggest winners in the economy were businesses who dealt with desolate beasts and resources, rather than creating vestiges. for instance, the mertens family which was wealthier than the oder family, despite the latter being older [1]. there were a couple more reasons involved, but this was a major factor at work.


    with a large sum of money in his pockets, it would be almost impossible for lucas to not purchase some of the higher-end products on the market, whether they be desolate beasts or materials. although they were still costly, it was around the price of nine to eleven thousand (9000-11000) federal coins per ingot or unit, for the more costlier ones ¡ªwhich were on par with the purple iridium metal; lucas'' most valuable metal in his collection. meanwhile, the ''cheaper'' ones went for two to four thousand (2000-4000) federal coins per unit.


    ''ah~ with this number, i can lock myself up for another month.'' lucas drooled as he imagined himself stuck vestige-smithing and carrying out his research all by himself.


    just as he arrived at the store, he was surprised to see that it was empty. sea??h th§× n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    although there were still people who avoided coming to his place due to their prejudice against humans, they were now in the minority. no one wanted to be left behind as they noticed that lucas'' vestiges were more powerful and durable than others. while the prices for vestiges in the store were still something to think twice about, many came for the maintenance services which were cheaper and boasted better quality than other stores.


    there was even the few who wanted to order an ss vestige from lucas, since by contract, the legacy crafts dealership in baylands city couldn''t sell them and it still wasn''t being officially sold. these fellows had neither the connections to go around the back, nor the patience to remain on the waitlist for their turn. as such, the store behind the vestige was the best choice for them.


    regardless of which side or reason they had, none of those customers were present today.


    "hey, what''s going on?" lucas glanced at kelvin who was rushing towards him.


    "boss, we have a huge problem."


    kelvin, who had been celebrating the previous day over his big paycheck and the future of the store, happened to be frightened at the moment.


    seeing as kelvin, who had been through ups and downs and worked for a big atelier, was acting all worried, lucas couldn''t help but frown.


    "what is the problem?"


    "we''re being targeted." kelvin immediately took out his communicator and projected an image to lucas.


    it was a document, or to be precise, a notice. the notice was from the baylands city-state commission for technology. it stated that the seven sparks forge was an unregistered business in the city-state, and would soon be closed down.


    lucas barely had time to let the information settle when kelvin swiped to another image. it was also a notice, but it came from the baylands city tax commission, and stated that the seven sparks forge was guilty of tax avoidance. it then mentioned that any trade or business carried out by the store should be shut down, until the owner arrives at the commission''s office to clear the situation. failure to do so would lead to his arrest.


    just as lucas was about to curse, kelvin swiped to another notice. this time around, it was from the eretrean vestige-smith league branch in baylands city-state. it stated that the vestige-smith behind the seven sparks forge was an unrecognised personnel, and not in their numbers nor records. although this didn''t prohibit the store''s business or anything like that, unlike the other two notices, the damage it did was more devastating.


    one should know that the evl, although not official per se, was the recognised organisation that protected, and to some extent, supervised vestige-smiths on the planet. membership wasn''t compulsory, but it served as a guide to certify one of their occupation and skill. this was because to become a member of the league, one had to pass some tests to confirm their abilities. as such, the average citizen saw the evl as the official organisation for vestige-smiths, even though it truly wasn''t.


    with such an organisation coming out to make a comment denouncing the existence of a vestige-smith, it would no doubt harm the image and business of said vestige-smith. lucas could handle the two commissions some way, but the evl''s statement was difficult to take care of.


    for an average vestige-smith, all they had to do was apply and get their membership, but not lucas. he was human and the only way to do so was through the exceptional basis examination. however, lucas had tried that and not only did he fail, he had also gotten on the chief examiner''s bad side. what''s more, the exceptional basis exam could only be taken once in a lifetime, unless special rights were granted. there was no doubt that lucas would be unable to gain such special rights, after how the last exam had ended.


    as for the suppose vestige-smith backing him to come and take the membership exam, that was all a lie. there was no backer or anything, unless the system could be called one. but the system couldn''t take a physical form.


    from the looks of things, the seven sparks forge was deemed to be taken out just as it was starting to rise.

 Chapter 171 Three-Pronged Assault

    lucas had in fact failed to register the store under the baylands city-state commission for technology, and he had also not been paying taxes. the reason? lucas was bad at running businesses.back in his first life, there was no such thing as an elaborate tax commission that went after businesses. taxes, or rather tariffs, were paid on imported goods. taxes were also paid on land properties and buildings. however, not all kingdoms charged businesses to pay taxes


    what''s more, yohan was a wanderer and not a man with a fixed shop. at times he could be spotted in kingdom a, then on the next month at kingdom b. as such, he didn''t really have to follow the rules of paying monthly taxes from his business to a kingdom or nation since he was a nomad.


    on earth, it was even more straightforward. at the start, the only taxes lucas paid was income tax, but as soon as he got his ''national treasure'' status, he was excused from that as well. lucas had no knowledge or experience running a business on earth, so it was inevitable that he would have failed to realise how modern trade and businesses worked.


    after sighing at the concurrent series of bad news, lucas calmed down and faced kelvin.


    "why did you say we''re being targeted?"


    from the looks of things, apart from the evl''s notice which could easily be blamed as lucas'' relationship with them, the other two seemed natural.


    "this is a typical strategy used by some popular companies in the industry. if they can''t get to you, they get to your business. also, there''s this." kelvin projected a final piece of information.


    it was a document much like the other ones, although most notably not from a public body. it was also a bit more detailed with the information it was passing out.


    the whole gist of the document was related to a statement made by an alliance of top vestige-smith companies. the alliance had stated that since the ss vestiges were pushing in a new era for vestige-smithing, the designer of the vestiges was expected to make the information about the vestiges open to other local vestige-smiths for the greater good. this way, other local manufacturers would be able to produce similar vestiges, and in turn, boost the strength of baylands city-state and also its revenue due to exports.


    the alliance had also argued that having only one vestige-smith possess this secret would limit the advancement of baylands city-state''s technology as well as the proliferation of the vestiges into the market. in a situation where at least four other vestige-smiths knew the secret of the ss vestiges, more freelancers and individuals would be able to get access to the vestiges, than in a situation with only one vestige-smith possessing the knowledge.


    they would also be able to export completed vestiges to other city-states, increasing the exports being generated by baylands city-state.


    the more lucas read, the more he couldn''t hold back his thoughts about how bogus this entire write-up was. however, the problem lay in the reality that some would agree with this crap. to be specific, those who wanted to get their hands on the ss vestiges but could neither afford to do so, or didn''t want to be on a waitlist.


    if there were more manufacturers of ss vestige rip-offs, they could just order those without having to apply for a waitlist or go through a backdoor. also, more manufacturers meant that the price would inevitably drop, making the vestiges much cheaper than they are now.


    "what are we going to do about this?" kelvin worriedly asked.


    while he knew that the ss vestiges would bring about great change in the vestige industry, even threatening existing companies, he never expected them to reply like this. this alliance had utilised their connections to the government, the evl and even made an official public statement; it was a three-pronged attack.


    "what are we going to do? we can only handle each problem one at a time. that''s all i can say." lucas calmly gave an answer before walking towards his workstation.


    kelvin was surprised at lucas'' tranquil mindset, and it rubbed off on him a bit as he began to regain his composure. since lucas wasn''t worried, it probably meant that the latter had a solution thought up.


    ''as expected of the boss.'' kelvin couldn''t help but praise.


    the truth however, was far from that.


    the reason why lucas could maintain a serene mind in all of this was because there would be one party more worried than him. sear?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    novanio tech, or to be specific, legacy crafts dealership was lucas'' major and sole trading partner. although they had other vestiges being sold, the ss vestiges were their flagship products and their best sellers.


    the idea of having the knowledge about these vestiges publicised, while it might sound beneficial, harmed the interests of the legacy crafts dealership. publicising the knowledge meant more manufacturers of the vestiges. more manufacturers of the vestiges, meant more competition, and more competition would inevitably affect the prices and sales of the ss vestiges. this was something the executives of the legacy crafts dealership would definitely not want to see happen. as such, lucas believed that they would be more worried than him about this matter. experience exclusive tales on empire


    one might ask how could that be, but as long as you were to recall that lucas never had any interest in running a store and was forced to do so by the system, it would all make sense.


    being unaware of how to properly run a business or the most suitable course of action to take from this point on, lucas decided to wait for his partners to reach out to him. once they did, the two sides would then discuss their next move.


    ''but it''s not the way of a grandmaster to just sit back and wait for help. since they dared to mess with me, i have to pay them back with interest.''


    lucas grinned as he approached the work bench and unfurled a blueprint on it.


    being a creative genius like himself, lucas had tons of ideas stuck within his head, but wasn''t willing to bring them all out. he didn''t want to upset the balance in the vestige industry by doing so, as such, lucas had only made two types of unique vestiges: the blue spear and dark dagger.


    since the stakeholders of the industry came for his head first, lucas firmly believed that there was no reason to play nice again. he might not know how to run a business, but it didn''t mean that lucas didn''t know how to put one out of business.


    unfortunately for the alliance, they had believed that their plan was foolproof and would profit them greatly; unbeknownst to the group, they had forced the hand of a devil. a couple of companies would fall at the end of this, and the event would become a memorable one in history. when the fallen ceos would be asked whether they would back out of their plan if they could go back in time, they would unanimously give the same reply: yes.

 Chapter 172 Finding A Solution

    *ding*the entrance door of the seven sparks forge opened as a silhouette walked in.


    kelvin lifted his head and glanced at the direction of the door, taking a look at the newcomer. slight signs of surprise appeared on his face as he said,


    "oh, it''s you. i''ll call him now."


    "is he busy?" the newcomer asked.


    "...well, he is. but the matter is too important. i think he will be able to free up sometime." kelvin said, unsure of his statement.


    "okay then."


    kelvin walked towards the door of the workstation and pressed on a switch that was fitted by the frame. lucas had installed it to be used to alert him in case of any emergencies.


    inside the workstation, lucas was still studying the blueprint he had laid out on the work-bench. since he was planning to cooperate with the legacy crafts dealership and seize control of the vestige market, he could only do so with top class vestiges. as such, lucas had to put quite a bit of effort into the design and development of the new set of vestiges.


    *ping*


    the sound of a unique system notification theme buzzed in his ears, calling lucas'' attention.


    lucas frowned slightly at the sound. the tone was different from the typical system notification sound, and it was used to alert him regarding emergencies in the real world. the only way this could be done was within the store, and the most likely person to do so was kelvin.


    previously, lucas had cautioned him not to use the bell unless deemed necessary, otherwise, kelvin would lose his job. while this might sound harsh, it was to prevent kelvin from abusing it and to avoid accidents. although he made it look easy, vestige-smithing required a lot of focus and care, with any small lapse in concentration affecting the final quality of the vestige, or even resulting in a failure.


    due to the severe warning from lucas, kelvin had never used it before until today.


    ''since he dared to do so, it could only mean it''s very important. i''m guessing some government agent came over to visit or it''s her.'' lucas thought.


    ''if it''s the former, there''s no issue in keeping them waiting, but if it''s the latter, i need to show some sincerity.''


    lucas sighed before turning to leave the workstation.


    "it''s been a while." the newcomer greeted lucas with a smile.


    "it''s not really been that long though, lucy." lucas said. s§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    lucy smiled at him as she brushed her hair.


    "true, but the situation calls for it."


    the two then sat down in the lounge area and began the main conversation.


    "how did you go about for so long without even registering?" lucy couldn''t help but ask.


    "i forgot." lucas calmly answered as he took a sip from the cup of tea made by kelvin.


    ''how does one even forget something like that??'' lucy''s lips twitched.


    "forget about it. it''s nothing serious, to be honest." lucy sighed.


    "really?" lucas was surprised and confused at the same time.


    "if i''m correct, your store hasn''t been open for half a year, correct?"


    "indeed." lucas responded.


    counting from the time he transmigrated into this world, it had been roughly four and a half months or so. what''s more, lucas didn''t open the store right as soon as he was transmigrated, so it definitely hasn''t been up to six months.


    "the regulations give a six-month pardon period for businesses. however, you would still have to pay the incurred fines for the six months duration. if after six months and you still fail to register, you would be sent to prison. in summary, the notice from the baylands city-state commission for technology isn''t a problem since we can just solve that with money." lucy explained as she stared at lucas.


    "the notice from the baylands city tax commission is also the same. six months is the maximum limit before the culprit would be penalised with an arrest. during this period, you can''t leave baylands city-state, otherwise, an arrest warrant would be issued. but you''re safe."


    lucas couldn''t help but feel relieved, but also curse inwardly. he had dealt with the city lord''s office and the city-state government a couple of times, but there was no such notification given to him about this. despite the current era being one of advanced technology, the government didn''t give him a monthly warning or something.


    if they had done so, lucas would have realised that he had broken a rule and tried to take care of it. that would have made his current enemies unable to use the government agencies to their advantage. it was almost as if the government agencies wanted someone to default past the six months period, so they could not only arrest the individual but also seize their assets.


    "i know what you''re thinking and it''s as you suspect." lucy sighed.


    "the agencies don''t give out a monthly notice on this for those exact reasons."


    lucas frowned. he couldn''t believe that there was such a practice here.


    it was a sly way for the government to be able to seize assets and enrich themselves.


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    "has no one complained about this?"


    "a few have, but nothing has been done about it." lucy said.


    she then glanced around carefully before leaning over the table and whispering to lucas.


    "the reason this is most likely is because of the greed of the top families in the government, especially the top two, but don''t say i told you anything."


    after the exceptional basis exam, where he had encountered multiple individuals from significant backgrounds, lucas had done some digging on the top families and powers in baylands city.


    the most powerful were four families known as the top four, and they were the ross family, the mertens family, the dufour family and the bergs family. the top two ¡ªdufour and bergs¡ª were said to have ties to the oklo dynasty, and the number one power, the bergs, was actually the family of the current city lord. in fact, the last three generations of city lords had come from precisely this family, hence, they had the nickname, city lord family.


    ''if it''s a matter with the dufour family and the bergs at the helm, then i understand why nothing has been done about it.'' lucas shook his head.


    no matter which world it was, greed was always a common factor in powerful factions.


    "back to the issue at hand. the main problem is the evl''s statement and the allied factions message. we can simply ignore the latter, no matter how much they try to force our hands, but for the evl''s notice, we would have to invite your master." lucy said, studying every single one of lucas'' body expressions.


    nonetheless, she was unable to find any sign of worry or anxiety on lucas. lucas was master at hiding his emotions and keeping a blank expression even with a knife on his neck.


    "my master isn''t one who likes to be pressured. i doubt he would make a statement even at this point, so it''s best we figure out a way to solve it ourselves." lucas replied.


    lucy sighed.


    "then what do you suggest? i don''t want to say this, but this matter affects you the most. you should try to think up something."


    "of course i know. and in fact, i already have a perfect plan."

 Chapter 173 Retaliation

    following lucy''s suggestions, lucas paid a visit to the two commissions and cleared out his debts. to pull this off, lucas had spent almost fifty thousand federal coins alone. luckily, he had made a windfall amount and could do so.after the matter with the two commissions were settled, the next wasn''t the evl but the alliance. lucas had decided to ignore the evl''s statement.


    it was already a verified fact that the evl had no real authority over every vestige-smith, and membership wasn''t compulsory. although the statement would affect the opinions of the public on the seven sparks forge, it was merely just that. in the end, the world was run by real benefits. as long as lucas could ensure the quality of his vestiges, he would still have an abundant supply of customers. the evl couldn''t threaten them or force these people not to patronise lucas, as that was the same as ruining their business and image.


    ''when i get the chance, i might as well apply in a different city-state.'' lucas thought as he returned back to his store.


    he had done his part for now, and it was time for the legacy crafts dealership to play their role as well.


    . . .


    "mr president, mr president, you need to look at this."


    at the thirty-first floor of a skyscraper, a personal assistant rushed through the doors of the office with an anxious expression.


    "didn''t i tell you not to make a scene in my office? do you want to lose your job? don''t you know i can easily have you replaced with a robot? even if i were to look for a human replacement, wouldn''t that be easy?" a man in a black suit who looked to be in his late forties, barked at the young man.


    "i-i''m sorry, mr president." the young man apologised profusely.


    the man before him was the president of a large corporation in the vestige industry, thebes corporation. within baylands city, the company, thebes corporation, could easily rank among the top fifteen, so one could imagine how much wealth and power he controlled.


    "what''s the matter? if it isn''t satisfactory, then prepare to hand in your resignation letter." the president said as he banged his desk.


    the young man shivered a bit as he hesitated, but he steeled himself to speak. if he didn''t, someone else would, and that someone else would be his replacement.


    "the news. please, check the news. it''s bad."


    the president frowned and was about to curse at the young man, but he held back his tongue and decided to check things out.


    on the desk, there were a few buttons. the president clicked one of them and a screen was projected in front of him. after logging in and going to the right section on the kssi, the president finally arrived at baylands city news section. at the same time, he also found the reason why the young man was so antsy.


    "th, this... how? how is this possible? this can''t be happening?" the president was shook.


    just as he was about to say something, a call came in on the display.


    the president froze upon seeing the caller id, and after a bit of hesitation, he finally picked it.


    "m, mr chairman." the president stuttered.


    "what is this i''m seeing? what the fuck is this i''m reading?!" the chairman roared.


    "do you know how much damage you''ve caused to this company? are you insane? what''s more, you''re been embezzling contract funds?!"


    "mr chairman, i can explain." the president rushed to speak.


    "i don''t give a damn about your explanation. you''re fired. leave that office this instant." the chairman immediately cut the call right after.


    the president turned despondent after the call, the light in his eyes gone. he couldn''t believe what had just happened and struggled to accept the reality of the situation. however, reality was harsh.


    "mr president, please vacate the premises." the personal assistant suddenly said.


    "...what?" the former president stared wide-eyed at him.


    "you heard me. i just received instructions from the ceo that you should be sent out immediately. please don''t make this hard for the both of us and do the needful." the young man smiled.


    "you, you bastard! how dare you!"


    *bang*


    the door to the office was abruptly opened as a group of security men came in.


    two of them walked forward and came before the president''s desk.


    "jeovan pierrot, please vacate the building''s premises." one of them said while staring ferociously at the former president, jeovan.


    "are you all insane? how can you do this to me? who gave you the right to do so?!" jeovan bellowed.


    "you know that just as well as i do. now, please leave. otherwise, we would have to resort to force." the other guard said.


    jeovan froze a bit, and suddenly began to laugh. his laughs were filled with both disbelief, sorrow and defeat. the two guards didn''t waste any time, giving a command to the other guards who then approached jeovan and arrested him.


    thebes corporation wasn''t the only one experiencing such a situation. in fact, there were a few other companies occupied with such events. it was an unexpected event, but it would go down in history as a memorable one. over twenty-one senior executives of the top fifteen vestige-smith companies in baylands city had all lost their jobs. s~ea??h the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    at first, everything was natural until a few media and news companies dropped a bombshell. it was a report about the various underground and illicit activities carried out by the senior executives affected.


    if it were just those done in alleva district, it wouldn''t be worth talking about as everyone knew that alleva was a "free zone". however, the crimes had all been committed in either baylands city or one of the other fifteen districts bar alleva district [2]. as such, there was enough grounds to charge them to court. what''s more, each crime committed by the executives was one that would cost them at least five years in prison.


    the series of reports caught everyone by surprise, and to was so damaging that the stocks of the affected companies had all dropped by at least ten percent. with such an event taking place, the higher-ups had to respond quickly and dish out damage-control measures, otherwise, the situation might become worse for them.


    sacking the key personnel involved was one example of such damage-control measures, and it was applied by all the companies. but even that had brought about a fresh wave of news for the gossip-hungry media channels.


    despite how much those top companies wanted to offer as payment to have the news forced down, many of the media channels refused it for various reasons. it was as if they were a pack of wolves that had smelled blood, and would stop at nothing until they tore their prey into pieces.


    part of the reason for this was because of the complex ownership of the media channels. some of them were owned by holding companies or individuals who either ran companies in the vestige-smith industry, directly competing with the affected companies in the top fifteen, or were close to someone who did. seeing an opportunity to strike down their foe, they seized it without fail.


    "well, how did you like our work?" lucy said as she stared at lucas'' projection on her communicator.


    "how did you guys do it?" lucas was astonished.


    it was just as she had said. the reports that came in, leading to the drop in stock price and sacking of high executives, was all as a result of novanio tech.


    "it''s something the company has been planning for a while now and was prepared to make our entry into the vestige-smith industry a whole lot easier." lucy smiled.


    enjoy new adventures from empire


    "we''ve been digging up dirt on every executive we could find. as long as their hands were stained, we would find something on them. nonetheless, this move cost us a lot and it can only be used once. you owe us for this."


    lucas nodded, but deep down, he was occupied with his thoughts.


    novanio tech was known to be a supplier of stellar processors. in fact, they were the biggest suppliers in baylands city-state. although they couldn''t make stellar processors, they hired and trained a group of vestige-smiths capable of offering after-sales services. these vestige-smiths, despite lacking the ability to make one, could easily fix or make adjustments to a stellar processor.


    moving along that line of thought, it was easy to guess that novanio tech might have tweaked some, if not all, of the stellar processors they imported and distributed, in a discrete fashion. with stellar processors being so commonly used, from simple daily items such as communicators and laundry machines, to even more complex machines like sares and spaceships, one could imagine how much information novanio tech handled through their modified stellar processors on a daily basis.


    although this was just a suspicion of his, and it had been proven by various independent researchers that such had never happened, lucas had a feeling that he was right. novanio tech might not have modified every stellar processor that came their way, but they should have done so with a few. what''s more, they must have pulled it off using a complex technique that made thier actions undetectable even to independent researchers and vestige-smiths.


    ''i should be careful with how much tech i use these days. it would be much better if everything i use is handmade by me.'' lucas thought.

 Chapter 174 New Announcement

    "but that''s not all. it''s about time we took advantage of this opportunity to strengthen ourselves." lucy said.lucas nodded, believing she was right.


    since they had managed to kick the opponent down, just letting them go wasn''t enough. if care wasn''t taken, it would be no different from releasing a tiger back into the wild. as such, the duo had to launch an attack that would get stuck with the companies.


    what lucy had in mind was to secretly acquire the companies involved. this was a normal response in corporate warfare and was very common. if one couldn''t easily put the other out of business, why not just acquire them? it was a good thing that the companies affected by the entire event were public companies, which meant that their shares could be acquired through the stock market.


    opening the stock market, lucas browsed through some of the top stocks, but kept his attention on the fellows who had gone after him under the alliance. the majority of them were victims of novanio tech''s hidden move, but there happened to be just a few who got away either entirely, or lightly.


    speaking about novanio tech''s ploy, with a shield like lucas'' seven sparks forge seizing all the attention, very few would consider the possibility that novanio tech had modified their stellar processors. this would allow the company to be able to reuse this plot somewhere else.


    read new adventures at empire


    with his newfound wealth, lucas could place bid for the stocks and began to buy them in bulk, taking advantage of the drop in stock price. however, he didn''t.


    lucas currently had around one hundred fifty thousand (150000) federal coins with him. compared to the multimillion fec value of these companies, lucas'' wallet was like a drop in the ocean. although this plan was a slow and long term one, which would bore fruition in time, it wasn''t worth doing so at the moment.


    instead of purchasing the stocks, lucas beg against them. this was something lucy had taught him. lucas placed a prediction that the stocks would drop even more and bet one hundred thousand federal coins on his prediction. after that, he returned to the peace and quiet of his workstation.


    . . .


    three days later...


    the financial world was just recovering from the damage caused by a series of announcements a few days ago. vestige-smith companies were some of the most valuable companies in baylands city-state, so when the top fifteen experienced a drop in stock price, it affected the entire city-state economy.


    one should understand that the reported crimes of the executives weren''t just limited to acts like contract theft and so on. there were embezzlement cases, bribery, and even more heinous crimes like rape, sexual assaults, human trafficking ring association, and even three executives were found to be associated with terrorist activities. the crimes were so heavy that the companies got dragged in for harbouring such individuals.


    luckily, the actions were only limited to the individuals themselves, so, some of the companies managed to salvage the entire situation.


    just as everyone was preparing to look past it, the legacy crafts dealership came out with an announcement. the store, seven sparks forge, was announcing a new line of vestiges and the legacy crafts dealership had gotten a sole distributor contract with them. all the details were to be made in a conference scheduled for the next day.


    naturally, this news set off a storm as one of the involved parties had already trended a few days back. s§×ar?h the n?velfire(.)net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    seven sparks forge was involved in a controversy a few days back, detailing how the store had somehow come into existence without being registered with any official agency. there was also the fact that an alliance of vestige-smith companies called them out for creating a twisted monopoly which would supposedly harm the economy of baylands city-state.


    coincidentally, some of the companies in the alliance were affected by the event from three days ago. many people naturally drew conclusions from this significant fact, but with no strong evidence, they could only have their suspicions remain as such.


    "seven sparks forge?i thought they were closed down?"


    "yeah, but the owner has cleared all the issues so they reopened two days ago. well, not all of them."


    after the incident where the store was given notice after notice, the seven sparks forge had done the needful and registered with the required commissions of baylands city-state. however, they had snubbed the evl and the alliance, which raised some eyebrows. the latter wasn''t exactly surprising, but to have ignored the evl made many feel that whoever ran the store was either proud or very confident in himself.


    the evl might not be an official organisation for vestige-smiths, but it was a recognised contender for the role. as such, many did their best not to offend this organisation.


    "are you going to check it out?"


    "sure, why not?"


    many people were interested in what the seven sparks forge was preparing to bring out during the conference. apart from the fact that this was most likely the seven sparks forge making a comeback and retaliating against the alliance of companies against them, it was already a well-known fact that the store''s standards and quality was a lot higher than other vestige-smiths. just the blue spear and dark dagger, which despite being grade 3 vestiges, were revolutionary and had power rivaling some of the weaker grade 4 vestiges were enough to display the quality of seven sparks forge products.


    although they were quite pricey, they were known to be worth every single coin.


    "boss, we received a few messages from some other companies. i''ve already made sure to filter out those from the alliance." kelvin said to lucas.


    "what do they want?" lucas asked while feeding melissa some porridge.


    the little girl now looked considerably better and healthier than when lucas found her. back then, even though she was already eleven years of age, melissa appeared like a seven year old due to malnutrition. however, with lucas now taking care of her and giving her all that she could eat, she was now looking a lot healthier compared to over a month ago. she had even grown a bit in height, which made sense as she was hitting puberty.


    "some of them are interested to know what we have planned for release tomorrow, and are hoping to sign an exclusive distribution contract or even a nonexclusive agreement." kelvin said.


    having worked in toman''s workshop with his father during the peak of its popularity, kelvin was familiar with how corporations went about with their businesses. however, this was the first time he had seen those behemoths of the industry all flooding the mailbox of a small store. what''s more, they were all pleading for a contract, offering the most lucrative and beneficial options to the store, just to become a verified supplier.


    "are they dumb? don''t they know we already have legacy crafts dealership for that?" lucas was surprised.


    ''it can''t be that they''re damaged their brains or something?''


    it was already a well-known information that the legacy crafts dealership was the exclusive and sole official distributor of seven sparks forge products, which were now known as ss vestiges.


    while other companies could try to purchase the vestiges directly from the store, lucas didn''t sell in bulk to customers and it would cost these companies a lot to have different individuals frequent the store and buy the vestiges. when the costs were finally factored in, it would be impossible for them to resale the vestiges at a price more affordable than the legacy crafts dealership.


    what''s more, if they tried to resell these vestiges in their stores, it would attract a lawsuit from the legacy crafts dealership which was the only official distributor for the ss vestiges in baylands city-state.


    "that''s the thing, boss. they don''t want distribution rights for baylands city-state, but for other city-states." kelvin explained.


    "interesting." lucas smirked.


    the distribution rights to other city-states was indeed available for bidding. novanio tech had only recently launched the legacy crafts dealership and it was a semi-independent company from novanio tech. the dealership was to start out in baylands city-state before slowly expanding using the profits it generated. as such, it couldn''t export vestiges to other city-states at the moment.


    however, the allure of the ss vestiges was sure to surpass just baylands city-state. with legacy crafts dealership not being able to carry out export activities, it would only be logical to consider other companies for the role.


    ''these foxes are really good at thinking ahead.''


    lucas smiled.


    "don''t respond to them yet. or better yet, let them know that we would be considering the prospect." lucas said.


    it would be best to let legacy crafts dealership know about this and see their reaction first. after all, the two sides were now closer partners, so there had to be a significant level of mutual trust and respect.


    "melissa, how about we go shopping for new clothes tomorrow, just before the conference, okay?" lucas smiled at her.


    "hmm." melissa nodded with sparkling eyes.


    just then, lucas received a message on his communicator.

 Chapter 175 Level Up

    the next day came around quickly, but for some, it was slow, due to the intense anticipation for the day''s event. even as the first light of the day broke, many had already visited the official website of legacy crafts dealership and novanio tech, for information about the upcoming conference.the ss vestige craze had first begun with freelancers, vestige-smiths, and vestige enthusiasts, but as the craze got wilder, the students of freelancer academies got wrapped up in it. in the end, at least one out of ten people in baylands city had heard about them. and this was all within two weeks. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    with a new product coming to the market soon, it was inevitable that victims of the craze would rush to find out whatever information they could.


    the two websites were the only source for any information, as the seven sparks forge store has no website on the kellan solar system intranet (kssi). for this, lucas was to be blamed as his inadequate knowledge on running a business, despite having lived in the 21st century, was responsible. luckily, after this event, lucas was updating himself on common business knowledge and activities.


    back to reality...


    due to the incessant massive visits flooding the two websites, they ended up being shut down. the two companies announced on their social media platforms that an upgrade would be ongoing, but novanio tech was the only one that would be recovering quicker, taking at least three hours for the upgrade.


    this was understandable as between the two companies novanio tech was wealthier and much bigger in scale. due to the degree of businesses they held, their website had to be brought online as quickly as possible.


    one might wonder why their website wasn''t stronger than legacy crafts dealership, and the answer was simply because the company has never predicted to experience such an incident before. novanio tech catered to companies by supplying them with stellar processors. they had little to do with the end-user, so there was no reason to have a website powerful enough to sustain dozens of millions of visitors in one instance.


    after the downfall of the websites, the curious crowd began questioning the social media accounts of the two companies, hoping to get some sort of information about the new type of vestiges to be released.


    although vestiges were strongly regulated, it didn''t prevent the common man from having some interest in them. this was especially so since the focus of the topic was the creator of a vestige that had the entire industry in its grasp.


    in the end, the novanio tech social media account announced that they wouldn''t be related to information or activity concerning the ss vestige or legacy crafts dealership. this wasn''t novanio tech cutting off relations entirely, but this was the company''s higher-ups'' way of maintaining their business'' line of focus. novanio tech was a stellar processor supplier and not a vestige-smith company or a vestige dealership; the integrity had to be maintained.


    with novanio tech shifting the focus to legacy crafts dealership, the executives of the latter company had to give the crowd a reply, or at least, something to keep them a little occupied.


    in the end, the social media account of legacy crafts dealership made an announcement on kikao [1], the number one social media platform in baylands city-state. the announcement wasn''t anything special or anticipatory, instead, it was just a simple question:


    "what defines a vestige?"


    right after the question was the time for the conference as well as the location. in order to reach out to more people, the conference was an online one instead of a physical event, and it was open to everyone through a link.


    while the decision of making the conference an online event did attract attention and appeal to many, the question put up by the account still has the bulk of attention.


    what defines a vestige?


    this seemed like a simple question, but it also gave off the feeling of a riddle. many of those who read the statement were confused by it and began to overcomplicate what was supposed to be an easy question.


    "hey, what do you think they mean by this?"


    "i don''t know. probably trying to sound sophisticated or something."


    "no, no. i don''t think so. it''s probably a hidden mean. common guys, think."


    various conversations took place both in reality and under the comment section of the post, as many discussed what the question could mean.


    "these guys are good." kelvin commented as he stared at the checkout counter''s display screen.


    "indeed. they''re well experienced with this."


    lucas was fascinated by the actions of the legacy crafts dealership.


    just one question was enough to trigger the entire kikao social platform and become the number one trending topic.


    one should recall that in the past two weeks of the legacy crafts dealership''s existence, they had spent zero fees on advertisements, but had already generated a revenue of more than a million federal coins.


    lucas had made nine hundred and twenty thousand (920000) federal coins from the forty ss vestiges, and with the legacy crafts dealership selling at a higher rate, they had surely generated over a million. this was even without considering the other regular vestiges they sold in the course of doing business. and they achieved all of this without spending on advertisements. even though some of the vestiges were yet to be sold, the existence of the waitlist pretty much made no difference.


    it was all thanks to their bizarre marketing strategy that utilised public desire and interests to make themselves known. now once again, their strategy was in effect.


    "i have a feeling those alliance guys would be pissed. after all, they provided us with the opportunity to be able to do this." kelvin smiled.


    it was true that this was all the result of the alliance''s actions. if they had remained quiet and minded their business, or even competed fairly, lucas wouldn''t have decided to release a new product. the blue spear and dark dagger were already enough to earn him a ton of wealth and keep his business doing well. lucas wasn''t the type to be obsessed over money or being rich, so until the two vestiges weren''t doing well, it was unlikely that he would have released a new product, especially so soon.


    "let''s get ready." lucas said. discover hidden stories at empire


    "huh? we''re going? isn''t it an online conference?" kelvin was confused.


    since it was online, there was less reason for them to attend the conference at its physical location.


    "we aren''t going to the conference. there''s no point in doing so. i''ve already handed the vestiges over and explained to them how it works." lucas responded as he stood up to walk away.


    even with the explanation, kelvin still remained confused.


    "then...?"


    "it''s time to open the store, bird brain. what ''then''? have you forgotten already?" lucas stared at kelvin as if he were looking at a fool.


    "..."


    kelvin immediately scurried to get the store ready for business. lucas had earlier told him that they would open late which was why the store was empty. but with the owner now informing him to do so, kelvin rushed to act.


    meanwhile, lucas glanced at the system notification on his interface. it was one that had him in a good while for over a day now, but lucas had forgotten to check it out.


    [[ congratulations on completing the hidden mission: not just weapons.


    mission description: create a unique vestige that isn''t a weapon.


    rewards: special ability card]]


    [[ congratulations to the host for levelling up the system (now level 3). one new system ability granted.


    rewarding ten system coins, one leaf from the tree of gehenna.]]


    [[ leaf from the tree of gehenna: a unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug, or a potion to change one''s physical condition. consuming it in its raw form can bring the dead back to life with the right conditions. it could also be used to gain death-related abilities. ]]


    from the conversation lucas had with the system the last time he levelled it up, he had learned that with each level up, he would gain a unique material. according to the system, the unique materials up until level five would be key ingredients to making a potion that would modify his human physique and enable lucas to be able to use stellar energy.


    although there was an item with a similar effect in the system store ¡ªthe red dragon heaven pill¡ª it cost at least five hundred system coins. what''s more, the red dragon heaven pill was only capable of healing all sorts of diseases by making a perfect body that was capable of storing and manipulating stellar energy. with such a physique, one''s stellar refinement would be moving at a speed at least three times faster than the hyuman with the highest mdna concentration.


    however, the elixir to be produced with the unique items would do more than just give lucas the ability to use and store stellar energy. while the physique produced with it would be weaker than that made using the red dragon heaven pill, the added effect of special bonuses was more attractive to lucas.


    also, it was easier to level up the system than it was to make five hundred system coins. until now, lucas had only seventeen coins, and this was with the extra ten he had just gained with the recent level up.


    "two more levels to go."

 Chapter 176 New Vestiges

    the evening arrived soon and the conference kicked off. it began with the host from the legacy crafts dealership addressing some of the issues faced by the store as regards to its customers. this included when the current ss vestiges would officially be on sale for those on the waitlist ¡ªwhich was decided to be two days from then¡ª and also when the next order would come in.surprisingly, the host had advised those who couldn''t afford to wait to head to the seven sparks forge to get theirs. this action caught lucas off-guard, and it made him quite impressed by the legacy crafts dealership executives.


    while to an outsider, it may seem as if the dealership was sending off its customers, but this wasn''t so. according to the original deal, the dealership would handle transactions and trades outside of baylands city. recently, they had bypassed this by offering delivery services for their products into baylands city. although lucas had not said anything, they felt that it was somewhat betraying on their side.


    initially, the executives planned to do nothing about it. but after lucas showed them the new vestige models, they decided to cut off this profit route in exchange for a stronger connection with lucas. it was obvious that they were the ones who needed him, and not the other way around. s§×ar?h the nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the current lucas wasn''t the same young man they had met months ago, who was unknown to the public. with just a simple statement, he could have other dealerships and companies rushing to partner up with him while offering more lucrative deals. as such, the executives woke up to reality and realised that it was better to remain on lucas'' good side, especially with his ability to create new market disruptive innovations.


    in truth though, their action of advertising lucas'' store wouldn''t do much. it wasn''t like those who patronised the legacy crafts dealership didn''t know that the ss vestiges were sourced from seven sparks forge. they had simply chosen to purchase from the legacy crafts dealership even though there was an added cost together with a delivery fee, as it was shipped from out of the city.


    as such, even with the announcement made by the legacy crafts dealership, much might not change afterwards. the only way things would turn around was if the dealership was to ban the delivery of the ss vestiges into baylands city, but they weren''t willing to go that far.


    apart from the previously stated announcements, the host addressed a couple other issues and made a few announcements on their other products.


    just as people were about to begin cursing on the channel, the host finally went to the main focus of the event; the new vestiges.


    "ladies and gentlemen, it''s my utmost honour to present to you all, our new products from the exceptional hands of the seven sparks forge vestige-smith."


    "did he say products? as in, more than one?"


    some immediately caught on to the grammar and began to spam the live comment section with questions.


    "haha. it''s just as you all suspect. there will in fact be more than just one vestige being released.


    "when we asked the question, ''what is a vestige?'' this was a question with an obvious answer, but it was a product that relied on the same elements as other vestiges; in other words, runes and matrices.


    "with that well said, the new products on our roster." the host presented a large barrel-type gun.


    "the adjudicator."


    the adjudicator was an anti-desolate beast weapon and it was more suitable against large desolate beasts. lucas was inspired to make this after the battle of the desolate beasts tide at alleva district. he had noticed that the military''s method of fighting was more close combat and relied on their sare shuttles offensive system for more firepower. although the shuttles were fitted with high-power laser weapons and missiles, all of these were attached to the shuttle.


    the adjudicator however, was a hands-on device. through relying on stellar circuits, lucas was able to offset its weight, making the weapon easier for an individual to handle alone. what''s more, through his transformative technology, the weapon could be changed into a two-piece detachable box that was easier to carry.


    the firepower of the adjudicator was on par with a full powered grade 3 vestige. at full strength, it was even higher. it was designed based on the pole vestige lucas had used against the jaburian and desolate ape, except it was nerfed considerably. he didn''t want anyone to have access to that kind of powerful weapon just yet, so lucas had increased the weight during production. nonetheless, it was still manageable for an individual to wield alone.


    the adjudicator had a built-in stellar processor, which gave the weapon a lot of special features like increased accuracy, heat-tracking capability, and artificial intelligence aiming. it was also made with special attachments, allowing one to be able to hook it onto a sare shuttle right away. thanks to the stellar processor, one could be able to link the control mechanism directly to the sare shuttle''s control cabin network.


    the vestige was meant to bolster the hyumans attack options against desolate beasts, but relatively speaking, it wasn''t as revolutionary as the first two ss vestiges; the blue spear and dark dagger.


    just as people were wondering whether the seven sparks forge had lost its flair, the other vestiges were announced, with none of them failing to generate glitters in the eyes of the stream watchers.


    the second vestige wasn''t actually a weapon, but a wrist-type communicator. it was fitted with many technologies, and a software called ''beginner''s guide for freelancers''. the guide contained information on various desolate beasts including their appearances, strengths, weaknesses, and even behaviours. it was a detailed encyclopaedia on these monsters.


    it wasn''t as if there weren''t similar softwares already, but what made the guide standout was that it was much more detailed and had a whole ton of information on many more desolate beasts than others. your next read awaits at empire


    the software was just one feature that the communicator possessed.


    the processing speed of its stellar processor was astonishing, enabling the communicator to perform more tasks than standard grade ones. it was also fitted with more technology like internal and external sensors, and more. however, the most notable aspect of the stellar processor was its unique ability to manipulate stellar energy, unlike modern processors.


    the stellar processor was able to absorb and contain stellar energy, through a peculiar type of inscription which was known to lucas as stellar circuits. through his advanced stellar circuit knowledge and his genius brain, lucas had found a way to be able to use it and modify stellar processors provided by novanio tech. he also made ''cores'' on the processors, allowing the attracted stellar energy to be stored within the processors.


    finally, was the twist. similar to a product from the seven sparks forge, the communicator could also transform, but this time, into a dagger type vestige with a stellar processor within its hilt. through the stellar processor, the dagger vestige was able to absorb stellar energy and use that to charge its blade, giving it a more sharper edge than without the energy.


    this cool new technology stunned many, and even though it wasn''t exactly necessary, it still got everyone''s attention. after all, who would think that a wrist communicator with the ability to be turned into a dagger, was not cool?


    however, that wasn''t all. the wrist-type communicator came in different models, with some, rather than transforming into a dagger, turning into a vambrace with defensive abilities.


    there was also a third model that had no ability to transform, but could still absorb stellar energy thanks to its novel processor. the absorbed energy would then be sent into the wielder''s body, helping them to either recover their stellar energy or cultivate it passively. there was no doubt that this was going to become a very useful vestige that everyone would find handy.


    finally, was the third vestige being announced. it wasn''t a weapon-type vestige, but it was a supportive class like the third model of communicator vestiges announced. it was a pair of boots which looked stylish. the design was said to have been inspired from the human era''s hodiernal epoch, and it had the feature of boosting the user''s speed.


    once again, there were already vestiges like this on the market, but the one produced by the seven sparks forge could deploy a stellar shield all over the user''s feet with defensive capabilities. the shield could be used to increase one''s leg attacks, so long as they wished, or it could be swapped for the shoes'' actual offensive features; stellar blades.


    the stellar blades were compressed energy beams formed after absorbing a large amount of stellar energy and compressing it into blades that could be launched at targets. due to the requirement of a large amount of energy, the stellar blades consumed energy and could only be used three times per foot after which the stored energy would be depleted.


    but regardless of such a low firing rate, the fact that the shoes were fitted with both offensive and defensive abilities stunned the audience, and made many speechless.


    once again, this was something revolutionary that had not been seen in the market yet.


    in fact, aside from the adjudicator ¡ªwhich was the first vestige being announced, the others were all remarkable pieces of technology that had made many forget that the atelier behind it was targeted by the evl.


    what evl? what alliance of vestige-smith companies?


    compared to all those parties, the seven sparks forge was currently like a sun in peak period.

 Chapter 177 The Baylands City-State EVLs Gathering

    in a conference room, a meeting was currently ongoing with seven men present in the room, of which six of them were seated while the last stood in the middle. continue reading at empire"hugo, explain yourself this moment." an aged man stared at the man who stood before him. s§×arch* the ¦Çov§×lfire .net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the man standing was the chief examiner for the evl, who had a confrontation with lucas right after the results of the exceptional basis exam was released.


    hugo was a man who lusted power and praises, as such, he didn''t like it when he was looked down upon by people whom he felt were inferior. when lucas had challenged the results, albeit rightfully, this incensed hugo especially since lucas was just a human. ever since then, hugo saw lucas as nothing more than a stain that displeased him, but he had left lucas to be after the event, thinking nothing of him.


    however, as lucas began to rise in popularity, this irked hugo even more. it felt as if lucas was jeering at him while retaliating against his decision. as a consequence of his suspicions and twisted logic, hugo accepted the suggestion made by the alliance of the top fifteen vestige-smith companies to release an official statement against lucas and the seven sparks forge.


    this wasn''t difficult as the head of the eretrean vestige-smith league branch in baylands city-state was currently out of the region. as for the vice-head, hugo was confident that the latter wouldn''t have an issue with this, after all, there was no lie on the notice; the vestige-smith behind the seven sparks forge had indeed not registered with the league. the notice was simply stating a fact, and why the timing might seem obvious as a targeted decision, so what about it?


    with the way the vice-head saw things, the store owner was a human, so, there was even less reason to be bothered about their opinion.


    hugo understood exactly how the vice-head thought, which was why he was confident that he could get an official statement. so, after accepting the bribe from the alliance, he gave the suggestion to the vice-head. upon receiving approval, he then proceeded to publish the notice denouncing the seven sparks forge store.


    however, the seven sparks forge, in just seven days, had turned the entire momentum against them. the public''s support for them was at an all-time high. many other vestige-smith companies that were previously on the fence in this matter, were now scrambling towards their side for a slice of the pie.


    the evl, which stood on the opposite side, was now looking like a joke.


    "i, i''m sorry." hugo kneeled and pleaded.


    but deep inside, he was cursing at the vice-head. the latter was the one who had approved the notice otherwise it wouldn''t have been publicised. it was obvious that he was trying to push all the blame towards him at the moment.


    "tch. damn it. this matter is now getting out of hand."


    one of the present figures, a senior executive of the organisation, grunted.


    "it can''t be helped. it was a miscalculation on our part. rather than blaming hugo, we should try and find a way to solve this." another man said.


    from the contents of his speech, it was clear that he was close with hugo and wanted to relieve the blame on the latter.


    "while that is true, the manager of the store is someone we should focus more on." someone suddenly said.


    "huh? why?"


    "haven''t you guys noticed it yet?" the man said as he glanced at the other executives present.


    "that young human had given a response to everyone else. for the two commissions, he paid a visit and settled the complaints easily. this was simple thanks to the amount of wealth he had accrued as well as novanio tech''s influence. for the alliance, he responded by releasing a new set of vestiges targeting them even harder than the previous two. but for us, he''s done nothing.


    "isn''t it clear to you yet? he''s looking down at us." the man said with a cold voice.


    all six of the others present, hugo included, widened their eyes in shock. at first, they were astounded by this deduction, but they realised that it was true. the seven sparks forge, or rather lucas, had given a response to three of the four organisations that had targeted him with public notices. yet the evl, which was supposed to be the most troublesome of the four, was left on read [1].


    "that can''t be right, maybe he''s leaving us for last?" one of them said.


    this was the thinking of the majority. it was a well-known tactic to leave the best or the most difficult task for last. as such, the executives had not thought much about the fact that lucas hadn''t given a response to them yet.


    "maybe, but some part of me suggests that it could be otherwise." the man who brought up the idea said.


    "just think about it. based on his actions, we can determine a lot. the young human kid might be a bit lacking when it comes to running a business properly, but his responses have been apt. he bowed his head to the government and cleared his debts, even though it cost him a lot. rather than falling for the alliance''s tricks, he worsened the situation and even targeted their various businesses directly this time around.


    "you don''t think that the fact he created an accessory and clothing type vestige was just a random thought? it''s obvious the message he was trying to pass across. he was informing the alliance that his master''s skills weren''t just limited to weapons. some in the alliance weren''t weapon manufacturers, yet they still targeted him. with this move of his now, they would be on their toes and the alliance might even break apart due to fear.


    "this shows that whether it be the young man of the vestige-smith behind him, either of them or even the both, are cunning individuals. they know how to pass a message without even making a sound.


    "but isn''t it weird that all this time has gone by and there''s still no moves from them? it can''t be clearer than this; they simply do not take us to be anything."


    *bang*


    the vice-head of the league''s branch pounded his fist on the arm of his chair, breaking it apart.


    "hehe. a measly human and an unknown vestige-smith dare to be this arrogant? even if they were a peak tier 1 master, such rude behaviour can not be tolerated by the league. this is an insult to the league''s honour and status!" the vice-head roared.


    "since they dared to mock us like this, then we have to show them the true power of the evl."

 Chapter 178 The Uniqueness Of The EVL

    the previous day...lucas and kelvin were on their break period as they discussed in the lobby about the recent events. having worked in the seven sparks forge for some time now, kelvin was glad he had applied for the job. however, the entire ss vestige saga raised some eyebrows, and lucas'' action in one segment was particularly glaring.


    "boss, why haven''t you responded to the evl?" kelvin curiously asked.


    six days had gone by and lucas had made responses to each of the agencies that targeted him, except the evl. this baffled kelvin, who had previously thought that the evl''s notice would be dealt with last as it was supposed to be the most difficult case. but from the looks of things, lucas had no interest on it.


    "evl? those guys? why would i respond to them?" lucas stared confusedly at kelvin.


    "but they are the symbol and authority of vestige-smiths, you know?" kelvin retorted, while shocked at lucas'' words.


    "the symbol? are you sure about that?" lucas questioned.


    kelvin froze as he didn''t have a suitable answer. while the evl was the public image of vestige-smiths, it was true that they weren''t the organisation that held real power over vestige-smiths.


    lucas continued,


    "i think i should remind you. there''s a big difference between being an officially approved part and someone who just got recognised. say for instance, there is a king with two sons. the older of the two was appointed to be the crown prince, but be had a fiery personality. the second prince dedicated himself to appealing to the public. at the end of everything, who do you think would become king?"


    "the elder brother, who is the crown prince." kelvin answered right away.


    "exactly. it doesn''t matter whatever stunts the junior proves. the one who would become king is,


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    the crown prince. the evl is just like that, but even worse. they simply parade around with titles like ''verified agency for vestige-smiths'' and so on. but in truth, they have no real power. for such an organisation, it''s best to just ignore them since their responses don''t mean much." lucas explained.


    kelvin was stunned speechless, and for a second, he didn''t know how to counter.


    "do you know why the evl is able to maintain its unique status?" lucas suddenly asked.


    once again confused, kelvin stared at lucas as he asked.


    "why?"


    "it''s because the top powers tolerate them. from what i know, the evl was formed by a tier 1 grandmaster after many companies and industries have already settled down. naturally, it would be difficult for the evl to reign over these companies even with a tier 1 grandmaster backing it.


    "but you see, unlike a company or all the other businesses in existence, the evl doesn''t carry out any market transactions. it was also focused more on supporting vestige-smiths in their growth. in summary, it was of no threat to the big companies and so, they let it be, respecting the organisation for its goals. however, if the evl were to ever try to transition to a profit-making company or expand their power, they would be ganged up on by all the other major powers in the city. but since the evl has no real power and isn''t a threat to the companies, they tolerate it.


    "what''s more, the evl''s resources are open to every vestige-smith and it could be used in training one''s vestige-smith or discovering new talents, for instance, with the exceptional basis exam. with so many benefits being offered, it was only natural for these top figures and companies in the vestige-smith industry to give the evl some leeway.


    "however, over time, this leeway was abused and exploited by the evl to gain more advantages for themselves. this created the common misconception that the evl is an organisation that lords over vestige-smiths, when in reality, it doesn''t. it''s simply a rip-off of the official galactic vestige league."


    lucas had learned about this a few days ago, while doing research on the evl. after all, a great general once said, know thine enemies and the battle is half won.


    "but how does that justify ignoring the evl?" kelvin asked.


    "it doesn''t." lucas smirked.


    "in fact, whether it does or not wouldn''t even matter. in the end, there would be some people who would want to force a confrontation between me and the evl. so in the end, i just decided not to be bothered."


    "wait, who would do such?" kelvin abruptly asked with a surprised expression.


    "the ones who got battered the most." lucas smiled mysteriously.


    "it''s just about time for them to take action. they will probably try to generate slanderous discussions and activities, which would be enough grounds for the evl to step in. well, this is all i can say."


    . . .


    the present...


    lucas and kelvin were preoccupied running the store due to the large number of customers present.


    ever since the popularity of the seven sparks forge store had been on the rise, the number of visits they had was more than it had ever been before. even kelvin was finding it hard to attend to them all. as such, lucas had to come out of the workstation and provide assistance whenever he was available to do so.


    although there were a couple of them that asked for new vestiges, the majority of the customer requests were still maintenance, with some of them asking for the advanced feature.


    there were two kinds of maintenance [1], the basic maintenance and the advanced maintenance. basic maintenance entailed simply fixing up the vestige and bringing it back to its original state. as for the advanced maintenance, it was to not only restore the vestige, but to make changes to it to either increase its durability or power.


    advanced maintenance was much harder to carry out because in most cases, the original stellar matrices and runes on the vestige would have to be cleaned off and replaced with new ones.


    the stellar circuits and magic runes lucas used on the ss vestiges had already been talked about by many. he has commonly used them for advanced maintenance as well, so it was inevitable that other freelancers would notice the difference. as such, many of them had come over to subscribe to the advanced maintenance.


    just as the duo were attending to the customers, a commotion broke out outside the store. s§×ar?h the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 179 A Setup

    "is the owner around? please, is the owner around?""can the owner come out? we just want a quick interview."


    a group of individuals crowded the entrance of the seven sparks forge store but didn''t go in. based on their attire and equipment, it was clear that they were members of the press. the press agents had arrived at the store to interview lucas, but since they came for reasons not related to the store''s services, they stood outside. if they were to invade the store, it was possible for lucas to sue them for disrupting his business.


    "what are those guys doing here?"


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    some of the customers inside the store glanced outside through the see-through french windows.


    "i''m guessing they''re here for an interview."


    "no shit, einstein. but isn''t it quite late for that? or did something new happen?"


    "well, you can never tell to be honest."


    the customers discussed the reason for the press team arriving today, even though the announcement of the new ss vestiges -the adjudicator, the ss communicator, and the ss boots¡ª had been made about a week ago. to most, it didn''t make sense for the press to have taken this long before covering the incident. sear?h the n?velfire(.)net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    meanwhile, kelvin glanced at the display monitor on the counter and narrowed his eyes on the uniform of one of the journalists.


    "any problem?" lucas looked at him, noting that the latter''s reaction was off.


    "see that guy over there." kelvin pointed at one of them on the monitor.


    "he''s from sicalien central media. the media company reportedly shares the same owners as thebes corporation, a top fifteen vestige-smith company and one of the members of the alliance."


    although kelvin didn''t say anymore after that, lucas got the message. there was a chance that this gathering was orchestrated by the alliance. as for the reason for it, lucas couldn''t really be so sure, but he had a suspicion.


    "i''m guessing they''re about to make their move. let''s go."


    lucas walked towards the door and left the building. kelvin reacted a bit slowly, but he also left his task and went outside together with lucas. the two were now in contact with the press agents. seeing this, the other customers in the store turned their attention towards the commotion, with some even leaving the store to get a closer look.


    "mr. lucas."


    "mr. lucas, over here."


    "mr. lucas."


    lucas yawned as he asked, "what''s it today?"


    one of them, who seemed to be respected even by the other agents from different media corporations, took the lead and spoke up.


    "it''s nothing too much, mr. lucas. we just want to meet with the creator of the era-defining ss vestiges and ask a few questions."


    "shouldn''t you have done that long ago? also, if you want to ask questions, that''s what press conferences are for? if the press harasses businessmen like myself just as you have done, it would affect our business, you know." lucas coldly said.


    "let''s get this over with then. only five questions." lucas raised a hand.


    "think carefully because i won''t answer more than that."


    lucas knew that the journalists had all arrived today with an intention in mind. however, even though he wanted to fish out what it was, lucas didn''t plan to do so while moving to their rhythm. by stating the fact that he would only answer five questions, they had to consider those questions properly and would more or less, go straight to the point.


    after a short while, one of the journalists asked.


    "mr. lucas, from what we know, the release of the three new ss vestiges has a lot to do with the restrictions you got over a week ago. as such, we want to know, what is your opinion about that?"


    ''as expected.'' lucas narrowed his eyes. he could more or less figure out the intentions of this group, but that didn''t mean he would walk away.


    "what opinions could i have other than it was somewhat unexpected. my regards to the two commissions for looking out for me and informing me about the duly process. they were equally helpful when i went to clear my errors. as some of you may already know after doing a background search on me, i''m a nobody. i don''t know how to run a business either. it was only thanks to those notices from the commissions that i realised my inadequate knowledge and worked on myself right after. as such, i have to thank them for looking out for small-time vestige-smiths like myself." lucas answered with a smile on his face.


    the answer was unexpected, but from a neutral point of view, it was almost perfect.


    lucas focused on the two commissions, the baylands city tax commission and the baylands city-state commission for technology, placing them on a higher stand point and moral ground. to others it might have seemed that the two commissions had timely targeted lucas alongside the evl and the alliance, but lucas made it look like they were just doing their job and even looking out for him. he even made them appear to be nice agencies that had assisted him all the way.


    this might have sounded surprising, but once one considers that the notice was handed to lucas before the six months period elapsed, it did sound like the two commissions were being nice.


    through this response, lucas effectively turned around the public opinion on the two commissions which were already moving to the negative side. as for why he did so, it was obvious.


    48 laws of power, law 1: never outshine the master.


    no matter which world one was in, it was best to not offend the government or any government agencies, especially as a business. rather than be on their bad side, it was best if one could get closer to them.


    with this response from him, lucas had seemingly erased any negativity that may have existed between them, and also created an opportunity to work together.


    "then, what about the alliance and the evl? what are your opinions on them?" another journalist asked.


    lucas switched his smile into a nonchalant expression.


    this was the second question and it was even more direct.


    in his previous response, lucas had purposely dodged the evl and the alliance for a reason. with the journalist now calling that into place, it was obvious why they were here. he had just talked about it with kelvin the previous day, so it was somewhat surprising that his suspicions took place the next day.


    "while i understand the concerns of the alliance,i find it funny that they seem to forget that we are both competitors in the same space. they also seem to underestimate the production capabilities of the seven sparks forge. first and foremost, this is a business and not a philanthropic movement. there is no way we can give our technology out for free. if that were so, the alliance members should publicise their inscription methods and logic to other vestige-smiths. wouldn''t that also help with the advancement of baylands city-state''s technology? wouldn''t that strengthen baylands city-state and also increase its revenue derived from exports?


    "but since they haven''t, it is obvious why, and we can''t do the same as well.


    "as for the evl, i have nothing much to say, since their notice wasn''t done with the intention to cause harm, nor could it even do so. they simply pointed out a fact. however, the evl seems to forget that they are not an official organisation to control or supervise vestige-smiths; they simply exist to offer benefits to vestige-smiths. as such, membership under their umbrella is neither important nor mandatory. the evl''s board should remember why it exists, and not deviate from that motto."

 Chapter 180 Giving Up

    "that bastard!"*bam*


    a hole was torn on the roundtable as splinters flew all over the place. the man who was the cause of this was fuming as he stared at the screen in front.


    the location was the conference room of baylands city-state''s eretrean vestige-smith league branch. once again, the vice-branch-head, chief examiner hugo, as well as the other five executives had gathered for the meeting.


    "this isn''t how things should go." one of the men sighed.


    lucas'' interview had already made headlines, but it was a headache to the evl. the situation was going out of control and not as they had expected, even though they had yet to make a move after lucas had ignored them.


    "i told you guys yesterday, he''s been looking down on us." one of the men chuckled harshly.


    "now''s not the time to determine who is right or wrong. instead, we should discuss how to fix this issue at hand." a man with green hair and a grey suit said.


    "what do you even suggest? how exactly can we fix this? nothing he said was wrong, and retaliating would make us seem petty. it might even cause a drop in trust from our members." said a man with yellow hair.


    "are you joking with me?" the man who had chuckled earlier glared at the yellow-haired middle-aged man.


    "what? do you have a better solution? the evl was founded to support vestige-smiths. whether we intend to use it for our own benefits or whatever, we can''t outright deny its purpose. don''t forget; this is just a branch. all it would take is a word to the head office and every single one of us would be switched out!" the yellow-haired middle-aged man roared.


    hugo took a look at the faces of everyone and couldn''t help but sweat even more. the entire incident could be attributed to his fault, and the board could even cut him off as a scapegoat for the incident.


    ''no, actually, they would do so.'' hugo was very much sure of this.


    what he had to do now was to be of use to them so even if he was let off, it wouldn''t be entirely. rather than being sacked, losing his licence and being banned from the industry, a suspension alongside a fine was what hugo was targeting now. even a demotion didn''t look bad to him at the moment.


    "h, how about..."


    everyone turned to stare at hugo.


    "how about, we kill him?"


    "..."


    seeing no one say anything yet, hugo continued. stay updated through empire


    "think about it. he''s a human, so his death wouldn''t matter much. also, once his dead, we just need to remain silent for a while or even follow and mourn him, naming him the ''pioneer of modern technology'' or something. with him dead, everyone would eventually forget about the entire issue, and he wouldn''t stand to become a threat to us in the future."


    *siithh*


    suddenly, hugo felt a slight breeze sweep past his cheek. he froze for a second, then extended a finger to rub his cheek. that was when he noticed a wet sensation on it; he was bleeding. sear?h the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''stellar energy.'' hugo thought.


    after the first level of the apertures opening stage, it became possible for stellar practitioners to control stellar energy externally. however, this wasn''t common since everyone depended on vestiges, which were more powerful.


    "are you stupid?" the vice-branch-head''s voice sounded.


    "have you not caused us enough harm already? kill him and then everything would be all over? do you take everyone to be an idiot like yourself?!" the man roared.


    hugo immediately went mute and bowed his head low.


    the vice-branch-head sighed, then glanced at everyone in the room.


    "no one does anything. on this matter, we remain silent, at least until the head is back. this is our loss."


    admitting a loss in this battle came as a surprise to the other six, but the majority of them felt it was the best course of action. there was no move they could make on lucas at the moment, and it was best not to do so. the latter had done no wrong despite their well-timed notice which was obvious to the majority as a targeted attack.


    if the evl were still to act out, it would ruin their image and go contrary to their motto, which was something they had to avoid no matter the cost.


    as for the branch-head, he was a mysterious figure that was barely around, leaving the vice-branch-head to be in-charge most of the time. despite that, everyone on the board had immense respect from him, deriving both from the latter''s authority and also his strength.


    the branch-head was a tier 1 grandmaster vestige-smith, which meant that he was at the ninth level of the apertures opening stage. one more level and he would be able to unlock his superpower. as such, the man was highly respected, even by family heads of the top families in baylands city-state; which was understandable since these individuals were also at a similar level in strength. also, being a tier 1 grandmaster meant that he could make grade 5 vestiges, which was something these family heads lusted after. the reason mostly being that the branch-head was the only one on baylands city-state capable of doing such.


    . . .


    while the evl were having a headache thanks to lucas'' speech the previous day, the latter decided to close early for the day. recently, he had received quite a lot of vestige orders, so much so that even the ones previously on display on the other side of the store were all sold out. as such, all new orders had to be crafted.


    the orders weren''t just limited to weapons again, but they also included the communicator and boots he had made. as such, lucas had to reduce the hours he had the store open, and he also put a hold on vestige orders so as to meet up.


    "aigoo~ my back hurts from working so long. i really need a break." kelvin said as he stretched.


    "uncle~"


    melissa ran down the stairs and jumped into lucas'' arms.


    "aww. did you miss me?" lucas smiled warmly at her.


    "hmm." melissa nodded.


    "staying up alone is boring."


    lucas chuckled as he patted the head of the little girl.


    due to the fact that she was still very young ¡ªonly eleven years of age based on her appearance¡ª lucas decided to have her stay upstairs while he ran the store. although she was registered as an employee in the system records and was safe from any harassment, lucas felt it was wrong to actually put an eleven year old girl to work.


    when he saved her, it wasn''t for child labour purposes after all.


    *knock* *knock*


    just then, the sound of a knock came from the door which surprised the trio. there was already a "closed" sign hung on the door, so for someone to still knock despite that, would either mean they were close ¡ªwhich lucas thought to be impossible¡ª, or it was something or even someone important.

 Chapter 181 The Visitor

    [[ if you''re seeing this, i will be posting a redeem code that can be used by ten readers for 10 fps/reader. it will be uploaded in this chapter once it is open to everyone (outside privilege) for fairness. so, once this chapter is open to all, reload it to find the code in the author section. ]][[edit 22/09/2024: the chapter is now open and i''ve posted the code]]


    "i didn''t expect you to open the door for me." a middle-aged man who sat opposite lucas smiled as he stared at the latter.


    "neither did i." lucas calmly responded.


    although he said that, the only reason lucas had let him in despite the store being closed was because the man was a human. having a human pay him a visit was very rare, even more so, as urgently as the man behaved.


    the man awkwardly laughed a bit before clearing his throat.


    "i''m here for a business proposal."


    "oh wow, i almost thought you came here for charity purposes."


    kelvin, who was on the side, choked on his drink at lucas'' comment. even melissa couldn''t help but cover her mouth and hold back her stifled laughter.


    once again, the man felt embarrassed, but he held back his anger.


    "let''s get straight to the point." he leaned forward and said.


    "supply us with vestiges, and we would offer you protection, a hideout, and resources."


    "why would we need protection or a hideout?" kelvin couldn''t help but interject.


    however, lucas didn''t say anything, choosing to instead stare at the latter in the eyes. read new chapters at empire


    "who is ''we''?"


    the man smiled at the question before explaining,


    "you''re pretty smart. we are an organisation dedicated to ensuring that everyone lives an equal life with equal rights and treatment. we are after the erasure of the current status quo which is the social hierarchy that exists amongst us, just because of our species or race. in summary, we desire to destroy the caste system that exists in our society today."


    "terrorists." lucas narrowed his eyes.


    "no, not terrorists." the man hurried to explain.


    "while our goals might seem the same, our means are different. the average terrorist utilises forceful means and chaos to make their voices heard, whereas we try to do so within the bindings of the law."


    "then why do you need vestiges?" lucas questioned, clearly not believing the man''s words.


    "for self-protection." the man said, before placing a badge on the table.


    lucas glanced at the badge for a moment, then picked it up to study it. it wasn''t anything special and was shaped like a square. however, upon further scrutiny, he noticed that the craftsmanship was impressive. the badge wasn''t a vestige, but it was so close to being one. it was obvious that whoever made this was right at the doorsteps of becoming a vestige-smith, but was still lacking the most important component; stellar energy and rune technology.


    apart from that, it was pretty much a quasi-vestige.


    ignoring the sigil on the badge, lucas flipped it over and saw a few words that caught his attention; digress city-state.


    "we are the resistance, or better yet, the fighters for human and crossbreed rights; an official organisation recognised by the city-state government of digress city-state. we are very much legal and not terrorists." the man smiled.


    lucas didn''t say anything as he was recalling what he knew about digress city-state. compared to his previous thoughts on it, lucas had learnt more about this unique city-state later on.


    digress city-state was located in the beast continent, which was quite far from baylands city-state''s groeten continent. it was also the only city-state that truly treated humans and crossbreeds equal with hyumans. this was because it was formed majorly of those two species.


    being so unique, it was inevitable that digress city-state would attract the attention, and perhaps, disgust, of the other city-states. with the existence of terrorist organisations, which happened to be formed of similar members as the city-state, it made all the other eleven city-states [1] suspicious of digress city-state. they believed that it supported and even hid the terrorist organisations in its environment, and so, desired its downfall.


    with humans being innately weaker and the population of crossbreeds being nothing compared to that of hyumans, conquering the digress city-state didn''t seem like a difficult task. however, it had managed to survive for this long.


    this was because, apart from its meagre strength, digress city-state had received official recognition from the oklo dynasty. hence, it became a true city-state, despite actually being made of just one city, whereas the other eleven had other districts outside the main city.


    digress city-state was the weakest of the twelve city-states [1], but it had the protection of the oklo dynasty which had kept it existing for so long. nonetheless, the other eleven city-states found ways to bypass this protection and make the city-state suffer. s§×arch* the n?vel(f)ire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    they placed sanctions on trade with digress city-state, forcing it to be self-sufficient. they also limited the rights and freedom of citizens of digress city-state whenever they came into their states. also, the treatment wasn''t the best for a digress city-state citizen, and this was something lucas had already experienced despite not being one. he always had to make sure that he wasn''t mistaken for a citizen of digress city-state, otherwise, those around might make life difficult for him.


    a citizen of digress city-state would always be suspected of being a ''spy'' even if they were a mere tourist.


    "so, then what do you need the vestiges for? you said to protect yourself, but from who? it''s not like you''re asking for a few, but a bulk order." lucas asked, not yet convinced.


    who was to say that some of the citizens of digress city-state weren''t actually terrorists as well.


    "as you may know, digress city-state is seen as an alien among the twelve city-states. we occasionally have skirmishes with one of them who are located in the same continent as us. also, we''re making preparations for a war that might break out in the future." the man seriously said.


    "a war? but who would dare to wage a war this era?" kelvin couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    after the oklo dynasty took charge over hundreds of years ago, the only wars hyumankin has faced were wars against desolate beasts. a hyuman war had never been waged as the oklo dynasty forbade it. once a city-state attempts to wage a war against another, the oklo dynasty would step in and dissolve the authority within the city-state, before installing a new one that follows their regulations.


    "you seem to be forgetting something. back then, there were no terrorists." the man said.


    kelvin froze. lucas, however, already figured this part out.


    "seems you guessed it already." the man said, seeing lucas'' calm look.


    "this is exactly why we need to prepare. we don''t have vestige-smiths in our numbers and we lack the knowledge to train them, so our only option is to outsource our weapons. but as you already know, the various city-stated have imposed sanctions on us, so we can only approach independent vestige-smiths like yourselves. but even then, not everyone would want to work with us."


    "so you figured that i would, since i am a human, right? sorry to disappoint you, but my answer is no."

 Chapter 182 Stygian Abyss

    lucas, a middle-aged man and kelvin arranged themselves on a table in the seven sparks forge. while the former two sat opposite the other, kelvin stood on his two feet a few steps away behind lucas."since there would be a war quite soon, we decided to stock up on our supplies, including vestiges."


    the middle-aged narrated his own ordeal and reasons.


    "truthfully, it would be more helpful to have you in digress city-state, but i doubt you would even agree to that setup. but at the very least, please help our cause."


    so you figured that i would, since i am a human, right? sorry to disappoint you, but my answer is no." lucas calmly responded.


    "...may i ask why?"


    lucas stared at the man for a while, then sighed.


    "for starters, working with you guys comes with an unnecessary amount of risk. i''m already doing quite well and there''s no reason for me to put myself in a dangerous position.


    "secondly, there''s not enough information for me to work with here, to be able to trust you.


    "and finally, the compensation package isn''t even worth considering. resources? i have never lacked those. even if there''s something i need that i don''t have, i can afford it. protection? baylands city is the most secured place in the entire city-state. a hideout? my store is more than suitable for that. there''s no reason i should be tempted by your offer, even without considering the risks."


    the man was speechless for a while before he smiled. s~ea??h the n?vel(f)ire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "that would be true, if it were true." read latest chapters at empire


    "??"


    "you see, the hyumans are right in something. since digress city-state is made of the same lineup as the terrorists group, it is quite possible for some of the latter to be hiding within our midst. it is also possible for us to sneak in spies into these organisations." the man mysteriously smiled.


    "there are currently two terrorist organisations operating in eretre, with each being a force to take seriously even for a city-state."


    ''two? let me guess. one or maybe even the both of them have names like the liberation army or the dark abyss.'' lucas joked inwardly as he listened to the man.


    there was already the hcro, or the human and crossbreed rights organisation, so he felt that the remaining ones would have more ''cliche'' name. naturally, lucas was joking about it, and didn''t believe that they would do such.


    "although there were a lot more in the past, the local organisations and groups gathered up to form one of the current terrorist organisations; the western front liberation army."


    ''...you gotta be kidding me.'' lucas'' lips twitched.


    "the western front liberation army is the local terrorist group supposedly fighting for the rights of humans, and mixed breeds. unlike us, they prefer to take the more extreme route to be heard."


    "hold on," kelvin interrupted. "you said that there are two groups. how is that so, if the western front liberation army is made up of all the previous existing terrorist groups?"


    the man stared at him and sighed while shaking his head.


    "see why i was against having this conversation with you? your boss hasn''t said a word, yet you have. if it weren''t for him, i wouldn''t even have spoken with you here."


    kelvin widened his eyes and glared at the man, but didn''t make a move yet.


    "as for the second group, it isn''t local. instead, they come from outside the planet. to be specific, outside the solar system."


    lucas and kelvin froze.


    there was a big difference between the planet, outside the planet and outside the solar system. with each stage, the level of technology available was more advanced. there was a reason why the kellan solar system was called a backwater, and eretre was the backwater of a backwater. a terrorist organisation that came from outside the system could possibly destroy the entire planet without any issue.


    "you don''t need to worry. it''s not their full force. it can''t even be called a branch as it is made of only a few original members of the real organisation. they migrated over to eretre with the intention to spread throughout the kellan solar system." the man explained.


    "as for their name, i can''t say for certain whether it''s the same with their mother organisation, but they call themselves the ''stygian abyss'' [1] or the stygians for short."


    "..."


    once again, lucas was dumbstruck.


    ''it can''t be. are their founders chuunibyous [2]?''.


    "so what exactly is the difference? since they have the same goal, why not just unite?" lucas asked.


    "it''s because they have their differences. to the stygians, they see things in a larger level, and their focus isn''t solely on eretre alone. as a result, they''re more violent and carry out their actions without consideration for the environment. the liberation army however, understands that eretre is their home, so even though they utilise extreme methods, they do so within the constraints of what the planet can handle. they also tend to avoid things like wide scale massacres and so on, targeting government and government agencies instead."


    "so that means that the incident in alleva was a work of the stygians?" lucas probed.


    the man smiled instead, choosing not to answer. however, that in itself was an answer to lucas.


    "which incident? the desolate beast tide? wasn''t that caused by a spatial tear from a void beast?" kelvin was surprised.


    the official statement by the baylands city-state government and military was that the desolate beast tide was caused by spatial tear on jota, eretre''s neighbour which was a host to a wide variety of desolate beasts.


    according to the statement, a void beast ¡ªessentially a higher lifeform of a desolate beast¡ª had created a spatial tear on jota which coincidentally led to alleva district. in the short while that the spatial tear existed, a large horde of desolate beasts for caught in it or wandered into it of their own volition, and ended up in baylands city-state''s alleva district.


    the explanation was logical and with it coming from an official source, many took it to be the truth and didn''t question it. after all, what other explanation could be offered for a wave of desolate beasts appearing in a location extremely far from the nearest desolate beast habitat without any sign?


    however, from the conversation of the duo, kelvin realised that it was much more complicated than he thought.


    "as for why i made this introduction, it''s quite simple. we have spies in both organisations and we recently discovered a plot from the stygian abyss. you, lucas saunters, will be in trouble soon; a trouble that no one can save you from and could possibly be the end of you."


    saying this, the man stood up to leave.


    "since you don''t want to help us, i''ll leave you with one last piece of advice. run away from here, as fast as you can before it''s too late."

 Chapter 183 Chaos In The Central Prefecture

    four days later...the central prefecture district was the capital of baylands city, and in accordance, the centre of baylands city-state. the name central prefecture was gotten from the fact that the district was located precisely at the centre of baylands city. but it also has another background.


    in the past, before the district system came to be, the original baylands city was divided into prefectures. later on, as the city began expanding its reach and influence, the district division system was used and the twenty districts were created. while the fifteen districts were made from the newly acquired land during baylands city''s expansion phase, the prefectures of the city were all restructured into the five major districts.


    the central prefecture, however, was the only untouched prefecture that was directly converted into a district. the reason for this was none other than the existence of the headquarters of the various bureaus and agencies being located here, as well as the fact that the prefecture was seen as an ''upper district'' [1]. as such, it became known as the central prefecture district.


    the central prefecture of today wasn''t the same as in the past. with the expansion of the original baylands city''s influence to now become a city-state, the central prefecture district -being the capital of the city- was the centre of power and authority of the city-state. the city-state''s wealthiest and most powerful individuals and families either lived here or had a building here. even those who were based in other districts either relocated here, or constructed a massive building here to serve as their regional headquarters.


    unlike the other districts, the central prefecture district didn''t have any companies or industries based here. although there were stores and the likes, no company was allowed to construct an administrative office on these grounds. this was done to preserve the mature of the district; the concentration of power and wealth.


    with all these in mind, the security of the central prefecture district was top notch. for instance, the only way to enter the district was through the light-train stations, with each station only having two pathways on opposite ends; one which was used by the light-rail trains to get in or out of the station and the other was used by civilians to exit the station and step into the district. meanwhile, the entire district was veiled in an invisible barrier to defend against invaders or spies.


    there was also the fact that every security agency in the city-state was headquartered here with a garrison present at all times.


    finally, entry into the central prefecture district was only possible through a pass that not just anyone could get. all these layers of security not only ensured that the district was the safest place possible, but also created a sort of caste system that differentiated the people in the city.


    "but it will all change, starting today." s~ea??h the novelfire.net* website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    a literal four-eyed humanoid creature spoke.


    the speaker had two legs and two arms just like a hyuman, but with four eyes; the upper horizontal pair appeared like a regular hyuman''s pair of eyes, while the lower pair were narrow slits. each pair was coloured differently, with the irises of the upper pair being brown, while the lower pair were purple.


    the creature''s ears were vertical, just like an elf, but they were much thinner and closer to the head. on each arm, there were a pair of blades sticking out: one from the forearm and another from the upper arm of each arm.


    the creature also had a maroon (brownish-red) skin tone, which was very rare in eretre.


    if lieutenant lily of the red fangs, or anyone else from the security agencies were present here, they would be able to identify the creature as the hyuman-evonika hybrid terrorist who was one of the culprits of the bayena plain incident. the terrorist known as ginon.


    "men, let us grant these bastards of the universe a glimpse of their future." ginon chuckled.


    behind him were a group of five individuals who were dressed in strange clothing. all six of them stood atop a six storey building away from the public''s eye. but it was only a matter of time until the security spotted them. regardless of that, it didn''t matter to ginon as that was more than enough time for them to begin. in fact, they had already started the purge.


    *boom*


    an explosion reverberated as a building a few dozen metres away exploded, injuring the passers-by and killing the residents of the building.


    however, this was just the start.


    *boom* *boom* *boom*


    explosions sounded one after the other with some drowning out the other like a cacophony of tones. smoke and dust polluted the air as screams broke out in the entire region. body parts, blood, and rubble were the theme of the scene as the crowd scurried away from the area.


    "let them know who we are. let them fear us even in their nightmares. men, attack!"


    ginon roared, giving the order to his men.


    the five behind him jumped from the building with strange objects in their hands. as they fell down, they tossed these objects far away.


    the objects abruptly imploded after a few seconds, creating spatial tears in midair. without a doubt, those objects were space-bombs; a technology that not even the oklo dynasty could use as much they wanted.


    after the space-bombs detonated, they created spatial tears hat existed in midair. the spatial tears took only two seconds to stabilise, turning into wormholes with a fixed destination. a second later, silhouettes forced their way out of the wormholes and began rampaging around the district.


    the new arrivals weren''t just terrorists but also robots developed precisely for battle. they wasted no time to begin wreaking havoc and taking lives wherever they went. within just two minutes, the entire street was unrecognisable, and the number of corpses formed from the attacks were already in the dozens.


    the attacks were so abrupt that not even the security agencies could save everyone. in just five minutes, the death toll was already up to one hundred lives and it was still increasing.


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    "let''s go. we have our targets." ginon smiled before departing from the scene.

 Chapter 184 Chaos In The Central Prefecture 2

    at the moment, the central prefecture district was riddled with chaos. with every second that went by, properties were destroyed with lives lost, as the terrorist waged war against the district.due to the fact that it preserved its original state as a prefecture, the central prefecture district was smaller than the other four districts of baylands city. this made it possible for one to easily travel within the city as long as they had a ride to do so.


    "men, move out. prioritise rescuing the civilians and ensure that nobody else dies. after that, focus on defeating the invaders. once again, the main objective is civilian rescue. back up would soon arrive, so be careful until then."


    even though the attack came as a shock and prevented the security agencies from reacting timely, they were still professional and organised. it only took a short while for orders to be given and units dispatched to make amends.


    the baylands city patrol corps, the red fangs, the baylands city defence force, and even the other paramilitary groups and private forces of the top families, all spurred into action seeing the havoc that was taking place.


    the central prefecture district was the concentration of the main camps of the three security organisations. this meant that there were quite a few elite figures present, and under their command, the security agencies managed to take down a significant number of terrorists while saving many lives.


    even the director of the red fangs ¡ªa seventh level apertures opening stage stellar practitioner¡ª as well as a few captains (fifth level) and lieutenants (fourth level) were forced into action. with such powerful individuals taking on rescue and counter-strike actions, it was inevitable that the district''s calm was slowly returning back to place.


    "captain, look!"


    one of the cdf (city defence force) soldiers signalled at his team leader.


    "oh god!" the sergeant stared wide-eyed at the spatial tears that hung in midair.


    the small unit, which could only classify as a team by military standards, was made up of four men including the sergeant; as was normally done in the baylands city-state military.


    the team was one of the first units to respond to the danger and they were closer to the centre of the event. this was because they were coincidentally on their day-off and had visited a store together to relax.


    "contact the bureau or something." the sergeant said to his teammates.


    spatial tears were unique existences, and in some cases, they couldn''t even be sensed by the modern technology available to baylands city-state. as such, it was a military protocol to inform the centre of commands about such anomalies upon sighting them.


    very soon, the entire personnel who were working to defend the district had all received fresh information from the baylands city defence force, which assumed command over them by directive. whether they be red fangs, patrol corps members, the military (defence force), security teams of top families or even independent freelancers and groups, they were all given an update on the situation.


    first, the event was categorised as a class b danger, which meant that it was a threat to an entire district.


    second, they were informed about the breaches in space and requested to aim their efforts towards moving towards the spatial tears and stopping the outflow of enemy units from them. this was meant for the public agencies skilled at handling threats; which to be precise, were the red fangs and the baylands city defence force.


    third, the priority remained in securing the safety of the citizens, and aiding evacuation efforts. this task was meant for the baylands city patrol corps, the private forces of families and companies, as well as independent freelancers and groups.


    having received commands, everyone began to work properly with a goal in mind. evacuation measures were carried out, and with the support of an effective freelancer force, the measures were sped up and carried out safely. equipment made for stopping spatial breaches were also being deployed from the defence force barracks in the district. it was looking as if the situation was about to come to an end. however, unknown to everyone else, the real danger laid elsewhere.


    "y, you, what are you doing? who are you?" a man stared at a silhouette that walked towards him.


    "secu-"


    "die." the shadow grinned and struck at the man.


    similar situations took place in five other places where individuals of influence and wealth, whether they be man or woman, were assassinated.


    the culprits were none other than ginon and his five lackeys.


    with the chaos in the central prefecture district, all the security agencies were occupied with stopping the attacks of the terrorists escaping the breach in space. many thought this to be an invasion of theirs to seize the district, so all attention was placed on the battlefield. however, the truth could not be any more different than that.


    while everyone was caught up in the chaos, ginon and his five lackeys who had started it all, hid within the confusion and destruction. their intention was to take down the actual targets of the mission: powerful, wealthy, and influential people of baylands city-state.


    this had been their goal from the start, and it was one they aimed to achieve even at the cost of sacrificing hundreds of their men. every single one of their targets wasn''t a simple rich man or a random person. they were all pre-ordinated targets and people who held true power in the city-state. furthermore, some of them were even members of the cabinet; a legislative chair of government that was just below the city-lord [1].


    it was clear that once the dust of the chaos settled and news got out, confusion and pandemonium would break out, with a power struggle following suit. what the terrorists, or rather, the stygian abyss aimed was for this to happen. with a power struggle taking place along with the existing confusion and disarray, it would become easier for them to operate within the city-state.


    not more than an hour had gone by since the start of the entire ''parade'', but there were already fifteen individuals of recognisable influence and power who had been assassinated amidst the mayhem; seven of them were members of the cabinet as well.


    however, luck was no longer on their side as one of them was caught, and with the security agencies already holding back the attack as they prepared to close the breaches.


    "who are you?!" experience new stories on empire


    a young man who had just stepped into the study roared as he saw ginon standing beside the desk. on the chair that faced the entrance, an old man sat quietly.


    upon closer inspection, the young man realised that it was his father who was now dead. s~ea??h the novel(f~)ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "security!" the young man yelled with a mix of fear, anxiety, and anger.


    "hmm, guess it''s time for me to leave." ginon chuckled.


    "but before that, it wouldn''t be nice of me to not reunite you with your father. hehe."

 Chapter 185 Briefing

    two hours later, the situation had already calmed down. the district was now undergoing search and rescue efforts with the media on their way to report the incident. however, due to the severity of the event, the baylands city patrol corps was informed to prevent the media teams from reaching the scene of the event under the guise of investigations being carried out.meanwhile, the city-lord had called for a meeting with all the high-ranking officials in the security department.


    present in the meeting were all the lieutenant colonels from the fifteen districts, who were at the sixth level of the apertures opening stage. the highest commander in the baylands city defence force, the lieutenant colonel general [1]¡ªa ninth level stellar practitioner¡ª was also in attendance [. there were also the twenty directors of the baylands city patrol corps who were a mix of sixth and seventh level stellar practitioners, with the red fangs director present to make it twenty-one.


    the chief of police, an eighth level apertures opening stage stellar practitioner, was also present.


    the commissioner of police, a seventh level stellar practitioner and also a member of the bergs family, the number one most powerful family in baylands city-state, was also there.


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    every top level management in the security department was all present, either physically or through a virtual transmission. the latter was for the directors and lieutenant colonels who were stationed in the other districts and had to remain present just in case of an attack.


    the city-lord, a tenth level stellar practitioner ¡ªan existence who had unlocked his latent talent and superpower¡ª chaired the meeting at the host seat.


    "brief me." the city-lord, noah bergs, said.


    the chief of police, who was present in person, stood up and gave a report.


    the death count was at least three hundred hyumans and counting. the number of heavy injuries was at least five hundred, while light injuries neared a thousand. there were no definite figures for any of the victims because search and rescue efforts were still ongoing. but the numbers alone made the atmosphere turn cold and quiet.


    "how did they get in?" noah asked.


    no one could identify whether he was angry and unbothered by the situation, but no one intended on finding out. there was both a mix of fear and respect for the city-lord.


    "we, we don''t know to be exact." the chief of police stuttered.


    it was incredible to find an eight level apertures opening stage stellar practitioner being anxious in the presence of another hyuman, but there was no one in the meeting who found this strange.


    not much was known about the city-lord, but everyone knew that he was a firm man. he was so dedicated to his task that he didn''t even mind offending the top four families, including the bergs family which he came from.


    for such an individual, the last thing one would want to do was to offend him.


    the chief of police took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing,


    "we have footage of their actions and it seems that they utilised space-bombs."


    a video was immediately projected in the midst of the individuals present. the most unique thing about the projection was that irrespective of which direction or angle one viewed it, it would appear as if they were directly facing the clip.


    "from the figures we calibrated, the spatial tears formed from the bombs weren''t random but stabilised. in other words, these are space-bombs that birth wormholes with fixed coordinates."


    the red fangs'' director smirked at this comment.


    previously, during the alleva district desolate beast tide incident, he had raised up the theory that the beasts came about due to a wormhole with set coordinates. he surmised that this was an act by a terrorist organisation, and they had teleported desolate beasts purposely to alleva district.


    his theory was brushed off as many doubted that a local terrorist group could gain access to a technology that not even the oklo dynasty had. the oklo dynasty had space-bombs, but their bombs created wormholes with a random destination; much like the one used by ginon and his saurian colleague, mikolos, to escape back in the bayena plain incident. we for space-bombs with fixed wormhole coordinates, those could only be found in the main planet of the solar system.


    however, now there was solid evidence to prove that his theory, which was chalked as a delusional conjecture, was very much real.


    the others in attendance were all powerful figures and they heard the muffled snicker from the director, but no one said a thing. even the lieutenant colonel general of the defence force and the commissioner of police, who were both higher ranked, had no comments.


    "we were unable to figure out the primary coordinates of the wormhole, so we don''t have much information on hand."


    "didn''t you manage to capture any of them?" the city-lord finally frowned. s§×ar?h the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "... we did, but once they were caught, they yelled out a sentence and blew up." the chief of police said after a bit of hesitation.


    "what did they say?" the red fangs'' director suddenly sat up.


    "know your place." the commissioner finally spoke up, rebuking the director for speaking out of place.


    he was incensed partly because of the behaviour of the director, and also because their original guess was wrong and the director was right.


    during the alleva district desolate beasts tide case, a meeting was held to discuss the issue. the commissioner was one of those who was against the red fangs'' director''s hypothesis and felt it to be ludicrous. in his opinion then, it was impossible for a group of terrorists to possess technology that even the oklo dynasty couldn''t research. now that he was proven wrong and the latter turned out to be right, he couldn''t help but burn with shame.


    if they had agreed to the director''s suggestion, there would have been a lookout for the terrorists using the technology to infiltrate the city. security would have been boosted and this event prevented. however, that had never happened and they became victims to a dastardly catastrophe.


    as the commissioner of police, he couldn''t help but feel that he was to be at fault for this. hence, when he saw the director speak out of line, he couldn''t help but want to get one back at him and so, rebuked the latter.


    however, the city-lord waved at him to calm down.


    seeing that all was well, the chief of police continued,


    "from the reports of my men, they said a unique line: ''at the end of the abyss lies the light. from the abyss, the light shall pour forth. as the messengers of the dark, we shall bring forth the light''."

 Chapter 186 Briefing 2

    "the stygian abyss."the red fangs director widened his eyes in shock.


    "the what?" the rest were a bit confused, even the commissioner.


    the director turned to the city-lord who nodded at him.


    "the stygian abyss is a terrorist organisation that operates on a galactic scale. in other words, they aren''t originally from here."


    "galactic terrorists?" everyone was shocked.


    galactic terrorist organisations weren''t people they could deal with. since they normally had bases in multiple star regions and solar systems, these groups had access to large manpower, funds, and even advanced technology. it would then make sense why they had such space-bombs in their possession, but this didn''t calm them at all; on the contrary, it made them even more afraid.


    for galactic terrorist organisations, wiping out a city-state such as baylands was as easy as making coffee.


    "yes, but they''re most likely just some remnant scum that made their way over to the kellan solar system. if they were a major branch, we wouldn''t have lasted this long." the director said.


    everyone suddenly froze at those words. there was a mix of shame, denial, and awkwardness, but they all knew that what he said was the truth.


    "how can you be so sure?" a lieutenant colonel from one of the fifteen districts asked with a curious look on his face.


    "you can look up that line on the blue mist star net." the director calmly answered.


    whereas the kellan solar system intranet covered only the solar system, the blue mist star net was a much larger intranet that covered all the solar systems in the blue mist star region, including the kellan solar system. the kssi could be described as a miniature branch network of the blue mist star net.


    no one said anything, while some of them actually went on to check. the city-lord knew this and didn''t continue the meeting, choosing to give them enough time to confirm their search.


    in less than a minute, a strange look flashed in the eyes of a few while some of them sighed.


    "since you have all confirmed the veracity of the report, let us continue." the city-lord said with a placid tone.


    it was obvious that he knew about the stygian abyss and had identified them as well from the phrase, just like the red fangs director did.


    "if they''re galactic terrorists, isn''t this out of our ability?" a director from the baylands city patrol corps said. he was the director from alleva district.


    "in a way." the lieutenant colonel general spoke up.


    "we have reports coming in that the same situation occurred in two other city-states apart from us. and like those city-states, important personnel were assassinated in the dark, albeit this part is yet to be confirmed."


    "so what? are they trying to cause mayhem or something?" the commissioner of police frowned.


    "not quite." the red fangs director spoke up again.


    at this point, the two were used to him doing this and no one bothered to rebuke him for it.


    "the last time, we made the previous mistake of brushing the matter off. this time around, we are taking it for granted; as an act of rebellion or a move to make a statement. however, what if there''s actually a hidden plot within all of this?"


    everyone suddenly went quiet and creased their brows in thought.


    "and what would that be?" a lieutenant colonel from one of the fifteen districts asked.


    "a distraction. what if all of this is a distraction of theirs. or what if this is a step to a more complicated goal?" the red fangs director said. sea??h th§× nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "so many what ifs, but we can''t be sure of anything. at this point, what difference does it make?" a patrol corps director was at the seventh level interrupted.


    the red fangs director didn''t say anything, choosing to ignore the latter.


    "no matter what it may be, we have to figure it out." the city-lord finally spoke up.


    everyone immediately turned serious and they realised that he was about to give his orders.


    "sweep through the entire city-state and look for traces of the stygian abyss; most especially alleva district and baylands city. they have carried out massive attacks in these regions, proving that they have the ability to go in and out. this implies that they have connections rooted within these locations. i want those connections found and uprooted. the other districts should also take note to ensure that they don''t become victims.


    "security should be tightened in baylands city, and the city remains under lockdown for the next forty-eight hours. compensation packages should be offered to the family of the deceased, and i want border security tightened. all efforts should be put into making sure that this incident never repeats itself again


    "since this is a matter of galactic terrorists, i will contact the other city-lords and inform them. after that, i will make a report to the oklo dynasty about the matter, informing them of the presence of complex space-bombs in the area.


    "even if they''re galactic terrorists, i want everyone to know that we have to do our best to stop them and protect the city we love. that will be all."


    "what about the press? what should we tell them?" the commissioner of police asked.


    it was impossible to keep the truth hidden from the public, however, being honest would cause problems. if the people were to find out that a terrorist organisation had managed to carry out a large scale assault in the most secure place in the entire city-state, one could imagine the unrest and pandemonium the information would cause. hence, it was necessary for a proper explanation to be given.


    "draft a statement to be released to the press in the next hour. tell them the truth, but omit the stygian abyss. place the blame on the western front liberation army" the city-lord said.


    the western front liberation army was a popular terrorist organisation in eretre that had started all the way from the west of the groeten continent, hence the name ''western front''. they had grown to such a powerful level by absorbing the other terrorist groups on the continent, and forming a merger with another powerful organisation from a different continent, the liberation army.


    the current western front liberation army was now a force almost on par with a city-state, and it was taken as a serious opponent by the eleven city-states. digress city-state was not a target of the western front liberation army, so they didn''t engage in fights with them either. as for the oklo dynasty''s city-state, it was suicidal for the western front liberation army to even attack them. the oklo dynasty also wasn''t a fan of bullying the weak, so they didn''t bother with the terrorist organisation that they saw as harmless.


    the commissioner, the chief of police, and even the lieutenant colonel general all widened their eyes in surprise to the city-lord''s statement. to let the people know the truth of the matter was going to be problematic, and would have severe consequences.


    "but-"


    the city-lord waved his hand and cut the commissioner off.


    continue reading at empire


    "that is my command."


    with the city-lord saying this, the commissioner and all the others went silent.


    "the patrol corps should be on the lookout. if this is indeed the work of the stygian abyss, they would want to make a difference in this time. take note of any suspicious individuals during this period."


    with that, the city-lord ended the briefing.

 Chapter 187 Framed

    before the evening of the same day, the commissioner of police ¡ªmunroe bergs of the bergs family¡ª had already drafted a statement for the press conference in accordance with the city lord, noah bergs'' wish.once it was evening, baylands city patrol corps (bcpc) public relations department, held a press conference where they finally released an official statement. the speaker in the conference, who just happened to be the director of the bcpc for the central prefecture district, explained the situation just as it had happened. he only omitted the fact that the terrorist organisation behind the attack was the stygian abyss, as this was the order of the city lord.


    naturally, once this conference was over, the public was stunned. many media channels had already been reporting about the incident ever since it was over. so, when the press conference was announced, they chose to broadcast it live.


    the viewer ratings were sky-high for every media channel, with the most popular ones like the baylands city news network (bcnn), having the highest viewer ratings. the evening programme, evening news updates, broke previous records for the most viewed programme on the channel. s§×ar?h the n??elfir§×.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    compared to the report after the alleva district desolate beast tide was taken care of, the programme of the day had even more viewers. this was because the incident today occurred, not in any of the fifteen districts, but baylands city which was the capital of the city-state. furthermore, it took place at the centre of the city; the centre of wealth, power, and authority. as such, it was bound to happen that the incident would attract more attention than past events.


    "the death count currently stands at, at least, three hundred and seventy-two hyumans. the number of heavy injuries is at least five hundred and thirty-six, while light injuries come close to one thousand. all emergency networks, hospitals, and agencies have been working for over seven hours already. search and rescue efforts have been ongoing for the past couple of hours, and it is possible for changes to be made to these numbers. fiona von aurst, the famed presenter on the bcnn, spoke.


    the news was like a prelude to chaos and confusion, but the only good thing was that it was currently dark. the patrol corps had also been dispatched to ensure that no riots sparked. however, to many, this simply felt like the calm before the storm.


    "this is terrible." kelvin frowned as he watched the news broadcast.


    even melissa, who happened to be downstairs at the moment since the store was now closed, shivered a bit. there was fear in her eyes as she watched the scenes of destruction and terror.


    lucas didn''t say anything, but the look on his face wasn''t a pleasant one. for some reason, lucas could feel a sense of foreboding as he watched the broadcast.


    ''is this what he meant?''


    lucas recalled the visit four days ago by the man from digress city-state.


    the visitor had hinted to him that drastic changes would soon take place in the city following a monumental event that would occur. according to the man, lucas would get caught up in the event and would be a victim of it, even if he did nothing but sit back.


    the man had even suggested that lucas leave baylands city-state for his own safety, but he had refused. it wasn''t such an easy thing to just pack and go, and since he knew nothing about the man, lucas couldn''t simply trust him because of some scary words.


    ''but, how does this affect?'' lucas frowned as his brain whirred into action.


    he began thinking of various possibilities that would have him involved, but nothing solid came to mind. the best lucas could think of was that the event would cause a massive shift in perspective for the hyumans in the city. they would begin to treat humans and hybrids more terribly than they had ever done before. however, that wasn''t enough to be called a threat worth relocating.


    ''then what? the best i could think of is linking me with the terrorists, but how is that possible? everyone has seen me present in the store for the majority of the time i''ve been here. even the major companies have sent their spies to monitor me, so they can also serve as my alibi. there''s no solid evidence to hold me responsible for anything.'' lucas thought.


    despite that, the feeling of apprehension was still on the rise.


    lucas sighed and prepared to walk into the work-station. in times like this where he was filled with worry, lucas would retreat to his safe zone which was the work-station. there, he would carry out his therapy session to calm his mind. naturally, this therapy session was simply lucas creating a vestige.


    it was then that he noticed melissa who was slowly beginning to spasm. worry immediately flashed through his eyes as lucas yelled at kelvin.


    "turn it off."


    he threw away his stress and anxiety, rushing forward to hold the little girl in his arms.


    "it''s alright. it''s alright. you''re safe." lucas whispered in her eyes and he hugged her tightly.


    lucas guessed that she was reacting like this due to the trauma she had experienced in alleva district. melissa might have lost her memory, but she occasionally had nightmares about the destruction of her village. the event had left a scar in her memory and heart, but it had only shown itself through nightmares. today was the first time that melissa had reacted so violently.


    after a few minutes of comforting her, lucas realised that melissa was now better. he then gave up his plan of visiting his safe zone and decided to stay with her through the night.


    "you can leave early today." lucas said as he carried melissa upstairs.


    . . .


    the next day came about soon. the sun rose in the air, brightening the city with the scent of the morning dew faintly noticeable. it seemed like just another busy day, but the air in the famous baylands city was different from the usual energetic feeling it always had. there was a feeling of apprehension, worry, and anxiety even as people went about their daily lives. it was clear that the event of yesterday was still fresh in their minds, and it was beginning to have an effect on the citizens.


    meanwhile, lucas woke up early and came downstairs to prepare for the new day. the work-station doubled as his kitchen, so lucas usually made his way there early in the morning to make breakfast. but before he could open the door to the workshop, lucas'' actions were interrupted with a loud bang on the door.


    *bam* *bam* *bam*


    "boss open up, quickly! there''s trouble!" discover hidden tales at empire

 Chapter 188 The Conspiracy From The Shadows

    "boss open up, quickly! there''s trouble!" kelvin banged on the door.lucas froze for a second before walking towards the door. for some reason, he could feel his heart beating with unease and agitation, but he did well to mask that.


    "what''s the matter that couldn''t wait until later in the day?" lucas said as soon as he opened the door.


    "it''s bad, boss. bad, big time bad." kelvin said as he stepped into the store.


    "have you seen the news? or the media? what about kikao?"


    "i just woke up. what do you take me for? some internet addict?" lucas'' lips twitched.


    "take a look at this."


    kelvin ignored the question before projecting a few articles from his communicator.


    {{ shocking: seven sparks forge in secret alliance with terrorists? }}


    {{ limited ss vestige spotted in the hands of the terrorists? do they have a secret supply line or is the store a secret supplier? }}


    {{ terrorist spy uncovered: the tale of how a vestige-smith business worked undercover as a supplier for terrorists }}


    "...what is the meaning of this?" lucas grimaced as he stared at the projections.


    there were at least seven projections, but their topic was roughly the same. some of them had the image and logo of the store, while others had lucas'' face on it as he was the face of the store. regardless of whichever it was, the articles all shared the same contents; lucas was a terrorist and the seven sparks forge was secretly supplying terrorists with vestiges.


    "this is absurd. since when did the media make such insane comments without confirming their sources." lucas almost flared at the spot.


    what terrorist spy? what secret supporter? what supplier?


    it was understandable that there were secret suppliers for terrorists, after all, vestiges were strictly regulated. it might seem like there were a lot, but this was because of lucas'' area of work.


    for one to get a vestige, they either had to be: a registered freelancer with a licence; a registered security agent, especially a public security agent like a member of the patrol corps or defence force; or they had to have a permit from the official regulation agency. to get a permit, one would need a recommendation from a strong freelancer or a high ranking security agent.


    with these regulations in place, it was difficult for the average fellow to own a vestige. vestige-smiths, as well as businesses, were banned from selling vestiges to anyone who failed to fulfill one of those conditions.


    it was impossible for a terrorist to fulfill those conditions as they were either human or hybrid.


    for a human, it was impossible to be a freelancer or work in a public security agency because they were innately weak. as for getting a recommendation to apply for a permit, that was even more difficult for them for both the previous reason as well as the stigma attached to humans; a combination of the disgust hyumans had for them as well as the suspicion that all humans were potential terrorists.


    for the hybrids, the suspicion that they could be a terrorist played a part in making it difficult for them to get a permit. while they could apply to be a freelancer, life wouldn''t necessarily get better. also, baylands city had almost no hybrids.


    based on all of this, the only way for terrorist organisations to get access to vestiges ¡ªof which the bulk was produced in baylands city¡ª was to make covert deals with vestige-smith businesses and dealerships [1]. as such, it was natural to suspect them for supporting terrorists.


    however, lucas didn''t understand how he got caught up in this. he had been doing his best to keep a distance away from such topics, and even from the digress city-state. regardless, lucas was still somehow caught up in a crazy web of lies.


    "hold on, play that video for me."


    lucas pointed at the second projection.


    it wasn''t just an image as there was a clip attached to the post.


    kelvin immediately played the video clip and lucas finally understood what had happened.


    in the video, the scene was that of the central prefecture district that got attacked just the previous day. however, one of the terrorists that attacked was in possession of a unique vestige. it appeared to be a spear, but in the course of the battle, the spear transformed into a sniper rifle which he used to kill a few agents. your adventure continues at empire


    at first, lucas was shocked and thought it was his blue spear, but the design was slightly different and even the colour wasn''t the same.


    one of the reasons the blue spear went by that name was because it was blue in colour. so far, lucas didn''t take custom orders for the spear no matter how much people wanted to offer. as such, he was confident that the vestige the terrorist used had nothing to do with him.


    "it''s not mine." lucas said.


    "i know." kelvin replied. "i never doubted you, boss."


    lucas glanced at the latter, a bit surprised by his behaviour. although they were employer and employee, kelvin hadn''t even worked in the store for up to three months. there was no reason for him to trust lucas with such conviction.


    "why so?" lucas asked, a little bit curious.


    "because you aren''t so stupid to make such a mistake, if you were a spy." kelvin smiled.


    ''fucking brat.'' lucas cursed as he erased all his positive feelings about kelvin. s§×arch* the n?vel_fire.¦Çet website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''but he''s right. this is such a flawed attempt at framing me. the question is, this should be so obvious, but why is the media reporting it like it''s the truth?'' lucas began contemplating with a frown on his face.


    it only took him two seconds to figure out why.


    ''it can''t be...''


    lucas froze.


    there was only one reason that such a flawed plot would be preached by the media as if it were the new gospel. there was someone fanning the flames behind all of this. however, the party behind was definitely not one person, neither were they weak. what''s more, there had to be a reason why they were so bold as to carry on with this complot.


    one should know that if it didn''t work out, lucas could sue for defamation, harassment, emotional and psychological abuse, unfair business practice, and many more offences. by the time he was done, even if the parties involved didn''t go bankrupt, their businesses and reputation would take such a huge hit, that it would be very difficult for them to recover.


    despite the very high risks involved, the plotting side still went on with this scheme. therefore, the only explanation was that they were confident; very confident. for that to be true, it meant that they had a very powerful backer supporting them as well.


    for some reason, lucas'' unease began to grow even worse. it was clear that there was a conspiracy ongoing, and it was targeted at him.

 Chapter 189 Caught In A Web

    lucas calmly sat down and began arranging his thoughts.first, the stygian abyss had clearly planned this scene. they had arranged for their members to use a modified ss vestige during the attack, and planned to purposely get caught by the security camera and satellites active at the time. after browsing through the forums and news networks, lucas found at least four similar videos, so it wasn''t a fluke.


    this was probably the stygian abyss'' retaliation against lucas for killing ramirez and interrupting their plans.


    secondly, a malicious party made use of this video evidence to begin attacking lucas and the store. they didn''t care whether it was false or real, and controlled many media networks to report on it, ensuring that all posts made lucas appear to be a spy.


    the most likely suspect was the alliance, but lucas doubted that. during the short war he had with the alliance, he realised that they didn''t have a strong hold on the media, and only controlled a couple of channels. the legacy crafts dealership had even managed to get some others to report against them.


    however, this incident was reported by over eighty percent (80%) of all media channels, so it was clear that this wasn''t the work of the alliance. there was a possibility that they might still be involved, but they weren''t the orchestrator of this conspiracy.


    third, the main orchestrator was either of significant influence and power, or was backed by someone or some force that fulfilled those conditions. in other words, lucas'' opponent was more or less one or even more of the top powers of baylands city. the most likely candidates for this were the top four families.


    the top four families didn''t just wield massive wealth or a strong hold on the economy. they also possessed real power.


    from what lucas knew, the city lord was decided by the cabinet, which was a legislative assembly that had some executive powers. however, they were below the city-lord in terms of true power and authority. despite that, the cabinet had the authority to impeach the city-lord, although such has never happened in the past.


    the cabinet was made of sixty (60) representatives, of which twenty (20) of them were voted in to represent the twenty districts. as for the remaining forty (40), they were unequally split amongst the top factions in baylands city-state. the top four families, in particular, had the largest slots for cabinet seats. the combined number shared by the four families was twenty (20) seats, which was evenly split into five seats for each family. meanwhile, the remaining twenty (20) slots were hotly contested by more than fifteen factions.


    from this, one could see how much influence and power the top four families had; and this was already aside from the insane amount of wealth they possessed.


    if it were these families, it wasn''t impossible for one of them to influence the majority of the media channels as long as they were willing to bear the cost.


    but the issue was, lucas had never crossed paths with them, asides from the mertens family''s younger generation, vergil and laura mertens. but that was only a greeting, and there wasn''t much interaction for hatred to form.


    ''greed.'' lucas sighed.


    he wasn''t dumb, and he could already figure out why one of the top four families was after him. what other reason could it be than the fact that lucas was in control of a technology that could redefine the vestige-smith industry? sea??h th§× nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    the amount of wealth that could be generated in a year would be astounding.


    just from the twenty pieces each of the blue spear and dark dagger vestiges ¡ªtotalling forty vestige¡ª lucas had sold to the legacy crafts dealership, he made almost one million federal coins in revenue. he still had a four-year long contract to supply them ten of each vestige, totalling twenty.


    that would mean that in a month, lucas would make almost half a million federal coins in revenue. in a year, he was making five million, five hundred and twenty thousand (5520000) [1] in revenue. by the end of the four-year contract, lucas would have made a bit over twenty-two million federal coins in revenue. even with the system reduction rate of sixty-five percent (65%), lucas would still have earned more than seven million and seven hundred thousand (7700000) federal coins.


    such a staggering amount could get him into the list of top one hundred richest in some districts, and the top five thousand in baylands city; and this was without considering the profits he made from selling the two vestiges on his own, or even the three new vestiges lucas had released recently.


    it was only natural that even a top four family would lust after the cash cow that was lucas'' store.


    however, if it were one of the top four families, that erased the possibility that they were working with the stygian abyss. doing so was tantamount to damnation, and no family head would be so stupid. it was more likely that they decided to take advantage of the situation, and the stygian abyss had predicted such would happen.


    ''but i''m not such an easy target.'' lucas'' eyes flashed as he tapped the table as he began considering how to respond to the three points.


    ''even though the vestige appears to be a blue spear, everyone knows that the store only produces blue coloured ones. the fact it appears to be modified could vindicate me. however, they should have figured that out. i''m guessing they would use the fact that each vestige could easily be tracked, then investigate the owners. as long a they can''t find the exact ones that appeared on the videos, the suspicion would come back to me, and it would seem as if i sold some vestiges through a secret backdoor.''


    lucas sighed. discover hidden stories at empire


    suddenly, his eyes flashed.


    ''is that actually one of mine?''


    lucas had originally been thinking that the vestiges used in the videos were bought by the stygian abyss through a proxy. if that were the case, an investigation into all the customers who got one would eventually lead to something and lucas would be found innocent. but if it were that simple, the orchestrator of this incident wouldn''t have been so confident as to attack right away.


    the event occurred yesterday and it might seem like there wasn''t much time, but over twelve hours had gone by. due to the gravity of the situation, all security agencies were working overtime and diligently. as such, twelve hours was enough for the baylands city patrol corps to do a background search on all the customers that got an ss vestige, and even go through their activities from the previous month until now.


    a top four family would be able to get their hands on that information, especially since it was mentioned in the news that some of their seating representatives were murdered yesterday. that would give them more justification to be privy to confidential information.


    this meant that the customers were clean. by logic, it would mean that the terrorists got their hands on the vestiges from the seven sparks forge. however, lucas was confident that such had never happened. there was no transaction carried out in his store discretely.


    so, the only explanation was that the ss vestiges used in those videos were all fakes. but then came another question, did the orchestrator of this plot know about this? what if they knew, but didn''t care?


    for some reason, lucas believed that they knew, but didn''t care. it was his words against theirs, and it was quite obvious who the public would believe.

 Chapter 190 Harassment

    lucas spent the rest of the early hours of the morning, figuring out the entirety of the conspiracy to the best he could. there was a saying, know your enemy better than yourself. since the opponent was hidden in the dark, all lucas could do at the moment was to try and guess what their plans could be and who they were.after three hours of deep reflection, lucas had a rough idea of the complot and felt that he could predict the future situations.


    ''since they''ve isolated me, their next step would be to contact me.'' lucas thought as he stood up from the chair.


    since the target aimed for the technology he had, or to be specific, the vestige-smith backing lucas, they would do everything in their power to force the character out. by the time that no one steps out, the mastermind would approach lucas instead. there was also the possibility that they wouldn''t even wait so long before doing so.


    the reason was because there existed the possibility that the vestige-smith behind lucas was a tier 1 master. offending such a character was a very dumb move as not only were they strong, but they were also few and had a ton of connections. if the city pushed such a character too much, the other side might retaliate vehemently. it might even turn from a false accusation to the vestige-smith truly supplying the terrorists with vestiges on the condition that they destroy the mastermind. as such, this entire conspiracy might not last beyond a month.


    however, lucas knew the truth, which was that there was no vestige-smith backing him. he was the one who had made those vestiges, but no one else knew this fact. actually, lucas had told the store''s first customers during the early days, but none of them believed him, and even if he repeated the same now, no one would still believe him.


    this was natural after all, the ss vestiges were as powerful as grade 4 vestiges without actually being at that rank. the level and expertise needed to achieve this was something far out of the reach of a human.


    with nothing else to do, lucas opened the store and went into the work-station to begin his day.


    . . .


    time passed by and even after two hours from the usual opening time, there was no customer in the store. this was strange, after all, the seven sparks forge was the hottest vestige-smith store in the city, despite its secluded location. everyone knew the opening time of the store, and within the first two to three hours, there would have been at least twenty customers already. but today, there was none.


    while lucas didn''t say anything about this, kelvin ¡ªwho ran the store¡ª began to feel anxious. he knew that the reason for the lack of customers was definitely related to the news from earlier.


    just as he was wondering whether to go outside and understand the situation better, the door opened.


    "welcome." kelvin reflexively said with a bit of relief as he turned towards the entrance.


    however, he was shocked once his eyes glimpsed at the door''s direction.


    a group of men who appeared to be together walked into the store with heavy countenances. like the average hyuman, they had different hair colour, but the vibe they gave off was cold and aggressive. some of them even held objects in their hands as they walked into the store.


    kelvin narrowed his eyes as he stared at the five young men. he was beginning to have a bad feeling about the group.


    "where''s the owner?" one of them, who had white hair and stood at the front, said with a cold look on his face.


    from his position amongst the five and their body language, it was clear that he was the leader of the group.


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    "what do you want?" kelvin asked, choosing not to answer him.


    he wanted to figure out their goal as well as their intentions, before deciding on how to react. it was quite clear to him that their intention wasn''t as simple as coming to request a vestige.


    "don''t ask us stupid questions, and bring out your owner!"


    one of the men who stood beside their leader roared. his violent behaviour suited him perfectly as he sported red hair with a pair of red eyes.


    ''troublesome.'' kelvin frowned while scrutinising them once more.


    being an entry tier 1 elite vestige-smith, kelvin was at the fourth level of the apertures opening stage. this might sound low, but a fourth level stellar practitioner was already an elite of society in everyday life.


    with his strength, kelvin was able to see a lot more than the average hyuman could. he discovered that the group of five men were all low levelled practitioners. they couldn''t even be called freelancers as the strongest of them was barely at the peak of the first level. it was most likely that they were average individuals.


    however, this confused kelvin. the seven sparks forge was a store that catered to freelancers and similar occupations, and not the average hyuman. as such, a question remained stuck in his head; why were they here?


    "i''m sorry, but you can''t meet with the boss. he''s busy and since you have no business here, please leave. otherwise, i would have to press charges for obstructing the business and invasion of private property."


    "don''t shit with me now! call that human scum out here, now!" the violent member of the group shouted.


    kelvin''s face immediately turned dark. he finally understood what they were here for; this group was here to cause trouble and not for business purposes.


    despite knowing this however, kelvin had to remain professional even when addressing them, as they were weaker than him.


    "kindly refrain from such cursing and leave the store this very moment, otherwise i would have to use force." kelvin uttered a warning to the group.


    "go ahead you, bastard." another one of the five said who had brown hair. s~ea??h the nov§×lf~ire.net website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "i can''t believe you call yourself a hyuman, yet you work your ass off for a terrorist scum like a mutt." cursed the fourth member of the group.


    "this is your last chance." kelvin''s gaze turned cold.


    "come on. attack us, slave scum. i bet all you''re good at is kissing human ass. you''re a disgrace to the hyumankin." the brown-haired young man said.


    the red-haired fellow with violent tendencies behaved even more outrageous as he spat at kelvin.


    he then sneered as he spoke up,


    "heh. garbage such as you should go kill yourself."

 Chapter 191 Contract Termination

    "heh. garbage such as you should go kill yourself."kelvin''s countenance changed after those words, but he still refused to address the situation with force. the seven sparks forge was already in a bad situation and it would only get worse if he attacked these regular folks. if the other side were freelancers, there wouldn''t be much of an issue attacking them, but they were regular people.


    while kelvin was hesitating on how to deal with them, the red-haired thug had already lost his patience. he abruptly made his move, swinging at kelvin the bat he walked into the store with.


    ''shit.'' kelvin cursed, yet hesitated as he couldn''t figure out the best course of action.


    suddenly, a silhouette flew past kelvin.


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    *bam*


    the red-haired thug was sent flying until he collided into the wall.


    the rest of the crew were stunned, before turning towards the culprit.


    "i don''t recall my store tolerating scum such as yourself. you should have left after the warning." lucas glared at the four young men who remained standing.


    "you bastard. you finally show yourself." one of them shouted.


    "noisy."


    lucas turned to him and abruptly made his move. within just a second, lucas had arrived in front of him and grabbed the latter in the face with his palm.


    "yo-"


    the young man didn''t even have the opportunity to complete a word as lucas lifted him up and swung him towards the exit. s§×ar?h the n?vel(f)ire.n§×t website on google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *bang*


    "attack this asshole." the leader of the gang roared as the trio charged at lucas.


    lucas stared calmly at the incoming trio as if he was facing a bunch of kids.


    just as the closest was only a metre away, lucas made his move and darted at the group.


    the weapons and fists sent his way were easily dodged as lucas began his counterattack. a punch to the brown-haired young man and a kick to the white-haired gang leader. he grabbed the arm of the last man from behind and threw him towards the brown-haired fellow.


    just as the leader had recovered from the heavy kick lucas gave him, his vision was clouded with the sight of a fist that landed squarely on his face. lucas didn''t give him any breathing space as he unleashed a flurry of attacks that knocked the young man out. he then proceeded to do the same to the other two.


    "clean the place up." lucas said to kelvin after he was done.


    there wasn''t even the sound of groaning from the young men as they were all knocked out by lucas. only the two from earlier were still somewhat conscious, albeit groaning in pain.


    "i''m sorry." kelvin apologized.


    he felt that as the front-desk staff, it was his job to handle the group. despite that, he had hesitated to use force, which had resulted in lucas having to step in.


    lucas had only displayed a peak body strengthening stage strength ¡ªwhich was his real power level¡ª yet he had taken down two first level stellar practitioners with one at the peak, and three peak body strengthening stage practitioners. although it appeared easy, kelvin felt that lucas had worked himself out and it made him feel bad.


    "don''t worry about it." lucas replied.


    in truth, he wasn''t bothered, but was a bit relieved. if kelvin had utilised force on the group, he would get dragged into this incident once it came to light. with the burden of his father''s store already approaching bankruptcy, an extra burden would do a lot of damage. it was with that consideration in mind that lucas had made his move before kelvin got caught up in the situation.


    "once you''re done, you can leave early today."


    "but-"


    "no buts." lucas cut him off.


    "i doubt we would be having any customers today, so there''s no need for you to spend your time here. it''s an order."


    "...alright." kelvin sighed.


    after dragging the group outside, he left the store.


    meanwhile, lucas sat down and sighed. he could foresee the situation getting worse, but there was nothing to do about it yet.


    the day continued with the store having no customers. there were a few terrorist haters, just like the gang of five, who showed up to the store. some of them were victims of past terrorist attacks, losing their family members or friends in those attacks. others had either lost their job, wealth, or simply hated terrorists. they all gathered at the home of a suspected terrorist sympathiser all in a bid to teach him a lesson or force him to confess.


    naturally, lucas gave them no opportunity to do such. he closed up the store and stayed indoors. with the system''s protection, unless it was permitted by lucas, no one could enter the store. what''s more, the building was difficult to damage. even the glass windows were resistant to the strikes of the mob who tried to force their way in.


    in the end, some of them went back to their homes while the others decided to camp out for lucas.


    "this is getting out of hand." lucas frowned.


    the time was 4pm, yet there were still at least twelve individuals outside the store. lucas had always lived an independent nature, so he didn''t need to leave the store for anything. his supplies were still enough for both him and melissa to last a month. but that didn''t mean that lucas wanted to hole himself up for a month.


    just as he was considering what to do next, lucas received an email from lucy.


    lucy was the agent from novanio tech, who had convinced lucas to partner with the company. she was transferred to the legacy crafts dealership and had taken on a high position thanks to her achievement. apart from that, she also acted as an intermediary to lucas on behalf of the company.


    reading the contents of the message, lucas'' composure suddenly shook. this was the first time lucas was heavily affected by a situation. even when he saw the posts from the various media channels, lucas had only frowned at them. he was even more concerned about melissa''s state of mind than the news. however, the fact that his facial expression significantly changed after reading the email, said a lot about how it affected him.


    the details of the email weren''t much. it first started off with a short greeting before lucy got to the point. the higher-ups of novanio tech had sent down an order to the legacy crafts dealership. they were to hold a board meeting and figure out a way to terminate their contract with lucas without taking a significant loss.


    since the order came from the higher-ups in novanio tech, not even lucy could help lucas. it was decided by the board of directors of novanio tech, and those in favour of it even included lucy''s superiors in her faction. from this, it was clear that novanio tech was determined to cut off all relationships with lucas, despite the massive amount of profit they stood to gain, or the loss they would take from terminating the contract.


    "is this how it ends, huh?" lucas sighed.

 Chapter 192 Melissas Fascination

    five days went by, most of which lucas had in the store. this couldn''t be helped as the store was being stalked by some extremists. the good thing was that it didn''t matter to lucas as he was a fan of seclusion.with no commissions, lucas had a lot of free time on his hand. at the same time, most of his previous acquaintances and business had begun to cut off contact with him. the legacy crafts dealership wasn''t the only one who acted this way. some of the stores lucas had frequented in the past, especially when sourcing for materials, had sent him an email with an official notice banning him from their buildings.


    businesses weren''t the only ones giving lucas the cold treatment. harry reid, the first customer lucas happened to have had, had even cut off contact with lucas. previously, he had been occasionally interacting with lucas both on- and offline. but ever since the incident started four days ago, harry had failed to check up on him.


    once again, lucas wasn''t surprised nor bothered by this. having lived two lives, with one of them adding up to more than five hundred years alone, it was assured that lucas would learn a lot about the human mind and behaviour. although hyumans were another species, they descended directly from humans, and had taken a kit from them.


    with no one checking up on him, lucas spent the majority of his time in the work-station or with melissa. the little girl had no one to call family, and with the situation being as it was, it became difficult to consider getting melissa enrolled in an academy. in the end, lucas decided to homeschool her.


    as for kelvin, lucas had given him a temporary leave until further notice. since the business wouldn''t be getting any customers, there was no need to have kelvin come to the store. even without him being physically present in the store, lucas could still utilise the benefits of the employee hire function.


    "big brother look, i drew a sword."


    the eleven year old melissa smiled as she showed lucas her drawing.


    being raised by him, it was inevitable that melissa would take some interest in what lucas did. since she barely left the store, she spent the most of her time looking at the vestiges on display and eventually got fascinated by them. lucas had yet to test her talent for vestige-smithing as he didn''t plan to force it on her. but in the end, it seemed like the little girl was showing signs of attraction to the occupation, so it would eventually have to happen.


    apart from teaching her basic knowledge about society, language, and culture, lucas took melissa with him to the work-station after she pleaded him to do so four days ago. since then, she would try to come up with her own designs and show them to lucas.


    the drawing was surprisingly detailed, showing that melissa had talent in this aspect. although she had a bit of guidance from lucas, it had only been four days since then, yet her skills were that of an entry-level artist.


    "hmm. it looks okay, but the design is a bit tacky. you also have to consider the spacing for the runes and also the thickness of the metal." lucas made some corrections for her.


    when it came to vestige-smithing, lucas always took on a serious face. even if the student was a five year old, lucas didn''t care and would criticise their work as he sees fit.


    surprisingly, melissa wasn''t the type of child to begin crying upon facing criticism. she would nod when she understood or keep a blank face at lucas, signalling that she was confused. this would make him try to explain it in a much simpler term for her.


    despite being only eleven years of age and having lived in a settlement where she was treated like a second-class citizen, melissa was a smart kid who was talented in many aspects.


    whenever lucas spent time teaching her, he always felt as if he was back in his first life.


    back then, when yohan was three hundred years old, he had met a little girl who was orphaned. the girl reminded him of himself and one thing led to another, yohan decided to raise the girl as his daughter as well as his last student. two hundred years later, she became a two star master blacksmith [1]. to be able to reach this rank without the support of a powerful mage guild, a sect or even an empire, was a testament to her skills and also yohan''s teaching ability.


    lucas was confident that if she had one hundred years more of his guidance, it was possible for her to become a five star master blacksmith; an existence at the cusp of being a grandmaster. however, that was all in the past now. although melissa reminded him of his last student, there was no certainty that melissa would be as talented as she was.


    ''it''s been five days now. they should be showing up any time soon.'' lucas thought after making some corrections to melissa''s drawing.


    from his previous conjectures, lucas had surmised that the mastermind of this entire conspiracy did so to get their hands on the technology of the store. to do that, they had to bait the vestige-smith behind the store, but without offending the latter.


    the reason for this condition was that the vestige-smith was possibly a high ranking tier 1 master, and offending such a character was a dumb move. there was also a slight possibility that the backer was a tier 1 grandmaster, after all, there had been many tier 1 masters, but none had been able to achieve what the seven sparks forge did.


    if it were this slim possiblity, it would be the dumbest move for the mastermind to offend them too much. so far, the seven sparks forge couldn''t really be said to have suffered much, from the viewpoint of those at the top. even if the vestige-smith backing the store came out and turned out to be someone they couldn''t afford to offend, the mastermind could easily make amends for the losses incurred.


    however, five days had gone by and the vestige-smith had yet to show up. naturally, this would make the mastermind worried.


    there could only be a few logical reasons, with one of them being that the vestige-smith simply didn''t care much about the store. based on the fact that he had a human run it and never bothered to make much vestiges or invest much into the store, this seemed like a logical possibility. if that were the case, it would then mean that the ss vestiges would no longer appear in baylands city-state. that was a loss not even the city-lord could tolerate, and the mastermind would suffer a lot due to it.


    who knows, the next time an ss vestige appears would be in some other city-state, and the city-state would learn from baylands city-state''s mistake and treat the store even better. this would turn both the baylands city-state and the city-lord into a laughing stock.


    with such a possibility in view, the mastermind would have to step out soon enough and reach out to lucas to make a deal.


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    just as lucas was thinking this, he heard a knock on the door.

 Chapter 193 The Mastermind...?

    *Dum* *Dum*"Mr Lucas Saunters? Are you up?"


    Lucas stared at the direction of the store.


    The store had been closed with a sign hung up in front, so it was impossible for anyone to get inside without Lucas'' permission. There was no doorbell installed either as Lucas didn''t want to be disturbed after opening time. Hence, the only option for the person on the other side was to knock on the door.


    "Come in." Lucas calmly said, granting the person permission to step in.


    After a second, the visitor pushed the door and this time, it opened. He wasn''t surprised by this as a similar locking technology was in place in almost every household.


    "Sorry for coming to your place at such a time." The newcomer smiled.


    Although he said that, the sun was still up so it wasn''t an inconvenient time. However, as Lucas had locked the door and gone on a break from work, it could be said to be an unsuitable time for visits.


    Lucas glanced at the newcomer and scanned them.


    It was a middle-aged man with a grey beard. He wore a black suit with a watch on his wrist. With his experienced eyes, Lucas could tell that they were all vestiges. The suit was a defensive piece of clothing that could take on attacks up to the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage. In other words, it was a Grade 2 vestige. The watch on his hand probably doubled as a communicator as well. But the most astonishing fact about the wrist watch was that it was actually made using one of Lucas'' modified stellar processors.


    After the two main SS vestiges, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, Lucas produced three new sets of vestiges as a response to the harassment he got from the alliance of vestige-smith companies who stood against him. Two of the three vestiges relied on a special type of stellar processor that only Lucas could make.


    In truth, the stellar processor was just a modified version of an existing stellar processor provided to Lucas by Novanio Tech. However, it was far more powerful than regular stellar processors and had exceeded many of them in benchmark tests.


    Getting access to this new processor wasn''t something just anyone could do since Lucas was the only one capable of producing the modified processors. The only way one could get them was by buying the wrist-type communicator he had made, then disassembling the product and extracting the stellar processor from it. That was the only explanation as to how the man had a wristwatch made with the stellar processor. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''That''s not all.''


    Lucas stared at the watch a bit more.


    At first, he had thought that it was a simple wristwatch made using his modified stellar processor, but he turned out to be wrong. It was actually a customised version of his wrist-type communicator''s third model.


    The wrist-type communicator was called Claudia 9, and there were three models to it, all powered using the modified stellar processors nicknamed SS processors.


    All Claudia 9, irrespective of the model, has a special software called ''Beginner''s Guide for Freelancers''. It contained part of Lucas'' knowledge on desolate beasts and their behaviours, strengths, weaknesses and appearances as well as information on some special materials; all of which were knowledge he got from the system.


    The SS processors were fitted with ''cores'' which helped store stellar energy absorbed passively by the processors. This stellar energy could then be used for multiple functions such as powering the magic runes or stellar circuits on the communicator, or speeding up the processor''s processing ability.


    The Claudia 9 mainstream model could transform into a dagger. The Claudia 9 Devon 2 model could transform into a vambrace with defensive capabilities.


    Finally was the third model, Claudia 9 S, which unlike the other two, couldn''t transform into anything. But what it could do was to use the stored up stellar energy to recover the wearer''s stellar energy, or help in their stellar refinement. Because of this ability, the S model became the hottest product amongst all three models.


    As he studied the man''s wristwatch, Lucas realised that it was actually a customised version of the Claudia 9 S model, and this surprised him. Lucas never made customised editions for his products, so the only explanation was that the man had gotten it from elsewhere.


    Although the changes made weren''t much, it wasn''t easy to make custom changes to the Claudia 9 model without a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in vestige-smithing. Even then, one could only make small changes. One would then need to be familiar with the Claudia 9 vestige.


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    Being familiar didn''t mean knowing how to make one as that was impossible for anyone except Lucas. They only needed to understand the logic of how it worked and the common components within it. But even this was a difficult task, even for experts.


    ''The terrorists who used those vestiges also seemed to have gotten them from someone who could copy my products really well.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes before staring at the man.


    "Oh, this?" The man smiled as he glanced at his watch. It was obvious that he knew that it had caught Lucas'' attention.


    "It''s nothing special. I got it over a week ago from Legacy Crafts dealership. It took a bit of effort on my side to have them sell it to me through the back." The man chuckled.


    "To what do I owe this visit, and who are you?" Lucas calmly asked.


    Whether the man had his product or not didn''t matter; Lucas had already been paid for it by the Legacy Crafts dealership. What mattered was his purpose of coming here.


    "I am Calhner Bergs, of the Bergs family. I work as the family''s aide for external affairs." Calhner smiled before handing Lucas a card.


    Lucas accepted the card and glanced at it. The material of the card was of high quality. It wasn''t paper, but a gemstone. Yes; an entire business card carved out from a single gemstone. What''s more, the gemstone was one of high-quality and could easily reach the monthly salary of an average worker in one of the fifteen districts.


    "Business hasn''t been doing well lately, huh?" Calhner said as he took a look at the place.


    "A bit, yeah. But I don''t mind. It''s been such a long time since I''ve had a break." Lucas responded.


    Calhner chuckled before facing Lucas again.


    "I''ll get straight to the point since you seem like a man who''s straightforward. The Bergs family is interested in a collaboration with you. In exchange, we would use our influence to get rid of the rumours and ensure you take your place back in the industry."

 Chapter 194 An Insane Proposition

    (( Check Auxiliary chapter for a special announcement))"I''ll get straight to the point since you seem like a man who''s straightforward. The Bergs family is interested in collaborating with you. In exchange, we would use our influence to dismiss the rumours and ensure you take your place back in the industry."


    Calhner Bergs extended the Bergs family''s offer to Lucas.


    Lucas didn''t answer right away, as his mind was elsewhere.


    ''The Bergs family seems like the most likely suspect for the role of the mastermind.''


    Lucas had done some digging on the top four families after the Exceptional Basis Examination at the EVL branch headquarters, and he also did so again some days ago, to understand his potential opponents.


    The Bergs family is the number one family in Baylands city-state and has a sobriquet known to every household; the City Lord family. The moniker didn''t come about due to the fact that the current city lord was from the Bergs family. Rather, it was because of the fact that the Bergs family had raised three successive generations of city lords.


    To appreciate and understand how incredible this feat was needed to know how a city-lord came to be.


    The Cabinet¡ªwhich was a sixty-man legislative assembly made of representatives of the most powerful factions and the twenty districts¡ªhad the right to decide the city lord through a voting process. After the result was sent over to the Oklo Dynasty for certification by the royal family, the city lord would then be sworn in. Every city lord ruled for a tenure of ten years with no limit. However, every three years, a referendum to pass a vote of confidence or no-confidence would be carried out by the Cabinet. This was where the Cabinet''s ability to impeach the city-lord came about, but so far, no city-lord has ever suffered from an impeachment according to the records.


    After the ten-year tenure, the city-lord could still run again. Usually, a city lord would rule for three to five successive tenures, which was the equivalent of thirty to fifty years.


    Although Baylands City came about some six hundred years ago, this voting system only came to be when the city-state was founded, which was about five hundred years ago. In those five hundred years, there had been fifteen different city lords. To have three city lords come from a single family was without a doubt something to boast about.


    Apart from being the family of three city lords, the Bergs family also had a different identity.


    The Bergs family had started out as a merchant family before diving into the military and politics. At the moment, they were known for their military prowess and political influence, thanks to holding the position of city lord for three consecutive years. The fact that the commissioner of police was a Bergs, was a good example of this. However, this made people forget that the Bergs family had a knack for making money.


    Using the perks they got from being a city-lord family, the Bergs acquired a ton of properties and built quite a few businesses, enriching their pockets and strengthening the family even more. Who knew just how many companies secretly had the Bergs controlling them?


    From all of this, they seemed to be the most likely suspect to be the mastermind. Whether it was political power, wealth or influence, they had it all. However, Lucas lacked evidence to accuse them.


    "Like you said before, I''m a straightforward man. So, what exactly can the Bergs offer me that would interest me?" Lucas asked.


    Calhner was surprised a bit, but he still maintained a calm demeanour with a smile on his face.


    "You should already have figured out that this entire event has a hand behind it."


    Lucas nodded his head,


    "Indeed, but I don''t know who that is."


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t say that." Calhner replied. He then continued.


    "However, what I can say is that if you work with us, you wouldn''t need to worry about that. We will offer you protection to the best of our ability. We will also give you access to tons of rare resources, financial support for expansion, and more."


    Although it sounded like Calhner was talking to Lucas, it was more of him relaying the Bergs family''s conditions to the vestige-smith behind the store. The Bergs family believed that there was at least a high-ranking Tier 1 Master vestige-smith backing the store, but for this negotiations, they saw no reason to call the fellow out. Instead, they had decided to present their terms to Lucas, believing that he would be smart enough to know what they implied.


    Lucas stared at him for a short while before he asked again. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "In exchange for what?"


    Seeing as he wasn''t outrightly rejected, Calhner smiled at him.


    "Nothing in this world is free. To gain something, you have to lose or offer something else.


    "The Bergs family simply wants a fixed set of vestiges sent to us at cost price. Apart from that, we would send a few of our talented vestige-smiths to help your master in vestige-smithing. I''m pretty sure that making so many vestiges would be strenuous for him, so he would appreciate some helping hands.


    "Finally, we would want to have exclusive distribution rights, whether within Baylands city-state or as regards exports. Rest assured that the vestiges would be bought at standard price." Calhner said.


    "That will be all. You don''t need to give me a response now. But the family would be pleased if we get one within a week. There''s probably going to be more like me, but it would be in your best interests to partner with the city-lord family."


    Following that, he stood up and left the store.


    The terms weren''t for Lucas to agree on as no one believed he was the real owner of the store. Instead, it was for the vestige-smith backing the store. Calhner informed Lucas of the terms so he could discuss it with his ''master''. Since he was done with that, there was no reason to spend any more time with a nauseating existence.


    Lucas watched the latter depart but made no effort to send him off. Instead, he simply chuckled deep down.


    The terms Calhner stated were all absurd and there was no way he would agree to anything like that.


    The first condition was to sell some of the vestiges at cost price to the Bergs family. Cost price didn''t mean the system''s price, but rather, the price based on the materials used and little consideration for labour. Ignoring the fact that the system wouldn''t allow that, there was no way Lucas would let himself be taken advantage of like that. Just this condition alone made Lucas wipe away the thought of partnering with the Bergs family.


    The second condition was even wilder. It was to allow some of the Bergs family''s vestige-smiths work with Lucas'' master. Ignoring the fact that such a master didn''t exist, the Bergs family''s intention was clearly to learn the secret of the SS vestiges. This was because it was next to impossible for any vestige-smith to aid Lucas in producing these vestiges without understanding the fundamental workings of them.


    What made the SS vestiges special was the stellar circuit technology, but Lucas'' forging and inscription techniques also played a significant role in making the SS vestiges unique and impossible to replicate. If the vestige-smiths from the Bergs family were to help, they would need to be taught some of these techniques. However, there was no way Lucas would pass such knowledge to anyone that wasn''t his disciple.


    Hence, this second demand was impossible to satisfy.


    The third stipulation was that the Bergs family handled all internal and external trades regarding the SS vestiges. Although it wasn''t as impossible to fulfill as the other two requirements, it was still out of consideration. Even the Legacy Crafts dealership had only asked for exclusive distribution rights in Baylands city-state whilst excluding Baylands City from their area of operation. However, the Bergs family''s appetite was even larger as they asked for exclusive distribution rights everywhere.


    This would essentially mean that Lucas could only sell his vestiges to the Bergs family, and no one else.


    Calhner Bergs had presented to Lucas three demands for cooperation raised up by the Bergs family. However, all three were impossible for Lucas to accept. In other words, it was impossible for Lucas to ally with the Bergs family.


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    Lucas tossed the idea of cooperation behind his head and began pondering on Calhner''s last sentence. He mentioned how there would be more people coming to offer Lucas a hand in the days to come. This made Lucas a bit confused.


    From how Calhner spoke and responded to his questions, it was difficult to ascertain whether the Bergs family was the main culprit of this incident. To be specific, it was difficult to determine whether they were the only ones.


    Lucas believed that the Bergs family definitely had a hand in this, but he wasn''t sure whether they were the only party involved.


    The Bergs family alone was enough to pull off the conspiracy, but if there were more involved, it made the situation even more complicated for Lucas. If all top four families were involved, it would mean that there was no place for Lucas in Baylands city-state. This would imply that the advice he got from the man from Digress city-state was correct; the only solution would be to escape.


    ''Well, he did say that the others would show up, so I''ll find out then.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.

 Chapter 195 Pressure From All Angles

    Three days later...After the Bergs family''s aide for external matters, Calhner Bergs, showed up at the store, it irked Lucas just a bit. When the meeting came to an end, the former had informed Lucas that there would be more individuals like himself coming to see Lucas. During these three days, the words of Calhner Bergs turned out to be true.


    The next day, it had been the butler of the Dufour family that came to Lucas'' doorsteps.


    Similar to the Bergs family, the Dufour family was a top four family that had previously produced a city lord once. However, that wasn''t where the family''s power and influence came from.


    The Dufour family dealt in the business of unique minerals and ores ¡ªa contrast to the Mertens family that sold desolate beast parts and materials. The Dufours also have a large share of the serum market. Serums were drugs with unique properties similar to the magic potions from Lucas'' past life.


    The Dufour family is known to sell various serums with different effects, except for the Synno serum. But in the past, it was different.


    The Synno serum is the serum used by hyumans to increase their mDNA concentration. While hyumans were born with a fixed m(o)DNA (Metamorphosed DNA) count in their genes, which was the naturally occurring form, the Synno serum was an artificial version of the mDNA, known as m(z)DNA (Metarmorphized DNA). When injected into the hyuman body, it would attach itself to hyuman''s genes and work in tandem with the m(o)DNA in increasing the body''s stellar affinity. Hence, one''s overall mDNA concentration would experience an increase [1].


    Due to the special effects of the Synno serum, not just anyone could sell it, with only official governments having the right to do so. However, the Dufour family had once engaged in the trade of the Synno serum, especially when they held the city lord''s position.


    The family forged connections with serum providers and creators in the Oklo Dynasty and ventured into the business. As a result, even after they lost the right to sell Synno serums, they were still able to make another business venture and remain in the serum market.


    The Dufour family''s connections in the Oklo Dynasty was what made them a fearful opponent for the other top families. With them almost running a monopoly in the serum market, the amount of money the Dufours made on a daily basis could make many eyes go green with envy. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To further solidify their control and influence in the market, the Dufour family had gone into an alliance with the Bergs family, becoming their number one supporter. It was said that one of the reasons the Bergs family was able to produce three consecutive city lords was thanks to the support of the Dufour family in the Cabinet.


    Of the sixty cabinet seats, ten were already on the side of the Bergs family, therefore requiring only twenty one more for a majority vote. With the combined influence of the Bergs and Dufour family, one could see how the former had held power for so long.


    A combination of connections, influence, history, and wealth, easily made the Dufour family rank second in the entire Baylands city-state; only behind the undisputed city lord family.


    On the second day, another of the top four visited Lucas.


    The Ross family was the last member of the top four and also the weakest. They were the most recent arrival into the top four after the fall of the Oder family from the rankings. Experience more on empire


    Unlike their predecessor, the family was into technology and electronics business. They ran a company that imported stellar processors just like Novanio Tech, with a net worth close to one billion federal coins. When the representative of the family met with Lucas, he presented roughly the same conditions to Lucas as Novanio Tech did.


    There were some discrepancies in the contract, like the demand to have some of the vestige-smiths work with Lucas'' ''master'', and a fixed number of vestiges to be sold to them at cost price. However, they also offered to provide Lucas with stellar processors at a cheaper price than market rate, which would be more economical than Lucas'' chip deal with Novanio Tech before.


    They also didn''t ask for exclusive distribution rights in the entirety of Baylands city-state; they excluded Baylands City just as Novanio Tech did. For exporting rights, the Ross family only asked for exclusive distribution rights in the Groeten continent. This gave Lucas the opportunity to be able to partner up with either local or foreign companies for distribution in other continents, albeit that would be difficult.


    The Ross family also, offered to aid in the design and development of new vestiges, especially in the consumer sector. While this would profit them more, since they ran an electronics and consumer tech company, it would also increase the Seven Sparks Forge market influence.


    Compared to the other two top four families that arrived earlier ¡ªthe Bergs and the Dufour families ¡ª the Ross family''s, proposals were much better. However, Lucas couldn''t let them meet with his ''master'' as there was no such individual. He also wouldn''t want them to learn his techniques unless the vestige-smiths agreed to be his disciples, which meant leaving the Ross family.


    Finally, the stipulation to sell a fixed number of SS vestiges at cost price was similarly impossible to fulfil.


    Apart from these two top families, there were also a couple other influential parties that showed up. Some of them were alliances of different groups who held some degree of power in the city-state and the Cabinet, while some were factions that had once sat at the top, and were confident about themselves, like the Oder family.


    Regardless of which they were, Lucas didn''t give them a response and none of them hampered him for one. It seemed like they had all agreed to give Lucas a one week period to consider their proposals. From this, Lucas understood that the entire conspiracy and complex was much larger than he had expected.


    It wasn''t just one party or a group, but the entire top factions that had agreed to take advantage of him. If Lucas wanted to keep running the store in Baylands city-state, or even survive, he had to pick a side.


    Just as he was having this thought, someone knocked on the door.


    ''So they''re finally here.''

 Chapter 196 The Mertens Invitation

    Upon opening the door, Lucas was confronted by a young teen with black hair. Although the newcomer wasn''t quite who he had expected, Lucas had correctly guessed his identity."Yo, boss man. Been a while." The famous playboy of the Central Prefecture district, Vergil Mertens, walked into the store with a wide grin on his face.


    "You''re the one you''re family sent?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by his presence.


    The Mertens was the only member of the top four families that had yet to pay Lucas a visit. Seeing as each of the top four visited him once a day, Lucas guessed that the Mertens family''s representative would arrive today; and he was right, just that it turned out to be the playboy.


    On one hand, Vergil''s presence seemed like a disrespectful move, since the other families had sent someone of the older generation with an appropriate position to meet with him.


    For instance, the Bergs family had sent their advisor and aide for external affairs, Calhner Bergs. The Dufour family had sent the family head''s youngest step-brother, who was the sixth in-line to the title in that generation. The Ross family had also sent someone of an appropriate identity to meet with Lucas.


    However, while the Mertens family''s decision might seem disrespectful, it actually wasn''t. Although Vergil was known to have a bad track record and name on the streets, he was also the family''s second-most talented figure of the younger generation. At the same time, he was placed on a pedestal and identified as the one to help the family step into the vestige-smith industry.


    Finally, he was the next in-line for the title of family head, since his father was the current family head.


    All this added together made Vergil to be of a higher rank than the previous visitors Lucas had met with.


    "Hey, don''t be like that. The young master is here, and this is how you greet me?" Vergil smirked.


    He was an easygoing person who didn''t have the same inherent pride as Maximillus Oder. To Vergil, everyone was the same, whether human or hyuman. In their two encounters, even as strangers, Vergil had treated Lucas better than the others.


    "So, what''s the special visit for? Here to relay your proposals?" Lucas glanced at Vergil with a questioning look.


    "Nah. Pressuring innocent people isn''t my thing." Vergil waved him off.


    "I''m here to send you an invitation. It''s from my father. He wishes to meet with you at the family house this evening."


    Vergil immediately took out an envelope and handed it to Lucas.


    Lucas was immediately stunned.


    It seemed like the Mertens family worked differently from others. If it was a simple invitation, they could have sent it to him through his contact details; for the Mertens family, it shouldn''t be difficult to get that. Even if they wanted to hand Lucas a physical invite as a form of respect, they could simply have someone else do so rather than Vergil. To use the family''s successor as a deliveryman, it could only mean that the Mertens family wanted to display their sincerity in cooperating.


    But then again, why invite Lucas to the family house for that?


    The question couldn''t help but make Lucas wonder.


    "What makes you guys think I would show up?" Lucas stared at Vergil as he released a bit of his aura.


    Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    Although Vergil was at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, he was still quite young and didn''t have as much battle experience as Lucas did. All he had to do was release an appropriate amount of ferocity and bloodlust, and Lucas could mess with Vergil''s psyche.


    "You said previously that you don''t like pressuring the innocent. Then you should know my situation, as well as the truth. Now I wonder, does your family have a hand in this? If they do, doesn''t that contradict your earlier statement?"


    Each question struck Vergil directly, making him hesitate how to answer. Together with the aura Lucas released, he began shuddering.


    "...I understand your concerns." Vergil said as he gritted his teeth, while withstanding the aura.


    "But believe me when I say this; my family has no hand in this."


    Lucas stared at him for a second more, before recalling his aura and accepting the envelope.


    "Evening, huh? I guess I''ll try to make it."


    Vergil, who was recovering from the shock he had just received, smiled bitterly at Lucas'' words.


    Lucas was the only one he knew who would respond in such a way to an invitation from the Mertens family head. Even the current city lord, Noah Bergs, would treat the invitation seriously.


    This wasn''t to say that the city lord was scared of the Mertens family head, but an invitation from such a figure could only be for a serious matter.


    "Alright." Vergil sighed before leaving the store.


    Why would he want to remain after that horrendous experience that almost made him wet his pants?


    One should know that the Mertens family ran a company in the desolate beasts parts industry. At the same time, they also controlled their own private force; a freelancer guild that was very popular in Baylands city-state.


    Due to the nature of the Mertens family''s business, family members ¡ªespecially of the direct line¡ª would participate in a one year service at the freelancer guild once they turned seventeen (17). During the service, they didn''t just do physical exercises and sit back in the freelancer base; rather, they also participated in desolate beast hunts. They were even made to take down a desolate beast in groups with other seventeen year olds from the family.


    This helped the Mertens family build a sense of cooperation as well as survival and battle skills from a suitable age. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite having completed his service a few months ago, and still fresh out of the Wastelands, Vergil had been suppressed by Lucas'' aura. Naturally, this evoked a sense of fear and respect towards Lucas, whom he previously once thought to be a weak human talented in blacksmithing.


    ''That guy is one scary hell of a being.'' Vergil breathed out and calmed himself after he had left the store.


    ''Those guys might one day regret what they did.''

 Chapter 197 The Power Of Money

    When evening came around, Lucas prepared to leave for the Mertens family. Just as he was about to step out, he sensed a presence behind him."Are you leaving?" Melissa asked Lucas as she stared at him with a dejected expression.


    "Please don''t leave me alone."


    Lucas felt a prickle in his heart as he heard those words.


    Since he was going to meet the Mertens family head, who could possibly be one of the people against him, Lucas had felt it was unwise to bring Melissa along. However, he had forgotten that the little girl had lost all her memories and she saw him to be her only family.


    Although Melissa was used to staying alone during the day, back when the store was in a better state, it didn''t mean that she liked it. For a child this young to be left alone for eight hours of time, was unhealthy for their growth.


    "Alright. You can come with me." Lucas smiled.


    He surmised that there shouldn''t be much of a threat meeting the Mertens family head this evening. Since it was an invitation taken seriously by them, it was unlikely for the host to play some games with him, so Lucas felt there should be no problem bringing Melissa along with him.


    . . .


    The sun had already set and the nightlife of Baylands City was just about to kick in. Many were already getting off work and the skies were crowded with hover vehicles and shuttles. However, the Central Prefecture district was a little bit different.


    Although it had the same towering skyscrapers and floating vehicles, the Central Prefecture district had its own appeal, even at this time of the day.


    West Wing district was known as the city''s economic centre, specifically for vestige-related items, as well as the home of all freelancers. The Eastern Crown district was a residential location. It was also another economic centre of the city, except it was one that catered to the average hyuman.


    The South Mountain district was a residential district and was one in the truest sense.


    As for the Northwave district, it was the production location of many of the city''s local goods. Apart from the absence of vestige-smiths and vestiges, the Northwave district produced all other types of daily equipment and technology.


    On the contrary, the Central Prefecture district was simply the home of vanity, wealth, and riches. It was said that in every three persons spotted in the city, at least one had a net worth of three hundred thousand federal coins.


    This might not sound like much, but it was a lot. Back on Earth, they would be the equivalent of a multi-millionaire.


    This made Lucas recall a certain city-state back on Earth. It was called Manaco, and it was said that everyone in the city was a millionaire at the very least. Just the standard items and experience cost more than they would anywhere else on Earth, and there were lots of opulent spots for the rich as well.


    Lucas didn''t know much about the city-state of Manaco as he spent the majority of his time in the lab. He also didn''t have enough money to bother to go there. Despite his fame and title as a national treasure, Lucas was poor, or rather, average in terms of income. This was mostly because the country of Rhodia funded all of Lucas'' expenses, from living expenses, to travel, leisure, and food expenses. As such, he had no savings or investments he could call his own.


    But even with his lack of experience regarding the class city-state of Manaco, Lucas was sure that the Central Prefecture district thrived way more than it did.


    With the night life soon to kick off, the Central Prefecture district was preparing to show another side to the world.


    Floating ''islands'' rose into the sky with fancy decorations all over them and buildings erected on them. Some of the buildings flashed with neon lights while the others had an ancient design.


    From what Lucas knew, these islands were gambling dens and every building on them was either a hotel, or a spot for gambling. Being located in the sky, it was difficult to track what took place there. Even when one tries to view into the buildings through a satellite, it was impossible to do so.


    Apart from the floating islands, there were a bunch of other unique sights in this upscale district. Even the hover cars and skyscrapers were different from those in the other districts, appearing to be more grand and stylish.


    "Mr Saunters. Please this way."


    A middle-aged man approached Lucas once he exited the light-rail train station, and directed him towards a fancy hover car that looked just like a limousine on Earth.


    It seemed like the Mertens family had taken proper steps to ensure that Lucas'' visit was as smooth and comfortable as possible. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a short while, the vehicle had arrived at the Mertens family''s complex.


    Being a top four family, the amount of land and number of buildings the Mertens family owned was a lot. The family''s main house was an area the size of at least six world class stadiums [1] which made it really vast. There were a bunch of buildings in the area, housing either the family''s members or staff. There was also a few skyscrapers that served as administrative buildings to the family''s businesses. All of the Mertens family''s companies were headquartered in the Central Prefecture district.


    Typically, the Central Prefecture district prevented companies from opening corporate headquarters in the area, as it tried to persevere its nature as a luxurious area, but the top families were an exception.


    There was also a mini park with a lot of attractions in the Mertens family estate, a grand palace that would put a lot of monarchies on Earth to shame, a few artificial mountains, and a lot more. The Mertens family even had a floating island which was a sort of resort for the family members.


    So large was the estate that Lucas and Melissa needed to get into designated shuttles right from the main gate. If they were to take their time walking, it would take them at least two hours to get to their destination as the path wasn''t straight.


    The entire estate was clearly designed by a world class architect, as despite having a ton of buildings, there was no sense of disorder. Instead, it felt like everything was in sync with the other and placed in the best position they could be.


    Despite that, what attracted Lucas'' attention wasn''t simply the vastness of the estate or the magnitude of the buildings. Rather, it was the increased stellar energy concentration.


    ''The entire estate is covered with a stellar matrix.'' Lucas couldn''t help but be amazed. Discover exclusive content at empire


    This was the first compound that Lucas had discovered to be covered with an inscription. It wasn''t like such was rare in his past life, but he has never noticed any here. Not even the EVL''s branch office had such a thing. The main reason for this was the cost of setting up such a rune.


    The number of talented and experienced vestige-smiths required, the materials needed for the inscriptions, as well as the equipment that would be needed to adjust the land''s terrian to the most suitable state. All of these required money, and the EVL won''t be spending such on a branch office.


    However, it seemed like for a top four family, making such arrangements in their main house was nothing. Although it would take an exorbitant fee, the benefits were worth it. Regardless, the cost was still something not just anyone could handle, especially for an estate this big.


    In summary, the Mertens family estate screamed of wealth, and it made Lucas understand the power of money.


    "Please come in."

 Chapter 198 The Middle-aged Man

    Read new adventures at empire"Please come in."


    A voice said to Lucas once the shuttle he was in approached the main house.


    Stepping down from it, Lucas walked into the building that was so tall and large that it could be called a small stadium-sized hill.


    The main house of the Mertens family was where all the wealth was properly displayed.


    Just the automatic door alone gave off a strange sensation to Lucas. Upon a closer look, he realised that it was actually a Grade 1 vestige. The massive door was a vestige. It might be low in standards, but to be able to make a vestige this large, the fee was insane.


    With it being a Grade 1 vestige, the door could easily tank typical damages and attacks from common weapons. Even if the attacker wielded a Grade 2 vestige, they wouldn''t easily take down the door due to its thickness. This meant that it could handle attacks from even a second level desolate beast for a while.


    Going further in, under the guide of a robot, Lucas was able to see the standards of a top four family. The lobby was styled with an appealing mix of blue and white colours, which served as the theme of the building. There were also expensive paintings hung on the sides of the walls. Some of them were of individuals who have blue eyes ¡ªa trait of the Mertens family members ¡ª while the others were of scenery or abstract depictions.


    Although he wasn''t a man of art, Lucas could tell that the latter set of art was probably very costly, otherwise it won''t be hung at the entrance.


    Even though where he walked was the lobby, the width of the lobby was so large that it could easily fit two excavators with some space left for a car. But upon recalling the size of the mansion from the outside, Lucas didn''t dwell too much in this.


    The group came into a room filled with a few mobile vehicles. Unlike the usual ones in this era, the vehicles were ground-type vehicles and had wheels on them. Seeing these vehicles, Lucas recalled something similar back on Earth; an electric scooter.


    With the help of the robot, Lucas and Melissa got on separate scooters left the room, heading deeper into the mansion. While Lucas was nonchalant with the experience ¡ªas he had been through more ¡ª Melissa appeared to be having a lot of fun. This made Lucas glad, but he once again focused on the task at hand.


    After a five minute ride, the group finally arrived at a simple wooden door [1].


    "Please." The robot bowed and directed them towards the door.


    Once he approached, the door automatically opened, but Lucas was already used to this here. Inside, there was a set of comfy chairs and couches with a large coffee table set in the middle.


    "Welcome." A middle-aged man who had blue hair smiled at Lucas.


    The man appeared to be just like your average adult in his forties, except for the blue hair on his head. The top part of his hair was azure, but the burns and the beards were of a lighter shade.


    It was a sign that the man was getting old. For humans, their black or even blonde hair would turn white as they got older. However, it wasn''t always the same for hyumans. While a lot of hyumans would have their coloured hair turn white, some would have their coloured hair become of a lighter shade. It was clear that the middle-aged man was one of them.


    "Good evening." Lucas greeted the man right after he was at a close distance.


    The middle-aged man nodded at him, then glanced at Melissa who hid behind Lucas, with a smile.


    "Your little sister I''d take it? She''s pretty." The man smiled with a bit of reminiscence in his eyes as he stated at Melissa. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas judged the man, not knowing how to react just yet. The man appeared just like a friendly middle-aged man rather than an individual who controlled a few multi-million companies and led one of the strongest factions in Baylands city-state.


    "No need to get so worked up. Take a seat and have a drink. Although it''s late, it''s never late for tea. This is Samborjan Tea. You can''t get this anywhere on this planet and have to import it from outside. It''s made from tea leaves from exclusive to Jota and processed by the Mara race on Doma. Quality stuff." The middle-aged said.


    Jota was one of Eretre''s neighbours except it was home to desolate beasts and inhabitable for hyumans. The planet would require technological reconstruction on a planetary level for hyumans to be able to reside there, but this was banned by the Kellan solar system as a means to preserve the ecosystem of Jota. The planet had a lot of unique species that could only thrive well there, so there was a need for preservation efforts. The Samborjan Tea plant for instance, was one such unique species.


    As for Doma, it was also one of Eretre''s neighbours, just as Earth had Venus and Mars as neighbours. Doma was one of the Kellan solar system''s eight planets, and one of the three populated by hyumans. Despite that, the hyumankin wasn''t the sole race in Doma. Only about sixty percent of the population on Doma consisted of hyumans. The remaining forty percent was split, with twenty percent to the winged anthropoid species, ten percent for hybrids, and another ten percent for other races.


    The winged anthropoid species was a common term for two alien races, the Mara and Vara. They both looked alike, having a slight semblance with hyumankin. However, they differed in the fact that they had long sharp noses, pointer ears, and feet with talons growing out from them. Also, the winged anthropoids were very tall on average, with the shortest being at least 1.9m, or 6''2" feet.


    Without a doubt, the two species had wings on their backs, which was why they were called winged anthropoids. The Mara having lighter coloured wings, but majorly white, while the Vara had darker coloured wings, but majorly black.


    "I know you have a lot of questions, but I can only answer a few of them." The middle-aged man said as he sipped some tea.


    "For starters, I''ll introduce myself. My name is Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family in the current generation. You can call me Mr Russell" Russell said as he released a bit of his aura.


    The entire room abruptly turned cold as if they had abruptly appeared in the Arctic. Lucas'' instinct began screaming at him as his blood began to cuddle. It yelled that what stood before him wasn''t a hyuman, but a monster; a ferocious and powerful monster.


    Lucas got a feel of the aura, and with his knowledge and experience, he tried to estimate what level it was. The answer he got naturally startled him, although he has somewhat expected it.


    Ninth level, Apertures Opening stage.

 Chapter 199 The Truth Of The Conspiracy

    Ninth level, Apertures Opening stage.Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    The middle-aged man before him was right at the door step to becoming a superhyuman. He was just a step away from transcending his hyuman nature and leaving behind the last attachments to his human ancestry.


    Being at the ninth level, it was no exaggeration to say that Russell Mertens is among the strongest group of people in Baylands city-state. After all, the current city lord was only at the tenth level.


    Apart from the slight shock that came about due to Russell unveiling his aura, there was no other reaction from Lucas. He had instead glanced at Melissa.


    At the conference event held by Novanio Tech, that doubled as the grand opening for the Legacy Crafts dealership, Lucas had came across Laura Mertens. Despite being rumoured to be at the fifth level, Laura was able to release a hint of her superpower and this affected Melissa''s health that day. Compared to the previous occasion, the aura Russell released was more than ten times stronger and harsher, which made Lucas worried about Melissa''s wellbeing.


    Upon noticing that Melissa didn''t have any strange reactions, Lucas let out a sigh of relief before facing the Mertens family head, Russell Mertens.


    ''He''s indeed a powerful figure. Even his control of aura was so fine and exquisite, I almost had no problem with it.'' Lucas mentally praised.


    At the same time, Russell had withdrawn his aura. He was a bit surprised that Lucas made not much of a response towards it, but this further strengthened his resolve.


    "So, what is it you''d like to know before we get over to the topic at hand?"


    "Who is involved?" Lucas asked right away. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He didn''t know what games Russell intended on playing, but Lucas wanted to take advantage of this moment and learn all that he could.


    "Straight to the point, huh." Russell smiled before taking a sip from the cup.


    "Everyone." Russell answered calmly.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Lucas frowned.


    Although he had his suspicions, Lucas believed that he wasn''t a target of everyone despite the visits. If anything, the majority of those who came to visit Lucas were probably trying to take advantage of him to build a relationship with the vestige-smith backer behind the store.


    "it''s quite complicated." Russell replied him.


    "We have time." Lucas countered.


    "Indeed." Russell chuckled before taking another sip of tea.


    "You should have already known about the system of government in place in Baylands city-state. The city lord rules all, but below him are the deputy city lords and the cabinet. There are three deputy city lords, but they do not wield much power."


    Lucas nodded, but he still didn''t understand well.


    The three positions of deputy city lords was a unique role in the city-state. It was more like a false role, than one with actual power. In peaceful times, despite being deputies to the city lord, the three deputy city lords were actually below the cabinet. As long as the city lord held his position, they did not possess much power. Instead, the three deputy city lords were only allowed to participate in meetings, and perform some other activities on behalf of the city lord.


    However, whenever the seat of the city lord was vacated, the three deputies would take charge. At the same time, it was more likely that the next city lord would be one of the three, unless a new candidate with better abilities appeared.


    In summary, the deputy city lord position was more of a title than an actual powerhouse, since the majority of control and power were in the hands of the city lord and the cabinet. Nonetheless, that didn''t mean that they were entirely figureheads.


    "To the main point. You should already be able to understand why everyone is after you, right?" Russell asked, to which Lucas nodded.


    "During the previous cabinet meeting with the city lord, someone raised up a motion for discussion; it was about you. They stated how you, a human as well as a non-indigene of the city-state, was in possession of technology that could redefine the vestige-smith era. The technology in your hands was said to not only be the future, but also an immense source of wealth that could potentially rival a top family.


    "You should know that the current top families of today are what they are thanks to the efforts of past leaders and members. To reach this stage isn''t easy, which was why the idea that a technology could enable one to do so, caused a commotion in the cabinet." Russell sighed as he picked up the teapot and filled his teacup to the brim.


    "Naturally, this generated some concerns from those at the top, including the city lord. The city lord wanted Baylands city-state to retain the technology in your hands, as it would be for the benefit of the city-state. He wasn''t fussy about the details or who would be in control of the technology. All the city lord cared about was having it remain in Baylands city-state. However, while everyone else agreed with this, there still remained differences in their opinions."


    Russell then swept his hand over the coffee table and two projections appeared. They were both the same and were images of vague individuals gathered together to form a group. With there being two projections, there were two groups.


    Pointing at one of them, Russell said,


    "Some were in favour of retaining you and your workshop here by offering benefits to you. Their logic was based on the idea that the presence of you and your store would ease the entry of these vestiges into the city-state. At the same time, the sales made through exports or internal transactions would generate revenue in the city-state. The city-state could profit from this through the usual taxation.


    "Some of them had even suggested that as they offered you benefits, they might as well have you ensure that all forms of trade regarding the vestiges would be done through local agencies, including exports. Through this method, Baylands city-state and its locals would be the biggest winner in all of this; alongside you of course."


    He then moved his hand to the second projection.


    "However, there were those who preferred to take the technology from the hands of your store, or at least, control it. They believed that it was wrong to have a human run a store with access to such world-changing technology. It was safer for it to be under the control of a member of the cabinet, and most especially, a human.


    "This brought about a disagreement in the cabinet. Although it''s said that you''re an intermediary with your master, no one cared much about that. To ensure that everything works out well, the second group had the idea to make it seem like they''re working with your store, while in actuality, they control the entire situation. In their opinions, they were confident that they could settle things with your master, and even if they somehow failed, they could retain you."


    Russell pointed at Lucas. He then added.


    "There''s still another group which had the idea of giving you freedom to operate just like the first group, but with the clause that your master hands over the secret of the technology. But this group was too small, to make much of an impact in the situation."


    "What happened next?" Lucas leaned in and asked.


    "The city lord made a decision."

 Chapter 200 The Truth Behind Noah Bergs

    "The city lord made a decision; a somewhat simple decision to be honest but unexpected." Russell said with a solemn expression.He placed the teacup in his hands down and stared at Lucas.


    "The two oppositions had both good and bad points. The advantage of the first was that we would gain your trust and have a smooth and sailing relationship. However, the disadvantage was quite obvious. We would lack control and access to the technology.


    "The second side however, gave us this control and access. But in exchange, we would lose your trust and potentially offend the vestige-smith backing you. We might even not gain anything out of it since we don''t know who the vestige-smith is or his personality, and so, can''t really predict his reactions. Hence, the city lord had to step in."


    RusselI then paused for a moment, but this caused anticipation to well up within Lucas. Nonetheless, he didn''t say a word and waited for Russell to continue.


    As expected, Russell continued a few seconds later.


    "The city lord didn''t go for any of the options, but went for the third one that no one had taken seriously. He had decided to invest in your store, but in exchange, he would request for the secrets of the SS vestiges. If that didn''t work out, he would then hope to bridge an alliance with the vestige-smith behind you, and ensure that Baylands city-state becomes the sole distributor on the entire Groeten continent and even the whole of Eretre, no matter the cost."


    Lucas was stunned yet also confused by this answer. If the city lord didn''t have any negative thoughts and ideas, then why did things turn out like this?


    "Confused, right? I understand, after all, the current situation is far different from that." Russell smirked.


    "To know why, you would have to understand the true nature of the relationship between the current city lord, Noah Bergs, and the Bergs family."


    Lucas narrowed his eyes and he perked his ears.


    "The Bergs family is known to be the City Lord family after having raised three successive generations of city lords. However, the current generation, which is the third, is a bit... unique." Russell smiled.


    He didn''t continue talking but snapped his fingers after which Lucas felt a strange wave cover the area. Surprisingly, Melissa, who was preoccupied with the snacks on the table, had noticed something different and glanced up. But after a second, she dived back into the luxurious delicacies on the table.


    "Whatever is said in this room needs not leave this room." Russell mysteriously smiled.


    "I understand." Lucas replied. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "As I was saying," Russell Mertens continued,


    "The situation is unique. You see, the current city lord is the stepbrother to the head of the Bergs family, Fredor Bergs. According to the will of the Bergs family''s elders, Fredor was supposed to be the new city lord and he was trained since birth to accept the position.


    "The city lord''s position isn''t hereditary, but requires one of both great with and strength to prove themselves and be voted in by the cabinet. However, the Bergs family has a massive degree of influence in the cabinet. Twenty of the sixty seats go to the top four families, and the Dufour family is a very close ally to the Bergs. That makes it ten seats under the influence of the Bergs family. All they need is twenty one more and they could win each election after fielding a good candidate.


    "Making some concessions here and there, they can get ten of the twenty elected district seats. When added with their other allies and after striking deals with some others to others, the vote for eleven seats can be obtained.


    "Fredor was the candidate the Bergs family prepared to field. But along the line, Noah appeared and began growing at such an astonishing rate that it amazed everyone. By the time the elections were close at hand, Noah was already as strong and qualified as Fredor. Due to this, he had also decided to participate in the elections and made his own faction to achieve his goals." Russell said.


    Lucas widened his eyebrows, shocked by the courage of the current city lord.


    One should know that Fredor was the candidate the family had raised with all their resources. For Noah to come into the picture at the last minute, not as a supporting character but as a competition to Fredor, it would inevitably cause some dissatisfaction amongst the elders. And Russell''s next words confirmed that.


    "Without a doubt, this created dissatisfaction amongst the elders, but also confusion. Many remained with Fredor and believed that he was the most suitable candidate, while others in the family sided with Noah. The city lord''s position wasn''t a Bergs family property, and they would lose it if they couldn''t find a suitable candidate.


    "Supposing Fredor were to lose in the battle, it would be the same as them giving up their right to fight for the position. On the other hand, Noah was looking to be a more powerful candidate, and a better option.


    "In the end, the elders had decided to have them compete against each other in a battle, with the winner becoming the city lord candidate. However, Noah didn''t do as they wanted. As I previously mentioned, he had created his own faction to achieve his goals, and he relied on his faction to compete in the elections.


    "It was rumoured then that his relationship with the Bergs family wasn''t exactly the best, so it was understandable why he didn''t move with them. As such, there were two Bergs on the day of the elections, Noah and Fredor.


    "During the contest on election day, Noah beat Fredor as well as the other candidates and became the winner of the election, shocking everyone else. It was later discovered that the other side of politics had teamed up with Noah in a bid to reduce the Bergs family''s influence. Although he was still a Berg, it was obvious that Noah''s relationship with his family was strained. At the same time, he was a very powerful contender and looked poised to win with enough support. And so, the Ross family, my Mertens family, the Oder family, and a few others colluded together and managed to push Noah to victory." Russell smiled.


    The meaning behind his smile was obvious, after all, he was the family head during that time. He was the one who had spearheaded the other families to support Noah. On Earth, he would be termed as Noah''s political godfather.


    "Back to today. You can guess why the situation is different from what the city lord had ordered." Russell stared at Lucas.


    "Although he wanted to support you, the parties that had granted him this position wanted your knowledge for themselves. It was the first time they had ever been so serious and desperate for something, so even Noah couldn''t deny them especially after they had helped him a lot. It was one human, a store and a mysterious vestige-smith, in exchange for the support of the other half of political power in the city-state. It''s quite obvious what his choice would be.


    "However, the actions of the factions had created a hole in their relationship with the city lord. They had pretty much ignored his orders for their own motives, and even though the city lord had pardoned them, the damage had already been dealt. Most likely, they won''t be able to request anything else from Noah, after all, a man who could go against his family was in no way weak of a pushover."


    Russell paused and then took a sip from the teacup once again, to wey his throat. After he had emptied half of it, he continued,


    "Seeing the weak link in the situation, the Bergs and Dufour families also joined the party, and so, we have the current situation. A situation where the city lord had given a command, but reality played out in the opposite direction."


    Lucas didn''t say anything after Russell had concluded his explanation for a short while. The explanation further complicated the situation for him.


    Based on the fact that the factions had colluded together and went against the city lord, one could see their desire and desperation for the secret of the SS vestiges. It was as Russell had said earlier; this was a technology that could birth another top family. With such a fat piece of meat in front of them, it would be hard for anyone to curb their greed. Even the top families would want to get their hands on it and go one step further.


    Negotiations? All for that was but a lie to have Lucas drop his guard down. In the end, all they wanted was to swallow him and the store up. With the nonexistence of the supposed master vestige-smith, it would further complicate the issue for Lucas.


    "I want to ask you a question."


    "Go ahead." Russell responded while staring at Melissa.


    Lucas looked at Russell Mertens in the eyes as he spoke.


    "Does the Mertens family have a hand in this? And also, why are you telling me all of this?"

 Chapter 201 A Fathers Love

    The conspiracy that came about due to the terrorist attack on the Central Prefecture district was something that had caused a lot of damage to Lucas, both financially and mentally.From an attack by terrorists aimed at disrupting the city while targeting influential figures of politics, to a vestige-smith store being drawn into the mix, it was a rollercoaster of events that no one had seen coming. What''s more, there was a subtle yet unofficial agreement by both the terrorists and the city''s top figures to go against the store. The terrorists wanted Lucas to be taken down, while the higher-ups only cared about the vestige-smith backing the store.


    In the end, Lucas simply became a figure of collateral damage, with both sides poised to get what they wanted.


    Throughout the last four days, Lucas had been paid a visit by three of the top four families. The other top factions of the city had also come his way, either individually or in groups. Whether through temptations or threats, both sides had tried to pressure Lucas into having an agreement with them, and based on the designated date, Lucas had only three days to decide.


    However, none of that was his concern. He was never going to work with them from the start. It might seem like they showed some respect towards Lucas by sending in influential figures to negotiate, but it was all a ploy. To these parties, he was but a pawn in the game; one that many of them would toss away once the deal was closed. As such, rather than working with any of these hypocrites, Lucas planned to go against what seemed to be his fate.


    But when he realised that his opponents weren''t just simple folks or on par with the alliance of companies from before, Lucas understood that he wouldn''t be able to do it alone. Whether it was a trustworthy ally, or a tool he would use for his own needs, Lucas required someone to fill the gap.


    When Vergil arrived and extended the invitation from his father to the Mertens family house, Lucas got a bit interested and wanted to see whether the Mertens were worth considering.


    The old man, Russell Mertens, proved to be suitable for an ally from how he had described the entire situation clearly to Lucas. Although what he had said could either be the truth or a lie, Lucas decided to go along with it. But there was still a final question to be asked. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Does the Mertens family have a hand in this? And also, why are you telling me all of this?"


    Lucas stared at Russell Mertens.


    Despite the latter being stronger than him and technically older, there was not a single shred of fear in Lucas'' strong gaze. Whether it was his first life or his second on Earth, Lucas had met people who were more powerful than Russell; whether it be in terms of magical abilities or forces under their control.


    ''This kid. He has no fear.'' Russell was amazed, but he didn''t show any signs of that.


    ''Hehe. Interesting. If it''s someone like this kid, he will do just fine.''


    "You don''t need to worry." Russell smirked.


    "I understand your concerns, but I can''t force you to trust us either. What I will say is that you can trust us."


    Lucas frowned, and just as he was about to say something, Russell continued.


    "As for the answers to your questions, I''ll start with the first. Yes and no. As I mentioned before, the decision to force you under control is something that came about from the other political coalition which stands against the Bergs family. My Mertens family happens to be a part of this coalition, which is why I answered yes. Despite that, we aren''t interested in forcing you under control. Rather, I''m of the same mind as the city lord, which is to invest in your store."


    Russell spread his hands as his continued.


    "But if I said just that without asking for anything, it would be suspicious, right? The city lord''s stance could be explained as he has to consider the entirety of Baylands city-state before coming to a conclusion, but I myself need to only prioritise my family and profits. Honestly, I''m interested in the secret behind the SS vestiges, but it''s not something I''m desperate to get. If your master wishes to share, I would appreciate. If he doesn''t, then so be it. Regardless, it''s not something on my bucket list."


    Lucas narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Then what is on your bucket list?"


    Russell smiled as his eyes silently praised Lucas.


    "Truth be told, I also have some conditions of mine. You should know that my Mertens family is into the desolate beasts industry. For a while now, we''ve tried to enter the vestige-smith industry, but it is quite difficult. There are factions like the Oder family and the rest keeping us away for the sake of maintaining their balance and control. But without an arm in that industry, my family would have to forever rely on them. And so, I''ve always wanted to change this during my rule.


    "As luck would have it, my son, Vergil, was blessed with the talent for vestige-smithing. However, because of that, the other families are even more wary of us. They believe that Vergil would be the key to our entry into the industry, and truthfully, I believe so too. However, my family lacks the proper resources to be able to raise Vergil in this path. The EVL is also limited in its teaching capabilities. But as a family head, I can''t just give up here. As a father, I want the best for my son."


    Lucas could already see where he was going with this, but he didn''t interrupt the man.


    "So, my condition for helping you is that you request your master to train my son. Like I said before, I don''t have an intense craving for the SS vestige technology. All I just want is to give my son the best possible environment and resources for his growth. As long as you can promise me this, I don''t mind offending my allies for this." Russell said with a confident expression on his face.


    It looked as if he saw the plot Lucas was caught in as nothing. Even for a top four family, facing off against the combined forces of the other top factions in the city was still very difficult. Maybe the Bergs family might be able to pull it off, but the Mertens was only ranked third. What''s more, they didn''t have a solid heritage and history like the Bergs and Dufour families; even the Oder family was much older than the Mertens.


    From this, Lucas had more reason to believe that Russell was doing all this, not to ensure that his family profits by having a vestige-smith, but to give the best resources to his son, just as he had said.


    If the matter was simply about having a vestige-smith or a vestige-smith company, Russell could have simply joined the rest in competing for the store. He could have also spent a lot more money to hire vestige-smiths from outside the city-state. With the influence, power and resources in his control, there were many other possible options Russell could have taken to enable the Mertens family to finally step into the vestige-smith industry. Instead, he wanted his son to be the pioneer for that.


    The reason was clear; Russell thought dearly about his child, Vergil, and he wanted to provide the best that he could for him. Just as he had done with his daughter, Laura, raising her into the number one genius of Baylands City. Similarly, Russell wanted to lift Vergil to the same status.


    It might be called the pride of a father, the greed of a family leader, or some other title, but one thing was for sure; Russell was a man and a father, who loved his children dearly and wanted the best for them.

 Chapter 202 Returning...?

    "There''s also another benefit to working with me." Russell said, seeing as Lucas had yet to respond."And what''s that?"


    "My family is in an alliance with the Ross family, just as the Bergs and Dufour are. As long as you are in an alliance with me, they would surely change their stances towards you. You will also gain the city lord''s recognition and support." Russell stared at Lucas.


    "As I said before, the city lord''s original order was to have the city and its forces support your store to the reasonably best he could. However, the other factions were against this and let their greed get in the way, displeasing the city lord. However, as long as I do as he wishes and you agree to work with me, the city lord would side with you and even offer his protection."


    ''I see.'' Lucas thought.


    He was wondering why Russell was so calm and confident in defending Lucas from the other factions. The answer was now clear; the city lord would step in.


    While it might have seemed like the city lord was a weak man, seeing as how the other top factions had disobeyed him, the truth was far from that.


    The position of city lord was absolute, as this was a title approved and granted by the Oklo Dynasty. While the cabinet''s vote was important in determining who would take the position, the Oklo Dynasty''s approval was even more important. If the Dynasty didn''t recognise the winner of the elections, then the cabinet would have to organise another elections with the former winner being disqualified from participating.


    The fact that Noah Bergs had won the elections as well as the Oklo Dynasty''s approval, showed that he was anything but weak. After all, the city lord was one who had to be both loyal to the Dynasty''s commands, yet strong enough to be able to keep the local forces in the city-state in check.


    One could say that the only reason the city lord let the factions go scot-free wasn''t because of a silly thing such as weakness, but because he owed them a favour. However, now that they had all cashed in on that favour, the city lord owed them nothing. As long as there was an opportunity to interfere, he would step right in.


    What Russell Mertens wanted to do was to create such an opportunity. Once that was done, the city lord would be able to step in and solve the issue smoothly. All that was needed was for Lucas to nod his head and agree to the cooperation. He would then have the Mertens family and the city lord backing him, and don''t forget the possibility that the Ross family would switch sides, which was very likely.


    With such a lineup, even if the Bergs, Dufour, and Oder families, as well as all the other top factions gathered, they would be unable to do anything. This was because the city lord''s power was absolute. Unless these factions wanted to start a war, they would have to stand down. However, starting a war was a very stupid thing to do.


    The city lord was the representation of the Oklo Dynasty''s authority in the land. Going against him was the same as going against the Oklo Dynasty, and that was a crime punishable by death. It was because of the great power and influence of the city lord, that the Bergs family had no issues sacrificing their best descendant at the time, Fredor, to take the position of the city lord.


    ''The Mertens family, the Ross family, and the city lord. What a very tempting offer.'' Lucas thought.


    To be honest, Lucas had considered working with the Ross family if he had no other options. They had given the best conditions, and it felt more like a cooperation than a threatening get greedy proposition.


    The Ross family didn''t ask for exclusive distribution in Baylands City, although they did ask for such with regards to Baylands city-state, which was just like his previous contract with Novanio Tech. The reach of the exclusive distribution rights in exports was limited only to the Groeten continent, giving Lucas space to develop outside of their control. They also offered stellar processors at a cheaper price than the market rates and even what Novanio Tech had offered him. What''s more, the Ross family had agreed to aid in the design and development of new vestiges in the consumer sector.


    Just from all of this, it was clear how advantageous the partnership would be for Lucas.


    Regardless, there were two major problems which were the condition to have vestige-smiths work with his ''master'', and to sell a fixed number of SS vestiges to the family at cost price. Lucas might be able to negotiate better for the second condition, but definitely not the first since everyone was interested in the technology behind the SS vestiges.


    In the end, Lucas had thought that if he had no better offer, he would work with the Ross family. However, it would be with the intention of using them as a tool, and not a real partner.


    Now though, that seemed like it wasn''t needed. The Mertens family appeared to be a much better option, and he would probably get the help of the Ross family as well. All he had to do was train Vergil in the art of vestige-smithing. Although no one knew that there was no master behind him, Lucas was confident that he could work something out and fool Vergil throughout the learning period.


    Nonetheless, he didn''t agree to the deal right away.


    "I would need sometime to think about it." Lucas said.


    "I understand. I already expected it, and so did everyone else. There should still be at least three more days before you have to respond to any of us, right? No need to rush it." Russell sipped on his tea.


    "If that''s all, then I would be taking my leave." Lucas stood up.


    "There''s an escort on the way to lead you out. I''m still a bit busy with work." Russell said as he signalled behind him.


    A tablet flew from behind and into his hands as Russell began browsing through it.


    Lucas wasn''t offended that the family head didn''t guide him off. The prior expression of respect and even the conversation they had was enough for Lucas to understand how the man saw him. Rather, being overly modest might make Lucas suspicious, after all, the latter was the head of a powerful family.


    When Lucas left the room with Melissa in tow, he saw the robot that had brought him over as well as a familiar young lady. When she saw the lady, Melissa quickly hid behind Lucas.


    The two sides glanced at each other but didn''t say anything. Laura was still pissed over the incident from before, while Lucas saw no reason to hold a conversation with her. However, when she saw Melissa''s reaction, Laura was a bit hurt. Who wouldn''t be when they see a cute eleven year old hiding away from them?


    "How are you?" Laura smiled at her as she tried to strike a conversation, but Melissa remained quiet and hid behind Lucas.


    Eventually, the group arrived outside the mansion and Lucas prepared to leave. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But just then, a commotion broke out in front.


    "Lucas Saunters, remain still and take no further action. You are under arrest."

 Chapter 203 Arrest

    As Lucas left the study with a happy Melissa beside him, he met Laura outside.The princess of the Mertens family gave him a cold look before proceeding to ignore him. However, when she noticed how Melissa seemed scared of her, she was a bit shook.


    "How are you?"


    Laura smiled at her as she tried to strike a conversation. But Melissa remained quiet and hid behind Lucas.


    "I''m sorry for the other day. I really am. It''s not my fault." Laura hurriedly apologized, but Melissa was still fearful of her.


    Laura sighed and just as she was about to attempt something else, Lucas had already walked past her with Melissa by his side.


    "You..."


    Laura gritted her teeth but Lucas still ignored her. Regardless of her feelings though, she still followed suit without causing a scene since her father had ordered her to do so.


    A few minutes later, Lucas was finally out of the mansion using the scooters from before. From here on, Lucas and Melissa would have to take the special shuttles for movement in the estate, then arrive at the main gate. There, the hover car that brought them over from the light-rail train station waited.


    Just as Lucas and Melissa walked towards the shuttle, he abruptly lifted his head to the sky. The robot as well as Laura turned their attention in the same direction, both with a frown on their faces.


    A few hover cars flew over and came towards the group. There were at least four of them, with the one in front being a box more luxurious compared to the other two. Even without being a member of the family, Lucas had a feeling that something strange was about to occur.


    "Who dares to be so disrespectful on Mertens grounds?!" Laura shouted while giving off an arrogant air.


    The Mertens family has a special rule in the estate. First, only the private vehicles of the clan members could be operated in the estate. If a member had three vehicles, only one would be granted this right. Apart from that, the only exception was the designated movement shuttles. For this reason, Laura was incensed at the new arrivals. This was the home of a top four family; even the other three top families would abide by their rules on this ground.


    As the hover cars landed, the group could easily identify the features on them. There was a sigil by the side of each vehicle. Apart from Melissa, the others found it to be very familiar. The vehicles were from the Baylands City Patrol Corps.


    ''What is the Patrol Corps doing here?'' Both Lucas and Lucas thought.


    Lucas began to have a bad feeling about things, but it wasn''t like he could dip and run. As such, he remained calm and wanted to understand the situation properly.


    Once the hover cars landed, a few agents in the Baylands City Patrol Corps uniform stepped out of the vehicles. From each vehicle, at least five men came down, totalling twenty agents from the four hover cars. Ten of the agents immediately pointed their guns at Lucas right after they had settled down, while eight of them were on alert.


    "Lucas Saunters, remain still and take no further action. You are under arrest."


    The man in the lead, who appeared to be in his fifties, gave off an aura of power and confidence as he stared at Lucas in the eyes and gave out the proclamation. Beside him was the last member of the group, a young man who seemed to be the old man''s assistant. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Under arrest? For what?" Laura said right before Lucas could even respond.


    Although she didn''t like him, Lucas was a guest of their family. Apart from that, the Baylands City Patrol Corps had disobeyed the rules of the Mertens family and barged right in. Even if they wanted to arrest Lucas and ensure he didn''t escape, they could have surrounded the estate instead. While that would have still been perceived as rude, it was less offensive than forcing their way in.


    "Little miss, please stay out of this." The old man said.


    "What do you mean ''stay out of this''? This is the Mertens family estate. How can I stay out of this?" Laura yelled.


    The old man ignored her and signalled for his men to seize Lucas instead.


    Laura moved to block them, which forced the old man to finally speak.


    "Anyone who interferes with the matters of internal security would be treated as an aide to the suspect, and trialled for obstructing justice."


    Seeing how serious the man was, Laura froze and hesitated.


    That short moment of hesitation was enough for the agents to get past her and arrive beside Lucas and Melissa.


    "May I ask what my crime is?" Lucas finally spoke up.


    "You know it better than we do." The old man nonchalantly answered him.


    If it were before, Lucas wouldn''t understand why the Patrol Corps got involved. But after his conversation with Russell Mertens, he could roughly guess the reason why.


    "At least let her go. She''s a little girl and shouldn''t get caught up in this."


    The old man didn''t reply to Lucas. On the contrary, his focus wasn''t even on him as he stared at the gate of the Mertens family main house with furrowed brows.


    In the next second, the old man made his way towards the building. Laura wanted to stop him but paused and let him go.


    Meanwhile, Lucas was beginning to get incensed because his question had yet to be answered. Just as he was about to ask again, the old man turned back and said.


    "What are you guys doing?"


    He was talking to the agents that had arrived alongside him. After Lucas'' question, they had paused their actions as they too were unsure as to whether they had to arrest the little girl as well.


    "She''s a hybrid and related to the suspect as well. Chances are that she''s a valuable connection to the terrorist, or she may even be knowledgeable about a few details. Arrest her as well." The old man said coldly before turning his back on the group.


    Lucas widened his eyes in shock and even Laura couldn''t believe what she had heard. The duo couldn''t even get a word out as the old man ignored them and stepped into the building.


    With the command given, the ten agents immediately moved to arrest both Lucas and Melissa.


    "You have to be shitting me!" Lucas roared.


    There was no way he would sit back and let Melissa get dragged into this nonsense. To Lucas, Melissa was almost like a daughter. Not only was this because she reminded him of his last disciple, but the experiences they had shared together had made Lucas attached to her. In Melissa, he could see a bit of his younger self, which made Lucas care for her very dearly.


    "Stay down and don''t make a move!" One of the agents barked as he aimed his gun at Lucas.


    "Stop delaying and hurry." The young man who has stood beside the old man earlier said.


    He was aware that their actions would attract the ire of the Mertens family, which was why they had brought a lot of men for this operation. But even then, it was best to avoid any sort of confrontation by all means, which meant to carry out the arrest as quickly as possible.


    Although the young man didn''t understand why his superior had gone into the building, he wasn''t worried about the man. Whether it was in terms of skill or authoritative power, it would be difficult for the Mertens family to do anything to him. Rather, they who were carrying out the operation faced the greatest risk


    The Mertens family would not attack them, after all, they were members of a public security agency carrying out official matters. However, this didn''t mean that the Mertens couldn''t delay them or interfere with the operation.


    "Take them both and leave right away." The young man gave an order.


    The ten agents who surrounded Lucas and Melissa suddenly turned fierce as they grabbed the two forcefully.


    "You dare!" Lucas'' eyes bulged as he grabbed the closest agent to him and tossed him away.


    The man was only at the first level, and to Lucas, that was no different from an average citizen.


    "He''s resisting arrest." One of them shouted.


    The young man frowned and prepared to step in. He was a captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch. Being a captain rank agent, his stellar refinement was at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. Not many individuals could compare to him, especially at this time where the Baylands City Patrol Corps had made an unexpected move.


    "Where do you think you''re going?" Laura blocked off the captain.


    "Stay out of this." The captain frowned.


    "You guys still haven''t offered an explanation to my Mertens family over this incident. There''s no way I can sit back and watch us being bullied." Laura coldly replied as she shook her hands a bit.


    The twin bracelets Laura wore on both wrists suddenly flashed as an armour expanded out from them and covered her.


    "Are you really going to interfere with the operations of the Patrol Corps? You can be charged for obstructing justice?" The captain threatened her.


    No matter what, the person before him was the precious daughter of the family head of a too four family. Even his identity as a captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps won''t be enough to save him if she got hurt. As such, he was unwilling to face her in battle. However, if he didn''t, no one else here could hold her back.


    "Obstructing justice? Do you think I don''t know what''s going on here?" Laura scoffed.


    "I''ve been meaning to see for myself just how strong the famous captain of the Central Prefecture district is."


    Seeing that she wasn''t going to give up, the captain sighed.


    "Coincidentally, I''ve been wanting to know how far you''ve gotten."


    A vestige immediately appeared in the captain''s hand as his energy began to rise, until it paused at the peak of the fifth level.


    Today was destined to not be a peaceful day in the Mertens family estate.

 Chapter 204 Meeting

    The outside got heated as multiple exchanges between the two sides broke out. On one side was the precious princess of the Mertens family, Laura, facing off against the captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch, Jonathan Oakval. While on the other side was Lucas against the ten City Patrol Corps agents."Even though you''re a reputed genius, you''re still a young girl." Jonathan said as he stared at Laura with his body showcasing the full aura of a peak fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Despite his appearance Jonathan Oakval was already in his late 30s and had served in the Baylands City Patrol Corps for over a decade. He had managed to climb his way from the rank of sergeant, a rank for second level stellar practitioners, up until the rank of captain. He was also touted to be the closest existence to a director in the Baylands City Patrol Corps. What this meant was that Jonathan was next in-line to become a director, so long as he broke through to the six level and a slot was made available.


    Another way to describe the achievements of Jonathan Oakval was from the fact that he was compared to Laura Mertens. The latter was seen as the greatest genius of the younger generation populace, while Jonathan was seen as one of the greatest geniuses of the Baylands City Patrol Corps and the previous generation before Laura.


    The two might seem the same, but there was a clear difference. Whereas Laura was undeniably the greatest genius of her generation, Jonathan was one of the greatest geniuses in his generation. The main reason for this was that he was a late-bloomer, and once he began to soar, the top geniuses ¡ªwho had started out early¡ª were already ahead. As such, it was impossible for Jonathan to hold the title of number one.


    The comparison with Laura made him frustrated, and it was further enhanced by the fact that she was rumoured to be at the fifth level. On one hand, there was frustration, while on the other hand, there was jealousy.


    "Don''t blame me if you suffer any injuries." Jonathan said as he drew the sword out of the scabbard.


    This was a high level Grade 3 vestige he had gotten from Prestige Star Ltd, the vestige-smith company run by the Oder family. Jonathan had pulled in a few connections to get this, and he had spent a lot to ensure that the product satisfied his taste.


    Although it was only a Grade 3 vestige, just as with the SS vestiges, it could almost compare to a Grade 4 vestige.


    Laura saw how seriously Jonathan took the match, but she wasn''t scared by this. The armour she had on was a Grade 3 vestige made using nano-technology. Due to both the complexities and the power of the vestige, it was crazily expensive. Only people from top families could afford it, and not just any regular member. She had gotten it as a birthday gift from her father, otherwise even by relying on her allowance, Laura would have been unable to afford it.


    The armour could adjust itself to the user''s physique, and apart from its defensive abilities, it also provided a boost in strength to the user. It was the best Battle-Armour vestige available on the market. It could only be found in Paros city-state, a city-state on the Groeten continent just like Baylands city-state.


    *Whoosh*


    Jonathan''s silhouette suddenly vanished from the spot, but Laura reacted almost immediately and struck her fist to the space by her left side.


    *Clang*


    A sword appeared in midair, forced back by Laura''s fist.


    At the other end of the sword was Jonathan, who tightened his grasp on the vestige and drew it back before brandishing the blade once again.


    This time around, Laura moved to grab the sword, but it was as slippery as an eel as it dodged her attempts. Despite that, she seemed unbothered. This was because it was never her plan to catch the sword, but to close the gap between her and Jonathan. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jonathan noticed this as he abruptly retreated backwards. Laura then switched from capturing the sword to hand combat as she unleashed one devastating blow after another at Jonathan.


    Before long, the duo were caught up in a deadly battle as they had no time to face off against others. Even Lucas'' stage was filled with a ton of risks, it wasn''t yet at the level he couldn''t handle.


    Meanwhile, the inside of the Mertens family main house, the air was different.


    "To what do I owe this visit?" Russell Mertens said to the old man that had walked into his study.


    "You should know better, Mr Russell. You broke the code." The old man said with a calm disposition.


    "Code? What code? Who made it up and who decided on it?" Russell scoffed at the remark.


    He knew what the old man was talking about, but Russell didn''t care one bit. The supposed code was a rule where any one interested in Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge ¡ªas well as the vestige-smith behind it¡ª was to hold all discussions in the open and not allowed to drag him off. Threats using those related to Lucas were also not allowed. Everyone was expected to play fair and square, that way, they could handle the final decision easier.


    However, Lucas'' presence in the Mertens family estate raised the eyebrows of the other families and factions. They couldn''t help but want to interfere in the situation right away. Which was why the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch was sent in.


    That''s right; the old man was a director in the Baylands City Patrol Corps, and not just any, but the one in charge of the Central Prefecture district branch. The degree of power and influence he controlled could make the eyes of many green with envy.


    However, seeing as the old man was reduced into nothing but a tool in this conflict, Russell couldn''t help but look down on him. In terms of authority alone, a director was close to that of a family head or the second in-command.

 Chapter 205 Meeting 2

    Inside the study of the Mertens family head, Russell Mertens sat behind his study desk as he faced the guest who stood opposite him. It was the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch."There''s no need to make this difficult for me." The director said. Find more chapters on empire


    "The code was decided by ninety percent of major factions on the cabinet, so it is as good as the law."


    "Hehe. As good as the law? Is that something someone of your status should be saying?" Russell chuckled.


    "Where does your loyalty lie? The city or the major factions?!"


    "No need to get worked up about the situation. Just don''t interfere and let my men do their job. Regardless of whatever you may think, please understand that interfering with this operation can get you on the wrong side of the law. Even the glory and title of a top family would not be able to save you."


    The director remained staunch even with the reproach from Russell. It was quite impressive of him to be able to stand his ground even when facing Russell Mertens, who was both the leader of the Mertens family as well as a ninth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    "You said not to make this difficult for you, but you force your way into my estate and do as you please. Everyone knows about the unwritten rule and right of the top families, that even the city lord consented to. I wonder how you plan to explain yourself later." Russell said.


    The director didn''t say anything, but deep down, he let out a sigh of relief. Russell pushing the matter for later meant that he would permit them to carry out the operation.


    One should know that even though the director was on the side of the government agency, Russell was more than capable of interfering with the operation. This wasn''t just because he was stronger and the leader of a top four family, but it was just as he had said; the director was trespassing. He had defied an unofficial right granted to the top four families by the city lord manor; the faction that served each generation of city lords. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The right gave the acknowledged top four families a semi-autonomous authority within their estates. Unless it was an individual of higher authority like the chief or the commissioner of police, an individual on the level of director and below couldn''t just waltz into a top four family''s residence as they pleased, even if it were for official matters. This was why the agents had wanted to be done with the operation as quickly as possible.


    If they had chosen to wait for Lucas outside instead, Russell would have sensed something fishy and sent Lucas through a secured route. He might have even retained the target within his estate for a while.


    Luckily, it seemed like the situation no longer had the risk of being blown out of proportion.


    "Thank you for your understanding." The director nodded before turning to leave.


    "I want you to understand something. Let this be the first and last time you pull such a trick on my plot. Otherwise, not even that goblin, Fredor, can save you."


    Russell abruptly released his aura and assaulted the director.


    Although the old man remained standing, a line of blood escaped his lips as he grunted. He then left the room silently, leaving behind the Mertens family head who was frowning in thought.


    To Russell, killing a sixth level stellar practitioner like the director was not a difficult thing, but the latter''s identity was sensitive. He could at best injure him, using the act of trespassing as an excuse to justify his actions but that was all.


    As for why Russell had granted the old man permission, it was a somewhat obvious reason. He couldn''t easily interfere because that might create a weakness for the other powerful factions to exploit. After all, even if his actions could be justified, it was no doubt true that Russell would have been guilty of interfering in a security operation.


    To the outside world, the top four families were peak organisations that held a ton of wealth, power and influence. However, they had a lot of enemies, as well as envious eyes who lusted after their position. The title of ''top four'' was not permanent or immutable.


    A clear example of this was the Oder family. Despite being one of the oldest families in Baylands City, they lost out to the rising Ross family and fell from the top four rankings.


    As a family head, Russell had to make proper decisions to ensure that his family didn''t end up as another Oder family.


    ''However, something is wrong.'' Russell frowned.


    . . .


    Right after the director had gone into the building, a fight broke out with those outside participating, leaving only eight agents on standby.


    The ten agents who were charged with arresting Lucas and Melissa, didn''t go all at once at the pair. The group had been hand-chosen by the director to come with him on this operation. So, they had to be quite strong, so as to be able to fend off any possible retaliation from the Mertens family. So, they were all of different strengths, with some being at the third level.


    They felt it was shameful for all ten of them to go after one human, who was merely at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. As such, excluding the agent Lucas had already thrown away, only four of the remaining nine men approached him. The strongest of the four was at the second level ¡ªtwo of them¡ª, which the group felt was enough to take on Lucas.


    Meanwhile, another two ¡ªboth at the first level¡ª went towards Melissa.


    "Stay away from her!" Lucas yelled as he stood before Melissa.


    The six men glanced at each other before coming to the decision to attack together. They first surrounded Lucas, then immediately charged at him.


    At first, Lucas froze, but in the next second, didn''t hesitate to respond.

 Chapter 206 Trapped

    Lucas took on the six men that attacked him, and although he wasn''t quickly defeated, the presence of the two second level stellar practitioners made the battle more difficult than it should have been.Since they were ordered to arrest Lucas, the agents couldn''t use their guns and had resorted to hand-to-hand combat.


    One of the four first level stellar practitioners was the quickest to arrive with range. He threw a punch at Lucas, expecting to force the latter into a retreat. However, Lucas could see that the very second he did so, he would be one step closer to defeat.


    The group had already understood that Lucas couldn''t be underestimated seeing as he had taken down one of them quickly earlier on. Despite that, one of them had charged on his own. It might seem like a foolish move, but the first combatant was to play the role of the foreman. He was to force Lucas to retreat or dodge a few steps away. By doing so, he would inadvertently create an opening in his defence. In that space of time, the other three would attack Lucas, aiming at his openings. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas had already figured this out thanks to his incredible battle experience and awareness that had taken into consideration the entire battlefield. As such, his response to the attacker''s vigorous attack was not to retreat or withdraw, but to tilt his body towards the side while responding with a fist of his own.


    *Bam*


    It was a direct hit as Lucas'' fist sent the man staggering backwards. He didn''t relent as he charged in once again and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the agent, effectively knocking him out.


    "Bastard!"


    The other three first level agents arrived and attacked from three different angles and directions. Their first glowed ¡ªa sign that they were utilising stellar energy¡ª as the trio charged in his solemn expressions. It was a three-pronged assault that had considered Lucas'' possible escape routes. Unless he could instantaneously teleport, it looked impossible for Lucas to get out of the assault unharmed.


    However, Lucas wasn''t an ordinary human. Even if he was a level weaker than his opponents, to Lucas, such a gap was nonexistent. In that case, numbers didn''t really matter.


    With a deep yet slow breath, Lucas'' brain rushed into action as everything he perceived seemed to move in slow motion.


    ''Retrieve.'' [1]


    A pair of gloves suddenly appeared on Lucas'' hands. They were the Craftsman Gloves Lucas had gotten from the system as a welcome gift after transmigration. Although they weren''t vestiges, their effects were just as good as vestiges.


    Apart from the heat, burn, and elemental resistance, the gloves were penetration-proof and even had shock absorption capabilities. It also increased the strength of the user by a fixed percentage, which was currently thirty percent, while increasing the hit-rate and chance of attacks.


    The whole idea behind these effects was to help Lucas in the work-station, especially when he was working with a hammer or the forge. However, the Craftsman Gloves could also be used for battles.


    Even though he was incensed, Lucas still retained a part of his rationality and knew that it was best to not show his full capabilities, lest it draws even more suspicion onto him. At the moment, the top factions were merely lusting after the secret of the transformative abilities of SS vestiges, which was something no vestige-smith on the planet had yet to figure out.


    However, once Lucas exposed a set of vestiges that constituted the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, the situation would become even more dire. The vestiges that constituted the armour were all at the peak of Grade 3 and could resonate with each other to produce an effect of a true Grade 4 vestige. Just like the SS vestige''s transformative effect, this was a new technology that was nonexistent in Eretre. As such, Lucas refrained from using any of the vestiges that belonged to the set. Hence, his best option at the moment was the pair of Craftsman Gloves.


    As the three attackers closed in on him, Lucas immediately made his move. He dodged the first by sidestepping to his right, but was brought closer to the second. Even so, he didn''t fret as he moved his left hand and caught the attack.


    The third assailant had already appeared behind Lucas and it was too late for him to dodge. However, Lucas never had any plans of dodging. Instead, he dragged the second agent and threw him into the trajectory of the third agent''s attack.


    *Bam*


    "Puah!"


    The attack struck the back of the second agent, who got shocked from it, spewing out blood as he fell to the ground.


    "You...!"


    The two agents were stunned and proceeded to glare angrily at Lucas.


    Meanwhile, Lucas wasn''t one to waste advantages. Right after he had performed the manoeuvre, he threw a punch right at the face of the third agent.


    The man reacted by moving his hands to block, but it turned out to be a feint. Lucas'' true attack was a kick right at the man''s prize located at his pelvic region.


    "Ahhh!"


    The agent let out a horrifying scream, but Lucas had no remorse for him as he punched out once again. This time though, the fist was the real deal and it knocked the man out. Find your next adventure on empire


    "You-"


    Not just the first agent, but the other two second level agents as well as the three agents who had avoided the fight, were all speechless. Such a move was ruthless and very few would even use it in battle, due to the degree of injury it could cause. A man could be beaten, battered, tortured and messed up all over, but that region was a sacred zone that not even the most heinous of criminals would wreak havoc upon.


    "Break his legs." One of the three agents who stood back ordered with a cold voice.


    Of the three agents who stood back, two were at the third level while the one who gave the command was at the fourth. With him giving the order, not even the third level agents could sit back.


    This time around, one of the third level agents came forward, and together with the others, there were now four people facing Lucas. However, compared to the previous four he has taken down, only one of them was at the first level; two were at the second level while the last one was at the third level.


    From the perspective of a neutral party who knew nothing about the fighters, it was clear that Lucas would lose this round. So, unless Lucas used the vestiges, he would lose this battle and get arrested. However, he was unwilling to do that. It wasn''t just because it would complicate the issue, but that the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour alone would not be enough.


    Against Ramirez, Lucas was able to utilise the Grade 4 vestige to display a fourth level Apertures Opening stage power. However, that alone wasn''t enough and he had almost lost his life to Ramirez.


    There was only one other solution, which was the key to his victory against both Ramirez and Ardeen in Alleva district. It was to use the Bronze cards from the system.


    Lucas currently has one with a sixth level stellar practitioner ability and another with a fourth level. Pairing the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour with the fourth level Bronze Grade card would be enough to kill everyone here, so escaping wasn''t even a problem.


    "Release."


    Lucas gave the command right after mentally summoning the fourth level Bronze Grade card.


    However, something unexpected had happened; something Lucas had never considered was possible.


    "Access denied."


    The system''s cold voice reverberated in his head.

 Chapter 207 Abandoned

    "Access denied."Lucas widened his eyes in surprise.


    In the past, he had been using the Bronze Grade cards without experiencing any side effects or having to deal with the system. The Bronze Grade card was an item that took effect so long as Lucas said the activation chant. There was no need for an intermediary like the system, which was why Lucas was surprised that it had spoken.


    Nonetheless, the system talking to him at this moment was the least of Lucas'' concerns.


    "System, what do you mean?" Lucas questioned the system as he never expected such a response.


    The words of the system was something he had never expected to hear especially at this moment, and it left Lucas dumbfounded.


    "The system has judged that the host''s situation is dire and could be worsened by the concocted plans of the host. As such, the system has found it necessary to interfere with the host''s ideas in order to protect the host."


    "You have to be fucking kidding me."


    Lucas'' eyes suddenly turned red [1].


    When facing a situation that could potentially determine his life or death, the system had interfered under the guise of ''protecting the host''. It would be a lie to say that Lucas wasn''t pissed.


    "Why?!"


    Despite yelling at the system, he got no response. In fact, Lucas had no time to consider a response as the attackers had already arrived before him.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas thought.


    Without further hesitation, he summoned the gauntlets from the system inventory. Although Lucas couldn''t use the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, he could still utilise the individual components in battle.


    ''As suspected, he has a spatial vault.'' The fourth level stellar practitioner who was watching the battle narrowed his eyes as he felt the situation become more complicated.


    The captain, Jonathan Oakval, had called for him for a secretive operation. A lieutenant in the Baylands City Patrol Corps led a platoon of sixteen men ¡ªthe lieutenant included- which was a stark contrast to the eight-man platoon in the Red Fangs. This meant that, excluding some of the pilots, all the other men for this mission were from his platoon. So, whatever occurred, whether good or bad, his platoon would be involved with it


    The revelation that Lucas possessed a spatial vault struck some fear into the lieutenant. Discover more stories at empire


    Spatial vaults were rare vestiges that not anyone could get even if they could afford it. The vestiges could almost compare to a Grade 4 vestige due to its rarity. The fact that Lucas had one with him implied that his backer was not an ordinary figure.


    Naturally, this had the lieutenant becoming nervous about the operation.


    Meanwhile, Lucas barely held his own against the group of four. However, whenever the third level stellar practitioner made his move, he became unstable and was forced back a few steps away.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas cursed.


    If the battle had taken place within the store, he was confident of handling his own and fending off everyone, including the old man that had appeared earlier. However, the location was disadvantageous to him, and the system was also preventing Lucas from using his trump cards.


    Even if he could somehow defeat the four men before him, there were still the fourth level Lieutenant and the third level agent who stood beside him. There was also the fifth level agent that Laura had managed to hold back for a while, and even the old man who had went into the Mertens family main house. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas doubted that the Mertens family would give their all to help him, after all, it came with much difficulty and Lucas had yet to agree to the family head''s suggestion. In such an event, the Mertens family wouldn''t want to offend the Baylands City Patrol Corps for him.


    To summarise, Lucas was on his own.


    "Give up already and stop resisting arrest." The third level stellar practitioner agent said.


    The group has resorted to a tiring out strategy since Lucas was defending so well. But the problem with that remained that they were short on time. The longer the battle went, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.


    "Brother..." Melissa worriedly stared at Lucas'' back.


    No matter how aggressive or how disastrous the situation was, Lucas had made sure that none of the attackers went past him. He had always ensured that regardless of which point it was, Melissa''s silhouette would always be protected by him. Undoubtedly, this put a toll on Lucas'' body and made the battle even more difficult for him, but he didn''t care. However, the same couldn''t be said about Melissa who felt guilty about the situation.


    "Don''t worry, Mel. Big brother won''t let anything happen to you." Lucas glanced at her and smiled.


    Just then, the door to the Mertens family main house opened. The two major battles paused for a moment as the old man who had gone in earlier walked out. He glanced around and seeing that his men were still engaged in battle, he frowned.


    "It''s so difficult to just capture a human male and a young hybrid girl?"


    He then turned towards Jonathan and saw Laura facing opposite him.


    Grimacing, the old man said, "Little girl, do not interfere any longer. Your father has already given us permission."


    Laura froze while Lucas let out a sigh. He had already expected it, yet he still held on some kind of hope. Now though, there was no reason for that.


    On the other hand, Laura was wondering why her father had stepped back so easily. This was especially so with how cocky the Baylands City Patrol Corps agents had been by waltzing into their estate.


    "I don''t believe it." Laura shook her head.


    However, the robot from earlier moved closer to her and projected an image. It was that of her father, Russell Mertens.


    "Laura, step back." Russell said.


    "But father..."


    "No buts." Russell cut her off.


    While everyone was distracted by the image, Jonathan abruptly made his move. At a speed that seemed to rival teleportation, he dashed towards Lucas. The latter had failed to react in time; no, rather, it was that he couldn''t even react in time as Jonathan was too quick. The last thing Lucas saw was Jonathan''s fist which loomed in front of him until it struck him right away, knocking Lucas out.


    "You...!"


    By the time she noticed something was off, it was too late and all Laura could do was glare at Jonathan.


    "Take him away." Jonathan ignored her and gave the orders to his men.

 Chapter 208 Father-Daughter Argument

    Baylands City welcomed a new day with the sun rising high into the sky. The chill of the winter breeze swept through the city, but due to the unique climate of the region, there was no snow to accompany the breeze. However, the temperature was still low enough to be harsh.This was the unique situation in Baylands City.


    Whereas all the other fifteen districts would be welcoming the winter season with pristine white snow, Baylands City would be bitterly cold, yet no sign of any snow. Researchers had once argued that it was due to the close proximity to the Wastelands, which possibly harboured a special phenomena that created this event. This was because the situation in the Wastelands was the same as Baylands City; where the weather would be cold enough to freeze water, yet no snowfalls.


    Apart from the numbing chill and frost-bites that came with the weather, the winter season also marked the end of many activities in Baylands City. Whether it was the high-school session or the college semester, these were all standard events that occurred within this season.


    There were also the holidays, which were famous all over the planet. Eretre didn''t have a Christmas or any other holidays with religious descents, but they did have an end-of-the-year holiday which lasted for a week. It was known as the Verglas Beano [1] since the last week of the year happened to be the coldest period of winter.


    While the start of winter kicked off the countdown to a lot of events and culminations, elsewhere, it was the opposite.


    "Director!"


    The door to an office was forced open as a silhouette walked in furiously.


    "What''s the meaning of this?!" Lieutenant Lily Mayer glared at the man in front of her with a mixture of shock, confusion and anger.


    The man before her was the director of the Red Fangs; a special department under the Baylands City Patrol Corps yet possessed some degree of autonomy and only answered to the commissioner of police. In other words, apart from the commissioner of police and the City Lord, the director was the only one who could order the Red Fangs. But at the same time, he also had another identity, Lily''s father.


    "Oi, what with barging into my office so early? If it were anyone else, don''t you know that you ¡ªa mere lieutenant¡ª could get sanctioned for this?" The man frowned at his daughter. Deep down however, he was bemoaning the fact that he has spoiled her a little too much.


    "I apologize, but you can reproach me another day, director. That''s not what I''m here for." Lily replied.


    Seeing as his daughter still spoke to him using standard protocol, Director Mayer sighed and waved at her.


    "Fine. What is it?"


    "Last night, the director for the BCPC for Central Prefecture district has conducted an operation at the Mertens family estate." Lily said with a grave expression.


    "That white fogey is so ballsy? Since when?" Director Mayer looked surprised.


    His relaxed and playful manner was a sharp contrast to his bold and confident self from the meeting with the city lord. Only his daughter was allowed to see this side of him.


    "That''s not the issue. The issue is the target of the operation." Lily slammed her hands on the table.


    Immediately, a projection popped right up in between her and the director.


    "It was the human, Lucas Saunters. They arrested him on account of terrorism, but we all know that video was a shitty attempt to accuse an innocent man. So why did they do it?!"


    Director Mayer sighed. Sometimes, he wondered where his daughter got her strict sense of justice from, but then he remembered her mother. The two could be passed as the same, which was why the man cherished her more than anything in the world. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Regardless, it''s outside our jurisdiction so let it be. The matter also occurred in the Central Prefecture district and was handled by the BCPC branch. It would be hard for us to interfere." Director Mayer waved off the matter, clearly having no interest in it.


    "But that''s wrong. If we can''t protect innocent civilians, then what can we do? If we can''t uphold the justice and fairness of the law, then why preach it?" Lily refused to stand down.


    "Get to the point, Lily. I''ve heard rumours that you''ve been involved with the victim. Don''t tell me you have feelings for him?" Director Mayer stared at her.


    "Wh, what?" Lily faltered a bit.


    "Oh?"


    Director Mayer seemed turned to a father who had sensed a threat as his eyes flashed with a strange light.


    "No, that''s not it. Hold on, you''ve already investigated him? That means you knew about this?"


    Seeing his daughter successfully change the topic, old Mayer knew he wouldn''t be getting anywhere today so he just went along with her.


    "And what about it?"


    "Then why did you let it happen?" Lily was confused.


    "You''re a lieutenant, smart and my daughter. You should be able to figure out the situation he''s in. This isn''t something for us to put our noses into. The Red Fangs have a simple role, and that is to defend the city and the city-state. We might be a part of the BCPC, but that''s only on paper. You should already know the other departments treat us as some sort of outcast. Butting into this matter would only make things worse for us." The director explained.


    Of all high-level security organisations in Baylands city-state, the Red Fangs was the youngest. It had only existed for close to one hundred years, whereas Baylands city-state was already five hundred years old and the corresponding security organisations were of a similar age.


    What''s more, the nature of the Red Fangs founding was somewhat unique. It was said that the founder of the Red Fangs had started the organisation out as some sort of vigilante group a hundred years or so back to protect the city from terrorists. After making great achievements and defending the city with their blood and sweat, the group was finally recognised for their efforts and turned into an official organisation.


    However, the original Red Fangs weren''t incorporated into the Baylands City Defence Force, which at the time was supposed to be the most logical decision. Instead, they were brought to the city and attached to the Baylands City Patrol Corps. Even then, they were turned into an entirely separate department and given a significant degree of independence. So much so that even the highest uniformed individual in the Baylands City Patrol Corps, the Chief of Police, could not order them. They only answered to the commissioner of police, who stood above the Chief. But even the commissioner rarely interfered in their business, making the Red Fangs a special organisation that answered only to their director.


    With this arrangement being backed by the then city lord, there was nothing anyone could say about it.


    Naturally, this generated discontent amongst the other departments of Baylands City Patrol Corps. They all wondered why the Red Fangs, a group of vigilantes, had to be treated so special. And so, they began sidelining the Red Fangs in many activities and operations.


    One hundred years down the line and the treatment was still the same, especially since a new city lord was in power. Even though most of the department directors from back then were either dead or retired, their successors bore the hate and had even tried to push for the dissolution of the Red Fangs. One of those at the forefront of the movement is the director of the BCPC department branch in the Central Prefecture district. This was why director Mayer wanted to avoid an issue with the former.


    "So we should just stay out of it? We both know that this action of theirs would lead to more cons than pros for the city, so why tolerate it?" Lily still didn''t understand.


    "Because it is outside our jurisdiction." Director Mayer said once again, but this time around, with a serious face.


    "This discussion is over. If you have nothing else, leave. If you overstay your welcome, I''ll see to it that you get a two weeks suspension and have your salary cut down by thirty percent."


    Lily froze right away. She tightened her fists and gritted her teeth, but in the end, walked out of the office. Being the director''s daughter, she already knew about her father''s personality well. Once he got serious, it didn''t matter whether the person before him was a top four family head or even the city lord. He would follow through with his statement.


    After she departed, the director sighed before taking a look at a document he was reading prior to his daughter''s invasion. Surprisingly, it was actually a report on the case with Lucas.


    ''This entire case is strange. Even if they are so greedy, this is going out of control. A top four family was even caught up in this? Why hasn''t the city lord done anything yet?''


    Director Mayer frowned.


    For some reason, he felt that the conspiracy was bigger than what anyone thought.


    A struggle between the top factions for the mysterious transformative technology? That was what everyone in the know believed, however, director Mayer felt the truth was far more complicated.


    Suddenly, he widened his eyes abruptly.


    ''Don''t tell me...!''

 Chapter 209 The Mysterious World

    In a dark space devoid of life, where time seemed to not exist nor the reality, Lucas felt himself floating within this universe, like a plank in the middle of the ocean. A strange sensation swept across him as Lucas felt he existed yet didn''t. He had no limbs nor body to call his own. He couldn''t feel [1], neither could he smell, hear or speak, much less taste. It was debatable whether Lucas could see as all within his reach was an empty void of darkness.In this state, Lucas felt as if he had wandered for years and years without end, but at the same time, it was as if only a second had passed, and then another, and another, just as how time flowed in reality.


    Although he was unable to sense his physical form, Lucas'' consciousness was ''alive'' in this strange dimension, but it was blank like a piece of paper. Its thoughts were jumbled and over-flooded, but at the same time, empty. This led to a situation where the consciousness was stuck between oversaturation and emptiness; a state where differing contrasts existed at the same time which caused his consciousness to be frozen. It was unreal and couldn''t be explained by words or science, but Lucas was existing in such a realm.


    His subconsciousness, albeit frozen due to its unique state, was somewhat able to perceive its environment, but at the same time, couldn''t. This was because of the unique state of his consciousness, which prevented Lucas from being able to understand the situation.


    To describe this in an analogy, it was like having one''s sensory nerves shut down and then accidentally touching a hot object. The body would experience the pain and the side effects of coming into contact with high heat, which was being burned. However, due to the lack of a pathway for this sensation to flow to the brain, the individual would be unable to notice anything strange unless they glanced at their hand. In fact, without the pathway, which is the sensory nerves, the individual wouldn''t even realise that their hand is in contact with an object.


    This was exactly Lucas'' current situation. His subconscious could perceive the environment, yet he could not comprehend it nor did he realise that he was in such an environment. All he could ''see'' was darkness, yet his subconscious grabbed onto something.


    Just when it seemed like he would be forever stuck in here, a miracle occurred. A voice sounded in this deep dark space, breaking the balance of the environment while mysteriously reaching out to Lucas, despite his lack of senses [2].


    "Wake up, Lucas. Wake up."


    Lucas heard a voice sound so close to his ''ears''. It was a feminine voice that felt familiar, yet not. As the voice constantly called out to him, Lucas felt himself dragged out of that world into yet another dark space. However, compared to the former, this space felt different. Here, he could feel his body, his limbs, and his five physical senses. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Struggling a bit, Lucas managed to open his eyes and realised that he was in a strange space.


    "Ugh, where am I?" Lucas groaned as he took a look around.


    He appeared to be on a bed in a room with some simple furniture. There was a desk by the side of the bed, and in front was a sofa and an arm chair, both facing a display screen.


    Lucas frowned a bit as he tried to recall how he got here. He also checked his communicator to find out the date. It was then Lucas remembered the events which took place two days ago.


    Under the invitation of the head of the Mertens family, Russell Mertens, Lucas had made his way with Melissa to the Central Prefecture district for a meeting. After the discussion between the two, Lucas left with Melissa. However, they were interrupted within the estate by a convoy of hover cars that arrived from the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch. After a short battle, Lucas was then knocked out and taken away.


    Lucas surmised that he had been isolated and kept in some secretive location. As for why? He didn''t have an answer. The only thing on Lucas'' mind at the moment was Melissa. Lucas was worried about her, but with no one coming in to ask about the situation, it was difficult to find out her current status.


    ''I need to recover first and try to fish out more information, somehow.'' Lucas balled his fist.


    It seemed like the battle two days ago had taken a toll on him, which was understandable after all, he was only a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner utilising powers far above his level.


    After a bit of meditation to get himself back to stability, Lucas tried connecting to the KSSI. Interestingly, it actually worked out. It seemed like whoever locked Lucas away had no intention of preventing him from going online.


    Lucas began to search for related news about his arrest but found nothing online. It was clear that the operation was a hidden one and there was no intention to make news about it.


    So far, while the terrorist clips had been broadcast through social media and even the traditional media, the official security agencies had refrained from making a comment. To the outside world, it would seem as if they were investigating the matter. However, Lucas had initially guessed that they didn''t plan on doing so since it was bogus. Anyone with some level of meticulousness and detective work could figure that part out.


    However, with his arrest, Lucas was unsure of the police''s stance. One thing he knew however, was that they didn''t want the news to go online.


    Just as Lucas was thinking this, a wall in the room broke off to form a door and a figure walked in.


    Lucas found the newcomer to be familiar especially since he was one of the more recognisable figures present that night. It was the captain who came from the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district and the famed genius of the BCPC, Jonathan Oakval.


    "Let''s talk."

 Chapter 210 Is This The Justice You Serve?

    "What is there to talk about?"Lucas glanced at Jonathan Oakval with a calm demeanour from the bed.


    "Nothing much. I just want to know what you and the master of the Mertens family discussed."


    Jonathan walked towards the arm chair in the room and took a seat.


    "The same as everyone else did." Lucas responded.


    Although he didn''t know exactly why Jonathan was interested, Lucas knew that he could not trust the former. He could also guess a bit of what was going on.


    From what Russell had said before, Lucas surmised that the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch probably had the backing of one or more of the top four families, and could be influenced by them. And to Lucas, these factions were his enemies. They wanted one thing from Lucas, which was for him to work under them and hand control of his research and technology.


    Originally, this wouldn''t be clear to an average individual since the factions presented themselves to be scheming, yet sincere for a partnership. For instance, the Ross family had offered tons of good benefits in exchange for cooperation. Even those who were more greedy, like the Bergs and Dufour families, still gave some good terms and compensation. This way, even if the vestige-smith backing Lucas was to be pissed about the conspiracy to harm the store, it wasn''t as if there was no chance for cooperation.


    Being forced that had existed for decades, the top factions were professionals at offending others without burning the bridge [1].


    However, if the reality was revealed to be that they were secretly plotting to take control of everything later on, there would definitely be no room for a talk. This was why each faction made sure not to spread any strange rumours, or badmouth the other even if it could increase their chances.


    To ensure this, they had agreed that any discussions with Lucas would take place in a public spot or in his store, where they could be monitored by others. However, Russell had broken this rule and invited Lucas to his place late at night. In the Mertens family estate, especially Russell''s study room, it was impossible to figure out what exactly was being said there.


    Once they got the news, these forces had probably made the BCPC move, as that was the only organisation under their control that could barge into the Mertens family estate without suffering any or much repercussions. That led to the current situation.


    "If it were truly the same, there would be no need to call you over." Jonathan was not buying the excuse.


    "Be honest with me, and you can go home."


    "Where''s Melissa?" Lucas asked.


    Seeing Lucas ignore him, Jonathan was ticked off, but he remained calm.


    "The little hybrid? She''s in a safe place. What? Do you want to see her?"


    Jonathan stared at Lucas.


    "That can be arranged. As long as you tell me the truth."


    Lucas ignored him and shut his eyes. He had just woken up and wasn''t in the best state of mind. It was probably why Jonathan had arrived right away to question him. Knowing that, Lucas was less inclined to hold a conversation with him.


    "Associating with a suspected terrorist, unregistered birth certificates and documents, a child of illegal immigrants, probable involvement in the Alleva district desolate beasts tide which is now confirmed to have terrorist trails, and also, obstruction of justice and public arrest." Jonathan calmly listed out a few crimes with his hand.


    "All these crimes alone are enough for the court to arbitrate a seven years sentence at least. Even if judged innocent of most, the unregistered documents issue is worth at least two to three years. Toss in the fact that she''s a hybrid and with a little background meddling, the court might not be lenient even if she''s still eleven years old. What do you think?" He turned and smirked at Lucas.


    Lucas abruptly opened his eyes and glared at Jonathan. He could not believe that the latter was threatening him using an eleven year old girl.


    "Don''t look at me like that. This will only be a reality if you still refuse to cooperate. A human such as yourself, being so stubborn is really frustrating. What''s more, you even have a hybrid with you. Bottom feeders such as yourself should know when to bow your heads and not make such a fuss, you know." S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas suddenly charged at Jonathan, but the flung his hand, sending a wave of stellar energy at him.


    *Bam*


    Lucas was forcefully flung back to the bed. If it weren''t for the soft cushions, he would have been severely injured.


    "A mere peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner charges at me?" Jonathan found the situation to be funny.


    He then stood up to leave, seemingly tired of the situation.


    "You have only a few hours to make your decision. The Mertens or the girl."


    "Is this the justice you uphold?" Lucas'' voice sounded, surprising Jonathan.


    "What?" Jonathan asked.


    "I refuse to believe that you don''t know the truth of the situation. Anyone with even half an eye could see the truth and know that all of this is a setup, but yet, you do this. Threatening innocent lives and slaving around as a dog for the upper class. So I ask, is this the justice you swore to protect?" Lucas propped himself up and stared at Jonathan.


    "What does it have to do with you? A human, speaking to me about justice when you should be extinct. If it weren''t for the fact that you still have some use, I would have killed you off here and now. Justice should only be granted to those who have something to offer to society. In my eyes, your existence barely offers a semblance of gain to society. Dead or alive, you do not matter."


    Jonathan left the room through the same entrance he came through.


    Lucas fell to the bed face first, seemingly exhausted. It was as if he had been using the last breath of energy within him to question Jonathan. The hidden security camera showed the situation in the room to those outside and they thought nothing of it.


    Unbeknownst to them however, Lucas had a wide grin on his face.

 Chapter 211 Russell Meets The City Lord

    No matter how one looked at it, barging at Jonathan with the intent to take him down was a dumb move especially for a peak Body Strengthening stage human. After all, Jonathan Oakval was a peak fifth stage stellar practitioner; forget about winning, even landing a punch was impossible for a Body Strengthening stage practitioner However, Lucas wasn''t an idiot or one who would let his emotions get the best of him.Although two days ago, he had retaliated against the Baylands City Patrol Corps because of Melissa, he had chosen his opponents carefully and had already made up a plan to escape. Unfortunately, the system had interfered, which Lucas had yet to find out why.


    The reason for his attack on Jonathan wasn''t to get a hit in, but rather, to leave a mark on him. While Jonathan was ahead of Lucas in terms of stellar refinement, when it came to the usage of this mystical energy, Jonathan could not compare. Lucas had confirmed it that night and was confident his plan would pull off.


    As for the details of Lucas'' plan? It was simple; to set a tracking mark on Jonathan. The tracking mark was a unique one that could help Lucas have an idea of the layout of the place. It was very sensitive to changes in direction, and by monitoring all of Jonathan''s turns and footsteps, Lucas could visualise a portion of the map of the area.


    The tracking mark was powered by mystical energy, which meant that Lucas could use either his blood energy or soul energy for it. For this, Lucas had chosen soul energy, because it would be less likely to be discovered by an inexperienced fellow such as Jonathan. Although Blood energy would be difficult for the latter to sense, chances were that Jonathan might notice something off. After all, he had experience in bloody situations. The Soul Dismantling Technique, one of the four forbidden techniques [1], was what Lucas had used to generate soul from a portion of his soul.


    While pretending to have been knocked out, Lucas sensed the movement of the tracking spell and was able to visualise the correct path in the area. This would become necessary when he needed to escape.


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    At the same time he was doing so, Lucas suddenly called out to the system.


    "System, explain to me why you did what you did."


    On the night of his arrest, Lucas had resorted to using the gauntlets of the Steller Circuit Battle-Armour to resist his opponents, but that was not enough. He then decided to use a fourth level Apertures Opening stage Bronze Grade card, but the system had blocked that action without any explanation.


    "System does not understand what the host means." The system''s static voice sounded.


    "Are you playing around with me? You obstructed me when I was about to use a Bronze card two nights ago." Lucas frowned.


    "System has no intention of messing around with the host. There is no information in the system''s database matching the host''s description. Also, by the basic rules, it is impossible for the system to interfere directly with the host''s actions as that would be categorised as unfair. The only exceptions are with system-generated missions."


    Lucas became even more confused.


    For one, he knew that the system wasn''t an entity to make jokes on serious affairs. It also wouldn''t lie to him. The reply from the system sounded a lot like what the system would do, since in every occasion he had faced death, the system had just watched. At best it would comment on how it would find a replacement for the Crafts-god title once he was dead, but it had never directly intervened in Lucas'' matters.


    "Sure." Lucas decided to let the matter go.


    Although it was strange, with the system denying the incident, there was nothing Lucas could do. The only thing he could think of was to make preparations just in case the same event repeated itself.


    For the moment, Lucas'' focus was on his situation. By tracking Jonathan''s actions, he could plausibly find the exit of this building. Lucas was confident that Jonathan won''t be here all day long. The latter would eventually go far, and by tracking his movements, Lucas could estimate the right direction to leave.


    . . .


    At the centre of the Central Prefecture district was a large complex that spanned the size of two football fields [2]. The building was a unique work of architecture, seemingly consisting of three different buildings connected together to form a single complex. This was the famous City Lord''s Office, which also had the name, the City Lord Manor.


    When the original Baylands City was first founded, the then city lord operated from a two storey building that appeared like a manor and was called the City Lord Manor. Even after the original city had expanded to become a city-state and the building was renovated to become even larger, the name was still retained.


    The City Lord Manor was the administrative centre of Baylands city-state and the concentration of power, somewhat similar to the presidential houses on Earth. The building by the left side was where the cabinet gathered to hold meetings. In present day Earth, it was the same as a diet building, a parliamentary office, Congress or senate building.


    The building by the right was the city-state''s supreme court, where all the highest ranked officials of the judiciary perform their duties.


    As for the building at the centre, it was made from the original City Lord manor. The manor was expanded from a two storey building into a five storey building, and at the top floor was the city lord''s residential area. Right below was the administrative area, where the city lord performed his duties.


    The floors below serve as the administrative area of the City Lord manor. Here, citizens could file complaints about the economy or governance, meet with top government officials, file taxes, and so on.


    Today, the City Lord Manor covertly hosted a very influential and powerful figure.


    "To what do I owe this wonderful visit, Sir Russell. I hope it''s not something problematic." The city lord and most powerful man in Baylands city-state, Noah Bergs, smiled at the man who sat before him.


    The guest was a famous individual and someone Lucas had recently gotten acquainted with; the head of the Mertens family, Russell Mertens.


    "You jest, your excellency. Nothing much. I just needed to confirm something." Russell calmly said as he picked up the cup of tea before him.


    Tea was Russell''s favourite drink, and as one of his close friends, Noah knew this and made the latter comfortable.


    "And what might that be?" Noah raised an eyebrow.


    "Two nights ago, the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district department invaded my compound. I was wondering whether I''m guilty of any crime that warranted such humiliation." Russell said.


    "Oh? I''ll do well to question the director about his motive. I am very well aware of the unwritten rule and privileges granted to the top four families, and I don''t plan on breaking those rules during my tenure." Noah replied.


    There was nothing wrong with what he had said, but for some reason, Russell felt it was strange.


    Although Noah Bergs was the city lord, it didn''t mean that he would know every single activity that went on in the city. There was so much to organise, which was why every administrative department has its supervisor. The Baylands City Patrol Corps was under the commissioner of police and the chief of police. Whenever a director needed to carry out an operation, they only needed to report to any of them, and not the city lord. So it made sense that Noah was unaware of this.


    However, the operation was a high profile one and targeted a top four family. At the same time, it took place within Baylands City, what''s more, in the Central Prefecture district; the home of the city lord. It was quite difficult to believe that the city lord was unaware of this.


    Seemingly having read Russell''s thoughts, Noah added,


    "Now that I think about it, I think I heard about this incident earlier. Nolma had reported that he was about to carry out an operation to arrest a terrorist spy to Munroe, but he failed to specify when and where. It seems like he was planning this in secret." Noah frowned as his aura turned cold.


    Nolma was the name of the director of the BCPC''s branch in the Central Prefecture district, whereas Munroe Bergs was the commissioner of police. Although he was a member of the Bergs family, he operated under Noah''s faction.


    "I hope your excellency could help me get an explanation from him." Russell bowed.


    Even though he was one of the main figures that had helped install Noah as the city lord, the latter was not only stronger than him, but he held more power. As such, it was only right to be respectful towards him no matter what the relationship between them was.


    "Don''t worry about it. I can never forget what you''ve done for me. I''ll make sure to get to the bottom of this. It seems like I''ve been letting them operate too freely." Noah said with a cold voice.


    It was clear that he was incensed by the matter, after all, a subordinate had orchestrated such a high-risk operation without properly informing him or the commissioner. No ruler would tolerate such an insult.


    "Thank you, your excellency." Russell stood up and bowed with a smile.


    "Since the matter is settled, I''ll be taking my leave."


    "What''s the rush? It''s been a while since we''ve talked like this." Noah said.


    "While that is true, your excellency is surely busy with running the city, and I myself have to handle the effects of the incident. Please do understand." Russell apologetically replied.


    "No problem. You may go."


    "Thank you, your excellency."


    Russell then left the office.


    After a short while, a silhouette appeared behind Noah from his shadow.


    "It seems like, he''s on to us." The shadowy silhouette said.


    "I would be disappointed if he wasn''t." Noah smiled.


    "However, it doesn''t matter. Proceed as planned."

 Chapter 212 The Truth About Everything

    Russell Mertens left the office with no strange reaction or emotion on his face. It wasn''t until he was quite far from the City Lord Manor that he sighed."Is there a problem, sir?"


    The hover car Russell rode was quite similar to those luxurious cars on Earth, except for the fact that it was more technologically advanced and expensive.


    In the front seat sat a man who looked to be quite old. He was the butler of the Mertens family and Russell''s personal assistant for over thirty years. In a sense, one could say that he was the only person Russell could trust with his back.


    "The city lord has changed." Russell sighed as he recalled the conversation he had earlier.


    He then went on to narrate the experience to the butler. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Forgive me, but nothing seems to be wrong." The butler replied after listening to the narration.


    "Say what''s in your mind." Russell wasn''t buying the query.


    "...you''re right." The butler sighed.


    Initially, he didn''t want to add to the family head''s suspicions as he knew how close the latter was with the city lord. While others might have seen the relationship between the two to be that of a political godfather and a sponsored candidate, it was actually closer.


    Russell was older than the current city lord, by at least two decades, and they knew each other before Noah began his political campaign. He had treated Noah as a son and a close friend right after the two began cooperating. Their relationship became so close that when Noah brought up the idea of competing against the Bergs'' candidate, his step-brother Fredor, Russell sided with him and had even advertised him to the other families.


    It was thanks to Russell''s help that Noah was able to gain a large political force to support him, which became known as ''The Other Side''; an alliance of top factions that were against the Bergs family and their allies. Explore stories at empire


    Knowing how close Russell was to Noah, the butler didn''t want to harm his master''s feelings.


    "He actually said he wasn''t aware of what took place. The situation is currently unstable and anyone with half a brain would know that the balance could be tilted at any moment. It''s unbelievable to say the least, that the city lord wasn''t monitoring the situation." The butler sighed.


    "Indeed. But there''s something else to consider." Russell narrowed his eyes as his facial expression took on a dark turn.


    "He had told me Nolma had informed Munroe, who in turn spoke to him. Obviously, this is as good as exposing his lie, yet he did that. Noah wouldn''t make such a mistake. That could only mean one thing; he''s warning me."


    "But why would he do such?" The butler was perplexed.


    It wasn''t like Russell was purposely going against him. If anything, Russell''s plan with his proposal to Lucas was originally supposed to create an opportunity for the city lord to step in and reinforce his power. So, one could say that they were both on the same side.


    "I guess for once I miscalculated something." Russel let out a wry smile.


    "Everyone thinks that the city lord is taking a step back and granting an owed favour to The Other Side, which helped him seize power. I, for one, had even wanted to create a chance for him to step back in without burning bridges with them. But we were all wrong; we actually misjudged him. All of this isn''t the top factions taking advantage of anything; it''s a big trap set up by Noah."


    The butler froze for a second, but after a while, he widened his eyebrows as he was overcome by horror. Having been by Russell''s side for years, it was inevitable that the butler would be exposed to the various degrees and layers of schemes used in politics. With Russell having given him a hunt already, he could finally see the big picture.


    Yes, this was all a trap by the city lord, Noah Bergs.


    At first, everyone thought that the Stygian Abyss had some unsettled hatred with the Seven Sparks Forge store owner. As such, they had falsified scenes of using a vestige from the store in hopes that the Baylands City''s factions would clamp down on the store owner. This was later confirmed with evidence by the independent investigations of the various top forces, but that didn''t mean they would just brush it off.


    Instead, the top factions took this as an opportunity to do just as the Stygian Abyss wanted, but didn''t stop there. They went an extra step ahead and began a covert struggle to takeover the store and its technology. In the process of doing this, they had gotten on the bad side of the city lord, but for various reasons, the city lord could only let them be.


    Russell, being a close friend and ally of the city lord, had tried to create an opportunity for the latter to step in and reinforce his hold over power without offending his allies. However, it turned out that that was all unnecessary. The city lord never needed any help.


    In fact, just as the top factions had taken advantage of the performance of the Stygian Abyss, the city lord ¡ªNoah Bergs¡ª had done just the same. He had let the top forces face each other not due to some magnanimity or favour, but simply because he wanted them to weaken each other.


    Even though the city lord was a supreme title in Baylands city-state, the threat of the top factions still existed. Just from the fact that the Bergs family had three concurrent city lords, although Noah ¡ªthe third¡ª was rebellious, goes to show just how powerful these families were. It was even rumoured that the Dufour family also had connections with the Oklo Dynasty.


    The heritages, wealth, influence, and power of the top factions were all something no city lord could easily ignore. While some city lords closed an eye to it, for some, it would leave a terrible taste in their mouth. Noah happened to be a part of the second group. What Noah planned to do was to bring all of that back under the control of the city lord. However, this in itself was difficult, the reason being that these forces were tough nuts too tough to crack.


    The City Lord Manor did have its fair share of experts as well as the officially recognised authority from the Oklo Dynasty. But if Noah was to begin targeting the factions directly, they would all collude to impeach him. One should recall that the cabinet possessed the ability to impeach the city lord, if found guilty of threatening the city''s peace.


    Although such ruling would have to be confirmed by the Oklo Dynasty, until then, the city lord would lose his power and the three deputies would take charge. These deputies happened to be persons from the top factions however. As long as they took control, they could undo all the damage and pass regulations and rules to obstruct such actions again.


    Hence, the only way for a city lord to regain full control over them was to have them weakened before targeting these forces. And the best way to do that, was to have the top factions fight themselves.


    Even with this idea in mind, it was very difficult to realise. The problem was finding a suitable bait that could be used; one so tempting that everyone would be greedy for it. A secret, item, technology, or object so alluring that even if one side held it, the other couldn''t sit still.


    For days, weeks, months and years, Noah had tried to come up with something but failed. That was until Lucas, or rather, the Seven Sparks Forge showed up.


    The SS vestiges were unique vestiges developed with a technology that had never been seen anywhere on the planet. Even when considering the entire Kellan solar system, there was a very high chance that such technology didn''t exist. The transformative features, the upgraded stellar processors, and God knew how many more technological secrets and advancements the store still kept hidden.


    Such secrets were more than enough to create a new top faction; one so powerful that it could compare to the Lester family or even the Lin family of Paros city-state. Both families were top powers that had businesses spanning across the entire solar system. The wealth they controlled could easily overwhelm Baylands city-state''s top four families combined. The Lin family was even more outrageous. They were so powerful that not even the Oklo Dynasty, the planet''s rulers, could afford to easily offend them. This was because the Lin family in Paros city-state was merely a branch of the main Lin family. The main branch was located in Mandora, the planetary capital of the Kellan solar system, and they were a powerful family on a solar system scale.


    The fact that the secrets of the Seven Sparks Forge store could potentially create such a powerhouse was too attractive for any of Baylands city-state''s top factions. Even though some might not have dreamt that big, becoming the undisputed number one in Baylands city-state was definitely doable.


    With such a bait, Noah could not help but be more pleased. This was because no matter which family successfully convinced Lucas to work with them, the others would never sit still. The agreement of trying to convince Lucas to work with them was simply paper-talk [1]. They just hoped that he would agree so they can have the moral standpoint, but in reality, all sides were prepared to wage war against the other if they lost.


    Russell''s plan of trying to get the city lord in would have expsowd him because the city lord had no intentions of doing so. While Noah could successfully fend them off, that wasn''t his goal from the very start.


    As such, when he found out that Russell had invited Lucas to have a discussion, it was most likely that Noah had ordered Nolma to trespass on the Mertens family estate and arrest Lucas. This would prevent the possibility of the two successfully working together, which would then force Noah to act.


    Russell was convinced that this was the truth, after all, it was impossible for Nolma to be so confident enought to act against a top four faction, even with the backing of another one. This was because Nolma was a government employee and worked under the city lord. Even if the top factions could influence such agencies and personnel, Russell knew Noah''s personality and he was confident that the latter had complete control over his men; at least those at the top. What''s more Noah had hinted at this when he mentioned that Nolma had informed Munroe, Noah''s right hand man, about the operation. This was the vague warning Noah had given him.


    In other words, the only reason why Nolma had boldly trespassed on the Mertens family estate was because he had the city lord''s support; it was never the support of the other top factions. What''s more, since the other top factions never really knew much about Noah, they would still be confident that everything was in their control, meanwhile, they danced atop Noah''s palm.

 Chapter 213 Escaping

    A few hours later, Jonathan Oakval had returned to meet with Lucas, but the latter still didn''t give his a response he liked. In the end, Jonathan left, but not without giving Lucas a piece of information.Lucas would be set free and sent back to his store. But in three days, the top factions would send their representatives to get a response from him. At the same time, he would be under surveillance by the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch 24/7.


    The Mertens family was the last faction to have met with Lucas as everyone else had already done so. They believed that prior to visiting Russell Mertens, Lucas had already notified his master, the vestige-smith, about the proposals of the other forces which was enough. Even if he had yet to do so, the investigations of the BCPC speculated that Lucas had a means to contact his master within the store.


    After three days, the representatives of all interested parties would arrive in the store for an answer. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although Jonathan didn''t mention it, Lucas was aware that if he didn''t give a response the group''s found to be satisfactory, his situation would worsen.


    In Baylands city, the law was just and fair, but this was only in the hidden condition that one was hyuman.


    . . .


    After the meeting with Jonathan, Lucas was sent back to the store. He had found out that the Patrol Corps didn''t manage to arrest Melissa as well. This was because right after he was knocked out, both Laura and her father, Russell, had stepped in to ensure that Melissa wasn''t arrested alongside him.


    The director of the BCPC Central Prefecture district branch, Nolma, had to give way this time around, and some the Mertens managed to save Melissa. For this, Lucas was grateful, but it still didn''t mean he would work with them.


    The reason was quite simple; Lucas realised that the issue was out of control. There was no right choice any longer. If anything, he wasn''t even seen as a player, but a pawn.


    Suppose he was to side with the Mertens family, who was to say that the other factions wouldn''t ally together to strike them down?


    According to Russell, siding with him would gain Lucas the protection of not just the Mertens family but also the Ross and the city lord. However, Lucas felt something was off.


    The Central Prefecture district branch, which was arguably the BCPC''s most important unit, was being influenced by external forces and the city lord did nothing about it. Lucas found this to be unbelievable.


    The only logical explanations for this that either the city lord was too weak, or he had tacitly agreed to it. If it was the former, then even with the team up of the Mertens and Ross family, Lucas doubted he would be safe. If it was the latter, that was all the more reason why Lucas couldn''t work with the Mertens. It meant that this conspiracy was much more complicated than he thought, and even the city lord could be involved. In that case, even the Mertens family couldn''t exactly be trusted entirely.


    To be honest, Lucas had experienced such a situation before. In his first life as Yohan, he had felt what it was like to be a talented prodigy, yet have no backer. It was this exact plot that had cost him his life, and sent him through his first transmigration.


    As such, with the prior experience, Lucas already knew what decision he had to take. In fact, he had only one option at the moment; to leave the city.


    After leveling up before [1], Lucas had unlocked a new system function. To be precise, he hadn''t unlocked the ability yet. As of level 3, the system would begin to present Lucas with options in order for him to determine his growth path.


    Discover exclusive tales on empire


    Lucas was to choose one system ability from three available options, but he had postponed the selection as he couldn''t come to a conclusion. Now however, Lucas had already made up his mind.


    Opening his system interface, Lucas went to the profile section and selected a tab that was tagged ''Level Up Reward''. There were a few icons there representing level one, two and finally three. However, the first icons representing levels one and two were dull, while the third one was brilliant. The difference in contrast was due to the fact that Lucas had already accepted the rewards from the other two levels, while the third was still open.


    Selecting the icon for level three, three boxes immediately appeared on the screen.


    [[ Please choose one system skill. ]]


    At first, it looked like it was a random selection since no information regarding the boxes was displayed. However, by hovering his finger over them, a pop-up window describing part of the skills would show up.


    The first box contained a system skill called Architect. It could let Lucas take note of every single change within the store, and also enable him to change the layout of the store as he wished. While this didn''t sound impressive, if used well, it could boost Lucas'' vestige-smithing skill within the store. He would be able to sense any little change in a vestige he was working on, so long as he was inside the store. The work-station counted as the store, so Lucas could use this ability while working. It seemed like the best skill as it could aid in his vestige-smithing.


    The second box has a system skill called Branch Manager. It allowed Lucas to be able to open branches in other regions, which would also enjoy the benefits of the other system skills. He would also be able to move from one branch to another using a special teleportation skill called Branch travel, which came with the Branch Manager skill. It was a very handy ability, but when he first levelled up, Lucas didn''t see a reason to hurry to open a branch.


    The third box sealed within it a skill called Ranged Teleportation. It allowed Lucas to be able to teleport to any point within a certain radius around the store. This seemed like a handy ability which could not only get him out of the store secretly, but also bring him into the store as long as Lucas was within the active radius.


    All three skills were nifty, which made it difficult for Lucas to select one, especially the first and third skills. Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and he was caught between them. This was why Lucas had postponed the selection.


    However today, none of them caught his attention. Instead, it was the second box that had the skill, Branch Manager.


    Since he had the skill in mind, what Lucas had to now decide upon was where to go


    Eretre has four continents and thirteen city-states. Situated on one of the largest continents, the Groeten continent, were five city-states including Baylands and Paris city-states.


    On the Beast continent was Digress city-state and another city-state.


    The Bernin continent held only one city-state which was called Oklo. It was also the home of the Oklo Dynasty and the entire continent was directly under their rule.


    The last continent was equally as large as the Groeten continent and had five city-states as well.


    Relocating to one of the city-states on the Groeten continent wasn''t a smart move as Baylands city-state''s forces might still be able to reach him. Since the Oklo Dynasty was the unquestionable leader of the planet, some of the city-states had formed alliances with each other and traded together, just as like in Earth.


    If Lucas happened to end up in a city-state with close ties to Baylands city-state, his arrest could be requested by the city lord. With their alliance, the city-state would agree to it in lieu of protecting Lucas.


    Another criteria Lucas had to keep in mind was that the next city-state he would be heading to had to be less hateful of humans and mixed species. This was something that had cost him dearly and made it such that Lucas couldn''t even turn the situation around. As such, he took this requirement seriously.


    Digress city-state seemed to do well here, but due to the public opinion of the place as well as his suspicions, Lucas didn''t go for it. However, he did consider Digress city-state to be his backup choice.


    Also, the city-state had to have fair laws and be able to protect him to a certain extent. Otherwise, once the city lord dog Baylands city-state caught a whiff of him or other eyes looked his way, the same situation would repeat itself.


    Finally, the city-state had to be a bit more advanced that Baylands city-state in terms of vestige-smithing. This way, there wouldn''t be much fanfare with Lucas'' products, even if it was ahead of the market in terms of technology. The more backward the place was, the more chances that other forces would become jealous of his success and turn greedy for his technology.


    "Hmm. I think I have the perfect pick." Lucas'' eyes flashed.


    Without further ado, he logged into the KSSI and went to the section for planet Eretre. However, Lucas didn''t move towards Baylands city-state''s section. Instead, he connected to the intranet for a different city-state; one quite far away from Baylands and on an entirely different continent.


    Using his information, Lucas purchased a building here. He also did so in various other city-states in both that continent, the Groeten continent and even the Beast continent. It wasn''t until more than half of his hard-earned wealth was gone, leaving a mere fifty thousand federal coins with him, did Lucas finally stop.


    From formerly being worth a bit more than half a million federal coins, Lucas now only had less ten percent of that. However, there was no regret on his face. This move was necessary if he needed to escape.


    "Money can always be made, but you only live once. Well, I''ve lived thrice."

 Chapter 214 Kelvins Decision

    One might wonder what was the point of Lucas buying so many properties, but it was quite simple; to throw off investigators.The Branch Manager skill allowed Lucas to own and manage branches of the Seven Sparks Forge store. In order for a building to be classified as a store, it has to be owned by Lucas and he had to agree to this change.


    Thanks to the modern advancements in society and technology, it was easy to buy a plot for land miles away. Even on Earth, this wasn''t a challenge, but in Eretre, it was much faster and easier to do so. Typically, a transaction would not even exceed four hours.


    At the moment though, the Branch Manager system skill was still limited and Lucas could only manage two stores at the same time. So, why did he buy many?


    If Lucas simply bought one building, the Baylands City Patrol Corps, which could easily gain access to his digital footprint [1], would find out about the building he bought and eventually investigate it once he was declared missing. However, if Lucas was to purchase and rent so many buildings at the same time, it would throw them off and make investigating difficult.


    Many of the buildings Lucas had either bought or leased were located in various city-states and continents. If the Baylands City Patrol Corps or any of the top factions in the city wanted to go after him, these buildings would be suspicious points for investigation. However, with there being so many of them in various locations, such an investigation would become quite costly and time-consuming for them. There was also the possibility that Lucas would not really be in any of those buildings and might have just gotten them to throw them off.


    With quite a few conclusions, and the fact that it would be costly and time-consuming to find him, there was a chance that the BCPC and the others would give up. Even if they didn''t, Lucas would buy enough time to hide and restart his life in a safe place. Sacrificing more than half of his wealth for this was not a big deal.


    Having made the decision to leave the city, Lucas then contacted Kelvin.


    According to the system, only the host and his employees could use the Branch Travel skill that came with the Branch Manager system skill. Since Kelvin was his employee, Lucas wanted to reach out to him and find out whether the latter was interested in leaving with him.


    The first call didn''t go through and Lucas frowned. After a while, he tried again. This time, someone finally responded although it took a few seconds.


    However, even after Kelvin''s projection appeared, Lucas didn''t say a word. Kelvin also went silent as well.


    "It seems like you''ve made a decision." Lucas said after staring at Kelvin for a while.


    "... I''m sorry, but I can''t help you." Kelvin lowered his head and sighed.


    Although Lucas didn''t state his reason for calling, Kelvin suspected that the latter did so to ask for help.


    Toman''s Workshop might be declining, but the old man''s contacts still existed. Through them, they had found out that Lucas was previously arrested by the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch and he was currently under house arrest. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kelvin presumed that the call from Lucas was to ask for help from his father. However, with the current situation of their family, it would be unwise of them to take on another difficulty.


    In truth, Kelvin had been thinking about this for a while. When he made a decision, Kelvin then began to keep his distance after Lucas sent him back. He originally planned to not even respond to the latter''s call, but in the end, he decided to do it. Kelvin wanted to clear out everything and officially cut off his relationship with Lucas to prevent his family from getting dragged into the situation.


    "I understand." Lucas curtly replied before cutting the call.


    It would be a lie to say he wasn''t pissed, but Lucas truly did understand Kelvin''s worries. However, it didn''t mean that he would tolerate it. There was a huge difference between understanding and agreeing. Regardless, he didn''t let it get to him.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had already experienced even worse betrayals before, so this was nothing.


    All that was left was for Melissa to return. Until then, Lucas began making preparations and packing up.


    . . .


    Outside of the Seven Sparks Forge store, there was a vehicle that was parked a couple metres away. Inside, a small team of specialists were on standby, monitoring the situation outside and inside of the store. They utilised high-tech spy cameras, satellite imagery, and even infra-red and bio-scan systems to ensure that Lucas was always on their watch. This was to prevent the possibility of him escaping the city, which those at the top predicted could be his next move.


    Even though they were far out from the building, the screens in the vehicle showed the interior, but in a unique display. This was because they were monitoring the inside using infra-red and bio-scan cameras. As such, the concept of colours and inanimate objects weren''t properly displayed as they would in reality.


    "With the level of security we have in this guy, I don''t see how he can sneak out. Why then do we need to be here?"


    One of the five men in duty sighed.


    Apart from their small team, there was also a group of BCPC agents who were positioned in sttaygice locations around the store. Some of them occasionally approached the store, but didn''t walk in since it was closed. Nonetheless, they weren''t worried about a secret path as the entire area had already been scanned. From the positioning and number of agents, it seemed impossible for Lucas ¡ªa human¡ª to be able to escape.


    "Well, who knows. Maybe he has some secret trick hidden up his sleeves?" One of them men said.


    "As if. This is Baylands City. It might not be the Central Prefecture district, but it''s still a part of the city. Every information about every construction and infrastructure has been recorded. No such trick exists here." The first man snorted as he stared lazily at the screen.


    The entire area had already been scanned and mapped out by a different unit, even before they had arrived. Apart from the small building behind the main store building, there was no underground structure present here. The main building had no basement and only the two existing floors above. As for the small building behind, the basement was small, and examination by the special unit had proven that it was actually a storage unit and nothing else. The unit had even once sneaked in there and found nothing except a few gardening tools and random items.


    Unknown to them though, the only reason they had managed to even sneak in was because Lucas had permitted it. Otherwise, the system would have prevented them or even killed them on site.


    "He''s right." The team leader said.


    "We have records of the construction done on this place and even the blueprints. The renovation details are also available to the Commission of Infrastructure and City Layout. There''s no secret tunnel for him to escape, so our participation is just for formalities."


    The first man smirked at his teammates seeing the team leader support him.


    "However," The team leader continued, "who knows, maybe a miracle could take place. Like a teleportation station hidden inside the building."


    The inside of the vehicle went silent for a while, before they all burst out laughing.


    "Haha."


    "Haha. That''s a nice one cap."


    "A teleportation point? Might as well say he''s the Divine Protector''s secret lovechild son." One of them said.


    The Divine Protector was the undisputed leader of the Hyuman Alliance and the ruler of the Niera galaxy, where all humans lived. He was at the Paragon realm which was four stages ahead of the Apertures Opening stage, but thirty one levels away when counting from the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. From this, one could imagine how powerful he was.


    As for why everyone found the idea of a teleportation point hidden inside the store to be just as ludicrous as a human being the Divine Protector''s secret lovechild, it was simply because such a technology was too advanced even for Eretre. One should recall that space-bombs, items with the ability to shatter space and open a wormhole, could not have their endpoint fixed using the technology and minds on Eretre. There was no one with the ability to make such a device and it could only be bought from higher planets like Mandora, the solar system''s capital.


    As for teleportation points, they were even more complex of a technology. Just like how regular space bombs could be found in the Oklo Dynasty, short distance teleportation points might be found, except it would be under the direct control of the royal family. However, they only had a range of fifty to one hundred metres. Also, they couldn''t be sold to anyone, even top factions or city lord enterprises.


    As for the medium distance ones, which could teleport up to five hundred kilometres (500km) (310.69 miles) [2], it couldn''t be found on Eretre as there was no one capable of making it. Buying it was too costly, and only organisations such as The Lin family, the Lester family, and the Oklo royal family might be able to afford them.


    The long distance devices were even rarer and only top factions in the solar system or transit points for long distance travel in space used them. These devices could reach distances measured in light-years and were used for inter-solar system travel.


    Regardless of which it was, it was impossible for Lucas to have one, at least from the perspective of these men.


    "Enough laughing. Pay attention to the screen. Even if he can''t escape, we still have to do our job."


    "Yes, captain." The team responded.

 Chapter 215 Departing Baylands City-state

    After the call with Kelvin, Lucas made the decision to officially fire him and the system revoked its privileges to Kelvin. Unfortunately, the latter wouldn''t even be aware of this and Lucas had not notified him of them in the first place.Originally, Kelvin would have found out on his own about the system skills, as long as he got into trouble within the store. However, there was no incident that had occurred warranting that. Even the event with the extremists had ended with Lucas interfering at the last moment.


    As such, Kelvin had no knowledge of the power he held. Nonetheless, it didn''t matter at the moment.


    After removing Kelvin, there was now one free slot out of two on this employee page. Melissa was registered as an employee within the store simply for her safety. Speaking of Melissa, she was still in the Mertens family''s custody, but Lucas had made a phone call and asked for hed to be sent over the next day.


    The next day came around, and Lucas had a visitor to his store. Just as he had expected, it was the Mertens family, or to be specific, Vergil, who showed up.


    "Yo~" Vergil smiled as he stood at the front door.


    "Look what I got you."


    Melissa, who was being held by Vergil, dashed towards Lucas almost immediately.


    "Big brother!"


    Melissa hugged Lucas tightly as she wept.


    "You''re safe now. No need to be scared again." Lucas hugged her back and patted her back in an attempt to calm her down.


    "Please, don''t leave me again." Melissa muttered.


    Lucas felt his heart break from those words. Although the situation wasn''t exactly his fault, Lucas felt miserable that he wasn''t able to take care of the little girl even though he had promised to do so. Seeing her like this wrecked him, and he felt guilty for everything.


    "I won''t. I promise."


    At first, Vergil wanted to have a small conversation with Lucas, but seeing the reunion between the two, he decided against it.


    "Well, I''ll be leaving you guys now." Vergil closed the door and walked out of the store. He might be a playboy, but that didn''t mean he had a low EQ [1].


    After a short while, Lucas noticed that Melissa had fallen asleep in his arms and he couldn''t help but sigh. Although he was confident that the Mertens family wouldn''t treat her badly, it was most likely that Melissa was restless and depressed throughout her stay there. Having lost her memories after a severe traumatic experience, she still developed disorders from the event. As such, Melissa found it difficult to adapt to other places or relate with other people. She could only trust Lucas, who had been with her ever since then.


    ''I guess I''ll postpone our departure a bit.'' Lucas thought as he carried the little girl to her room.


    "System, what do you think of my idea?" Lucas asked the system.


    It was the first time he had spoken to the system since he was released. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Truth be told, Lucas still had negative feelings towards the system for what it had done back at the Mertens family estate. Despite the fact that the system stated it was for his own good, Lucas disagreed with it.


    "Host''s idea has been judged to have a high success rate, however, the status of the main store cannot be changed."


    Lucas raised an eyebrow at the statement, but was unbothered nonetheless. If anything, this was good as it would give him a return path back to the city.


    "What if they try to force their way in once I''m gone?"


    "Host underestimates the system''s defence mechanism. Even a Sage has no way of forcing their way in, so the host needs not worry."


    A Sage was someone two stages ahead of the Apertures Opening stage. The Sage realm was also known as the Moon Walker realm because at this level, it was possible for one to survive for a very long time in space even without oxygen or food. Individuals at this level could utilise rules on a planetary level.


    What this meant was that Moon Walkers could manipulate a planet''s gravity or even exhibit gravity on a planetary scale, can create super typhoons or even super volcanic eruptions, and so on. Of course, their powers or effects would differ depending on the innate superpower they unlocked after the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    For instance, suppose one''s superpower was frost, they could easily recreate the ice age and freeze an entire planet with a wave of their hand. If they were even stronger as a Moon Walker, they could create an ice planet. However, their abilities were limited to planetary levels and physics. In other words, the Moon Walker with a frost ability would be unable to freeze time.


    Nonetheless, as long as they could break to the next stage, Star Lord, freezing time wouldn''t be a problem, but that was very difficult. A star lord was essentially the ruler of a star region, and a star region would have anywhere from at least twenty (20) solar systems to ninety (90) solar systems.


    Since the system assured Lucas that not even a Sage could break through the store''s door, he wasn''t worried about anything.


    A few hours later, Lucas, with Melissa who has already woken up, walked into the work-station. It was time for them to leave Baylands City.


    Prior to this, Lucas has already designated one of the buildings he has bought to be the new store branch using his Branch Manager system skill. Together with the current store, theg were the two branches of the Seven Sparks Forge store. However, to prevent being discovered, Lucas had it named as something else, and the system had no problem with this.


    The Branch Manager system skill had an auxiliary skill called Branch Travel, which could allow the host as well as the employees of the store to move between branches through a teleportation point.


    To the skill, distance was not a barrier as long as the destination was a branch store. However, while Lucas could open a branch on another planet, he didn''t know much about this world yet. As such, it would be quite reckless to move to a different planet. But there was also another reason for not wanting to relocate so far. It was because Lucas planned to make his comeback eventually and pay back all the forces who forced him to run.


    Lucas wasn''t a nice man, and was someone who rewarded his foes in a more vicious way. Just from how he dealt with his opponents during his fights, one could see how ruthless Lucas was to his enemies. It would be a lie to say he didn''t bear a grudge to the top factions of Baylands City. Hence, he has to stay close and plot against them.


    Inside the work-station, a new door appeared just like with the system shop. When Lucas opened the door, a mysterious black-white wormhole appeared befofe them. It looked somewhat terrifying and mystifying, yet alluring and peaceful. It was a strange feeling, but Lucas didn''t think much about it. Instead, he could vaguely spot some strange runes and inscriptions within the portal.


    Lucas tried to comprehend those runes as he felt it would be valuable to him, but he failed to even sense then clearly.


    "Where are we going?"


    Although she was young, it didn''t mean that Melissa wasn''t smart. She could faintly sense that they were going somewhere far away and might not come back soon. She wasn''t bothered about that though, as long as she was with her brother.


    "Somewhere far away. Just for a while."


    Right after that, Lucas held her by the hand and they stepped into the wormhole.

 Chapter 216 Belfargos and Trundel

    Planet Eretre had four continents and thirteen city-states. While the number might seem small, it shouldn''t be underestimated as planet Eretre was about 1.5 times the size of Earth, or fifty percent (50%) larger. Excluding Digress city-state, which was the smallest, every other city-state controlled land at least twice the size of a nation on Earth. Some of the stronger city-states controlled more land than this.Apart from the civilised area, there were large undeveloped plots of lands that either turned into wastelands or habitats for desolate beasts and abominations. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of the thirteen city-states, the most reputable ones were Java city-state, which was one of the most famous trading hubs on the planet; Paros city-state, which had the reputed Lester family and the sub-branch of the powerful Lin family from Mandora planet; and another city-state. As for Baylands city-state, it was at the upper middle level of the rankings, sixth place to be exact.


    At first place was a city-state that held the position without debate. It wasn''t Paros city-state or Java city-state. Instead, it was the only city-state that controlled any entire continent by itself; Belfargos, the city-state of the Bernin continent. Because Belfargos was the home of the ruling force of Eretre, it also had the nickname of Oklo city-state.


    Belfargos city-state was quite special. In truth, there was only a place called Belfargos City in the Bernin continent, whilst the entire region under its control didn''t really have a name. As such, some called the entire region Oklo city-state or Belfargos city-state. This was why in the official records, there were only twelve city-states and not thirteen.


    Every city-state utilised a different form of government, but what they all had in common was that the leader had to be approved by the Oklo Dynasty before they could exercise their powers.


    In Baylands city-state, the system of government was a unique version of the Parliamentary system of government. The city lord was chosen by the members of the Cabinet. In the case where there were multiple candidates, like with the last election, the two sides would duke it out in a special contest where the winner would become the city lord.


    In Paros and Java city-states, democracy was the norm. As for Digress city-state, they operated by electing the strongest amongst themselves. For Digress city-state, the city lord was more a figurehead and a protector, than a ruler.


    As for Belfargos, the city lord was someone from the royal family. In other words, it was a monarchy. Monarchies weren''t rare and even some city-states were operated under the basis of one.


    The city lord of Belfargos City was said to have descended from a prince of the Oklo Dynasty. In other words, it was a branch family. Despite being from the branch, their bloodline was quite pure and they were the closest to the direct line in terms of bloodline comparison. Nonetheless, they remained subservient to the direct line. The situation was similar to the Lin family in Eretre and the Lin family in Mandora.


    Belfargos City, being the home of the Oklo Dynasty, gave off a more thriving vibe than the other city-states. It was bustling and flourishing beyond comparison yet still maintained a peculiar air of dignified splendor and magnificence. In the entire Eretre, whether it be land, water, or air, there was no city-state or city that could compare to Belfargos City''s success and prosperity.


    Belfargos City''s appeal didn''t just derive from its appearance, but also its economy and resources.


    There was a line amongst the merchants and businessmen of Eretre; if it couldn''t be found in Belfargos, it couldn''t be found in Eretre.


    With such a slogan to describe the place, it was easy to guess that the city was a place everyone wanted to be. However, as the law of demand and supply went, there might be many people who wanted to live here, but the land was limited. As such, every plot of land was gold.


    In the end, people began to erect other living quartets and cities close by. This was how the ''city-state'' was formed, but it wasn''t officially recognised as one for certain reasons.


    Although life was cheaper on the outskirts and surrounding zones of Belfargos City, they couldn''t compare to the grandeur and splendour of the city itself. There was no doubt that hundreds of millions of federal coins had been pumped into this city to make it what it was now.


    Due to the appeal of the city, many who lived in neighbouring cities would still occasionally come to Belfargos for various reasons. Whether it be to appreciate the view, to engage in pleasure, or to purchase items, Belfargos City had a lot of visitors everyday for this reason.


    Of the cities nearest to Belfargos City was Trundel City. The ruler of this city was a family that had relations with the Cardoso family. The Cardoso family was the official name of the Oklo Dynasty branch family from centuries ago, who now ruled Belfargos City.


    Being related to them, one could see how the Trundel family was able to build a city quite close to Belfargos City. Otherwise, the Cardoso family might have taken control or stopped the construction of the city.


    Trundel City might not be as impressive as Belfargos City, but it was still quite prosperous thanks to its location. Even when compared to capital cities of the more average city-states, Trundel City didn''t lose out, especially the economic district.


    Trundel''s economic district played host to a bunch of different stores, whether they were vestige stores, grocery stores, or even desolate beasts body parts. Being close to Belfargos City, some of their products came from the city while others were sourced locally.


    About a week ago, a new store had opened up in Trundel City''s economic district, but there was no fanfare or surprise about this. This was because quite a lot of stores already existed, and some merchants would try their luck to open one. However, underneath the prosperity and liveliness of the city, competition was tough. Due to this, new stores opened weekly, with many of them closing down after a while.


    For those who had noticed the new store, they didn''t pay much attention to it, as they all believed that it would end up the same as the other stores that had popped up. This was even more so after some of them had checked out the store.


    The interior of the store wasn''t luxurious or special, and the owner was a human. Although humans weren''t prejudiced here, they were still seen as nothing extraordinary. The cherry at the top was the fact that the store ''overpriced'' its items. Even if the overall GDP in Trundel City was much higher than in other city-states, it was still expensive for them.


    With all these added together, no one believed that the store would last long here.


    The name of the store: the Heavenly Demonic Shop [1].

 Chapter 217 The Stunned Security Personnel

    On the day that Lucas had disappeared from the Seven Sparks Forge store, just before the incident, the security team that had been tasked with monitoring his every move were calm and relaxed. This was understandable as the surveillance systems and measures used on Lucas were so tight and secure that they weren''t worried. Even if the target was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, he might not be able to get away safely. Just the stellar refinement levels of the BCPC agents were at the second and third level. Meanwhile, the pieces of equipment were of high-grade and could even capture the movement of a fourth level stellar practitioner at their best. On the contrary, Lucas was a human.From this level of setup, it was quite obvious that escaping was impossible, or so they thought. This was why, a few minutes later when nothing came up on the screens, they were stunned.


    One should recall that apart from the usual security cameras, there were surveillance equipment that utilised infra-red, x-ray and even bio-scan technology. These equipment could see through obstacles to create an imagery of the other side. Infra-red and x-ray devices achieved this using electromagnetic radiations or waves invisible to the hyuman eye. Bio-scans worked by reading a unique signature called the origin wave, which only animate beings could give off.


    Previously, every single aspect of the store was under surveillance even without the security team stepping into the building. This included the work-station that Lucas has prohibited others from entering. Using infra-red detectors, they could see the equipment in the work-station and even replicate the layout using AI image mapping and simulation technology. This way, instead of the usual red, yellow, purple and orange lights on an infrared display, the security team could see things almost as clear as if they were there.


    However, when Lucas walked into the work-station with Melissa, the screen displaying the room had turned black. At first, the group thought it to be an equipment malfunction and hurriedly adjusted a different surveillance camera to pick up signatures from there; after all, the target and another suspect were there.


    However, when the display of the second surveillance camera went black as well, the security team realised something weird was going on. That was when one of the investigators in the team of five, who was working on the first display to resolve the technical issue, discovered that it wasn''t a technical issue. The camera, the sensors, the software, the AI and even the display were all working perfectly. But they were simply picking up a black image.


    "Report to the patrol team." The unit commander of the group of five abruptly said.


    It was clear that something fishy was going on, and chances were that it was the work of the target.


    The man who had discovered that it wasn''t a technical problem, hurried to click a button on the projected keyboard. He then yelled right away,


    "Code G9. I repeat, code G9. The target has taken action."


    Outside the building were a group of BCPC agents who were monitoring the area while occasionally looking at the building. An emergency signal was promptly sent to them by the surveillance unit. When they got the message, seven of the agents immediately dashed toward the store from the different directions. Two aimed to force their way in through the window; another two went towards the door. One of them came in through the back and was heading for the backdoor which led directly to the work-station. The last two rode special vehicles and flew in from above. They were planning to force their way into the building from the second floor and secure the area.


    The speed at which the seven men moved was so fast and smooth, it was clear that they weren''t average agents, but possibly members of the special force. Despite that, they faced resistance on their way.


    Stay connected through empire


    *Bang*


    *Bam*


    "Arghhh."


    "Ahhh."


    Whether it was the man who tried barging in through the back, or the two who aimed for the window, they all encountered obstacles. Some of them had tried to force their way in with a kick or ram through the door with their body mass, but they all failed. In fact, they didn''t just fail, but had experienced injuries from the collision.


    Rather than a door or a window, it felt as if what they had gone against was an immovable boulder made of 20 tonnes[1] of steel. Naturally, the backlash was painful.


    "What happened?"


    Both the monitoring team and the other agents in standby were surprised.


    Even the two agents who had tried entering in from above had failed and they landed badly on the ground. Even though the duo were both at the second level, a fall that high especially after suffering a rebound, had left them with major injuries and a dislocation or two.


    "They can''t get in." The assistant to the BCPC lieutenant on standby said.


    "I can clearly see that, you moron. I want to know why!" The lieutenant barked.


    One shouldn''t blame him for his rude outburst, as the man was currently under a lot of pressure.


    Other lieutenants had taken charge with their team and monitored the area with nothing strange happening. However, just a few hours after he had taken the post with his team, the target was making a move yet they couldn''t even get inside the building. If the target were to mysteriously disappear or something, it would be very difficult for the lieutenant to be exonerated of blame.


    "I don''t care how you do it or what you''re going to do, but get in there and bring that guy out!"


    The remaining eight agents in the platoon dashed at the building. Having learnt from the previous seven, they didn''t use their body to force their way in, instead pulling out their vestiges and weapons to attack the building''s possible entrances. Since their lieutenant had given the order, the state of the building didn''t matter anymore; what mattered was fulfilling the task.


    However, even as they tried their best to force their way in, the doors and windows didn''t budge. This was even after a Grade 2 vestige was used to attack the doors and windows.


    "What the hell?"


    Whether it was the lieutenant or the surveillance team watching through the cameras, they were all stunned. This was even more so for the surveillance team.


    With their equipment, the surveillance team had already identified the windows and doors to be made of regular materials. There was also no flow of stellar energy on them, meaning that there was no active stellar matrix or runes. Despite the laid-out facts, these ordinary windows and doors remained firm and took in the full brunt of the agents'' attacks without so much as a scratch on them.


    "Get out of the way." The lieutenant growled, partly disappointed at his men.


    Although he could see that the building was now strange, he refused to believe it. Instead, he presumed that his men were either going easy or simply too weak. However, he was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner; all lieutenants were.


    Armed with a Grade 3 vestige that he has spent his entire savings on, the lieutenant refused to believe that the door wouldn''t break down. However, just to be safe, he aimed for one of the windows in front.


    It was entirely made of glass and was a unique style of floor to ceiling window. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The lieutenant''s vestige was a Grade 3 spear and it was made with special materials with high strength and toughness. With his fourth level stellar energy being pumped into the vestige''s stellar matrices, even a six-inch diamond would get pierced through easily and smashed into pieces.


    "Mad Scorpion Thrust!"


    The lieutenant roared. He was the kind of guy that likes to yell out his technique right before a big attack. That''s right; he was a patient diagnosed with the legendary eighth-grader syndrome [2].


    The technique he used was a martial technique practices by spear users in the Baylands City Patrol Corps. It was nothing special to be exact, and was just similar to how some police agencies mandated their members to learn basic boxing or martial arts. Nonetheless, while this technique wasn''t anything unique, in the hands of someone of the lieutenant, it became a force worth taking note of.


    *Bang*


    The spear connected as it crashed right into the window. A resounding sound burst from the point of collision, but it wasn''t the cracking sound if glass as one would expect.


    Stunned, the crowd stared at the scene only to see the lieutenant flying back before crashing terribly on the floor with a thud. He had been forced back by the rebound force from the attack.


    The members of the team, who had just recovered from the earlier blow, all took in a cold breath of air and couldn''t help but be relieved. This was because, compared to them who were simply tossed backwards, the arm of the lieutenant was currently in an unnatural position. It was clear that he had suffered a severe injury after his attempt.


    "Ahhhh!"


    The pain kicked in at the moment as the lieutenant cried out loud. However, no one felt like laughing.


    The Seven Sparks Forge, which was a store previously known for its impressive technology then regarded with pity for how it became a target of envy and greed, was now shrouded in an air of mystery.


    Meanwhile in the surveillance team''s station, the cameras went back to normal but the team weren''t relieved. On the contrary, they began to sweat heavily as their faces relayed a mix of confusion, nervous, and fright. This was because, although the cameras were now working fine, Lucas as well as Melissa, were nowhere to be seen.

 Chapter 218 Ronny

    Different from Baylands city-state and the rest, the unofficial Belfargos city-state was surrounded by a couple of desolate beasts domains. Considering it was the capital region of the planet, one would expect it to be devoid of such threats. Being so close to a desolate beast domain placed the region at a risk. It was even worse since Belfargos city-state was surrounded by them with a lot of them being classified as major domains.In the case of Baylands city-state, only the main city ¡ªBaylands City¡ª was neighbouring a major domain, the Wastelands and some minor ones like the Bayena Plain. This was because the original Baylands City was built to be a fortress city to prevent the desolate beasts from flooding out of the Wastelands. As for domains like Bayena Plain, they were left to exist as a means for employment and to train the younger generation.


    However, Belfargos city-state occupied a continent alone, and it was next to impossible to swallow such a large space by itself. To put this into perspective, the Bernin continent was the size of Europe while the region of Belfargos city-state was the size of France and Germany combined. While it was very big, there were still a ton of unexplored regions and land in the area. These unowned plots were then occupied by desolate beasts, who could proliferate without concern.


    Although with the power in their control, the Oklo Dynasty ¡ªa power more than three thousand years old¡ª could have wiped out all the beasts, they didn''t. The reason for this was just the same as the minor domains close to Baylands City.


    The Oklo Dynasty didn''t expand its control in the territory simply to let the desolate beasts population flourish and act as a resource spot for the city-state. In other words, the vast expanse of land was their ''farm'' and the desolate beasts were their ''farm animals''.


    Only the Oklo Dynasty could be this confident and bold to pull something like this off. If it were any other power in their position, they would have been assaulted by the desolate beasts and wiped out.


    The existence of so much unexplored regions and land controlled by desolate beasts, gave birth to a rise in occupations related to desolate beasts. As a result, Belfargos city-state became the city-state with the largest number of freelancers and pioneers.


    For other city-states, only the capital city or cities close to a desolate beast domain, had such occupations. But in Belfargos city-state, every major city was home to freelancers, vestige-smiths and pioneers. This was because there were enough resources to go around, and with every city surrounding Belfargos City, they were also exposed to the desolate beast domains.


    Ronny, a fourth level stellar practitioner in Trundel City, was a freelancer who doubled as a pioneer as well. He also had quite a good reputation in the industry.


    Unlike the job of a freelancer that simply dealt with hunting desolate beasts, searching for materials or escort services, pioneers had it harder. They usually worked in unexplored zones, relics and other dangerous sites. They were the vanguard forces, which made their job riskier, but the pay was worth it.


    While freelancers frequented regions that saw multiple visitors every day, pioneers went into the unexplored regions that barely anyone had stepped foot in over a decade. As such, they usually get their hands on treasures and rare items, since they had the ''first pick'' rights.


    In his last outing, Ronny had visited a relic that was believed to have been the home of an ancient civilisation. In this relic, he discovered a unique item. It caught his eye right away, and his instincts as a pioneer told Ronny that it was quite valuable. So, he kept the ring with him despite not knowing its function.


    After returning back to Trundel City, Ronny had visited a few vestige-smith stores and appraisal stores to try and find out the value of the ring or its function. Regardless of whichever store he went on, no one was able to give him a satisfactory reply.


    This wasn''t to say that Trundel City lacked talents in this department, but Ronny had instead gone for the third grade stores and below. As for those higher ranked, the consultation fees were too much for him. There was also a chance that the ring would just be an ordinary artefact or a piece of junk. If that were the case, Ronny would be suffering a great loss.


    Hence, Ronny went for the cheaper stores to minimise his loss. However, that decision came to bite him back and none of them were able to figure out what the ring was exactly. An assessor from an appraisal store had managed to give him a bit of information, identifying the object as an artefact. It was due to this appraisal that Ronny had not given up yet.


    Contrary to vestiges which were products of human and hyuman research, artefacts were products of other civilisations or even ancient races.


    Hyumankin didn''t originally exist in all the planets of the Niera galaxy as they did now. Instead, they had migrated from their home planet. As they became stronger, won wars and seized planets, they also migrated into these planets and expanded their bloodline.


    Some of the original habitants currently coexisted with hyumankin while some had been wiped out and forced into extinction. In some planets, the inhabitants the hyumankin had met with weren''t the original natives, as the natives had been wiped out by the new inhabitants. In a few other planets, multiple species had risen and fallen. All of these resulted in the existence of relics of ancient races.


    With hyumankin now controlling these planets, the relics were left for them to explore. Some of them became rich overnight from their exploration, while others had gained nothing with some losing so much as their lives. The occupation of a pioneer was risky, but in exchange for the risk, the rewards were great. But this wasn''t one hundred percent of the time.


    "Why don''t you just forget about it, Ronny? You''ve already spent over six hundred federal coins on appraisals alone." One of his friends advised him.


    Ronny had a very small reputation in the pioneer community because he was quite friendly with others. Today, he went out with some of his close friends, and everyone of them was aware of his predicament.


    "He''s right. Although you''ve confirmed it''s an artefact, it might be a dud. Just sell it as one." Another one said.


    Not all artefacts were of value. While most artefacts were the ancient races'' equivalent of vestiges, some of them weren''t even as powerful as a Grade 1 vestige. Some could not even be used as weapons, and were merely items of luxury or just for fancy. These artefacts were usually termed as duds by pioneers.


    Even though duds weren''t as valuable as the more useful artefacts, they were still of some value to researchers and certain vestige-smiths. The distinctive and rare runes used to make artefacts as well as the extraordinary methods and materials used in making them were of research value to these vestige-smiths.


    However, it didn''t mean that one could sell these duds at a high price; after all, their usage value was either nonexistent or very low. It was why Ronny was unwilling to do so.


    At the same time, what if the ring turned out to be an exceptional artefact? Wouldn''t he be suffering an even worse loss if he sold it at the value of a dud?


    "Na. Never. I''d rather eat my loss as it is." Ronny gulped a mouthful of beer after shaking his head to the suggestion.


    The others sighed and some shook their heads, wondering why Ronny was so stubborn.


    Even though pioneers made more than others and there was a higher cashflow in Trundel City, six hundred federal coins was still not a small amount. One should recall that in Baylands City, four hundred federal coins was the minimum salary in the West Wing district. Even for the luxurious Central Prefecture district, this value was merely raised by one hundred federal coins.


    "In that case, why don''t you try out the new stores?" suggested one of the pioneers who wore a black shirt.


    "The new stores? You might as well go to a love hotel." The first man joked.


    Generally, new stores weren''t looked up to a lot. This was because the owners were startups or foreign companies trying to break into the market. Compared to the locals who had already developed a reputation, it was difficult to ascertain the level of expertise a new store had.


    One should know that vestige-smith stores didn''t just sell vestiges. They also offered services such as repairs, maintenance, custom creation, and even appraisals.


    "I''m being serious. Or have you forgotten about Jeremy and the White Fox shop?" The black-clothed man said.


    Everyone''s eyes immediately sharpened. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jeremy was a freelancer, but he wasn''t famous or strong, at least not until recently. It all started over a month ago, when Jeremy patronised a new store.


    Back then, the store had only been open for three days and so no one paid attention to it. After all, every week or so, a new store opened up and would close down within three months. However, Jeremy decided to try his luck and walked into the store.


    After a bit of window-shopping, Jeremy eventually bought a random vestige at a suspiciously low price. What''s more, he wasn''t even informed of its grade. It wasn''t until he had tried it out after getting home did he realise that it was a Grade 4 vestige.


    A Grade 4 vestige was a valuable piece of equipment. In other city-states, only the strongest freelancers and personnel or those from top factions would have one. This was because Tier 1 Masters were rare.


    Although Belfargos city-state had more Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths than an average city-state, Grade 4 vestiges still didn''t sell for cheap.


    With a Grade 4 vestige in hand, a stellar practitioner''s strength would be boosted by at least one level, and maybe up to two. From this, one could see how valuable they were. To have bought one at a ridiculously low price was a miracle that occurred once in a blue moon. Experience more on empire


    When Jeremy returned to the store to try his luck again, it was closed and the owner had disappeared.


    After that incident, Jeremy went on to use the vestige and become famous. He had even narrated his experience to others in hopes that someone would help him find the store owner to thank the man, and maybe try his luck once again.


    "Who knows, you might be as lucky."

 Chapter 219 The Ring

    While drinking with his friends, Ronny decided to go with his friend''s advice and check out some of the new stores. A few of them ¡ªthe man who suggested the idea included¡ª agreed to meet up with Ronny the next day to tag along. Who knew whether Ronny''s luck might turn up, hence why they decided to accompany him.Since those stores were new and had to compete with the old timers, they offered perks to customers. Most of the time, those perks were cheaper services, which was why Ronny wasn''t against the idea.


    . . .


    The next day came soon enough and Ronny stood by the east entrance of the Bilac trade centre. The trade centre was the largest market for vestiges, desolate beasts body parts, materials and all things desolate beasts in Trundel City. It was the gathering place of the majority of stores, with the only ones not here being blacksmith stores and other necessities.


    "Yo, Ronny."


    A man called out to Ronny. It was the guy with the black shirt from the previous night. He went by the name Ando, and was a close colleague of Ronny for over five years.


    "Hey, Ando. You''re earlier than I expected." Ronny smiled.


    "I can say the same about you. Seems like you''re looking forward to this huh?" Ando teased.


    Ronny immediately turned his head to the side as he rushed to switch the topic.


    "The others...?"


    "They''re on their way." Ando responded.


    It didn''t take up to three minutes before three other men showed up. They were all Ronny''s friends and were present last night for their drinking session.


    After greeting each other, Ronny then led the way with Ando.


    "Let''s go then."


    . . .


    "Big brother, I''m hungry." Melissa stared at Lucas with puppy eyes.


    There was a blueprint in front of her, featuring a unique bracelet with complex inscriptions and formulae by the side. This was a vestige that Melissa had designed all on her own, after receiving guidance from Lucas.


    "Okay, okay." Lucas smiled as he stood up and walked into the kitchen. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike the previous building they lived in, this one had more rooms. It was still a two storey building, but there was now a basement underneath. The basement had both the store and the work-station, making it isolated from the customers. Such a layout was much to Lucas'' preference and he felt a lot more comfortable working here.


    It had been over a month since the two siblings fled from Baylands City. When Lucas had used the Branch Travel skill, he landed with Melissa in a building in Belfargos city-state but not Trundel City. The city was quite far from Trundel City; to be exact, in the opposite direction.


    Similar to Alleva district, the city was a grey zone with all sorts of shady activities and organisations there. It was the best place to wipe away their traces.


    To ensure that the Baylands City Patrol Corps didn''t suspect anything, Lucas had previously bought two other buildings in similar shady locations like this but in other city-states.


    Right after that, Lucas removed the building''s designation as a store and left there with Melissa.


    After getting new identity cards for both him and Melissa, Lucas then spent a month in a different city, building up a profile to work with. He started out as a blacksmith and engineer, before working as a repairman.


    Once a month was over, Lucas then left the city for his original destination, Trundel City. Discover stories with empire


    The reason why Lucas had gone through a roundabout way was to eliminate his and Melissa''s traces and build a fake profile to lessen suspicion. Even if the Baylands City Patrol Corps was to investigate every building he had purchased, they would find it impossible to track down Lucas thanks to his setup.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had lived a majority of his life alone and a significant part on the run. Even while with his master, the duo had lived a nomadic life and would occasionally wipe away their traces to prevent enemies from tracking them. As such, Lucas had a knack for escaping a crime scene undetected and going ''invisible''.


    Currently, they have been living in Trundel for over a week now, but nothing has come of it. Lucas had yet to receive any job or orders.


    This was understandable since the Bilac trade centre was home to many top vestige-smiths and companies. It would be difficult for a newcomer to standout, even if they employ marketing tricks like reducing prices or offering free services for a period of time. This was why Lucas didn''t bother replicating his actions from when he had just started out in Baylands City. Instead, he just ran the store normally.


    However, this would become a problem for him because rent wasn''t cheap here. The building Lucas and Melissa stayed in cost three thousand federal coins per month. Back in Baylands City, that was roughly the price Lucas had bought the Seven Sparks Forge building for. But here, it could only cover a month''s rent in the biggest market.


    With the fifty thousand federal coins he had left, Lucas had spent a large part of it to rent the building for half a year, since he intended to stay here for at least that long. However, for that to be successful, Lucas a way had to find a way to make money.


    Just as soon as he was done making breakfast, the store''s doorbell rang.


    . . .


    Ronny and his friends had spent a few hours roaming around the Bilac trade centre. They had visited a few stores, with the majority being new ones as intended. However, every store failed to identify what exactly the ring was. Some were even unable to recognise that it was an artefact and claimed it was a simple accessory from an older civilization.


    All the responses he got made Ronny disappointed and begin to question whether this was a good idea. There was also a voice inside of Ronny that told him maybe this ring was indeed a dud. Despite that, maybe it was due to his stubbornness or his unwillingness to just stop here, Ronny didn''t give up.


    "Where to now?" One of his friends asked.


    Although Ronny hadn''t achieved his goals yet, his friends had their knowledge widened. They encountered some interesting stores which had items they piqued their attention. Some of them had bought vestiges and equipment along the way, while the others simply took note of stores they regarded nicely.


    "I don''t know." Ronny sighed.


    "How about over there?" Ando pointed at a store.


    The store''s appearance looked quite recent and fresh, implying that it has yet to exist in this place for a month. It definitely counted as a newcomer.


    "A friend of mine once went there, but the insane prices drove him out in anger."


    "If the prices are sky-high, doesn''t that mean it''s a scam?" One of them asked.


    "Impossible. No one is foolish enough to try to rip people off in Trundel City." Ando shook his head.


    Trundel City, being quite close to Belfargos City, had one of the highest security standards and levels of all neighbouring cities of Belfargos City. At the same time, the city guards ensured that all activities in the Bilac trade centre were fair and legal.


    Scamming someone here would lead to punishment as small as two years in prison with a hefty fine slapped on top, or even having one''s arms chopped off. No one was dumb enough to do tjay.


    "Then, if it''s not a scam, you mean the items are definitely worth the price?"


    Ando didn''t respond to the man because he also wasn''t sure if this.


    "There''s only one way to find out." Ronny sai as he stared at the signboard.


    Written on it with impressive calligraphy were the words ''Heavenly Demonic Shop''.

 Chapter 220 Ronnys Request

    *Ding*Although the new Heavenly Demonic Shop was styled differently from the Seven Sparks Forge store, it harboured some similarities with the former. A notable exam was the bell that hung behind the door. Whenever the door was pushed open, the bell would be rung, signifying that a guest had stepped in.


    Lucas, who just left the kitchen, glanced at the door just in time to see a group of five men walk into the store.


    While he was a bit surprised, Lucas didn''t feel much about it. Occasionally, there would be a customer or two, but in the end, they would all leave without buying anything.


    The reason for this was simple; the prices of the items were absurd from their perspective.


    One should know that compared to Belfargos city-state, the other city-states'' vestige-smith technology was behind. City-states like Baylands revered Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths and had very few of them. However, in Belfargos city-state, Tier 1 Masters, although not exaggeratedly plentiful, were a lot. There were even a few Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths; characters who could make Grade 5 vestiges.


    With the absence of Tier 1 Apex vestige-smiths, who made Grade 6 vestiges, the highest rank in Eretre was Tier 1 Grandmaster. And it just so happened that over ninety percent (90%) of them were all gathered in Belfargos city-state. Thanks to so many grandmasters being present, they were able to foster more vestige-smiths and even Tier 1 Masters.


    Apart from the high concentration of skilled vestige-smiths, Belfargos city-state was also rich in resources. Being the only city-state on the Bernin continent, the entire continent''s resources was theirs to use. With so much resources, vestige-smiths were able to produce even more vestiges which was why the occupation flourished here. The abundance of resources also attracted foreign vestige-smiths to relocate here, and the industry became saturated.


    All these factors made it difficult for new stores to be able to stand out and seize a portion of the market. To stand a chance, these stores would sell at low prices, offer discounts, or promo events, all just to attract customers. Although this wasn''t a sure-fire method, it still gave them a slight chance at survival.


    However, Lucas'' Heavenly Demonic Shop didn''t do any of that. There were no discounts, coupons, of special sales available, and with his vestiges costing more than other stores, it was inevitable that he would fail to attract any customer.


    As such, when Lucas saw the group of five, he only had a slight reaction to their presence.


    "W, welcome." Melissa stuttered as she glanced at the group.


    Recently, she had been helping Lucas with the store because she was bored and tired or staying upstairs all the time. But also, Melissa wanted to conquer her social anxiety. Lucas was impressed by her guts and agreed to the idea. With the system''s protection, he didn''t need to worry about her within the store.


    "Oh, hey there little lady." One of the men smiled at her.


    He was a father and seeing Melissa, he was reminded of his little daughter back at home in a different city. Unfortunately, the life of a pioneer was one filled with danger and work. They usually spent a lot of time away from home, and barely returned often. The man couldn''t help but wonder how his daughter was doing.


    "Fine." Melissa muttered shyly.


    Ronny nodded at Melissa before turning towards Lucas. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At first, he was surprised by Lucas. It wasn''t because the latter was carrying a tray with plates of food. Instead, it was because he could sense that Lucas was a human.


    Hyumans had an innate ability to be able to feel a resonance with each other. It was a strange sensation that couldn''t exactly be put in words, but it only occurred upon seeing the other side. Whenever a hyuman glanced at an individual and didn''t get this feeling, it could only mean that the other side was either of a different species or a human.


    Humans weren''t rare in Belfargos city-state. On the contrary, there were quite a few of them. The reason was because Belfargos was more accepting of humans than any other city-state, with Digress city-state being the only exception. This was the main reason Lucas had relocated here.


    Apparently, it had to do with the fact that the major backer of humanity lived here. Find your next read at empire


    Digress city-state was a unique city-state in the sense that it was the only city-state majorly populated by humans and hybrids. However, because of its uniqueness, it became a target for other city-states. If it were left alone, it would eventually be attacked by the other city-states who suspected it to be a base of terrorists. Whether this suspicion was true or false didn''t matter to them.


    Just when everyone thought that the city-state of Digress would fall, a powerhouse from Belfargos City had relayed an order that prevented the other city-states from attacking. He also helped Digress city-state receive official recognition from the Emperor, granting them an official status and preventing the other city-states from having thoughts against them. After all, there was an imperial edict which prevented city-states officially recognised under the Oklo Dynasty from attacking one another.


    The man who had helped save Digress city-state lived in Belfargos City, and with his presence here, Belfargos city-state became a safe zone for humans.


    There was also the fact that the federal law treated all species as equal. It would be ironic for the capital of Eretre to blatantly disregard this law, even if Eretre was seen as a backwater.


    Ronny brushed off his concerns about the species of the store owner and focused on the person instead. In Belfargos city-state, there were no lack of stores with human employees.


    "I need an appraisal done on this."


    This was the first service Ronny would request from a store. If they managed to identify the ring to be an artefact, he would then ask for more clues. Eighty after that, he would place an order request for the ring to be fixed, if possible.


    So far, Ronny had visited about seventeen stores, but only six of them made it past the first round by identifying the ring as an artefact. All six, however, gave different opinions on what the ring could be, with two of them claiming it to be duds. However, Ronny didn''t believe any of them since they couldn''t really give a solid explanation for their ''analysis''. As such, no store has reached up to the third stage.


    Although he was somewhat hopeful that the truth would eventually come to light, Ronny doubted it would be in this store.

 Chapter 221 A Relic From The Past

    "I need an appraisal done on this."Ronny handed the ring to Lucas.


    Typically, appraisal services were divided into two: a basic appraisal which was usually free and wouldn''t reveal much information about the item, and a detailed appraisal which was the opposite of the former.


    What Ronny wanted was a basic appraisal, so as to know whether Lucas could identify the item.


    "That will cost twenty federal coins." Lucas said.


    "..."


    Ronny glanced at Lucas, surprised by this.


    "Don''t basic appraisals go for free?" Explore stories on empire


    "We don''t offer basic appraisals in this store. So, twenty federal coins." Lucas nonchalantly replied as he sat down behind the checkout counter and took a dish from the tray.


    The food was made using somewhat common ingredients from a nearby desolate beast domain and it was garnished with desolate beast meat.


    During the launch of the Legacy Crafts dealership, the dishes for the event were cooked using special ingredients and desolate beast meat. The taste caught Lucas'' interest and ever since then, he had always wanted to try making something similar. In Belfargos city-state, there was no lack of desolate beast domains and so, many businesses depending on resources from the domains came to be. This included meat shops that sold desolate beast meat.


    After hearing his response, Ronny, as well as his colleagues, were left dumbfounded. Ronny even began to think that Lucas was a scammer.


    Since the store didn''t offer basic appraisals, customers would be left with no option than to pay for one. However, who was to say that the results of the appraisal was correct?


    One reason for the concept of basic appraisals was for vestige-smiths to showcase their ability. It could also tempt more customers to their store since no one hated free services.


    However, Lucas, or to be specific, the system didn''t care about that. The appraisal service was a new service listed by the system after Lucas had opened the branch in Trundel City. Since it was listed by the system, Lucas had to follow the price arrangement for it.


    "And what happens if you''re wrong?" Ronny frowned.


    "We don''t make errors in this store. However, if we''re unable to appraise your item, your money will be refunded." Lucas calmly replied.


    How could he make an error with an appraisal? Even though the majority of his skill and knowledge came from his previous toe lives, Lucas doubted that there was a vestige or magic weapon he could not identify its functions.


    One should recall that Lucas is a Grandmaster forger. Being able to reach the rank of Grandmaster in his first life wasn''t simply a testament to his skills, but also his knowledge and ability. Unlike the other ranks beneath it, the rank of Grandmaster implied that the holder was skilled in various types of techniques and mystical energy. After all, Lucas'' first world had more than two types of mystical energy.


    It was thanks to his skill and abilities as a Grandmaster that Lucas didn''t face significant challenges making a vestige in this world, even with the absence of mana.


    But it wasn''t like he could just tell Ronny that.


    Ronny, on the other hand, was slightly incensed by the response as he couldn''t believe there was a store confident to claim that they would never make appraisal errors.


    Although most vestige-smiths were properly trained and had an abundance of experience, none would dare to say that their appraisals were always accurate. Usually, their success rate was around ninety seven percent (97%) for vestiges, and forty to seventy percent (50%-70%) for artefacts, and this was when using modern technology. This was because the technology and techniques used for crafting artefacts were entirely different from vestiges. Some of these artefacts even utilised a different power source and inscriptions, which made it difficult for vestige-smiths to figure out how they worked or what they were used for.


    Since the ring was an artefact, the success rate for appraisals was low. This was why six of the stores he had been to had given Ronny different results. Maybe one might be accurate, but there was no saying so unless they could fix it.


    "Why don''t you give it a shot?" Ando suggested.


    Since they were already here and the appraisal only cost twenty federal coins, it wasn''t a problem. Previously, Ronny had been to seventeen stores and only six managed to identify the ring as an artefact after a basic appraisal. Right after that, Ronny had paid for a detailed appraisal which cost him six hundred federal coins.


    Compared to the total six hundred federal coins he spent across six stores ¡ªaveraging one hundred federal coins per store¡ª the Heavenly Demonic Shop''s twenty federal coins fee didn''t seem like much.


    Ronny eventually decided to go with the suggestion and handed Lucas his card.


    "Go ahead."


    Having received a request, Lucas dropped his plate to get to work. He handed the card to Melissa, who similarly abandoned her food and scurried to the desktop with the card in hand. Lucas had already taught her what she needed to do to assist him in the store, so he wasn''t worried about it. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Meanwhile, Lucas picked up the ring and walked towards the work-station. Truth be told, he could identify the item on the spot, but no one would find it believable since he was a human. In that case, he might as well just fake a scene.


    When he got to the work-station, Lucas took out a piece of equipment from his system inventory. It was a set of glasses that had a magnification rune engraved on them. The pair of glasses was a new vestige he made back in Baylands City to help with inscriptions on stellar processors. Stellar processors were very small, with some being just the size of a fingernail. To make an inscription on one was very difficult and a magnifying equipment was necessary.


    Using the glasses, Lucas gazed at the ring to study the inscriptions on it.


    ''This...!''


    Lucas was immediately astounded by his discovery.


    At first, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing and immediately took out a block of metal from his inventory. Using the Materialization Technique, Lucas drew out the stellar energy within the block of metal and applied a bit of it to the ring. Although the ring''s inscriptions were damaged, part of it remained usable. However, those parts could be counted on one hand and wouldn''t generate an effect, which was why other vestige-smiths had failed to appraise the ring.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t interested in any of that. His goal was to see the flow of stellar energy through those functional inscriptions.


    As he sensed this, Lucas'' eyes widened even more until he finally let out a strange sigh.


    The ring wasn''t a vestige; it was an artefact just as the previous vestige-smiths had figured out. However, it wasn''t just an ordinary artefact, it was a magic artefact. That''s right; the ring was most likely a product of the world from Lucas'' first life.


    This was an incredible discovery.


    Initially, Lucas had presumed that all the worlds were different but possibly related. He had thought this way while on Earth, presuming that one of the solar systems or even the nearby Andromeda Galaxy in space was his original world. There was no way to have confirmed this as it was impossible for him to get stronger on Earth, and the technology there was lacking.


    Nonetheless, upon reaching Eretre, Lucas had his original presumption challenged.


    The hyumankin ruled an entire galaxy, which when compared to humans on Earth, the difference was clear. Their technology was also far ahead of Earth and capable of communicating light-years away and exploring new galaxies.


    Apart from the Niera galaxy, there were a few other galaxies discovered by the hyumankin but none like the Milky Way galaxy. This made Lucas begin to wonder whether Earth was even in the same universe as he was. Although a plausible explanation was that the Milky Way galaxy was too far, Lucas didn''t want to hold onto false hope.


    Lucas began to wonder whether he would ever return to his previous world or even find Earth. It was possible that the three worlds might not be in the same universe. However, seeing this ring gave him hope.


    ''No use thinking about it for now.''


    Lucas kept his ideas behind his head and focused on the ring.


    Since it was a product of the magical world, it was even easier for Lucas to analyse it and give a proper evaluation. In a short while, Lucas figured out the ring''s function, its features, and even the restoration process for the inscriptions on it.


    However, during his scrutiny, Lucas discovered that the runes used on the ring were intended for a different mystical energy than mana or even stellar energy. Although it would still work using either of the two, it wouldn''t be as a efficient as when using the intended mystical energy. This could only mean that the rising was made by someone below the Grandmaster rank.


    This in turn made Lucas question his original suspicion that the ring was from his world. Although the manufacturing technique was similar, it was quite possible that it wasn''t from his world but a mere coincidence. However, Lucas lacked the time and resources to investigate further.


    Done with the appraisal, Lucas gathered his thoughts and left the work-station to meet with his client.

 Chapter 222 Ronnys Request 2

    Lucas arrived back at the shop''s main area where he met with Ronny and his teammates. Previously, just before he left, Lucas had displayed the price rates for services and products in the Heavenly Demonic Shop for the group after one of them had requested for it. As he returned from the work-station, Lucas could clearly sense that there was a different air amongst the group members."This much for a custom Grade 3 vestige? I might as well rob a bank."


    Lucas overheard the comments from the men, but he remained unbothered by them as he arrived at the counter.


    "I''m done. Here''s the evaluation."


    Lucas tapped on the screen of the display, thereby transferring data from his communicator into the display. It was a document which contained the summarised details and functions of the ring. Lucas had drafted the document on his way back up and had an AI edit and format it. All of that took a few seconds and by the time he had arrived at the counter, the document was ready.


    Ronny glanced at the display and browsed the information on it.


    At first, he had no reaction to the document. But as he kept on reading, Ronny''s expression changed from a plain face to one of interest, curiosity, confusion and finally, astonishment.


    The document was quite detailed and it explained the functions of the ring as well as the nature of the materials used. The only thing missing was the name of the materials as well as the dating of the artefact''s creation and its history. But Ronny was already quite satisfied with this, after all, no one else had given him such a detailed writeup.


    What was left was to confirm the veracity of this information.


    To do so, it wasn''t exactly complicated. All Ronny had to do was ask Lucas to restore the ring back to its original form. However, this came with a huge risk.


    Vestige-smithing was an occupation born from the combination of three independent occupations: engineering, blacksmithing and inscription techniques. Every one of these occupations required an immense level of skill, talent, experience and knowledge for one to succeed in them. With vestige-smithing being a combination of the three, the degree of difficulty was even higher.


    This was pronounced both when creating, upgrading, or even restoring a vestige or artefact.


    If the wrong inscription and restoration methods were used on a vestige or artefact, not only would it not function any longer, but the existing inscriptions on it might be destroyed. It would essentially become a spoiled product that could only be sold for scraps. One had to use the appropriate method and inscriptions when fixing a vestige, otherwise they could risk damaging it. After all, vestiges were products of complex calculations, high manufacturing precision and a high degree of skill.


    Usually, when restoring or upgrading a vestige, when it came to the inscriptions, the vestige-smith had the option to either layer new inscriptions, erase the existing ones, or fix the inscriptions.


    Layering was a technique that required the vestige-smith to add in a new set of inscriptions without interfering with the existing ones. This was immensely difficult with only Tier 1 peak Masters or Grandmasters capable of pulling it off.


    As for working on the origin inscriptions, this was the true method used for restoring artefacts, however, not anyone could do it. It was very difficult as not only did it require a high degree of skill to pull off, but also the relevant knowledge about the existing inscriptions.


    Hence, the most common option used by vestige-smiths for upgrading or restoring was to erase the previous inscriptions. Even Lucas had used the erasing method back in Baylands City whenever he wanted to upgrade a vestige, albeit because it was the only method he could use at the moment. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With the previous vestige-smiths he had encountered, Ronny didn''t take the risk of letting them restore the ring since their appraisals were lacking. This implied that they knew too little about the artefact''s manufacturing method, so they couldn''t use the second method and would have to resort to erasing the original inscriptions.


    However, once that was erased, not only would the value of the ring drop, but there was no guarantee that the new inscriptions could perform the same function as the old ones since the vestige-smiths didn''t understand it completely.


    Because of that, even though there were six vestige-smiths that had successfully appraisee the ring to be an artefact, Ronny didn''t have them attempt to restore it.


    However, Lucas'' appraisal report tempted him to give it a try. Nonetheless, the risks were too much.


    As if sensing his hesitation, Lucas spoke up,


    "I can restore the artefact, but it would cost you."


    "You can?" Ronny was surprised.


    "Indeed. I learned from my master." Lucas responded.


    The excuse of a master was once again used, as Lucas felt he needed a believable explanation to be able to use vestige-smithing techniques in public.


    In Belfargos city-state, there was no lack of stores with human employees. Some humans had even worked under Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths and successfully breached the impassable boundary, becoming Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smiths.


    A Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith could make vestiges below the Apertures Opening stage and attempt creating a Grade 1 vestige.


    With Belfargos city-state being accepting of humans, it was inevitable that some of the stellar refinement methods used in Digress city-state had been smuggled here. Hence, humans could possess stellar energy, albeit only until the second level. Any more than that and their body would explode. The true secrets to going beyond that remained in Digress city-state.


    "How about your master, can''t he help me instead?" Ronny asked.


    Although Lucas said he could fix it, Ronny felt more confident giving the job to Lucas'' ''master''. After all, chances were that the mysterious figure was a Tier 1 Grandmaster, or at the very least a Tier 1 peak Master. Someone at that level could make Grade 5 or peak Grade 4 vestiges, and had an abundance of experience and knowledge. Chances were they could aid him.


    Previously, Ronny had avoided stores with such figures since the cost would be unimaginable, but the Heavenly Demonic Shop was new and the prices of the services were cheaper than other stores; a sharp contrast to its vestige prices.


    Since the appraisal only cost twenty federal coins, Ronny felt the artefact would not be too costly to restore.


    "I can''t. He''s away on a trip and I don''t know when he would be back." Lucas nonchalantly replied before returning to his meal.


    While it was true that he ran the store, from the very beginning, Lucas wasn''t too interested in doing this job. If it wasn''t for the system, he would have shut down long ago.


    "Ronny..." Ando glanced at him.


    He knew how desperate Ronny was over this ring. The others in their circle didn''t get it, but Ando did.


    Pioneers earned a lot, but they also spent a lot more. In Ronny''s case, he was currently in serious debt and needed to find a way to pay before the deadline. That was why he began exploring relics. Although hunting desolate beasts would pay, the difficulty and dangers involved was very high. On the contrary, exploring relics was a mix of occasional dangers and safety. The reward could even be as high, if not higher, than a level four desolate beast corpse''s value.


    Ronny had found this ring in a unique relic that was said to be from a certain era. Many valuable artefacts had come from that relic, although there were duds as well. However, this didn''t dampen Ronny''s hope that this ring was definitely valuable.


    After hesitating for a while, Ronny took a deep breath.


    "How much will it cost?"


    Lucas raised one finger as his mouth was currently munching on a piece of meat.


    "Ten federal coins?"


    Lucas gave Ronny a look of disgust and shook his head.


    "One hundred?" Ronny asked again, slightly embarrassed for his earlier guess.


    Lucas still shook his head.


    "...one thousand federal coins?" Ronny widened his eyes.


    Lucas nodded at the price.


    "Ro-" Ronny suddenly held himself back.


    Discover hidden tales at empire


    The price of one thousand federal coins might seem high, but it necessarily wasn''t. At the same time, the price for restoring an artefact depended on the difficulty. Since the price was at one thousand federal coins, it was quite possible that the artefact would cost more than that. However, there were also some duds that were difficult to restore.


    Once again, Ronny was faced with a gamble.


    "Here." Ronny fished out his credit card once again.


    Lucas passed it to Melissa who was previously showing the other guests some of the vestiges on the screen. It seemed like she had gotten better with talking to people which made Lucas feel glad.


    After wiping his mouth clean, Lucas told Ronny,


    "Three hours."


    Then turned to leave with the ring.


    "Hey, hold up." Ronny called out to him.


    "What would happen if you fail?"


    One thousand federal coins was not a small money to him, as it already exceeded what he had spent on previous appraisals. As such, Ronny wouldn''t tolerate a failure in the restoration so easily.


    "Like I said before, failures and errors don''t exist here."

 Chapter 223 Restoring The Artefact

    After leaving behind Ronny and his friends, Lucas returned to the work-station once more. The task this time around was to restore an artefact; a vestige from a different era.Based on the channels of the inscriptions on the ring, Lucas was able to figure out exactly what it was and how it worked. He was also familiar with the structural style of the inscription.


    With all this preliminary knowledge, naturally fixing it wasn''t a huge issue. But there was his lack of stellar energy which further complicated the request. Apart from that, the materials used for the engravings were outdated and couldn''t be identified. So, Lucas would have to make appropriate substitutions as he saw fit.


    Whenever a vestige was made, so much calculations went into the design and simulation from the vestige-smith. To the outside world, they were blacksmiths who earned more, but the truth could not be any farther from this.


    For a vestige-smith, their vestige was a product of so much effort gone into calculation, simulation and construction. Whether it was the size or shape of the vestige, the type of materials used, sizes of inscriptions and so on, everything was considered before smithing. Since Lucas wanted to fix the ring the proper way, he had to find out all those necessary values.


    After that was done, the next step was to use the relevant knowledge to produce a simulation of possible solutions. This was the trial aspect which enabled vestige-smiths to be able to create a simulation and test out different plausible solutions in it. This way, they could try and fail as much as they liked.


    However for Lucas, there was no such thing as a failure. In fact, Lucas didn''t even need to use a computer for this stage as most vestige-smiths would. Instead, he was fully capable of handling everything.


    With his eyes shut, Lucas went through a recreated version of the ring in his imagination and tried different items and inscription methods with it. He spent ten minutes in silence. In those ten minutes, Lucas had simulated at least forty different processes. It wasn''t until he found a suitable one that Lucas opened his eyes and began to work.


    Firstly, Lucas put on the same pair of glasses he had used previously. Since the ring was so small, the pair of glasses was necessary especially as Lucas couldn''t use magnification spells.


    Apart from the glasses, Lucas opened a drawer that was filled with tools and took out some equipment necessary for work. One of them was an inscription pen but with a very tiny tip suitable for the ring.


    Following that, Lucas began to work on the artefact.


    The ring was crafted with a unique type of metal that was not only conducive for mystical energy conduction, but with a high hardness and durability rating. There was also an inscription added onto it to increase these two qualities. This was one of the reasons it had been able to survive centuries and still maintain its form.


    The inscriptions used on the ring weren''t the hyumankin''s stellar matrices or stellar runes. Instead, it resembled magic runes from Lucas'' first life, especially in its operational mechanism. However, after further scrutiny, Lucas had discovered that the inscriptions were different from magic runes as well, albeit very similar to them. Find your adventure at empire


    Due to the fact that the unknown inscriptions were quite similar to magic runes, Lucas was confident that he could fix them without having to erase it.


    Concentrating his efforts, Lucas dived right into it and began restoring the rings.


    First, he worked on the physical form of the ring without damaging the inscriptions. Even though the materials used, as well as the inscriptions, made the artefact quite lasting, there were still some damages done to it. Even a work by a high level magic blacksmith, be could not have survived centuries without being damaged.


    Although the ring wasn''t made by a high level magic blacksmith, it was properly preserved which was why it had lasted so long. Even then, it was still rusted and had some chipped parts.


    This was an arduous task but it was still doable.


    First, Lucas got rid of the rust, but he couldn''t use a dissolving liquid to do so. If he had stellar energy, Lucas could just ''brush'' it all over the artefact and get rid of the rust. While he could achieve the same effect using blood energy, it was quite wasteful. As such, Lucas did things the old way; by filing.


    Since he had to get rid of the rust without damaging the inscriptions, this took Lucas longer than usual, but he was still faster than other vestige-smiths.


    After ten minutes, the rust was cleared. Next was to restore the ring''s original form.


    Some parts of the ring had been chipped and missing a bit. Lucas could file the entire ring and bring it to a proper form, but he would end up reducing the size of the ring and this would interfere with the inscriptions and functionality of the ring. So, what he had to do was to add in material to the ring. This meant that Lucas had to measure the size of the missing parts and recreate it, before fusing the replacement parts to the ring.


    Compared to removing the rust, this was an even more challenging task. This was because the missing parts were so tiny, with some being just a bit larger than a speck of dust. The majority of the missing parts weren''t even half the size of a baby''s finger nail. To recreate such missing parts and then attach them to the ring was incredibly difficult.


    For this, Lucas spent over forty minutes alone. Truth be told, he felt that he took more time than he should have, but Lucas'' weak state didn''t allow him to be any faster. Nonetheless, forty minutes to replicate and fuse fifteen missing pieces that were smaller than a toddler''s finger nail was already impressive.


    After he was done repairing the physical structure of the artefact, Lucas then moved onto the inscriptions.


    Since it resembled magic runes, Lucas decided to call them magi runes.


    The magi runes operated on the same theory as magic runes, which made their form and operation logic quite similar. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    To put this in a very simplistic analogy, one could say mystical energy was just like energy on Earth where we have solar, wind, hydro, heat, mechanical, electricity and other forms of energy. But in essence, they were still energy. In the same way, mystical energy had different forms like stellar energy, blood energy, soul energy, mana, true qi and so on, but they were all still mystical energy.


    However, for the mystical energy used by magi runes and magic runes, they were very similar. An equivalent Earth analogy would be just like the difference between Direct Current (DC) electricity and Alternating Current (AC) electricity. They were both different forms of electricity but still the same.


    Now since both runes used two very similar mystical energies, their structures ended up appearing to be the same.


    An appropriate analogy would be that the two inscriptions were like electric lines. Just as different civilisations used different types of inscriptions depending on their research direction, in the same way, different countries had different ratings and measurements for their electric cables.


    For instance, the standard voltage rating in the USA is 110-120v while Europe uses 220-240v. Because of this difference, American electric cables were thicker than their European counterparts. Apart from that, even the colour demarcation for the cables were also different.


    But even with all these differences and more, the cables still conducted electricity. They were still made of copper or an appropriate metal, and they still had a very similar general appearance, ignoring the size difference.


    Similarly, magi and magic runes worked the same. They both still operated using mystical energies that were almost the same just as American and European cables conducted electricity. So, even though there might be differences in the sizes, structures and forms of the runes, there were still a ton of common points.


    Although the two runes used different mystical energies, the mystical energies were quite similar to each other, which was why the runes ended up being similar.


    As such, Lucas was confident that he could work on the artefact. However, this wasn''t the only reason why. If he were just an ordinary magic blacksmith, then Lucas would have lacked the courage to try this out. However, he was a Grandmaster magic blacksmith.


    Every Grandmaster magic blacksmith had to have experience working with various mystical energies before they could be recognised as a Grandmaster. In his past life, Lucas had worked with mana, true qi, blood energy, soul energy, material energy, void energy, and many other mystical energies. This was why even without having stellar energy, he could still produce vestiges ahead of the market relying solely on blood or material energy.


    Even though the artefact before him was made using the principles of an unknown mystical energy, the fact that such mystical energy had similarities with mana as well as his abundant experience with various mystical energies, reduced the difficulty level for Lucas.


    Nonetheless, without possessing an abundance of mystical energy, it would still be difficult for Lucas to restore the artefact so easily. At the same time, even if it was restored, the artefact can never be able to perform at one hundred percent. This was because it was designed with a specific type of mystical energy in mind.


    Unless one could use such energy to operate it, or obtain mana ¡ªwhich was very similar to it¡ª the artefact would perform at only eighty percent (80%) of its real strength. And this was only thanks to the fact that Lucas would make some tweaks to it. Otherwise, even if it were to be fully restored, it would only operate at around forty to sixty percent (40%-60%) while using stellar energy.

 Chapter 224 Restoring The Artefact 2

    Ronny and his friends remained in the store waiting for Lucas to be done. Three hours wasn''t a lot of time for them and the Heavenly Demonic Shop had a lot of time-killing features. For instance, the simulation room that existed in the Seven Sparks Forge was present in the new shop. Customers could go to the room and test out their vestiges in action.The group of five had walked into the simulation and stretched a bit. By stretching, the obvious action was to do battle.


    "Damn. It''s so realistic, I don''t think anything else could compare." A blue-haired man in the group exclaimed with amazement.


    The simulation room could create desolate beast projections and environments for the user. The strength of the projections perfectly replicated that of the desolate beast. The similarities didn''t just stop at power level, but even behaviour. This made it feel as if they were facing a real desolate beast.


    "Indeed. And the best part is that it doesn''t cost much." Ando sighed as he commented.


    The price of the simulation room only cost twenty federal coins, but it was free for customers who bought a vestige or service from the store. That meant that Ronny could use the room for free, but the other four had to pay for it.


    Originally, the group had wanted to check out other stores until the three hour mark was up, but Melissa had suggested they try out some of the facilities in the store. The man who had a daughter of Melissa''s age, got touched and decided to do as she wanted. In the end, the other four decided to stick around as well, and they didn''t regret the decision.


    Ronny didn''t say a word, but his hopes were raised even more.


    One should know that simulation rooms like this were quite popular in Belfargos city-state unlike Baylands city-state. However, the simulations weren''t as realistic as the one in the shop. For such realistic simulation rooms, the pieces of equipment needed were very costly. Even operating it consumed a ton of resources and not every store could easily afford that. Only those top stores that easily made hundreds of thousands could do so.


    Since the Heavenly Demonic Shop had such, it meant that it was on par with a top store. After all, possessing such a simulation room without being able to make a reasonable profit would become a loss. Only stores with a high ranking vestige-smith would do such a thing, because they were confident in making a profit.


    "It''s time. Let''s get going."


    Ronny glanced at his wrist and saw that it had already been twenty minutes past the agreed three hours. They were enjoying the intense realism experience and lost track of time.


    Nonetheless, there was no problem with coming even five hours late or the sort as there was no lateness fee or withholding charge.


    The group returned back to the lobby where they saw Lucas relaxed behind the counter.


    "How is it?" Ronny couldn''t resist asking right away as he glanced around the counter looking for the ring.


    He was clearly nervous and hopeful about the result. One should know that there was a fifty percent chance that the artefact would be very valuable and could be sold for hundreds of thousands. There was also the possibility of it being worth not much. However, if the restoration process was successful, then it could be sold above the average price for a dud artefact.


    Lucas opened his eyes and glanced in front to see Ronny''s anxious face.


    Although it looked like he had been resting, Lucas was stuck in the deep recesses of his mine, analysing the magi runes he had encountered in the last three hours. Lucas was a man with an obsession towards material science and magic blacksmithing. On Earth, he couldn''t learn the latter, so only his material science obsession was present. However, in Eretre, although there was no magic blacksmithing, there was vestige-smithing which was essentially the same to him.


    When he saw the magi runes, Lucas had to hold back himself from behaving out of place and focus on the job first. Once he was in the work-station, Lucas began obsessing over the runes even while he restored the artefact. In the end, a task that would have usually taken him two and a half hours, ended at three hours and fifteen minutes; fifteen minutes beyond the time he gave Ronny.


    Luckily, Ronny and his group arrived late otherwise they wouldn''t have met Lucas. When he noticed they hadn''t arrived yet, Lucas spent the remaining five minutes meditating on the runes he was exposed to and trying to decipher its secret.


    "It''s done."


    Lucas took out a plain jewellery box and passed it to Ronny. The box was something he made after fixing the ring. It wasn''t a vestige and was just a product of blacksmithing, but the craftsmanship was still very impressive.


    Ronny was surprised by the box and couldn''t help but strongly praise its appearance. But in the next second, he rushed to open the box to check its content.


    Inside was a ring that glistened with the slightest reflection of light on it. It looked like a ring that was fresh out of the smithy and had never been worn before. If it weren''t for the fact that he had stared at the ring countless times and could see some familiar parts of it, Ronny would have found it unbelievable for this to be the same artefact hundreds of years old. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Propping the ring closer to his face, Ronny studied the inscriptions on it.


    He might not be a vestige-smith, but as a pioneer, Ronny had to learn a bit about inscriptions so as to identify trash from value in relics. Stellar matrices had a more distinct and geometrical appearance compared to other inscriptions. As for stellar runes, they looked like a mix between the Human era''s ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and latin.


    Upon scrutiny, Ronny could see that there were new inscriptions added to the ring which differed from stellar matrices and runes. However, these inscriptions perfectly fitted in with the existing ones. He couldn''t even spot a difference between the two inscriptions. The only reason Ronny was even able to point out the new inscriptions was because he had memorised the existing ones in the artefact long ago.


    Based on appearance alone, it seemed like the human shopkeeper before him had restored the artefact perfectly. This was understandable since Lucas had considered various possibilities before trying to restore the artefact.


    Even though magi runes were similar to magic runes, minute differences still existed which gave birth to slightly different effects and appearances. But to someone who had never studied the two runes, they would be unable to spot a difference. This was why Lucas confidently took on the task.


    After admiring the ring''s appearance, Ronny wasn''t done yet. There was still the stellar energy test.


    If the runes used were in restoring the artefact was inappropriate and unsuitable, the inscriptions would either be destroyed or the ring damaged, as soon as stellar energy was circulated into the inscriptions.


    "Remember what we agreed upon." Ronny glanced at Lucas with a grim look on his face. There was also a mix of apprehension, and hesitation in his eyes.


    This was the deciding test which would either reveal good news or ruin the artefact for good, turning it into a dud. Unless it was the former option, Ronny couldn''t handle the loss easily. But he had already hopped on the train, so all he could do was hope for the best. If not, Lucas would have to at least refund him.


    "I don''t like repeating myself unnecessarily." Lucas calmly replied.


    "Go ahead and give it a try. You should already know what the functions are based in the previous report."


    The appraisal report Lucas had given Ronny earlier contained various details about the ring, with the most important of them all being the artefact''s function.


    The ring possessed the ability to temporarily boost the user''s strength on the arm that had the ring. It could also project an energy shield which had defensive strength roughly the same as a Grade 1 vestige.


    In terms of quality, the ring was roughly on par with a weaker Grade 2 vestige. Your journey continues with empire


    While this didn''t seem like much, the value of an artefact didn''t lay in its power but the technology used.


    Artefacts were just like prehistoric art prices on Earth like terracotta works and the sort. Although such art works could easily be replicated using modern technology, they wouldn''t be of the same value. The unearthed ancient relics on Earth would hold more value because of historical attachments and dating.


    In the same way, the value of an artefact was mostly due to the dating as well as the technology used, which varied from the hyumankin''s vestige-smithing techniques and inscriptions.


    With Lucas giving the go ahead, Ronny no longer continued with his words.


    As the rest of his group, and even Melissa, looked on, Ronny finally imbued his stellar energy into the ring.

 Chapter 225 Miser

    As Ronny imbued his stellar energy into the artefact, the ring lit up with a faint blue light before going dark. Just as he thought that the restoration was a failure, Ronny sensed a strange occurrence. He could feel that there was something different about the ring, but couldn''t exactly say what it was."Try it out." Lucas said as he took out a metal plate and set it up.


    The metal plate was made of a unique alloy and could handle attacks from even a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, and would require a third level to be capable of penetrating it. It was the most suitable impromptu equipment to test out the ring''s effects.


    Ronny nodded and took a stance right away. He gathered raw strength into his right arm, but didn''t tap into his fourth level powers. He even went so far as to limit his physical strength to roughly the same as a first level stellar practitioner.


    Once he was ready, Ronny abruptly fired his fist and struck the metal plate.


    *Bang*


    The first struck the metal plate squarely and created a dent in it. If it weren''t for Lucas who held the metal plate from behind, it would have been flung away.


    "Incredible." The other four men who were with Lucas were stunned.


    They were all professional pioneers with the weakest of them being at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. They had clearly felt that the physical strength Ronny exhibited was at the first level. Despite that, he had managed to damage an alloy plate that would require third level strength to be destroyed.


    Although it was just a dent and the alloy couldn''t be said to have been destroyed, it was a verified fact that the ring had boosted the power of a first level Apertures Opening stage attack to be on par with a peak second level.


    It was clear that the artefact had been successfully restored to its original state.


    The five men couldn''t believe their eyes. An artefact that had gone through the hands of more than a dozen vestige-smiths and was deemed unfixable, was actually restored to pristine condition in an unknown store. What''s more, the price wasn''t much. It was simply unbelievable.


    Naturally, Ronny was glad about the results and could almost see the price of the artefact selling for much higher than a vestige of the same grade.


    Just as he was about to thank Lucas, the latter suddenly spoke.


    "Check out the second feature as well."


    Ronny then recalled that in the appraisal report, the ring had two abilities. The first was to boost the user''s strength by a factor of one level, but this was limited to the grade coverage of the artefact. Hence, being a peak Grade 1 artefact, this boosting effect would only be capable of working on a third level stellar practitioner, and even at that, it won''t be by an entire level; at best, it might be by thirty percent or so. But even then, thirty percent was impressive.


    The second ability was to generate a transparent shield that could take on the attacks of a third level stellar practitioner.


    With Lucas'' reminder, Ronny relayed the thought of conjuring a shield and it appeared right away.


    He was quite surprised that the artefact worked just as a vestige would, but he then focused his attention on the shield.


    It was a faint blue shield with an alluring appearance. There was nothing intimidating or impressive about it. However, Ronny proceeded to punch the shield using the strength of a third level stellar practitioner, and it only shimmered a bit. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Ronny''s eyes shone with interest as he proceeded to pound the shield continuously. After the fiftieth strike, Ronny stopped. He noticed that the shield was wavering then, but after a while, it returned to normal. Right before it was restored, it had drawn upon a noticeable amount of stellar energy from his body. But to a fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner, that wasn''t so much.


    "The durability of the shield is impressive. Depending on the user''s stellar energy, it could hold out to at least three hundred strikes from a third level stellar practitioner before cracking." Ando analysed.


    Ronny nodded at those words as they were the same as his thoughts.


    Even when compared to other peak Grade 1 vestiges, this artefact was still incredible. As a vestige, it could sell for at least one thousand five hundred (1500) federal coins, but as an artefact, its price would definitely be worth a few tens of thousands or more.


    This was why Ronny was still speechless at the restoration fee.


    Although one thousand federal coins might seem like much, charging so ''little'' to restore an artefact with a value of at least twenty thousand federal coins was unimaginable. Most stores would charge based on the difficulty of restoration as well as the value of the artefact. Some even used a percentage pricing system, setting the cost of restoration to at least twenty percent of the value of the item.


    This was why Ronny had avoided those big stores even though he knew that they would have someone capable of fixing it. The cost was just too much for him to bear as he was already in deep debt.


    "Thank you." Ronny deactivated the shield and stared at Lucas emotionally.


    Although the artefact alone wasn''t enough to cover his debts, it would give him some breathing space. Also, the fact he had discovered a valuable artefact would become known and people would praise Ronny for his excellent vision and meticulousness. Other pioneers or even freelancers might perhaps invite him for an expedition.


    "I just did as I was paid to." Lucas calmly replied.


    Ronny shook his head but didn''t say anything else. Ando, however, was interested in the Heavenly Demonic Shop. His eyes seemed to have their own thoughts as he stared at Lucas.


    Despite its weird name that sounded like something right from the mind of a middle-grader, the store looked to be a hidden gem.


    Ando''s reason for escorting Ronny was to hopefully find such a store. Although he wasn''t hoping to experience the same faithful encounter as the freelancer named Jeremy, he wanted to see whether there would perhaps be a new reputed name in the future. The Heavenly Demonic Shop was now looking to be such a store.


    The artefact Lucas had restored would require the services of a first grade store or at least a top second grade vestige-smith store. Since Lucas was able to restore it even as a human, it meant that the vestige-smith backing the store was a qualified candidate for even a first grade store; in other words, a peak Tier 1 Master vestige-smith. What''s more, the services of the store were cheap.


    The prices of vestiges were a sharp contrast to the prices of services, but the current experience tempted Ando to check out the vestiges.


    "Shopkeeper, I would like to buy a Grade 2 vestige." Ando spoke up.


    Grade 2 vestiges would naturally cost less than a Grade 3 vestige. At the same time, the quality of a Grade 2 vestige said a lot about the tier of the vestige-smith.


    The lowest required rank to create a Grade 2 vestige was the Tier 1 vestige-smith rank. However, a Grade 2 vestige made by a Tier 1 vestige-smith, a Tier 1 Elite, a Tier 1 Master and a Tier 1 Grandmaster, would have minute differences. But as long as the one evaluating the vestiges was a professional, they would be able to tell the difference.


    However, such a difference was difficult to spot in a Grade 1 vestige, otherwise, Ando would have gone for it.


    "Oh?" Lucas'' eyes brightened up.


    Compared to store services, the vestiges cost even more. For the current Lucas, who had spent most of his money covering his tracks, he was in dire need of money. This was because not only did Lucas have to continue his research and improve his skills, but there was now the little Melissa who had joined him on this journey. Lucas'' need for money was even more dire than the first time he came into this world.


    "Go ahead and look at our catalogue. Pick whichever one you''d like. If you want a custom, let me know." Lucas smiled like a professional salesman.


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    The five men suddenly turned speechless. All throughout their interaction with Lucas, he had kept a bland and emotionless face. However, as soon as the talk for purchasing a vestige came up, he became a different individual all together.


    ''Money-grubber.''


    Ronny''s face twitched.


    Ando recovered from his shock and stared at the list. After taking a deep breath, he settled on the cheapest vestige there was. Surprisingly, it was a cold-weapon type vestige that looked like an assault rifle.


    Lucas glanced at it and couldn''t help but muttering, "Go big or go home. Why be such a miser?"


    However, the five men were all stellar practitioners, and being so close to Lucas, even his whispers could not go unheard.


    Upon hearing those words, Ando almost stumbled to the floor, and this was while standing. The other four in the group couldn''t help but clutch their mouths as they held back their laughter.


    It was the first time they had encountered a shopkeeper who mocked his customers for penny-pinching behaviour.


    Regardless, after receiving the order, Lucas once again left for the basement. He returned soon after since the vestige Ando had ordered was a standard vestige. It had been mass-produced by Lucas during his spare time, which he had a lot of.


    "Here." Lucas handed the vestige to Ando.


    As soon as the vestige touched his hand, Ando''s eyes widened in shock.

 Chapter 226 New Mission: Explore The Relics

    "Well, good bye." Ronny and his group nodded towards Lucas before leaving the store.Meanwhile, the latter was all smiles as he watched them leave. This was because the group had brought a large sum of money his way. In total, they had bought three vestiges from him. Naturally, Lucas would be pleased.


    After Ando got the new vestige in his hands, he tried it out in the simulation room under the eyes of the other four. They discovered that the power of the vestige, despite merely being Grade 2, could already compare with some Grade 3 vestiges in the market; and this was a hot weapon. Usually, hot weapon vestiges weren''t known to be able to surpass their grade limit; only cold-weapons could pull this off, hence why the group was surprised and eventually bought two more.


    After they left, Lucas finally settled down and glanced at his stem interface. There was a new mission on the notification page.


    [[ Mission Overview: As the successor to the Crafts-god, you should broaden your knowledge in all aspects of crafting, especially with inscriptions and technology.


    Mission description: You have discovered a new rune. Investigate more about it and master this new inscription. Also, explore a few relics for clues. Please complete this within two months.


    Reward: ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' tome, ten system coins.


    Penalty: 20% decrease in experience points. ]]


    The new mission appeared right after Lucas had asked Ronny where he found the ring. Lucas was interested in magi runes, which appeared so similar to magic runes. He had wanted to find out whether there was some sort of connection between the two as this could help answer some of his questions. It also gave him hope that he could maybe one day return to his original world.


    The new mission had piqued Lucas'' interest especially since it had been so long since he had received a mission from the system. It had been stuck in level 3 for a month now, and Lucas was beginning to get concerned. He was very close to the level 5 checkpoint, so suddenly having his momentum brought to a pause made Lucas uncomfortable. Find your next read at empire


    ''Just like the old ones.'' Lucas thought after reading the description.


    It was pretty much one of the system''s exploration missions that would send him into a dangerous location as usual.


    ''However, this timeline...'' Lucas frowned.


    Compared to the previous ones, it was most likely that this mission was tougher. The reason was because of the duration given by the system.


    Usually, the longer the duration for a mission was, the more difficult it was. This difficulty didn''t always imply a life or death risk, but considered various other factors that could impede the mission''s progress. However, based on the mission description, it was obvious that Lucas would have to go to a danger zone, after all, every relic had a certain degree of risk involved.


    Since there was a degree of risk coinciding with this lengthy mission, it was quite obvious that the difficulty here wouldn''t be just limited to immense mental or physical stress. There might even be a possibility of Lucas losing his life even though it wasn''t included as a penalty.


    Nonetheless, Lucas had to accept this mission. Ignoring the penalty, the rewards were marvelous whether it was the ten system coins or the tome.


    Every single tome Lucas had gained from the system was invaluable and contained a whole bunch of information and knowledge that he previously knew nothing about.


    Take for instance, the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' Lucas bought in the system shop, which eventually taught him about stellar circuits ¡ªa high level inscription. The tome wasn''t just limited to stellar circuits, and was more like an encyclopaedia for vestige-smithing. It was thanks to it that Lucas was able to create powerful hot weapons, complete his Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. He had even learnt how to make fighter jets from the tome, albeit Lucas had yet to produce one.


    Prior to the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'', there was the ''An Adventurer''s Manual'' tome, which was equally valuable to Lucas. It provided him with knowledge about the metals, minerals and monsters in this world, enabling Lucas to assimilate easily into the world. It had even given Lucas the necessary knowledge to be able to read a star map or estimate the orbiting direction of a planet. Although Lucas didn''t know how useful this information was, it was definitely not useless.


    With two experiences with tomes from the system, Lucas treated everyone as a holy book for his career path. What''s more, the tome put up for a reward was even more exquisite than the previous two. Just its title, ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'', attracted Lucas'' attention so much that he couldn''t help staring at those words for a while longer.


    Even if the system coins weren''t put up as a reward, Lucas would have still done his best to complete this mission for both the experience points and the tome.


    ''The requirement is to learn more about magi runes, master it, and explore the relics Ronny mentioned.'' Lucas tapped his finger on the table as he went into a contemplative state.


    Learning the runes wasn''t a difficult issue. Lucas could do as other vestige-smiths did and purchase artefacts from similar relics. However, that would be costly, even for him, although he could somewhat bear the price. The major problem was in the relics.


    From Ronny''s description, the relics he went to was one of the more deadly ones. Although its danger level wasn''t exaggerated, it was a place that not just anyone could go into. Even a third level stellar practitioner had a high chance of dying, while fourth level stellar practitioners would face a huge risk in the inner regions of the relics.


    Ronny had only explored the outer regions of the relics which was why he returned with only one artefact at peak Grade 1. If he had gone into the inner section of the relics, he might have found something more valuable, or even lost his life.


    To Lucas who had zero stellar refinement capabilities, going to the same relics was a huge risk, even with the system skills and his experience. As such, he decided to put his focus elsewhere.


    . . .


    Meanwhile in Baylands City...


    The city still remained prosperous as always even after the entire fiasco with the Seven Sparks Forge store. This was understandable since the people of the city were too occupied either with their daily lives or occupations. With the existence of the large intranet that covered the entire planet, and even the solar system, there was no lack of events to attract their attention.


    With at least one month having gone by, the Seven Sparks Forge was a forgotten entity in the vestige-smith industry.


    But even if the people had forgotten all about it, the upper echelons of the city had not. To them, the Seven Sparks Forge was an opportunity to transcend their current status and potentially rise to a superpower on the planet, or if their luck was any better, the solar system. Having lost this opportunity when it was literally in the palm of their hands, one could only imagine how they felt.


    As a result of this, even after quite a significant time had gone by, they were still pained by Lucas'' disappearance.


    "What did the Baylands City Patrol Corps say?"


    In the main house of the Bergs family estate, the current head of the family, Fredor Bergs, sat on his study while going through some documents. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In front of him stood a man with purple hair, who happened to be the target of the question. The man was the head of the Von Klaus family, a reputed family that ran a few vestige dealerships in the other fifteen districts of the city-state.


    The Von Klaus family was actually a subordinate of the Bergs family, and not many people even knew about this; at least the public wasn''t aware.


    "The West Wing district''s branch has no comments on it. Since we didn''t go through them, they didn''t bother to assist us. Initially, this wasn''t a problem, but with the target''s disappearance, we can''t exchange information with them."


    *Bang*


    Fredor slammed his fist on the desk.


    "Those bastards..."


    After two generations of city lords, the Central Prefecture district''s BCPC had some members of the Bergs family within, which made it easy for Fredor to manipulate the department. However, the West Wing district''s branch was different. It remained under the firm control of the city lord.


    When Lucas was placed under house arrest in his store, it was actually the members of the BCPC Central Prefecture district branch that had surrounded the area. Because they had overstepped their area of jurisdiction, the West Wing district''s director was incensed. Knowing he couldn''t stop them, the director decided not to cooperate and let the Central Prefecture district''s branch do as they pleased, so long as it was within the area around the Seven Sparks Forge store.


    But with Lucas suddenly disappearing, the Central Prefecture district''s branch had wanted to cooperate with the West Wing district''s branch and utilise their security firmwares and systems to track Lucas down. But the director refused to assist them.


    Naturally, this sparked an argument between the two branches, and it took the commissioner of police needing to step in for the matter to be sorted out.


    Recently however, investigation was still ongoing to track down Lucas and once again, the Central Prefecture district''s BCPC branch needed to collaborate with the West Wing district''s branch. However, the latter branch still refused to work with them.


    Due to this, Fredor became incensed as he knew that every single moment and piece of information mattered.

 Chapter 227 I Am The Sunset

    Just as Fredor was about to resume questioning Von Klaus, a knock sounded from the door."What''s the matter?" Fredor frowned.


    He had previously informed the workers of the family to never interrupt him during his meetings in the study unless it was an emergency. However, at this moment, Fredor was in an irate state, so if the justification wasn''t enough, he wouldn''t mind disabling the person on the other side.


    "The Ross family head is here."


    Fredor froze for a second, before furrowing his brows.


    The Ross family was on the opposite side of his faction ¡ªThe Other Side¡ª which made them enemies and not allies. Despite that, the said enemy had appeared on his doorstep, which caused Fredor''s thoughts to be clouded in confusion.


    "What could be his goal?" Von Klaus couldn''t help but ask.


    "That''s what I''d like to know." Fredor responded, before giving a command.


    "Let him into the meeting hall. I''ll be there in a short while."


    . . .


    While the Ross family head was meeting you with the Bergs family head, the current city lord ¡ªNoah Berg¡ª was currently dealing with a situation on his own end.


    The ever familiar figure that hid behind his shadow currently stood beside the city lord. Even as it stood just a step behind Noah, no features of the silhouette could be glimpsed. Only a dark shadow could be seen, but that didn''t seem to bother Noah.


    "The Ross family head made contact with Fredor recently. The purpose of this visit is unknown, but it might be related to our fears." The shadow said.


    The fears the shadow hinted at was an ongoing rumour in the upper class that the top factions were preparing to impeach Noah from the seat of city lord. This would be a tumultuous event if successful, as it would then make Noah the first ever city lord to have been forced to step down.


    Noah remained calm even after those words. It was almost as if he felt no threat in them, and that was the truth.


    "It seems that the dogs want to get out of their leashes by biting the hand that feeds them." Noah smiled.


    Despite being born in a top family, Noah hated the distribution of power in Baylands city-state. Most especially, he hated how the Bergs family had monopolized the role of city-lord and stretched their hands into almost every nook and cranny of power.


    As such, when he first came in, Noah carried out a large scale purge and cleared out the majority of spies hidden within the city-state government. He didn''t remove all of them as that would create a large amount of dissatisfaction from the top factions, especially of the Other Side, as they would then push for his exit. At that time, Noah had just become the city lord, so their support was necessary to him.


    However, at the moment, Noah wielded enough power and controller the city lord''s forces directly, which gave him the confidence to once again face the top factions. But this time around, he planned to do more than just regain full control of Baylands city-state.


    Using the Seven Sparks Forge, Noah had even tried to instigate the various top forces to face off against each other and whittle down their forces. Following that, he would then step in and forcefully seize control of the situation and mete out penalties and sanctions to the forves involved.


    Everything had been planned out perfectly, but Russell Mertens''s intervention and most especially, Lucas'' disappearance, all led to the plan falling apart. Now, not only had the plan failed, but the top factions decided to place the blame for Lucas'' disappearance on Noah.


    Albeit unreasonable, there was still some logic to this, after all, the highest commander of the BCPC was the city lord. Since the BCPC did a bad job at preventing Lucas from escaping, many of the top factions stepped out to blame Noah for this.


    "It''s about time we remind them who is really in charge in this city." Noah gave an eerie smile as stated out of the window.


    It was currently noon and the sun was still high up in the air. Gazing at this wonderful creation of nature, Noah suddenly had this feeling that the sun was like the top factions.


    Stretching his hand, Noah pretended to grab the sun.


    ''There would be a rising and a setting. This generation is that of a setting. It''s my job to ensure all goes well, for I am the harbinger of Sunset.''


    . . .


    Back in Trundel City, Lucas pushed the mission towards the back of his mind since he had more time to consider it. Instead, he decided to focus on his developmental path while in Belfargos city-state.


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    Back in Baylands city-state, Lucas had wanted to challenge the status quo by introducing a new type of vestige. However, that didn''t work out well and had almost cost him his life. So, even though, Belfargos city-state was safer and more fair in their practices, Lucas didn''t want to repeat the same actions without having a solid background.


    In Baylands City, he had only caught the attention of the top forces, with the strongest of them being the tenth level Apertures Opening stage city lord. However, in Belfargos city-state, the upper limit was even more ridiculous. Just the city-lord of Trundel City alone could almost compare to the city lord of Baylands city-state. If the forces of Belfargos were to join the ''fun'', the strongest opponent would more or less be a twelfth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Hence, it was paramount for Lucas to explore a different branch in the vestige-smith industry.


    ''Making weapons is my speciality, but it''s not as if that''s all I can do.''


    Recalling the contents of the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' tome, Lucas decided to branch into a different branch of vestige-smithing.


    Vestiges didn''t just refer to weapons, but a wide range of technology that worked utilising stellar matrices and stellar energy.


    At the same time, according to the system, a Crafts-god was someone who had mastered all various forms of crafts. Originally, Lucas had believed that crafting meant magic blacksmithing. But later on, after his first purchase in the system store, Lucas realised how wrong he was. It didn''t just encompass magic blacksmithing but also magic engineering; a term Lucas had come up with.


    Since that was the case, Lucas would eventually have to branch into other forms of crafting. Hence, he decided to give it a try.


    ''From that tome, my available options at the moment are vehicles, robots, and even more powerful AOE weapons and tech.''


    Lucas'' eyes suddenly brightened as he figured out his next area of focus.

 Chapter 228 : Drift Racing

    Trundel City was located just west of Belfargos City, and not so far from the city; requiring only a thirty minutes light-rail train ride to reach. It was also slightly cheaper as compared to the capital of the planet. Due to this, the city was very populated by both workers, tourists and the likes. Many would settle down in Trundel City even if they had a job in Belfargos City, simply because it costs less.Apart from the high population, Trundel City also benefited from Belfargos City in another way. It was a supply hub and depot for materials going in or out of Belfargos City. Trundel City was also an important economic partner with Belfargos City as the two cities had quite a few major trading collaborations and deals. This was all thanks to the fact that the Cardoso family ¡ªa branch family of the Oklo Dynasty¡ª was in charge of the city. Continue reading stories on empire


    However, there was another role Trundel City played, and it was one that gave it a unique nickname; the City of Leisure.


    Being the home of the Oklo Dynasty, Belfargos City gave off a sacred and dignified feeling. As a result of this, few pleasure and recreation spots were built in the city. However, Trundel City was different as it provided all these facilities and more. What''s more, its close proximity to Belfargos City made it easy for lovers of such facilities to make the trip.


    Apart from the usual gambling dens, bordellos, and so on, one of the most popular leisure activities in Trundel City was hover car racing. It was a sport primarily hosted by the younger generation of the Trundel City, Belfargos City, and the other neighbouring cities. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In designated locations and specially constructed tracks, drivers would race using distinctive hovercars that offered no AI support. Relying only on their skills, vehicles and experience, they would try to reach the finish line first. This racing was officially termed Drift Racing [1].


    As a competitive sport, Drift racing naturally involved high stakes. There was even a special gambling category set aside for it.


    To make the racing fun and competitive, Drift racing was carried out at very high speeds. After all, with the abilities of a second or even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, driving consistently at 190km/hr (118 mph) to 380 km/hr (236.1 mph) wasn''t much of a challenge.


    To achieve even higher speeds, special hover vehicles were made, with some going so far as to turn theirs into vestiges by utilising components powered by stellar energy. As such, vestige-smiths existed and played an important role even in this space.


    While there were official drift races, the unofficial ones carried out by the youngsters in Trundel City happened to be the most popular. This was because such races had very little regulations which made it fiercer. Also, gambling wasn''t banned, so many joined up in these races to make huge profits.


    Although unofficial, these drift races weren''t illegal nor banned by Trundel City''s authority, which was one of the reasons the city was seen as a leisure centre and hotspot for rich second or third generations.


    One of the most famous underground drift races was the Exo Rally, which was very popular in the upper class community. The organisers and spectators were mostly the younger generation of the upper class from Belfargos City and Trundel City, with many of them being related to the Oklo Dynasty''s royal family. As such, the Exo Rally was a very high class event for the younger generation of the upper class.


    The Exo Rally operated on an invite only for spectating, but it was open to every drift racer so long as they passed a few criteria. One of them was winning the league in the top drift races or leagues from the nearby cities. Another was reaching a certain level of popularity and success as a drift driver. But the most common method to qualify was through the lower leagues organised in Trundel City.


    Currently, Lucas happened to attend one of these drift racing leagues. It was called K1, and in terms of the unique scaling system, was a third tier drift racing league. After it were the second tiers and the first tier was none other than the Exo Rally.


    Compared to the other drift racing leagues, the K1 didn''t have much stipulations for participating and to get a spectating ticket was quite cheap, at least when compared to the other leagues.


    Twenty five federal coins...


    That was the amount Lucas had to pay to watch attend the race. Even until now, he couldn''t help but be stunned by the price. Despite that, there were hundreds of people gathered in the spectating stands of the race track.


    Two hundred people paying twenty five federal coins was five thousand federal coins, and there were at least five hundred people present in the stands. This was the revenue generated in one day''s race, and from the lowest league.


    Five thousand federal coins might seem like nothing much, but it was the equivalent of ten months salary for an average citizen of Baylands City, city-state capital.


    Apart from the ticket fee, there was revenue generated from merchandise sales, food sales, broadcasting rights, participation fee, and the most notable part, the gambling sector. From this, it could be seen that the league made a ton of money from every race. Only vestige-smithing companies could generate more revenue than a drift racing league.


    ''Belfargos city-state is truly a whole different experience.'' Lucas sighed.


    But he didn''t become bothered by it. As a vestige-smith, Lucas could earn more than they did. Also, his purpose in coming here wasn''t to start a drift racing track. Instead, Lucas wanted to learn more about this extreme sport since his next goal for crafting was related to it.


    That''s right; Lucas'' target was to build hover cars, and there was no better place to see top class hover cars than a drift league.


    After paying for a ticket, Lucas had walked into the stadium and went for his seat.


    Since Belfargos city-state had the second largest human population after Digress city-state, no one found it strange that a human was attending the event.


    The stadium was an exaggeratedly big arena that could easily compare to four world class stadiums back on Earth. The large size was mostly because of the fact that drift racing tracks had to be very huge and complex. One should know that the vehicles participating in this race could easily reach up to four hundred kilometres per hour (400km/hr, 248.5 mph). As such, the ''simple'' tracks back on Earth couldn''t work here.


    Size wasn''t the only thing the K1 drift racing stadium had over other stadiums on Earth. The K1 drift racing stadium was highly advanced and luxurious, that one might confuse it for a high standard event centre.


    A floating projection was displayed above the track, showing the audience a clearer view of the race. At the edge of the tracks were transparent shields that could help mitigate both the noise and shockwave coming from the vehicles that moved at intense speeds. The seating section was divided into three: regular, seasonal and VIP, with the latter being an entire floating section. That''s right; an entire seating section that floated in midair.


    Apart from all these, the stadium also had a few advanced facilities like the repair shop for hover cars, and some other recreational spots for spectators who wanted to take a break from watching.


    Lucas had arrived quite early for the day''s race and it was to start in the next twenty minutes. Usually, he would have spent the time walking around and maybe buy a snack or two. But after checking out the prices of said snacks, Lucas had calmly retreated back to his seat.


    A bag of a unique snack that looked just like peanuts was priced at five federal coins. For that same amount, Lucas could get an entire table of food in a fancy restaurant.


    ''Damn.'' Lucas couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath of air.


    The organisers prevented food and drinks from being brought in from the outside, so spectators had no choice than to buy from them. Also, races could take as long as four hours, which meant that one way or the other, most spectators would end up spending more of their money here.


    ''Capitalism at its finest.''

 Chapter 229 Drift Racing 2

    After taking a seat, Lucas proceeded to wait for the first race of the day to begin. The races usually began later into the evening, when most individuals are done with their jobs so they could attend it on time.For Lucas, he could open and close the shop whenever he wanted, so he left a bit earlier today, leaving behind only Melissa. He wasn''t worried about her as the shop was the safest place she could be. At the same time, Lucas wanted to cultivate a sense of independence within her, which was why he left her behind.


    While waiting in his seat with his eyes closed in meditation, Lucas sensed a person walk towards him before taking a seat beside him. Guessing it was his seat neighbour, Lucas ignored the person and didn''t open his eyes. However, the individual suddenly spoke to Lucas,


    "Hmm? I guess you''re my neighbour for today. Hi, my name is Luka." The young man beside Lucas said as he extended his hand towards the latter. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Lucas opened his eyes and glanced at him. He was a young man with yellow spiky hair and brown eyes. He appeared like one of those weird anime archetype main characters Lucas had seen on a show back on Earth.


    At a mere glance, Luka looked to be the same age as Lucas, but of course, one couldn''t be so sure. Not only was Lucas'' real age something else, hyumans didn''t necessarily look their age. Some could appear to be in their thirties but be in their fifties. However, this was when judging based on an Earthling''s point of view. To the hyumans on Eretre, they could easily guess their ages at a glance, but Lucas wasn''t good at this yet. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Based on the young man''s outfit, he wasn''t one of those rich kids that came to spectate the race. Furthermore, if he was, he would at least attend those second tier races and not the third tier K1.


    Sensing no malice, Lucas decided to befriend the fellow. He proceeded to shake hands with the young man as he introduced himself.


    "I''m Lucas Saunters."


    That''s right. After moving from Baylands city-state to Belfargos city-state, Lucas still retained the same name. He wasn''t worried that he would get tracked all the way here as he had cleared his name. At the same time, the surname Saunters wasn''t exactly unique in Eretre, neither was the name Lucas.


    Even if by some miracle, his enemies in Baylands city-state found his location, they couldn''t do anything to Lucas in Trundel City. On the contrary, making a move on him would raise suspicions and they could even get in trouble.


    "Oh, we have similar names. Nice to meet you." Luka smiled.


    "You look kinda new here, am I right?"


    Lucas froze, surprised that Luka had guessed that.


    "Why do you say so?"


    "Hehe. After attending so many races, I can remember the faces of the majority of spectators here." Luka puffed his chest as if he was stating a magnificent achievement.


    Lucas'' lips twitched at the response. That was something only someone with a lot of money to spend would boast about. But then again, it was still impressive. The number of attendees for every K1 race day was somewhere around five hundred to two thousand (500-2000) people since it was a third tier league. To be able to recall the appearances of every one of them, one''s memory would have to be impressive.


    "Well, you''re correct. It''s my first time attending a drift racing league to be exact." Lucas nodded.


    "Oh. Then I guess I''ll take the liberty of being your guide for today."


    Luka was clearly a chatty type, but Lucas didn''t mind. He actually did need someone to help explain the extreme sport to him.


    Seeing Lucas not refuse his offer, Luka explained,


    "Drift racing is an official racing sport performed using distinctive sare shuttles. It is recognised by official bodies as an actual sport. However, there are two types of drift racing; the official and unofficial, or as some would say, the safe and the extreme.


    "For the official race, there are a bunch of regulations and other stuff like that to make it a bit more complicated. But the one you should care the most about is the engine specification limit. Yep, the official regulatory body for drift racing set an engine specification limit for sare shuttles used in races. As a result, most shuttles don''t exceed a speed between four hundred and fifty to four hundred and seventy kilometres per hour (450-470 km/hr, 279.6-292 mph).


    "The limit is actually in place to prevent drivers from having a light-speed engine or something similar used on their shuttle as the official body called those ''unsafe for racing within a planetary environment''. This is why we call official drift races ''safe''."


    Lucas was slightly surprised by this regulation but felt it made sense.


    The whole point of drift racing was to race. However, with the current technology, racing was difficult to be able to pull off unless the track was very large. Even with a large track, some manufacturers could go crazy with their designs.


    There were technologies such as the engineers of light-rail trains that could reach insane speeds, albeit still below the speed light. There were even some that exceeded it, for instance, the space shuttles used for inter-planetary travels, the warp-drive engines used for inter-solar system travels, and so many more. If these technologies were added onto a sare shuttle, the speed it could reach would be absurd.


    Although there were issues such as design values, engineering faults and so on, that prevented most powerful engines from being used in a sare shuttle, there was no saying whether someone could pull it off. There was also the risks involved as driving at such high speeds within a planet was very dangerous and could create large incidents and accidents. All these reasons and more made it such that the official drift racing body placed regulations on engine specifications and designs for official races.


    "The unofficial races, even though they''re called that, are actually approved. They also follow drift racing regulations, but not so much otherwise how would it be fun for the young masters and people like me?" Luka chuckled.


    "The engine specification regulations are a bit lax here. And the best part? Gambling is allowed, and unique rules can be added in. Overall, it''s a bit more competitive, dangerous and also fun than the official races, which is why we call it an extreme sport."


    "Dangerous, how?" Lucas asked with interest.


    From how Luka had phrased it, it seemed like the dangers came from the unique rules added in. As such, he was interested to know what they are.


    "Well, for one, some leagues allow drivers to attack each other. They do restrict the methods and means of attacks otherwise heavy casualties would be common and no one would want to race. Some other leagues carry out races in special tracks with obstacles or bizarre terrains, like a desolate beast domain. Needless to say, those leagues are dangerous." Luka explained.


    For a second, Lucas didn''t know how to react. He had heard of risk-takers who explored ruins and danger zones, or people who took crazy bets, but not those risking their lives in a race like this.


    "Ignoring the risks, the payout in unofficial leagues can sometimes be higher. Like wayyy high." Luka spread his hands out in an exaggerated manner.


    "Base pay is roughly the same, but they get bonuses and other stuff, so their pay becomes a lot. Take for instance, the K1 offers a higher reward for drivers than third tier official leagues. It''s also quite safe as it shares similar regulations. Part of this payment is the form of bonuses from gambling results and stuff like that. But of course, they can''t fix results otherwise people would find out and be pissed. Even the city''s government would sanction them.


    "Well, from this, you can pretty much guess that the K1 is more popular than the third tier official leagues. Being popular as a third tier league, the K1 gets a lot of fresh blood and sponsorships even for a third tier league. Most of the teams participating are drivers who want to build their career, or vestige-smithing companies who want to stand out."


    Since the sare shuttles used for drift racing needed to be exceedingly powerful and fast, it was unavoidable that vestige-smiths would enter the picture. However, these vestige-smiths weren''t of the weapons branch, but other branches. Whether it was the stellar processors used on the shuttles, the engines, or the boosters, they all needed to use stellar energy to reach the limits. As such, vestige-smiths played an important role in drift races.


    Unlike vestige-smith companies in the weapons industry who would always find customers one way or the other, those in the shuttle and hover car industry had it harder and more competitive. In order to stand out, they created teams to participate in drift races and win glory for them. While victory in a race depended on the driver, the factor the quality of the vehicle used played was equally as important as the driver''s skill.


    In summary, vestige-smith companies in the hover car and sare shuttle industries could gain both game, glory, and even reward money from drift races. Naturally, they all signed up for them. Even individual vestige-smiths who wanted to become renowned would apply as a private vestige-smith for a team or a driver, aiding them in modifying their vehicles.


    This was the reason why Lucas actually came to the K1 drift racing league. He already knew of the value of the sport to vestige-smiths, and he wanted to be a part of it.

 Chapter 230 Joker

    After narrating the history of Drift racing, Luka went on to explain to Lucas the rules of the game as well as some of the top teams.The K1 drift racing league consisted of various races that took place at different times spread across a period of three months. This period was termed as a season. The league was hosted two seasons a year, which meant a total of six months. The top three of each season, apart from the reward money and other prizes, would gain the qualifications to participate in a second tier league anywhere in Belfargos city-state. There was only one first tier league and that was the Exo Rally, but there were multiple other second tier leagues, albeit only enough to be counted with one''s hands.


    The winner of a season was determined by the total number of points they had accrued from each race. In a season, there could be as many as thirteen races, split in a 4-4-5 arrangement across the three months. Apart from the main races, there were also qualifying and prep races, but these didn''t count much.


    After giving Lucas a rough idea of the K1 drift racing league, Luka also talked about the drivers.


    Most of them were individual drivers who were sponsored by either a vestige-smith company, while some were drivers who had a bit of skill in modifying sare shuttles.


    Twenty minutes had gone by and it was soon time for the first race of the day. The participants had begun to exit their stations and take their positions on the track.


    While they did so, Luka described some of them to Lucas.


    "That guy in the green shuttle is from Yoko-bunny. The name might sound a bit strange, but don''t underestimate them. It''s a drift racing team formed by the third generation princess of the Verantino family ¡ªthe fourth strongest family in Trundel City. They''re one of the top teams in the K1 league and got formed only last year. Even so, they''re tipped to get promoted to a second tier league this year."


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    "That red shuttle is from the team Red Mouse, and the driver is nicknamed Red Devil. He''s a newcomer to the league, but he made headlines in the leagues of other cities. He arrived with his team to Trundel City just recently, and it took him only half a year to position himself as a potential promotion figure. He''s not to be underestimated."


    "The black shuttle is from Lugo Vido autos, or LVA for short. They''re a vestige-smithing company in the hover car and sare shuttle industry. They aren''t top class per say, but they do make good rides. They''ve been in the competition for five years now, but this year is their best. Part of it has to do with the black shuttle, which is one of their best creations for this league. Many of us even suspect that they will finally achieve promotion this year."


    Luka described to Lucas the top competitors for the race as the participants began to take their positions.


    "Who''s the guy in the blue-striped vehicle?"


    Lucas noticed that a certain driver happened to be getting some attention. Apart from that, he could sense that the man''s stellar energy was on another level. This level wasn''t simply in terms of power, but quality. The aura the man gave off, even from a distance, was completely different from the other drivers.


    "Oh, that guy? That''s Joker. He''s a black horse in this season''s league. He came out of nowhere, has no backers or history before this season. It''s even said that he doesn''t come from a rich family and is only a sare shuttle enthusiast. However, he''s already performed really well in previous races. In the three test circuits, he managed to get into the top ten and even the top five on two occasions." Luka said as he stared in the same direction as Lucas with praise in his eyes.


    Test circuits were the first set of races before the league officially began, and they rarely exceeded three. Usually, most drivers and teams wouldn''t do their best in these races. Many would only perform at around sixty to eighty percent (60%-80%) of their true skill, so one couldn''t exactly use these races to judge the skills of the drivers. However, performing in the top ten out of thirty drivers, was still a praiseworthy feat, especially for a new racer.


    Lucas, although he didn''t know much about the league, was impressed by the Joker. On one hand, it was because of the driver''s rankings in the yes circuits, but on another hand, it was because the Joker had come this far all on his own.


    One should know that of the thirty drivers in the league, more than half of them were sponsored by vestige-smith companies. The majority of the remaining half were supported by scions, wealthy individuals, or other companies. Even the team, Red Mouse, was an official team created and sponsored by a joint venture between a millionaire and a top company.


    Very few drivers were actually solo drivers, and in the K1 drift racing league, they didn''t exceed the number three. This was because, without having a backer, it was virtually impossible for one to achieve much.


    Although the winners got paid a lot, their expenses were also a lot. The team''s salaries, cost of equipment, cost of vehicle maintenance, cost of vehicle improvement, and so on. The prices of all these added up to hundreds of thousands and even millions in some cases. Hence, drift racing, especially in a league, wasn''t a sport for the poor or for regular individuals.


    For the Joker to have come this far while being an enthusiast and with no significant background of any kind, it was a testament to his talent.


    "But talent can only get you so far." Luka sighed as if reading Lucas'' thoughts.


    "Why do you say so?" Lucas turned to him.


    "This is drift racing. Even though it''s a third tier league, this is the best of all third tier leagues. You can''t simply win by being only a good driver or a shuttle lover. Without adequate resources, his failure is set in stone, and everyone knows that. We just want to see how far he goes." Luka replied.


    Lucas didn''t say anything as he turned his attention to the track. The race was about to begin.


    "Ladies and gentlemen," The voice of the announcer energetically sounded. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "welcome to the twenty-third season of the K1 Drift Racing League!"


    Cheers abruptly broke out from the crowd. The fervour in the stadium was raised to a new high as the crowd was stoked.


    "This league''s races are destined to be epic. Sit tight, my dear spectators and witness as history is once again made!"


    For the second time, the crowd was electrified as many screamed or roared the names of their favourite teams. Even Lucas felt a strange vigour awaken within him, and was surprised that he was affected by such a simple speech.


    As if noticing his confusion, Luka whispered,


    "It''s a superpower; well, a half-baked one. The emcee is someone who has awakened a hint of his superpower and it seems to be related to influencing people''s emotions. It''s not so powerful, but if the target has already been aroused ¡ªeven just a bit¡ª the effect is more pronounced."


    Lucas couldn''t help but be stunned by the explanation. He already had experience with hyumans who had unlocked a hint of their superpower, but the announcer''s skill was even more handy. If it weren''t because Lucas was new to the league and didn''t think much about the teams or drivers, he might have gotten influenced just like the crowd.


    Suddenly, Lucas turned and glanced at Luka. The latter was similarly unaffected by the skill.


    "It''s nothing special if you already know the trick to it." Luka grinned upon sensing Lucas'' gaze on him.


    The conversation ended there and the duo turned their attention towards the race track.


    The drivers has already gotten into their shuttles and the countdown had already begun.


    Due to the designs and parameters of the engines of some vehicles, they needed to start ahead of time. These engines were very powerful and some could accelerate up to one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour (150 km/hr or 93.2 mph) in 0.8 seconds. However, some of them needed a ''preparation period'', which was necessary for both the driver and the vehicle to get into form. As such, the countdown was a thirty seconds countdown.


    As the displayed digital counter reached the ten seconds mark, some of the sare shuttles had already gone into turbo-drive mode. In turbo drive mode, it would take only half a second for them to reach the above speed, rather than 0.8 seconds. Depending on the make, they could even reach the same speed in 0.3 seconds. This was why vestige-smiths of the shuttle industry were very important members of racing teams.


    "Here. We. Go!"


    The announcer roared following which the timer hit 0 as the race officially begun.

 Chapter 231 Career Change

    The K1 drift racing league''s first of thirteen races kicked off and the crowd was high. Although he wasn''t influenced by the crowd or the announcer, Lucas did enjoy the event.Drift racing wasn''t as straightforward as the motorsport racing back on Earth. Maybe it was because the target of the sport was adrenaline-pumped spectators, those who desired dopamine-high and other similar characters, but there were unique elements added to the races.


    Of the K1 league''s thirteen races, only four of them were standard like those of motorsport racing competitions on Earth. The other nine had their uncommon points that made them special. Some of these races had the tracks littered with obstacles like land mines, peculiar potholes and so on. Others were held on bizarre tracks that weren''t straightforward or simple to manoeuvre.


    The whole point of these distinctive features was to test various qualities of both the drivers and the sare shuttles. For a driver, manipulating a shuttle at very high speeds wasn''t enough. While for a shuttle, rapid acceleration, an insane top speed, and maintaining operation in those scenarios wasn''t enough.


    It was demanded of the drivers to be able to have high reflexes, good decision making, and creativity within the tracks. On the other hand, the racing shuttles were expected to be able to work on different terrains and situations, to some extent at least.


    The first race was a four hour race with the first two hours being a typical standard track. However, midway into the race, the track would begin to change, and obstacles would appear on it. Even for these top class drivers, they had to be cautious and alert, otherwise, they would fall prey to the abrupt changes on the track.


    A few hours later, the race was over and the results were then published. Unsurprisingly, the drivers Luka had mentioned to be tipped to win had appeared in the top 5. At first place was team Red Mouse''s Red Devil. Second place was Yoko-bunny''s driver, while third was the driver from Lugo Vido Autos.


    Joker, who was nicknamed the black horse, had not even gotten into the top ten. This was shocking especially since he had appeared in the top five in two of the three test circuits, while scoring seventh place in the third one. Many of the spectators were stunned by his performance in the first race, but the professionals and experienced spectators didn''t find it surprising.


    Joker was an individual who hired a few people to form a makeshift drift racing team. Compared to the other drivers who were supported by wealthy tycoons, scions, companies or vestige-smith businesses, he could not compare.


    In the end, there was only so much being an independent driver without a backer could get him. However, Joker did perform well compared to the other two solo drivers in the league.


    "Coming for the next one?" Luka glanced at Lucas as he saw the latter rise to depart.


    "Probably." Lucas replied.


    He has attended this race just to understand more about drift racing and to see the shuttles used. It wasn''t like Lucas was a fan of races, but that didn''t mean he hated then either. However, the cost was just too much. Excluding the ticket fees alone, the prices of food, drinks, and other products were absurd. Lucas even believed that is they could, they would have also charged people to use the restroom.


    With the current state of his finances, it wasn''t wise to frequent this place often.


    "Okay then. Well, next time you''re here. Let me know. Save my contact details for that."


    Luka swiped his hands in midair, generating a black and white projection of 3-d cube. The cube consisted of weird lines that looked like a mixture of batch codes and QR codes, and it looked like it would fade out of existence in a few seconds.


    Lucas nodded and extended his hand midair into the code, following which it disappeared.


    This was a method used from passing information with communicators which Lucas found out about after getting a new communicator. In other city-states, one''s contact details or other information would be projected into midair using a communicator for another to then scan. However, communicators in Belfargos city-state were more advanced than that.


    Data and information could be compacted and ''written'' into those unique data cubes. The sender would then utilise a gesture to project the cube from their communicator. The receiver would then use a gesture to copy the digital cubes into their own communicators for translation and storage.


    Unlike codes back on Earth that were two dimensional, these three dimensional cubes could contain more data and information. This was achievable due to their detailed and intricate structure made of both straight and curved lines with pictured patterns. But information and data could also be written on them through their colours.


    For ''smaller'' bits of information and data, the cube would maintain a monochrome colour, or be a mix of black and white. Said information would then be written using lines and patterns to create the three dimensional cubic form. However, the more detailed and bulky the information was, the need for a new format to write and store information, otherwise, the cube would become bigger. Hence, cubes could then take on various colours as a form of code.


    After exchanging contacts, the duo then separated. Luka planned to hang around at the stadium whereas Lucas decided to return back to the shop as Melissa was waiting.


    On his way back, Lucas replayed the scenes of the race. He now has a much better idea of the capabilities of racing shuttles, and was confident he could make on that was better, but not too much. Standing out wasn''t good especially without a backer.


    However, making racing shuttles just wasn''t enough.


    Like the other vestige-smith stores, Lucas wanted to create a team for the drift racing league to advertise his shop.


    Although crafting weapons was a lucrative business, Lucas wasn''t someone who went crazy for money. Deep down, he was just a craftsman that loved to create and explore the limitless possibilities of crafting. Having spent so long in making weapons, and over half a year in this new world, he decided to try a different industry.


    This didn''t mean that Lucas was abandoning making weapons; that was a stupid idea as it would cut off a significant means of earning for him. Instead, Lucas wanted to expand the field of operations and activities for the Heavenly Demonic Shop. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In Baylands City, Lucas had only focused on making weapons. However, this created a problem. The first was that when he needed stellar processors for his new model of vestiges, Lucas lacked the ability to produce them and had to outsource. As such, when the deal with the Legacy Crafts dealership and Novanio Tech broke off, he was unable to continue producing those vestiges that required modified stellar processors.


    Another issue was that when he was targeted, it was by a certain branch in the vestige-smith industry. This then cut off Lucas means of earning money. If he had other means and operated in different areas, he might have been able to make some cash even if the top factions were after his store, although the chances were low.


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    Even so, Lucas felt it was better to be diverse and create an entire ecosystem around his products.


    Lucas wanted to make it such that his store would cover all forms of vestige-smithing and be able to produce its own materials, eliminating the need to outsource them from others.


    In the business world, the first was called horizontal expansion while the second was vertical expansion. However, Lucas was unaware of this. After all, he never bothered to study business management back on Earth.


    While Lucas returned back to the store, Luka went to meet with one of the drivers.

 Chapter 232 Joker 2

    "Damn it."A young man threw his racing helmet on the floor and cursed. Frustration, anxiety and anguish could all be seen on his face as he squat down with tears in his eyes. His entire being was wrapped around in an aura of hopelessness and intense melancholy.


    If people who knew who he was saw him in this fashion, they would be shocked.


    The young man was a somewhat famous driver who had done well in the test circuits, but performed substandard today. He was the driver of the blue-stripped racing shuttles, Joker.


    Joker had been a deep lover of sare shuttles from a very young age. His father was also a vestige-smith for a big hover car company, so it was understandable why Joker had developed such a passion from early on.


    From a young age, he would play around with toy cars and even try his hand at building one himself. Later on, Joker would follow his dad to his work place and watch him at work. When he got older, his father converted their garage into a repair shop and began teaching Joker some of his skills. This helped Joker improve a lot and he began showing signs of being a genius.


    By the time Joker was seventeen years old, he was already good at fixing the common parts in sare shuttles and hover cars. He could even make a car [1] all on his own.


    It was at this age, that he then got exposed to drift racing and developed an intense passion for it. Unlike the usual sare shuttles, racing shuttles gave an entirely different feeling. Since they didn''t pursue other features like security and durability against desolate beast attacks, their development pattern focused on speed, durability and acceleration.


    To a young man who loved vehicles, speed was paramount, and it was easy to see why Joker became interested in racing shuttles and drift racing.


    When he was twenty two years old and a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, Joker had already learnt to fix the more complex parts in sare shuttles. Whether they were the stellar energy transmission systems, the turbo boost engines, or even the electronics aspect of these shuttles, he could fix them all. Joker could even make impressive modifications to them, which then gave him the confidence to consider a career in drift racing. But he didn''t rush it despite feeling confident.


    Instead, Joker took two years out and to earn a lot of money, while making modifications to a sare shuttle he had his eyes on for a while.


    When he was twenty four years old, Joker''s preparations were completed and he finally decided to push forth with his plans. He formed a team with a few of his colleagues from his work place; a repair shop he had been working under for the past three years. Then, he signed up for the K1 drift racing league as an independent driver.


    Having performed well in the test circuits, Joker became confident and thought himself to be a talented genius. However, he still tried to keep himself calm and humble. It had been seven years since he started following drift racing leagues, so Joker knew that the test circuits weren''t to be taken seriously.


    It wouldn''t be until the first race began that the true capabilities of the drivers and shuttles would be seen. Regardless, Joker was still pleased by his performance. It was something to brag about as an independent driver even if it was just the test circuits.


    However, when the first race came, Joker understood how greatly he had underestimated the other drivers. Even though he didn''t look down on them after the test circuits ¡ªsince he knew that they weren''t performing at their top¡ª Joker had still misjudged them.


    Originally, he believed that he could struggle into the top ten in the first race. But even the top fifteen spot was out of his reach at the end of the race. Scoring nineteenth (19th) place out of thirty drivers, while incredible for an independent racer, was still not enough for Joker.


    Don''t give up so soon, buddy. It''s only the first race." One of the crew members sighed.


    "Yeah, he''s right. We can go back and make better preparations." One of his closest friends walked over and patted Joker behind the back.


    "That''s the problem. It''s only the first." Joker gritted his teeth.


    If after the first race, he only got nineteenth (19th) place, one could only wonder what his league ranking would be at the end of the season.


    A season spanned a period of three months, but during that time, there would only be thirteen races of four hours each, or a total of fifty two (52) hours. That''s exactly two days and four hours of driving. In the other days that consisted of the season, the other teams would be focused on making minor or even major changes to their racing shuttles. At the final month of the season, it was most likely that the racing shuttles would be on a whole different level as compared to the start of the league.


    For someone like Joker, who spent two years just to achieve this level of modification, there was not much he could improve within the next two months.


    Joker''s strategy was to perform very well in the first month, do just alright in the second month, and try his best to survive in the third month. That way, his league ranking would be somewhere in the middle; a good ranking especially for an independent driver.


    However, at this rate, he would most likely end at the bottom when the season comes to an end.


    It should be known that to pursue his career as a drift racer, Joker had quit his job and even convinced his friends who supported him to do so. They had no means of earning other than this. Joker had even taken out loans because his salary wasn''t enough to carry out his modifications. As such, if he couldn''t get a good placement at the end of the season, the reward money won''t be enough to cover the debts and settle his crew who had given up their careers to support him.


    "There''s only one thing to do."


    A voice cut in as a newcomer walked into the room. The group turned towards the entrance where they saw the speaker. It was a young man with spiky yellow hair and brown eyes, looking like an archetype of a shonen manga main character.


    "You need to find a sponsor." Luka said.


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    "You again." Someone amongst Joker''s crew of six glared at him.


    This wasn''t the first time the team had met with Luka. On the contrary, it was the fourth time.


    Luka was the scion of a family who had a passion for drift racing. However, unlike the other scions who simply hung around in the VIP section while appreciating the sport or gambling on it, Luka wanted to follow in the footsteps of the the third generation princess of the Verantino family; he wanted to create his own team. But that was easier said than done. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not only would one need a huge sum of money, but they also had to find the necessary talents to fill in the roles. This was especially so for the role of a drift racer which wasn''t an easy spot to fill.


    It was then Luka stumbled upon Joker during the test circuits. Joker had the necessary talent and skills for a drift racer, but the issue was his vehicle. In Luka''s opinion, that was holding him back but it wasn''t unsurprising since Joker didn''t have a backer.


    If he could get him on his team, Luka was confident that he could create a team with the potential to win the league within two years. And so, he had been soliciting the latter ever since.


    "Don''t be quick to chase me away." Luka smiled.


    "You should have realised it by now. The difference between and independent driver and one with a backing. In this sport, it is impossible to go far without money and resources. You have the skills, I have the money. Why don''t you consider my offer more seriously?" Luka smiled.


    At this point, Joker began to hesitate.


    Luka was right. It was foolish of him to believe he could make a difference all in his own. At least with Luka''s support, he could go further. Apart from that, there was not much time.


    The first half of the first month was the final period for teams to make major changes to their lineups. This included changes to the driver, the crew, or even the owner of the team. After this period, the K1 drift racing league''s organisers would place a ban on such activities until the season was over. In other words, these first two weeks was the final opportunity for Joker to decide whether or not to continue as an independent driver or not.


    "So, what do you say?"

 Chapter 233 Melissas Breakthrough

    "Big brother. Look."The cheerful Melissa appeared in front of Lucas with a smile on her face as her body began to radiate a glowing blue light.


    Lucas, who was currently making breakfast, was surprised and couldn''t help going silent for a second.


    "Big brother...?" Melissa carefully asked as she noticed his reaction was strange.


    "It''s nothing." Lucas smiled and ruffled her hair.


    Actually, it wasn''t nothing. If anything, it was something big.


    Melissa had just broken straight into the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. That''s right. She didn''t develop step by step as a regular hyuman would. Instead, she skipped the entire Body Strengthening stage, together with the first and second levels of the Apertures Opening stage, to sit right at the third level.


    This was an incredible feat, at least by this world''s standards, which was why Lucas was speechless.


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    "Hehe. Now I can help you with work." Melissa''s eyes sparkled as she stared at him.


    Due to her young age and weak physique, Lucas had only taught Melissa how to create blueprints for vestiges and the theoretical knowledge of inscriptions. She didn''t carry out any practical exercises as Lucas was worried about her. However, her passion for vestige-smithing wasn''t to be underestimated.


    To reach a balance, Lucas told her that he would consider teaching Melissa the hands-on aspect once she broke into the Apertures Opening stage.


    Lucas'' line of thinking for this had taken into consideration Melissa''s hyuman aspect, but he forgot that she was actually a hybrid. Although he didn''t know her mDNA concentration, Lucas was never of the opinion that it would be ridiculously high. This was because other hyumans had reported Melissa to be a human, because they couldn''t feel the unique wavelength they did from other hyumans. This then meant that Melissa''s father was most likely a categorised human [1].


    Also, one of the highest he has ever seen, the princess of the Mertens family who was said to be 27% with a possible expansion maximum of 35% using serums, had only reached the third level of the Apertures Opening stage at eighteen years of age. Melissa was only eleven years old and she has yet to even start her stellar refinement journey.


    Seeing how great the changes to her was, Lucas didn''t react strangely but congratulated her and gave the excuse that they would talk about he training later on.


    "Oi, system. Explain." Lucas mentally communicated with the system.


    Lucas rarely talked to it after that incident at the Central Prefecture district, but whenever he encountered something he couldn''t understand, the system was his best bet.


    "Apologies, but the system can''t help you."


    Lucas was stunned and for a second, he could imagine a female pouting at him with annoyance written all over her face.


    ''Since when did the system have a tsun side [2]?''


    Lucas ignored it and decided to just look up an explanation himself.


    After breakfast, Lucas gave Melissa some homework to do, before walking towards the checkout counter and making use of the stellar mainframe there, which was essentially a computer.


    When he had sent Melissa''s details and DNA samples to the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society after rescuing her, Lucas had found out more about her. Apparently, Melissa was a hybrid of a categorised human father and a Nysa mother. Originally, Lucas didn''t think too much about this as he had other matters on his mind, but now he decided to learn more about Melissa''s other half.


    After spending a couple of minutes on the mainframe, Lucas had a rough idea of the situation.


    A nysa was an alien race that originated in the Eva solar system, which was a solar system in the Blue Mist star region just like the Kellan solar system. They were mostly known for their hyuman resemblance and astonishing beauty that was in line with hyuman aesthetics. As such, there were quite a lot of inter-species marriage between the two sides.


    Nysas generally appeared at a height of between 1.6 to 1.8 metres (5.2 feet to 5.9 feet or 5''3 to 5''11), with the record tallest being 2.1 metres (6.9 feet or 6''10) [3]. They appeared almost exactly like hyumans, with the major difference being their place blue skin colour as well as the pair of antennas on their foreheads. But considering that some hyumans had a thing for furries, anthropomorphs with blue skin and antennas wasn''t such a big deal.


    Unlike the hyumankin or humankind, nysas were naturally born with the ability to utilise stellar energy from birth. As such, there was no need for them to undergo the Body Strengthening stage. Some of them were even born at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Considering the potential and innate talent of the Nysa race, Lucas couldn''t help but wonder how the hyumankin had defeated them. Actually, the same could be said about the other alien species the hyumankin had defeated in war hundreds of years ago. These alien species could utilise stellar energy from birth and some of them were born at stages hyumans would have to labour for decades to achieve.


    Despite all that, they had lost to the hyumankin and become subordinate races.


    While the history books claimed that it was due to the steady accumulation of hyumankin, the talents in their numbers, as well as their grit and will, Lucas wasn''t someone who would accept such a simple explanation.


    For some of the alien species, hyumankin night be able to trump them in the reproduction department, which could add a solid reason as to why hyumankin won. However, some of these species didn''t lack in that department. Some could even reproduce faster than hyumans and they were still blessed with the ability to utilise stellar energy from birth, giving them a headstart over hyumans.


    Nonetheless, they all still lost in a head-on war against the hyumans. This was strange.


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t dwell on it. He was far away from even reaching the threshold of exploring the truth.


    Bringing his attention back to reality, Lucas could now understand why Melissa had improved so much. But he then stumbled upon a certain piece of information. Even amongst the nysa, jumping straight to the third level of the Apertures Opening stage without prior exposure or experience with stellar refinement was very rare.


    Although the nysa could innately utilise stellar energy, but it didn''t imply that they were geniuses at birth or the mystical energy''s favourite.


    The only exception Lucas had managed to find out was if the person was a pure-blooded nysa of the royalty line. But looking at Melissa, she didn''t seem to appear like any of the sorts. Chances were her mother was one, but if Melissa had inherited the pure-blooded genes, she should have appeared the same as well.


    "The only way to find out more is to track her ancestory. But that would require me travelling to a different solar system." Lucas sighed. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Forget travelling to a different solar system, he couldn''t even afford travelling to the nearest planet.


    Lucas could only toss the idea at the back of his mind. For now, he had to make sure that Melissa could hide her aura and appear ordinary to others. Otherwise, if those around found out about an eleven year old girl who was at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage, Lucas couldn''t say for sure what would happen.


    Previously, Lucas had planned to enroll Melissa in a school to get along with people her age and learn more about the world. However, it looked like that idea would be shelved for the moment.


    "System, why am I so unfortunate?" Lucas sighed once again.


    He had been labouring for over half a year now, but was still some distance away from being able to utilise stellar energy. Meanwhile the little girl he adopted some two months ago or so, was now at the third level.


    "Maybe the host had offended someone in the past." The system''s voice sounded.


    "..."


    Again, Lucas ignored the system and focused on himself instead.


    So far, the system was at level three and there were still two more levels to go before Lucas had the complete materials to create the medicine that would ''fix'' him.


    After he left Baylands City and opened a new store the first time, Lucas had unlocked a hidden achievement. When he closed the first branch, he unlocked another hidden achievement. Following that, Lucas proceeded to leave the location before opening the current branch in Trundel City, where he stayed.


    When he made his first transaction in the Heavenly Demonic Shop branch, Lucas had unlocked an achievement. After Ronny and his crew came over and bought vestiges from him, Lucas had unlocked another hidden achievement as it was the first vestige sold from the new branch.


    In total, Lucas had gained four achievements in the span of a month or so. If it were in the past, he would have levelled up by now, but it was obvious that the threshold for leveling up was much higher now. However, Lucas was confident that if he could complete the mission given to him by the system, he would be very close to doing so or even level up straight away. This was because the mission was very difficult, and based on what he knew already, the rewards were proportional to the difficulty, and this included the experience points rewards.


    The Crafts-god System operated differently from the systems Lucas had read about in his spare time from web and light novels back on Earth. Completing missions gave him rewards, while the system gained a concealed amount of experience points which it used to level itself up.


    Leveling up the system would grant Lucas more benefits and increase the reward he could gain from missions.


    From this arrangement, it felt as if the Crafts-god System was one that benefitted both sides. As for why this was so, Lucas couldn''t answer. But he wasn''t worried.

 Chapter 234 Lukas New Hire

    Three days later...After the meeting with Luka, Joker and his teammates had decided to cooperate with the former and create a new drift racing team. They were aware of their shortcomings and knew that without the aid of a sponsor, they wouldn''t be going far in the sport.


    Joker was the main vestige-smith in the team, but even he had no ideas on how to improve their racing shuttle. The team also lacked funds to be able to hire more experienced vestige-smiths, so it was safe to say that their racing shuttle wouldn''t see any further improvements during the season. This would then mean that their ranking would continuously drop after each race. Hence, their best bet was to work with Luka.


    Since Joker had already registered for the K1 drift racing league and registrations were closed, the only option was a merger or a takeover.


    In the case of a merger, an existing team in the league would combine with a different team from elsewhere, enabling them to utilise the foreign team''s resources and crew in the race.


    As long as this occurred before the two weeks permissible time, the K1 drift racing league would tolerate any changes to the registered team.


    As for an acquisition, this was when a third-party bought an existing team within the league. The acquisition process had to be rounded up before three days the allotted two weeks period for major changes was over. Otherwise, the acquisition won''t be recognised by the K1 drift racing league in that season.


    Once successful, due to the fact that a new owner has taken charge, the K1 drift racing league would grant the team a three day window to make changes to the team as the new owner desired. Whether it was the crew, driver, or even the racing shuttle, all could be swapped out.


    Joker wanted to still retain control over the drift racing team to protect his and his crew''s interest, so even though it was an acquisition, he still retained thirty five percent (35%) of the stocks of the team.


    The remaining sixty five percent (65%) was split into two, with fifty five percent (55%) going to Luka, while the remaining ten percent was left open. According to Luka, he planned to sell the leftovers to any interested party that would be suitable for them to cooperate with.


    Due to the tight schedule, the deal was rushed and finalised two days ago, which was two days after the first race. The next two days was then spent discussing the changes to be made to the team.


    Naturally, as the new owner, Luka was more confident in assembling an even better crew than Joker''s current team, but the latter was against it. While Joker didn''t mind new hires, he refused to abandon his friends who had quit their jobs to support him.


    Although he was the majority shareholder and could easily veto Joker''s opinion, Luka decided to respect it after much arguing. There was no reason other than the fact that they had less than three days to wrap up their changes and report to the K1 drift racing league. As such, spending time arguing was a pointless and meaningless endeavour.


    Today, Luka had stepped out with Joker, and a crew member to recruit some new members for the team and to welcome a friend of his.


    Standing at the waiting area in the Doza light-rail train station, Luka, Joker and the member of the crew waited for someone.


    "So, who is the new guy?" Joker couldn''t help but ask.


    A couple of minutes ago, Luka had contacted him and asked to meet up to settle some issues for the team. Joker had proceeded to abandon his plans for the day and meet up with Luka. He also called a member of his crew to tag along, so they''d have a stronger say against Luka, who held a larger share of the team.


    However on the way, despite how much he had asked, Luka failed to offer much of an explanation to Joker. Instead, he explained that it was a surprise.


    "He''s someone from abroad." Luka replied with a smile. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire


    He paused for a minute and seemed to consider something before explaining,


    "He travelled far away to explore other regions and polish his skills as a vestige-smith. His skills will be much needed if we want to do better."


    Joker and his teammate were surprised as they began to look at Luka in a new light. It had only been two days since the deal was signed yet he had already attracted such a magnificent vestige-smith to the team.


    After a short while, a new batch of newcomers had arrived and exited the train.


    "Over here." Luka smiled while staring ahead and waving his hand.


    A few seconds later, a figure made his way over.


    Joker and his teammate stared surprised at the person. For a second, they began to wonder whether Luka was playing a prank on them. This was because of the appearance of the newcomer.


    The newcomer was a young teen with brown hair and amber eyes with a smile on his face. Based on how old he looked, he could barely be called an adult.


    Although hyumans typically appeared to be younger than humans, they had already gotten used to it hundreds of years ago and could tell how old one looked based on appearance. The newcomer looked like he was just shy of eighteen years of age.


    At such a young age, Joker began to doubt Luka''s claims that this was a talented vestige-smith who had travelled abroad to polish his skills. What skills in vestige-smithing could an eighteen year old have? At that age, Joker was still handling car parts and common parts in hover vehicles.


    "Brother, it''s been a while." Luka Walker towards the figure and opened his arms wide.


    "Indeed." The brown haired young man said as he hugged him back.


    "How was your trip abroad?" Luka asked as he signalled for the driver who came with them to help with the luggage.


    "It was alright but a bit difficult since I had to do master''s assignments." The young man sighed. Recalling some of the tasks his master had handed to him, he couldn''t help but shiver at the thought.


    "Haha. To be able to return means you passed. That shows how talented you are, after all , your master''s assignments aren''t some easy tasks." Luka flattered the young man.


    The young man''s master wasn''t an ordinary vestige-smith but a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. In other words, the young man was learning under the very few people who could make Grade 5 vestiges.


    Being able to study under such a figure was a testament of one''s talents since it wasn''t an easy role to get. To be able to even be qualified to do so, one had to be very talented and fulfil a whole bunch of criteria before passing specific tests set by the Grandmaster.


    However, facing all those difficulties, the road ahead was one destined for success.


    "That''s true, but you don''t need to compliment me like this." The young man smiled.


    Seeing the young man glance at Joker and his teammate, Luka introduced them,


    "These are my co-workers. They''re part of the reason why I called you over. We will be discussing that in detail later. In the meantime, he''s Joker."


    "Nice to meet you, I''m Havos." The young man smiled and stretched out his hand.


    The name didn''t generate any reaction from Joker or his colleague, but if Lucas were here, he would have found the young man familiar.


    Havos was one of the examinees during the Exceptional Basis Examination at the Baylands city-state''s EVL regional headquarters. He had befriended Lucas during the exam, and managed to take twelfth place.


    Such a score seemed lacking when compared to the other geniuses back then like Vergil Mertens or Maximillus Oder, but Havos had achieved this score with a handicap. That''s right; he had purposely held back his skills and made it more difficult for him while undergoing the exam. This was one of the tasks his master had given him to carry out, otherwise with his true skills, Havos would have easily taken first place.


    This was because when compared to Vergil and Maximillus, Havos had already began creating vestiges way before he took the exam. He was also learning under a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith which was a testament of his innate talent and potential. With such a teacher, it would be a disappointment if he couldn''t surpass the talents in a city-state without a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    Although Joker was confused about the latter''s identity and how he could help them, he still remained polite and shook the young man''s hand.


    "Nice to meet you, I''m Callus, but you can call me Joker." Joker said.


    Joker wasn''t his real name, but a nickname he was more known by. His real name was Callus, but he preferred to answer Joker. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We will do better introductions later. For now, let''s go have a meal." Luka said before leading the way.


    Joker was a bit irritated that the special guest was a young man even younger than himself. In his opinion, he couldn''t think of the value Havos was to the team. But seeing as how Luka treated the other party like a saviour, he remained quiet and tagged along. He wanted to know who exactly the newcomer was and how he could help them.

 Chapter 235 Test

    The group left the station and relocated to an uptown hotel which also doubled as a popular restaurant.After lodging arrangements were made for Havos, they gathered at the dining area to discuss their plans.


    While all these took place, Callus and his colleague were fuming inside as they felt that they were wasting so much time here. But they kept their cool and waited to see what would become of everything.


    For most of the meal, Luka chatted with Havos and asked him about his experiences outside Belfargos city-state with the latter responding and describing some of the events he had been through. Baylands city-state wasn''t the only place Havos went to, as to complete his master''s trial, he had to challenge himself in a total of five city-states.


    The trial was for Havos to participate in the Exceptional Basis Examination with the other candidates and get into the top ten. Since he was long qualified to be a vestige-smith, having him compete with ''newborns'' was unfair. So, Havos was restricted to using only ten percent of his real abilities.


    Havos began the trial over five months ago and Baylands city-state was his first start, which was why he had performed ''poorly''. However, later on, he got the hang of the trial and was able to work on his mistakes and improve his skills.


    In the following four city-states, Havos easily entered the top ten and even made an appearance in the top four in his last two exams. And this was while utilising only ten percent of his true abilities.


    Despite that, he didn''t mention this part of Luka and the others, but simply spoke a bit about his experiences.


    Finally, Luka brought up the main topic at hand.


    "Recently, I''ve formed a drift racing team for the K1 league, but I''m lacking someone to take on the head designer and vestige-smith role. How about it?"


    Havos didn''t reply right away as he first took a bite from the desolate beast meat he had sliced apart. He then glanced at Luka with a mysterious smile on his face.


    "Be straight with me. You aren''t aiming for my skill, but my master."


    "You jest. Even if your master is interested, I can''t afford his services." Luka conveyed his thoughts with a chuckle.


    He was being honest with his words. Although it sounded like a good thing to have a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith work for him, it was too good to be true. The cost of a grandmaster''s services wasn''t something Luka could take on.


    Luka wasn''t like the third generation princess of the Verantino family ¡ªthe fourth strongest family in Trundel City¡ª who started Yoko-bunny. He was from a more ''common'' family line and couldn''t afford such expenses.


    Luka''s grandfather had once worked in the City Lord Manor in Trundel City and built a lot of connections from there. Using those connections, he managed to own a few stocks in some top companies right before they became reputed. As for his father, he was currently the CEO of an Olympus 1000 company. This was the source of Luka''s confidence to relate in the upper class circle of the younger generation, but he still knew his place.


    Olympus 1000 was a list of the top one thousand companies on Eretre, which each had a net worth of at least two hundred million federal coins.


    "I''m sincerely just aiming for yourself. State your terms and we can negotiate something that works for us both." Luka spread his hands out.


    Just as Havos was considering the offer, Callus became tired of waiting. Hiring Havos as a new staff wouldn''t have caused him to lose his patience, but Luka planned to have the youngster become their head designer. There was no way Callus would sit down and slide with the decision. So, he decided to test the other party.


    "Oh, you didn''t discuss that with me." Callus suddenly said.


    As the second largest shareholder of the team, he has the right to have an opinion on such a major decision so it was appropriate for Luka to have brought it up with him earlier. But the latter failed to do so since he thought Callus wouldn''t have a problem with it.


    Luka suddenly frowned as he could guess what the latter was doing. Before he could say anything however, Callus continued.


    "Since he''s to be the head, we should offer him some sort of test to confirm his skills, right? He should also report his skill level as well." Callus said.


    There was nothing wrong with his words, but the timing of them had a subtle meaning. He was clearly trying to embarrass Havos.


    Havos smiled as he watched this happen, but he didn''t take it to heart. Even though he was quite young, he had matured mentally after his training with his master.


    "How do you intend to do so?" Havos asked, ignoring the last statement about his skill level.


    "Simple. You could make something for us to see, or answer a few simple questions."


    Callus didn''t want to make things unnecessarily difficult for Havos as he simply wanted to test the latter''s abilities. Even if they were subpar to take the role of head of design and development, as long as he was talented enough, Callus wouldn''t mind letting Havos come onboard.


    "I''ll take the second option since the situation isn''t suitable for the first." Havos replied.


    They were in a restaurant and it was basically impossible to display his skills here. Hence, the best option was to answer Callus'' questions. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire


    Seeing Havos agree to it, Luka didn''t say anything but inwardly shook his head at Callus.


    Callus proceeded to ask a few questions related to vestige-smithing, starting off with the basics then going deeper into the branch for hover vehicles. However, he was stunned by Havos'' responses.


    Not only did the young man answer his questions correctly, his responses were advanced and even had Callus thinking deeply or amazed. Even though Havos looked like an eighteen year old youngster, his answers made him sound like a vestige-smith in his late thirties with a boatload of experience.


    Naturally, when pitted against Callus who was only in his early twenties, there was no space for comparison.


    "My apologies." Callus bowed.


    Although he appeared like a headstrong individual at times, he wasn''t a man of bad character and knew when to take a step back. If he didn''t, then there was no way he would have agreed to Luka''s deal.


    "No problem. It''s inevitable you''ll doubt me after seeing how old I look." Havos clearly didn''t sound bothered by it.


    Callus felt embarrassed seeing as Havos had seen through him, but he was still a bit thick-skinned and he flung the feeling away. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, now that''s settled. How about it? Do you agree with my proposal?" Luka''s voice sounded once again.


    Havos nodded.


    "No problem. But before we get down to things, I need to go to the trade area and restock on materials."


    "Okay then. We leave right after this."

 Chapter 236 Visitors

    During the same time that Luka, Callus and his teammate met with Havos, Lucas was in the shop going through a list of relics to visit to complete the new mission.The mission didn''t specify how many relics Lucas needed to explore, but it did emphasize that for the mission to be concluded, he had to master the magi runes. It wouldn''t take an Einstein to figure out that the relics Lucas needed to explore were this pertaining to magi runes and the civilisation behind it. As such, Lucas began looking up for such relics. Find your adventure at My Virtual Library Empire


    This would have been difficult since the hyumans didn''t even know much about these ruins, but luckily, Lucas knew where Ronny had found the artefact. Using the location, he mapped out the surrounding relics around it and estimated that they would similarly be related to the same civilisation behind the magi runes.


    At the same time, Lucas delved into history books to find more clues. Although hyumans couldn''t identify or comprehend much about these runes, they still had some achievements in it. They were able to spot similarities between each inscription and categorise them to create a library of information.


    The relics Ronny found the ring was called the East Braftford relics due to its location. According to the history books, the unknown civilisation behind it was termed the Sunil, although that wasn''t their true name but merely a term used by hyumans to address them. As such, all relics related to them were called Sunil relics, and they were Lucas'' target for exploration.


    So far, there were two other Sunil relics close to the East Braftford relics. Compared to the latter, the two relics weren''t as dangerous and have already been explored for the most part. As long as he was willing to pay a fee, Lucas could hire a pioneer to act as a guide or even purchase some of the discovery reports of other pioneers. However, he was urgently in need of money.


    "Well, there''s still one month and a few more weeks to go."


    Lucas sighed as he turned his attention away from the stellar mainframe and walked towards Melissa.


    As usual, the shop was devoid of customers but Lucas didn''t think too much about it. This was because when compared to the week he had started out in Trundel City, life was better.


    After Ronny and his crew came over, they would occasionally make a visit to his shop to have their vestiges fixed. Although the cost of services was cheap for the clients, which meant that Lucas made little from it, it was still something to get by with.


    ''Apart from going into the hover car business, I should also make some consumables that would sell well to freelancers.'' Lucas thought. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks to the system, Lucas found it difficult to gain customers to his shop which meant that his pockets would always be in the red. To go past this, he decided to create a new vestige that would sell well in the market. However, learning from past experiences, it wouldn''t be something ''absurd'', by this world''s standards, and it would also have to be a consumable.


    The reason behind the latter decision was to have customers frequent his shop consistently even after making a purchase.


    Lucas got this idea from a conspiracy theory back on Earth that mega-pharmaceuticals didn''t truly want to make a cure for certain terminal illnesses, but instead focused on reaping continuous benefits from patients. While the idea was heinous in the health industry, it was still recognised as a business tactic and could be applied in different avenues.


    ''It was pretty much similar to the phrase, ''don''t kill the goose that lays the golden egg''.'' The system commented.


    Lucas didn''t doubt that as that was in fact, what the concept implied.


    What he lacked was a goose to lay him golden eggs, and that was why Lucas wanted to create a consumable type vestige. However, it was easier said than done. Consumable-type vestiges had already been created and many of them were immensely powerful and effective.


    Hyuman civilization had existed for over three thousand years, and unlike humanity, hyumankin had a properly documented history of their past. As such, their technological advancements were far more impressive than what humanity had achieved in their era. Although a lot of similarities still existed between the two civilizations, the differences were immense.


    Take for instance the space-bombs which seemed similar to grenades. However, unlike the creation of humanity, space-bombs could create and set-off miniature distinct black holes, which would tear a hole within space. These devices had immense power, but the calculations and intelligence used to create them was immaculate. Despite setting off a black hole, the design was made to only cause a tear in space and not space-time. To even be able to pull that off, one had to have an impressive knowledge of Quantum physics, astrophysics, and mathematics.


    There were also simpler consumable-type vestiges which still possess an incredible amount of power. In summary, the ''Goose project'' wasn''t something Lucas could complete any time soon. However, it was still worth researching.


    Just as he was stuck in his thoughts while supervising Melissa''s training, the bell hung on the shop''s door rang signifying visitors.


    Lucas was a bit surprised by this but he still turned in the direction of the entrance to see who it was.


    Three young men walked into the store and glanced around.


    Of the three young men, one of them wore a white long sleeves shirt, with a black cardigan and black trousers. Not only was his fit stylish, but the brand was definitely not ordinary. Despite the distance, Lucas could discern that the quality of the clothing''s material were all exquisite. They were all luxury goods that cost a lot, but still had a superb resale value. Although his attire weren''t vestiges, they could still offer some form of protection to the wearer.


    The second one had forest green hair with a tattoo of a jester on his left arm. He was dressed in a more casual style when compared to the previous young man. He wore a navy blue sweatshirt and grey trouser with a metallic dog-tag dangling on his neck. Although the clothes weren''t as costly as the other young man, a close look at the accessory and one would realise that it was vestige. The abilities of the vestige was unknown, but it probably possessed defensive properties.


    The young man had a nonchalant expression on his face that seemed uninterested in the store. It was almost as if he had walked in simply because the others had done so.


    As for the last of them, he had brown hair and amber coloured eyes. Staring at him, Lucas found him to be familiar and was surprised to see the figure here.


    Actually, Lucas knew who the other two were as well since it had been just a few days ago that he saw them.

 Chapter 237 Callus Interest

    "Yo, what a surprise to see you here." Luka smiled as he greeted Lucas.Of course it wasn''t a surprise. In fact, Luka had planned this.


    After they had met before, the two had exchanged contact details. Luka had used that information to do so digging in Lucas and found out the other ran a vestige-smith store on the Bilac trade centre. Originally, he didn''t plan to go out of his way to meet him as the two had only met once. However, after the meal with Havos, the latter had wanted to check out the trading area to restock on his materials.


    Luka didn''t see a problem with that and to show how much he valued their relationship and partnership, he decided to tag along.


    The problem however, was that neither Luka nor Callus ¡ªaka Joker¡ª who came along with the two, knew much about the Bilac trade centre. The trade centre was almost as large as a small town. Without a proper guide, it was easy to get lost within it, and that was the last thing any of them wanted.


    Luka was the son of a top CEO and barely did any shopping unless it was online. As for physical or other forms of shopping, it was mostly done by his PA (Personal Assistant).


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    Callus was also similar in that he never did any physical shopping for vestige materials. For private matters, he had a personal supplier who would deliver the goods to him. When it came to the team, a member of the crew handled their logistics. As such, Callus didn''t know his way around the Bilac trade centre although he had been here once. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Havos was even worse. It had been six months since he was in Belfargos city-state, but prior to that, he had resided in a different city. Havos wasn''t familiar with Trundel City, which was why he raised up the proposal to restock his materials right after meeting with Luka. In his opinion, Luka ¡ªwho was a local¡ª should be able to know his way around.


    Since they lacked a proper guide, Luka recalled Lucas who he had met before. Based on the results of the background check, he knew that Lucas ran a store in the Bilac trade centre. As a store owner, it was natural for him to know his way around the store, so Luka suggested they go find the latter.


    It wasn''t hard to find Lucas'' store as long as they knew the address which then brings us to this very moment.


    "So, would you help us?"


    After explaining the situation to Lucas, Luka stared at him with a pleading look on his face.


    Truth be told, this wasn''t much of a problem for Lucas. He did in fact know his way around the trade centre. Being a sucker for metals and crafting materials, it would be impossible for Lucas to not have taken a look around when he was in one of the largest trade centres for those.


    During his stay here, Lucas had occasionally taken walks along the way with Melissa, while staring at materials and metals that were out of his reach. He made notes of some of them and had even bought a few after careful deliberation. Although, that had been a while, it wasn''t so long ago but merely just a few weeks back.


    ''But why would I?''


    Lucas thought.


    He wasn''t one of those nice guys or characters who loved making friends. None of that had anything to do with him. Also, his relationship with Luka was merely that of acquaintances. The two had only met once and that was it. Even though they exchanged contact details, Lucas was simply reciprocating it after Luka did so. He never di so because he thought of Luka as a close friend or something similar.


    Just as he was prepared to reject him, Havos entered the picture.


    "It''s been a while. Why don''t you agree to it and let''s do some catching up?" Havos smiled.


    "You guys know each other?" Luka was surprised.


    It should be known that Havos was a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. Not just anyone could associate with someone like him.


    Havos nodded.


    "A little bit. We once met abroad and I got to know a bit about him. He''s an interesting guy."


    Lucas gazed at the latter, wondering whether he had a plot in mind.


    His entire fiasco with the Baylands City Patrol Corps had been kept under wraps from the public, but Lucas couldn''t say for sure that Havos wasn''t aware of it.


    This was because based on Luka''s dressing and his steady presence at the K1 drift racing league''s races, it was easy to guess that he wasn''t an ordinary individual. Joker was also another person with a certain level of fame. To be able to hang around these two individuals meant that Havos wasn''t an ordinary individual. Hence, Lucas became unsure whether he knew what took place there.


    If Havos knew, there was no saying whether he would make an anonymous report or tip those factions in Baylands city-state.


    ''Even if he does that, they can''t do anything to me here.'' Lucas thought.


    Regardless, he was unwilling to associate with them so easily.


    "Are you a vestige-smith?" Callus'' voice was suddenly heard from the other side.


    "Yes." Lucas blandly replied, his attention still on rejecting the group.


    Despite the monotonous response, Callus wasn''t offended. Instead, he was impressed.


    Unlike Havos and Luka who went to meet with Lucas, he took his time studying the shop. However, as he did so, Callus became surprised.


    A few days ago, Lucas had decided to display some of the vestiges he had made in the shop. These were the stocks he had no use for, so he decided to hang them out to attract customers. Callus'' attention happened to be drawn towards them.


    Even though there was no detailed report about them and the aura of the vestiges were locked into them, Callus ¡ªas a vestige-smith himself ¡ª was able to notice that they were different. The craftsmanship of these vestiges were exquisite and could only be done by a vestige-smith with incredible expertise and experience.


    Callus had heard about some humans who managed to defy their fates and become a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith or a regular Tier 1 vestige-smith. However, none of them had been able to possess such immaculate craftsmanship and skills.


    For a moment, Callus was interested in the human in this shop.

 Chapter 238 Debating The Design

    With Callus drawing attention towards the vestiges, Havos and Luka held back the talk and decided to go check them out as well. The duo then realised what made Callus awed, especially so for Havos who was a vestige-smith.Although the vestiges Lucas had made exuded no aura, just the craftsmanship alone was astonishing.


    Havos didn''t think much about the absence of aura as even if Lucas was a vestige-smith, with him being a human, the best he could do was a Grade 1 vestige. Instead, he had his attention on the details of the vestiges.


    Usually, most vestige-smiths would perform the entire process themselves as using machines could have some adverse effects. Although there were some vestige-smiths in Belfargos city-state who used machines to create the framework for vestiges, they sold those products as lower-end vestiges. Hand-crafted products were more valuable and they were slightly stronger than machine crafted ones. There was no scientific explanation for this; it was just so.


    Because of the importance of one''s forging skills, even hyuman vestige-smiths in Belfargos city-state occasionally had some talented human blacksmiths under their wings. This was because, unlike hyumans, humans almost never became vestige-smiths. But unwilling to quit, they worked hard on their blacksmithing abilities and perfected them even better than some hyuman vestige-smiths.


    When he met Lucas in Baylands city-state, Havos had presumed that Lucas was one such blacksmith. However, their chance encounter here seemed to show that Lucas had successfully crossed that bridge and his forging skills were top tier.


    "Are you interested in a deal?" Havos suddenly said as he turned towards Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at Havos and waited for the latter to continue. As expected, the latter continued.


    "Luka here is trying to run a drift racing team and he invited me to join the design team. I''d also like for you to work with me."


    While weapons vestige-smithing was different from vehicle vestige-smithing, the basic principles were the same. Also, Havos didn''t plan on having Lucas handle the complex or important parts of the vehicle. Instead, he simply needed his forging skills to be able produce precise vehicle parts.


    "The remuneration would be to your liking and we won''t need you to be busy 24/7. You can still run your store and help us with th design and development of the racing shuttle." Seeing Lucas not say a word yet, Havos added a few more perks.


    Luka stood by the side and didn''t say anything. Since Havos was to be the head of design and development, he has the right to hire the required staff. The only point Luka could make was on the number of staff, after all, he was the one paying for their wages.


    At first, Lucas wanted to reject them, but he realised that even though he knew how to make a hover car thanks to the system, he still didn''t know much about racing shuttles. Working with Havos would be the perfect opportunity to improve his knowledge and skill. He would also get into the drift racing sport.


    If he experimented on the racing shuttle with his knowledge, Lucas could have a front cover for when he finally goes into the new industry. It was just like the Legacy Crafts dealership back in Baylands city-state, but this time around, Lucas would be hidden behind the light of Havos.


    "I''ll consider it after further discussion." Lucas replied.


    "Great." Havos smiled brilliantly.


    Having to work with someone both skilled and familiar with him made Havos satisfied for the day. But he still didn''t forget what they came for.


    Since he had decided to work with them, Lucas closed the shop temporary and left with Melissa to escort the group.


    . . .


    Two days later in a meeting room, Lucas, Havos, and Joker were once again gathered. There were also a few other members of the Black Star, the official drift racing team. These other members were the initial crew members of the original team; in other words, Callus'' teammates and friends.


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    The next race of the month, which also happened to the second of four, was to take place the following day. But prior that, the group wanted to discuss some possible changes they could make to the racing shuttle before the race. At the same time, they also wanted to have a lengthy talk on the direction of development the racing shuttle would take as well as the future improvements they would make on it.


    With a tight schedule on their hands, it was impossible to make massive changes to the vehicle, but making minor ones that could boost the performance was still doable. The reason for this confidence was because the team''s head of designs and development was Havos, a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and also a Tier 1 vestige-smith himself.


    Despite not having broken through to the rank of Elite vestige-smith under Tier 1, Havos'' skill was far ahead of a typical Tier 1 vestige-smith. He only lacked the stellar refinement of a fourth level stellar practitioner to be able to become a standard Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith. As such, his input was valuable and he was confident of being able to tweak the design of the shuttle.


    However, not everyone agreed.


    "I understand where you''re coming from and all, but there isn''t much we can do about it." One of Callus'' original teammates said.


    He didn''t agree with Havos'' opinion that modifications could be made to the shuttle in a one day window. It was the same as saying that the original team that worked on it was incapable.


    The man didn''t deny that major modifications could be made to the vehicle to improve it, but to say that alterations could be done in a one day window that would boost the shuttle''s performance, that was absurd.


    Havos might be the student of a Grandmaster, a genius and a Tier 1 vestige-smith, but the other vestige-smiths in the team were all at least Tier 1. Apart from that, there was even a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with them. The man was aware that the five of them couldn''t compare to Havos. However, whether it was in terms of ability, experience, or skill, the man refused to believe that a youngster who recently became an adult could compete against five other vestige-smiths and make improvements within a one-day window.


    That was laughable, to say the least.


    Although the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith had yet to say a word, the others in the team couldn''t sit by and watch Havos insult their work.


    "Heh. The only reason you think there''s nothing to do is simply because you''re unqualified to do more." Havos retorted indifferently.


    Being a genius and a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, he definitely had his own pride.


    "You...!"


    Another of the crew members stood up and pointed at Havos, but the latter simply snorted at the provocation.


    In the next second, curses began flying to and fro as Havos was engaged in a heated argument with four of the men who made up Callus'' original team.


    Lucas watched the two sides argue out who was smarter for a few seconds before shifting his attention to the blueprint projected before him. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The meeting had begun ten minutes ago and the blueprint of the ''Juggernaut'', Callus'' racing shuttle, had been displayed on separate projections for each member of the new design and development team.


    As he was called in to be the forger for the shuttle, no one on the two parties asked for Lucas'' opinion while they squabbled. This gave Lucas the ''peace of mind'' he needed as he focused on the blueprint.


    ''Not bad.'' Lucas thought as he studied the blueprint.


    The Juggernaut was a truly powerful sare shuttle made with quality materials. Although it wasn''t a first or even second-rate racing shuttle, it was still a work of art. The vehicle pursued speed, which was Callus'' forte, as he possessed impressive reflexes. Whether it was the shape, structure, dynamics or mechanics of the vehicle and its engine, the were all top-notch.


    ''However, it''s still lacking.'' Lucas sighed inwardly.


    One of the major downsides of the sare shuttle at a single glance was the materials used. When compared to the racing shuttles of other top drivers in the league like Red Devil or the racing shuttles of Lugo Vido Autos and Team Yoko-bunny, the Juggernaut was below the margin.


    There was also the fact that the vestige-smiths behind the vehicles were all average Tier 1 vestige-smiths with only one Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith. When compared to the other top teams who had at least two Tier 1 Elite vestige-smiths working on their racing shuttles, the difference became obvious.


    ''Well, it''s not my job to make major modifications and I can''t stand out too much. I''ll just change a few things here and there.''


    Lucas slowly picked up a light pen and began to make adjustments to the blueprint while the two sides argued. Although it was his first time working on a racing shuttle or any kind of shuttle, Lucas was the true definition of a genius and he had a sun-load of experience. It wasn''t difficult for Lucas to pull this off.

 Chapter 239 Debating The Design 2

    "That''s enough!"After fifteen minutes, Callus finally had enough and interrupted the two sides.


    "We don''t have time yet here you two are, arguing." Callus stared grimly at Havos and the irascible teammate on his side.


    "Alright." The man sighed and sat down.


    "Don''t be so harsh on them, Callus. He was simply dragged into a pointless argument." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith on their side spoke up for his colleague.


    Callus frowned slightly. He was a bit disappointed that the middle-aged man hadn''t spoken up sooner and only did so after he had reprimanded the other man.


    "Hehe." Havos suddenly chuckled. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You guys look down on me too much. Pointless argument? Well, it doesn''t matter. I''ve already made changes to the original blueprint."


    "What?"


    The other six men in the meeting were stunned.


    For the last fifteen minutes, they had watched as Havos was engaged in an intense battle of words with two of them. He had yet to even pick up his light pen to make adjustments to the projection. Despite that, Havos claimed that he was finished.


    "Enough boasting, brat." The short-fused team member said.


    He recognised Havos as a genius, but not as the department head, hence the form of address.


    Havos glanced at him and tilted his head.


    "Boasting? Well, I can''t blame you since you''ve never come in contact with a true genius before."


    Even Lucas couldn''t help but twitch his lips at Havos'' shamelessness. Compared to the Havos he met during the exceptional basis exam, the current Havos was the standard definition of an arrogant young genius.


    Without waiting any further, Havos picked up his light pen, enlarged the projection of the Juggernaut''s blueprint making it visible to everyone. He then proceeded to scribble all over it using the light pen.


    At first, the group was surprised, then confused by his modifications. But as Havos went on, the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith seemed to figure something out as he widened his eyes in shock. Mixed feelings of awe, praise, and defeat could be seen in his eyes.


    "What''s this?" One of the vestige-smiths on the other side asked, clearly confused by the drawings Havos added to the blueprint.


    "Heh. Guess I have to explain in the end." Havos smirked.


    "You all are vestige-smiths in the hover car branch, so you should know how a Stellar Propulsion Engine and all other stellar-powered system works, so I''ll skip the detailed part. We know that all stellar-powered engines and systems work in two major ways, which is by either converting stellar energy into electrical energy or directly using it.


    "The first method is more commonly used with hover cars and shuttles since it''s cheaper and easier to do. However, since there''s a need for a conversion, there''s a time lag, albeit very minute [1]. Although in day-to-day operations, this time lag is unnoticeable, but when it comes to drift racing, it can affect the speed of the driver and the final results."


    The process of changing energy from one form to another was a very common one as old as the universe itself. However, such a process required a factor known as time.


    In simple or basic activities, this time lag was barely felt and unnoticeable, so no one thought much about it. However, in drift racing where drivers needed to accelerate up to 180 km/hr (111.8 mph) in a second or less, the time lag would affect their efficiency in doing so.


    Drift racers weren''t the only victims though


    "The latter method is more commonly used in space shuttles, spaceships and so on."


    "Are you suggesting we modify the engine to utilise stellar energy directly?" One of them asked.


    "Bingo." Havos grinned as he pointed the light pen at the man.


    "That''s insane. Forgetting whether we can even do that, it''s not something we can pull off in a day." The irascible man retorted.


    To be able to make such a major revamp on the Juggernaut''s engine, the level of skill required was immense. Typically, only Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths could do so. Otherwise, at the very least, one would need a team of at least seven Tier 1 Elite vestige-smiths working on it.


    Even if the required skill level was ignored, this wasn''t as simple as making a few tweaks to the engine. Such a drastic modification to the Juggernaut''s engine was no different from dissembling it, restructuring and replacing some of the parts, then reassembling it. There would also be a need to test the engine under various conditions to ensure that no accident would occur in the future.


    Without a doubt, this was definitely not something that could be done in a day.


    "You''re right about that which is why this would be our long term plan." Havos didn''t deny the man''s points.


    Another person in the group was confused and spoke up,


    "Then-"


    "But who said we needed to complete the switch?" Havos interrupted him with a smile as he leaned forward on the table.


    Using the light pen to point at the spots he drew on, Havos continued,


    "We can make some partial adjustments here and here. Apart from that, we can utilise the heat energy from the transformation to create a layer of heat shield over the vehicle go help cut through the air."


    Usually, when energy was converted from one form to another, there would be losses in the form of heat energy. This was why light bulbs would get hot over time while turned on.


    Havos'' suggestion was to use that heat and spread it to the front of the Juggernaut to create a ''heat shield''. This ''shield'' would help heat the air as the shuttle sped forward, making the air lighter and easing air drag and resistance, which were effects of high speed [2].


    It was an ingenious idea that the vestige-smiths had not thought of yet. If successfully done, it would improve the acceleration and top speed of the Juggernaut by at least a small percentage. Even though it was small, such a difference was invaluable in drift racing.


    "Apart from that, if we make changes here, here and here, we can improve the Juggernaut''s efficiency by 7%, the top speed by 12% and acceleration by 3%."


    Overall, Havos had raised two major points which had greatly improved the capabilities of the racing shuttle. The five men who were friends with Callus couldn''t help but be speechless. Even the short-tempered fellow was conquered. He had tried to counter Havos'' points, but after considering them, he couldn''t help but admit they were accurate.


    As usual, Lucas was ignored during the discussions for the changes to the Juggernaut''s engine, but he didn''t think much about it. Instead, he focused his attention on Havos'' points.


    While they were theoretically correct and feasible, Lucas calculated that the changes wouldn''t be as precise as what Havos had stated. However, he chalked that up as being estimations. Regardless, there was no problem with it.


    The problem however, was that even after such improvements, the Juggernaut still won''t be a serious competition to the top racing teams. With Callus'' driving skills, the improvements would at best bring them to the middle of position of the thirty-man table.


    Although moving from nineteenth to fifteenth was impressive, Lucas felt they could do better. The changes he made to the blueprint was even more advanced and detailed than Havos''. If the team followed his, the improvements would be at least 12% in terms of efficiency, 18.5% to top speed and 10% to acceleration.


    Even then, Lucas felt the improvements were little, but the one-day deadline and his abilities were what limited him. There was no reason for such thoughts under than the fact that in his eyes, the Juggernaut was a below third-rate racing shuttle; there was so much room for revamping.


    Suddenly, Havos recalled Lucas and glanced at him. Seeing as the latter wasn''t too focused on the discussions, he called out to him.


    "Lucas, did you get it?"


    "Yeah." Lucas nodded.


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    Although he had his head facing downwards and his attention elsewhere for the most part, he was still able to take in all that occurred here.


    Seemingly distressed at the defeat he faced at Havos'' hands, the hot-headed man turned his attention towards Lucas.


    Just like Havos, Lucas was a ''young un'' who had gotten his way into the Black Star racing team due to his connections to the major shareholder, Luka.


    In Havos'' case, he was the student of a ,Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and also a Tier 1 vestige-smith himself. He had also proven his abilities just now.


    However, Lucas was different. He was a human, which meant that the best he could achieve was the status of a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith, which was a level lower than Havos. He was without a significant background and even younger than the latter, which meant he was less talented.


    Finally, Lucas was to take on the role of developing and tweaking the chassis [3] of the Juggernaut, which was the job the man held onto before. This meant that he would have to work alongside Lucas on equal footing. Naturally, he was irritated by this, but his main focus had been on Havos'' all this while.


    Now that he was done with Havos, the man turned his attention towards Lucas.


    "Youngster, don''t you have anything to say? Or were you just dozing off all this while? Are you looking down on us or something?"

 Chapter 240 Who Said I Dont?

    "Youngster, don''t you have anything to say? Or were you just dozing off all this while? Are you looking down on us or something?"Lucas lifted this head and glanced at the man who had called him out. He was a bit astonished by the behaviour, but held himself back from reacting too strongly to those words.


    Seeing Lucas ignore him, the man became further enraged as he glared at Lucas.


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    "I''m talking to you, kid."


    Apart from Callus, the other members of the original team were all in their late twenties and above. Callus was the youngest member but also the most talented, charismatic and sociable, which was why they had easily quit their jobs and followed him. However, this respect was only given to Callus who had earned it.


    For people like Lucas, even though he was the same age as Callus, they treated him as a member of the younger generation and not on equal footing.


    "We''ve been discussing how to make modifications to the racing shuttle, but there''s not been a single word from you. That doesn''t seem right. Are you sure you even know how to do your job well?"


    Despite clearly knowing Lucas'' role, the man had suggested him to provide his opinion on improving the Juggernaut. It was clear that the man''s intention was to see Lucas humiliate himself. But even knowing that, no one came to his help.


    Callus wasn''t close to Lucas and didn''t see it necessary to get involved. While he did see a bit of Lucas'' skill before, it wasn''t like the role of a forger for the shuttle''s chassis was irreplaceable. If anything, that was one of the easier roles to find a replacement. Also, the current forger wasn''t low skilled either.


    Havos was of a similar opinion too. While he wanted to snap back on Lucas'' behalf, he hesitated. He also wanted to see the limits of Lucas'' knowledge.


    When it came to making weapons, Havos didn''t doubt Lucas'' skill, but the same couldn''t be said in this situation. He knew Lucas had no experience with hover cars, much less racing shuttles. However, vestige-smithing still had a few general principles. Havos wanted to know how deep Lucas'' knowledge and understanding of these principles were.


    Seeing no one come to his aid, Lucas didn''t mind much, although he was a bit bugged by it. When Havos, Luka and Callus met him two days ago, they were aware that he didn''t know much about hover vehicles. Yet two days later, they expected him to be able to offer up a good idea.


    Regardless, they had underestimated him because Lucas had ''some'' idea of the mechanics of a hover vehicle.


    "Who said I don''t?"


    Glancing at his modified blueprint, Lucas memorised it before undoing the changes. He then enlarged the projection and made it visible to everyone else.


    The group was surprised that Lucas had already begun to act, and there was a mix of confusion all around. Havos and Callus, who had met Lucas before, were surprised and couldn''t help but wonder what it was he was doing. As for the other five men, they were stunned and began to wonder whether Lucas was a genius just like Havos, but more reticent.


    Lucas began to make a new set of changes to the blueprint, but he considered different factors this time around. Unlike the previous modifications, he took a different route in his thought pattern but also limited the number of changes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how he came about them since he was supposed to be new to this.


    As Lucas drew with the light pen, the group was first stunned, then showed looks of contemplation. Some of them were confused, while some managed to figure something out from the drawings. The two strongest individuals, Havos and the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, could not help but widen their eyes in shock with gazes of astonishment and praise. Even Callus dumbfounded and he couldn''t help but see Lucas in a different light.


    "By making such changes to the fundamental operations, bypassing the arc flow and using a Triquetra-shaped chamber, he''s increased the power by so much?! Why didn''t I think of that?" Havos sucked in a cold breath of air with mixed feelings.


    The Tier 1 vestige-smith was similarly stunned and couldn''t help but calculate the chances of success as well as the improvement that would be brought about using those changes. The results showed that Lucas'' means would bring about at least a staggering 8% increase in efficiency, a 8% increase in speed, and 2% increase in acceleration.


    Although when compared to Havos'' changes, Lucas'' modifications appeared , the increase in top speed was 4% lower while the increase in acceleration was only 1% lower, increase in efficiency was up 1% when compared to the latter''s. Overall, it might seem like Lucas'' designs were poor, but they weren''t.


    Unlike Havos who pursued speed, Lucas went for stability. Whether it was the transmission or handling, the modifications Lucas made would give the Juggernaut a significant boost in these areas. What''s more, Lucas'' modifications could be done alongside those of Havos. In other words, the Juggernaut would see an incremented boost which wouldn''t be as simple as 1+1.


    "Are you sure this is your first time?" Havos couldn''t resist asking. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas had informed them the previous time that he wasn''t familiar with vestige-smithing when it came to hover vehicles. Yet, his designs seemed to tell a different story. Lucas had tackled the problems of the Juggernaut from a fundamental level, while Havos did so from a knowledgeable angle about hover vehicles. It might seem rudimentary, but it was very impressive and not something an average vestige-smith could pull off.


    "I took time out to get myself well informed about the basics and the theories." Lucas replied with a calm demeanour.


    "I heard that geniuses even exist in the human race. People who had mastered the theoretical knowledge and foundations of vestige-smithing like the back of their hands. Their knowledge bank could even rival those of Tier 1 Masters, but they simply lacked the prerequisite stellar energy to be able to reach that level. I didn''t think I would be meeting someone like that today." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith sighed.


    Although he was unwilling to admit it, the truth was laid bare. When it came to fundamentals, Lucas had demonstrated that he was way ahead of him.


    The short-fused fellow couldn''t say a word seeing the most respected member of his team even acknowledging Lucas'' skill. He grunted, but in the end apologised for causing trouble.


    With two modifications that could work side by side available, there was no reason for the meeting to keep going on. The team quickly ended it and rushed to revamp the Juggernaut.


    The drift race was the next day and the modifications had to be ready far before then. This was because after the revamping, they would have to test the shuttle and Callus would have to get used to it. In summary, they were very tight on time.


    Even Lucas had to close the Heavenly Demonic Shop for the day, but he didn''t forget to bring Melissa along with him. The little girl was happy that she would be following her brother to work. What''s more, they would be working on a racing shuttle which was essentially a movable vestige.


    At the same time that the new Black Star team got to work, Belfargos city-state welcomed a new set of tourists and visitors at its main port city, North-Wind City. Some were relocating to the city-state, while few were locals who had gone out on a trip. However, the majority of them came from different city-states to behold the region which was the centre of the planet.


    These tourists were easily discerned as they had looks of amazement and fascination on their faces. Compared to their local city-states, the Steller energy concentration and purity in Belfargos was on a different level. The technological and architectural differences were also obvious.


    Only a few city-states like Java and Paros city-states could compete with Belfargos city-state, but even they were a level behind the planet''s capital region. Belfargos city-state was simply on an entirely different level compared to the others.


    "Ah~ This is definitely peak region."


    A young hyuman male with black hair and blue eyes breathed out as a sly grin hung on his face.


    "Young master, please don''t misbehave. Remember why we are here." A middle-aged man with brown hair who stood by the side reminded him.


    "No need to be such a bummer, Alfrod. Can''t I catch a break for just a second?" The black-haired young man snorted.


    "You will catch a break once we are done here." An icy voice reverberated from behind.


    The young man immediately froze before hurriedly switching to an ingratiating expression.


    "Hehe. Elder sister is right. Definitely right."


    The two visitors were none other than Vergil and Laura Mertens of Baylands City''s top four factions, the Mertens family. The two had arrived in Belfargos city-state on the order of their family to handle a business deal with another top force here. This was the old man, Russel Mertens'' way of training his children to be able to inherit the family''s assets.


    Instead of going on the trip himself, he decided to let his children handle it.


    "So where to?" Vergil asked.


    "... didn''t you read the document?" Alfrod stared dumbfoundedly at Vergil.


    "Eh..." Vergil turned the other direction.


    Laura ignored him and walked forward with Alfrod following after her. Vergil immediately reacted and moved with the group alongside the team of six stellar practitioners who acted as their bodyguards.

 Chapter 241 Race Day

    While remodeling the Juggernaut, Lucas suddenly had an idea.''System, what do you think Callus'' position would be at the end of the race?''


    Lucas suddenly asked.


    "The system has no interest in predicting such events as it isn''t related to the growth of the host."


    ''Oh? How about we include a wager? You can make it like a system mission. In a way, it''s related to my efforts as the Crafts-god successor. So, how about it, ten system coins on the line?''


    The system didn''t reply, seemingly considering Lucas'' proposal.


    Suddenly, a notification popped up in front of Lucas.


    It was a system mission but a bit different. The contents stated that the Juggernaut had to place above 15th place with a reward of ten system coins. If it placed less, then it would be a penalty of ten system coins.


    ''Heh.'' Lucas smirked.


    Logically, he shouldn''t have brought up this challenge. The system could read Lucas'' mind and it was aware of his capabilities. Together with its analytical abilities, it was sure to be able to get an accurate depiction of the Juggernaut''s prowess and Callus'' abilities. Using these information, it should be able to calculate his odds at winning and the highest of them.


    From this, it was sure that the system''s estimate was one with at least an eighty percent chance of occuring. In other words, Lucas had a mere twenty percent chance. What''s more, he had to ensure that Callus placed higher and not lower.


    ''Even though the system''s calculations are more likely, human error is a thing. Oh, it should be hyuman error.''


    Lucas smirked.


    . . .


    The next day arrived soon and so did the second drift race for the K1 drift racing league. As always, the fervour from the audience was high and there were many spectators present for this once-in-a-week event. The stands were already occupied and the host was warming up the audience for the event as the teams got ready.


    The K1 drift racing gave ten free entrance slots to teams participating in the race. Being members of the Black Star racing team, Lucas and the others were covered by this privilege.


    Since the Black Star team was only made of eight men, there were still two open slots. One of them was given to a member of the team who wanted to have his spouse come over. After much deliberation, the second slot was given to Lucas.


    One reason for this was because Lucas alongside Havos were the minds behind the astonishing changes the team had made to the Juggernaut. The second reason was that Havos didn''t need it so the free slot fell onto Lucas who had Melissa come over.


    The location of the second race of the month, and the tournament, was not in the K1 drift racing arena as with the previous race. Instead, it was at a track called the Cayern Windway. Unlike the K1 stadium''s track, the Cayern Windway was one of the few tracks with significant risk.


    This was exactly how the K1 drift racing league operated as an unofficial league. Of the four races per month, at least two involved a significant amount of risk. The race for the day happened to be one of those two.


    Unlike other tracks, Cayern Windway was filled with dangers and risks, most notably the wind, which blew at a speed of 90km/hr (56 mph). Whether it was the tough winds, outrageous bends, or narrow roads, these were the least worries on the track.


    The true danger of the Cayern Windway lay within the man-made threats within. Apart from the typical obstructions set up on the track, there were also fixed regions where the drivers would come under attack. That''s right, midway through driving, they would be attacked by fixed machines.


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    Although the power of these weapons and drones can''t even be compared to a Grade 1 vestige, it could still impede the drivers. In some cases, they could cause severe danger especially since the track was already dangerous. This was one of the reasons the K1 drift racing league was an unofficial league; the dangers involved weren''t tolerated in official leagues.


    Vestige-smiths of each team would be on the weapons, setups and natural characteristics of each track for the season. Although it wasn''t a detailed report, it was still enough to help them in developing proper protection for the racing shuttles. But in the end, the driver''s skill was important.


    "Host please be remember your duty as the manager of the store." The system''s voice sounded in Lucas'' ears at this time.


    The previous day, the shop was closed and the same was so today. Hence, the system saw the need to remind Lucas of his task.


    "I haven''t forgotten. If anything, it''s always been on my mind. You can read my thoughts so you should have known that." Lucas who stood with his arms folded replied to the system as he stared out the entrance.


    He was located in a special building meant for the teams of the drivers. The building was erected along the race track, giving teammates the ability to react to emergencies on the track and aid their drivers. It was essentially the same as a pit-stop [1] back on Earth.


    As for Lucas'' plans with drift racing, he originally wanted to develop a team of his own and contest. However, after recalling his experience in Baylands city-state, Lucas decided to be more low-key. Working under a team was much better, but it would still be difficult for him to represent his store and make it standout. As a result, Lucas began to have different ideas.


    He heard that ten percent of stocks in the team was still open. Originally, Luka had reserved that for Havos, but the latter refused it saying his master wouldn''t be pleased he had his hands in the unofficial drift racing business.


    Lucas was currently aiming for those stocks as well as sponsorship rights for the team. He could see that some of the racing shuttles present had a company logo or two painted on them. These companies were the ones either backing or sponsoring the teams. But the Black Star team didn''t have any such sponsors


    Now that it was still underrated, Lucas wanted to seize the opportunity. But that would be for later on.


    "They''re about to start." One of the members of the crew said.


    There was a display screen in the room that showed the official broadcast of the race. There was also another display screen by the side, but it wasn''t the official broadcast. It only focused on the Black Star''s driver who was Callus, aka Joker. A similar display screen was in the other pit-stops, but they solely focused on the drivers of each individual team.


    On the track was an assortment of racing shuttles, numbering thirty. There were all sorts of models, colours, shapes, sizes and densities, all made according to the research of the lead designer of each team. Even though the shuttles were merely stationary, they gave off an intimidating feeling to the public.


    The half a minute countdown had already begun a while ago but there was still ten seconds left on the clock.


    ''The current top speed of the Juggernaut can reach up to 442 km/hr and maintain that for at least two hours. However, the wind speeds here are up to 90 km/hr. The Juggernaut would have to consume more power to accelerate in this area. Luckily, there''s almost no need to reach top speed because of the curves.'' Lucas thought as the count down was left with only three seconds on the clock.


    "3!"


    The crowd chanted alongside the announcer.


    "2!"


    "1!"


    "Fiewwww"


    "Vooom"


    "Whoosh"


    The variety of shuttles abruptly zoomed off, producing a cacophony of sounds as they pierced through the air.


    Although they didn''t break the sound barrier, the shuttles could still accelerate up to at least 120 km/hr (74.56 mph) in 0.8 seconds. The more powerful engines could reach 150 km/hr (93.2 mph) in the same time and achieve a top speed of 450 km/hr in six seconds.


    "The drivers are out!" The announcer declared.


    However, the shuttles had already flown far away before he had finished his sentence, a testament to the insane speed they moved at.


    The strong winds blew at the vehicles, but it wasn''t such a problem for them. They didn''t even need to activate their light shields and the wind wasn''t much of a threat to the racing shuttles.


    At the moment, there were four ranks to the racing shuttles. Those behind made up one rank, and they were the ones most likely to sit at the bottom of the table. The next rank was those about two kilometre away. They had the second largest numbers and the gap between the drivers in this rank wasn''t much. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right after the second rank was the third rank, which had a gap of four kilometres from the second rank. This rank had the largest number of drivers and a lot of famous ones, but they still weren''t at the lead. However, some of them did possess the ability to challenge those ahead.


    The final rank were six drivers who took the lead in the race and maintained a one kilometre gap from the seventh place, who was in the second rank. Not all the drivers here were at the top of the table, as some of them had only come this far because their racing shuttles were superior in linear acceleration and motion.


    "The first hindrance to our dear drivers would be the valley''s teeth. Let''s see how they get around it and who comes out on top." The announcer said.


    The valley''s teeth was a path on the Cayern Windway that spanned over two hundred kilometres. Just as its name suggested, it was a valley, but it had a few jugged rocks that protruded from the ground, appearing like teeth when viewed from an angle above. This was the origin of the name, valley''s teeth.


    The existence of the ''teeth'' eliminated the advantage of certain racing shuttles that pursued superiority in linear acceleration. As such, it was very likely that the current top six would be reshuffled.

 Chapter 242 The Valleys Teeth

    "Ladies and gentlemen, this is where skill trumps build." The announcer energetically said.Staring at the screen, Lucas began to recall the briefing session the team had earlier.


    The Cayern Windway was a popular underground drift racing track. It was made up of multiple terrains like towering rocky mountains, large lakes, undulating valleys and so on. But the most notable feature of the Cayern Windway was its tough winds that generally blew at about 90 km/hr (55.9 mph), but could reach speeds up to 224 km/hr (139.2 mph). Such speed was enough to rival a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale [1] back on Earth. The constant wind that terrorised the Cayern Windway was the reason why the region was dubbed as such.


    The Cayern Windway also had another notable feature. It consisted of seven distinct segments, each possessing a certain degree of danger that could even cost one their lives. Of the seven segments, the ''Valley''s Teeth'' was the first one.


    The Valley''s Teeth was a large valley within the area that spanned at least two hundred kilometres long and had winds reaching speeds of up to 148 km/hr (92 mph). One would need to maintain a speed of at least 200 km/hr (124.27 mph) for an hour before they would even approach the exit.


    However, this didn''t seem like much of a challenge to drift racers, who drove shuttles that could survive at such speeds and comfortably maintain a speed of at least 300 km/hr (186.4 mph). If anything, one would call it a walk in the park for them.


    Despite that, the Valley''s Teeth was recorded as a danger zone within Cayern Windway and that was for a reason.


    The true threat of the place didn''t simply lie in the winds, but also the terrain. The road of the Valley''s Teeth wasn''t necessarily large, only capable of handling six racing shuttles side by side at one instance. However, there were stalagmites protruding from the surface of the floor which hindered drivers from moving in a linear path.


    ''With the presence of these stalagmites, a road that could easily contain six racing shuttles could only manage three at a time.'' Lucas thought. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Manoeuvring through the stalagmites while maintaining an appropriate speed that would counteract the impeding wind from in front became a challenge for most drivers. They needed to be fast to maintain the lead or overtake the person in front. But driving too fast could be too much for them to handle. However, driving too slow would lead to their shuttles being heavily affected by the wind.


    For one to conquer the terrain, they needed the right amount of skill, intuition and driving experience.


    "Here they go!"


    The announcer roared right as soon as the leading shuttle was a kilometre away.


    *Whoosh*


    The driver in front immediately drove into the valley through the passage which gave off a baleful aura. From a distance, it looked like he was driving into the maw of a beast.


    Soon after, the other drivers drove in as well.


    Counting from the front, Callus was in the second group of racers, which happened to be the closest group to the leaders in the first group. This was all thanks to the improvements made to the Juggernaut. However, because there was more focus on stability and efficiency, the Juggernaut''s linear acceleration wasn''t exactly spectacular so he could only hang on at the bottom half of the second group. Regardless, it was a result he had not anticipated as the old Juggernaut would have been in the bottom tier of the third group instead.


    In other words, the changes made within just a day was enough to raise the vehicles prowess by an entire level.


    While he was glad, Callus didn''t let it get to him as the race wasn''t over yet.


    ''If I can maintain my position in the Valley''s Teeth, that would be great. But this is the best chance to go a bit further.'' Callus thought as he stepped on the pedal.


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    The Juggernaut were designed while considering the internal appearance of the human era''s cars. As such, it used pedals instead of buttons. However, the pedals functioned in a similar way as buttons and not like those of cars.


    While the internal design might seem retro, it had its advantages.


    Using buttons would have the driver add more burden on their arms. This would cause them to spend a bit of time whenever they wanted to utilise some functions in the shuttle. Although, with proper training, the time spent was miniscule, it was still something.


    On the other hand, relinquishing some of the functions of the shuttle to be activated via pedals, would reduce the burden on the arms, wrists and fingers. With a bit of training, one would be able to have their legs respond as quickly as if it were an arm. Then without a doubt, four arms would be better and faster than two.


    The first one kilometre into the Valley''s Teeth was safe and without any trouble. However, after that, the stalagmites made their appearance.


    The top drivers zoomed past them and easily dodged the protruding rocks while maintaining the same speed they used to enter the valley. The less experienced ones slowed down a bit before circumventing through the obstructions.


    When Callus came across them, he slowed down, but not by much. The Juggernaut''s transmission, stability and handling had all been improved thanks to Lucas. So the trial of the Valley''s Teeth that was a problem to the other races, was only a bit troublesome for Callus.


    The first ten kilometres was easily traversed by Joker and he had even successfully overtaken one driver.


    After the first ten kilometres, the difference in build in each racing shuttle began to show.


    The more stable racing shuttles slowly began to catch-up and even overtake others, while the ones that prioritised speed with little focus on stability began losing ground.


    Fifteen minutes after the drivers had entered the Valley''s Teeth, the live rankings had changed.


    Thirty minutes later, the rankings began to stabilise.


    At this point, Callus was in thirteenth place and the Black Star team was pleased, but they didn''t celebrate yet. The Valley''s Teeth was only one of seven danger zones in the Cayern Windway, so the current rankings didn''t really mean much.


    Even Lucas didn''t take on a confident look seeing that the results were in his favour.


    "Ohy my god!"


    "Watch out!"


    "Shit!"


    Exclamations sounded from the crowd as a racing shuttle crashed right into one of the stalagmites. It was unexpected, but not entirely. The Cayern Windway track was a dangerous track and already known to have taken lives in the past, so an accident wasn''t out of the equation.


    Luckily, the racing shuttle''s safety measures were deployed and the driver didn''t due. However, he was automatically disqualified.


    The audience didn''t have too strong of a reaction to this since the driver was one of the last runners. However, it seemed as if the accident had made them pumped and looking forward to the latter parts of the race.


    It took about an hour for the drivers in the lead to get out of the Valley''s Teeth. Of the original six drivers who made up the leading group, only four remained. The other two got demoted into the second group while another drive from the second group managed to close the gap and get into the first.


    Currently, there were five drivers in the lead first group, twelve in the second, ten in the third and two in the fourth. One of the thirty drivers had been eliminated.


    In truth, the eliminated driver could stage a comeback by fielding in a new vehicle, but it was technically impossible to get a position other than last, so he quit.


    "Come on. Let''s go!"


    The Black Star team cheered from the control room.


    They had a communicator linked with Callus and the Juggernaut, which allowed them to communicate with the driver and monitor the state of the racing shuttle.


    "You might need some thruster checks soon, Callus." One of the five original crew members said.


    To prevent confusion, he was in charge of communication with Callus.


    "Hold it off after the second segment." Callus responded.


    Lucas stared at a display screen projected by the side. Different from the other two display screens that showed the race and tracked the team''s drivers, this display screen showed the state of the racing shuttle as discerned by the built-in sensors in the shuttle.


    ''The next segment should be the montone lake.'' Lucas thought.


    The monotone lake was a large lake that made up a part of the Cayern Windway track. The land surrounding the lake was white while the lake itself was black.


    The risky factor regarding this segment was that there would be random geyser blasts from the lake''s underwater geysers. With the lake being black, it was obvious that there was something wrong with it, which was true. The lake possessed an incredibly powerful corrosive factor that could even melt a Grade 1 vestige.


    With there being indeterminate geyser eruptions from the lake, it made it difficult for drivers to dash through at full speed as there would be a significant chance that they would get caught up in a geyser eruption. What''s more, the radar technology within the shuttles were unable to sense the situation underneath the lake.


    As such, the drivers would have to rely on their quick reflexes and intuition to be able to traverse the lake.


    ''From here on out, the real challenge begins.'' Lucas frowned.

 Chapter 243 Monotone Lake

    ''The Monotone Lake is up ahead.'' Callus thought as he steered the Juggernaut forward.About three hundred and seventy three kilometres (231.7 miles) from the exit of the Valley''s Teeth was the next major checkpoint, the Monotone Lake.


    The Monotone Lake was a unique region within the Cayern Windway that was simply a huge lake. The surrounding land within ten kilometres of the lake was white in colour; a strange phenomenon that was attributed to the mineral composition of the soil. As for the lake itself, it spanned a huge area, being at least two hundred kilometres long. With such a massive length, the Monotone Lake was more aptly described as a sea, but its situation prevented it from being dubbed such [1].


    The most peculiar point about the Monotone Lake was the fact that its waters were black in colour, forming a unique contrast with the surrounding white-coloured land. This black water was actually a strange liquid which appeared just like water but was denser and also possessed a powerful corrosive ability. Even Grade 1 vestiges would melt upon contact.


    Underneath the lake were naturally geysers that occasionally blast out a force of black water, creating a jet that shoots up into the sky. Due to the fact that an official drift racing rule was for the drivers to operate within a fixed height from the ground, they became susceptible to the ''attacks'' of the geysers.


    Whether it was the black water''s dense weight, its corrosive factor, or the force of the eruption, they were all factors that could inhibit the drivers, what''s more when all these factors were added together.


    "The racers are beginning to exit the Valley''s Teeth. In this first lap, only one driver has been taken down but this isn''t surprising. Previous records showed that the Valley''s Teeth is actually the safest segment of the Cayern Windway track." The commentator said.


    "Indeed. When compared to the other segments, the Valley''s Teeth isn''t really dangerous especially in the first lap. However, the Monotone Lake up ahead is different." Another voice sounded. It was the voice of the assistant commentator.


    "That''s right. Monotone Lake has a history of taking down a few drivers in each race. Apart from that, it also acts as a challenging stumbling block for racers. Changes in position occur here a lot. At least a driver would be taken down, while others were affected by the geyser eruptions."


    The main commentator, who possessed the ability to influence emotions through his words, revealed a piece of information that made the audience anxious yet filled with anticipation.


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    "Why are the eruptions deadly? Can''t they just be detected ahead of time?" Melissa, who was also in the team room with the crew, turned and asked Lucas.


    Since she began to walk the path of a vestige-smith, Melissa didn''t think like a simple eleven year old and she was now quite knowledgeable about a lot of technology. Lucas felt it would be a waste to have her just sit in the audience alone and brought her with him. It was definitely not because he missed having the little girl by his side.


    Before Lucas could even answer, the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith replied while stroking his beard,


    "It''s a bit more complex than that. However, detecting the eruptions isn''t a challenge; it''s avoiding them. You see, in the outer regions of the lake, which is pretty much the first one hundred kilometres (62 miles), it''s not difficult to predict the eruptions. Every racing shuttle is equipped with advanced sensors and scanners, so even though the black waters have deflection properties, the geysers could still be monitored.


    "However, deeper in, the deflection properties become stronger, but it''s still not entirely secure. As long as the team''s skills are up to the challenge, they can develop sensors and scanners that can go through the waters. But like I said before, the real danger isn''t in detection.


    "In the core area of the lake, the frequency of geyser eruptions is even more abrupt than in the outer areas. Apart from that, there are far more geysers there, with some being packed very close to each other. This makes it difficult for drivers to dodge them even if they''ve spotted the geysers beforehand. On some occasions, it wouldn''t be strange to see a driver or two being forced to an abrupt stop because there''s no path through. Trying to force one''s way in is very risky, especially if their defensive measures aren''t up to the task."


    Melissa nodded, seemingly understanding what the man had said.


    The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith glanced at her and smiled, pleased with the little girl.


    Although it was their first time meeting, the members of the Black Star team had already begun to treat Melissa like a princess. The vestige-smith was very pleased with her passion for learning and vestige-smithing, which was why he had offered to give an explanation for her.


    Right after the reply was given, the first group of drivers had approached the Monotone Lake.


    There were five racers in this first group and the gap between each one didn''t exceed three hundred metres (0.186 miles). This might seem like much in racing tournaments on Earth, but a gap of less than three hundred metres in a drift race was the same as a ten metres gap on Earth; a slight mishandling or loss of focus and the positions would be swapped.


    Among the drivers in the first group were the driver for the team Yoko-bunny; the driver for the Red Mouse team, Red Devil; and the driver for Lugo Vido Autos, Mason.


    The other two were popular drivers in the K1 league, but the presence of the former three dropped their popularity and made it difficult for them to stand out as favourites to win a promotion. Nonetheless, their skills had been honed over the years in the K1 drift racing league, so they weren''t to be underestimated. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Some of the drivers in the second group were similar to these two as well. Having the upper hand in experience with the K1 drift racing league tracks, they should technically be better drivers. However, they lacked the necessary resources, support, and most of all, a powerful racing shuttle, to be able to compete with the top five.


    The first group entered ten kilometres region of white soil which counted as the Monotone Lake''s grounds. Even as they approached the danger zone, none of them slowed down as doing so would put them at the risk of falling behind.


    "Hmph."


    Yoko-bunny''s driver, who was surprisingly a young lady, snorted seeing as none of the other four slowed down.


    She pressed on a button by the side of the steering wheel following which her racing shuttle abruptly accelerated.


    "Heh. Little girls are always so impatient." Red Devil, the driver for the Red Mouse team, chuckled even though no one else could hear him speak.


    He also accelerated his shuttle, not wanting to lose out to the young lady.


    Seeing this, Mason ¡ªwho drove for the LVA team¡ª also accelerated. Those left behind were the two experienced drivers who hesitated.


    Unlike the other three, they had races in the Cayern Windway before and knew of the dangers of each segment firsthand. As such, they were hesitant to make a move.


    "Fuck it!"


    One of them said before stepping on the gas [2] and chasing after the other three.


    "These guys are crazy."


    Seeing his ''companion'' do the same, the last man shook his head, but he also sped up. However, he took note of his actions and ensured that his shuttle''s acceleration was within a safe range where he could easily react to changes.


    "They, they are speeding! All front racers are speeding without care!" The commentator roared through the mic.


    The audience and spectators at home were all astonished by this. Everyone knew that rushing right into the Monotone Lake was a very dangerous act. Usually, they would turn on their sensors ahead and try to get a good scan of the lake before rushing in. As such, it was common for racers to slow down as they approached the lake.


    However, this time around, the leaders in front didn''t care about tradition and simply rushed right in. Although doing so seemed to help them gain a headstart, it would put them at a larger risk.


    Up ahead, there were a few occasional blasts of black water into the air, forming black pillars. This was the danger every driver had to be aware of, otherwise, their qualifications would end her.


    As expected, as soon as they drove into the lake, a geyser abruptly erupted as a pillar of black water shot up in the air, but that was just the start. There were multiple jets of black air fired into the air and the five racers immediately reacted to dodge them.


    Simultaneously, they all activated their shields to protect their shuttles, but the protection could only shield them from the corrosive effects, albeit with a limit.


    For reasons such as energy conservation, speed and so on, the power of the shields wasn''t my h and it could only mitigate a part of the force of the black pillars. So, if a racing shuttle was struck by them, it would get tossed into the air right away. Continuous barrages could even see the light shield being destroyed.


    However, all five drivers seemed to have eyes everywhere as they easily dodged the black pillars that struck fear into many.


    At the same time as they had gone in, the second group ¡ªin which Callus belonged to¡ª already arrived within the white soil region.

 Chapter 244 Contest In The Core Area

    "Joker, be careful. Activate your dispersion screen as soon as you get in. If you can''t hold on, use the stellar protection cover." The man in charge of communication said.Because of the unique qualities of the black water pillars, there was a need for drivers to have transparent light shields that could both protect them from the corrosive effects of the black water and the force of the ascending pillars. A one-for-all shield was possible, but it would consume more energy and could also affect the speed of the shuttle.


    So, the conventional route some of the vestige-smiths in the third league thought up was to deploy two different shields for the shuttle. As there were two different protection screens, changes could be made to them to achieve energy-conservation mode without harming the functions of the shields. Also, depending on the situation, the driver could deploy only one shield at a time ¡ªtypically the protection screen that shielded them from the black water''s corrosive effect. As for the other shield, it would be on standby, consuming a negligible amount of energy.


    "Don''t worry about it. I know what to do." Callus responded.


    This was his first performance in the K1 drift racing league so it was natural for his teammates to be worried about him. However, Callus was confident in his skills; he had to be otherwise he won''t be able to persevere.


    *Whoosh*


    It didn''t take long for the second group to finally enter within the region of the black waters of Monotone Lake. The ascending black pillars immediately greeted the group while the drivers reacted to them.


    Many of the drivers in the K1 league were experienced and had driven on this track before, so they wouldn''t fall easily. Only a few were newcomers to the league, but they did make preparations and carry out tons of training routines.


    "The racers are currently showing their mettle. At this rate, it would take more than just this to take them down." The assistant commentator said.


    Many in the audience also thought the same. The spectators at home also felt that this might be true, after all, the racers seemed to not be having a hard time here. Even the first group that had gone in while accelerating, were still yet to encounter any difficulties.


    At this time, the short tempered vestige-smith, who went by the name Angus, sneered.


    "The outer region is always a piece of cake for them. Even the newcomers shouldn''t find it troublesome with enough preparations, much less the vets."


    "Indeed. After the one hundred kilometres mark (62 miles), the danger would rise substantially." Another vestige-smith in the team nodded.


    A second later, the main commentator seven said the same words, urging the spectators to keep their eyes peeled for when the situation would take a turn.


    A couple of minutes later, the first group had finally approached the core area. Even from a distance, they could see the ferocious towering pillars of black water that occasionally shot into the air. Some times, more than ten could be spotted in an instance within the same region.


    The spectators, who could finally witness this scene, were astounded and some couldn''t help but feel frightened on behalf of the racers. These were the spectators who were new to the K1 drift racing league. However, even the old-timers were excited by this after all, this was where the race became more ''interesting.''


    "Young miss, please slow down."


    The chief of communication for the Yoko-bunny team advised the driver. The man had refrained from doing so when she sped into the lake as he had judged there would be no troubles for her within the outer region. However, the core region was a different story, as even the veteran racers would be forced to take it easy here; much less the young miss who was driving in this track for the first time ever.


    "This is the best time to widen the gap since they''d be forced to slow down. I''ll be pushing the defences to one hundred percent and relying on them for the first few tens of kilometres. This should be enough."


    "But your energy would be devoured at a rapid rate if the defences are at full power while you''re driving at nigh top speed. This can''t work." The man shook his head.


    "And what about it?" The young lady asked.


    "If it''s not enough, I''ll add in my own energy."


    Most of the drift racers were stellar practitioners. One reason for this was because stellar practitioners were stronger and had better reflexes and reactions than an ordinary hyuman. Another reason was because they possess stellar energy which could be used in emergency situations to either protect their lives or improve the performance of their racing shuttles; after all, racing shuttles were vestiges and stellar practitioners were the best fit to utilise a vestige.


    "This..." The man didn''t know what to say. The young lady''s words had pretty much covered all possible angles.


    "Only one minute." The man finally relented.


    "That''s all I need." The young lady smirked.


    At the same time, the other racers were communicating with their teammates on their strategies. In drift racing, the importance of a team and the crew wasn''t to be underestimated. Even if the racer was the team captain, they still had to consider their teammates and listen to advice, since these were the people who wanted to see them succeed the most.


    "Focus on stability. Our racing shuttle was designed with this in mind. The defence is superior to most, but don''t let this trump card out at least until the second and final lap."


    The head of communication for the Lugo Vido Autos team informed the driver, Mason, about their strategy. The latter nodded and began to slow down as he approached the core area.


    The two experienced racers in the first group similarly decelerated, not wanting to take the risk.


    In the end, only the young lady from Yoko-bunny and Red Devil from team Red Mouse, held their speed. As such, a gap began to form between the two sides as the two daredevils began to pull away from the others.


    Naturally, the spectators could all see this happen.


    "Oh my god. Th, they aren''t slowing down."


    "Insane. Do they want to die?!"


    Due to the fact that the five racers were close to the core area, the camera had panned out and the spectators could see the scenery of the core area. Compared to the ''small'' outer region of about one hundred kilometres or so, the core region was much larger and reached a staggering two hundred and twenty kilometres (136.7 miles).


    With the frequency of geyser eruptions being so short, this width of area was known as the black death zone. Usually, most racers would move at a speed between 120 km/hr (74.6 mph) to 240 km/hr (149 mph). This meant that it would take them between two hours to fifty five minutes to cover the core area.


    However, if someone were to maintain a speed above 300km/hr, they would complete the course within at least forty four minutes. Saving eleven minutes of time was definitely advantageous in a race.


    Nonetheless, even though most racers knew this, it would only be possible if one had the ability. As such, many thought that the two drivers ahead were crazy, especially since they were new to the K1 league.


    Immediately they entered the core region, Red Devil and the young lady were surrounded by eruptions of the underwater geysers. However, they managed to speed past most of them with only a few clashing against their shuttles. Nonetheless, with the defence measures in place, their shuttles only rocked a bit as they tore through the pillars of black water.


    "Incredible. Even after getting hit at least four times within thirty seconds, they are still standing strong." The commentator said.


    Red Devil proved to be more skilled by withstanding only four hits while the young lady received six. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Regardless, for a shuttle''s defence to withstand four geyser hits in thirty seconds, their protection screens had to be quite powerful and advanced. However, there was still the underlying issue of energy consumption.


    ''I have to make it.'' The young lady gritted her teeth as she switched from a display system to a direct transmission for her sensors.


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    The display system would have the results of the sensors displayed on a screen, which usually floated by the side of the driver''s face, typically in front of their left eye. On the other hand, a direct transmission would send the information straight to their brain.


    Naturally, direct transmissions were much faster and better. But having so much information sent to the brain while at the same time needing to process it in the midst of a race through such a risky terrain, was a challenging task for most. Even a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner wouldn''t be able to handle so many intense mental tasks for a long time.


    The young lady was a third level stellar practitioner, so she could handle the overload effects brought about by using direct transmission while raving through the core area. At the very least, she could withstand it for a few minutes, but what she only needed was thirty seconds.


    Red Devil had also switched to direct transmission even though he received less hits. This was because compared to the young lady''s racing shuttle, his wasn''t as resilient.


    Another thirty seconds went by and the two only took two hits each this time around. Even though it was the same number, it was clear that the young lady performed better having brought hers down from six.


    ''He''s still hanging on?'' The young lady cursed as she could perceive Red Devil by the side.


    Her original plan was to drive at top speed for a minute within the core area, widening the gap between her and the others. However, Red Devil seemed to have the same idea and tagged along. If she were to slow down now, he would then take the lead. Being a professional driver, once Red Devil took the lead with a clear gap, it would be difficult to overtake him again.


    Although winning first place in this race didn''t imply that one would consistently do the same in the other races, the points were still valuable.


    ''Damn it.'' The young lady decided to back on her decision and retain top speed for a while longer.


    At this moment, the second group finally stepped into the core area of the Monotone Lake.

 Chapter 245 A Risky Move

    "Watch out!""Oh my god!"


    Gasps sounded from the spectators a few seconds after the second group had entered the core area.


    Two shuttles were caught by the eruption of the geysers underneath the lake, becoming unstable right away. One of them barely escaped the black pillar while the other was tossed into the air with the shuttle''s protection screen showing signs of wear.


    Some of the spectators showed worry for the second racer while the others cheered on, seemingly anticipating his demise.


    Callus had things better and was able to dodge the first few geyser blasts. But this was simply because he had driven in while accelerating. Just like the female driver of team Yoko-bunny and Red Devil, Callus wanted to take advantage of the fact that most drivers would slow down to create a gap between them.


    "What is he doing?" Angus furrowed his brows at the scene.


    The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith similarly didn''t have a good look on his face. Even Lucas couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise.


    The team was speechless by the fact that Joker had driven into the core area without his shields on while driving at nigh top speed. Any one of his actions was already troublesome but the two together was tantamount to entertaining death. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although the Juggernaut''s body was equivalent to a Grade 2 vestige in terms of durability, it was only for the lowest rank within the grade. When faced against the black waters that could easily liquify Grade 1 vestiges, the Juggernaut could only last for a while.


    "Joker, what are you doing?" The man in charge of communications, Kiel, frowned.


    "Boost. Energy conservation." Callus replied. Just like the other drivers in front, he had activated direct transmission. However, Callus wasn''t as talented as they were and was close to suffering from a brain overload. So, he could only pass his thoughts using as few words as possible.


    Although it was just three words, Kiel understood right away.


    Th current Juggernaut could not compare to the racing shuttles of the top teams. This wasn''t just in terms of top speed and engine specifications,but also energy quantity and utilisation system. If Callus wanted to move at top speed, he had to deactivate the protection shields of the Juggernaut. This wasn''t to say that the two systems couldn''t be active at the same time, but if they were, the energy consumption would be insane.


    Hence, even though it was risky, Callus still went on with his plan and deactivated the shields. He was betting on his skills as a driver as well as the durability of the Juggernaut to get through.


    However, as Callus went deeper, the core area began to show its mettle. Even for a genius racer such as himself, he was finding it difficult to navigate through the abrupt and intense geyser eruptions.


    "Joker, deploy your shields!" Kiel lost his patience and yelled through the communicator.


    "Bit." Callus replied.


    It had only been twenty seconds since he went into the core region. Callus planned to move in at full speed for at least forty seconds, but preferably one minute. To him, twenty seconds was still not enough.


    Angus snatched the communicator and roared into it,


    "Joker, stop fucking around and deploy your shields!"


    If anything were to happen to Joker, even though he wouldn''t be disqualified since a backup racing shuttle would be sent over, he would lose his position and this would affect his final result. Whether it was his safety or the final scores, the team wasn''t willing to lose any.


    This time around, Callus didn''t reply as his entire attention was fixed on the Juggernaut.


    "He''s too stubborn." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith grimaced.


    The man had known Callus for a while ever since the latter had begun working in their old place, a repair station for hover vehicles. Back then, the man was in charge of a team and Callus, who happened to be hired as an intern, worked under the man. He looked after him like his son and taught Callus a lot about vestige-smithing and repairs.


    As Callus'' senior and mentor, the man knew a lot about his personality, including Callus'' stubbornness. This was a personality that was both a pro and a con.


    Lucas didn''t say anything as it wasn''t his place to make a comment. Instead, he set his sights on the display screen that focused on the team''s driver, Callus.


    ''He won''t be able to last.''


    Even though Lucas had only been to two races so far, he was still able to discern a bit about the skills of each driver, especially Callus. If the latter kept on driving at the same speed, he would eventually get caught into a mess.


    And just as Lucas had predicted, it took only five seconds.


    Callus was racing through the core area at a speed of almost 400km/hr, which meant that within 25 seconds, he had gone at least some 2.7km. compared to others moving below 300 km/hr, there was at least a one kilometre gap between Callus and the others. If he kept this speed up until 40 seconds, the gap would be at least two kilometres which was a significant advantage. Continue reading stories on My Virtual Library Empire


    Nonetheless, reality had a different story.


    Just as Callus was moving forward, he got caught up in a timely setup.


    Three geysers happened to have reached their tipping point at that moment, gushing out a large amount of water with immense force. The eruption displaced the black water in the lake, creating three black pillars that shot up from the lake.


    At the moment the black pillars burst out from the lake, Callus happened to be within their range. It wasn''t that he didn''t notice them through his sensors, but that Callus had no option than to take that path. There were eruptions and black pillars all around, and the only chance of survival was through this path. However, even the safe route had a significant amount of risk.


    Callus could not turn to the side as there was no space to manoeuvre past them. Stopping wasn''t an option because with the speed Callus was moving and the forward mentality he rode on, it would take at least a second or two for the Juggernaut to be brought to a complete stop.


    If the situation was dire for Callus, one could only imagine how the others felt. They weren''t even able to let out their exclamations and shock in time before the Juggernaut got swallowed by two black pillars that formed too close to each other.


    "Joker!"


    Kiel shouted through the communicator.


    The other members of the team froze in shock, refusing to believe what they had just seen. They knew the capabilities of the Juggernaut and with a direct hit such as that, there was a more than seventy percent chance that the shuttle was forced out of service.


    Even if Callus wasn''t dead, his position would drop and ending the race with a position higher than the bottom half would be impossible.


    "Why are you guys overreacting like kids?" Havos'' voice suddenly sounded.


    Angus, true to his personality, lost it and turned to Havos with a glare, preparer to curse at him


    But just before he could, Havos continued speaking,


    "Since when do drift racing teams trust display screens over their sensors?"


    The crew froze before immediately shifting their attention to the third display screen; the one that showed the state of the racing shuttle relayed through its built-in sensors.


    On the screen, the Juggernaut appeared to still be active and although it had a few damages to it, the shuttle was still good enough to compete. At the same time, the protection screen was shown to be active.


    "He''s still on...?" Angus was shocked.


    "Of course he is. Would you prefer he''s dear or something?" Havos stared at him as if he was looking at a fool.


    Angus was incensed but also embarrassed at the same time. But in the end, he was relieved that the worst case scenario had yet to play out.


    "You shit head. You fucking scared us." Kiel cursed through the communicator.


    "Ah. Thanks for the compliment." Callus replied.


    Kiel''s face twitched but he gave up arguing lest he distracts Callus.


    Through the display screen for the Juggernaut''s sensors, they could surmise how Callus had escaped. He most likely activated his shields at the last moment, sacrificing a significant amount of energy to escape danger. As he was still moving at full speed, Callus was able to tear through the collision of the two black pillars without a scratch.


    On the display screen that monitored the Juggernaut, the team were unable to make head or toe of where the Juggernaut was. As there was not much of a reaction from Callus'' actions, they presumed he was swallowed by the pillars.


    Now though, the truth was easily deduced.


    Callus had already begun to decelerate to prevent the Juggernaut from losing too much energy. However, he did so in a stable and steady manner, ensuring that he was still creating a gap between him and the other racers.


    At this point, Callus'' position had progressed from thirteenth place to eleventh place. The small change was due to the fact that at some point in time, Callus had dropped from thirteenth to fifteenth. But with the stunt he just pulled, he had managed to not only cover the gap but widen it in his favour as well.


    Regardless, there were still five more dangerous regions to go through, so no one was optimistic about Callus maintaining his position. However, there was still a shot at ending in the top half.

 Chapter 246 One Month Later

    After successfully getting past the core area and the entire region known as the Monotone Lake, Callus continued onwards with the other racers. There were still five more danger zones to go through and each one could take as long as half an hour to get by even when driving at 200km/hr, which was considered slow in drift racing. What''s more, the entire race consisted of two laps around the Cayern Windway.Overall, it took about twelve hours before the race was over. Callus had successfully completed the course without having to switch his racing shuttle midway, but he did stop for a little maintenance at the team''s pit-stop. This didn''t affect him much as all the other racers had done the same, albeit at different points in time.


    With the conclusion of the race, the positions of each of the racers were displayed on the official broadcast as well as the points they earned.


    First place took home thirty points, whereas second and third place left with twenty five points; a difference of five points with first place.


    Fourth and fifth place scored twenty points, maintaining the same five points difference. From sixth place all the way to tenth ended with fifteen points.


    Eleventh up to twentieth got ten points while from twentieth all the way to the last place has five points.


    From this, one could see why every race was important. Although it was just a five points gap between each of the five sections on the board, it would be difficult to close this gap.


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    To add meaning to the positions of each racer, extra points were also allocated according to the time gap between each driver. Time gaps were used to calculate the difference between drivers rather than a distance gap [1].


    A time gap of under five seconds gave one additional point. From five seconds to under ten seconds gave an additional two points. Each additional five seconds gave an extra point.


    Rewards were only assigned using the time gap of a racer and the closest driver behind him upon crossing the finish line. This ensured that there wouldn''t be a surplus of points, but it still motivated racers to extend the gap between them and those behind.


    For instance, initially, a driver within a segment ¡ªsay the eleventh to twentieth place¡ª wouldn''t be too invested in taking the lead if he or she was at the bottom of mid range. Since the points allocated for those in the segment were all the same ¡ªten points¡ª there was technically no difference between twentieth place and eleventh place. This would make the drivers more focused on maintaining their positions rather than trying to overtake each other.


    But with the introduction of the time gap reward system as well as other bonus points systems, racers were motivated to perform better. One could either aim to widen the time gap between themselves and their closest opponent behind for more points. They could also act to reduce the time gap between themselves and the person in front to eliminate the latter''s opportunity of gaining more points and affecting their position on the official league table.


    Whoever one it was, there was a simple solution that catered to both which was to drive faster. Whether it was for more points or to deny your opponent from gaining those, the racers were motivated to do their best.


    At the end of the race, Callus had narrowly managed to seize fourteenth place, netting ten points for his final placing. However, it was a very narrow win and he recorded a less than five seconds time gap between him and fifteenth place, gaining only one point.


    Regardless, Callus did manage to win some extra bonus points from his performance, which all added up to four. Together with that from the time gap and his placing, Callus gained fifteen points from the race.


    "Congratulations buddy!"


    "You did it!"


    The team cheered Callus tight after the race was over.


    Although his finishing was somewhat lackluster compared to the eleventh place he held a while ago at the core area of the Monotone Lake, it wasn''t disappointing. If anything, it was a pleasant surprise to the team.


    They had expected him to end between 17th to 15th, which was better compared to the 19th Callus ended the first race with. Scoring 14th was worthy of a celebration.


    "Tonight, drinks on me." Angus declared while celebrating with the rest of the team.


    "Hehe. Don''t take those words back." One of the crew members smiled.


    After a bit of cheering, they immediately left to go celebrate. As for the shuttles and their equipment, it would be sent over to the Black Star team''s location by the K1 league''s staff.


    One might wonder why there was so much fanfare over the result even though they were all in the same segment and earned equal placing points. Apart from that fact however, the bonus points for positions differentiated the two sides. Compared to 19th or even 16th place, 14th occupied a seat in the top half of the contestants so there was a bonus point for that. There was also the fact that the public would begin to perceive Joker and the Black Star team as a quality team, leading some companies and agencies to decide to sponsor them. The reason for such an abrupt change was because the Cayern Windway track was labelled a dangerous track and not a standard one, so it was a somewhat better means of judging one''s abilities.


    Overall, there were so many benefits associated with performing this well which made the team happy.


    "System, don''t forget my reward."


    Lucas smirked as he left with Melissa for the celebration.


    . . .


    It had been one month since the race at the Cayern Windway. During this one month, the Black Star team has appeared in four other races, two of which were in danger zones similar to the Cayern Windway.


    During this one month, both major and minor changes had been made to the Juggernaut, so Joker''s position began to stabilise within the top half and even occasionally performed superbly. In the last race, he had even managed to take twelfth place.


    While Callus was still far from achieving promotion by ending the season in the top three, he was confident that the team could achieve this goal within two years or four seasons. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Lucas, he had made a lot of progress with the system''s mission, having explored three relics related to magi runes.


    ''It still isn''t enough.'' Lucas sighed as he stared at the progress bar for the mission which stood at seventy percent.


    When he had explored the first relics, a progress bar appeared on the mission''s profile showing how much he had progressed with learning about magi runes. He didn''t need anyone to explain to him that the bar would only fill up after he had mastered magi runes which would also be the moment that the mission would be completed.


    ''I still have a few more weeks left but there aren''t many more relics related to the Sunil close by.''


    The Sunil was the title the hyumankin had used to identify the civilisation related to magi runes. One of the relics belonging to them, which happened to be where Ronny found the ring, was the East Braftford relics. Besides it, there were two other Sunil nearby which Lucas had already explored. Compared to East Braftford relics, they weren''t so dangerous as even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners could enter and exit them safe as sound.


    As for the third site, it was a relics that had been cleared for the most part and turned into a tourist site. It was quite far compared to other relics and Lucas had to take a leave from the Black Star team before travelling with Melissa to check it out.


    All three sites helped boost his knowledge about the magi runes, but according to the system, Lucas had only mastered a part of it, around seventy percent.


    ''The only option left is the East Braftford relics.'', Lucas sighed.


    Truth be told, he was unwilling to go there which was obvious from the fact that despite it being the first Sunil relics he knew about, Lucas had avoided it. There was no other explanation except for the fact that it was dangerous.


    According to Ronny, even fourth level stellar practitioners had a significant chance of dying in the inner regions of East Braftford relics. A fourth level stellar practitioner like Ronny had only wandered along the periphery of the relics.


    ''Since the ring was found there, the outer regions should be enough for me to learn something or even complete the mission. Looks like this trip is inevitable.'' Lucas sighed.


    Playing it safe didn''t mean he was fearful of the relics. With the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, Lucas wss confident in handling fourth level Apertures Opening stage dangers and could even escape from fifth level attackers.


    However, relics were still different from living beings or attackers.


    ''I''ll need to make preparations.''


    . . .


    At the same time that Lucas had that thought, somewhere else, in a city that neighboured Trundel City, the Mertens'' siblings were currently chatting with a friend. The duo had stayed in Belfargos city-state for over a month now due to a business deal that was important to their family. They had only just wrapped it up when the host offered to show them around the city-state.


    "Relics are one aspect of Belfargos city-state that really stands out. In the surrounding area, one of the most impressive ones are those of the Sunil civilisation. Artefact excavated from them can be worth a lot and many pioneers try their luck here." The young man entertaining the two said.


    He was the son of a top government official in the city and his father was the target of the business deal for the Mertens'' siblings. After the deal was concluded, the old man had his son show them around since they were of the same generation.


    "Oh, so kinda like treasure-searching?" Vergil''s eyes sparkled.


    "You can say so, but it involves a large amount of risk and luck." The young man smiled.


    "Hey, big sis. Why don''t we go try our luck?"

 Chapter 247 A Coincidental Affair

    Different from the other city-states, the unofficial Belfargos city-state occupied an entire continent to itself. This enabled the city-state to greatly develop and widen the gap between itself and the others. Unlike other continents that had to split the desolate beast domains, mineral mines and so on, amongst themselves, all these resources were left for Belfargos city-state to devour.However, of the resources that the continent of Bernin had to offer, relics were the most valuable.


    Relics were remnant sites of ancient civilizations, with some having existed and fallen even before the hyumankin''s forces had made it to the Kellan solar system. Chances were that relics from civilizations as old as the human race existed on this planet. But considering how much time had gone by, most of them would have faded away. At this same time, such relics held little practical value since they were essentially technology from tens of thousands of years ago which definitely can''t compare to modern standards.


    Regardless, whether it was the historical value, aesthetic appeal or practical usage, artefacts were very valuable, and the Relics which possessed them were often frequented by pioneers, freelancers and even tourists.


    Some of the other continents in Eretre held relics, but whether it was in terms of quality, quantity, or preservation, the relics in the Bernin continent were superior. With Belfargos city-state being the sole city-state, all these resources were available to the forces and cities under it for distribution.


    Amongst the various relics controlled by the forces of Belfargos city-state, the relics of the Sunil civilization was a popular one. The Sunil civilization was an empire estimated to have existed around four to six thousand years ago. Compared to the others, they were relatively recent. Due to this, their traces were still well preserved and many of them could be spotted.


    Four thousand years ago, the Oklo Dynasty didn''t even exist much less some six thousand years ago. Around that time, the hyumankin had probably just begun expanding into the Kellan solar system yet. It was only a few hundred years later that the Oklo Dynasty began to take root here.


    Before then, Eretre was said to have suffered a global catastrophe that ended a majority of life on the planet. A while after, desolate beasts from outer space and the neighbouring planet, Jota, migrated to the planet and became the dominant species. Of the surviving locals, the majority were also beasts and only one percent were intelligent lifeforms. However, they soon went extinct under the ferocious attacks of desolate beasts.


    This was why there were no native alien species on Eretre; including the desolate beasts, all of its current inhabitants had migrated over including the hyumans and other alien species.


    Due to that global catastrophe, the records of the Sunil civilization was buried underground and when the Oklo Dynasty had just taken over, they didn''t spot any of them. It wasn''t until they had completed their expansion and urbanisation of the planet, did the Oklo Dynasty and the new inhabitants decide to begin digging deeper. That was when most of the relics were excavated.


    One of the criteria for identifying relics was there to just be a trace of a previous civilization. There also had to be a significant amount of ruins and remnant historical artifacts [1]. The site also had to be large, and usually a city or a huge town, restored to at least seventy percent of its original state to classify officially as relics. Because of this, a lone building from an ancient era couldn''t be classified as one.


    The Sunil civilization had quite a few relics sprawled across the outer area of the Bernin continent, roughly where the Oklo Dynasty had built their empire. However, only a few of them were yet to be completely explored and so, became a gathering ground for pioneers. The most notable was the East Braftford relics, which was only forty percent explored.


    "Compared to the other regions, East Braftford relics still have a lot of dangers so please do well to stick close to me." The guide stared at the group as he informed them.


    This group had quite a few individuals of significant background. There was the young master of a top family from Heavenfall City, the daughter of the CEO of a top three hundred company in Belfargos city-state, and the nephew of the chairman of a trading alliance.


    However, there were three others that stood out in this group. One of them was the son of the vice city lord of Blue Springs City, while the other two were the children of Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family from Baylands City. This entire trip was done simply to entertain these two so it could be seen how influential their background was.


    In Baylands City, one would only know of the Mertens family as a top four force in the city-state. Those with a bit more knowledge would know that they were crucial in the installation of the current city lord and ruler of Baylands city-state, Noah Bergs. However, they were more than just that.


    There was a reason why Russell was confident in protecting Lucas even at the cost of a fallout with the other forces. One was because he believed that the city lord would side with him. The other, was simply because Russell was that confident in holding them off.


    In any city-state, the top factions and forces who stood out from the rest were never to be underestimated, especially those with heritage. To be able to retain the position of a top faction for a very long time, the power they wielded was incredible, but their connections were also not to be underestimated.


    Apart from the Ross family, which was relatively new to the rankings, the other three families all hard some sort of connections to Belfargos city-state. In the case of the Bergs and the Dufours, their connections extended even to the Oklo Dynasty.


    In Belfargos city-state, while the family name ''Mertens'' didn''t necessarily strike fear into the hearts of others, the top forces knew to give some form of respect to them. This was because the Mertens family was allied with a city lord family in Belfargos city-state through marriage.


    It just so happened that Russell wanted to try his hand at a new business venture which would require the aid of his ally. Hence, he sent his children to not only seal the deal but also strengthen the Mertens'' relationship with this family.


    "Thank you for your help, Mister Duran." The young man who was the son of the deputy city lord said.


    "It''s no problem." The man smiled.


    Although he was a somewhat famous pioneer in this area, he couldn''t compare to these young ones in terms of resources, influence or power. Since they needed a professional guide to the East Braftford relics, Duran decided to take up the offer so as to build even a little bit of connection with them.


    "Please follow me." Duran said, before leading the way.


    Apart from the six young heirs, there were also a few guards tagging along. However, because of the dangers of the relics, they weren''t much and only numbered about seven.


    "Do you think we''d find any artefacts today, beauty?" Vergil smiled at the lady who followed the group.


    True to his nature as a playboy, he had already began making his advances on the girl in the team. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    "I doubt that. Most of the sections in the outer region has already been scoured by others." The girl lightly said.


    "Well, I''m something of a good luck charm myself, so I think it will be different today." Vergil winked at her.


    The girl was speechless, but so as not to seem rude, she simply smiled at him.


    Laura ignored her brother''s misbehaviour as she turned her focus towards the relics.


    Even if the outer region has been explored countless of times, it still held a certain degree of danger. Part of this was because of the traps within the relics, some of which were mechanical or magical. The other danger was the desolate beasts within these relics.


    The majority of desolate beasts in the outer region had been wiped out, but there was a certain species that could reproduce quickly. They were insect-type desolate beasts. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Compared to the hyuman-sized or larger ones, insect-type desolate beasts were greatly feared. One reason was because of their insane reproduction rate while the other was Thier attack tactics.


    Since insect-type desolate beasts were small and often couldn''t pose a threat to a prey or even predator, they learnt to move in groups and gang up on a target. The smallest of these groups could reach numbers of up to three hundred, depending on the size of the desolate beasts. The smaller ones numbered even more in groups, reaching thousands in one swarm.


    At first, hyumankin developed unique pesticides to combat against them, but unlike typical insects, these desolate beasts began to develop resistance at a much faster rate. This meant that every few years or so, hyumankin would have to develop a new brand of pesticides for each insect-type desolate beast to combat against them.


    Naturally, many found this to be stressful and resorted to the ancient ways which was to simply swat these insects to death. But in this case, they used vestiges.


    "Don''t worry. With Duran here and our guards, we''ll be safe." The son of the deputy city lord turned to Laura with a smile.

 Chapter 248 The Aura-Breaking Stele

    At the moment, Lucas currently stood within the outer region of the East Braftford relics admiring the scenery. This was the most popular Sunil relics in Belfargos city-state as well as the only one with an exploration rate below forty percent. It was also the source of the majority of artefacts and artifacts [1] related to the Sunil civilization.The East Braftford relics, although yet to be fully explored, had been probed into through the use of sensory and scanning equipment including satellites. Since it was quite close to Trundel City, it was only natural for the city''s ruling authority to conduct an investigation on the area. They had partnered up with an alliance of pioneers to dig into the mysteries of the East Braftford relics.


    Through these equipment and the ensuing operations, the association of pioneers and Trundel City government had managed to get a somewhat clear idea of the relics.


    The East Braftford relics was said to be formed from an ancient city of the Sunil civilization. While the city couldn''t compare to those in Belfargos city-state, the cities of the Sunil civilization were still incredibly large. Take the East Braftford relics for instance, which covered more than three hundred kilometres.


    Based on the results of the joint investigation, the East Braftford relics was divided into three regions. They were the outer region, the inner region and the core region.


    The outer region was the most explored part of the relics as well as the safest when compared to the others. It was about ninety kilometres long and was also the source of roughly thirty percent of all Sunil civilization artefacts. Even until this day, the outer region had yet to be completely explored. Its exploration rate stood at eight two percent (82%).


    The inner region followed right after the outer region and stretched at least one hundred and ten kilometres long, making it considerably longer than the outer region. However in terms of width, it was slightly lacking.


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    The inner region had also been explored by pioneers, but its exploration rate stood at a mere thirty four percent (34%). And this was after hundreds of years. The mysteries of the inner region were complex and not something technology could easily conquer ¡ªwhich was quite shocking since the Sunil civilization had existed between four to six thousand years ago.


    Since the inner region had yet to be explored half way through, there were still a ton of artefacts rumoured to be hidden here, with differing levels of value. Some of the stronger pioneers occasionally took the risk to explore this region and unearth the riches within it.


    On the other hand, the final region ¡ªthe core region¡ª was the centre of the relics. Beyond the core region was a vast lake that easily dwarfed the Monotone Lake in the Cayern Windway. What''s more, the lake was a desolate beast domain, which was why there was no other way into the core region except through the outer and inner regions.


    Not much was known about the core region as it was publicly recorded as unexplored. However, rumours have it that the strongest existences in Eretre had once journeyed in there. Such existences included individuals like the Oklo Dynasty''s previous emperor, the (branch) [2] Lin family''s secretive ancestor or the Lester family''s protector. However, whether they truly went in there or not was unknown as these factions had no comments on these rumours and no information about the secrets or details of the core region was released. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite that, it was said that there would be no smoke without a fire, so many believed that these rumours might hold some truth.


    Due to the unknown threat the relics posed, especially its mysterious core region that remained unexplored even after hundreds of years, some had pushed for it to be bombed out of existence. Even if they couldn''t explore it, destroying it wasn''t an issue for the Trundel City government. However, others argued that the relics was a treasure trove, leading to there being split decisions and factions on the matter.


    ''Regardless, that doesn''t concern me.'' Lucas thought.


    His goal this time around was simply the outer region.


    The mission required Lucas to comprehend the magi runes and not explore the relics entirely, otherwise he would have never accepted it. Lucas never thought himself to be some shonen protagonist or a web novel MC with unlimited plot armour and luck.


    Since the mission was only for him to comprehend magi runes, the outer region was enough to fill the remaining thirty percent progress on the mission tracking bar. This was because it was said that the outer region was filled with countless mysterious scripts on its walls. Although these scripts were more of written language than mystical inscriptions used for manipulating stellar energy, there might be a relationship.


    Apart from that, it was said that within the explored parts of the outer regions, there was a huge stele made from a strange material that appeared like metal but had a structural build similar to a rock. All over the stele were carved countless magi runes which implied that the stele was an artefact. However, for some reason, the stele couldn''t be taken out.


    After some scientists and historians checked out the place, they concluded that the stele acted as an important pillar of support to the relics and had an important function. Removing the stele could cause adverse effects to the relics, so after a bit of deliberation, it was preserved by the Trundel City government and any attempts to excavate it came with severe punishments.


    The stele had also been turned into a tourist attraction because of this, and occasionally, both tourists and even researchers came to the area.


    Compared to the other parts of the outer region, the route to the stele was incredibly safe and with almost no danger. The ''almost'' was because one can never be one hundred percent sure of any thing.


    "Hey, young fellow, do you need a guide?"


    A man noticed that Lucas was staring at the relics but had yet to take a step. Such behaviour was common in first-timers and tourists, so the man saw a business opportunity.


    At first Lucas wanted to reject the man because the route was pretty safe and there were already directions posted online. However on second thought, he decided to get a guide. If any unexpected events were to crop up, having someone who was knowledgeable about the relics would be helpful.


    As for why Lucas felt that something might happen, it was just an instinctual feeling.


    ''Countless decades of safety and no threat so far. With the system giving such a mission, it can''t be this easy.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    For some reason, he recalled an adage from Earth called Murphy''s law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.


    An adaptation on Earth had an extra line which read ''If it can''t go wrong, it will go wrong anyway''.


    Regardless of which it was, Lucas felt unsettled with this trip, but he couldn''t back down after having come this far.


    "Where to?"


    Seeing Lucas give him the go-ahead nod, the man became enthusiastic and approached him quicker.


    "The Aura-Breaking stele." Lucas replied.


    The Aura-Breaking stele was the name of the famous stele that was turned into a tourist attraction. It was also a valuable piece of research data.


    Compared to seeing an image, seeing the real thing was better, especially for researchers. This was because inscriptions contained certain secrets and sensations that could only be seen and felt in person.


    "Oh, that''s wonderful. I have tons of experience being there and with me, you''ll get there safe and sound without a scratch." The man patted his chest as he boasted.


    "Price." Lucas ignored all the talk and went straight to the point.


    Most guides were skilled at conning tourists. They would bring up various conversation points and distract the tourist, preventing the price from being discussed. After the trip is concluded, the guide would give a hefty bill with various fees attached. As the service has already been provided, the tourist would have no choice than to pay for it or risk causing a scene.


    As this action didn''t harm anyone and wasn''t necessarily illegal, the city''s legal forces did nothing against it. One could only blame the tourists for their inexperience.


    The man''s face changed but he quickly recovered and gave a laugh.


    "It''s nothing much, don''t worry about it. I''ll even throw in a discount. Let''s go right now, otherwise we might get stuck in a queue. Lots of tourists frequent this place, so the earlier we move, the better."


    The man gestured for Lucas to come with him.


    However, the man underestimated who he was dealing with. At the moment, Lucas was a miser who was in financial straits. If it weren''t for this mission, he would have remained back in his store.


    While his job with the Black Star team did pay well, Lucas had to cater for himself and Melissa. At the same time, he needed to still pay taxes and other fees like insurance, on a monthly basis. Then he still had to buy materials and metals for his personal hob-, eh, research.


    This made it such that Lucas'' wallet was no different from a sponge. He could only hold onto a little bit of money after pay day.


    Seeing the man not willing to discuss his rates, Lucas turned to find another guide.


    Worried, the man immediately came in front of him.


    "Alright, alright. One hundred federal coins."


    Lucas glared at him.


    "Eighty."


    Lucas still didn''t say a word but instead walked around the man.


    "Okay, fine. Fifty, that''s the best deal around here. If you don''t believe me, go ask around."


    Lucas smiled and turned towards the man.


    "Lead the way."

 Chapter 249 Aura Breaking Stele 2

    The East Braftford relics was one of the most dangerous relics in Trundel City''s surrounding area. But at the same time, it was one of the major tourist attractions of the city, because of the Aura-Breaking Stele.The stele was termed the Aura-breaking Stele, because according to researchers who had studied it, the stele possessed the ability to negate and suppress aura. This was quite confusing since a name like ''Aura-suppressing'' stele would have been appropriate. However, there were some archeological records and remains of the Sunil civilisation that spoke about their aura-breaking pillars, which could suppress aura, destroy barriers and even create them.


    Considering the stele functioned a role in the relics similar to those of the aura-breaking pillars mentioned in the Sunil records, it was given the name Aura-breaking Stele.


    Because of the hidden risks that relics possessed, entry into them was free. This was to draw freelancers and pioneers to help explore them and quell the risk within.


    However, the region where the Aura-breaking stele was located was different.


    Not only did the stele possess a ton of value to the city, but it was also an important cornerstone of the relics and couldn''t be excavated. As such, there was a need to watch over it and protect it. The path towards the stele had been cleared out by the city''s military, and a patrol team was kept there to secure the stele from freelancers and pioneers who might get too greedy.


    However, doing this meant that there would be an increase in the city''s budget. Although it wasn''t something the city government couldn''t handle, they pursued a resourceful system in their practice. Together with the fact that there existed a faction in favour of destroying the relics, it wouldn''t be easy to approve a budget increase just to protect the stele.


    Hence, a brilliant idea was thought up. Anyone who wanted to go to the safe region and view the stele would have to pay an entrance fee. This fee would then be used to pay for the resources and manpower needed to protect the stele. If it wasn''t enough, it could be supplemented by the city as long as the excess was below forty percent.


    After the guide brought Lucas to the region, he left as there was security in front and he would have to pay an entrance fee to go further in.


    Fifty federal coins might have seemed like an expensive charge, but life in Belfargos city-state was costlier than other city-states. Every piece of land was valuable, and in turn, affected other prices.


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    This was because Belfargos city-state didn''t occupy the entire Bernin continent but only a small part of it. The remaining land was occupied by desolate beasts. As a result, there was limited land to develop and use for agriculture.


    Although other continents had around 2-3 city-states sharing the land, due to the proximity of the city-states, they could engage in trade using their various resources; thereby solving food shortage with each other. At the same time, they didn''t have as many desolate beast domains as the Bernin continent did. In the case of the Bernin continent, the closest continent to it was an ocean away, with a distance spanning thousands of kilometres.


    Also, the Belfargos city-state was the centre of the planet and the place with the highest quantity and quality of vestige-smiths. This naturally increased the population as many factions and individuals wanted to be based here. The population increase puts a burden on the existing fixed resources, leading to a rise in price.


    After paying the guide, Lucas walked towards the entrance.


    The East Braftford relics wasn''t some underground relics on anything, but was aboveground. However, a strange barrier shielded the entire relics preventing drones from getting a good view. The region with the Aura-breaking stele refurbished by the city government. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A small fence was built around the area with a gate in front. By the gate, a few soldiers stood guard armed with gun-type vestiges. Two of them attended to the crowd lined up with a special type of machine in their hands. The devices not only helped with payment but also recorded the data of every tourist who came to the site for security reasons.


    Due to the length of the queue, it took around an hour before Lucas'' turn came to pay for the entrance ticket. Once in front of one of the two soldiers, he scanned his palm over the device and was allowed to go in. Although he had expected it, the entrance fee was quite pricey; thirty federal coins. But since he was already here, Lucas didn''t dwell on it.


    ''I need to raise prices of services.'' Lucas thought as he walked past the security checkpoint.


    On the other side, a large stele that reached at least twenty metres (65.6 feet) in height appeared before Lucas. That was the same height as a four storey- building. The width roughly measured around seven metres (23 feet), giving such an overwhelming sight. It was unimaginable to think that the entire surface of such a large structure was hand-filled with inscriptions roughly the same size as a fingernail.


    There were hundreds of thousands of such tiny inscriptions which was why the Aura-breaking stele was a very important artefact for one to comprehend the ancient inscription of the Sunil civilisation. Even though he had yet to reach it, Lucas was confident that if he went through the entire stele, he would fulfill the requirements for the mission given to him by the system.


    The problem however, was doing just that.


    Even with the advantage of being able to partially understand magi runes, it would take Lucas at least 2-3 days to cover the entire steele. This was because both the front and back were filled with these inscriptions. The staggering height of twenty metres also presented a challenge since it would be difficult to clearly see the tiny inscriptions at the top.


    Lucas could depend on his sharp senses to do so, but it would consume a lot of his mental energy, making this a very tiring endeavour. Consuming mental energy while both trying to read the inscriptions and decipher them would result in Lucas not being able to spend much time on the job as he would tire out faster. Adding this in mind, it would extend the duration he would need to complete the stele by at least one day.


    ''I just need to learn enough to complete the mission, not the stele.'' Lucas comforted himself before looking around.


    At the entrance, there was a long queue but the inside was more packed. A rough estimate would put the number of people present to be somewhere between four to five hundred people. Such a crowd shouldn''t really be termed as a lot, but the space was small and limited. As such, they were almost packed together here.


    Some of them were tourists who posed close to the stele and took pictures, while others were historians, researchers or vestige-smiths who marveled at the stone and tried to decipher what they could. Differentiating between the two was quite easy since their gazes and treatment towards the stele differed largely.


    To the tourists, they were only somewhat impressed by it, particularly because of its size and uniqueness; especially the mysterious aura all around it.


    However, to the erudite scholars and researchers, their gaze towards the stele was one of adulation, deep interest, curiosity, and even idolization. To this group of people, even though the Aura-breaking stele was from a civilisation far behind theirs, there were some remarkable features and technology from the Sunil civilisation that even surpassed those on Eretre.


    It was undeniable that the Aura-breaking stele held more value to the second group than the first. Even the city government knew this and were aware of the value that the comprehension of the unknown runes would bring to them. Hence, they slashed the entrance fee by fifty percent for these individuals.


    If Lucas had an official identification document for being a vestige-smith, he would have gone in while paying only fifteen federal coins. However, he didn''t have a membership or licence from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, especially since he was blacklisted back in the Baylands City branch, so Lucas could only pay the regular fee.


    Ignoring the crowd, Lucas turned his attention to the purpose of his visit; the towering stele.


    The grey Aura-breaking stele stood tall that even with the crowd ahead, Lucas could still get a good glance at it. However, the distance between him and the stele was at least thirty metres, making it somewhat difficult for Lucas to be able to study the runes. But this was only just a little bit of difficulty.


    Without wasting any time, Lucas found a spot by the side as he couldn''t waste another hour on a queue. Unbeknownst to him though, Laura and Vergil were also present within the crowd. However, because of their identities, as well as that of those in the group, they were given better treatment and managed to skip the long queue to appear within the viewing area of the stele ¡ªa space at least five metres away from the stele.

 Chapter 250 World Source

    Usually, tourists were allowed only a maximum of three minutes in the viewing area before leaving for a new group from the queue to take their place, but with the identities of those in the group, they were allowed up to ten minutes here. Even regular VIPs and esteemed figures could only stay up to five minutes, but it was different for this group. This was because in their midst was the son of the vice city lord of the neighbouring Blue Springs City, who was tipped to succeed his father.Every city-state utilised a different system of government with some being of form of democracy, an oligarchy, or a parliamentary. Apart from a theocracy and a dictatorship, almost every form of government could be utilised in a city-state. Most of the time, this practice extended down to the various cities within the city-state.


    In Belfargos city-state however, since the Oklo Dynasty was in charge, the rule of the cities became different. Almost all the cities were under a monarchy. This was because the Bernin continent was a dangerous place to be and the only safe area was close to Belfargos City. However, the Oklo Dynasty wouldn''t just allow anyone to set up a city close to them. Those who could do so would have to be like the Cardoso family, who had very close ties to the Oklo Dynasty''s royal family.


    Because of this requirement, the cities were all operated under a monarchy, with the families that set them up being the supreme power. Although there were exceptions ¡ªsituations where a city was set up by more than one party¡ª those were few.


    Back to the group, since the son of the vice city lord who led the group of young elites was present, the guards had to give him better treatment. Being the eldest son of the vice city lord, it was inevitable that he would succeed his father. Granting an extra five minutes for such a figure was not a problem.


    "The Aura-breaking stele is definitely magnificent." Vergil couldn''t help but admire the rock.


    Usually, he would be in his playboy personality, but at the moment, he couldn''t help but be drawn to the stele. As a vestige-smith, albeit of the lowest level, Vergil could appreciate the stele better than the others in the group.


    It might seem like just a tall historical rock with some scribbles on it, but in the eyes of a vestige-smith, this was an incredible work of art. Even though hyumankin could make similar or even better vestiges, the unique aura the stele gave couldn''t be replicated; at least not in Eretre.


    This was like the difference between a flying carpet and a hover board. Both could help one to fly, but how they performed the same function differed greatly.


    "Hmm, I wonder how much it would go for." The young master of a top family from Heavenfall City lightly muttered.


    "Be careful of your words." The other girl in the group said.


    The Aura-breaking stele couldn''t be excavated, and even if it could, it won''t go for sale. Most likely, the Cardoso family in Trundel City would take control of it. As such, discussing about any sensitive topic that would hint at one aiming for the stele was best not said out loud, otherwise, a misunderstanding could occur. This was especially so if the person involved in the conversation was from a powerful force.


    "Haha. It''s just a joke." The young man said.


    Meanwhile, the son of Blue Springs City''s vice city lord, William Ernst, was on the other side of the steel with Laura.


    William was a refreshing young man with white hair and a dignified air around him. Not only was he exceedingly handsome, but he had an impressive bearing that made him seem reliable and friendly, yet prestigious. Without a doubt, he could easily play the role of a ''Prince charming'' in the lives of many women.


    The others could guess that he wanted to pursue Laura since he had been following right beside her ever since, so they gave the two some space. Vergil had his eyes on the other girl in the group so he didn''t bother interfering. Also, it was his sister and she was eventually going to be with a guy, so it was not his place to be nosy.


    "They say that the Sunil civilisation was a very powerful civilisation. Their reign had stretched a significant portion of the Bernin continent; an equivalent to what the unofficial Belfargos city-state covers. But they still fell a thousand years or so before hyumankin arrived here."


    "And why is that?" Laura looked interested as she asked.


    Although she was proud, she was also someone who was curious about a lot of things which was why she agreed to this trip.


    "No one can say for sure. Even though the federation has existed for a longer period, one thousand years still isn''t small. However, researchers suggest that they encountered a planetary scale calamity that affected many of the civilisations and species in Eretre. Even with their power and technology, the Sunil weren''t spared."


    Laura nodded. She had heard about this calamity back in Baylands City, when she was still younger and in school. It was a global crisis that not only changed the shape of the world''s map, but also caused a mass grade extinction. The stellar energy level of the planet had even declined after that, and was yet to recover. Many civilisations, lifeforms and organisms never saw the next day after that calamity. It was said that the incident was so abrupt that no civilisation had any time to even record it.


    However, despite how horrific it was, no one could say for sure what exactly it was. Whether it was a natural disaster, volcanic eruption, or some global civil war, no trace was left to point at such events. It was as if everything just silently disappeared.


    "Do you have any idea what that calamity might have been?" Laura suddenly asked.


    Many researchers claimed that the Bernin continent was the centre of that affair. While there was no evidence to explain what exactly had happened, through carbon-dating and other similar methods, they realised that the Bernin continent was the last place to be affected and the least, in comparison to the others. As such, it was possible to find evidence to explain the incident from over four thousand years ago.


    "I''m sorry to say this, but you''re quite funny." William chuckled. Even though he had laughed, it didn''t seem insulting. On the contrary, William looked even more attractive as he did so.


    "If I knew the secrets of that era, I would have sold that knowledge or made good use of it one way or the other."


    Laura sighed inwardly. Of course she knew this, but she just wanted to try her luck, especially seeing how William sounded like he knew a lot. But in the next second, she perked her ears.


    "However, there''s one thing I can say."


    William then leaned in and whispered into her ears, his hot breath lightly touching her skin,


    "It''s rumoured that the calamity was triggered by an abrupt drainage of the planet''s fate and world source."


    Laura widened her eyes.


    Those words might sound incomprehensible to an average individual, but being the heiress to a top family, she understood what they meant. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Every planet had its fate. This was a mystical component that wasn''t the same as mystical energy. It couldn''t be utilised by any living being directly neither could it be calculated using machines, but it could affect one''s progress and growth in life. Usually, it would only affect the planet and its growth, having nothing to do with its inhabitants directly.


    As for a world source, it was another mysterious component within a world, but unlike a planet''s fate, it could affect the living beings in a world directly. The world source was the core component and factor in producing stellar energy, and in some sense, life on a planet. If a planet had no world source, it couldn''t produce any sort of mystical energy, and in worse cases, life. As such, world source was very valuable.


    The more world source a planet has, the more concentrated its mystical energy ¡ªin this case stellar energy¡ª would be. At the same time, the more fate a planet has, the more lush and prosperous its growth would be. There would be more minerals, resources, and so on, with less natural disasters occurring.


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    Such a thing might sound like some hulabuloo or children''s fantasy tales, but it had been proven.


    The Kellan solar system has eight planets but only five could support life. This wasn''t just in terms of resources like breathable air and life support, but also stellar energy. The other three planets couldn''t produce stellar energy like the others. This was because they were unfortunate to not possess a world source. Without a supply of stellar energy, such planets were abandoned by hyumans and termed as uninhabitable.


    The fact that Eretre had almost ended up in a similar fashion was a shocking discovery to Laura, but it didn''t just stop there. A question suddenly popped up in her head; did the other three planets go through the same thing, but unfortunate enough to see it through? If so, then what was the cause and could it be prevented? Would it repeat once again?

 Chapter 251 A Change With The Stele

    Seeing her reaction, William chuckled and comforted her."No use thinking about it. It''s only just a rumour and there''s not enough evidence to support it."


    "Hmm." Laura nodded.


    While Laura felt like she had learnt a mind-blowing piece of information, Lucas was far behind and wasn''t even a part of the queue. With his focus on the Aura-breaking stele, it was natural for him not to sense the siblings. Even if his focus wasn''t on the stele, he wouldn''t have noticed them after all, Lucas never expected anyone from Baylands city-state to come here. Havos was a unique exception because he was originally a citizen of Belfargos city-state.


    The siblings similarly hadn''t noticed him as their focus was on the stele as well.


    ''It''s definitely a lot like magic runes, but the difference is clear.'' Lucas marvelled at the inscriptions on the stele.


    Compared to the bits and pieces he gleaned from the other relics and some documents online, the runes on the Aura-breaking stele gave off a different feeling.


    When he first encountered them, Lucas had mistook them for magic runes but found out they were different, then dubbed it ''magi runes''. As he delved more into them, Lucas discovered more differences between the two types of runes. However, standing before the Aura-breaking stele, he could feel the true essence of magi runes. Even though they looked the same and operated by similar runes, the difference was greater than he had imagined before.


    Lucas could now understand why the system had yet to acknowledge his mastery over magi runes because it was nonexistent.


    ''Completing these runes would take me at least three days, but I don''t need that long for the mission. Four to six hours should be enough.'' Lucas thought.


    Since he wasn''t planning to approach the stele, there was no limit to how long he could stay in this region.


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    A few minutes went by with the group at the viewing area having switched at least three times. Laura, Vergil, William and the others were still there since their time limit was ten minutes. This was mainly because Vergil was absorbed in the runes and Laura too found them interesting. Since Laura was here, William decided not to leave yet. This made it awkward for the other two individuals to depart, and so they stuck around as well. Since it would only be just ten minutes, there was no harm in waiting.


    It was at this moment that something out of the ordinary happened.


    While Lucas was currently staring at the stele and everyone else was admiring the rock or taking pictures beside it, one of the individuals who was a part of the new group that had just swapped in, did something strange. At first, he was simply lost in the magnificence of the twenty metres tall stele just like everyone else. But then, he glanced at his sides suspiciously however no one noticed this. Seeing that the guards'' attentions were a bit relaxed, he abruptly dashed for the stele.


    "Hey!"


    One of the guards shouted, but the man ignored him.


    There was only a five metres gap between the viewing area and the stele so even though the security guards stood between the two sides, the man rapidly made it past them. This was mostly because the guards had their guards down. It wasn''t easy to always be on alert, and with the fact that no one had done anything out of the ordinary in years, they never expected a change to take place today.


    "Stop him!"


    The captain of the guard squad roared but it was too late. The man had already reached the stele. Regardless, they weren''t worried. There was nothing he could do to the stele.


    The stele was twenty metres tall and seven metres wide; it couldn''t be fit inside of a regular spatial vault and the ones needed for the job couldn''t be found on Eretre so easily. As for damaging the stele, that was similarly impossible. The material used to make it was incredibly dense and hard, making it difficult for any scratches to be caused on it. To damage the surface of the stele, one would need at least a Grade 2 vestige and to destroy it, a Grade 3 vestige was the bare minimum.


    Vestiges were highly regulated by every city-state and city government such that the common masses couldn''t gain access to it. As such, no one believed the man had one.


    The guards were only worried about the report they''d have to file as well as the penalty they''d receive for not controlling the crowd properly. Not a single one of them was worried about the stele nor did they believe that the man could do anything to it.


    However, that was only for a second as in the next one, all their presumptions were shattered.


    Once he was before the stele, the man didn''t hesitate to slit his hand with a pocket knife. As blood spilled from the cut, he immediately slammed the injured palm on the stele.


    "Haha. Haha. Awaken, oh ancestors!" The man guffawed as he stared at the stele with a fanatic expression on his face.


    Suddenly, the Aura-breaking stele began to glow with a strange blue light as the aura from it experienced a drastic change. If before it could be equated to the aura of a towering structure that seemed to overlook all of creation, the aura the stele gave off now was of an emperor who was rising from his throne. An unimaginable pressure began to exude from the stele, making eyes go wide at the scene.


    Meanwhile, Lucas, who was behind, had already made his move to run the very second the stele began to glow.


    Take a chance? No way in hell.


    Lucas thought as he ran. At the same time, he was cursing the system. He already suspected that something strange would happen during this trip as it was all too calm, different from his usual experience with outing missions from the system. At the same time, the description of the tourist site was just too safe which didn''t add up.


    Knowing that the system possessed some sort of all-knowing ability, Lucas guessed that something might crop up. However, what proof did he have? Even if he were to come the next day instead, who was to say that the next day wouldn''t be the day of the strange event? S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As such, Lucas bit the bullet and came. This was especially since he didn''t have much time left for the mission again. This was because there was the drift racing team and the store eating into his time. He also didn''t have any other options left as this was the last of the Sunil relics.


    However, as of now, Lucas didn''t care. He simply wanted to get away from here.


    The East Braftford relics was a relics [1] that could even threaten fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioners. Even though he had killed one before, that was through the help of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour; Lucas wasn''t delusional enough to think that meant he was the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner. So, he decided to escape before it was too late.


    Despite his quick reaction, it was already too late.

 Chapter 252 Isolated

    Right as soon as the stele gave off the alluring blue light, it was followed up by an intimidating pressure that forced many to freeze at the spot. Only those with strong minds or at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage could move under such pressure. Not many were under the first group, but the second had a lot more which included the guards.The security guards were first stunned by the change, but immediately, the two closest to him apprehended the man. It was only a five metres gap which they had already covered one a tad slower than the man. As they held onto him, they tried to force him to stop this strange phenomenon. However, the man ignored them and simply grinned.


    Lucas, who was only just an arm away from the gate, suddenly had a bad feeling.


    *Whoosh*


    The blue light abruptly strengthened in intensity until it was difficult for anyone to see. The entire four to five hundred people present inside the tourist attraction were covered in the light and this included Lucas. This lasted for three seconds until the light died down.


    However, once it did, there was no one inside the tourist zone again. Whether it was the guards, the tourists on the queue or those who were in the viewing area, the researchers who stood by the side and so on, as long as they were inside the tourist zone, they had all disappeared after that brilliant burst of light.


    "What the hell happened?" The guards outside, who had just made their way in, were stunned.


    After the earlier shout, the two guards in charge of payment at the gate outside had rushed in while the others were a tad slower. As luck would have it, those who were slower were forced to halt at the gate after the burst of light, while the two guards who dashed in earlier were caught in it. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Now that the light had disappeared and everything was back to normal, the guards dashed in but were stunned to find the place empty. Even their colleagues who were only a second faster than them were gone.


    . . .


    "Where am I?"


    After blinking a few times to restore his sight, Lucas glanced around to see that his current location wasn''t the tourist zone. He wasn''t surprised by this as he had expected this to happen after that flash of light. Although it wasn''t so noticeable, Lucas had sensed a shift in space at that moment which signalled a teleportation.


    Even though he had expected to arrive in a new place, it still left Lucas worried. In the East Braftford relics, any place beyond the tourist zone was not safe.


    ''This doesn''t look like the outer regions, and it seems like I''m the only one.'' Lucas frowned as he studied the place.


    While he had yet to explore the outer region, Lucas had done a bit of research online and seen images. That paired with his experience walking down the path to the tourist zone, he was able to get an idea of what to find in the outer regions. However, his current location didn''t seem like that. Being one in such a dangerous place was very unlucky and unsafe.


    What''s more, there was an eerie sensation in the air as well as a bone-chilling aura all over the place. This region gave off an air of death, which was something the outer region ¡ªwith an exploration rate of eighth two percent (82%)¡ª shouldn''t give.


    Lucas began to wonder whether he was in some unexplored part of the outer region, or worse, within the inner region.


    Knowing that there could be danger around the corner, Lucas immediately thought of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, however he didn''t take it out.


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    The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was powered by stellar energy and passively gave off a signal, albeit minimal. In such an unknown place, that signal could cost him his life since some traps in relics were sensitive to mystical energy.


    On the other hand, as a human, he was naturally unable to store stellar energy or any other mystical energy in his body; a disadvantage which at this moment was now an advantage.


    Nonetheless, Lucas couldn''t just walk around this place unarmed.


    He proceeded to switch his clothes for a different set.


    When Lucas came to this world newly, the system provided him with a welcome package which was a gift box with items. From it, he got: two sets of blacksmith aprons; some work tools; twenty ingots of two rare metals split ten each, one of which was Purple Iridium while the other was Red Iris stone; the Craftsman Gloves and another pair of blacksmithing gloves; and finally, three sets of clothing. What he currently wore was one of those sets.


    Despite the fact that the clothing and equipment provided from that gift box by the system weren''t vestiges, they possess unique abilities that could even rival vestiges. However, they did all this without even utilising any sort of mystical energy.


    The clothes Lucas currently wore provided some defensive properties and resistances suitable for a blacksmith and a workshop technician. But at the same time, it could also act as a form of protection for Lucas. For instance, the penetration-resistance property of the clothing, the impact mitigation feature, heat resistance and so on. While these seemed like ordinary features, they could be handy even in dangerous scenarios like this.


    After wearing the set of clothes, Lucas still didn''t feel safe enough. He proceeded to take out a well-crafted armour and put it on. The armour was made using the highest standards of blacksmithing, but it was lacking inscriptions and mystical energy in its manufacturing process. This happened to be an incomplete vestige Lucas was still working on, but it found its use in the current situation.


    Now that he was covered with protection, Lucas felt more confident to explore this area. He did so not only because he wanted to leave, but he wanted to find the others as well. Chances were that someone in the crowd knew more than he did.


    As he prepared to leave, Lucas didn''t forget to make use of his cheat card.


    "System, do you have any idea where I am?"

 Chapter 253 Deep Within

    "System, do you have any idea where I am?" Lucas asked as he surveyed the area while preparing to leave.Compared to the outer region''s flat surface, this place seemed more developed. The ground looked to be made of polished stone slabs and bricks. There were no walls but a dark ceiling was over them. Because this place was dark, it was hard to see more than five metres away, so Lucas had no idea how the structures appeared.


    "Within the depths of the East Braftford relics." The system replied to him.


    Lucas, who was about to take his first step, suddenly froze on the spot.


    The system''s words signalled a warning within his head, and be couldn''t help but want to confirm something.


    "When you say depths, how deep do you mean? Inner region or the core region?"


    "Host needs not worry. The system has ascertained that this is within the inner region, albeit not too far from the core region. This most likely has to do with the host''s position during the activation of the teleportation formation. The destination of the teleportation should be within the core region, but due to the factor of time and other events, the teleportation formation isn''t as accurate. With the host being out of the focus range, it is explainable why you ended up here."


    Lucas sighed with relief. Although being in the inner region was still too dangerous, it was much better than the core region. But in the next second, a horrifying power descended. It wasn''t targeted at Lucas but was spread all over the place. It was as if something had awakened deep inside the region.


    "Rar!"


    A loud monstrous scream reverberated from afar.


    Lucas frowned, but didn''t think too much about it. Since the system told him he was in the inner region, but quite close to the core region, Lucas'' main focus had been on escaping this place. Without a doubt, the roar and the pressure all came from the same direction which was definitely the core region. This meant that all Lucas had to do was walk in the opposite direction.


    ''The inner region is at least one hundred and ten kilometres long. Based on the proximity of the roar, I can assume that I''m around two to ten kilometres away from the core region. That leaves at least a one hundred kilometres gap in between me and the outer region.''


    Lucas grimaced.


    This would be a long journey.


    . . .


    "Rar!"


    "What was that?"


    Elsewhere, in the inner region, a group of people came to their senses with the loud roar. Just like Lucas, they had been teleported to the inner region, except they appeared quite close to each other. Even though they were strangers, they understood that they were tied together now.


    "We need to get out of here, and fast."


    Of the five people in the group, one of them was a teen who seemed to be incredibly anxious and scared.


    "No shit, Einstein." One of the other males in the group, a middle-aged man, said. Compared to his colleague, he was a lot calmer even after that horrific roar.


    He didn''t say a word after that, instead choosing to look around him.


    "I knew I shouldn''t have come. I knew I shouldn''t have come." The anxious teen said. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    His fear seemed to be contagious as the only lady in the group ¡ªa woman in her twenties¡ª began trembling uncontrollably. She would have probably done okay but with the terrific roar and the teen who was acting as if they would get eaten the next second, she began to get consumed by fear.


    "That''s enough. Stop saying something stupid. We''ll find a way out of this." A young man said.


    Even though his arm was shivering, he tried to remain calm and prevent the group from reacting too strongly. After all, who knew what was hidden in the darkness.


    They were all ordinary hyumans who had just wanted to go on a tourist trip. With the situation having abruptly changed for the worse, it was only natural for the majority to be freaked out.


    "I don''t think this is the outer region." The middle-aged man suddenly said.


    Unlike the trio, he was a freelancer and had even explored the outer region before. This time around, he had only come to take a look at the Aura-breaking stele.


    "Then, wh, where are we?" The young man carefully asked.


    The middle-aged man stared at him then sighed.


    "The good news is that we''re still in the East Braftford relics. But then again, I don''t know whether that''s really much of a good news."


    Even though the middle-aged man didn''t say it outright, the rest were no fools. They could figure the truth from his words; after all, if they were still in the East Braftford relics but not the outer region, then there could only be two other possible locations.


    "I don''t want to die. Somebody, anybody, help me!" The young teen yelled.


    "Please, help us!" The lady finally broke down and wept out loud while screaming.


    "Shut the hell up."


    A bold voice interrupted them.


    The middle-aged man frowned at the duo and made up his mind to abandon them. This was already a dangerous place, but having such pig-headed teammates would raise the danger level at least three times.


    "We''ll try to trace our way out of here. Although it''s risky, it''s not like we have another choice. For that, I''ll need everyone''s cooperation to follow my orders. You got that?" The man said.


    The young man nodded as he felt the middle-aged man to be trustworthy. The anxious youth also finally calmed down and agreed as he was hungry.


    The middle-aged man then turned to the last member of the team, a young man who was just like the other one but with black hair. Usually, people with features resembling a human had lower mDNA concentration, but that wasn''t what crossed the middle-aged man''s mind. Instead, the middle-aged man, his focus was entirely on the black-haired young man. This was because the latter gave him a dangerous feeling. It was something only professional freelancers would have.


    "I have no problem." The black haired man nodded.


    Seeing no disagreements, the middle-aged man then went on to lead the group.


    Similar situations were happening in various parts of the relics at the moment. This was because a majority of the crowd had been teleported in groups with very few going solo just like Lucas. However, if there was one thing they all had in common, it was that the majority of figures were all regular hyumans who became anxious and afraid.

 Chapter 254 Conflict

    Only an hour had gone by but the incident at the tourist zone was already on every mainstream news in the city. Although all of the individuals inside the area had been forcefully teleported away, there was still a large number of people outside the gate. These were the ones who were made to queue outside as the tourist zone was already filled with people.While they didn''t know exactly what had happened, they had all realised that the crowd on the other side of the gate had disappeared mysteriously. As soon as they figured that out, they began spreading the news and contacting people in the city. This was because some of them were familiar with a few in the crowd, and they felt it important to inform the family members of the victims.


    With the crowd outside the gate making mass reports about the incident, the media eventually got a whiff of it and had rushed towards the scene. At the same time, the city government had also responded.


    Currently, the city government was split into two. One side was made of the faction that had pushed for the destruction of the East Braftford relics while the other was made of the factions against it.


    The latter believed that the relics held a lot of valuable resources and knowledge, which by destroying the relics would lead to the loss of them all. Hence, they were strongly against the destruction of the relics and instead pushed for exploration operations.


    On the other hand, the former believed that the East Braftford relics held too much of a threat to the city. Just from the fact that only thirty four percent (34%) of the inner region has been explored after hundreds of years, it was obvious that whatever was inside the relics could pose a threat to the city and its surrounding area.


    Originally, the faction in support of the preservation and exploration of the East Braftford relics had the upper hand. This was because some of the artefacts taken out from there had proven helpful to society, and the value of the archeological artifacts had even attracted the interest of some of the merchant groups outside the planet. With so much value and wealth before them, the voice of the faction in favour of destruction of the relics was feeble and muted off. Even the neutrals had stepped in and sided with the other faction, so there was no debate again.


    However, with the event that recently took place, the faction in favour of destruction raised their voices after years of suppression. They utilised their connections to some media channels and began trying to push their agenda once again.


    Suddenly, within a few hours, there were various news reports about how some officials.in the city government were greedy and left behind a latent threat instead of dealing with it. There were also talks about how the Sunil civilisation relics weren''t relics to be readily explored much less turned into a tourist attraction. Historians and researchers even made appearances on interviews, giving more information about the Sunil civilisation.


    The Sunil civilisation was a civilisation that existed four to six thousand years ago. Although such a time seemed long, the hyumankin civilisation has already existed for more than ten thousand years. The era of pure humans was even further behind. Although the Sunil civilisation seemed to have lasted longer than the human race, this wasn''t exactly true. The human race was found to be one of the oldest intelligent species according to the hyumans, whereas the Sunil civilisation could possibly be relatively younger. This meant that it was possible that the Sunil civilisation came into existence for a duration not longer than two hundred thousand years; in comparison to the pure human race that existed ¡ªfrom evolution until extinction¡ª for more than three hundred thousand years. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    According to the efforts of the researchers and historians, the Sunil civilisations technology wasn''t too advanced. It was ahead of the human race, but didn''t even come halfway to what the hyumans could achieve. This was because the human race had experienced so many wars that led to drastic loss of knowledge and information, making the entire civilisation restart multiple times. On the other hand, the Sunil civilisation didn''t experience such, so they were able to advance technologically even faster. But they lacked the foundation and resources that the hyumankins had, and so were behind.


    Of course, this was in reference to the entire hyumankin and not those on Eretre. Compared to the other planets, Eretre was a backwater. In fact, the entire solar system was actually a rural area compared to others, which was why the technology available wasn''t much; they still utilised technology such as hover vehicles and light rail trains, while the rest of the universe used short or long distance teleportation.


    As the researchers on camera spoke about this during their interviews, people began to realise that they had underestimated the Sunil civilisation relics. Although the entire civilisation couldn''t do much to the hyumankin as a whole, affecting a single city wasn''t impossible.


    If the entire Sunil civilisation was classified as 2 in terms of technology and strength, then Trundel City was 3.5 on the same scale. The difference wasn''t necessarily much, which meant that the relics could threaten them.


    This caused a lot of fears to rise amongst the people, and this was especially so for those related to the missing victims. Cries could be heard in the city and calls began to rise for the destruction of the relics before it was too late. It wouldn''t be difficult for the city government to level the entire relics although it would cost them a lot. However to the people, their safety was more important than any cost.


    The faction in support of maintaining the relics was suddenly now under pressure as the roles had been reversed. In order to comfort the masses and quell their anger, they hurriedly reacted to the situation.


    The official security agency of Trundel City rushed over to the East Braftford relics and began reviewing security footage, transactions and all identity registration sequences. From there, they managed to find out the information about the man who had caused the reaction from the Aura-breaking stele.


    There were a few cameras inside the tourist zone, and although they stopped functioning after the burst of light, the footage had already been transmitted and saved to the online database. It was from here that the security agency managed to understand a bit of what exactly happened as well as find a lead on the culprit.


    The culprit turned out to be an assistant researcher; which was a rank below that of a professional researcher. In some ways, one could say that he was an intern. After raiding his house and hacking his communicator, they managed to uncover some details about him.


    The man was obsessed with the relics and artefacts, which wasn''t anything strange as many researchers were obsessed with such. However, his focus was on the Sunil civilisation. This also wasn''t strange as some researchers tend to focus on one civilisation at a time. However, it was a message on his communicator that had the police suspicious.


    An unknown contact that couldn''t be traced back had texted the young man a couple of times. The last message came two days ago. At first, it wasn''t anything strange and might have even come off as geeky, but with what had happened recently, it became a suspicious point of focus.


    The text read: It''s time to bring glory to the motherland.

 Chapter 255 Mysterious Door

    Rewinding back to the event...It had been only a couple of minutes since the flash of blue light which brought him and the others into this place. While he had been a bit worried at the start, Lucas wasn''t nervous and was carefully exploring this area in a bid to find his way back.


    Lucas was currently inside of a building. The floors were made with blue tiles and the walls were painted white. Even though it was indoors, the ceiling of the building was inlaid with white crystals that gave off a bright glow, making the place lit. Apart from these, there were no decorations in the building''s corridors. It had been this way for the last thirteen minutes Lucas had spent walking here.


    Since his communicators were done and there was no way to tell north from south, Lucas occasionally asked the system how close he was to the core region. By using this information, he was able to figure out the direction of the core region and walked opposite to it.


    Over thirty minutes had gone by, but Lucas had yet to find any of the other four to five hundred tourists. This made him wonder whether he was the only one teleported to this region, after all, the majority of tourists back then were closer to the stele. On the other hand, since he had begun charging away from the stele, Lucas had ended up just a few metres away from the gate, making him the furthest away from the stele.


    Regardless, Lucas wasn''t really keen on meeting anybody here as it could potentially make matters more complicated for him. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Hmm?''


    At this point, Lucas finally noticed a pair of doors up ahead. It was the first structure he had seen since he mysteriously ended up within this building.


    The doors were seven metres tall, giving off a metallic sheen and an awe-inspiring pressure. Similar to the tiles on the floor, the doors were also blue but of a different shade; the floor tiles were azure blue, whereas the doors were cobalt blue.


    On each of the blue metallic doors, there were carvings of strange creatures facing against the other. One of these creatures was a four-legged monster with the body of a deer but a head that looked like a dragon. It also had two pairs of human-like arms extending out from its body. On the other door was the creature that faced off against this abomination. It was also another horrendous looking being with the head and wings of a bat, together with the body and legs of a spider.


    Apart from these two strange creatures, there were also carvings of some others on the two doors, with a few looking less terrifying. For instance, there was the carving of a monster that looked like pangolin but had horns and a pair of jutted fangs. There was even a large insect-type creature the size of a lion. It looked like a butterfly, but the head was that of a terrifying lemur. Some of them had appearances unfamiliar to Lucas, as he suspected that they were native species of Eretre.


    All in all, the creatures carved into the surface were terrifying to say the least.


    Lucas didn''t understand why they were carved of what value these creatures held to the Sunil civilisation. They could have been real creatures, gods or even monsters they worshipped. They could also be creatures from legends from the Sunil civilisation. Anything was possible, but at the moment, none of that was Lucas'' concern.


    Based on his calculation, this door was facing the direction opposite of the core region. Chances were that it would lead to a dead end, but at the moment, Lucas didn''t have much of an option. There was no other path here, and the closest was to go back where he was ten minutes ago. Since he was already here, Lucas has to advance forward. But he didn''t move yet.


    As it stood, Lucas had no attacking power. All he had on were defence equipment that could protect him from the attacks of a second, and maybe third, level Apertures Opening stage attack. The reason for this was because the equipment were not vestiges. If he was to use a vestige here, the stellar energy could possibly trigger off alarms. This irked Lucas, so he decided that once he got out of here, he would spend some time to produce stealthy vestiges. However, that was for later.


    Although he could take out his offensive vestiges, it would take a second or so. Under an intense attack, one second could be very risky, especially since Lucas'' current equipment only offered protection to his body and not his head.


    Lucas wanted to ask the system for help, but recalled what it had told him when he was asked for the way out a couple of minutes ago. The system didn''t plan on interfering. At best, it could inform Lucas how far he was from the core region, and using this information, Lucas had managed to move in the opposite direction of the core region.


    But as for more detailed information like the way out, the system didn''t offer any help. Chances were that it would be the same response if he asked what was behind the door.


    Sometimes, Lucas wondered what type of system he got and he would sigh at the question. It was much too different from what all those light novel main characters had. Whereas those lucky fellows had a system that offered them stats, skills and so on, the system simply provided him with basic information and missions that only aided itself and not him.


    If it wasn''t because of an instinctual feeling of his, Lucas would have suspected that the system was an old demon who was trying to use his body to resurrect itself.


    "That would have been nice, but unfortunately, the system is only just a system." The system''s voice sounded in his mind.


    The system could read Lucas'' thoughts, so it wasn''t surprising that it responded to them.


    Flinging the question of what the system really was to the back of his mind, Lucas faced the door.


    As of now, he had a plan. Even if the room behind the door held some risk, all Lucas had to do was ensure that he could survive for two seconds and not get fatally injured. To achieve this, Lucas took out the craftsman gloves from his inventory and raised his hands up towards the side of his head to offer protection.


    While this was a clearly awkward stance, Lucas wasn''t one to think about his appearance in a matter of life and death.


    Now somewhat prepared, Lucas approached the door and pushed it open.

 Chapter 256 Decision

    "Where are we?" The heiress of the CEO of a top 300 company asked.Compared to Lucas who had recovered thirty minutes earlier, some of the other tourists were regaining their senses at the moment.


    Some in the group of scions and young prodigies, for instance, had only awoken at this period.


    "You''re finally awake I see." Duran, the pioneer who acted as the guide for the group, said.


    Compared to some of the scions, he had awoken earlier just like Lucas. However, since he was tasked with acting as their guide, he didn''t make any moves and waited for them to wake up. There was that, and also the fact that their seven bodyguards were awake as well. So, even if he didn''t have any malicious intents and wanted to leave the group, he couldn''t; after all, he was their guide.


    Apart from Duran and the seven bodyguards, Laura and William were also awake before the others. Vergil woke up slightly after, whereas the other three including the girl, were recovering at this moment.


    When Laura and William woke up, they had originally tried to rouse the others but failed. In the end, they opted to wait a while for them, but after ten minutes, only Vergil came around. As such, they decided to explore the area. Two of the bodyguards were sent out as scouts to get a better understanding of the layout, while Laura and William discussed with Duran to understand the East Braftford relics better.


    Twenty minutes had gone by since then, but only one bodyguard had returned. This made the group worried, but they didn''t take any unnecessary moves as they felt that their current location was quite safe. Also, the others were still asleep and moving with them would inhibit the group''s reaction and strength. Now that they were awake, they could proceed with the next step.


    After informing the trio of their findings, they stood up and prepared to move in the direction scouted by the bodyguard who had survived.


    Whether it was the correct route or not, no one could say. But it was the only one with a chance of survival. As for their original location, they couldn''t stay there forever. No one knew when help would come or whether they would be found. As such, it was best to take matters into their hands for the time being.


    "So, Mr Duran surmised that our current location is either the inner or outer region. Then, how can we be so sure we aren''t walking into the pit?"


    One of the young scions, the nephew of the chairman of a trading alliance, asked. By ''pit'', he was referring to an even worse ending than the bodyguard who had died.


    The young man''s uncle was an old man who was without a family of his own. He had no kids nor a wife, leading to a vacuum of his inheritance. As such, the chairman looked towards the children of his siblings. The young man was one of the brightest amongst his nephews and nieces, and possessed a lot of talent and potential. Apart from that, the young man had lost his father at a very young age, which made him a prime candidate for a successor in the eyes of the old man. He then took the young man in and raised him, naming him his successor and turning his life around.


    Despite all of that, as someone born from a humble beginning, the young man had a cautious and meticulous nature, which was something his uncle liked about him.


    "We don''t have a choice." Vergil sighed.


    "On one hand, it''s certain death. And on the other hand, a chance at survival."


    "But how can we be so sure that it is certain death? What if he died because he was alone, while we can survive together?" The young man countered.


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    His words put some doubt on the faces of the others and they seriously began to consider the issue.


    The bodyguard was a fourth level stellar practitioner. However, three of the remaining six were fifth level stellar practitioners, and the others were at the fourth level. There were also characters such as Laura and William who were at the fifth level and armed with exquisite vestiges. Duran was also a fifth level stellar practitioner.


    Against the threat that killed the bodyguard, there was a good chance that they could destroy it, and even if they couldn''t, they would at least be able to still come out alive.


    But what if they couldn''t?


    This was the question that plagued the group as they knew nothing about what had taken the bodyguard''s life. Communicators didn''t work here and the only means of communication was verbal relaying, or speech. Unless the bodyguard could somehow rise from the dead and return to then, the group could only go through the same path if they wished to find the truth. That or...


    "Should we send another scout?" The heiress suggested. The three fifth level bodyguards were sent to protect the Mertens siblings and William, so she had no authority over them and could only suggest this.


    Since a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner failed to survive, a fifth level stellar practitioner should. No matter how powerful the Sunil civilisation was, there was a limit to their technology after all, they didn''t even exceed the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage. If this was the inner region, a fifth level stellar practitioner should be able to survive the majority of threats here.


    Even though this didn''t sound like a bad idea, bodyguards were hyumans too. Their safety hinged on the possibility that this was the inner region and not the core region. If it was the latter, even a fifth level stellar practitioner would die. There was a reason why the core region had never been explored, at least publicly.


    "We can''t weaken our forces like that." William rejected the idea right away.


    "We either go together or pick the other route."


    At this point, Duran, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.


    "Why don''t we go check out the safe route first? I''ve been to the inner region once and as long as I can find some familiar elements, I''ll be able to discern where we truly are. Our focus shouldn''t be on taking risks but figuring out where we are first. After that, we can decide whether or not to take such risks in our bid to escape this place."


    The idea was welcomed as not only was it logical, but it avoided what the group feared the most, danger.


    Duran''s suggestion was to safely explore the region first so as to figure out which of the two they were in. If it was the inner region, they could take some risks in their bid to escape. However, if it was the core region, they would have to be even more cautious and avoid any single trace of danger. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a logical proposal and they saw nothing wrong with it. Unknown to them, Duran sighed with relief. He had brought up the proposal to avoid becoming a scout and fighter for the group. Although he had some value to the group thanks to his experience and knowledge, when push comes to shove, Duran would be thrown to the front lines. This was because he had less intrinsic value to the scions when compared to their bodyguards, who were trained to die for them.


    Even if they didn''t abandon Duran, they won''t be able to protect him during dangerous events as they would be focused on their own lives. Their bodyguards also won''t care about him as their attention would be on preserving the lives of the scions. Since that was the case, it was best to avoid danger from the start.


    ''I can only hope that we find a clue fast.'' Duran thought.

 Chapter 257 Metallic Creature

    As Lucas pushed open the cobalt blue metal doors, a gust of air rushed forth from the gap, bringing it with an aura of antiquity. For a second, Lucas felt as if he was transmigrated into the past of the Bernin continent and into the era of the Sunil civilisation.There were screams and yells all around the place. Faint figures dashed past him as if they couldn''t see him. When Lucas tried to catch a glimpse of their appearances, he was unable to see anything as a haze covered their faces.


    Even though Lucas couldn''t see the appearance of these shadows, he felt that they were the Sunil civilisation. Apart from that, he could sense unimaginable terror and fear from them as they ran. They weren''t running towards something, but away from something.


    As Lucas turned to see what it was that had the people of this ancient civilisation running with abandon, the illusion cut off and he returned back to the relics. The doors were now open and Lucas could see what it was they sealed.


    There was a hall behind the door. The room was designed like a sort of quarantine room. In the centre of the hall was an open space barricaded by a wall made of a special Crystal. There was only a single table set in the middle of the barricaded space and around it were some rusted old equipment.


    The crystal wall was a bit thicker than a regular glass wall, but it had low refractive and reflective indices, which made it just as transparent as a viewing glass.


    Lucas ignored the quarantined space as he surveyed the area. The region outside of the quarantined area didn''t have much furniture. There were only a few chairs positioned to face the centre with some equipment lined up by one side of the room. As he wasn''t too familiar with the Sunil civilisation, neither was he one of them, Lucas couldn''t identify the purposes of those equipment.


    Based on the design of the doors, Lucas had expected to see a mythical styled hall or something close. However, the reality was different. The hall appeared to be some kind of laboratory.


    ''What exactly is this place?'' Lucas thought as he began to recall some of the information he learnt.


    The Sunil civilisation relics numbered quite a few but only four or so had much value. Of them all, three were unimportant relics. Researchers believed that some of them were towns of the Sunil civilisation or special areas like training facilities or markets. However, the East Braftford relics was different.


    Because the East Braftford relics had yet to be completely explored, not much information was known about its original purpose. While it was very large, the style and arrangement of the building wasn''t entirely in line with what the researchers in Belfargos city-state knew about the Sunil civilisation. This meant that the relics had a different function in the past than just a housing area. This was especially so since the East Braftford relics possessed a lot of threats to people unlike the other Sunil civilisation relics.


    Lucas turned his attention towards the centre, staring at the table that lay within there.


    From how things looked, Lucas believed that this was some kind of laboratory of the Sunil civilisation. As for what they experimented on here, he didn''t know.


    Just as he was studying the place, a sound interrupted Lucas'' thoughts.


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    Alarm bells suddenly rung in his mind as Lucas retreated a few steps back before turning in the direction of the sound. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A humanoid metallic creature about two metres tall (seven feet) appeared before him, dragging a strange looking object that was similar to a sword. The creature, despite walking on two limbs, looked nothing like a human being. Its appearance was simply a horrendous creature reminiscent of a fictional monster used to scare naughty children. It had no nose or ears, but two rectangular horizontal slits that acted like eyes, and a ''sealed mouth''. Its two arms had thirty centimetres (11.8 inches) long tentacles extending out from them, numbering at least ten per arm. It has claws for a hand and a purple glow light across its body through a fixed pattern of lines. They were like the ''veins'' of the creature with the purple glow being its ''blood''.


    With its unique pair of eyes that gave off an eerie green glow, the metallic creature stared at Lucas.


    "J¨¹...shka bra...va." The monster slurred its speech.


    It was a foreign language he had never heard of before, but Lucas wasn''t surprised.


    *Boom*


    In the next second, with a resounding boom, the monster charged at Lucas.


    Terrified, the latter hurriedly dashed away trying to escape this place. However, at that moment, the doors closed shut with a bang. Lucas was now stuck here with the metal creature.


    *Whoosh*


    The sound of an object cutting through the air was caught by Lucas'' ears and he didn''t hesitate to immediately duck and roll away.


    The weapon the metallic creature held slashed across the air diagonally, but as it missed its target, the weapon struck the ground loudly.


    *Bam*


    Even though he had just dodged the attack, Lucas didn''t feel relaxed or confident.


    Although he knew nothing about what hid within the inner region of the East Braftford relics, when he prepared for this trip, Lucas did his best to understand the relics even though the destination he was heading to was a safe zone. In fact, he had tried to learn as much about the Sunil civilisation prior to the trip.


    The Sunil civilisation was a strange species. That''s right. Even though they were addressed as a civilisation, the Sunil civilisation was actually an entirely different species.


    According to researchers, pre-hyuman intervention, Eretre was a planet that had at least seven intelligent native species. This was drastically different when compared to Earth that was ruled by the entire human race, or even the hyumans'' ancestral planet. Because of this, the situation in Eretre was quite brutal. Seven native species competed against each other for superiority. Compared to the racism on Earth, this was worse.


    On Earth, even though mankind differentiated itself through the concept of race, in the end, they were all the same species so such a system of categorisation wasn''t too solid. However, in Eretre, as they were all entirely different species, the dislike for each other was real. Whether it was a battle of interests, resources, superiority, survival, or simply because they didn''t like the other, the major species fought against each other.

 Chapter 258 Drudnid

    The Sunil civilisation was neither the strongest nor the weakest species. However, based on the fact that they were able to have a foothold on the centre of the planet, they couldn''t be underestimated, and were more or less amongst the top forces.According to researchers, the Sunil civilisation couldn''t be described as a science or magic civilisation to be exact; all their development seemed like a mixture of both and was aimed towards the mind rather than the body. Because of this, the Sunils had a weak body compared to the other intelligent species. To cover up for their weakness, they had created special warriors with tough bodies and impressive fighting abilities.


    These warriors were actually forged from unique metals and materials, before an artificial consciousness was inserted inside them. It was essentially the same logic as robots, but instead of an artificial intelligence created through science, they were operated by an artificial consciousness created through neuro-magic.


    Since the records of the Sunil civilisation were more or less destroyed, these creations were called Drudnids by the hyumans. Researchers theorised that the Sunil civilisation didn''t just use Drudnids for battles against the other species, but to protect some of their most important regions. They were the perfect solution that helped the Sunil civilisation gain and hold a position amongst the top forces in Eretre during the pre-hyuman intervention era.


    However, after the apocalyptic event that wiped out 99% of life on Eretre, even the drudnids were somewhat affected. The majority of them were destroyed with the surviving ones having their consciousness riddled and flawed, making it difficult for them to communicate or function properly.


    East Braftford relics was the only Sunil civilisation relics that had a large number of Drudnids. It was because of these metallic creations that the entire relics couldn''t be explored.


    The deeper one went into the relics, the stronger the Drudnids found, as well as the more complete their consciousness was. However, that wasn''t the scariest part. As drudnids were created for war, their battle aptitude and abilities were top-notch, even when compared to current hyumans within the area.


    It was rumoured that the drudnids in the core region had almost 90% of their consciousness intact, and possessed strength on par with a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, since no one has publicly made it there and returned alive, this rumour couldn''t be confirmed.


    Nonetheless, it was this rumour, as well as the proven existence of the fact that drudnids became stronger the deeper one went into the relics, that made the faction in Trundel City push for the destruction of the East Braftford relics. If a day were to come when the drudnids suddenly left the relics, even though the city would be able to handle the threat, it would cost them a lot. Since such losses could be avoided, then why not do so?


    At the moment, the drudnid Lucas faced was one of the flawed ones based on its previous speech from before. Although he couldn''t understand it, Lucas wasn''t surprised by it. Drudnids could speak, after all, they possessed an artificial consciousness, although it was one primed for battle.


    Even though it had a flawed consciousness, this didn''t make it an easy target. Based on the strike from before, the drudnid had the same strength on par with a third level stellar practitioner. Whether it was its movement speed or attack power, they were all ahead of Lucas. The only reason he had survived its earlier attacks was by reacting before they reached him thanks to his survival instincts. But that couldn''t keep him going for long.


    Having its attack missing, the drudnid didn''t move right away but instead stared at Lucas.


    Within that second, Lucas didn''t hesitate as he summoned out the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, starting with the gauntlets first. This was because alarm bells had rung loudly within his head even though it seemed like nothing was happening on the drudnid''s side.


    Lucas didn''t even wait for the gauntlets to manifest completely as he crossed his arms in front of him and also summoned his cuirass.


    *Bam*


    Almost immediately, Lucas felt an insurmountable force charge right at him. As his hands were crossed in front of him, the invisible force bashed into them, almost breaking Lucas arm bones into pieces if it weren''t for the gauntlets that made a timely appearance. However, it didn''t stop there as the force sent him flying backwards like a loose kite.


    *Bang*


    Lucas struck the wall of the building with such immense force that the impact was resounding and nearly shattered his spinal cord. Luckily, the cuirass had appeared just before then, absorbing a majority of the impact. Even then, the force was just so much that Lucas still got injured by it.


    Barely managing to keep himself standing, Lucas could feel a metallic taste on his lips as he stared at the drudnid. He was injured, and not lightly. If it weren''t for his reactions that made him summon the cuirass right away, Lucas might have had his bones broken, or worse, killed.


    This was the worst state Lucas had ever been in since he had transmigrated into this new world. Not even when he faced off against the fifth level Ramirez was Lucas hurt this bad.


    Although Lucas had defeated the fifth level Ramirez before, it was all thanks to the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour which was paired with a bronze grade card of the third level Apertures Opening stage.


    On the other hand, while the drudnid was on the level of a third level stellar practitioner, this was only in terms of energy output. As a creation designed explicitly for war, the drudnid''s true strength couldn''t simply be measured by its energy level.


    Thanks to the well-designed artificial consciousness that was built for war, a drudnid''s battle experience and tactics weren''t what an average freelancer could compete with. Apart from that, it was also armed with the neuro-magical techniques of the Sunil civilisation, which made it even more so of a dangerous opponent. As such, it was no problem for drudnids to take on opponents one level higher than they were.


    Overall, a third level stellar drudnid was roughly on the same threat level as an average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Read latest stories on My Virtual Library Empire


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 Chapter 259 Lucas Versus The Drudnid

    Facing off against a third level Apertures Opening stage drudnid that was roughly the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner, it looked like Lucas was at a disadvantage. However, the reality wasn''t so. He only suffered a loss because he didn''t react in time.Even without stellar energy, Lucas was able to operate the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour to be able to simulate a fourth level stellar practitioner''s strength. This was quite poor considering that the SCB was a Grade 4 vestige and should be capable of simulating at least a sixth level stellar practitioner, but nothing could be done about it.


    At the moment, the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour had been summoned and Lucas was in battle mode. But due to the earlier attacks by the drudnid, he was currently injured and had to be cautious.


    Right now, both parties were at the same level of power, so the deciding factor would be their experience and skill. It was Lucas ¡ªwho had at least five hundred years of experience in a survival-of-the-fittest world¡ª versus the drudnid which was an inhuman creation made for the sole existence of war.


    Fight. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Whoosh*


    The drudnid abruptly charged at Lucas after seeing the latter withstand its attack. Its green eyes flashed brilliantly for a second as it appeared before Lucas in the time it took to complete one breathing cycle [1].


    Upon closing in, the drudnid swung its weapon at Lucas, bringing with it a dreadful air of death.


    Lucas reacted quickly, not wanting to take another blow again. With the boost from the battle armour, he tilted his body to the side, effectively dodging the attack. But he was met by the drudnid''s free hand that had formed a fist and struck towards him.


    ''Shield.''


    Lucas placed his left arm in front of him.


    *Bang*


    The fist crashed into a blue stellar shield that had been projected at the last second, standing in between it and Lucas arm.


    Not one to sit around and get beaten all day, Lucas immediately faced his right arm at the drudnid.


    An ocean-blue ray shot straight from a circle in the centre of his right palm, hitting the drudnid that was at point blank range.


    *Boom*


    The drudnid was sent flying twelve metres away before it crashed heavily to the floor, cracking the tiles that were highly resistant to shock. That was to show how much power was inside that beam of light.


    Even after the attack, Lucas didn''t let his guard down. From what Sunil civilisation researchers and pioneers had found out, the metals used to create drudnids were incredibly tough and hard. The degree of hardness depended on the quality of the drudnid. Even Grade 3 vestiges would have a hard time slashing through a drudnid with third level Apertures Opening stage strength.


    Although the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was a Grade 4 vestige, it only achieved this through a unique method of combining various Grade 3 vestiges to create a qualitative change. In essence, it wasn''t truly a Grade 4 vestige and was lacking in some areas compared to the real deal.


    As expected, the drudnid stood up from the attack, as a purple glow flashed across its body. The glow came from the fixed mysterious patterns on its body.


    Looking closely at them, Lucas realised that those weren''t magi runes, but an entirely different system of inscription. Due to the situation at hand, he didn''t have the liberty to study these inscriptions and decided to keep it at the back of his mind.


    The purple glow lasted for three seconds while the drudnid made no moves. During this period, Lucas was tempted to attack and interfere with whatever it was doing. However, he could see that the creature had no openings. It was very likely that the second he made an attack, he might be forced into defence. What''s more, this moment of respite was equally helpful to him as he could use it to recover from the internal injuries he suggested earlier.


    Within a short while, three seconds were up and the drudnid had charged at him once again. This time however, it was noticeably faster than before. Nonetheless, Lucas was prepared.


    *Whoosh*


    The sound of air being forced to the sides was caught by Lucas'' ears and he didn''t hesitate to retreat right away. Even then, the drudnid didn''t let him rest and pushed on with its attack.


    As it brandished its ridiculous weapon, Lucas dodged when possible and blocked with the stellar energy shield. Although he found some opportunities to launch an attack, it was pointless. Unlike before, he could not even find any chance to make an effective counterattack again.


    The drudnid''s weapon looked like an exaggeratedly large broadsword, but its structure was entirely different. At the two edges of the blade, another blade was attached perpendicular to the existing one. This made the weapon appear like the letter ''H'' when viewed from the tip. A better description would be that the weapon looked just the same as the H steel beams used on Earth for construction.


    This weapon was the source of Lucas'' woes as not only could it be used as a blunt weapon, but it could also be used as a bladed weapon. Most of all, it functioned perfectly for defence or offence. There was also the fact that the drudnid''s abilities had been raised, making it stronger, faster and more efficient with both its attacks and movements.


    *Clang*


    The H sword swung at Lucas but the latter intercepted it with his gauntlets, causing sparks to light up in the air. Because his strength was now boosted to that of a fourth level stellar practitioner, Lucas was only forced back by half a step and could still respond to any possible followup attack. However, Lucas was tired of playing the role of a punching bag.


    *Humm*


    The Vis receptacle ¡ªthe key component of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour¡ª left out a low hum as stellar energy was swiftly sent into the gauntlets, giving it a red glow.


    Having blocked the swing from the drudnid, Lucas didn''t retreat as he had done previously but held on tightly to the weapon with one hand. His other hand, which currently radiated a red glimmer, formed a fist and flew at the drudnid.


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    The fist connected, resounding with an intense sound while generating a small blast of air. The drudnid didn''t expect this and was forced out of balance, leaning backwards as if it was about to fall to the ground.


    Nonetheless, being a weapon of war, it quickly reacted and moved it''s right leg backwards while forcing its weight towards its leg.


    Seeing this, Lucas snorted and closed the gap while pulling his right arm back again. He then smashed his fist into the drudnid''s chest once more.


    *Bang*


    If the drudnid were a living creature of flesh and blood, it would definitely have its flesh mangled and spew blood after that attack. But as a creature of metal and energy, only a dent was formed on its chest while the light in its eyes flickered slightly.


    This time around, it was unable to maintain its balance and began falling over. Yet Lucas still wasn''t satisfied.


    An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.


    "Ahhh!"


    Roaring out loud, Lucas controlled the Vis receptacle to send a huge amount of energy into his right arm.


    The gauntlet shined brightly as a ton of stellar energy was sent into it. The runes on its surface were working full time, making use of the energy to produce a maximum effect. Inside of the gauntlet, Lucas'' arm could feel a hot sensation, but he ignored it as he punched at the falling drudnid.


    *Boom*


    The drudnid was struck squarely on its chest for the third time in a row. But this time around, it didn''t just end with a simple loss of balance. The drudnid was flung nine metres away before it crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, leaving behind a crater in its wake while sending dust into the air.


    The gleam in the creature''s eyes went dark as it remained lying in the crater after that attack.


    Even though it was a creature of steel, having taken three consecutive hits from Lucas, it was impossible for the drudnid to remain unharmed. Also, it was only a third level drudnid; its fourth level rating was based on the consideration of its battle skill and neuro-magic. In terms of which was closer to the fourth level, the Steller Circuit Battle-Armour won the race.


    Lucas stared at the metallic creature that lay within the small pit and began to recall his experience in the battle.


    Even though drudnids were capable of neuro-magic, the one he faced didn''t use that often; only using the magic once. It seemed like the damage to its artificial consciousness wasn''t small, which was why it couldn''t use such complex techniques often. Otherwise, the battle wouldn''t have ended so quickly.


    In a sense, one could say that Lucas was lucky, but he was confident of winning regardless.


    Now that the battle was over, Lucas'' hobbyist mentality kicked in.


    "Hehe."


    Staring at the drudnid''s ''corpse'', Lucas couldn''t help but covet it intensely.


    The drudnid was a treasure trove even to a researcher; to a vestige-smith, its value was even more. This was essentially an artefact and it could sell for a lot. Even if he didn''t sell it, the research value was high for Lucas. Even if he didn''t use it as a research subject, just the materials used on it, when disassembled, can be used to make another top quality Grade 3 vestige, bordering Grade 4.


    Just as he was about to make a move, Lucas'' eyebrows suddenly widened in shock. He tried to move to the side, but it was too late as a pole appeared within the edge of his vision and struck him.


    ''I was too careless.''


    Was the only thing Lucas managed to think of before he was flung away.

 Chapter 260 Trapped Under

    *Thud*Once again, Lucas crashed into the wall of the laboratory, but this time around, he suffered less pain than the previous time. This was because Lucas now wore the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, and a faint shield had been deployed to help mitigate the impact.


    Every time Lucas made some progress in his vestige-smithing skill, he would tweak the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour and make improvements to it as it was his main source of power.


    Before Lucas could recover from this blow, three waves of mental energy locked onto him and erupted at the same time.


    *Boom*


    The wall of the room couldn''t handle the simultaneous attacks and collapsed, burying Lucas underneath it.


    Not one, or two, but three drudnids currently stood facing the rubble that buried Lucas, ready to attack again upon the slightest hint that he was alive.


    Just like the previous drudnid, all three had third level Apertures Opening stage strength, and one of them even seemed to be slightly stronger than the other two.


    Silence pervaded the area with only the occasionally whirring sound from the drudnids interrupting the calm.


    Looking at the white rocks that formed a molehill beside the wall, the drudnids suspected that Lucas had been killed by their joint assault. After all, the power of the joint attack was so immense that even one of their own would end up heavily damaged after that. They had also utilised their neuro-magic to scan the rubble and found no traces of life, which could only mean that the target had died.


    The drudnids then turned around to return to their resting spot.


    Meanwhile, underneath the rubble, Lucas held his breath and remained frozen as he listened to the low thuds coming from the drudnids'' act walking away. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire


    After he got hit by their combo, Lucas immediately decided that the best course of action was to play dead. He was familiar with some stealth techniques from his last life and the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was equipped with a stealth mode; although this stealth mode couldn''t hide the flow of stellar energy, it could block his biological signals such as heat signature.


    Right after doing that, Lucas also activated power saving mode on the SCB, reducing its stellar energy consumption and usage to the minimum, occasionally flickering its flow path. This gave off the idea that the SCB was damaged. At the same time, if the drudnids identified targets by their stellar energy flow, it would make them mistake that the target was in a severe life-and-death state and would die if left alone for a few minutes. As such, the drudnids wouldn''t continue with their assault again.


    Although he wasn''t sure of this, Lucas had decided to take the bet and it paid for. Such a rapid response was simply due to his immeasurable experience surviving in the wild and against dangerous opponents.


    As the drudnids retreated, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh mentally while scrunching his face.


    Even with the armour protecting him, the attacks from the three drudnids were particularly hurtful and effective. The mental blasts from the drudnids was a pure force attack. It also possessed a certain quality that enabled a majority of it to get through obstacles and hit the target. In a sense, it was the same logic as when one punches one side of a sheet of metal with the right amount of force, the force is transmitted through the sheet and exits from the other side.


    In this case, that force was transmitted through the battle suit into Lucas'' body. Even though he was already at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, it still wasn''t something a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could take and remain standing; even more so as there were three mental blasts.


    While he was recovering, Lucas began thinking of a plan. He couldn''t remain underneath this rubble for long, and his oxygen supply would soon be depleted. However, Lucas couldn''t charge out right away as that would be suicidal. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas did have a trump card ¡ªtwo bronze grade cards of fourth and sixth level Apertures Opening stage¡ª but he felt it was too wasteful. Over two months had gone by since he left Baylands city-state, but Lucas had not gotten even a second level bronze grade card. As such, he decided not to use the two at hand unless he truly had no other option.


    ''When I first came in, I failed to sense the first drudnid. Even after defeating it, I didn''t sense the other three either. How could that be?''


    Lucas frowned hard.


    Getting struck by the drudnids didn''t mean that Lucas'' guard was down from the start. On the contrary, he had been alert after the appearance of the first one, and even scanned the place but found nothing out of the ordinary. Having discovered nothing strange, it was inevitable that Lucas would presume that there was no other enemy here; finally dropping his guard down.


    Being masters of battle, the drudnids must have noticed this and attacked at the moment. They instinctively knew to move quickly so that Lucas would be left unable to react properly.


    The key to all this was simply one fact- Lucas was unable to sense them.


    At first, Lucas was tempted to ask the system for help, but scratched out the idea. Relying often on external help was not a good thing.


    Just then, Lucas recalled an important fact about drudnids.


    Drudnids were the equivalent of robots for the Sunil civilisation, however, they were also very different from the latter. Whereas robots were mechanical constructs that operated thanks to a compacted assortment of data, logic and programming called an artificial intelligence, a drudnid was operated by a true consciousness, except at a lower level and with a fixed programming.


    This made drudnids closer to living beings than robots were. However, a similarity existed as both technologies were created to serve a certain goal.


    Apart from this, the artificial consciousness of drudnids were affected by the global catastrophe from thousands of years ago and the immense passage of time. It was already quite a miracle that they still functioned within the East Braftford relics, albeit with fractional performance. But this was the key point for Lucas.


    Drudnids were operated by an artificial consciousness, and the current drudnids had a fractured consciousness.


    A plan promptly formulated in his Lucas'' head.

 Chapter 261 Superior Battle Experience

    *boom*The rubble abruptly exploded, sending gravel into the air.


    From the site of the explosion, a silhouette dashed out and made a beeline for the centre of the room.


    The three drudnids that had retreated, had their eyes lit up in the dark as they stared at the scene. Although their consciousness was fractured, they didn''t need a complete one to figure out that the silhouette was Lucas.


    Without the slightest bit of hesitation, the three drudnids chased after him as they all made their way towards the centre of the room.


    Seeing as Lucas was approaching the quarantined area, the stronger of the three coldly exclaimed,


    "Holoris."


    At that moment, Lucas felt a cold air behind him and without even thinking, he ducked and rolled towards the side.


    *Bang*


    A mysterious blast struck the crystal glass wall, forming a few cracks on it. Lucas caught a glimpse of the damaged section and realised that it was caused by a piercing force. It seemed that apart from the monstrous force that possessed a crushing power, the drudnids could also release their mental energy to simulate a penetrative force.


    Just as soon as he had this thought, Lucas felt movement right behind him.


    While the attack from the leading drudnid didn''t get to him, it did manage to slow Lucas down a bit, allowing the other two to catch up to him. Part of the reason for this was because of his injury, which prevented Lucas from being able to run at full speed.


    *Whoosh*


    The drudnid which had delivered a devastating hit to Lucas earlier on, brandished its pole once again at him. However this time around, Lucas was prepared and aptly dodged the weapon.


    The drudnid was unperturbed by this as it reacted quickly and followed up with a counterattack. However, Lucas used the chance between the two attacks to leap away and widen the gap between him and the drudnid.


    As soon as he did so, the second drudnid came into view, punching towards Lucas. Nonetheless, Lucas dodged this with ease as well and created a gap between him and the drudnid. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But it was at this moment that the third line appeared, targeting Lucas from a very tricky angle. It attacked from the side behind Lucas with a weapon that looked like a sword but without a hilt.


    From the angle and timing of the attack, it looked as if there was nothing Lucas could do about it. The timing of the attack was so meticulous and well thought up that Lucas'' seemingly only option was to face the attack.


    However, this drudnid was the strongest of the three and possessed an incredible force of power. If Lucas were to take this attack, he would be heavily injured. Even if he considered blocking it, he would then be dragged into the drudnid''s rhythm and forced to confront it. By that time, the other two would have arrived and Lucas would be surrounded.


    From this, it could be seen how impeccable the coordination and battle tactics of the drudnids were; and this was with the fact that their artificial consciousnesses weren''t complete. If it were, they would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.


    But even so, their opponent wasn''t a nobody.


    Although the drudnids were developed to be battle units, the degree of combat skill they possessed depended on the target of study. It was just like artificial intelligence. The level of smartness and effectiveness of an AI depended on the quantity and quality of data used to train it. In the same way, the efficiency and accuracy of an artificial consciousness depended on the consciousness copied and modified to create it.


    The consciousnesses of all drudnids were based on fighters from different species and even citizens of the Sunil civilisation. The data was then compiled to form a unique consciousness that was duplicated and inserted into every drudnid.


    However, compared to Lucas who lived more than five hundred years in a magic civilisation, the artificial battle consciousness was nothing.


    In his first life, Lucas had encountered various kinds of opponents of different power levels. At one point in life, he was capable of even blowing apart a continent with one hand. When compared to the Sunil civilisation and their counterparts on Eretre at the time, who couldn''t even exceed the Apertures Opening stage, the difference was clear.


    Because of his higher vantage point, higher peak and the fact he started from the lowest point in life, Lucas had more battle experiences that were of different standards and qualities. Whether they were unscrupulous or not, Lucas was versed in many tactics.


    The third drudnid targeted Lucas from a blind spot but he had already predicted it. In fact, Lucas had purposely left such an opening to bait the drudnid closer to him.


    Just as the creature thought it had caught Lucas'' in a tight spot, the latter smirked and suddenly tilted his body in a way the drudnid never considered was possible.


    The act itself was ludicrous, but as a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, Lucas had nearly full control over his body.


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    As the strange blade went by him, the drudnid also drew closer to Lucas due to inertia.


    Just as the two sides were within one metre of each other, the drudnid attacked with its free hand, but Lucas had reacted faster. He placed a palm on the drudnid without any malicious intent. Such action was confusing, but the drudnid didn''t think much about it as it continued with its attack.


    However, in the next second, something strange happened. The drudnid suddenly froze as the force behind its fist abruptly dispersed. Its glowing green eyes turned dark, while its grip on the weapon loosened. In the next second, it suddenly crashed forward to the ground due to its leaning posture.


    *Bang*


    The change in the situation confused the other two drudnids, but they didn''t pull their punches as they attacked Lucas.


    Facing the two attacks from different angles, Lucas wasn''t worried but had a confident smile on his face as a thought crossed his mind.


    ''It worked.''


    In the next second, he dodged the attacks of the two drudnids and placed his palms on them. Just like their leader, the two drudnids froze and went dark as well.

 Chapter 262 State Of Emergency

    "Success." Lucas breathed out as he stared at the metallic ''corpses'' sprawled on the floor. He was finally relieved and could recuperate from his injuries.Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire


    However, someone was inclined to interrupt Lucas'' rest.


    "Host capabilities have improved, proving that the system''s judgement is accurate."


    "What judgement?" Lucas sensed something from the system''s words.


    However, the system went mute regardless of his tone or interest. Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t surprised by this; it was an attitude he was already used to. Regardless, he had an idea of what the system was implying.


    With what he knew about the system, Lucas would find it difficult to believe that the system didn''t foresee the events that took place. The system was too mysterious and destroyed his entire opinion of what systems were from the light novels he read back on Earth. At times it behaved like a conscious existence, while other times, it was simply monotonous like a machine. Regardless of which it was, the system always demonstrated a calculative quality. It was as if everything was under control.


    Typically, having such an entity living within one''s mind would trigger alarms and one would begin to think of ways to either control or get rid of it, but Lucas was different. Although he didn''t know the system''s full capabilities, Lucas was sure that he couldn''t compare to even 1%.


    Cross-world transmigration, revival, prophesy, reality manipulation, omniscience and omnipotence were just some of the abilities he had witnessed the system utilise. Even at his peak, Lucas could not compete with the system. Since that was the case, why think too much about things?


    One might call him a coward or a weakling, but Lucas was realistic. He couldn''t contend, so why let himself be plagued by fear and anxiety?


    Also, the system has never directly threatened Lucas. Even though it sent him on dangerous missions, there was always a significant chance of survival in those missions; otherwise, Lucas would have died or returned severely injured from them.


    What''s more, the system provided him with training resources which Lucas dearly needed. Was it fostering him for possession? Plausible, but Lucas doubted that. It might just truly be as the system consistently iterated; it wanted to raise him into a Crafts-god. As for why, that was a question for future him.


    With the drudnids now dead, Lucas proceeded to loot their bodies, which was essentially disassembling them for useful materials that could be recycled. At the same time, he recalled the challenges and progress he made during the battle.


    Defeating the drudnids might have looked like a simple act, but it was involved with some subtle activities.


    During the battle, Lucas had realised that he was facing off against the drudnids in the wrong way.


    Drudnids weren''t purely living beings, but more or less mental entities with a physical body. This wasn''t the same with living beings as their existences couldn''t simply be described on a mental level alone. But the same couldn''t be said about drudnids.


    Living beings could be said to be a combination of a soul, and a mind or conscious, inside of a physical body. On the other hand, a drudnid was simply a consciousness trapped inside of a physical shell. Apart from the differences in the quantity of constituents, there was also the difference in the quality of their ''containers''. One was locked within a ''body'' while the other within a ''shell''. Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This might not seem like much, but it created a weakness that was very important to the next point.


    Since drudnids, from a certain angle, were purely consciousnesses, this made them more susceptible to mental attacks. Also, since they were locked within a physical ''shell'' rather than a ''body'', their container didn''t offer much protection against mental attacks even of the weakest category.


    If the drudnids had a more complete consciousness, they would have been able to resist by relying on the programmed techniques of the Sunil civilisation within them. However, they were currently fractured existences, which further reduced their resistance to mental attacks.


    In other words, the most effective mode of attack against drudnids wasn''t physical damage, but mental damage.


    Lucas might not be able to use stellar energy on his own, but mental techniques were a slightly different story.


    Due to the fact that he had experienced two transmigrations, Lucas'' soul was much stronger than a typical living being, excluding those species blessed by the universe. In terms of raw power alone, his soul might be the same as a seventh or even eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, and it kept growing at an absurd rate.


    As his body was now the container for his soul, Lucas'' powerful soul began to have an effect on his body. To be exact, it strengthened his mental abilities to the point that it began to develop mental energy; a unique energy that wasn''t classified as a mystical energy.


    Although Lucas was unable to utilise any complex mental spells from his past life, since he could sense his mental energy, Lucas was capable of gathering it together and using it like a battering ram. That was exactly what he had done.


    Before contact, Lucas had gathered his mental energy and compressed it. Then as he laid his hands on a drudnid, the compressed mental energy would be released directly into the drudnid, disrupting its consciousness.


    Because of the force of the mental energy attack, the unstable and incomplete consciousness of the drudnid was unable to remain firm and it would promptly disperse after the attack. Without a consciousness controlling it, the drudnid essentially became an immobile pile of metal.


    Actually, this method was discovered long ago by pioneers who had ventured into the inner region. They had even created special gadgets that could give off a unique frequency capable of disrupting a drudnid''s consciousness. Theories about the soul, consciousness and so on had already been long proven, so such gadgets weren''t impossible to make; hyumans were more advanced than humans after all.


    However, such gadgets were quite costly in a place like Eretre. Not many vestige-smiths on the planet even knew how to make them. That made them costly, and in turn, slowed down the exploration rate of the inner region.


    Apart from the cost of those gadgets, the deeper one went into the East Braftford relics, the more complete the consciousness of a drudnid was. This increased the requirement for the quality and power of the gadget, and the higher that became, the more costly the gadget was. All these factors made it such that the exploration speed of the inner regions was too slow.


    In the core region, the consciousness of a drudnid was rumoured to be complete, so such gadgets wouldn''t even be useful.


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t know of this. He wasn''t a pioneer neither was he close to their circle. He was also a newcomer and didn''t relate with the upper levels of knowledge or power in Trundel City. But this didn''t stop Lucas from reaching the same conclusion.


    . . .


    While Lucas had a ''walk-in-the-park'' experience facing the drudnids, the other tourists weren''t so lucky. Between four to five hundred tourists had been teleported deep into the East Braftford relics.


    Similar to what Lucas had surmised, the distance one was teleported had to do with their distance from the stele.


    Some of the luckier ones had landed in the outskirts of the core region just like Lucas, whereas the unluckiest ones were in the core region. Regardless of which it was, they were all facing scenarios of life or death.


    The average power level of the general hyuman population in the Bernin continent was higher than the other continents, but not by much. One''s stellar refinement achievements had a lot to do with talent, or to be exact, their mDNA concentration. Typically, an average adult in the Bernin continent was between the mid to peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Compared to the other continents that had average adults still within the Body Strengthening stage, or if they''re lucky, the early point of the first level Apertures Opening stage.


    However, such achievements in stellar refinement couldn''t even grant them a 30% survival opportunity in the inner region of the East Braftford relics, much less the core region. As such, even though barely an hour or two had gone by, more than half of the five hundred tourists were already dead, and the number was still rising as time went by.


    The inner region''s greatest dangers were the fourth level Apertures Opening stage drudnids, with the third level ones being quite common there. However, the core region''s greatest threats were the rumoured tenth level drudnids with 90% of their consciousness intact. Even if those rumoured creatures didn''t exist, the core region had at least fifth level drudnids, which were equivalent to a sixth level stellar practitioner thanks to their battle-themed consciousness.


    Against such monsters, there was no way a tourist at the peak of the first level could compare. What''s more, not many of the tourists were even at this level.


    Even though the outside world couldn''t monitor them, anyone with half a brain would know that having twenty percent survivors was already a miraculous deed. Because of that, protests and complaints rose up against the city''s government and a state of emergency had to be called.


    As such, those who were still alive were either lucky enough to be in the inner region and have some strength, or were a group of experts gathered together like the Mertens siblings and their acquaintances.

 Chapter 263 The Taskforce

    A few hours after Lucas had defeated the drudnids, during the same time the news had already broken out in the city, a taskforce had been assembled to rescue the tourists. With some time having gone past, they had already made some progress in their investigation.The leader of the taskforce was a famous captain and detective within the Trundel City Security Force, the equivalent of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. He went by the name Tanner and was a sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    From this, one could see the difference in terms of power and quality between the cities close to the capital and the capital city-states in other continents. In a place like Baylands City for instance, a captain would only be at the fifth level. Above that and they would qualify to be a director. But in the cities close to Belfargos City, seventh level was the minimum requirement for the director role.


    Alongside his deputy, Tanner walked into a building that was recently set up outside the East Braftford relics. The building was filled with various complex devices and some display screens. There were also a dozen or so men seated in one corner, running various computing tasks.


    "I heard you got more leads." Tanner asked a man with grey hair.


    The grey-haired man happened to be the head of intelligence for the operation, and this building was the temporary base for the intelligence team. The other men were all members of the team and they were monitoring the relics while also trying to dig up any possible information or clues about the culprit and the event.


    "Yeah, the approval just came in. We''re filtering through the data right now." The grey-haired man responded.


    At first, the intelligence unit had hacked the culprit''s ¡ªan assistant researcher ¡ª communicator, but they only gained access to his local files and messages. As for those saved on the intranet, they couldn''t gain access to it.


    The reason was simple; the intranet was highly secure, so much so that no average planetary faction could brute-force their way into it.


    When the Federation Assembly ¡ªthe arm of government that directly ruled over the federation¡ª decided on establishing a communication channel for all hyumans, they had to consider various scenarios. One such was the possibility of hackers, especially from alien species, trying to gain access to their network and steal data from the public.


    To prevent this, the Federation Assembly decided on an intranet, rather than a typical internet [1], without only registered hyumans and citizens being able to access it.


    The federation''s intranet, officially called the Federal Intranet (FIN), is a complex system of networks that allowed communication within the Niera galaxy ruled by the hyumans. Within the intranet, there were also smaller networks that catered to each of the five star regions, known as star-nets. Within those star region-level networks, or star-nets, there were smaller subdivision networks for solar systems, and within those ones were also another set of networks for each individual planet.


    In the case of Eretre for instance, there was the Blue Mist star-net, which was a subdivision of the Federal Intranet catering towards the Blue Mist star region. Within the Blue Mist starnet was the Kellan Solar System Intranet (KSSI), which served the Kellan solar system. Furthermore, within the KSSI was the network for Eretre.


    Because of this complex subdivision system and the use of a highly secured intranet technology, it became difficult for unauthorised parties to access the network remotely, or even for authorised parties to access accounts that didn''t belong to them. This applied even for security forces that wanted to hack into a suspect''s account. Stay tuned with My Virtual Library Empire


    To be able to gain access to another''s account, a request had to be sent to and approved by the administrators of the starnet. Even the security forces of a planet were unable to hack into the network due to the intense security. Their only option was to wait for approval.


    Due to the advancements of technology, sending a request to a planet hundreds of light years away was no problem. At most, it would take only a few hours to send a message and receive a response.


    With the approval now within their hands, the taskforce was able to gain access to the account of the culprit.


    "I''m done filtering. This is what we have." The man called out to Tanner.


    A couple of images popped up neatly on the display screen with various contents. Being a sixth level stellar practitioner, it wasn''t difficult for Tanner to scan through them all quickly.


    "Nothing." Tanner frowned.


    Apart from the message that was stored locally in the culprit''s home communicator which read "It''s time to bring glory to the motherland", there were no other leads the team had found. They couldn''t even track the sender of the message.


    Tanner originally thought that once they got into the account of the man, they could find more clues, but there was nothing. All the activities on the culprit''s account were normal.


    "At this rate, we won''t know who did it." Tanner''s deputy sighed.


    "What are the odds this is a terrorist attack?" The head of intelligence asked after a second.


    "We''ve considered that, but there''s nothing in it for them. The Western Liberation Army doesn''t operate this far out while the Stygian Abyss, though psychopaths, usually carry out attacks for a reason. There doesn''t seem to be one here so far." Tanner replied.


    "Which means that there could still be one, no?" The head of intelligence glanced at him.


    "Indeed. So far, we''re keeping our options open, but chances are that this is the work of a research extremist, rather than terrorism." Tanner spread his arms out.


    "It''s been five hours now. Are you guys still going to keep waiting?" The grey-haired man changed the topic.


    Normally, the taskforce should have rushed in as soon as possible to rescue as many people as they could. However, the intelligence unit found out that the teleportation formation was linked to the core region of the relics. As such, the taskforce had to make proper preparations before going in otherwise it would be no different from suicide.


    Not only did they have to prepare equipment, but they also had to call in as many powerful forces as they could. Since it was the core region, they would need a couple of sixth and even seventh level stellar practitioners.


    However, while Trundel City might be a large city, it couldn''t really compare to a city-state. There was a limit on the number of powerful practitioners in governmental agencies. The city government would have to request other local forces for support, but some of them were on the side of the faction supporting the destruction of the relics. Another group didn''t want to take the risks, while the remaining who were willing would only do so if there was something to gain.


    All these intricacies and politics had led to the taskforce not assembling a proper team for the past five hours as negotiations were still ongoing.


    "We should be going in soon. I''ve already received information that the local forces are sending support. Oh, they''re already here." Tanner stared out of the building. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As a combatant at the sixth level, Tanner was quite sensitive to strong individuals. It was even easier for him to notice the latter if they didn''t hide their aura.


    "Inform the squad to be ready for departure." Tanner ordered his deputy.


    The latter saluted and left the building right away.


    A few minutes later, a team of seventy men had gathered at the entrance of the East Braftford relics. All seventy men were suited up and equipped with various defensive and offensive vestiges.


    There were twelve powerful stellar practitioners in this group of which three of them were at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. Of the remaining nine, four were at the peak of the sixth level while the other five were at the mid point of the sixth level.


    Because of the presence of a seventh level stellar practitioner, Tanner ¡ªa peak sixth level stellar practitioner¡ª was relegated to second-in-command. The leader of the new assembled taskforce team was one of the four directors of the Trundel City Security Force, a seventh level stellar practitioner. The other three seventh level stellar practitioners were from allied factions that were convinced to help them.


    With such a powerful force, although it was too much to say that they could conquer the relics, going in and out of the outer section of the core region was doable.


    "Let''s go."


    The director led the group and stepped into the relics.


    At the same time, various media outlets were broadcasting the scene. Some of them were related to the faction of the city government in support of the preservation of the relics, while the rest were on the other side. Regardless of which it was, the two sides showed interest in the movement of the assembled taskforce.

 Chapter 264 Plot

    The East Braftford relics was a unique environment that was protected by a strange energy. It was impossible to see the majority of details of the relics from above, but within the relics, the sky was as a clear as it could be anywhere else.Deep inside the East Braftford relics, within a building in a section of the core area, a young man in ordinary clothing stood unarmed surrounded by two imposing drudnids. Looking closer at the young man''s face, one would discover that he was actually the cause of this incident, the man who generated a reaction from the Aura-breaking stele.


    Although the typical drudnid reached a height of two metres, the two drudnids that surrounded the young man were at least five metres tall. Furthermore, their body wasn''t the usual grey metallic colour that all the other drudnids had. Instead, they were coloured green with their eyes glistening with a crimson glow rather than the usual green flash. The purple ''veins'' were still present on these drudnids, but they looked a bit more rigid and life-like, rather than simple inscriptions.


    Apart from these changes, the two drudnids looked the same like the others, with ten tentacles on each arm and a mouthless face.


    Although their appearances were an eye-catching feature of the two drudnids, another most noticeable difference between these drudnids and the ones the others faced was their strength. The two drudnids both exuded an aura which surpassed that of a fourth level stellar practitioner. In other words, they were the same as a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    But if one were to consider their battle quotient, then the two drudnids could even contend with an average sixth level stellar practitioner, or so one would think. However, these drudnids had a much clearer and intact artificial consciousness, so they could even contend with some of the stronger sixth level stellar practitioners, albeit not with those at the peak.


    Facing such monstrosities, any of the tourists teleported in here would be shivering in their boots or relinquishing themselves to death. Yet strangely, the young man remained calm. What was even stranger was the fact that the drudnids didn''t attack him, but seemed to be protecting him, which was inconceivable.


    *Clack* *Clack*


    Calm and steady footsteps sounded from behind, slowly approaching the young man and the drudnids.


    "You''re finally here." The young man spoke without turning his back.


    "I took a little bit of a detour." The new arrival said with a calm voice.


    The speaker''s voice was strange as it sounded like a woman''s and a man''s at the same time, yet neither. It was a mysterious voice that truly defined the word ''genderless''.


    "Hope you don''t mind." The newcomer added.


    Even though he was facing the mysterious young man protected by two drudnids on par with sixth level stellar practitioners, it was obvious that the newcomer wasn''t even a bit scared nor worried.


    The young man finally turned around and glanced at the newcomer. Despite the fact that the latter wore a black cloak with a hood covering their face, the young man could ''see'' that the latter was truly unafraid. However, he wasn''t surprised by this.


    "I believe you wouldn''t do anything contrary to our plans, so there''s no reason for me to be worried." The young man responded.


    "Forget about me for a moment. How is progress on your own side?"


    The cloaked figure asked while glancing at the drudnids by the young man''s side.


    The young man shifted his attention from the cloaked figure as he answered.


    "Almost. I''m still some distance away from the control area and haven''t extended my senses toward it, but it shouldn''t be a problem to do so within the next 2-3 hours."


    The cloaked figure showed no reaction to those words, or maybe he did, but with the cloak covering him, it was impossible to discern that.


    "In that case, do as we agreed; lay low for a while until needed." The cloaked figure said.


    "Must I?"


    "You can do otherwise, but I can''t say for certain whether you''d be alive or not after."


    The young man abruptly glared at the cloaked figure as he felt irritated by those words.


    However, the cloaked figure was unbothered and continued,


    "Even if you somehow make it to the nearest city with your legion, you won''t be able to get your revenge. Choose wisely."


    The young man frowned as he knew that the cloaked figure''s statement was true. He began to sound frustrated.


    "Then I should just let them go?"


    "You can, but it''s not necessary. They appeared here already. The agreed survival rate should be less than 5%, so logically, it won''t matter if you wipe out 90% of them. You can go wild with these fellas."


    The young man visibly relaxed after those words.


    "But let me know whatever you decide on. The government is already on to us and their taskforce has already begun to move. Apart from that, we need to quell public dissent, so leave behind some survivors and give them a few free stuff."


    "Letting them survive is already merciful and you want me to do a giveaway for those vermins?" The young man sneered.


    "You don''t really have a choice." The cloaked figure opened their arms out. Their arms were fair and soft making it difficult for one to identify whether those arms belonged to a man or a woman.


    "As it stands now, the public is in support of destroying the relics; whether or not there are survivors doesn''t really matter. However, if you have these survivors leave with some fancy goods, I can have my men in the council work on pushing down the complaints and convincing the top figures of the city. As long as the higher-ups see there''s a lot to gain, they would do their best to ensure the relics remain intact.


    "Don''t think you can take them on. Even if you somehow defeat Trundel City with your newfound power, there''s still the surrounding cities. Beyond that, there''s Belfargos City and the Oklo Dynasty; choose wisely."


    The young man didn''t say a word, seemingly considering the advice of the cloaked figure. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''ll be leaving now. When it''s time, I''ll have someone contact you." The cloaked figure turned around and left.


    It looked like the figure was convinced that the young man would take his advice.


    After two minutes, another figure appeared from a dark spot in the room, but this time around, it was actually another drudnid.


    Different from the two drudnids beside the young man, this one was merely two metres tall ¡ªthe average height of drudnids. However, it didn''t have the same grey coloured ''skin'' or green eyes. In fact, the new drudnid looked more ''hyuman'' with a pale skin colour and a regular mouth. Its arms were also normal.


    As for its eyes, they were slits, different from the rectangular cutouts on other drudnids. Inside these slits were true eyes. Although they weren''t made of flesh and blood, the appearance of the pair of eyes looked just like a normal hyuman although with different iris, pupil and sclera[1] colours; red, grey and black respectively.


    "They''re a dangerous." The drudnid spoke.


    This was shocking because although drudnids could speak ¡ªdespite not having a mouth¡ª this drudnid spoke in the hyuman tongue and there were no inconsistencies with its speech. It was clear that this drudnid retained a majority of its consciousness, at least 90%.


    "Indeed, but we need their help if we hope to get our revenge." The young man said.


    "Even when they''re threatening us?" The drudnid stared at the young man.


    The cloaked figure''s words might have looked like a piece of advice but it was laced with a threat. When the figure mentioned about having its men in the government council help quell public dissent and convince the other higher-ups, it might have sounded like the figure was being helpful, but that was a hidden threat. The cloaked figure was implying that they could influence Trundel City''s government. Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire


    A few freelancers and pioneers could not take down the East Braftford relics, but the same couldn''t be said about the entirety of Trundel City''s forces.


    Piecing these two information together, even someone with half a brain would understand the underlying meaning of the cloaked figure''s words.


    "This is simply an exchange of resources and labour. It''s natural that they don''t trust us, just as we don''t trust them either." The young man nonchalantly replied.


    "As for the threat, heh. Even their ancestors couldn''t find out our full capabilities. Those words are simply the yelling of a kindergartener." The young man sneered.


    "What next?" The ''living'' drudnid asked.


    "We need to awaken the others, remain low and recover our strength."


    "And the rats?"


    "We''ll clear away the majority of them and toss a few treasures to the survivors. Aim specifically for those without a significant background as it would be easy for the government to take over the items and appraise its value. Let out those from larger households as well; it will be too troublesome if they die here." The young man gave out orders calmly as if he was used to this.


    Staring into the deeper part of the relics, the young man said,


    "We can''t have any mistakes occur now. We''ve only just recovered after a few millennia; we can''t compete against the current rulers. But with their help, we should. Even then, we still have to be careful and make our own preparations."


    Having said that, the young man began to walk into the depths of the relics with the two five metres tall drudnids walking alongside him like bodyguards.

 Chapter 265 A Stranger?

    Over six hours had gone by since the mass teleportation of tourists from the Aura-breaking stele viewing area. In those six hours, Lucas had faced twelve drudnids. The number seemed quite small considering that he had encountered four drudnids within the first hour or so. In fact, Lucas was becoming worried because of this.Others might be happy or even grateful for having not faced many drudnids within that time, but the opposite was true for Lucas. What others hoped to avoid, he craved for. The reason for this was because of the value of the materials on the drudnids. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the battle against the first drudnid which was promptly followed by an assault from three drudnids, Lucas had taken a break to recover from his injuries. During that break, he inspected the ''corpses'' of the drudnids and tried to understand the materials used to make them. It was then that Lucas discovered that he had stumbled upon a treasure.


    The body of the drudnids were made using exquisite metals, some of which became rare or even extinct after the global catastrophe over four thousand years ago. These metals were all very unique and some of them could even compare with the high value ores being sold in the market today.


    Apart from their body''s constituents, the drudnids also provided value in their inscription mapping.


    As it turns out, the purple ''veins'' on the drudnids weren''t actually those but magi runes carved on the drudnids. The runes were carved in such a unique fashion that from a distance, they simply looked like a pattern of crooked lines, similar to the veins of the human circulatory system ¡ªalbeit less in number.


    While this looked like some aesthetic design, it actually had some practical implications.


    Such a unique method of engraving caught Lucas'' attention and became a research interest for him.


    With various benefits, Lucas began to covet the drudnids in the relics. But after walking towards the opposite end of the inner region for over five hours, Lucas had only encountered eight other drudnids.


    Currently, after consulting with the system via his unique approach, Lucas was now at the halfway point but he wasn''t willing to go forward anymore. The closer he got to the entrance of the inner region, the lower the odds of spotting a drudnid. But that wasn''t the worst part. It was that the drudnids became weaker as he approached the exit.


    Although this was logical, it wasn''t in Lucas'' favour, so he didn''t move towards the entrance. Instead, Lucas retreated back to the depths of the inner region, but he didn''t go too deep.


    In the history of the East Braftford relics, Lucas was probably the only one that treated the inner region as a hunting ground and the drudnids as prey. Even the top pioneers in Trundel City and the surrounding cities wouldn''t do something as silly as hunting drudnids without caution.


    While it was true that against a fourth or fifth level stellar practitioner pioneer, the second and third level drudnids weren''t much of a threat, those drudnids were able to communicate on a mental channel. Through the channel, they could request for assistance if the enemy was tough to deal with. This was why after defeating the first drudnid, Lucas was ambushed right away by three others.


    However, when he defeated the following drudnids, Lucas had done so quickly and relied on the mental energy technique of his. Because of this, the drudnids were unable to react in time and request for support. In fact, Lucas was unaware of this and was simply lucky.


    ''It would be nice if I could stock up thirty drudnids.'' Lucas sighed.


    Thirty drudnids were a lot, even for him. Disassembling them and recycling their materials would take a lot of time, energy, effort and resources, but the rewards were well worth it. Apart from that, after studying them a bit, it seemed like there were categories to these drudnids and each category had a different set of ''veins''. With thirty drudnids, there was a high chance that there would be at least three categories available for Lucas to unravel the secrets of their magi runes. That way, even without visiting the Aura-breaking stele again, Lucas could still complete the mission.


    "System, do you have any method to spot the drudnids?" Lucas asked, although he doubted the system would even offer him such.


    "I do." Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire


    The system replied, stunning Lucas with that response.


    Before Lucas could even ask what it was, the system continued,


    "The item is available for sale in the system shop."


    Hearing that, Lucas gave up the follow-up question he had. It was still the same as he had expected, even though the system''s response differed from usual.


    As for the system shop, Lucas could only access that in the store. Chances were that this could change in the future, but that was the situation at the moment.


    While he had this thought, Lucas'' ears suddenly perked.


    Despite the fact that it looked like he was nonchalant and careless, Lucas was always alert all the time. This was the East Braftford relics, a relics famous for burying even fifth level stellar practitioners. Even though Lucas possessed the weakness of the drudnids, he still didn''t underestimate them for that. These were weapons of war with a peculiar battle-driven consciousness controlling them; they shouldn''t be underestimated. What''s more, Lucas'' method worked only for those drudnids with a severely fractured consciousness ¡ªretaining only 40% of their original self. If he faced anything higher, Lucas would be at risk of danger.


    Finally, the drudnids were just one of the dangers of the East Braftford relics, although the most notorious ones. There were also rare and exotic desolate beasts that, for some reason, aren''t targeted by the drudnids. Although the majority of them were weak, they were tricky species and could cause a lot of harm to stellar practitioners of even the fourth level. All these made Lucas to be even more alert during his journey.


    Currently, Lucas overheard a strange sound coming from his left. This sound was different from those made by the drudnids or the desolate beasts and he could even hear a bit of panting.


    Only a hyuman could make such noises within this place.

 Chapter 266 To Help Or Not To

    Listening closer to the sounds coming from afar, Lucas was even more sure that it was from a hyuman. However, he became confused.According to his previous conjecture, the tourists were teleported based on their distance from the Aura-breaking stele. During that event, Lucas was the farthest away from the stele, which meant that he would be teleported in a relatively safer place than the others; possibly the most safest place there could be.


    Since he has essentially been walking nonstop, it made sense for Lucas to be the one closest to the exit, and by a massive gap compared to the others. However, there was now someone close by.


    ''A freelancer or pioneer?'' Lucas frowned in thought.


    Even though it was said that the inner region was unexplored and not many came here, some still did for the possible fortune hidden within.


    After a bit of hesitation, Lucas approached the sound. When it came to sound spells, Lucas was unable to use any of them, but that didn''t stop him from figuring out the rough situation.


    It took him a short while, but he finally made it towards the source of the sound. This was because as he came closer, Lucas could hear even more sounds mixed in.


    The scene in front was that of a life-or-death battle. Two men wearing comfortable vacation clothing were battling a fourth level drudnid. Behind them was a young lady who was currently shivering as she watched the scene.


    Based on their auras, these men were at the fifth level at the very least, however, they were both very heavily injured. Against a fourth level drudnid, keeping their life intact was already seemingly impossible.


    Fourth level drudnids were rare in the inner region, but there was still a small chance of them appearing within its depth. Lucas had been lucky to not have encountered one earlier on, otherwise even with the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, it would be an insanely tough battle.


    ''Was I wrong?''


    Watching the two men face off against the drudnid, Lucas began to consider whether his previous guess about the stele was correct. Based on the clothing the men wore, it was easy to surmise that they were also tourists. Yet, they had come this far.


    Tossing the question behind the back of his head for now, Lucas watched the battle unfold.


    The two men, logically, had the advantage whether it in terms of numbers or power. However, they seemed to have been severely injured at some point in time which now affected their abilities.


    Their opponent was a fourth level drudnid which was the same as an average fifth level stellar practitioner in terms of combat threat. It was also an inanimate creature and could feel no pain nor get tired. All these gave the drudnid unique advantages, and so, it was able to hold its own against the two, and even force them to be in the defence.


    What''s more, they had someone to protect behind them which made the battle even more difficult.


    Lucas guessed that at this rate, the two men would get chopped down within three minutes. This was because the longer they fought, the more severe their injuries became until it began to affect them. By the time it worsened, their attacks would be filled with slip-ups and flaws which the drudnid would be able to easily take advantage of.


    "Damn it. This monster is too freakish."


    "If only we weren''t injured."


    The two men gritted their teeth and resisted the drudnid.


    As the battle became more heated, Lucas was wondering whether to help or not. Unlike a third level drudnid, a fourth level one possessed a significant amount of threat even to Lucas with the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. What''s more, he couldn''t say for sure whether the hyumans there could be potential allies or enemies.


    The best course of action would be for both sides to grievously wound each other before he swoops in and takes all the spoils, but that wasn''t a good idea either. Lucas might not be a saint, but he would feel strange watching two people die when he could have helped them. If they were enemies, no problem, but it was clear that they weren''t.


    Also, what if the drudnid won without suffering any severe damages? Wouldn''t Lucas be the one in trouble then?


    ''Well, a fourth level drudnid should be a more valuable research specimen.'' Lucas'' eyes gleamed. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He had already made up his mind. It was best to work with the two fifth level stellar practitioners and then take down the drudnid. Once that was done, Lucas would take the drudnid as his payment. But before that, Lucas wanted to see whether they could injure it. It was better to be safe than cocky.


    With a plan in mind, all he could do now was wait for an opportunity. Luckily, Lucas didn''t have to wait long.


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    Seemingly seeing that they had no shot at living again, one of the two men roared.


    "Get the young miss out of here. I''ll take that monster down with me."


    The man proceeded to swallow a black and red capsule following which his flesh began to turn red.


    Lucas was surprised by this; he had seen similar things in his previous life, but this was the first one he had seen in this world. That capsule was most likely a special pill for stellar practitioners that could boost one''s potential and force the body past its limits.


    The second man ran towards the girl and prepared to pick her up and leave. But at that moment, the drudnid noticed this and chased after him. However, the red-skinned man intercepted it, but the drudnid brandished its weapon at him.


    *Clang*


    The weapons of the two sides clashed and prevented the other from moving forward. For the first time since the battle began, the man had successfully held back the drudnid on his own, but it wouldn''t last for long.


    The drudnid''s green eyes flashed, seemingly comprehending something. Suddenly, it began to ferociously attack, so much so that the red-skinned man couldn''t do much but defend. However, that was all he wanted to achieve. By now, the other man had picked up the young lady and prepared to leave.


    Suddenly, the battle took an abrupt turn.


    Drudnids, apart from being the ultimate war machines, were capable of mental spells. The man had been aware of this before, but after taking the capsule, he was a bit more irrational. At the same time, the terrifying attacks from the drudnid forced his focus to be on it and he slowly forgot this one fact about them.


    That was why when the drudnid abruptly attacked with a mind blast, the man was caught off-guard and blasted a couple metres away till he crashed heavily on the ground. At least four of his ribs were broken.


    His partner noticed this and worry immediately flashed in his eyes. But he held himself back and took the young lady to escape.


    Yet it was too late.

 Chapter 267 Why Are You Here?

    The fourth level drudnid, after taking care of the red-skinned man, didn''t hesitate to charge at the two survivors.Being a fifth level stellar practitioner, the bodyguard ¡ªeven when injured¡ª should have been capable of outpacing the drudnid. However, he carried a young lady with him whose weight held him back. Normally, this wouldn''t be much of a problem and the man would still be faster than the drudnid, but the problem was that he was injured.


    At this rate, it would take only forty five seconds for the drudnid to get to him.


    Realising this, the man gritted his teeth.


    "Young miss, you''re on your own. I''ll try to hold it back."


    Not waiting for her to respond, he tossed the young lady forward, but had wrapped her in stellar energy to cushion her fall. At the same time, the man turned behind him to face the approaching drudnid.


    In his hand was a capsule similar to that of his colleague. This was the only way he could hold back the drudnid without dying.


    The young lady crashed one hundred metres away, but thanks to the stellar energy that cushioned her fall, she remained unharmed. However, worry was in her eyes as she stared behind her.


    "Uncle Marc." She yelled with a pained heart.


    The two bodyguards had been assigned to her since she was twelve, and they took care of her like their own daughter. It has been eight years since then, so it was inevitable that she would treat them like family rather than disposable employees.


    "Don''t waste any time and run. Otherwise our sacrifices would be in vain." The man roared without turning his head back.


    The young lady froze, but she knew he was right. If they were together, they would all die. However, there was a slight chance of survival if only one of them ran while the other stood behind.


    Naturally, the second role couldn''t go to the young lady as she was both weak and her identity was too important to be sacrificed. Hence, it was already set in stone for the man to be the one to do so; after all, it was his job to ensure her safety.


    Tears filled her eyes as she tightened her fists but in the end stood up and turned her back to the man. If she successfully escaped, she could still avenge the two of them.


    Just then, the sound of the drudnid became clear as it was within view.


    Originally, it would have taken forty five seconds to catch-up, but that was on the condition that the man was still escaping. But since he had stopped, the time was even shorter.


    "Run!"


    The man shouted.


    This time around, the young lady didn''t retort and dashed away. She was a peak third level stellar practitioner, so she could run faster than an average hyuman. Even the top athletes on Earth couldn''t match up to her in terms of acceleration or even top speed.


    The man looked relieved as he could hear her departing footsteps, but he frowned in the next second because the drudnid was before him.


    Interestingly enough, the drudnid didn''t rush to attack him but glanced around, seemingly looking for someone. The man understood the meaning of this action and his face turned ugly.


    Drudnids weren''t the same as robots that operated based on a fixed intelligence or an algorithm. They were operated by a consciousness that was on the same level as an adult, but with the battle skills of an experienced veteran that had been through one hundred fights. If it weren''t for the fact that their consciousness was damaged, the inner region would have been a death zone just like the core area.


    Having faced off against a drudnid with a more complete consciousness back in the core area, who happened to be the cause for his and his teammate''s injuries, the man knew the dangers of a drudnid with a more complete consciousness.


    That aside, the reaction of the drudnid just now showed that it was different from the weaker ones they encountered. It probably had a fractured rate of less than 40%. This meant that at least sixty percent of the drudnid''s consciousness was intact.


    This would explain why it was able to hold off the man and his colleague at the same time. Their injuries made up for one factor, but the skill of the drudnid was another.


    ''The average Mental Frequency disruptor would not be able to take it down. I have to destroy it.'' The man thought.


    From its reaction, it was clear that the drudnid planned to exterminate all of them and wouldn''t rest until then. In other words, the young lady was still in danger even if he held it back.


    As for Mental Frequency disruptors, those were special devices made for facing against drudnids. However, the effectiveness of the devices depended on how much of the drudnid''s consciousness was intact or fractured.


    The man promptly roared and charged at the drudnid, deciding to hold it back first while looking for an opportunity to take it down.


    Meanwhile, Lucas was still hidden in the dark and observing the situation.


    He had originally planned to team up with the two men, but decided against it. While his trip had been somewhat smooth, Lucas never lowered his guard. He always remained cautious in his attempts, and this was further heightened since the target was at the fourth level.


    Lucas decided it would be better to have the two men weaken it a bit and step in at an opportune time. However, he still had no plans on soloing the drudnid, so he would not let the man die either.


    *Bang*


    Right at that moment, the drudnid had spotted an opening in its duel against the man and landed a kick on him, sending the latter crashing into the wall of nearby a building.


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    "Cough, cough."


    The man held his chest and coughed out blood, feeling an intense pain that wrecked his body. He could feel his body growing weak and even though he could still fight, the man knew that he was not the drudnid''s match.


    In the East Braftford relics, while the inside of the buildings were usually dark or with a dim coloured lighting, the outside was different. Even though the relics existed in the same world as the surrounding area, when one was outside of the building, they would see an ever-blue sky that never went dark. There was no sun, but mysteriously, the entire place would be lit.


    It was said that some kind of magical shield covered the entirety of the relics. In the outside world, this shield prevented others from seeing the details of the relics or even sensing the situation. However, within the relics, it created a ''utopia''.


    Staring at the blue sky above his head, the man hoped that the young lady had gone far away, otherwise his death would be meaningless.


    This thought only lasted a second before he hurriedly stood back up and faced drudnid. If he delayed too long, it would leave him for the young lady.


    "Hey, metal plate. Where do you think you''re going?" The man roared at the drudnid.


    The metallic creature that was about to depart, heard this and turned towards the man.


    "That''s right. This is between me and you. You didn''t think I''ll be done with after that did you? Even my grandma could hit harder than you." The man sneered.


    If those words were said to a robot, it would have no reaction. However, a drudnid was a true consciousness. Although it was rigged for war, it still had the basic intelligence of an adult.


    As expected, the vibe of the creature changed. Even though there was no facial feature on the drudnid apart from its eyes, the man could spot a hint of anger, derision and scorn.


    In the very next second, the drudnid disappeared from its position as it charged at the man.


    It moved so fast, but the man was still able to read its attack. However, that didn''t mean he could dodge.


    Forced to face the attack, the man brandished his vestige at the drudnid and clashed with it.


    *Clang*


    While he had successfully managed to block the attack, he had miscalculated the force and was destabilised by it. This created an opening which the drudnid, being a master of battles, saw and took hold of.


    A flash burst out for a second, a result of the drudnid moving its metallic weapon rapidly. The strange bladed weapon came for the man and because he was knocked out of balance, he couldn''t even stop it.


    ''I guess this is it.'' The middle-aged man thought as he closed his eyes.


    ''She should be safe by now.''


    The drudnid''s weapon closed in and it looked as if by the next second, the man would become a corpse.


    However, just as the man had thought it was all over, a sharp sound entered his ears and he felt a body crash into his.


    *Bam*


    It wasn''t an illusion.


    The man thought this as after coming in contact with the body of matter, he was flung away with it and crashed a few metres away. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Resisting the urge to groan in pain, the man glanced in front of him and was stunned to see someone he never expected.


    "Young miss!"

 Chapter 268 Here Comes The Rescue

    Seeing the lady he had sacrificed himself for, the middle-aged man whose skin had already turned red as his colleague, had mixed feelings in his eyes. On one hand, he was angered, anxious and worried for the young lady, and on the other hand, he was happy that he meant this much to her.Having looked since she was twelve, the man had already thought of her as a half-daughter of his even though he knew that wasn''t possible. When he was assigned to protect the little girl eight years ago, it was a permanent job; one he did because of the pay. But at the moment, it was simply because of his fatherly feelings for her.


    "Get away now. It''s not too late." The man said.


    Although she had managed to block an attack from the drudnid, the young lady couldn''t contend with it. One was a fourth level stellar practitioner who could even compare to a fifth level stellar practitioner, while the other was a peak third level stellar practitioner. Even a five year old could tell who would win, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happened.


    "It''s too late." The young lady wryly smiled.


    She was right.


    The drudnid had caught sight of her and its focus was locked on her. Even if the man tried to hold it back again, he was severely injured and the fight had already taken a lot out of him. There was nothing that could be done in that regard.


    "Damn it." The middle aged man cursed. He wasn''t angry at the lady, but himself. He was angry for his weakness.


    Earlier, together with his partner, they had faced off against a fifth level drudnid in the core region. Such a monster was roughly equivalent to a sixth level stellar practitioner. What''s more, it had a fractured rate of only 30%, which meant that it has seventy percent of its programmed consciousness intact. It was too much for even the two of them to handle and they had gotten severely injured.


    The group had only managed to escape after using a lot of their trump cards and detonating two top quality Grade 3 vestiges. After that, they stumbled upon a trap and got teleported out to the inner region.


    If the man had been strong enough, there wouldn''t be a need to detonate those vestiges and it would have helped greatly against this drudnid. If he was strong enough, he would have been able to save his best friend, protect the young miss and defeat the drudnid. But in the end, he was weak.


    The drudnid wasn''t one for emotions. It ignored the melancholic vibe being exuded by the duo and charged at them.


    The middle-aged man was too weak to dodge while the young lady couldn''t even react in time.


    The drudnid''s weapon swung at them, intent on taking the lives of the two with one hit. But just as they were facing their death, a shadow appeared above the drudnid.


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    *Bang*


    A loud metallic noise sounded ahead of them as the drudnid crashed to the ground. Above the metallic creature was an individual wrapped in body armour with his fist hammered down on the drudnid.


    The new arrival was Lucas who had been stalking them in the dark. Having waited for an opening from the start, Lucas finally made his move seeing the drudnid''s entire focus on the duo.


    Unlike a robot, a drudnid operated using a consciousness which made it inadvertently have the same flaws as hyumans; letting its guard down. If the drudnid was controlled by an artificial intelligence, it would have been on alert at all times. But as it was controlled by a consciousness, the flaws of one existed within it.


    The moment when the drudnid felt that it was in control and had won, happened to be the exact moment its guard was dropped. That in turn became the best opportunity for Lucas to attack and he did just that.


    The middle-aged man and the young lady stared wide-eyed at Lucas, surprised by the latter''s presence yet glad.


    However, the emotions were cut short as the drudnid exploded with an incredible mental force which shook Lucas off it and blasted the young lady and the man away.


    *Thud*


    Lucas landed on his two feet and gained his balance right away, relying on the weight of his battle armour. He glanced at the drudnid. V


    Two slight dents were visible on the back of the drudnid.


    Seeing this, Lucas couldn''t help but let out a low sigh.


    ''As I thought, it''s much tougher than the others.'' S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Apertures Opening stage consisted of twelve levels and each three levels made up a sub-stage, making a total of four sub-stages. The first to third levels made one sub-stage whilst the fourth to sixth levels made another sub-stage.


    Every sub-stage was an important phase that indicated a qualitative change, not just in an individual but also in a vestige.


    Originally, vestiges were graded by the same principle of sub-stages until newer and efficient methods were developed; which turned the initial system from four grades to the current six grades. In truth, they current systems still had traces of the previous one as Grades 2-5 were essentially the same vestiges for the four sub-stages. But Grade 1 and Grade 6 were the products of modern vestige-smithing, with Grade 1 being a simplified version of the first sub-stage vestiges (or Grade 2) while Grade 6 was an extreme version of fourth sub-stage vestiges (Grade 5).


    The drudnid ¡ªpower-wise¡ª was the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner. To be able to create such a being, vestiges, or rather, artefacts, on par with the second sub-stage had to be utilised. This made not just the raw power, but also the quality of the drudnid''s build, ahead of the third level drudnids. It was not just stronger, but also tankier.


    ''If only it wasn''t because of them.'' Lucas sighed again.


    The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour he currently wore was dimmer and gave off weaker signals than it did before. It appeared just like a regular third level battle suit rather than a fourth level one. This wasn''t because the vestige was damaged, but because Lucas had downgraded its performance. The reason for this was because he wasn''t the only one present.


    Learning from the events in his past life and Baylands City, Lucas didn''t want anyone to find out that he knew how to generate a qualitative change in a vestige through quantitative means. If this was found out, lots of powerful individuals would be on the hunt for him as before.


    As such, Lucas had to step down the performance of the Vis receptacle ¡ªthe most important component of the SCB that created the qualitative change. By doing so, the power of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour dropped from a Grade 4 vestige to a Grade 3 vestige.


    Logically, a top tier Grade 3 battle suit should still be able to cause severe damage to the drudnid, but the user was an important factor to the performance of the battle suit. In this case, Lucas wasn''t even at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, so he couldn''t even bring out the true power of the vestige.


    A Grade 3 vestige was the equivalent of the second sub-stage (fourth to sixth level), but in Lucas'' hands, it was already impressive that he could deal second level power and occasionally exhibit third level strength.


    Seeing the drudnid stand up, Lucas turned towards the man.


    "Cooperate with me or we die."


    The middle-aged man was initially stunned by the appearance of a battle armour and wondered who could be inside it. However, hearing the words of the other side, he glanced at the drudnid and frowned.


    The other side had struck a surprise attack, yet it was far from enough to take down the drudnid. Even so, the middle-aged man didn''t look down on the hero who saved their lives. On the contrary, he wondered how they could beat the drudnid as they were lacking firepower.


    As for running away, that wasn''t an option. The newcomer seemed to be at the second or fourth level with a Grade 3 battle armour, which pointed out their weakness. If he tried to escape, it was possible for the other side to do the same and no one could say who the drudnid would chase. Even if the other side didn''t run, with their weak strength, the drudnid would end the battle in seconds before pursuing the man and the young lady.


    Hence, there was only one suitable choice at the moment; to work together and defeat the drudnid.


    Coughing a bit, the middle-aged man gave his answer immediately.


    "No problem."


    It might seem like so much time has passed from the moment Lucas and the duo were blasted away until the drudnid stood up, but only three seconds had gone by.


    Even though the man was injured and he has to battle with his suit at thirty percent, Lucas didn''t think he would lose.


    Firstly, his battle skills surpassed that of the drudnid''s after having watched a couple of them.


    Secondly, even though his attack had failed to cause much damage, Lucas never counted on his physical attack when dealing with drudnids. It was his mental power.


    When he struck at the drudnid, Lucas had dealt a bit of mental damage to it. However, because its consciousness was much more completed than the others, the drudnid didn''t ''die''. On the contrary, it had even counterattacked ferociously with its own mental energy, but that didn''t dampen Lucas'' resolve. Instead, he understood that he had to just use more mental power the next time. After all, the drudnid''s consciousness was fractured and not complete, so this weakness to mental attacks would always exist.


    If one cup of water wasn''t enough to wash off a stain on a car, then what about one bucket? Or an entire ocean? That was the same concept here.

 Chapter 269 : Narrow Clash

    "Thank you for helping us." The middle-aged man glanced at Lucas.Now that the battle was over, he finally had the time to study their ''saviour'', but the latter wore a helmet that covered his face. Regardless of that, the man could sense a confident and calm vibe from the latter. This had been present even throughout the harrowing battle that cost him his arm.


    "No problem." Lucas nodded.


    He then turned his attention towards the drudnid that laid on the floor.


    Using mental attacks to defeat the drudnids was not only a much easier way to do so, but it also preserved their bodies as much as possible. This was what Lucas wanted, even though he planned on disassembling them later on. But until then, he wanted to study the magi runes in their ''corpses''.


    Since he wasn''t the only one who took it on, the drudnid on the floor wasn''t as intact as the previous ones Lucas had due to a couple of reasons.


    First off, the drudnid was at the fourth level and much stronger, so it took a series of mental attacks to take it down. However, each attack needed contact to be made, but that wasn''t easy as the drudnid went on alert after that first strike. Hence, Lucas had to be more aggressive just to make contact with the drudnid.


    Also, Lucas wasn''t the only one fighting the drudnid. The middle-aged man worked together with him, but because he didn''t know much about the man, Lucas didn''t tell him about his mental technique. As a result, every attack from the man was done with the intent of smashing the drudnid to pieces, which is the standard method of fighting one.


    Although not all of the man''s attacks made it through the drudnid''s defence, some of them did, and they managed to damage it. Particularly one counter-attack the man made after sacrificing his right arm. The attack had caused a deep debt on the drudnid''s right side, which would be the area where one''s liver was located. The attack even left behind a small crack at the bottom of the dent, showing just how much power was in it.


    Looking at the damage done to the drudnid, Lucas sighed inwardly but didn''t think too much about it.


    "I''ll be taking the drudnid with me, if no one has a problem with it." Lucas suddenly said, finally declaring his intention. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The middle-aged man first froze before his brows wrinkled with a frown.


    For Lucas, a drudnid''s body had two major values: as an object of study and a source for resources. In truth, this was the same everywhere else. Even though researchers and vestige-smiths still hadn''t parsed the magi runes completely, they were making great strides to doing so. As such, drudnids had an immense value as a research object.


    At the same time, most drudnids were constructed using special metals and minerals, the majority of which had mysteriously gone extinct or fundamentally changed into something else. These metals were incredibly strong and powerful, which makes sense since they were used to create carriers for an artificial consciousness with battle capabilities. Even for the top names in the vestige-smith industry, they all wanted to get their hands on these materials. And as a result, compared to regular artefacts, drudnids sold for way much more.


    What''s more, this drudnid was a fourth level stellar practitioner and at the second sub-stage; the value of the materials used to create it was much more than the others in the market, which were all either second or third level. Read new adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    Although the man and the young lady were from a reputable household, they could still use the drudnid for themselves rather than selling it for profit.


    However, while he had this thought, the middle-aged man was of the mind to compensate Lucas for it. After all, it was only thanks to him that they not only survived, but also took it down.


    "This..." The man hesitated.


    "You can, please. After all, you helped us a lot and we owe you,.* The lady smiled.


    "But young mis-"


    The young lady cut him off with a glare. The man understood this and took a step back.


    In the end, it was just another block of metal.


    Seeing the two agree to let him off, Lucas approached the drudnid and sent it into his inventory. From the perspective of the other two, the drudnid''s body seemed to have vanished into thin air.


    ''A space vault?'' The two of them wondered.


    Only big shots and their descendants could play around with these, after all, in terms of pricing, they could even compare with Grade 4 vestige although one of the lowest quality.


    "Can you tell me your name? When we get outside, I''ll have someone properly send you a reward."


    "Thanks, but no." Lucas refused.


    On one hand, he wanted to keep his identity a secret. On the other hand. Lucas felt the young lady''s background wasn''t ordinary, so he wanted to have to do less and less with her; preferably nonexistent.


    With the battle now over, Lucas decided it was time to leave the relics. Thanks to the metallic bodies he had, Lucas didn''t need to worry about having no material to study magi runes. He could also disassemble them into their basic pieces and reforge those pieces into vestiges. No matter which it was, there would be profit to be made.


    The middle-aged man had returned to get his colleague, who albeit heavily injured, was surprisingly not dead.


    After a while, the trio left the area and Lucas did so as well. Since they were all going in the same direction, Lucas decided to tag along with them. They were also grateful since Lucas'' presence would increase their security and overall power.


    A couple of minutes went by, which eventually became two hours. The group had already gone past the mid point of the inner region by now, even though we''re quite low.


    Just as the mysterious trio were considering moving on their own, they glanced in a certain direction after hearing footsteps.


    It turned out to be members of the rescue taskforce. They were now safe.

 Chapter 270 The Wailing Of The People

    After being rescued by some members of the taskforce, Lucas, the young lady and her two protectors, were guided out of the relics to the outside. It turned out that the girl was from a powerful background, so the team they encountered had to abandon their task of searching for more survivors and lead them out safely.When he got out, Lucas had tried to go to the Aura-breaking stele once more. With the incident, there was no line and it would be easy for him to approach the stele and study the inscriptions on it. However, the area was now blockaded by security agencies so Lucas couldn''t get through.


    He wasn''t bummed by this as whether or not he studied the stele wouldn''t affect Lucas'' progress so much. The progress bar for the mission was at 74%; it had increased by 4% while he was within the relics and occasionally studying some of the inscriptions within the buildings. With the complete bodies of the drudnids, Lucas was confident that he could fill up the remaining 26%. His only intention of trying his luck out with the Aura-breaking stele was simply to get it over with right away.


    Since that ended in failure, Lucas left the East Braftford relics site and returned back to his store.


    . . .


    Three days went by quickly, but the entire saga of the Aura-breaking stele was yet to be completely over.


    During the past three days, the taskforce had managed to rescue more and more people, relieving the minds of some of the public. However, many others were not found with some reported to be dead by the survivors.


    Out of the maximum five hundred tourists that got teleported into the relics, only seventy four (74) survived. That''s a survival rate of only 14.8%. Furthermore, a quick look at the survivors and one would notice that forty-eight (48) of them, which accounted for roughly 65%, were those tied to people of influence. For instance, the Mertens'' group and some of their bodyguards.


    The remaining twenty six individuals, who accounted for 35% of the survivors, were all ordinary people with no influence or relationship to someone of high standing whatsoever.


    To the general public, this discrepancy was unsurprising after all, those of high influence had strong bodyguards with them and were also talented. Take for instance the group of William and the Mertens'' siblings. Excluding the bodyguard who died, they had six others with them, three of whom were at the fifth level while the other three were at the fourth level. Also, Laura and William were at the fifth level, and even their guide, Duran, was also at the fifth level. The public didn''t know much about the relics, so they felt it was understandable for this group of people to survive.


    However, the higher-ups were different. They knew the reality of the relics and even though the descendants and relatives of powerful factions had strong lineups, the fact that known of them died was mind-boggling. What''s more, the recounts of all these people were the same; they were mysteriously teleported to the inner regions either after stepping on a trap, entering a building or some other action.


    The various testimonials that all had a common point raised eyebrows and it made those in-charge suspect some hidden manipulation. However, there was no evidence to support this, and the fact that some average people even experienced this made some suspect that maybe it had to do with one''s luck.


    Also, those average folks had left the relics with unique items or artefacts that even the higher-ups were attracted to. On the other hand, the group related to powerful factions ¡ªapart from a lucky five¡ª came out empty-handed.


    However, the fact that only 14.8% of the original tourists had survived was harrowing and many of the agencies related to this incident were surrounded by protesters or relatives of the victims.


    "Where is my child? Where is my son?!"


    A mother grabbed the uniform of an officer who stood guard at the entrance of the relics and bawled out her eyes.


    "Honey, honey. Please come out! I''m begging you, please!"


    A woman whose face had aged greatly stood in front of the entrance, with the security border standing in between her and the route, as she cried pitifully.


    "My father. Please save my father. I''m begging you. He''s the only family I have left. Please." A man knelt down and cried before the line of security agents who prevented the crowd from breaking in. Experience tales with My Virtual Library Empire


    Such scenes were common just outside of the entrance of the relics, and it was even the same in the Trundel City Security Force office building inside of the city.


    Tanner, who was the original commander of the taskforce, but relegated to deputy after the seventh level stellar practitioners joined the team, stood by the side and took in the sight with mixed feelings.


    Since those who mattered survived and were brought out safely, the higher-ups of the city weren''t too invested into the rescue operation again. The seventh level stellar practitioners were withdrawn and those from allied forces of the Preservative faction (the faction in support of the preservation of the relics) called back their men. The current taskforce became unable to go into the deeper regions of the relics again. Even the inner region was too risky for them while the core region ¡ªwhich happened to be where the majority of tourists were teleported into¡ª became a death zone for them. They could not carry our rescue operations again which was why Tanner was out here.


    "This isn''t fair." A voice sounded behind Tanner.


    "But it''s our reality." Tanner sighed.


    A man walked up and appeared beside Tanner. He was the speaker as well as Tanner''s deputy in the team.


    "Why can''t the higher-ups do something? Aren''t they supposed to be protecting the people?"


    One could sense the thick frustration and agitation within the man''s voice. It was almost like he was victim, but Tanner knew that wasn''t the case. His deputy was just a man of the people in his heart; a protector of justice who saw everyone to be equal.


    "Even the higher-ups is currently torn apart on how to deal with the relics. To them, the people who were unlucky are simply just that; unlucky. Who is to say they aren''t even dead right now? If they are, wouldn''t it be such a waste to send in a rescue squad?"


    The man turned and stared at Tanner.


    "Are you in support of them?"


    Tanner shook his head.


    "I''m not, but I can understand their thoughts. For the higher-ups, the struggle for power and resources are more important than some four hundred lives or so." S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The deputy clenched his fist upon hearing that.


    "Let''s go." Tanner sighed and turned around to leave.


    "Where to?" The deputy asked.


    "Where to?" Tanner paused. "Apart from taking in the pitiful sight before us, there''s nothing we can do here, so tell me why should we stay?"


    The deputy froze, not knowing what to say at that moment.


    "Let''s go."

 Chapter 271 Mission Complete

    Three days after the survivors were rescued, protests still went on in different parts of the city of Trundel. The Cardaso family, who were the ruling force, were having trouble suppressing the complaints.Because they stayed so close to the capital of the planet ¡ªeven though the city was operated by a monarchy¡ª they still had to listen to the people and were not authoritarian with their actions. As such, the people had the freedom to complain and demand explanations from them.


    The Cardoso family was also split into two regarding how to deal with the relics and the issue. The higher-ups of both the Preservation and Destruction factions were actually members of the Cardoso family, which was why there was no conclusive decision on the matter yet. Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t care about any of that. His focus was on the mission, and it took him more than three days before Lucas finally completed it.


    Staring at the fourth level Apertures Opening stage drudnid ''corpse'' on his workbench, Lucas sighed with relief after hearing the system''s notification ding.


    ''Finally.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    At the start, Lucas was confident that he could complete the mission with the drudnids, but as he went on, he realised that his progress rate was becoming slow. Some of the magi runes in the drudnids were already familiar to him, so studying them again wouldn''t count.


    During that time, Lucas began to fret and was worried that he would need to sneak back into the East Braftford relics to view the Aura-breaking stele. Luckily, the fourth level drudnid had helped him cover the gap as it had a whole new set of ideologies and techniques for Lucas to study.


    This wasn''t strange after all, the drudnid was essentially the same as a second sub-stage vestige. It was only natural for there to be more advanced techniques used on it when compared to the third level drudnids.


    This was like the difference between a Tier 1 vestige-smith and a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith; one made Grade 2 (first sub-stage) vestiges while the other made Grade 3 (second sub-stage) vestiges. The skills and runes they used naturally differed whether in form or efficiency, as well as complicatedness. It made sense why the drudnid''s ''corpse'' was able to help Lucas cover the gap.


    "Now, the best part." Lucas grinned after accepting the rewards for the mission.


    The ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' time as well the ten system coins reward was enticing, but Lucas'' focus was on something else. Based on his calculations, with this mission now completed, the system would level up once again.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system (now level 4). One new system ability is granted.


    Rewarding ten system coins, one drop of impure sap from the Tree of Life mixed with Void Dust. ]]


    However, it wasn''t over.


    [[ Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: Inscription Master.


    Mission description: Learn an entirely new set of inscriptions without the aid of the system.


    Rewards: Five system coins]]


    Looking at the notification, Lucas had a wide grin on his face.


    Adding up the system coins he got from both achievements and missions in the past and the present, Lucas now had thirty five system coins in his possession. It was still a significant distance away from the five hundred system coins price tag of the Red Dragon Heaven Pill [1]. Nonetheless, it could still do a lot for him. Also, the Red Dragon Heaven Pill wasn''t Lucas'' bet to attain stellar refinement abilities; it was the mysterious potion that the system wanted him to make.


    Thinking about that, Lucas clicked on the third ingredient so far to learn about its details.


    [[ Impure sap from the Tree of Life mixed with Void Dust: A unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug or a potion to change one''s physical condition. Consuming it in its raw form can bring the dead back to life with the right conditions or allow one access to the Arkana Plane. It can also be used to gain either life or void-related abilities. ]]


    With the completion of the mission, Lucas had also levelled up the system to level 4, earning him a couple of rewards. He could also pick one out of three system abilities, but Lucas was not in a hurry to do so. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Recalling how the Branch Manager skill had proven to be important, Lucas understood the value of delayed gratification. He might choose an ability now, but it could turn out to not be useful in the future. Hence, it was best just to hold it off for a while.


    "Impure Tree of Life sap with Void Dust, huh?" Lucas absent-mindedly muttered the name.


    This was the first item that seemed more like a combination of two. Usually, the items were singular and straightforward, like Icarus'' Tears or leave from the Tree of Gehenna. However, the reward this time around sounded like a mixture of two items, but why? What''s more, it''s description was quite similar to the leaf from the Tree of Gehenna, except that it granted life and void-related powers when taken raw, while the latter gave death-related powers.


    The system didn''t give Lucas any reply so he didn''t dwell on it. Maybe it was how the ingredient was supposed to be. Regardless of the truth, it wouldn''t change the fact that it was a valuable item for Lucas.


    Even though the description showed that the sap would still offer tons of benefits when ingested raw, Lucas didn''t try to find out. There was only this one drop, and wasting it was the same as Lucas damning himself to be an average individual.


    ''One more level.'' Lucas thought as he let out a sigh.


    For over eight months, he had been living in this world as a ''normal'' individual. If it weren''t for his battle experience and skills, Lucas might have died many times. He would have died many times more if it weren''t for the system''s protection as well. However, so long as he could get to level five, that would all change.


    "Next is the drift racing team."

 Chapter 272 Sponsorship

    After the incident, having known that Lucas was heading to the relics, Havos had given him a one week break to recover from the incident. The latter believed that Lucas was probably traumatized or depressed by the incident, after all, over four hundred people had died while he was among the few survivors. Any normal individual would find it difficult to resume work the next day after such an experience, so Havos ¡ªas the team''s head¡ª gave Lucas a break.The next race was supposed to be in four days when Lucas decided to go to the relics. Three days had gone by since then, which meant that the next race was the following day. However just before that, Lucas wanted to strike a deal with Luka.


    "It''s been a while. I was really surprised to hear you would be seeing me today." Luka glanced at the Lucas who sat across the table.


    He was indeed telling the truth. Since Lucas was given a one-week break, logically, he would have spent the break recuperating or something else. Instead, Lucas had called to meet him in private.


    "Well, I had some things to discuss." Lucas suddenly said.


    "Oh?"


    Seeing how serious he looked, Luka''s interest was piqued.


    "I''m interested in the Black Star team''s spare shares." Lucas said with a serious face.


    After the Black Star team was formed by merging Luka''s personal drift racing team and Callus'' original team, fifty-five percent (55%) of the stocks of the new team ¡ªwhich accounted for a majority of the stocks¡ª went to Luka. Thirty-five percent (35%) was given to Callus to secure his colleagues'' spot in the new team and protect their interests. The remaining ten percent (10%) was left under Luka''s control but didn''t belong to him, but rather, to attract investors or retain talents.


    "But I have plans for it." After a pause, Luka replied calmly.


    Luka''s original idea was to have Havos take the leftover stocks and tie him to the Black Star team through them. The value and face of a grandmaster''s student was one many wanted to get but couldn''t. Being connected to such a reputable individual could do a lot of PR for the team and raise awareness about them. At the same time, Luka could forge a connection to a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and a future top Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, who could potentially reach the grandmaster rank.


    No matter how one looked at it, there were too many benefits. However, Havos wasn''t interested in those stocks.


    Being the student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, he was a talent many other drift racing teams craved for. Whether it was for his abilities or his connections, all of them were valuable to tons of drift racing teams even in the top leagues. In comparison, the Black Star team was only in the third league. Even if it had potential, Havos didn''t think it was worth having himself tied to it for long. He even took his current role at the team as a sort of experiential training.


    So, even though Havos was a part of the team, he could leave at any point in time without looking back.


    The ten percent stocks then remained unowned.


    Lucas had managed to hear about them one time during his conversation with the team members and he decided to set his sights on them. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m willing to offer a good price for them." Lucas said.


    "I heard you run a store in Trundel City. You''re interested in official rights, correct?" Luka smiled.


    The reason why Lucas entered the drift racing industry was to have the name of his store appear as a sponsor of one of the teams, specifically on the body of the racing shuttle. As long as the team he sponsored performed well, it would also lead to an increase in customers. It was pretty much the same logic as sponsorships in sports back on Earth, and it was even common and pronounced here. This was especially so if the sponsor was related to the industry of the sponsored.


    For instance, the Lugo Vido Autos team was not only developed by a vestige-smithing company, but the company was also the main sponsor ¡ªhaving their logo painted all over the shuttle. What''s more, LVA was a vestige-smithing company in the hover car and sare shuttles industry.


    With the team''s impressive performance in the league so far, some hover cars and racing shuttle enthusiasts visited the company''s branches to check out their goods and services. They believed that the skills of the vestige-smiths from LVA had to be top-tier considering the team they not only developed, but sponsored as well, was doing great so far.


    There was also the team Yoko-bunny, run by the princess of the Verantino family. They had a vestige-smithing company in the stellar processor market as their main sponsor. The company also saw a rise in sales after the team''s performance in the league.


    Such scenarios were common especially with the top teams as they had thousands of fans and garnered attention. The sponsors would be advertising their brands to those fans by being related with their idols.


    The Black Star team was still an upstart, but because of their recent performance, they had quite a number of fans. In fact, some of them had even reached out to the vestige-smiths in the team for their services in fine-tuning their racing shuttles and hover cars.


    These fans had noticed how Callus had improved from 19th place in the first race to 14th place in the sixth race. What''s more, the changes done to the Juggernaut racing shuttle didn''t go unseen by these people as well. As such, they also wanted similar modifications to be done on their own personal racing shuttles, which led to the increased requests to the team for private modification services.


    As it stood now, the Black Star team had no official sponsor yet, even more so one in the vestige-smithing industry. If Lucas could seize that spot, there would be more traffic to his store since some of these requests would be targeted at him.


    "Don''t you think you''re being a bit greedy?" Luka narrowed his eyes.


    Usually, Luka wouldn''t have hired Lucas as a member of the team; he was a human and there was no way a human vestige-smith would be better than a hyuman. But because Havos had requested for it, Lucas became a member of the Black Star team. Even though Lucas had made some achievements in the team, Luka brushed it off. He wasn''t too knowledgeable about vestige-smithing, so he believed that what Lucas had done could have been replicated by someone else.


    But actually, Luka was right about that.


    "I''ll remit my salary up to the necessary amount required for the purchase. I''ll also design a top-class engine for the team, capable of securing a top five spot in the following races." Lucas laid out his terms.


    He would have also added a share in the store''s profit, but the system wouldn''t allow that. Even when he cooperated in Baylands city-state, it was only possible because the Legacy Crafts dealership was purchasing the vestiges from him and reselling it. However in this situation, there was no reason for Luka to spend more money to open a dealership.


    Hence, Lucas took a step back and decided to offer a blueprint for a new engine model. He already knew the ins and outs of a racing shuttle both from the books offered by the system and online, as well as his experience with the team. Lucas was confident that the engine he would design would perform at an efficiency rate 70% higher than the current engine used by the Juggernaut.


    However, while Lucas was confident about this, the same wasn''t so for Luka.


    "Haha. That''s a funny joke." Luka chuckled.


    "Taking part of your salary to cover the cost for the stocks doesn''t offer much benefits to me at all. I''d rather sell it for cheap if there''s a profit behind the deal. But ignoring that, a top class engine? Heh. You have to be joking." Luka sneered.


    One couldn''t blame him for his attitude. The person who made the claim was a human, and as everyone knew, humans were only capable of creating ¡ªat best¡ª a Grade 1 vestige. A top tier engine for a racing shuttle would be the equivalent of a high quality Grade 2 vestige, or even a Grade 3 vestige.


    For context''s sake, apart from the top three teams in the league, the other teams used engines equivalent to a Grade 1 or an average Grade 2 vestige. This couldn''t be helped since this was a third tier league and the better skilled vestige-smiths were all swooped away by teams in higher tiered leagues. It was very difficult to find anymore talented ones even though Belfargos city-state had a lot of vestige-smiths.


    Vestige-smithing was a very broad subject, and there were multiple areas of specialisation. One''s ranking was simply a measurement of their maximum capabilities at the time, and not truly the level of skill they possessed.


    For instance, when it came to designing racing shuttle engines, although rank was important, it didn''t necessarily equate to skill. It was possible for even a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, who can easily make a Grade 4 vestige, to fail in producing an engine with a Grade 3 rating. This was especially so if the vestige-smith wasn''t one of the shuttle branch. Even if they were, they would still find the task difficult, although they would succeed.


    So, the fact that Lucas ¡ªa human¡ª claimed he was capable of designing an engine with a Grade 2 high quality rating was laughable, to say the least.


    "I''m a bit busy now, so I will be taking my leave. No need to see me off." Luka stood up and walked away.


    It was clear that the negotiations had fallen through, but above that, their relationship had also nosedived. Luka was a bit cold with his words and actions, and it showed that he thought little of Lucas at the moment.


    However, Lucas wasn''t bothered about that. He just sighed at the thought that finding a team to sponsor was much too difficult.


    To sponsor a team, he needed money, lots of it. But he wanted to sponsor a team to make money. However, without money, he couldn''t sponsor a team.


    ''Do I have to think of a different idea now?'' Experience new stories on My Virtual Library Empire

 Chapter 273 Visitors

    The next day came soon but Lucas didn''t do much. Since he was still on leave, he didn''t attend the race today. Instead, Lucas spent his time in the work-station and occasionally came out to play with Melissa. He also taught her some mystical energy refinement methods from his previous life, as well as training her in the art of vestige-smithing.With her third level Apertures Opening stage strength, Melissa could pass as a Tier 1 vestige-smith, but her skills were still lagging behind; she was almost at the level of a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith, which was a rank lower. Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t think too much about it. Melissa was still very young ¡ªat eleven years old. Her future was very bright. If one were to consider the fact that when Lucas was at this age, he hadn''t even come into contact with mystical energy, then Melissa could be said to have more potential than he did. Of course, this was only in regards to her raw power and not her potential as a vestige-smith, although that wasn''t lacking either.


    The repetitive days continued like this until the fifth day of Lucas'' break, which was two days since his meeting with Luka. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Big brother, when will I learn how to make swords?" Melissa asked while drawing on a special blue parchment paper.


    The blue paper was provided by the system in the work-station. It was used for tracing vestige designs and making blueprints. Not only was the quality of the paper amazing, but it was also long lasting and couldn''t easily be damaged by folds. It was every architect''s dream paper, although in modern times, everything was now done digitally.


    "Wait a bit more, then I''ll teach you how to build sword moulds." Lucas ruffled her hair as he spoke.


    Ignoring her age, Melissa was indeed at the age to dive into the practical aspect of vestige-smithing. She had been watching him at work for two months now, and understood some of the basics in the practical aspect. As for the theoretical aspects, it was impossible to be mastered, but one could say that Melissa had taken a strong foot forward.


    Lucas left after making some corrections on her work and pointing out places she could improve before entering the workstation.


    Melissa was registered as an official employee by the store and was a third level stellar practitioner. Because of the system ability, the Employee Hire Function (EHF), Lucas could use Melissa''s ability almost as if it were his own, without having any effects on her.


    With a third level stellar practitioner ability and his current knowledge bank, it was possible for Lucas to try his hand at smithing a Grade 4 vestige even though the stellar energy prerequisite was the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. This was more than twice his current ability using the EHF. If it weren''t for the fact that Lucas'' real ability and experience was that of a Grandmaster in his previous life, which was far ahead of a Tier 1 Grandmaster, Lucas wouldn''t be trying this.


    The vestige he was building this time around wasn''t a simple cold weapon but a hot-weapon-type vestige. The reason for this was that unlike cold weapons, hot weapons had an added complexity due to the inclusion of physical sciences such as physics and mathematics in their construction. While cold weapons did take into consideration mathematics, it wasn''t as much as with a hot weapon.


    As for why Lucas decided on this, it was because he intended on producing a racing shuttle engine next. Racing shuttle engines were very much complex cold weapons, so it was better to start from hot weapons which, albeit complex, weren''t as difficult to make as a racing shuttle engine.


    One might ask what''s the relationship between a gun and a hover car, and in truth, there was none. However, this was on the condition that they weren''t vestiges. If the two creations were vestiges, a vestige-smith could draw similarities in their principles of operation when using stellar energy.


    The more knowledgeable a vestige-smith was, the more similarities they could spot. This was why a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith was revered; apart from their ability to Smith Grade 5 vestiges, they were very knowledgeable about vestige-smithing and could easily switch to any branch, albeit they won''t be as efficient or impressive as a dedicated vestige-smith. Nonetheless, the ability to smith any type of vestige-smith was amazing and made one admire and desire to have a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    The weapon Lucas was making wasn''t just a simple cold weapon. It also borrowed a few concepts from the operation of a hover engine and an Internal Combustion Engine back on Earth. For instance, it utilised a specially built-in piston and cylinder system which helped boost and speed the power of each shot. Due to that, there was a large component that was essentially similar to an engine block, albeit not the same appearance.


    It also copied the stellar arc flow system of a hover vehicle, which was a design system that supported the flow and transmission of stellar energy from one end to another, which minimising as much energy loss as possible.


    Because of the nature of the vestige, it would be one of, if not the largest vestige Lucas had made, excluding his battle armour. He estimated it would take him five days to complete, and this was because Lucas was still unfamiliar with the design and development. Once he got the hang of it, subsequent versions could be done within two to three days.


    One should recall that this was to be a Grade 4, and Lucas was only at the third level thanks to the EHR. Being able to complete a Grade 4 vestige in five days was incredibly, and doing so within three days would make a lot of Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths commit suicide of hide their faces in shame.


    While Lucas was busy in the work-station, a visitor, or rather, a group, had walked into the store. They were three: one female and two males.


    The men looked quite mature and wore black suits, appearing to be at least in their late 30s. However in truth, these two were actually well past their forties. One of them had brown hair while the other had dark-grey hair. There was this occasional glint in their eyes as they studied the store.


    As for the third person in the group, it was a young lady with black silky hair. She looked like a gorgeous model and a likely winner for the Miss Universe pageant.


    Her pair of red succulent lips split apart as she glanced at Melissa with a confused look on her face.


    "Where''s the owner?"

 Chapter 274 Vienna

    The Bilac trade centre in Trundel City wasn''t just a market for goods and resources, but it also had some nice recreational spots and restaurants; after all, it was common practice for store owners and employees to have a lunch break.One of the more popular restaurants in the region was called The Grey Whale, and not just because the building looked like a whale. The Grey Whale served a ton of delicacies, but the restaurant''s signature dish was a meal made using the flesh of a certain desolate beast from the sea. The desolate beast looked just like a whale, and was even nicknamed the Grey whale, but it was much more hideous and terrifying than a normal whale. Despite its looks though, its flesh tasted amazing and the skin could be used to make a unique whale oil that has an enticing fragrance.


    Because of the fact that the entire body of the Grey whale was very valuable ¡ªwhether it was the bones that could be used to make vestiges, the skin for oil or the flesh for meat¡ª the desolate beast was very costly in the market. To be able to serve it as their signature dish, it was no understatement to say that the Grey Whale restaurant was a high-class dining spot within the Bilac trade centre.


    Currently, Lucas, alongside Melissa, were seated in this restaurant opposite a group of three.


    "You can order whatever you want." The young lady in front smiled at Lucas.


    The young lady has a pair of black eyes and black hair, making her a unique one amongst the hyuman race that was filled with vibrant colours. However, that didn''t make her any less beautiful.


    With silky black hair almost reaching her waist, a pair of eyes that could have one lost staring at them and a smile that could topple down cities, and a luscious body that could simply be described as perfect, the lady would definitely be a killer model back on Earth. Even in this world, Lucas had yet to meet anyone prettier than her, although Laura Mertens was almost a close match.


    Even as they sat within the restaurant, there was the occasional peeking from the other diners who couldn''t help but want to look twice or even stare at her all day. If it weren''t for the two bodyguards standing behind her, some of the more bold men would have walked over to shoot their shot.


    However, Lucas was an exception in that he didn''t care.


    What flavour of city-toppling beauty had he not seen before? At the peak of his past life, Lucas was a Grandmaster magic weapon-smith who many schools, kingdoms, empires and sects scurried over to have him forge for them a magic weapon. Even when he was still a Master, a certain royal kingdom that ruled five continents had tried to offer two of their finest princesses ¡ªwho were prettier than the girl before him¡ª alongside five major cities and a dukedom thrice the size of the entire Bernin city-state just for Lucas to make them a magic weapon.


    Staring at the menu, Lucas glanced at Melissa whose eyes were stuck on the display screen.


    "You heard her. Choose whatever you want." Lucas said.


    Melissa glanced at him, seeking confirmation, and seeing Lucas nod, she rejoiced and began picking out various meals on the menu.


    "This, uhm, this. And this, oh, oh, this too."


    By the time Melissa was done, a full minute had gone by and she had ordered over thirty dishes.


    The young lady was stunned by this and even her bodyguards were speechless, but they said nothing. As for Lucas, he wasn''t surprised.


    Recently, Melissa''s appetite had increased, probably because of her rise in strength which was inconsistent, by hyuman logic, with her growth speed. As such, her body was in dire need of nutrients. Even though he fed her to satisfaction most of the time, Melissa would still crave for more. The situation was so bad that of Lucas'' expenses, 60% was for feeding Melissa alone.


    "Now, let''s focus on why we''re here, miss." Lucas stared at the young lady.


    She wasn''t a stranger to him, although they were just acquaintances. The young lady was exactly the woman he had ''saved'' a few days back in the East Braftford relics.


    Back then, Lucas was attracted to the area because of the sounds and he found a fourth level drudnid attacking a trio. Because he was lacking both resources as well as a reference material for mastering magi runes, Lucas decided to take down the drudnid. After a bit of sche-, planning, Lucas defeated the drudnid with the aid of one of her bodyguards, at the cost of an arm and the other bodyguard being knocked out unconscious.


    A few minutes later, they had encountered a squad of the taskforce and were promptly evacuated from the relics. Lucas had thought that would be the last time they would meet, so he didn''t think much about it and left the incident at the back of his mind.


    However, the woman had actually tracked Lucas down and wanted to talk with him.


    Only one of the two bodyguards at her side was a part of the duo from five days ago; the second one was recuperating and was replaced by someone else. Even though health care systems and procedures were much more advanced than before, allowing the man to recover his torn arm, there was still a need to take a break and recover mentally and psychologically from the incident. Plus he had worn himself out using the drug from then, and performing in a high intensity battle with heavy internal injuries. On the other hand, although his colleague took the same drug, he didn''t suffer as many severe injuries as the one armed man did.


    "You don''t need to have your guard up or anything." The lady smiled. It felt almost like the spring breeze but Lucas didn''t care.


    "My name is Vienna. As for why I wanted to meet you, it''s to offer my thanks for your help. If it wasn''t for you, I and my uncles would have died. So, thank you." The young lady, Vienna, bowed her head.


    The two bodyguards were surprised by this, and the one closer to her ¡ªwho also survived the incident¡ª stepped forward.


    "Young miss, you shouldn''t."


    "No, I do. I owe him this." Vienna replied with her head still bent. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas felt a little bit weird after this treatment. Not because he was overwhelmed by it, but because he knew the truth. Lucas never intended on saving the young lady and her crew. All he wanted was the fourth level drudnid''s body; it was simply a matter of related interests. If the trio had been facing a different kind of danger, Lucas would not have intervened.


    Nonetheless, even though he knew the truth, Lucas wasn''t foolish enough to say it. He simply decided to go with the flow.


    "There''s no need for this. The meal is already enough." Lucas said.


    Vienna lifted her head up with a smile, seemingly glad that Lucas had accepted her expression.


    "The meal is nothing serious; it''s not worth using as a thanks for saving my life." Vienna waved nonchalantly. It was clear that she meant it, even though there was a large number of dishes ordered.


    Lucas however, thought differently of her words.


    The waiters had already arrived with the food, and the table was already filled up. What''s more, there was a line of trolleys beside their table filled with the remaining dishes. A humble estimate would put the value of each dish on the table at about twenty federal coins, as they were all made from desolate beast meat and other special ingredients. The signature dish alone even cost up to fifty federal coins. With over thirty dishes, the entire dining experience would cost at least six hundred (600) federal coins. That''s life-changing money for some, and also the price of a custom Grade 1 vestige.


    Although a Grade 1 vestige wasn''t exactly powerful, a customised one was still incredible and one costing about six hundred federal coins would be close to the peak of what a Grade 1 vestige can achieve.


    "As a thank you gift, I decided to offer you something much better. Forgive me for taking so long, but it was mostly because I didn''t know what to get."


    "No problem. Just the fact you''re being considerate is already generous of you." Lucas commented.


    He actually meant it. Not many people would revisit the matter with their saviours, and some may want the incident entirely forgotten. On the other hand, the young lady had searched for him and even took him out for dinner as a means of relaying Lucas.


    Vienna smiled at the compliment and there was a bit of redness on her cheeks.


    Taking out a small blue gadget, which was a type of a mini independent stellar processor typically used for storing documents, she slid it across Lucas.


    "To the matter of expressing my gratitude, how would you like to own a company? To be specific, a drift racing team."

 Chapter 275 A Gift

    "How would you like to own a company? A drift racing team to be exact."


    Lucas didn''t show any reaction on his face when asked this. Instead he calmly picked a glass from the table and took a sip from it first.


    "Why do you think I''d be interested in that?" Lucas asked calmly.


    Vienna smiled at his response and bowed her head once again.


    "I have to apologize once again. This time, for spying on you the past few days."


    Lucas had already guessed that part. It was strange that just two days ago, he was trying to buy a share of the Black Star team but failed. Then now, someone decided to gift him a drift racing team as a thank you gift. It was just too coincidental that it was unbelievable. The only explanation would be that the young lady must have had her men spy on him for a while.


    Luckily, Lucas had not done anything extraordinary or stood out much.


    "I''ll brush it off if you refrain from such in the future." Lucas replied.


    "You, can''t you show a bit more respect?"


    One of the bodyguards who stood behind Vienna, a man with green hair, frowned at Lucas'' nonchalant behaviour. He wasn''t present during the East Braftford relics and didn''t know how exactly Lucas had saved Vienna and the others, but chalked it down as something meagre with a mix of luck. As such, this made him look down on Lucas a bit as the latter was profiteering off a simple act. Yet, not only had the young miss bowed her head twice to Lucas, but she also offered him am essentially free company. Despite all that, Lucas treated it calmly. In the bodyguard''s opinion, this was a sign of disrespect.


    He already knew the results of the background investigation on Lucas and knee the latter was just a regular individual, a human even. So, there was no justification as to why Lucas should act this way, even if he didn''t know Vienna''s true identity.


    Lucas glanced at the bodyguard briefly before ignoring him. Why would he squabble with a minion?


    Seeing the disdain in Lucas'' eyes, the man was angered. He, a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, was being looked down by a human who couldn''t even step into the Apertures Opening stage.


    "You...!"


    "That''s enough."


    The other bodyguard who was present that day, but not for the final fight against the drudnid, stopped his partner and forced him to calm down with a glare. Not only were they at different levels, but the man was also of a higher rank than the green-haired man.


    Lucas didn''t mind their clash, instead his attention was on Vienna. To be honest, he was interested in this gift she wanted to offer him after all, it was what he had been striving for since.


    "What''s the deal?" Lucas asked. "Even for a thank you, this is quite an expensive gift."


    "You seem to not understand, Mr Lucas." Vienna said. Having investigated Lucas already, it was a given that she would know his name.


    "The shares I''m giving you is just my way of saying thank you for saving me. You might think it''s costly, but the chance to be alive for another day is worth any price."


    There was also something else she left unsaid; her life was far worth more than those shares.


    "Fine. So, which drift racing team is it?" Lucas turned his focus to something else.


    "Team Versoa. It''s a drift racing team in the second tier league, the Nadire Underground League. Versoa is currently in the upper middle position of the league, which isn''t a bad. Also, I''ll be giving you majority stake in the team, so it''ll essentially become you''re to handle." Vienna explained.


    The Nadire Underground League, or the NUL for short, was a tier two unofficial drift racing league, meaning it was ranked higher than the K1 league. Apart from that, it was actually of the top second tier leagues in the city-state, spanning three cities. In other words, the NUL accepted qualified racing teams from three different cities and organised events in those cities. Enjoy new stories from My Virtual Library Empire


    Whether it was the tier rating or the participants, the NUL was on an entirely different level when compared to the K1 league. The pay and, the number of fans and viewers were also higher.


    "Are you okay with that?"


    "I guess so." Lucas nodded.


    "Great." Vienna smiled. "I''ll have someone send you the transfer and ownership documents within a day. At the same time, they''ll meet with you tomorrow and introduce the team to you."


    And just like that, Lucas became a majority owner of as tier two drift racing team.


    While returning back to his store, Lucas used an AI to generate a resignation letter which he sent to Havos. Since he was now going to have his own drift racing team, there was no reason to remain with the Black Star team.


    Although he had spent quite some time with them, it was on a formal basis. Lucas never really felt close to the group and part of it was that they subconsciously kept him by the side.


    The current Black Star team was made mostly of those from the original team who were already a crew. Havos easily blended in because he was the new head of designs, and also the student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. Everyone in the team wanted to get closer to him whether it was because of his master or to learn a bit from Havos himself.


    On the other hand, Lucas was just a human. Although he had displayed an impressive level of theoretical knowledge, it was only theory. Lucas didn''t show his vestige-smithing skill, so they all thought it was roughly the same as an average human. The best human blacksmith could barely enter the ranks of a vestige-smith by smithing the lowest standards of a Grade 1 vestige. With that in mind, it was understandable why they didn''t rate Lucas.


    While Lucas had departed, Vienna''s bodyguard walked over to his seat and sat down. The other bodyguard, the green-haired man, was sent outside to be on the lookout, but in truth, it was just to prevent him from listening into their conversation.


    "Do you really think he is worth it? Although he saved us, he''s only just a human." The man asked her. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s not a matter of worth it or not. I''m simply showing my appreciation for what he''s done for me." Vienna said before sipping from a cup of tea.


    "I understand." The man sighed.


    Even though he said that, the man already knew that Vienna wasn''t speaking the truth. If she wanted to thank the young man earlier, she could have just wired him a few thousand federal coins. Based on what they knew about Lucas, that would have been enough for him. Despite that, she had actually given him her stock in a drift racing team worth hundreds of thousands of federal coins.


    A thank you gift? The man might be getting old, but he wasn''t getting dumber. It was clear that the young miss thought highly of the young human.

 Chapter 276 Versoa

    "Lucas just sent me a resignation letter. Know anything about that?" Havos glanced at Luka who sat opposite him.


    Luka was surprised by this for only a second before he replied.


    "Shouldn''t you be asking him instead?"


    "Something tells me it''s related to you. Call it an instinct." Havos rapped his finger on the table.


    "Well, that instinct of yours is incredibly sharp. Too bad you can''t use it to pick up women." Luka grinned. He then proceeded to explain.


    "He approached me two days ago wanting to buy the remaining ten percent shares of the team and also official sponsorship rights as a vestige-smith store. I refused to sell because I saw no value in doing so, and it would also hurt our brand."


    "Wow, he has a huge appetite." Havos chuckled.


    One couldn''t blame him for saying that. Usually, those who could own a stock if a drift racing team offered more than just money to do so. Owning a stock in a drift racing team would tie the image of the team to the person and if would also give them controlling rights over the team. Naturally, potential candidates had to be vetted well, and one of the major requirements was to be able to offer value to the team. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


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    Take for instance the ten percent stocks being discussed. Supposing there were two competitors for it, Lucas and a top 100 company in Trundel City. While the two sides could afford the cash value for the shares, the criteria didn''t just stop there. One also had to be more beneficial than the other to the team.


    In this case, it was obvious that a top 100 company could benefit the team much more than Lucas could. Not only could they afford the stocks, but they could also occasionally offer investment or quarterly sponsorships depending on the team''s performance. They can also give or subsidise part of their products and services for the team members, boosting morale. They could also offer their valuable connections and aid whenever the team encountered any issues.


    Even though such a company wasn''t bidding for the stocks, Luka still decided to keep it in the reserves for a suitable candidate. In this case, Lucas didn''t meet the mark so there was no way he would have sold it to him. Havos understood this which was why he sided with Luka.


    Also, Havos wasn''t really familiar with Lucas. They had only met back in Baylands City and based on that familiarity, Havos had decided to do Lucas a ''favour'' and get him into the team. But with Lucas now resigning, Havos felt that the latter didn''t value his help, so he didn''t try to talk him out of it or ask for the reason.


    "Forget about him. We need to focus on the next series of planning for the team." Luka said.


    . . .


    The next day came quickly and just after Lucas had made breakfast ¡ªwhich was actually the takeouts they got from the restaurant the previous day¡ª he had a visitor at the door. It was the personnel sent by Vienna to help with the takeover.


    Lucas left the house but this time with Melissa in tow. He realised that leaving behind the eleven year old all on her own continuously for a significant amount of time wasn''t exactly good for her. So, unless it was a mission or a dangerous activity, Lucas decided to take Melissa along with him.


    The Versoa team''s base was surprisingly located in Trundel City, which made things easier for Lucas as he wouldn''t need to relocate. However, it was in the northern side of the city, which was pretty far. Trundel City was ridiculously huge even for a metropolis. Even using a light rail train, it would take at least 15 minutes to get from the north to the south side of the city. The average speed of a light rail train was 700km/hr, so that meant from one point to another was at least 175km.


    Because of the size of Trundel City, the area within the city was divided into provinces. The Bilac trade centre, which was where Lucas lived, was within Cas Lego province. As for the Versoa team''s headquarters, it was in Bailin province north of Trundel City.


    Upon arriving at Bailin province after a fifteen minutes light rail train ride, a hover car arrived at the station and took Lucas over to the headquarters. There, he carried out the handover process with the staff sent over by Vienna. It wasn''t stressful and only required Lucas to fill in some of his personal details and confirm the documents with his signature.


    During this process, Lucas finally found out what percentage of the drift racing team he was taking over; 40%. Although it didn''t sound like much, it made Lucas the majority stakeholder of the team. The second largest majority stakeholder turned out to be Vienna with 30%. The remaining 30% was then split by other collaborators, some of whom were also sponsors of the team, albeit not as a vestige-smith company.


    Since Vienna had agreed to let Lucas run the team as he wished, he didn''t have to worry about anyone in the board overruling his decisions. Without Vienna''s vote, it was essentially impossible for Lucas to not have his way with the decision-making of the team.


    Unlike third tier teams that only consisted of a drift racing crew, second tier drift racing teams were much bigger in structure. Because they made a lot of money and were very well funded, most of these teams formed companies that branched out into similar markets. For instance, apart from the usual crew lineup for the race, there was a group of staff that ran stores for the team. These stores sold the team''s official merchandise or even provided revamps for racing shuttle and hover vehicles. Some teams built themed restaurants while others had a training academy for drivers.


    The whole point of this culture was for drift racing teams to be independent and be able to generate a lot of money to support themselves. Even though there were a lot of investors backing a team in the second tier, there wouldn''t always be funding for shuttle revamps and so on. Hence, the team''s decided to find a means to earn more money.


    Also, in times when they were financially buoyant, they could invest the excess funds into these business and generate more income rather than simply storing it in a bank. Thanks to such foresight in planning, most second tier teams were worth a lot of money and could afford various types of upgrades and remodelling of their racing shuttles even when the stakeholders weren''t able to fund the team.


    "Now, you own a portion of these businesses." The staff who assisted Lucas throughout the activity explained.


    With a 40% stake in the team, Lucas didn''t just own the team but also its various assets and businesses. From a pauper, he had become a wealthy man.


    However, that wasn''t what Lucas came here for.


    "Take me to see the team."

 Chapter 277 Versoa 2

    The Versoa team''s headquarters was a large plot of land spanning a few acres. Even though the Bailin province was a somewhat border province in Trundel City, as land was very costly in Trundel City, the amount needed to purchase these was unimaginable. This showed just how strong the financial prowess of the team, or its owner, is. One should recall that the current building Lucas used for the Heavenly Demonic Shop cost three thousand federal coins a month for rent. This was the same price he used to buy the land and building for the Seven Sparks Forge store in Baylands City.


    On the plot of land owned by the Versoa team, there were three main buildings and some other secondary buildings. The first was an arena-building, which was actually a ''mini'' racing track or circuit. It could easily rival some of the racing tracks on Earth in terms of complexity, but was only half the length, at around two and a half kilometres. Nonetheless, this was already very impressive.


    Around the circuit was a spectator platform about three storeys high, and had stores inside of them just like the layout of a stadium. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the middle of the circuit were three secondary buildings not more than two storeys tall [1]. One of them was a repair station, another was a recreational spot that had a viewing platform at the top floor. The final building was the garage for the team''s shuttles.


    Apart from training and testing, the racing circuit was also rented out to host events and live concerts, which were somewhat popular even though virtual transmission was a thing. The circuit was also used for some private races between drivers.


    The second main building, which happened to be the tallest at thirty-six storeys in height, was the residential area for the team members and the working staff whose jobs were to maintain the place. Although not all team members lived here, they each had a room in the building. The core members of the team, who numbered six, were each given a single floor in the skyscraper. The remaining thirty floors were split into two: ten floors went to the remaining members of the team with each floor having three apartments, while twenty floors was for the staff with each floor having six apartments.


    Not all apartments were occupied by their intended occupants. For instance, the ten mid-level floors meant for the members of the team had thirty apartments. However, the official team members weren''t up to that much. So, some of the leading staff in the headquarters were allowed to take residency in these apartments. For instance, the


    The final building was a six storey building which was the administrative building. It was where all the administrative work¡ªincluding the overseeing and management of the team''s asset¡ª took place.


    Vienna''s secretary, who was sent over to guide Lucas through the takeover process, led him to the Versoa team''s conference room located in the administrative building. The meeting was to take place there, but since it was an impromptu meeting, Lucas had to wait for the others to arrive.


    During this time, Lucas began going through the overview of the team.


    Despite being a second tier team in an unofficial league, the Versoa team was thick in cash with a rough net-worth of about twelve million federal coins. This net-worth included their assets and cash value. The team had been in the Nadire Underground League for three years and had garnered lots of investment and profit during these years, so it''s value was understandable. They also made around seven hundred thousand to one million federal coins per year in revenue from all their businesses, excluding sponsorships, with a profit of eighty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand federal coins, which equates to roughly a 12% profit margin.


    Even though this was a lot, it still couldn''t compare to vestige-smith companies, especially Lucas'' business. Back in Baylands City, after unveiling the SS vestiges Black Dagger and Blue Spear, Lucas had made 920,000 federal coins after selling twenty of each vestiges (a total of forty) in revenue, with three hundred and sixty-eight thousand in profit.


    Of course, there was a logical reason: the SS vestiges were almost as powerful as Grade 4 vestiges, despite being only Grade 3. They also utilised a never-before-seen technology, and added with their rarity, the price was justified; otherwise the value of the federal coins in Eretre would have crashed.


    Also, Lucas'' profit margin was much higher than other vestige-smith companies because he didn''t spend on materials; he only had to compensate sixty percent of his revenue to the system. On the other hand, the Versoa team''s 12% profit margin was much more realistic.


    After looking through the financial documents, Lucas also took some time out to look at the designs of the team''s racing shuttle, nicknamed ''Viper''.


    According to the Hyuman encyclopaedia database, the Viper was an extinct species of venomous snakes during the human era. One of them happened to be the fastest snakes and the humans took on that name for some of their vehicles to display both speed and ferociousness attributed to the snake.


    The Verso team took on this tradition and named their racing shuttle ''Viper'', implying that it wielded an incredible speed and power.


    Truthfully, the schematics of the racing shuttle showed that it achieved just that. Even the Viper''s performance in the previous couple of races was impressive. Vienna claimed that Versoa was currently in the upper-middle position of the table, but this was actually the eleventh place; although she wasn''t wrong, that was really close to the top ranks.


    If it were placed in the K1 league, based purely on the vehicle''s performance alone, getting top three would be a breeze. The reason why Lucas said top three and not first place was because the current K1 league''s toppers had really powerful racing shuttles.


    The LVA team had a racing shuttle developed by an official vestige-smith company in the hover car industry. Team Yoko-bunny was sponsored by the third generation princess of the Verantino family, the fourth most powerful family in Trundel City. According to rumours, she was one of the two only females in her generation and the youngest, making her a spoilt princess. A famous Tier 1 Master vestige-smith had been hired to design their racing shuttle alongside two other Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths. Only the Red Mouse team was lacking in comparison, but the driver was much more skilled.


    At the same time Lucas was studying the designs, a few individuals walked into the conference room. Lucas took note of them, but after a quick headcount, he realised that not everyone was present yet. After a slight frown, Lucas paid no heed to them and returned to the drawings.


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    Since the rest hadn''t shown up yet, there was no reason to start the meeting. Also, Lucas understood that it was an improptu decision, which was why he decided to be so lenient.


    A quarter of an hour had to go by before finally, the last set of people arrived in the conference room and took their seats.


    The meeting officially began.

 Chapter 278 Orvel Feurd

    In attendance for the meeting were the six core members of the team. Each of the six core members handled an important department in the team.


    The head of the designs and energy who handled the design and development roadmap for the racing shuttle.


    The head of material manufacturing who led the department in charge of researching and developing the required materials for the vehicle. They also handled the acquisition of such materials.


    The head of vehicle manufacturing, who was the vestige-smith in charge of manufacturing the final design for the racing shuttle.


    The head of the department of simulation and testing, who led the department charged with simulating the designs of the racing shuttle and testing the completed shuttle.


    The head of the department of public affairs and commerce which was a department that handled the commercial businesses of the team and their public appearance.


    The last core member of the Versoa team was the head of the on-site unit, which was the unit charged with handling communication with the driver, training the driver, and also carrying out repairs on the shuttle mid-race.


    The department of designs and energy was charged with developing the engine that powered the racing shuttle as well as the power source for it. The engine and power sources were the heart and soul of a racing shuttle, and all other developments related to the shuttle has to be done with them in consideration.


    Due to this, the department of designs and energy was the most important in the team and the leader, the head of designs and energy, was the defacto head of the Versoa team. His authority extended to most of the other departments except for the department of public affairs and commerce.


    He was also the last one to arrive for the meeting, probably as a show of power or influence.


    The current head of designs was Orvel Feurd, a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith who was quite famous and very talented.


    All vestige-smiths in the same tier were not exactly of the same capabilities. There were unofficial sub-ratings of low, middle, high and peak ranks. Orvel was a recently promoted high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith which meant that he was an eighth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Apart from the six core members, there were also a few other important members of the team. Most of them were the deputies of the core members and also the driver.


    There were also some of the other stakeholders of the team who had appeared via a virtual projection. As for the others, they just didn''t show up. The meeting wasn''t a stakeholders meeting and was just Lucas being introduced to the team. It was also an improptu meeting, so in truth, there was no need for any of them to show up. However, some of them were interested in this new majority stakeholder who was boosted up to this position by the previous one. While there would be an official stakeholders meeting to introduce Lucas later on, they couldn''t wait that long.


    In total, there were thirteen people in attendance for this meeting, excluding Lucas and Vienna''s secretary.


    "What''s with the abrupt meeting call today, Mr. Helnord?" Orvel glanced at the secretary who stood behind Lucas.


    The blatant disregard for Lucas who was on the main seat was clear as the Sun in the sky, however, no one seemed surprised by this but some of frowned while others snickered.


    As a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, Orvel Feurd was pursued by various different factions and parties. They tossed gifts his way in a bid to make him switch his allegiance over to their side, but due to his honour and pride, Orvel stuck with the team. Nonetheless, he was too proud because of his ability. Orvel treated most of the stakeholders with indifference, except for Vienna and another fellow. So, even though Lucas was the current majority stakeholder and essentially his boss, Orvel never thought him to be such.


    Helnord, Vienna''s secretary, frowned slightly at this behaviour but sighed inwardly. He had seen this coming and had even adviced Orvel not to act as he normally would as the new majority stakeholder was elected by Vienna, yet the latter ignored him.


    ''This might be a test by the young miss.'' Helnord suddenly had this thought.


    "It''s a meeting being called by the new majority stakeholder. He would like to relate with the team members and understand the circumstances of the team."


    Despite having being notified about this when the were called over, the core members and other team members had strange looks on their faces as they stared at Lucas.


    Usually, the "bossmen", as the team called the stakeholders, didn''t care about the workers. All they cared for were financial reports and performances in the race. Only two stakeholders till date had bothered to occasionally relate with the team, with one of them being Vienna.


    "Well, now he''s seen us. Can we put an end to this farce and return back to work? There''s a lot left for us to do." Orvel snorted.


    Lucas remained nonchalant, but deep down, he was somewhat irritated. He had never been a saint, and it was even more so when someone behaved like this. But Lucas didn''t react right away because he knew that certain experts had their quirks. Even the Iron Dwarves in his first life were known for their horrible personalities, but their skills with the hammer and forge were the best.


    Nonetheless, understanding didn''t mean he agreed with this behaviour. It was alright at times, but when one didn''t properly analyse the situation and acted like a dickhead, it became irritating. Back then, Lucas had forced the famous Iron Dwarves to be respectful around him, partly due to his skills and also a ''friendly speech'' with his fists.


    Today, Lucas couldn''t do exactly the same, after all the latter was an eighth level stellar practitioner. But that didn''t mean he would allow a subordinate be blatantly disrespectful to him.


    "Mr Oraval, was it? What''s it that''s so busy that requires your attention right away?" Lucas asked.


    "It''s Orvel, little man." Orvel Feurd grimaced.


    "As for my business, it''s entirely my business. You wouldn''t even understand any of it with that head of yours."


    "You''re probably right, Mr Oval." Lucas replied. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By this point in time, even a five year old would realise that Lucas was purposely saying the wrong name. Some of the core members were surprised while the others appeared interested. Even the two board members in attendance via virtual projection had a mysterious smile on their faces.


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    "Hey, kid. Are you playing with me?" Orvel stood up and glared at Lucas.

 Chapter 279 I Can Do Better

    "The fuck is wrong with you, kid. Are you playing with me?" Orvel shouted as he stood up.


    "Mr Orvel, please remember that he''s a stakeholder elected by the young miss." Helnord tried to intervene.


    "I pay my respects to the young miss, but not to some brat like this. Stay out of the way, otherwise I''ll take this as the young miss wanting to get rid of me even after all my hard work and efforts for this team." Orvel threatened. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Helnord froze, not knowing what to do at that moment. Orvel''s threat was indeed effective.


    Although Vienna might have valued Lucas quite well to gift him 40% equity of the team, it didn''t mean that he was more important that Orvel. Compared to latter, Lucas couldn''t offer even one tenth (or 10%) of what Orvel could do for the team. After all, part of the reason for their impressive performances in the previous and current seasons was due to the racing shuttle designed by Orvel.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised at how Orvel has suddenly instigated a serious problem and driven a wedge between him and Vienna. From a simple battle of words, it had turned into a ''me or him'' controversy.


    ''What a sly fellow.''


    At this moment, Lucas realised that Orvel was quite greedy for power. He probably wasn''t satisfied with his role as the head of designs and wanted to become a stakeholder, maybe even the majority stakeholder of the team. Despite that, a stranger came out of nowhere and beat him to it. Naturally, he would be pissed.


    Orvel probably wanted to use this situation to create a problem between Lucas'' relationship with Vienna. By emphasizing his efforts for the team and also revealing his irritation over a stranger appearing to take over, he had also communicated his thoughts in wanting a higher position, specifically, Lucas'' role.


    If it were an average person that said these words to another average person, none of this would be true. However, the speaker was Orvel and the listener was Vienna''s secretary, Helnord. Naturally, there were some underlying meaning in those words and the latter would definitely spot them.


    While Helnord was hesitating on what to do, Orvel decided to strike while the hammer was hot. But there was someone much faster than him.


    "You''re wrong about something, Mr Omal. Your hard work and efforts for the team has been very much appreciated and taken notice of. Mrs Vienna rewarded your diligence by paying you a monthly salary while letting things become as you wanted it to be. Take a look around you, if that wasn''t so, we wouldn''t be where we are today, now would we?" Lucas finally showed an expression; a smile.


    It was now Orvel''s turn to hesitate. His next course of action had been blocked and he had crashed right into an iron wall.


    Lucas'' statement might have seemed simple but he was implying that Vienna let Orvel run the team and expand his influence into other departments despite her being the real boss of the team. If Orvel were to challenge these words or desire more, he would paint himself as someone ungrateful to the others. If such news was to get out, it could affect his public image greatly.


    "Hmph." Orvel snorted before returning to his seat.


    It became a clear sign to others that in this first round, he had lost to Lucas.


    "As I previously mentioned, I went through the documents of the team and although it''s looking good, there are certain areas that need a few improvements and I''ll be sure to relay my thoughts on them to the necessary departments." Lucas said.


    However, he noticed that some of them seemed unconvinced. This was understandable after all the person lecturing them about their errors was a human. Explore more adventures at My Virtual Library Empire


    Realising this, Lucas smirked.


    "But there''s a particular error I just don''t understand so I''ll have to forward my question here."


    Lucas tapped on the table and a 3-d projection of the engine of the racing shuttle, Viper, appeared above the table.


    "My Dobal, can you shed some light on why you used a linear drive system for the energy delivery feature of the engine, L2.13o?"


    The current Viper was actually a second generation racing shuttle with the first generation appearing in the previous season. After its magnificent performance, department head Orvel decided that they would go with it for the current season, only making some minor changes to the structural design. They had also made changes to the engine to upgrade its performance to a much higher level. The new engine was then called the L2.13o.


    The nomenclature of the Versoa team''s engine was based on a unique set of rules that functioned like a secret code for the core team.


    L2 was the model number of the engine. As it was adapted from the previous generation Viper which was called the L1 engine, the following upgrade was called L2.


    The number 13 referred to how many key adjustments and upgrades had been made to it when compared to the L1 model.


    The letter ''o'' was part of a different set of codes used in the team. The set of codes signified the type of racing shuttle engine, similar to how certain cars back on Earth would have ''AWD'', ''RWD'', or ''S'' associated with them to inform others about the drivetrain system.


    Based on the Versoa team''s encryption, the ''o'' implied a balanced system but with a tilt towards speed. The idea was gotten from the fact that the letter ''o'' could be balanced on any side, and the shape together with the opening made it appear almost like an exhaust pipe.


    Orvel ignored Lucas, acting as if he wasn''t the one being spoken to. Since Lucas refused to say his name right, he saw no point in talking to him.


    Seeing this, the department head for the Vehicle manufacturing department ¡ªwho didn''t want the matter to escalate any longer¡ª sighed and answered,


    "The Linear drive system is a popular drive system for power transmission. It''s used for both light rail trains and starships because of its efficiency and power boost capabilities. So we decided to do the same."


    Truthfully, the man was confused as to why Lucas had asked such a simplistic question. He had originally thought Lucas was on to something, but the question was quite disappointing. This was something even a Tier 1 vestige-smith in the hover car industry could answer easily.


    Lucas glanced at the man who spoke and recalled his identity. He was named Lerman and was somewhat of a genius, at least by Eretre''s current standards. Although he was only a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Lerman would rank at the peak and was a sixth level stellar practitioner, closing in on the seventh level.


    Excluding Orvel, all the other department heads were at the Elite level of Tier 1, which was why Orvel was able to have his way in the team. Even if there was a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, he or she would have to be at the high rank to be able to rival Orvel.


    "You''re right about that, but the advantage of the linear drive system lies in a straight path, hence why it''s called ''linear''. If the vehicle is one that would go through a lot of curves and bends, the efficiency of the drive system drops by at least 30%. Also, linear drive system''s requirement is heavy on the material of the engine and the energy pathway." Lucas said.


    The Linear drive system was an energy transmission system that worked just like a rocket booster. Rocket boosters were good for going in a straight path, but they weren''t efficient for insane manuevers and bends, because they were too powerful. Even the lower version ¡ªnitro boosters¡ª used in racing cars, had the same problem. They were very effective for straight line dash but not for curves or drifting.


    What''s more, a Linear drive system required a solid and durable engine to be able to handle the incredible amount of energy being pumped into it. However, if the material used for the engine was too dense, it would adversely affect the weight of the racing shuttle with a corollary of a drop in speed and even acceleration.


    "You''re right about that, but we have a materials department to sort out some of those problems."


    Lerman pointed at another man in the conference room. The man was the current head of the department of material manufacturing. This department''s duty was to acquire and test the materials needed for building the racing shuttle and its engine. They also carried out research and development, mixing various materials and metals to produce new alloys that were not only stronger and better, but suited for a goal in mind.


    Seeing Lerman hint his way, the department head, Jov?, spoke up.


    "You''re right about that, sir. However, we at the materials manufacturing department have created a unique alloy to help with this. Our new alloy was made to cater to the requirements of the linear drive system, while being as light as possible. It also effectively reduces the drop in efficiency of the engine in bends, from 30% to 27%." Jov? proudly said.


    The alloy was one of his greatest achievements as a material scientist. Unlike the others, he wasn''t even a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, but when it came to understanding materials and metals, not even Orvel could compete with him.


    "But it still under-performs in the weight category compared to other engines." Lucas struck at Jov?.


    The latter twitched his lips and frowned, but he couldn''t say anything. Lucas was right. Even after all they had done, the L2.13o engine was still considerably bigger than other engines. Due to this weight, it inhibited the performance of the Viper.


    "If all you''re going to do is point fingers, then shut the hell up kid." Orvel growled, seemingly having had enough.


    "Although I am indeed pointing out the flaws, that''s not all I intend to do." Lucas smiled.


    "Then what is it you plan on doing?" Lerman stared at Lucas with an inquisitive glare.


    "How long did it take to build the Viper?" Lucas asked instead.


    This time around, the head of the simulation and testing department answered him.


    "It took two months of on-and-off research and upgrades by the department of design and energy. Two weeks ofor us simulation and testing department to do our job concurrently with a month of R&D for the materials by the relevant department. Finally, after everything was fixed, the department of vehicle manufacturing spent one month with the department of designs to create both the engine and the shuttle. That''s a total of four months." The department head said.


    Raising four fingers up, Lucas made a declaration with a smile on his face.


    "Four days. That''s how long it will take me to build something much better."

 Chapter 280 Customer

    The meeting ended shortly after Lucas made his statement. Since it would not negatively affect the team''s performance in the race or the staff, the bet was made between Lucas and the Versoa team''s core members. However, changes were made to the bet.


    Orvel had originally wanted it to be as Lucas had stated, but Lerman¡ªthe head of the department of vehicle manufacturing¡ª and Helnord ¡ªVienna''s secretary¡ª thought it would be more fair to ''level'' the playing field a bit.


    They had given Lucas an extra day to the bet, making it five days. They also allowed him access to the various departments laboratories and workshops as well as their equipment, although he didn''t have priority access. Finally, the winning condition was set to be for Lucas to make a much better engine rather than vehicle. The engine would now be placed into a replicated Viper racing shuttle, but without the L2.13o engine. By better, they meant at least a twenty percent (20%) improvement in performance. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While all the changes seemed to help Lucas, the last one was a bit controversial. Since the new engine would be used on the Viper, Lucas had to design one with the appearance and functionality of the Viper in mind. If he were to make his own racing shuttle instead, he would have more space for creativity and innovation.


    But then again, since he wouldn''t need to make a new racing shuttle from ground up and only focus on the engine, it made it easier for Lucas to be able to finish the task faster.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t bothered about this. Whether or not they introduced the new changes to the bet, it didn''t matter to him. He was confident in developing something better within four days.


    One would think that the matter of the bet would be Lucas'' first concern upon returning home, but it wasn''t. Surprisingly, it was his working situation.


    Having taken over the Versoa team in the Bailin province, Lucas was faced with a challenge. His store and home was on the other side across the city, in Cas Lego province. Although it was only a fifteen minute trip, it was still somewhat mentally stressful.


    "Big brother, you''re back." Melissa rushed up to Lucas and hugged him as soon as he came in.


    Smiling, Lucas patted her head as his worries disappeared from his mind. Having a cute younger sister was indeed the best thing in the world.


    "Did anyone look for me?" Lucas asked absentmindedly.


    This was a routine of his and he never expected the answer to be different from what it had always been. But today happened to be different.


    "Yes. Some strange man came around and asked for you." Melissa replied.


    "Oh?"


    Stunned by this, Lucas walked over to the counter and turned on the pop-up display. He immediately went to the security footage page and went through it. It didn''t take long for Lucas to find the footage of someone entering the store and speaking to Melissa.


    Even though she was young, Melissa was a third level stellar practitioner which was quite high. Apart from that, she was recorded as an employee of the system and could utilise privileges associated with the status, which included the system''s protection. Lucas had also informed her about this and taught Melissa some skills to protect herself. As such, he wasn''t too worried about leaving her alone.


    The man was a young man, probably around 25-26 years of age. He had brown hair and amber-coloured eyes. He was quite tall and wore a black leather jacket with black trousers. Based on how he dressed and walked, Lucas presumed the man to be a rich second generation.


    The security footage was equipped with audio-recording so Lucas could hear exactly what the man had asked for.


    "Is the owner here?" The visitor glanced at Melissa, a bit surprised by her presence.


    Because of the system''s protection, Melissa''s stellar refinement level couldn''t be sensed by anyone. She was also a mixed blood of a categorised human and a Nysa, so she didn''t naturally produce the same frequency wave as hyumans. Together with her appearance, this made her easily mistaken as a human.


    "My big brother went out for a business meeting, so I''m in charge." Melissa said with a proud smirk on her face.


    Thanks to Lucas, she had steadily conquered her fear of people and could calmly talk to anyone besides him.


    "Oh, alright. When the owner comes over, please let him know I came around. I''ll be coming back tomorrow." The man said before turning to leave.


    "Oh, mister, what do you want from big brother?" Melissa asked.


    She was thinking if it was a job related to vestige maintenance, she could accept the request and do it herself. Even though Lucas had warned her not to, Melissa had been itching to try out her hand at practical experience.


    Maybe it was because Melissa looked cute, the man stopped and answered her with a smile,


    "I need a revamp on my hover vehicle. I heard that the boss here is the vestige-smith who worked on the Juggernaut''s exterior. I wanted him to help me with my hover car but seeing as he''s not around, I''ll come back tomorrow."


    After that, the man left and Melissa returned to drawing vestiges.


    Lucas went through the entire footage and nothing else happened.


    A smile crept up on his face.


    This experience wasn''t exactly new, at least for others. It was one of the advantages of working for a drift racing team. As the team did well, those involved in the performance would naturally get rewarded, not just from the reward money but also the exposure.


    The one who profited the most would be the driver, the head of designs and the official vestige-smith sponsor(s), as they would be the ones the audience presumed were the important factors to the team''s glory. Right after them were the vestige-smith crew involved in the production.


    In the past, while working for the Black Star team, Lucas had heard and seen the other vestige-smiths receive personal orders for modifications from fans and enthusiasts. As these orders were made outside of the team, the profit went to the vestige-smith alone.


    Despite the others getting these contracts, Lucas didn''t receive any. Part of it definitely had to do with the fact that he was more reclusive than the other vestige-smiths in the crew. However, another reason was that it was somehow revealed to the interested parties that Lucas was a human. The tag of a human would make one underrate his abilities and consider them in good light. Many would believe that he had little to do with the Black Star team''s recent performance. As a result, it would be next to impossible for Lucas to get any personal orders unless one was either crazy or willing to take a risk. Read exclusive chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Despite that, just after he left the team, someone had actually come up to him for aid. Even though he wasn''t present, Lucas didn''t care. If it happened once, it would happen again. Also, the man said he would come back again.


    ''I can''t think too much about it.'' Lucas threw the matter at the back of his head and went into the work-station.


    He also settled in his decision regarding his work commute. For the moment, Lucas couldn''t move out of the store. He had already paid a six month deposit at three thousand federal coins per month, which equates to eighteen thousand federal coins (18,000). Even if he wanted to relocate, he would only receive 80% of his deposit of unoccupied months, and having stayed over one month already, that would be nine thousand six hundred federal coins (9,600). Lucas couldn''t tolerate leaving behind two thousand four hundred federal coins to the leaseholder because right after that, he would still have to pay for rent at his new place.


    Hence, the best decision ¡ªat least in Lucas'' view¡ª was to stay.


    Having made that decision, he promptly went to build the new engine.


    During his stint at the Black Star team, Lucas had learnt a lot about racing shuttles and hover cars. Even though the system''s tome had granted him the needed knowledge, there were still some basics and tricks only experienced professionals would know about.


    While learning, Lucas was also making use of the knowledge to create a formidable racing shuttle engine. He could use that design for the bet, however, it would not be fair.


    According to the bet, Lucas claimed that he would design an entirely new engine that would exceed the performance of the L2.13o. Since it was to be a completely new design, Lucas didn''t plan on using an existing prototype in his inventory, even though it was technically new to the world. He truly wanted to make something from scratch.


    Spreading the system-made blue paper on his workbench, Lucas began to map out his ideas.


    As the new majority stakeholder of the Versoa team, and also one brought in by Vienna, Lucas had access to all the information of the team, including the data on their racing shuttles and modifications. Also, because of the nature of the bet, he was granted further access; although Lucas didn''t need it as the previous authority already gave him the highest access.


    From the blueprint of the L2.13o engine, Lucas had managed to spot some of its shortcomings. There were at least ten ways he could improve on the engine and raise its performance up to 50%. However, he was lacking the stellar energy for that.


    The L2.13o was designed by a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith who was an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Even the man who headed the vehicle manufacturing department was a peak rank Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with a stellar refinement strength of sixth level, closing approaching the seventh level. On the other hand, Lucas ¡ªusing the Employee Hire Function¡ª could only mimic Melissa''s third level stellar refinement strength.


    Hence, even though he knew how to improve the engine by 50%, Lucas could not achieve it with his strength. He would need at least fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar refinement. Although he could make minor changes, that wasn''t enough. Also, it wouldn''t abide by his intentions.


    What Lucas wanted to do was to design a new engine and not modify the L2.13o. But since the engine would need to be fitted into a Viper, Lucas decided to take inspiration from the L2.13o. It was still a creation of an eight level stellar practitioner, so it wasn''t that bad.

 Chapter 281 A New Engine

    (Author''s Note: Quite a bit of physics would be stated in this chapter. It might be confusing for some, so please browse whichever part you find confusing or just skip. For the others, don''t take it too seriously.)


    A racing shuttle, just like a car, consisted of a lot of components grouped into a few.


    In a car, using the language suitable for a five year old, the basic grouping consists of the frame, the engine and the power transmission units, supported by tyres.


    In a less basic sense, a car consisted of two main parts: the machine portion and the carriage portion. The machine portion includes the chassis and transmission, the engine, and other electrical components like the sensors. On the other hand, the carriage portion was made up of the body, the seats and all those other ''simplistic'' parts.


    A hover car was just the same albeit with a few major changes. Rather than a typical ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) [1] or a typical electric motor engine, hover cars used a more complex electric engine. In the case of racing shuttles, they used a stellar energy which was powered by stellar energy. Most racing shuttles in lower leagues used electrical energy by converting stellar energy because the vestige-smith skill-set and engineering required for the former was immense. As racing shuttles and hover cars flew, they didn''t use electric motors.


    For racing shuttles that used stellar energy directly, they had a special type of engine meant just for that. On the other hand, those that utilised stellar energy indirectly, have a power source that was separate from the engine. The power source would then have a transmitter meant for delivering stellar energy to the engine because the two components were too big and complex to be joined together. Depending on the power transmission technique used, one could create a faster racing shuttle.


    Power transmission technique was very important to improving the speed of a racing shuttle, as the more stellar energy could be delivered to the engine in record time, the faster the engine would work. This was because it would receive an immense amount of energy at a stable rate, giving it a higher acceleration and speed. Naturally, this was on the condition that the engine was up to the task.


    The L2.13o used the famous Linear drive system for power transmission. This system was used both by light-rail trains and starships because it could achieve the fastest delivery speed for energy while simultaneously providing an incredible amount of power. To put it into perspective, it was like a straight-line pipe gushing out water with an immense pressure.


    Although this was one of the most powerful designs ever, its problem was obvious; handling. The linear drive system was just too powerful that it was very difficult for drivers to handle in a curved path. This was why it was mostly retained for use in light-rail trains and starships, as those vehicles commonly moved in a straight line with few turns. Even if they needed to do so, it wouldn''t be a sharp turn as with racing shuttles.


    While the disadvantage of the linear drive system was obvious, Orvel was a genius. By working with the other departments in the Versoa team, he was able to minimise some of the disadvantages of the linear drive system. To be exact, he actually combined two power transmission techniques on the Viper''s engine, using the linear drive system for straight paths and switching to a different power system for curvy tracks.


    Naturally, this added a bit more burden to the Viper. One power transmission technique already required certain physical parts to work, and two was all the more intensive on the vehicle. But by having the Materials manufacturing department ¡ªled by Jov?¡ª develop a suitable alloy, they managed to reduce the original tonnage of the engine.


    While there was still an increase in weight, it was 40% less than anticipated. With the combination of two power transmission techniques, compensating for straight line dashes and, drifts and sharp turns, the performance of the Viper was impressive.


    The core engine was also a spectacular creation that converted stellar energy to electrical energy at remarkable speed. The drives used were also formidable. All in all, the L2.13o was a marvellous work of engineering and vestige-smithing.


    However, in Lucas'' eyes, it was riddled with flaws. The problem was...


    "I''m too weak." Lucas sighed.


    Third level Apertures Opening stage strength wasn''t enough to make great improvements on it. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Staring at the projected blueprint model of the L2.13o, Lucas scribbled all over it, ruining the blueprint.


    ''The only option is to redesign the engine entirely; including the power transmission system, the energy storage and the core engine.''


    Even though an engine and a power source were two different components, they were mostly treated as one. After all, the mechanics required in building a power source and the power transmission system wasn''t something just anyone could do. But a vestige-smith specialised in engine design could do so.


    Moving to the fresh piece of blueprint paper provided by the system on his workbench, Lucas began making his designs.


    For the energy storage unit, he planned on making a unit using some of the precious materials for the system. They weren''t exaggeratedly expensive and roughly of the same value as the one used on the Viper''s energy storage unit. Also, Lucas intended to incorporate a certain power transmission technique into the energy unit. That''s right, into the energy unit and not as an independent component. Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire


    The energy unit Lucas intended to use was the Triquetra-shaped chamber, which he had used on the Juggernaut during his time at the Black Star team. It was an energy unit design that incorporated power transmission ideology using a unique shape called a triquetra [2].


    The advantage of this design was that the stellar energy would constantly be in an active state and once released into the power transmission system, it would already possess a strong characteristic to it. Using an analogy, it was like the difference between water in a swimming pool and water in motion. The water in the pool has no kinetic energy that could be taken advantage of right away, unlike water in a motion, for instance, a river. A river could push an object, but a swimming pool can''t.


    In the same way, when the energy within the Triquetra-shaped chamber is released, it possesses a unique characteristic similar to the kinetic energy of flowing water, which helps with the flow rate of the energy from the storage unit to the engine. With the added effect for the power transmission system, there would be an even greater boost to the speed of power transmission to the core engine.


    For the power transmission system, Lucas ditched the L2.13o''s linear drive system and went for a different system; one more suitable for curves and sharp turns.


    Even though he could have done like Orvel and utilise two power transmission systems, there was no need for that. The energy unit, the Triquetra-shaped chamber, already performed a similar function to the linear drive system. Having another straight line dash transmission technique was pointless. Also, because the Triquetra-shaped chamber was an energy unit, it wouldn''t have the disadvantages of the linear drive system since it could be combined with an opposite type power transmission system.


    The power transmission system Lucas used was a V-case drive. It was a self-made power transmission system that took inspiration from Earth''s V-type engines. However, this inspiration was only in name and shape, but their functionality and features were very different.


    Finally, for the core engine, Lucas went all-out, actually, 60% effort. It was still a stellar-to-electric core engine with an electric propulsion drive system. Although he could make a direct stellar propulsion drive system, no one would believe that Lucas had done so. In that case, he decided to do as the Romans did while in Rome [3].


    The best electric propulsion drive system Lucas could design was so powerful that if it were used on a car back on Earth, as long as the exterior was durable enough, it would be a piece of cake for the car to enter space; albeit the basic definition of space [4]. However, for this, he toned it down a lot because there was no need for space travel. Even so, reaching 500km/hr wasn''t a problem.


    After that came the design for the cooling system, lubricating system, the stabilisers, controls, sensors, and more. Overall, Lucas spent roughly ten hours on this. It might sound much, but truthfully, it was the opposite.


    A regular design team took anywhere from two weeks to two months to complete researching and designing a brand new racing shuttle engine. To be able to do the same within ten hours was unbelievable. It just goes to show how much of a genius Lucas was.


    With the blueprint now completed, the next course of action was to simulate the design before the actual construction. However, Lucas was confident in his calculations, so he decided to skill the simulation process and dive right into construction.


    Even though some said that smithing an engine wasn''t as difficulty as designing it, it was still very difficult. Luckily, to Lucas, this wasn''t even a problem. He would only just be taking more time for it.

 Chapter 282 The Bet

    A repetitive life might seem boring for many, but to Lucas, it was the best thing ever, so long as he was focused on what he loved most.


    Soon enough, three days went by in what felt like a flash. Including the first day Lucas began working on the new engine, only four days had passed and it was now the fifth day. Even though the modified bet was set for five days ¡ªwhich meant that Lucas would be given five days to work with the test on the sixth¡ª Lucas still achieved his goal in the original time. He only spent four days working on it and set the date for the confirmation of the bet on the fifth day.


    In front of him, on the workbench, was a brand new racing shuttle engine, complete with all the important parts. The entire contraption was so big, that Lucas had to modify the original workbench and make it larger.


    The new engine was developed with the Viper racing shuttle in mind just like the L2.13o. It could easily be switched in to replace the latter with only a little bit of effort.


    "So cool." Melissa''s eyes glittered as she stared at the engine.


    Having been raised for a couple of months by Lucas, Melissa had gotten exposed to vestige-smithing early and she found it amazing. To her, those piles of metal that most children her age would find unattractive were better than the teddy bear cushions and princess dolls sold in children''s stores.


    "Of course it''s cool. It''s made by your big brother." Lucas smirked proudly. Me too. Mm mm.,


    It was only beside Melissa he would fool around as she reminded him a lot about himself during his early life.


    "What''s the name?" Melissa asked with interest.


    "It''s a cool name. One I took quite a bit of effort thinking up." Lucas boasted.


    As it was made to put down the pride of the vestige-smiths of the Versoa team and also to win a bet, Lucas had named it ''Destroyer''. That''s right, it had a tacky name as once again, Lucas'' unique naming prowess was put to action.


    Melissa was speechless once he told her this and she couldn''t help studying Lucas.


    Despite the fact that she was only eleven years old, Melissa was quite smart and mature for her age. Even she could see that the name was really...childish.


    In the magic-smith society of Lucas'' first life, there were numerous unexplained mysteries and conundrums that could not be solved, answered or explained. As such, they were termed as the ''Twelve Great Mysteries''. Most of these mysteries were related to magic-smithing, whether they be techniques, concepts or materials; however, one mystery stood out from the rest. It was called the Mystery of Yohan.


    The Mystery of Yohan wasn''t some ecliptic question about why Yohan was so talented as a magic-smith or what his upper level would be. Instead, it was a question brought up in an attempt to understand why Lucas was so bad at names.


    Apparently, when others used cliche or childish names, Yohan behaved just like everyone else and would spot how horrible the names were. However, it was ironic that he did the same as well, but wouldn''t see a problem in it. At first, many thought that he was being a hypocrite, but after some of the magic-smiths closer to him queried Yohan or spoke to him about it, they realised that he wasn''t a hypocrite; Yohan truly saw no issue in his naming sense as he did with others. Continue reading on My Virtual Library Empire


    The concept of innate dual perception wasn''t uncommon with regular humans. It had been recorded quite a few times; situations where someone perceived the same idea or situation differently depending on who was involved. Most times, people do this purposely ¡ªwhich was then called hypocrisy¡ª but there were some recorded cases where individuals simply had their brains programmed to do so, hence the idea of innate dual perception. For instance such people, they truly saw nothing wrong with their actions. Take for instance with Lucas, where whenever someone used a bad name, he found it problematic, but ironically, he did the same but never noticed it.


    The problem however, was that occurrences of innate dual perception were common in regular individuals and not magic-smiths. In fact, it was logically impossible for a talented magic-smith to have a mental disorder as it would affect their progress. Hence, the fact that Yohan was a victim of a mental disorder, yet was an amazing magic-smith, became a mystery ¡ªthe Mystery of Yohan.


    "Go and get dressed. We''re heading outside." Lucas ruffled Melissa''s head.


    The little girl''s face immediately lit up and she ran out from the work-station to her room upstairs. While she might like vestige-smithing, Melissa was still a child and was quite adventurous. Although she didn''t complain, Melissa didn''t fancy staying indoors for a long time. She preferred going out with Lucas and taking in the sights of the city.


    After a short while, the sibling duo departed the shop. The Destroyer was naturally stored in Lucas'' system inventory. Earlier during the day, Lucas had already sent a message to Helnord, Lerman and the other vestige-smiths. He stated that the engine was completed and he wanted to be done with the bet as soon as possible.


    Fifteen minutes went by quickly and Lucas ¡ªtogether with Melissa¡ª arrived at the Versoa team''s headquarters in Bailin province.


    When they arrived, Helnord was already present and led the way to the designated test site which was the mini circuit. Gathered here were not just the core members of the Versoa team, but also three representatives of the various stakeholders ¡ªone more than during the previous meeting.


    The reason for this was simple; the existing shareholders had heard about the newcomer, most especially his bet with Orvel. As such, some of them became interested in it. No matter which side won, they would not suffer a loss. However, if by some miracle Lucas came out on top, the Versoa team would be capable of climbing up the ladder by replacing their current engine with his. This was because the condition for winning was to create a better engine at least twenty percent more efficient and powerful than the L2.13o. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If Lucas could pull this off, there was no reason to why the Versoa team wouldn''t switch to his engine. The stakeholders themselves would even push for this.


    Even though the Verso team''s 11th place was good, anyone would want to place higher as the difference between a top ten and one not in the top ten was vast; whether it was the resources, the rewards or the glory.


    Excluding Lucas and Vienna, there were five other stakeholders of the team. With three of them alongside Lucas, there would be four stakeholders present in this event. The power wielded by Lucas alone was already the greatest in the team, and with the added voice of three other stakeholders, it would be easy to switch the Viper''s engines even if Orvel didn''t want to do so. This was on the condition that Lucas wins.


    "You know you still have an extra day left. You could have showed up tomorrow for the tests instead." Helnord stared at Lucas with a confused expression.


    From the day the bet was made, only four days had elapsed. Today was the fifth day. Logically, Lucas could still have spent this day making extra adjustments to the engine. It was currently still 9:30am; there was lots of time for that. However, he had decided to settle the bet today.


    Lucas was someone who was brought in by his boss, Vienna. This meant that the two were tied together in the eyes of the others. If Lucas performed badly, he would end up sullying Vienna''s reputation. As a result, Helnord was a hit displeased that he didn''t utilise his advantages to the fullest.


    "An extra day or less makes no difference to me." Lucas calmly replied.


    Sighing, Helnord asked,


    "How confident are you?"


    Rather than giving a proper answer, Lucas replied,


    "If I wasn''t confident, I wouldn''t have made the bet."


    He then ignored Helnord and walked away.


    The Versoa team headquarters had three main buildings, and one of them was the arena. Apart from the mini-circuit in the arena, there were also three secondary buildings located at the opening in the centre of the circuit. One of those buildings was a recreational spot with a viewing platform on the top floor.


    Not a lot of people fancied this spot since it didn''t give a comprehensive view of the track, but it gave a close up view which vestige-smiths found valuable. Hence, only the crew members of the team stayed here while the stakeholders were seated in the VIP section of the arena.


    The other two buildings were the repair station and garage respectively. Currently, there were two Vipers in these buildings, one in each. The Versoa team''s original Viper with the L2.13o engine was in the garage, while the Viper set aside for Lucas to use was in the repair station. The station was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and devices, so it wouldn''t be a problem for Lucas to install a new racing shuttle engine there.


    "Where''s your engine?" Lerman, the department head of the Vehicle manufacturing department asked with a confused expression.


    A complete racing shuttle engine, which includes the energy unit, power transmission system and the core engine¡ª was an incredibly heavy machine that weighed a few hundred kilogrammes. It was usually carried by a heavy-duty-class hover car. This wasn''t to say that stellar practitioners couldn''t lift it up, but to prevent any damage during the process, a machine was better trusted.


    Lerman didn''t see any hover car following behind Lucas, so he was wondering where the engine was.


    "I''m with it." Lucas replied.


    He didn''t say any word more before walking towards a workbench and carefully retrieving the engine from his inventory. With the constant upgrades, the system''s inventory was almost like a new limb that Lucas could control with ease. As long as he wished, he could carefully retrieve an item from it with raising even a speck of dust.


    The engine appeared abruptly on the workbench, but it didn''t even make a single sound. It was almost as if it had been there from the start. If he hadn''t seen this himself, Lerman might have believed that to be truth.


    "You..."


    Lerman was stunned.


    As a vestige-smith, he was aware of spatial storage devices known as spatial vaults. They were on par with Grade 4 vestiges but could sometimes be costlier. It all depended on the fixed space within them.


    However, for a spatial vault that could contain a complete racing shuttle engine and handle its weight without destabilising, that was very expensive. It was the kind of expensive that didn''t just depend on one''s finances but also connections. This was because such spatial vaults could only be made by Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths and no one else. They were essentially the same value as Grade 5 vestiges.


    ''How could this kid have access to it? Who the hell is he?''


    For a second, Lerman couldn''t help but think that things might not go as everyone else thought.


    Maybe, just maybe, Lucas would cause an upset.

 Chapter 283 : The Stakes

    The process of installing a new engine wasn''t exactly long. At most it would take three to four hours alone, but with a team working on it, the time would be shortened to two hours or even an hour.


    Because the spectators were all busy people, Lucas couldn''t spend the majority of the morning setting up the engine. He has already drafted a document showing the necessary steps for installing the Destroyer, so he handed it to Lerman.


    "What''s this for?" Lerman asked while staring at the projected images.


    "It''s the installation script for installing my new engine, the Destroyer." Lucas replied.


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    An installation script was the same as a manual or a guide.


    One should know that Lerman is a peak Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with a lot of experience on hover cars and racing shuttles. What''s more, he was the department head of Vehicle manufacturing for the Versoa team. When it came to installing engines, Lerman was confident that he was even more proficient in that than Orvel, the team''s only Tier 1 Master vestige-smith. As such, he was stupefied by the fact that Lucas had handed him a manual.


    Usually, even though every engine might differ in appearance or functionality, they always maintained a few core components. Because of this, the process of inserting an engine onto a racing shuttle or hover car was roughly the same. As long as one could identify those key components, then it wasn''t a hassle to attach them to the shuttle; and as an experienced vestige-smith in this area, Lerman was confident that he could identify them.


    As if reading his thoughts, Lucas added,


    "It''s a bit special."


    Although he refused to believe it, Lerman downloaded the installation script and went through it. Thirty seconds later, he got interested. One minute later, his eyebrows were wide open.


    For the next five minutes, Lerman was glued to the script and it wasn''t until one of his department members called out to him that Lerman recovered.


    With an astonished look on his face, he glanced in front of him hoping to see Lucas and question him on the design, but the latter was already long gone.


    "Is there a problem, sir?" The vestige-smith asked Lerman. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No, nothing. Let''s get to work. Everyone should download the script and go through it first. If you don''t understand it, just follow the instructions written on it." Lerman said before uploading the installation script to the department''s group chat.


    The vestige-smith was confused just as Lerman was before. He couldn''t help but wonder why his department head had ordered that they all go through the script. What''s more, he even insinuated that they might not understand it.


    How could that be? Even if they weren''t as skilled as Orvel or Lerman, they were still experienced professionals.


    But as orders were orders, the vestige-smith didn''t argue with Lerman and did as he was told. It was only after he went through the script that he understood Lerman''s instructions. The person who built this engine was a genius; a fucking genius.


    With the assistance of the Vehicle manufacturing department, Lucas only spent forty-five minutes inserting the engine into the Viper doppelganger. It would have been shorter, but he spent a significant amount of time explaining some aspects to the crew lest they made any mistake.


    After the installation, the Viper clone was tested for functionality and after fifteen minutes, it was ready to be on the road.


    The bet was to be settled in a race.


    While a simple engine test could be carried out, it wasn''t as entertaining as driving the vehicle around.


    The drivers were two robots called Racers. A Racer was a type of robot that was used as a training partner for drivers. They were programmed to be able to ride any kind of vehicle, but because of this, they weren''t necessarily better than drivers. Hyuman drivers were flexible and could take risks, whereas Racers were stuck to the protocols set by their programming. Because of this, they were referred to as rigid drivers.


    Even though this was a disadvantage in drift racing, it made them suitable practice partners for beginners and also test subjects.


    "The bet is simple. Five laps. The first racing shuttle to win the race takes majority points. Performance and efficiency would also be taken into account in calculating the final result. If you feel it''s not fair, an engine calibration test would be carried out."


    Helnord announced from the viewing platform after everyone took their seats. The VIPs, who consisted of the three attending stakeholders and their assistants, sat at the VIP section of the arena. The vestige-smiths, however, stayed at the viewing platform of the recreational building right at the centre of the track.


    "Any disagreement?"


    Helnord glanced at Lucas and Orvel.


    "None." The two responded.


    "Good. In that case, we can begin."


    The two Vipers, Viper original and Viper clone, were pulled out of the garage and the repair station respectively. The two Racers walked towards the racing shuttles and got in. The thirty seconds countdown to the start of the race began and the Vipers were turned on, transitioning from their warm-up phase to active phase.


    "If you kowtow now and apologize to me, I don''t mind letting you off." Orvel said with a mocking grin on his face.


    There were no bets without stakes.


    For this bet, the two sides had staked their lots. Lucas had offered half of his stocks in the company, which was equivalent to twenty percent. It would bring him down to the second largest majority shareholder and he would be sharing the spot with Orvel. On the other hand, Orvel had agreed to do whatever Lucas wanted and not go against him.


    From the onset, it looked like Lucas had more to lose, and that was true, but the latter didn''t mind because there was no way he would lose. At the same time, Orvel was also confident in winning.


    One should know that the L2.13o wasn''t solely designed by him. While he was the head vestige-smith, it was still the combined effort of him and his teammates. The production was also achieved thanks to the teamwork of the other collective departments. In essence, Lucas wasn''t just competing against Orvel, but the entire Versoa team.


    Finally, Orvel didn''t seem to be losing much even if Lucas won. At best, it would be his dignity and pride dragged to the ground. But he believed that as the best vestige-smith in the team, there was no way Lucas would humiliate him even if he lost; after all, the team needed him. At worst, Orvel would have to treat Lucas with more respect which wasn''t exactly difficult. As such, Orvel wasn''t worried about the race at all. Instead, he decided to play mind games on Lucas.


    Hearing Orvel''s words, Lucas simply glanced at him before turning back to the track without saying a single word.


    Orvel fumed, feeling humiliated by Lucas'' actions. Right then and there, he mentally swore to make life difficult for Lucas once he won, even if the latter was the majority stakeholder. The team couldn''t risk firing him as finding a replacement ¡ªespecially at this point in the tournament¡ª was difficult, if not impossible. Hence, he would make life in the team unliveable for Lucas as long as he won.


    ''Just you wait, you little bastard.'' Orvel grunted.


    In the next second, the counter reached zero and the two Racers accelerated to top speed.

 Chapter 289 : Shocking Change

    The Versoa team''s mini circuit was a plain circuit in Drift racing terminology. This was a type of track that has no danger zones and is pretty much the same as those on Earth. The Verso team had built this plain circuit to help train drivers and test vehicle performance. So, even though the circuit didn''t have any traps, dangerous terrains or the likes, it was quite complicated and windy.


    *Voom*


    *Sieuuu*


    The two Vipers sped from the starting line and flew on the track at insane speeds. Although they were still below the speed of sound, they formed aerodynamic waves that seemed to encase the vehicles as they sped forward without regard. The thirty seconds countdown period was enough for the two engines to be warmed up and transition into the active phase. As for what that is, the active phase of a racing shuttle was the stage where the shuttle could almost instantaneously reach marginal top speed.


    Usually, in standard vehicles, acceleration towards top speed is a process that takes time. However, to judge the performance of a vehicle, the time it takes to reach a certain speed is considered. This speed is known as the marginal top speed in Drift racing. For instance, on Earth, a vehicle''s speed performance was judged by the time it took to reach 100km/hr (60mph), but in drift racing, the marginal top speed was even higher, about 370km/hr (220mph).


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    To reach this marginal top speed, it was inevitable that one would have to take some time to do so. Hence, vestige-smiths thought up a solution which was the phase development of racing shuttle engines. The warm-up phase was actually the basic phase of the racing shuttle. On the other hand, the active phase was the top performance mode of the shuttle, similar to Racing mode in luxury and sport cars on Earth.


    The thirty seconds countdown became the period where drivers transitioned their vehicles from the warm-up phase to the active phase. In this way, once the countdown was over, the racing shuttle would be in peak mode right from the start.


    "What an impressive active phase. It''s already capable of rivalling the L2.13o." Lerman remarked.


    Even though the racing shuttles moved extremely fast, vestige-smiths had good eye sight and judgement. The stronger they were, the better these qualities, and for the peak sixth level Apertures Opening stage Lerman, it wasn''t an issue for him to discern the vehicles clearly. The others had to use special goggles or watch the slowed down live stream of the race.


    "Indeed. The L2.13o is a joint effort of the team and the material used for the transmission system and the core engine is an alloy we recently produced. That kid didn''t even use it, yet his engine seems to be able to handle the stress even though it''s a similar technique to the Linear drive system." Jov?, the department head of the Material manufacturing department said with praising tone.


    He was the one who led the development of the new alloy that was suited for the Linear drive system used in the L2.13o. Jov? knew the difficulty involved in producing that alloy as well as its uniqueness. For that reason, it hadn''t even been released to the market yet, even though the profit would be incredible. The Versoa team had instead held back and decided to begin selling the material, or even the formula, to the material market after the season was over.


    Even though Lucas didn''t use the Linear drive system, based on the performance of the Viper clone in a straight path, it was obvious that a similar transmission technique was applied to it.


    Despite that, he had somehow acquired a different material that seemed to provide a similar structural boost for his engine. Jov? admired his skill but also felt challenged by this.


    Jov? was captivated and began to wonder between the L2.13o and the Destroyer, whose engine was more powerful and efficient in this regard.


    "That''s where you''re wrong." Lerman said.


    "Huh?" Jov? glanced at him.


    "The Destroyer doesn''t use a linear transmission technique like the Linear drive system."


    Jov? was waiting for an explanation, but seeing Lerman remain quiet, his lips twitched before he said with a slightly frustrated voice.


    "What is it then, sir?"


    When it came to the engine of a racing shuttle, Jov? couldn''t compare to Lerman. Even when the focus was simply developing a racing shuttle, Lerman was well ahead of the former. He had also taken a good look at the installation script, so it was only natural that Lerman knew more about the Destroyer than anyone else. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "His transmission system employs the Boyann?s Principle which is the direct opposite of the linear transmission technique. As for how his racing shuttle achieved a similar marginal top speed in a straight line with a Linear drive system, it''s because his energy unit applies the linear transmission technique." Lerman explained.


    Jov? was stunned for a moment before he exclaimed,


    "What?!"


    The concept of imbuing a transmission technique into an energy unit could be described as insane and generally impossible. It wasn''t unheard of, but not many vestige-smiths could pull it off. This was because there were a ton of complexities and complications involved. If a single mistake was made, even if it was as tiny as a bolt being only one micrometre wider, the engine might collapse and implode while operational. As such, one would have to be at least a peak rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith or better to be able to pull it. Even Orvel, who was only a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, couldn''t pull it off; and that was a rank he had attained just recently. In fact, the agreed upon standard was actually Tier 1 Grandmaster, but most of the vestige-smiths at that level didn''t participate in drift racing tournaments, even more so the underground leagues.


    On the other hand, Lucas was a human. There was nothing else needed to be said.


    As if reading Jov?''s thoughts, Lerman continued,


    "He utilised a unique shape known as a triquetra, and moulded his energy unit into that shape. This helps with creating an active flow of stellar energy within the unit."


    There were a couple other complexities involved, but those aren''t mentioned nor obvious in the installation script. Hence, even if Lerman could identify the shape of the energy unit, he still couldn''t produce an exact functioning replica.


    "If he actually made that with his own hands, then he''s..."


    "A genius." Lerman completed.


    Meanwhile, the racing shuttles had already exited the straight line track. It wasn''t clearly obvious at first, but the L2.13o was leading the charge, only by 10 centimetres.


    Before the two racing shuttles approached the first bend, the Racers at the helm immediately switched their driving style and abruptly turned the wheels. Because of the speed the two vehicles drove at, even a three hundred metres gap was nothing and they arrived at the bend within three seconds.


    The Viper original slightly decelerated before it made forceful yet somewhat clean turn. There was also a drop in speed during that moment, before it abruptly picked up again and sped away.


    However, the Viper clone made a clean turn, and although it has decelerated right before, it was almost unnoticeable to the general public. As such, it was able to pull ahead of the Viper original in that instance.


    This was only the first curve and a second one was before the two vehicles after just seven seconds. The same scenario took place once again and the Viper clone extended the gap again.


    The mini circuit has at least twelve shape curves and only four straight tracks, while the rest of the circuit consisted of narrow tracks. It was obvious that the track would be advantageous to engines suitable for curved terrains, however, that was not necessarily true. The linear transmission technique performed great in narrow tracks ¡ªjust as good as its adversary¡ª so long as there were no sharp turns.


    In other words, an engine that excelled in sharp curves and bends wouldn''t necessarily beat the L2.13o engine on this track because while there were more sharp curves than straight tracks, the majority of the track was averagely narrow, and the Viper original would excel at them.


    But what if the Viper original''s opponent was one who excelled at sharp curves but also did almost as good as it on straight and averagely narrow tracks?


    As the Viper clone began to pull away from the Viper original, it became obvious even to the VIPs on the other side that the Viper clone might just be a better vehicle.

 Chapter 285 : Mr Jermaine

    The first lap was quickly completed by the two vehicles and they had driven into the second lap. Although the Viper clone, which had the Destroyer under its hood, was taking the lead, there was not much reaction from the vestige-smith crowd, but the same couldn''t be said about the VIPs.


    "Your shuttle doesn''t seem to be doing too well." One of the stakeholders said to Orvel with a smile.


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    The stakeholder was a middle-aged man with purple-black hair and royal azure blue eyes. He wore minimalist styled outfits, but the value of any one of them could easily afford to feed and provide for a family of six for a half a year, and this was just his dressing alone. In fact, the middle-aged man ¡ªdespite his looks¡ª was already in his seventies, but he spent a lot of money on skin rejuvenation serums to maintain a healthy appearance.


    As the two were at different locations within the arena, they communicated using virtual projections. On the seat beside the man sat a virtual projection of Orvel Feurd. The latter was actually sitting on the viewing platform in the middle of the circuit.


    "Mr Jermaine, you misunderstand something but I presume that''s because you''re not a vestige-smith. However, to judge the winner of a five lapped race by the results of just one can only be described as ridiculous." Orvel replied with a smile.


    Jermaine was the shareholder with the fourth largest stake in the team equivalent to eight percent (8%). Apart from Lucas and Vienna, no one else held a double digits stake in the Versoa team, so eight percent was actually large. Apart from that, there were inside rumours that he was apparently trying to buyout the stakes in the hands of another, finally bringing his to double digits. That would then make him the third largest shareholder of the Versoa team.


    However, none of these warranted Orvel''s behaviour. After all, Orvel was a man said to not show any sign of respect to the other stakeholders except Vienna and Jermaine.


    Vienna was explanatory as her background was something he couldn''t even compare to. Although the title of a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith seemed luxurious, as long as she was willing, it wouldn''t be impossible for Vienna to find a replacement for Orvel. Even if she couldn''t, she could definitely get two mid rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths which was almost good enough. As such, Orvel had to be respectful towards her.


    But Jermaine was different. Jermaine''s background wasn''t on par with Vienna, so logically, he shouldn''t be able to warrant the same respect as she did. However, the middle-aged man had an insane amount of wealth and a lot of connections. He had even done business with the Cardoso family, who were the rulers of Trundel City.


    One should know that to be able to mingle or have any sort of interaction with the Cardoso family, your worth has to be impressive, especially your financial prowess. Even having money or fame was still not enough as one needed to be able to stand out from the others, so as to approach or be approached by the Cardoso family. After all, even though it was a few generations ago, the Cardoso family was still a branch of the royal family, the Oklo Dynasty. They wouldn''t just hang around with any Tom, Dick or Harry, simply because you were rich and famous.


    It was all due to this that no matter how much of a prideful and stubborn man he was, Orvel had to tuck his tail properly around Mr. Jermaine.


    The middle-aged man, Mr Jermaine, didn''t take Orvel''s words offensively and simply smiled.


    Seeing this, Orvel continued,


    "The L2.13o is a state-of-the-art creation. Ignoring the fact that I am the one who headed its design and construction, every member of the Versoa team played a valuable role in creating it. It is the gem of the team and our masterpiece for competing in this season. Naturally, it has all our latest achievements in vestige-smithing built into it. There''s no way it would lose to the rushed work of a human." Orvel sneered.


    While the current situation might seem different from what he said, there was an explanation for it.


    The drivers of the two racing shuttles were Racers in default mode, and unlike hyumans, they needed a period of time to adjust and analyse the best strategy to win the race. Due to this, it wasn''t uncommon for the performance of a default-mode Racer to improve over time.


    The original Viper racing shuttle with the L2.13o engine, there were two transmission systems built into it. Because of this, depending on the terrain, the driver would have to manually switch the shuttle''s transmission to the most suitable system. An automatic switching mechanism was available, but it wasn''t necessarily as fast or efficient as a manual, depending on the driver''s skills.


    For the moment, the Racer''s timing with the switches wasn''t the best, which led it to being overtaken by the Viper clone at sharp curves.


    As the first lap was just completed, the details of the map and the performance of the racing shuttles had been recorded by the Racer. The stellar processor fixed within it could now calculate the best strategy to use to finish each lap faster. With the Racer having already memorised the track, it would know when to use a particular transmission system and time its switching properly. This meant that its performance for the next few laps would be considerably better than the first.


    Finally, the Linear drive system of the L2.13o was still slightly better than the linear transmission effect created by Lucas'' Triquetra-shaped chamber engine. There were only twelve or so sharp bends on the circuit, with the rest of the track consisting of narrow roads and straight paths, which was the shining area for a linear transmission system like the Linear drive system. Hence, no one on the Versoa team was worried about the current situation.


    As if to prove this point, the fifty metres gap between the two racing shuttles was soon closed down to thirty metres. The first sharp turn was closely approaching and the spectators would finally see whether the Racer had adjusted to the track yet.


    Pressure waves blasted from behind the two racing shuttles as their speed had already long surpassed 420km/hr (261 mph). In the top third tier league, the K1 league, this speed could easily allow one end in the top ten places. But in the top-class second tier league, the Nadire Underground League, this was the entry value for the top fifteen spots. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The first bend arrived and unsurprisingly, the Viper clone made a smooth turn and conquered the bend, while only dropping just a few digits in speed.


    The original Viper was up almost immediately, and unlike before, there was no noticeable decline in speed. It moved through the bend almost as smoothly as the Viper clone. Even a mid rank Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith would have a hard time spotting any difference.


    At this point, Orvel smiled as if expecting this, which he, in fact, had.


    If the original Viper with the L2.13o engine had such an obvious flaw in bends, it wouldn''t have been able to become the team''s main engine or even help bring them to eleventh place.


    "Mr Jermaine, you''re about to witness why we are one of the best teams in the league and also the difference between a human and a hyuman." Orvel said.

 Chapter 286 The Pool, The Prisoner, And The Armoured

    The race went on but at this point, no one believed that Lucas would win. The original Viper had already closed up the gap, leaving only ten metres between it and Lucas'' build. In drift racing, a distance of ten metres could easily be covered within the blink of an eye if a slip-up occurs. At this point, no one believed that Lucas'' shuttle could keep the gap closed for the rest of the race, which was some three laps.


    Lucas however, remained calm. If the Destroyer''s only selling point was that it utilised the Triquetra-shaped chamber, Lucas would not have pitted it against the Viper. It should be noted that he had already offered this design for an energy unit to the Black Star team. Although the parameters weren''t the same as the Destroyer, the concept was. It would be foolish for Lucas to think that an idea that stood out a bit in the third league could compare with a close top ten shuttle in the second tier league.


    A racing shuttle engine was a general title that referred to the collection of an energy unit, a transmission system and the core engine. For the L2.13o, the energy unit was a Macquess energy unit, which was capable of storing thirty percent more energy than standard units thanks to its increased energy density. The transmission system was a twin transmission system combining the Linear drive system with a Klent-ion Spinner. The core engine was an in-house build that considered the need for a rapid switching mechanism and a couple other features for boosted performance and speed.


    On the other hand, the Destroyer has the Triquetra-shaped chamber as its energy unit. The transmission system utilised the Boyann?s Principle. However, all of these were merely supporting components to the core engine. Just like with the L2.13o, the key component was the core engine. Here, Lucas had brought out his talent and crafted a unique engine that could possibly cause a strong in the hover vehicle vestige-smithing community.


    "I''ve seen enough."


    After the second lap was completed, Lucas turned around and left with Melissa.


    The other vestige-smiths on the platform were confused and some began to snicker, thinking Lucas had given up. After all, at the start of the third lap, the two vehicles were now neck-at-neck with each other. However, considering the fact that Lucas'' Viper originally had a fifty metres gap between it and the original Viper, it was clear that in the long run, he would be losing. Many firmly believed that when it came to the core engine build, the L2.13o was now clearly the better party.


    Lerman was also surprised by Lucas'' actions, but unlike the others, he didn''t think Lucas was given up. He might not know much about the other, but from their short interactions, Lerman believed Lucas wasn''t one to simply quit. What''s more, his expression was calm with no sign of disappointment or sadness; that was certainly not the expression someone convinced about their loss would give.


    "Heh. Leaving so soon already?" Orvel didn''t hesitate to take a strike at Lucas during this moment.


    "Naturally. The race is already over." Lucas replied without turning back.


    Thinking about the fact that his Viper was about to win, Orvel couldn''t help but sneer at Lucas.


    "It''s a good thing you''re aware of your limits. However, the race would still go on so you won''t have any excuses. Just make sure not to run and prepare the contracts right away."


    Lucas suddenly stopped before turning around to face Orvel. With a flabbergasted expression on his face, mixed with the same look one would give to a fool after they made a stupid statement, he proceeded to ask,


    "Why would I run away?"


    Orvel didn''t say anything but gave a ''you know why'' look with a heinous grin plastered on his face.


    Lucas shook his head before walking away. In his opinion, he had seen enough. The race was already over. In fact, everyone else thought so. The difference, however, laid in who they believed was the winner.


    After leaving the viewing platform, Lucas didn''t exit the building but went to the ground floor. There was a cafeteria available for the team members although the second floor had a bit of a more luxurious experience for dining. Regardless of which it was, the meals were all by the chefs on the ground floor.


    Lucas arrived here simply because Melissa was hungry as was he. Also, since he wouldn''t be leaving just yet, the cafeteria was the perfect place to kill time.


    "Order whatever you want." Lucas smiled and told Melissa.


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, no problem." Lucas nodded.


    As the majority stakeholder of the team, getting free food was one of the perks he got. Although there was a limit to it, Lucas didn''t mind spending his entire quota on Melissa.


    While the two enjoyed their meal, someone walked over.


    "Why did you leave?" sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lerman stared at Lucas.


    After Lucas had left, Lerman had remained for a while on the viewing platform for the third lap, but he couldn''t understand why Lucas had left. On the contrary, things seemed to go as the rest all expected and the original Viper had already closed down the entire gap and began to pull away from the carbon copy.


    Watching that happen, Lerman became confused. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    Did Lucas truly leave because he knew he had lost?


    Even though he didn''t want to believe it, that seemed likely to be the reason why. But for some other reason, he decided to find Lucas and question him instead.


    "What do you mean? The race is already over." Lucas calmly.


    "You''re losing." Lerman frowned.


    Lucas was stunned, not by Lerman''s words, but by the meaning behind them.


    "Oh, you want me to win?" Lucas felt surprised.


    He had thought that everyone in the Versoa team was in support of Orvel, after all, the Viper was a joint effort of them all whereas Lucas was challenging. It would be strange for someone on the Versoa team to abandon their pride and joy for a human they knew almost nothing about.


    Yet, that seemed to be exactly what was playing out.


    "I don''t know, to be honest. But I would like to see Orvel lose." Lerman replied.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, but he calmed down afterwards. He could now understand the situation in the Versoa team. Despite being a team, it seemed like there were factions without them as well. But then again, this was understandable.


    Lerman was about to reach the Tier 1 Master vestige-smith rank and he would be competing with Orvel for the team''s resources. However, Orvel was a greedy and arrogant fellow. It would be very difficult for Lerman to thrive in the team unless Orvel was taken down.


    "So tell me, why did you leave?"


    . . .


    While the race went on, in the depths of the East Braftford relics ¡ªspecifically the core region¡ª a figure fully clad in armour walked around calmly without an ounce of fear, anxiety or caution. It was almost like the armoured figure was taking a stroll through the park and not in the most dangerous region close to Trundel City. Even though the individual wore armour, they weren''t a drudnid by a hyuman stellar practitioner. They didn''t have a single ounce of aura or life energy exuding from their body, but they were clearly alive considering they could move smoothly.


    *Kreee*


    A drudnid at the fifth level appeared in front of the silhouette. But without the figure even making a move, the drudnid collapsed into three pieces. At the edges of each piece was a clean cut, showing that the drudnid had actually been sliced apart. However, there was no sign of action from the individual.


    This mysterious figure continued walking through the relics until they got to a strange location. It was a somewhat large pool surrounded by six tall obelisks. The obelisks acted like a border around the pool, but that wasn''t all. From the top, center'' and bottom of each obelisk, three chains darted out into the pool and each chain was drawn taut.


    The individual in armour stopped a few metres away from the pool and simply stared at it.


    "Explain yourself."


    The individual spoke.


    Based on the tone of their voice, the armoured figure was surprisingly a woman.


    The pool began to boil following which a deep resounding voice sounded from it.


    "Since when do I owe you an explanation? If it were your father, I''d consider it. But you, you''re one hundred years too early to be this cocky."


    The woman in armour didn''t say a word, simply lifting her right hand up to form a sword. She then swung her hand downwards like a vertical slash. A turbid flash of energy burst from her hand and dived into the pool.


    Logically, this energy blade should have been able to cut through the liquid in the pool and expose the ground underneath. However, it went through the liquid without spilling a single drop. The energy blade seemed to have struck something underneath as the pool began to boil once again before turning still.


    "Hmph." The woman snorted as she glanced at the pool and the chains. However, no response came out from the water body.


    It was only after a few more seconds that a mocking voice sounded.


    "Heh. Little lady, go back. Like I said before, unless it''s your father, I have nothing to explain to you."


    As she was wearing a helmet, it was impossible to know how the woman felt at this moment, but she didn''t let the prisoner''s words affect her.


    "For the tickle, I''ll make one point clear. I was not involved." The voice under the pool said.


    "Then who is?" The lady pushed a question back to the mysterious entity beneath the pool.


    "Hehe. Dark days are coming I tell you. Dark days." The prisoner roared with a maniacal voice.

 Chapter 287 Viennas Guest

    Bailin province was located north of Trundel City. However, heading eastward, one would arrive at Belfargos City, the centre of the Bernin continent and home to the Oklo Dynasty. Trundel City and Belfargos City were essentially neighbours.


    Because of this, even though it was quite far from the capital of Trundel City, the Bailin province wasn''t a desolate border province. Although it couldn''t compare to Cas Lego province ¡ªthe provincial capital of commerce¡ª it still had a lot of scenic places.


    In particular, there was a popular restaurant frequented by major powers in the province. Even the top merchants and businessmen could occasionally be spotted here, either taking a break from their stressful lives or holding an important business meeting. The restaurant was called ''Astero''s Palace'', and it was rumoured that the owner was connected to the Cardoso family.


    The sixteen storey building, designed ostentatiously to look like a skyscraper, was furnished with top quality decor and finishings. This was especially so for the top five floors. Excluding the tenth, and eleventh, the opulent twelfth floor was an open area just like the other nine floors below. However, the four above it¡ªthirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth floors¡ª were all closed out and consisted of private rooms, just like the tenth and eleventh. But the major difference between these four floors to the other two was the lavish interior.


    The tiles of the top four floors were all Ilken products ¡ªunique tiles with a fancy design made with desolate beast blood, which created a unique attractive force for stellar energy in the atmosphere. Even the paints used inside of the building were all expensive items, and the pieces of furniture were not exempt.


    Depending on one''s VIP rank in the province as well as in society, they would be able to access the rooms in the higher floors. Even so, the sixteenth floor was reserved for only a few select groups of people. Below it was the fifteenth floor, which was also well acclaimed with few characters being able to get into it.


    The fifteenth floor was partitioned into seven rooms, each the size of an extravagant suite in a five-star hotel, with a private kitchen and chef as well. In one of those rooms, a young lady sat on the table and set her sights to the view outside of the French window.


    In today''s society, her black pair of eyes and hair would have her mistaken for a human, but a unique natural frequency exuded from her body and could be sensed by hyumans. This meant that she was a hyuman, but a rare one considering her appearance. Even so, it seemed like the black and black style didn''t minimise her beauty in any way. The aura she passively exuded gave one the impression of a pristine yet dignified beauty.


    A face moulded to utter perfection, a voluptuous body that was neither too lean nor too big, and the graceful mannerisms of a princess all in one; it was no understatement to say that she was a world-class beauty.


    "Sister, it''s been a while."


    A man in his early 30s with grey metallic hair smiled as he walked over and took a seat on the table.


    "I wonder what brings you here today."


    Vienna stared at the man who couldn''t exactly be called her brother, but due to circumstances, could wield that title.


    "Don''t be like this." The man said while still maintaining his smile.


    "You should know that I care for you and truly consider you as my sister. Since when was checking up on my little sister a crime?" sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "...fine." Vienna sighed and didn''t say another word. Instead, she focused on the steak on her plate.


    It was a sumptuous rib gotten from a Nightcrawler desolate beast. The Nightcrawlers looked like huge lizards and were a venomous nocturnal species. They were also good at digging and hiding in the shadows, which made them a difficult opponent for many freelancers to take on. What''s more, an adult Nightcrawler was, at least, a fifth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast; not many freelancers could solo them.


    Despite the risks, the value of a Nightcrawler''s corpse was enough to make many independent freelancers and teams lust after them. Whether it was the claws, the scales or even their eyeballs, a Nightcrawler''s corpse held immense value. Also, as long as the venom was properly treated and gotten rid of, the flesh of a Nightcrawler could be used to prepare magnificent dishes. Together with its stellar refinement level, the flesh of a Nightcrawler provided many benefits especially to a stellar practitioner. The stronger the Nightcrawler was, the tastier its flesh and the more benefits one could obtain from eating it.


    However, due to the difficulty in hunting it as well as its rarity, Nightcrawler flesh was quite expensive and not many could afford it. Even Astero''s Palace could only offered this meal on the menu for the thirteenth to sixteenth floors. However, the grade of the meat differed on each level, with the top floor naturally getting the best, a sixth level Nightcrawler.


    Seeing her remain silent, the man, Damian, felt awkward and let out a cough.


    Vienna paused and sent an inquiring glance at him.


    "Father wants to see you. It''s been a while since you showed up. He misses you." Damian said.


    Vienna didn''t reply immediately. She remained quiet as she sank into her thoughts for a while.


    "When I''m done here, I''ll visit there." Vienna responded.


    "Why do you still have to keep such a distance between us? We''re family." Damian said with a slightly anxious tone.


    "I have no problems with...uncle. But you should know better than anyone else that I won''t be returning back there." Vienna stared at Damian.


    "So you decided to get yourself a boyfriend while staying here?"


    "W, what?" Vienna widened her eyes in shock and confusion.


    "The new guy you have by your side. You even gave him more than half of your stocks in your racing team. Back when I asked you for twenty percent, you snubbed me and left me on read. But you gave this new guy forty percent in a heartbeat. If he isn''t your new man, then tell me, who is he?"


    Damian gave her the look that seemed to say ''I''ve seen through it all''.


    For a second, Vienna didn''t know what to say so she hesitated with her response.


    "Oh, don''t tell me I actually nailed it?" Damian widened his eyes. This time around, it was his turn to be stupefied.


    "You''re being ridiculous. He saved me and my two uncles, so of course I have to thank him properly. Don''t tell me you think forty percent of a racing team''s stocks are worth more than our lives?" Vienna retorted.


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    "Well, you''re right about that." Damon responded, but he still stared suspiciously at Vienna.


    Irritated by this, the lady in black stood up from her seat.


    "I''m done with my meal and I''ll be leaving. If you have anything else to say, relay it through the comms. As for...home, I''ll come take a look in a few weeks."


    After saying those words, Vienna left the room.


    Damian didn''t chase after her or follow suit right away. Instead, he stared at the french window that stood on the side with a ruminating expression on his face.


    "Shadow."


    Damian''s shadow wriggled a bit and a dark silhouette rose up from it. It was only half a metre tall and looked eerie at first glance, possessing no features whatsoever. It didn''t even have an aura or a breath, making one wonder whether it was alive or not.


    "Look into that kid for me. Dig out his entire background, history and even bloodline. It doesn''t matter if he''s from halfway across the planet or the neighbouring city. Find out everything you can about him and bring it to me."


    The silhouette immediately sunk right back into Damian''s shadow and the shadow became normal once again.


    Thirty seconds later, Damian stood up from his seat and left the room as well.


    On the table was still the half eaten Nightcrawler rib steak that was left behind by Vienna.

 Chapter 288 Gears

    "So tell me, why did you leave?"


    Lerman stared at Lucas, trying to read his thoughts from his expression.


    "Why did I leave? I already answered it. The race is over." Lucas nonchalantly replied.


    "But you''re¡ª"


    "Losing?" Lucas chuckled before staring at Lerman in the eyes.


    "Losing...it''s been a long time since that word has been associated with me. But unfortunately, today isn''t the day."


    Lerman was confused and prepared to dig deeper, but then, he suddenly felt his communicator vibrate. Someone had sent him a message.


    Frowning slightly, Lerman lifted his arm up and clicked on the communicator tied to his wrist. As he read through the message, his eyes widened in shock.


    There were only just a few words, but the content was shocking.


    / The clone is winning./


    Lerman couldn''t understand just what was happening. The meaning of the message was clear, yet that interpretation was supposed to have been impossible. The original Viper had already caught up; the ten metres gap was the same as nothing in drift racing.


    Despite all of that, Lucas'' vehicle had someone retained the lead. No, it didn''t just retain it; it performed so convincingly that the vestige-smith who sent this message practically believed that there was no comeback for the original Viper.


    "How..."


    Lerman murmured before glancing at Lucas. Seeing the latter''s unbothered expression, Lerman immediately left the scene as he bolted for the top floor.


    Lucas didn''t follow right after Lerman but instead focused his attention on the food being brought out by the waiter.


    Naturally, Lucas had already known that he would win the race; there was never any doubt nor debate. The reason for this confidence lies in the design of the core engine. The core engine of the Destroyer was modelled after the manual gear transmission system on Earth.


    In simple terms of a car transmission system, the switching of gear was done to improve engine efficiency, durability and power output. However, in hover cars and racing shuttles, the transmission system was different and focused mostly on moving stellar energy from the energy unit to the core engine and then dispersing power produced from the core engine to necessary parts of the vehicle.


    When Lucas designed the Destroyer''s core engine, he had stumbled upon a difficult problem. Although he knew countless ways to make a better racing shuttle that could beat the Viper ¡ªthe product of a seventh level stellar practitioner and high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith¡ª he lacked the ability to do so. As such, Lucas had to think outside-the-box and consider various methods to achieve his goal. It was during this brainstorming session that he decided to copy Earth''s transmission system.


    Of them all, Lucas implemented a system he liked very much about Earth cars; the manual transmission system. However, Lucas chose the Intelligent Manual Transmission (iMT) and excluded the clutch for practical reasons.


    In summary, the Destroyer had four ''gears'' developed within it. With each change in gear in ascending order, the engine would generate more power for the racing shuttle. However, there were two criteria for gear switching, especially upward gear switching.


    Unlike with the iMT cars on Earth that had gears easily switched in a second with a turn of the shaft, the gears within the Destroyer needed enough torque to be able to be switched. Also, there was an energy requirement as well. The majority of the energy unit''s power was spent powering up the racing shuttle, so there was very little that could be stored up for the gear switching. It would take a while for enough energy to be stored up to perform a gear shift. Lucas had calculated that ''while'' to be after two laps.


    Hence, after seeing the performance of the original Viper and not spotting anything noteworthy or attention-grabbing, Lucas left the place because he knew once the Destroyer changed gear, it would be all over. Even if the transition, from ''0'' gear to first gear, wasn''t enough, there was still the second and third gears.


    With all that in mind, Lucas was never worried that he would lose.


    . . .


    Lerman returned back to the viewing platform but what greeted him first was the dumbfounded expressions of the public. No one could believe what was happening.


    Not wanting to waste a second, Lerman refrained from asking for explanations and turned his sights to the track. That was when he finally understood why everyone had gone speechless.


    On the mini circuit, the gap between the original Viper and Lucas'' modified copy was no longer the previous ten metres. Instead, it had extended to a whopping three hundred metres and the gap was still rising. What''s more, the gap was constantly increasing. Even though there hundred metres wasn''t exactly much in drift racing, it was the manner the Viper clone had carried out its lead that shocked everyone. All this happened in one lap ¡ªthe third¡ª and there were still two more to go.


    "Impossible!" Orvel barked, refusing to understand what had just happened.


    The L2.13o was his pride and joy. Whether it was the ingenuity applied in combining two transmission systems, or the complex but powerful core engine put in place, it was a work-of-art; a masterpiece of the team. Despite that, it was now overtaken, no. It was disgraced and left behind in the dust by the creation of a human. No matter what his eyes showed him, Orvel refused to believe it.


    But the most painful lesson about reality was that it didn''t need one''s permission.


    The race went into the final lap and by this time, the gap between the two shuttles increased to one kilometre. At this point, no one believed that the original Viper could make a comeback and this was true.


    The Destroyer was built in a fashion that promoted incremental power. However, the L2.13o was a standard engine with a fixed power output. If it was fast, it was fast. If it was slow, it was slow. It wasn''t like the Destroyer that could cause an upset after a while. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the race was over, Orvel was still unrelenting and had asked that the two engines be tested for their parameters using an appropriate equipment. He argued that Lucas'' Destroyer was more unstable than the L2.13o. If this was true, it would mean that Lucas had lost the bet.


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    The bet was that his engine would have to be at least twenty percent more power and efficient than the L2.13o. The power aspect had already been checked with the race, so it would be pointless to argue that. But the efficiency and stability wasn''t, which made Orvel''s argument a good one. This was even more so since the Destroyer performed too well. Many believed that it might have sacrificed stability and efficiency for power. The race wasn''t enough to point this out as it was much shorter than a typical drift race, so a professional test was indeed necessary.


    "No problem." Lucas calmly agreed when this was explained.


    His calm demeanour reminded everyone of the moment he left the viewing platform earlier, and for a second, the vestige-smiths of the Versoa team were beginning to lose hope of winning.


    The test was short and after thirty minutes, the results came out.


    Lucas had won.

 Chapter 289 Cashing Out The Stakes

    "Humph. Who can say whether you truly made it yourself or not."


    This time around, the person who caused a commotion wasn''t Orvel, but was Jov?, the head of the Material manufacturing department.


    Although the Designs and energy department headed the development of the L2.13o engine, the Material manufacturing and Vehicle manufacturing department played important roles in the project, second only to the former. The original Viper losing to Lucas wasn''t just Orvel and his department losing, but also these two departments that were heavily involved in the production. As the department head of one of them, it was only natural for Jov? to feel infuriated by this.


    "I figured you''d say that." Lucas smiled before pulling out a small device.


    It was the equivalent of a flash drive in this timeline.


    "Inside here is the recording of the entire production with me at the helm, the calculations, derivatives and the complete blueprint. You can have it and take a look if you want to."


    Silence pervaded the entire area.


    The Destroyer had clearly won and by a large margin. Considering both its performance in the race and the engine parameters test, it was better than the L2.13o by at least thirty percent. Such an engine could easily propel any team to the top ten of the Nadire Underground League and compete for a spot for promotion to the first league. Those gathered here were all vestige-smiths in the racing industry and they could all tell this.


    Typically, the blueprint, production recording and all other valuable data related to a racing shuttle project were kept confidential. Very few in a team could get access to it, and only department heads might be able to view the complete data. Despite this undeniable fact, Lucas had brought out all the data related to the engine and presented it to the vestige-smiths without any demand whatsoever. They were amazed by his foolish-, uhm, magnanimity.


    However, some of the more smart ones read something else from this little detail.


    Lucas didn''t seem to care about the data of the Destroyer, which meant that to him, it was nothing. There could only be two logical explanations.


    The first was that Lucas didn''t know the true value of this data, but that was impossible. They had already done some background digging on him and found out that he came from a third tier league team. Hence, it was unlikely that Lucas underestimated the value of the data.


    The second and most likely was that Lucas just didn''t care. As for why, it was pretty obvious. The Destroyer was most likely not his best work. In fact, this was the possibility they leaned more towards to, after all, the bet had placed constraints on Lucas'' creativity and ability. The engine he had to design was to be compatible with the Viper''s physical structure and frame, which gave him less ''space'' to work with. But if these constraints weren''t present, there was a significant likelihood that the engine they would have seen today would be more powerful than the Destroyer.


    Reaching this point, those who thought deeply into things froze and felt a shiver in their spines. They began to look at Lucas like some monster.


    How was it possible for a human to be this talented and terrifying?


    "Mr Lucas, is it? Nice to meet you." A man with a middle-aged appearance, purple-black hair and royal azure blue eyes approached Lucas.


    "You are..." Lucas stared confusedly at the man.


    Based on his attire, he wasn''t a vestige-smith. But considering the fact that he was able to attend this event, it meant that he was closely related to the team.


    Seeing this Helnord rushed over to do the introductions.


    "Mr Lucas, this is Mr Jermaine. He''s a shareholder of the team and the fourth largest one."


    Lucas nodded after that and glanced at Mr Jermaine with a nonchalant face.


    "Nice to meet you."


    The atmosphere became awkward for a second, Helnord began to fret and wonder whether Lucas had offended the man, but Mr Jermaine laughed it off.


    "You''re an interesting fellow." Mr Jermaine said. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, now that you''ve won. What are your demands?"


    The stakes of the bet were that if Lucas had lost, he''d offer half of his stocks to Orvel. However, if he won, Orvel would have to be more respectful and not go against him. At the same time, Lucas would be able to do whatever he wanted, limited to the fact that it didn''t cause harm to the team.


    "It''s nothing much. I just want to become the official vestige-smith sponsor of the team." Lucas laid his demands.


    The Versoa team did not have an official vestige-smith company sponsoring them as Vienna never saw a reason to do so. She was already quite wealthy and could support the entire team herself. Also, the Versoa team had a few side businesses that were doing okay for them. Together with the present stakeholders, there was no solid reason to seek sponsorship.


    This created a situation that was good for Lucas. He never forgot that his main goal for getting into drift racing was to become an official sponsor for a team. He would then use his skills to better the team''s performance. As the team did well and won tournaments, his store would become renowned as it was the official vestige-smith sponsor.


    After Lucas said what he wanted, the atmosphere in the team changed visibly. Some of the vestige-smiths frowned while others had a mysterious look on their faces. Even Helnord couldn''t help but glance strangely at Lucas.


    Everyone knew that one of the reasons the Versoa team was attractive to these vestige-smiths was because there was no official vestige-smith sponsor. This means that whatever performance the team made in the race would be attributed to their staff. These vestige-smiths occasionally took private modification deals and such from fans and customers because of this.


    However, once an official sponsor was introduced, the amount of clients and contracts they would privately gain would reduce, as the team''s performance would now be associated with the official sponsor more than it is with the staff.


    This was a serious conflict of interest. But even then, it wasn''t like they could stop Lucas.


    The leading figure of the vestige-smiths had gambled against Lucas and lost. Lucas was also the majority shareholder of the team and his words have a strong sway over Vienna according to some rumours. When all these were factored together, if wasn''t impossible for Lucas to have his way. But that didn''t mean that there won''t be consequences. Chances were that a couple of vestige-smiths would tender in their resignation the following day, if Lucas went with his plans.


    Helnord knew this, which was why he wanted to stop Lucas. But there was no justification to do so. Lucas had won the bet fair and square. The other vestige-smiths, under the lead of their department heads, had witnessed the bet. Lucas was also the largest majority shareholder.


    Since he couldn''t do anything, Helnord turned his gaze towards Mr Jermaine instead.


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    If there was one person who could stop this, it would be Vienna, but no one believed she would interfere. If there were two, Mr Jermaine would be the second person.

 Chapter 290 Secretive Plot

    Everyone glanced at Mr Jermaine including Orvel and Helnord. Some of them were hoping for Mr Jermaine to stand on the opposite angle against Lucas and interfere in his plans. Although Me Jermaine was merely the fourth largest majority shareholder, he had a sway among the others, excluding Vienna and Lucas. That tallied up to thirty percent of the team''s stocks, and even though it still couldn''t rival Lucas'', it was enough to have a serious discussion over the matter and overrule Lucas'' superiority.


    Orvel faced Mr Jermaine with hopeful eyes because apart from the team''s company stocks, he has also been eyeing the official sponsorship position for a while. But because he knew that it would affect the interests of the other vestige-smiths in the team, which meant that Vienna would most likely not approve it, Orvel never let his intentions be known by others.


    Mr Jermaine was a natural businessman and could tell what the others were thinking, but that wouldn''t affect his judgement. Instead, he prioritised profits and connections.


    "The official vestige-smith sponsor of the team? You should know what that entails." Mr Jermaine narrowed his eyes.


    "I do, which is why I want to do it. I might not be able to sponsor the team financially, but I can do so with my knowledge, skills and technology. I don''t even mind having some others learn from me." Lucas said.


    This was what he was willing to offer for that position. When it came to vestige-smithing, apart from the Tier 1 Grandmasters, Lucas was confident that there was no one else better than him. Even the Tier 1 Grandmasters were lacking, but they only held the lead now because Lucas had yet to attain stellar refinement. Once he does so, he would become the number one vestige-smith in the entirety of Eretre.


    Hence, it was understandable why Lucas was confident that the skills and knowledge he could offer to the team was worth more than any amount of money a regular sponsor would offer in the same position.


    "It would be much better if we talk about this in great detail some other time." Mr Jermaine replied.


    He didn''t refuse Lucas, but he couldn''t side with him right away, at least not until he considered the future prospects. One should know that as the Versoa team performed better in the tournament, the requirement of the official sponsor would become higher and higher if the team wanted to profit. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas nodded, showing no sign of arguing his way into this. He also knew that his goal was something that would offend a few people, and while he didn''t care, it would be best to settle it amicably for the moment. Only if there was no other option would he then bare his fangs.


    The contest was officially over and everyone could return. Lucas handed the storage drive to Lerman for the rest of the vestige-smiths to peruse before he left. They were all surprised by both his magnanimity and composure. Despite beating a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith as a human, Lucas didn''t rub it in or mock Orvel because he saw no reason to. This somewhat insignificant decision had raised his status in the other vestige-smiths'' hearts.


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    In a private room located on the thirty-sixth floor of the residential building of the Versoa team, a secret meeting was underway.


    "Damn it."


    A chair was flung across the room, crashing into the wall and leaving a dent before breaking apart.


    "That fucking bastard. Who does he think he is?" Orvel cursed as he punched the table in front of him, leaving a hole on it.


    Jov?, who was also present in the room, slightly frowned but didn''t say a word.


    "No use complaining now. He already expected this and brought up the bet. You can only blame yourself for falling prey to his trap."


    Another man present in the room, the head of the Simulation and testing department, Poch, glanced at Orvel.


    "What do you mean? Are you implying this is all my fault?" Orvel grimaced at him.


    "There''s no use arguing about things." Jov? said before the matter took another turn.


    "What we should focus on is how to ensure he doesn''t succeed in getting the sponsorship rights. After that, we can think of a new way to get him out and take his shares."


    As it turns out, there was a cabal within the Versoa team. This group consisted of three department heads, two of whom held vital positions in the Versoa team.


    On the outside, it looked as if Orvel was the only one competing against Lucas, but he was actually secretly backed by these two department heads. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Orvel to hold an incredible sway over the team. Even if he was a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, he was only one man. If the other department heads gang up against him, it would be difficult for Orvel to dominate the team. But with the backing of two of five of the remaining department heads, he was able to stand his ground; especially since he held a more superior position among the department heads.


    When Orvel made the bet with Lucas, one part was due to his pride but another was that the group felt it would be beneficial to them. They could seize Lucas'' stocks and split it amongst themselves, gaining real control over the team and its businesses.


    But that all failed, and now, they risked losing a potential source of profit.


    "It''s easy to say that but difficult to figure out." Poch said.


    "Not necessarily." Jov? muttered mysteriously.


    "Huh? You have any idea?" Orvel turned towards him with an inquisitive look on his face.


    "A strike. If he decides to push for the sponsorship position, we can move our men to go on a strike. We''ll threaten him with that. No matter how talented he is, it''s impossible for one man to do the work of three different departments, especially in the middle of the league."


    Orvel and Poch hesitated after Jov?''s plan was unveiled.


    "Wouldn''t we offend Mrs Vienna this way?" Orvel said.


    Only two people could make him look differently at them, but only one could truly make Orvel hesitate and that was Vienna.


    Whether it was her mysterious background, the wealth she possessed or the little display of power she had shown, it made everyone in the Versoa team understand that Vienna was a force to be reckoned with in their power struggle. It was best that they tried not to offend her, otherwise their ending might not be the best.


    "I don''t think so. From what I''ve learnt, he only got the shares for saving her life and that''s wall. They''ve ever interacted with each other or spoken length before, so there''s no relationship between them. If he loses his shares due to mismanagement, we can''t be held responsible for that." Jov? argued.


    He then added,


    "Also, I''ve done an extensive digging in his past. He''s just a regular human with some talent. Although a bit of his past is still dark, it''s unlikely to be anything incredible. If Mrs Vienna had to choose between the two sides, it''s obvious which one she would pick. The worst case scenario would be that she''d stay neutral, but that''s already good enough for us."


    Listening to his argument, both Orvel and Poch became convinced and they agreed to the plan. As long as Lucas kept pushing for the official sponsorship rights, Jov? and Poch would have their departments threaten to go on strike. Orvel couldn''t do this because according to the bet, he had to stay away from offending Lucas or going against him. However, as long as Jov? and Poch raised the issue of a strike, he could join along under the guise of ''upholding the interest of the team and its members''.

 Chapter 291 Saint

    Deep inside the core region, where the pool surrounded by six obelisks was located, a silhouette calmly walked towards the pool. Unlike the area''s previous visitor, who had a daunting aura that could take on a fifth level drudnid, the silhouette gave off no intimidating presence nor form. However, none of the drudnids on guard attacked the silhouette. It was as if they couldn''t see the figure.


    The dark silhouette continued until it reached the pool and stood quite close to it, a distance even closer than the armoured lady from before. There were only a few steps left to take and he would be within the pool.


    "So many visitors recently. One might think there''s a garage sale down here at this rate." sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The deep resounding voice that came from beneath the pool sounded more again.


    "Hmm? This scent, this feeling...you''re different." The voice suddenly turned serious.


    The newcomer lifted the hood of their cloak, revealing an ordinary face that was unforgettable to the citizens of Trundel City.


    "It''s been, a while, Monclev."


    The young man who spoke was the culprit of the East Braftford relics'' Aura-breaking stele incident. After the incident that took hundreds of lives, his image has been circulated to the public in an attempt to find him. But as it turns out, the young man was still with the relics where no food or water could be found.


    The voice underneath the lake froze after hearing those words. It was as if it had heard a very shocking yet ridiculous discovery, like the fact that the Emperor was a lover of thighs.


    "Heh." The voice scoffed.


    Suddenly, the air around the pool changed.


    "Who are you? Speak or I will kill you."


    The already deep voice sounded deeper, and this time around, there was a hint of killing intent within it. It was insane that despite being sealed underneath the pool, the entity below sounded so confident about being able to handle the young man.


    "It''s been years and you''re still the same, Monclev." The young man remained unbothered.


    The pool went quiet as if the person underneath was surprised.


    "It''s you, isn''t it?" The deep voice slowly said.


    "Well, it seems your memory is still working just fine." The young man smirked.


    "You''re coming to see me after this long?"


    The young man shook his head.


    "You can''t blame me. If I came earlier, I would have been found out already. You should know what I''m talking about."


    The owner of the voice didn''t argue as he knew the young man was right.


    The armoured lady that came over the last time was a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. This meant that she had already unlocked her superpower. It wasn''t an elemental type or any of the sorts, but any illusion-type superpower that could allow her to read one''s mind. She might have been able to enter his mind even without seeing his body. If Monclev had met with the young man, then the young man''s identity would have been reversed and his plans unfolded.


    Many believed that the East Braftford relics had yet to be completely explored, especially the core region, but this was a lie. To be exact, it wasn''t necessarily a lie, but a truth that only applies to the general public. Just as the rumour had claimed, the top powers in Belfargos City had already explored deep into the relics. This was only natural after all, there was no way the Oklo Dynasty would let a mysterious location, that could turn out to be a time-bomb, exist side-by-side with them without fully exploring it.


    Even though they couldn''t be said to have seen the entirety of the East Braftford relics, the Oklo Dynasty was aware of at least ninety percent (90%) of the structures and facilities within. This was ninety percent of the entire East Braftford relics, and not a single region.


    Every ten years, the Oklo Dynasty would send in an exploration team to confirm the situation within the relics. Apart from that, every younger generation used the relics as a smelting ground. Their talents would be ranked based on how deep they went into the relics. The most talented of them could even go beyond the pool region. That record was achieved by the previous emperor of the dynasty when he was younger.


    The most talented of this generation happened to be the armoured lady who came earlier and she was said to be the daughter of one of the emperor''s trusted and strongest generals. Reaching the tenth level at only the age of twenty eight showed just how talented she was. Many had even said that she could potentially break the boundary of the Apertures Opening stage and step into the Guardian stage; the realm of a planetary ruler.


    "Seeing as you''re here, I''m guessing it''s not to make your identity known to me." Monclev said.


    Monclev knew who the young man was although his looks were off and not the same as back then. The young man was a calculative individual and it was thanks to his efforts that the Sunil civilisation was still able to exist in some form until this day. The Sunil civilisation revered three individuals as saints.


    The first was their Divine Forefather who started the journey of evolution and led them to greatness, essentially the equivalent of the hyumans'' Divine Protector. He founded the art of mental cultivation, giving the Sunil civilisation the ability to rise from a third class civilisation and race, to begin waging wars to improve their social standing and living conditions.


    The second saint was the creator of the drudnids, who gave the Sunil civilisation the ability to resist against physical strong opponents. The Sunil civilisation was a mental civilisation and they naturally had weak bodies. This was relative to the other species living with them at the time. Regardless, due to this, they were good at ranged attacks but horrible at close range and could easily be taken down. It wasn''t until one of their brethren created the drudnids that the Sunils were able to make up for this weakness of theirs and contest for the title of number one on Eretre. As such, the creator of the drudnids was revered as a saint in the Sunil civilisation.


    The third saint was the individual who modified the drudnids and the Sunil civilisation, giving them an opportunity to be able to exist even after three thousand years since that catastrophe. That man happened to be the person standing before the pool.


    As one of the most revered individuals of the Sunil civilisation and a genius, there was no way his coming here was simply to say ''hi'' and reveal his presence.


    "By now, you should have realised the truth of that day; the event that ended us." The young man glanced at the pool.


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    Once again, the area went quiet, but he wasn''t affected by it.


    "I want to take back what belongs to us, and for that, I need the final resources of the civilisation." The young man said.


    Monclev didn''t say a word still, but he understood it.


    When the Sunil civilisation''s era drew to an end, they utilised the third saint''s knowledge to preserve their civilisation. But preserving a few lives wasn''t enough for them to make a comeback. So, they gathered a ton of resources and secured it in their doomsday facility. Even until now, those resources were still kept securely. The doomsday facility was what became the current East Braftford relics. The Oklo Dynasty had only explored 90% of the relics, but of the remaining ten percent, half of it was the location of the hidden treasury.


    Only one person could get in and out of the hidden treasury or let anyone do so, and that was Monclev. Not even the third saint had such authority, so he could only ask for Monclev''s help.


    "For revenge?" Monclev muttered.


    "Look around you; do you think we can win?"


    "Alone, no. But we have help." The young man''s eyes glistened.


    "Wh-"


    The young man interrupted him.


    "I can''t say much, but just trust me. All I have ever done and will ever do is for our civilisation to prosper and survive."

 Chapter 292 Viennas Guilt

    "Seeing that you''re both here, I''m guessing you won." Vienna smiled at the group of three that walked into the room.


    They were Lucas, Melissa and Mr Jermaine. As for the occasion, it could be said to be a celebratory dinner for Lucas'' victory. However, because of her earlier meeting with her cousin, Vienna didn''t hold it at Astero''s Palace, but in another high-end restaurant.


    "You made an impressive friend in Mr Lucas, Miss Vienna." Mr Jermaine complimented and took a seat opposite her.


    Vienna smiled and didn''t say a word.


    Meanwhile, Lucas brought Melissa over and sat beside Vienna. He didn''t really think much when doing this and simply took a seat, but Mr Jermaine took notice of this and smiled mysteriously.


    There was a rumour going on in the Versoa team that Lucas was Vienna''s new man. Although there was no tangible evidence to support this rumour, the fact that Vienna gave him more than half of her shares was mind-boggling and seemed to support this statement. The original explanation for this was that Lucas had saved her life and so, she gave him the stocks as a reward. But even so, there were multiple different ways she could pay him back without suffering such a loss. Naturally, this garnered some of the staff members to think too deeply into the matter.


    "Please, order whatever you want. It''s my treat." Vienna said as she pointed at the menu.


    "Then I won''t be holding back." Mr Jermaine chuckled as he picked up a paper menu.


    In some fancy dining places, especially the really high-end ones, digital displays weren''t used for the menu but a unique paper made out of desolate beast tissue. It felt more comfortable to the touch, held ink nicely, and could last for decades without any signs of damage.


    Melissa''s eyes shone as she stared at the menu with rapt attention. She was almost at the point where she would begin salivating as she perused the list and read the short descriptions of the dishes.


    Most of the time, Melissa was a matured and intelligent young girl, but when it came to food, she revealed her true nature as a glutton. Lucas suspected that it had to do with her unique nature as a hybrid. Considering how fast she progressed with her stellar refinement, her body needed to meet up with the necessary nutritional requirements to be able to keep up with her growth.


    Lucas was actually in a somewhat similar situation, but this was because his soul strength was too powerful for his body. It is a well known fact that the brain consumes more energy than any other organ in the body. With his brain being constantly enhanced by his soul strength, Lucas had to ensure that the organ had enough energy to function well, and enough nutrients to grow properly. As such, he had to consume a lot of nutrients ¡ªthe appropriate ones to be exact¡ª to quickly improve his brain and his nervous system.


    Since the meal was being sponsored by their ''boss'', there was no reason to hold back, so Lucas let Melissa handle the ordering. One reason for this was because it would be shameless of him to take advantage of a woman by ordering a lot of food. But if a child did it, then there was no problem.


    ''This isn''t taking advantage of the cuteness of a little child or being shameless. It''s called being smart.''


    Lucas justified his actions mentally.


    Soon after, the robotic waiter who stood by the side had taken down a total of twenty orders. Because she already had a meal at Astero''s Palace, Vienna only ordered two dishes, both on the light side. Mr Jermaine was the same as he didn''t intend on spending a long time here. That meant that the pair of Lucas and Melissa had ordered sixteen dishes. What''s more, apart from six light dishes, the others were on the heavy side.


    The other two on the table couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at this development, but as the host, Vienna didn''t think much about it. The meals might be costly but it couldn''t even make a dent in her wallet.


    "That''s...a lot." Vienna lightly commented.


    "Well, our little Melissa likes to eat and I''ve been working a lot these days, spending little time on meals."


    Lucas gave a lie of an explanation which was quite convincing.


    As a top class restaurant, it didn''t take long for the freshly cooked meals to be ready. The cooking standards, whether it be taste or preparation time, were well ahead of Earth''s.


    Looking at the table filled with luxurious dishes that he could not afford, at least at the moment, Lucas couldn''t help but sneakily gulp.


    "It''s appealing, isn''t it?" asked Mr Jermaine who noticed Lucas'' slight actions.


    "I have to admit, I''ve had nothing like this before." Lucas honestly replied.


    "Well, feel free to dig in." Vienna smiled.


    Wasting no second again, Lucas tried out the first plate before him and his eyes almost sparkled right after.


    Food was the key to every man''s heart. This was an undeniable truth no matter the universe, because every man was a slave to his stomach.


    For Lucas, smithing came first, but closely on its heels was good food. Part of this had to do with the fact that growing up in his first life, he didn''t eat a lot of home-cooked meals and even lived in the wild where he survived on berries, raw vegetables, fruits and insects. Even after his foster-father took him up, they couldn''t afford quality meals. It was only in his later life and his time on Earth that Lucas got exposed to fancy dining.


    But the meals in Eretre were on a whole other level. The proteins were sourced from exquisite desolate beasts, tasting like nothing he had ever had before. The vegetables were unique to this world and unlike what he was experienced with. Lucas even had a weird green that tasted like a cross between an apple and a mushroom. It was a unique flavour he had never had before, but it wasn''t off-putting. Instead, it was really appealing to his tastebuds.


    A few minutes later, Mr Jermaine was done with his meal and took the time to leave the room. He figured to give the two ''lovers'' some space, and he was also quite busy with work. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire


    As such, only Lucas, Melissa and Vienna were left alone.


    Despite finishing faster, Vienna didn''t leave but ordered a bottle of wine and waited for Lucas while she drank.


    After the food, Lucas also decided to take a few glasses of wine as well. The fragrance of the wine was too enticing and he couldn''t help but want to try it.


    "Esteren 3122 De'' Marc." Vienna said with misty eyes.


    "That''s the name of the wine. It''s a vintage drink, and quite generic to be honest. But it''s warming."


    Lucas glanced at her and for a second, he could feel that the atmosphere was weird. Vienna was probably drunk. sea??h th§× n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He was actually on point with the guess. After having met her cousin, some of Vienna''s scars were opened again. As she drank from the bottle of wine, she inadvertently began to let herself lose. With Lucas having a lot on his plate, literally, Vienna spent the majority of time drinking more wine. There were two empty bottles by her side when Lucas was done eating.


    ''Why are rich young girls always so careless?'' Lucas sighed.


    "Don''t worry. I''m not drunk. I''m not a lightweight." Vienna smiled.


    ''That''s what drunk people say.''


    Lucas didn''t believe her, but he didn''t argue either.


    "You''re probably still not trusting me, right?"


    Lucas froze, confused as to how the discussion kept moving in an unpredictable pattern.


    "Well, I can''t blame you. I know everything there is to know about you and have investigated you, but you know nothing about me. Sometimes I even wonder, who am I exactly."


    Vienna bent her head and smiled. However, there was no ounce of joy in her smile; instead there was only sadness and pity.


    "It''s not that I''m hiding it. I just don''t want you to go. Or to find out that you''re like the others."


    At this point, Lucas was confused, but he didn''t mind. Instead, he was savouring the taste of the wine. Despite looking like one, it didn''t taste like typical red wine. Lucas could even swear that the wine wasn''t made with red grapes, but a different ingredient as the base. Even so, it was still sweet and alcoholic; it wasn''t too strong, but it wasn''t weak either.


    ''Makes sense why she got drunk.''


    Lucas glanced at Vienna.


    "Lucas, was it? You remind me of him." Vienna abruptly stared at Lucas with reminiscing eyes.


    "Him?" Lucas asked.


    "When I was younger, around nine years old, I had a childhood friend. We played together, went to school together, and our parents were quite close. Whenever I got injured, he came to my aid. Whenever I was in trouble, he came to rescue me. And after each incident, we would always go back home holding hands together. However, when I was twelve, a certain incident occurred and he came to my rescue. But unlike the previous times, I was the only one who went back home alive.


    "Some might say that I like you, but in truth, I''m just being selfish. I''m just using you to repay all the help I''ve received, and wipe away my guilt."

 Chapter 293 Meeting

    One week went by after the competition and there was still no conclusion on Lucas'' demands yet. Instead, a general meeting for the shareholders of the team had been called and today happened to be the day of the meeting.


    The agendas of the meeting were split into three: first, to welcome the new stakeholder ¡ªLucas¡ª to the board; the second was to discuss the development of the team''s business wings; and the third was Lucas'' demand. Whenever a brand wanted to take up a sponsorship post, they would be investigated and judged by the board of the company.


    "These days, it feels more like I''m running a business than actually crafting." Lucas sighed.


    "System, any missions for me?"


    After over half a year, Lucas was now level four and just one level away from five. At level five, he would have the complete requirements to modify his body and become capable of using stellar energy.


    "The system finds it quite disappointing that the host asks questions with obvious answers. Permission to carry out a body scan to ensure that the host''s central nervous system is working perfectly." The system said.


    Lucas'' lips twitched as he ignored it and walked into the room.


    The meeting was being held in the administrative complex of the Versoa team, a six storey building that was located not so far from the residential apartment. The fifth floor housed a large conference room that was usually used for events such as this.


    Seated inside the room were three other individuals who happened to have arrived early. One of them was a familiar face, Mr Jermaine. As for the other two, Lucas had not met them before but he had seen one of them during his first meeting with the team. The man had attended using a virtual projection of himself.


    Lucas walked in and sat on an empty chair which was in between both Jermaine and the man. The last man sat in the opposite direction of Lucas. This position was quite clever as it was at an equal distance from the two sides, showing that Lucas had yet to associate with anyone of them.


    After ten minutes, the remaining three members of the board arrived, as well as Helnord, who was the company''s secretary.


    "I announce the start of the fourth meeting of the year." Vienna, the chairman of the board, declared a few seconds after everyone was seated.


    "Using this opportunity, I''d like to bring forth the appointment of the company''s new majority stakeholder into the board of directors. If anyone else disagrees with this, please declare your stance."


    Because of the small size of the company''s shareholders, every one of them was automatically voted into the board of directors. However, there was a formal process for this, albeit simply for the sake of regulations. Usually, no one would disagree with the appointment of a new stakeholder to the board of directors. This was even more so since the new stakeholder was a majority and also one allied with Vienna, the company''s chairwoman.


    "No statement of contention has been raised, as such, Mr Lucas Yohann Saunters will become a new board member of Versoa Team Co."


    After that, the second agenda was brought up and discussed. It was about the company''s business wings and their progress. Lucas wasn''t interested in any of these, so he didn''t pay attention throughout. Instead, he channeled his attention into the depths of his mind and began practicing inscriptions.


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    After completing the previous mission from the system, Lucas was rewarded with the ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' tome. However, even though the system''s books could be directly feed into his mind, he still had rehearse them on his own.


    Soon, the second agenda was over and the main article up for discussion was raised. This was the issue of the sponsorship deal.


    Even though he had beaten Orvel, Lucas couldn''t make himself the team''s sponsor even with his strong influence over the team. This was something that was against the team''s regulations. For something this serious, he had to make a formal appeal. The bet would only stop Orvel from directly interfering with the process. This was because Orvel was likely the only figure who would have an issue with this. As for the shareholders, the details of the sponsorship deal was quite interesting and beneficial, even for them. It was difficult to reject such an amazing deal.


    However, some still didn''t want to agree to it.


    "This is a matter of our tradition and the interests of our staff. We can''t easily accept to it." One of the stakeholders said.


    He was a majority stakeholder with roughly six percent of the company''s stocks. This made him the fifth largest shareholder, just behind Lucas, Vienna, Mr Jermaine and another.


    "Why not? Change is a good thing." Mr Jermaine voiced out. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing Mr Jermaine speak up, the man hesitated. He might be wealthy, but he was far from being on the same level as Mr Jermaine.


    "Then even if we desire change, we should pick a better candidate."


    The man who countered was the third majority shareholder and Mr Jermaine''s direct opponent, Guilla.


    There were factions even within the Versoa Team Co''s board. As Vienna was too high above them and didn''t interfere most of the time, only two factions existed. The first was led by Mr Jermaine and one could say it was somewhat sided towards Vienna. To gain the upper hand, the faction was used to trying various means to appease her.


    As for the second faction, it was led by Mr Jermaine''s business nemesis, Guilla. They didn''t go against Vienna, but simply tried to impede the progress of the other faction while trying to win some benefits for themselves.


    Vienna was a fair character and despite the fact that there was a faction within the board trying to suck up to her, she didn''t favour them all the time. As such, both sides had recorded both wins and losses.


    "The current candidate is clearly unfit to hold the position is sponsor. You should all know that this position is one that can affect our public appearance. It is also linked with benefits to the team. Even if we don''t need the payments, it doesn''t mean we should forego them. A reputable party with a strong foundation is clearly the better option." Guilla added.


    Guilla argued that since Lucas didn''t have a background to begin with, it would be difficult to ensure that he keeps his own end of the bargain of the deal. He also hinted at the fact that Lucas'' store was not famous, so there was no surety on him being able to generate significant profit or offer a collateral if the conditions of the deal weren''t met.


    As a sponsor, the party should be able to make seasonal or annual payments to the team, but Lucas was a newcomer struggling to make sales. He also didn''t have a backer, which made it more difficult to trust him with this position.


    The vestige-smith company sponsoring a drift racing team was essentially the official sponsor for the team in most cases. With the Versoa team not having even a single sponsor, Lucas would automatically become the official sponsor of the team if the deal succeeds. In that case, he would be aligned with the team and the team would be associated with him. Guilla believed that this was bad for them because Lucas wasn''t a renowned figure, and being associated with him might drag them down.


    Mr Jermaine didn''t continue the argument but turned his attention to the head of the table.


    "Please decide on this, Miss Vienna."

 Chapter 294 Retaliation

    In the thirty-sixth floor of the residential building, which belonged to Orvel, Jov? ¡ªhead of the Material manufacturing department¡ª, Poch ¡ªthe head of the Simulation and Testing department¡ª and Orvel ¡ªhead of the Design and Energy department, were all gathered. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before them was a communicator they stared at with intense gazes. They were waiting for the outcome of the board meeting as that would decide whether they went on with their plans or not.


    *Beep*


    "A message." Poch said, while Orvel moved to check it out.


    "What did he say?" Jov? asked.


    The "he" was their informant in the meeting and the one to relay the resolutions of the event.


    "...They agreed." Orvel scowled as he gripped the communicator tightly, crushing it into pieces.


    "I guess we''re going with the plan." Jov? sighed.


    They began to spread the news before they walked out of the flat and headed outside the building.


    Lucas was currently in a good mood as he had finally succeeded with the longtime plan he had in mind.


    Truth be told, from the start, the topic was never under contention. Vienna had long promised to help Lucas with getting the sponsorship rights after she knew about it. This was her way of paying Lucas back for saving her and her bodyguards'' lives back at the East Braftford relics. The stocks were just a means to achieve it, but seeing as Lucas was facing some trouble, she decided to give him a hand and override the decision using her authority. In the end, Guilla and his faction''s struggles were meaningless.


    "Congratulations, Mr Lucas." The old man, Mr Jermiane, walked over and smiled.


    Despite being over the age of seventy, Mr Jermaine''s looks could easily have him mistaken for a man in his forties.


    "I couldn''t have done it without your help." Lucas offered some pleasant words in return.


    He would normally not do this, but being in a good mood, Lucas operated slightly different from usual.


    "Oh please. I didn''t do much. If anyone is worthy of your thanks, it''s Miss Vienna. Do well to thank her a lot later on." Mr Jermiane smiled.


    For some reason, Lucas felt the smile to be strange and maybe even a bit, dirty.


    "I will." After a bit of hesitation, Lucas nodded and walked away.


    "Aiya, Guilla doesn''t know anything. In the end, love triumphs all." Mr Jermiane muttered with a smile.


    Just as the crowd, consisting of the stakeholders, their assistants and bodyguards, came out from the administrative building, they were met with a different crowd in front of them. At the head of this new group were two familiar faces, Jov? and Poch.


    "What''s going on here?" Helnord, who stood a step behind Vienna, frowned and walked over.


    "Nothing much really. We just want to know the result of the meeting. Rumour has it that we might be getting a vestige-smith sponsor." Poch briefly glanced at Lucas before turning to Helnord.


    Although it was a brief glance, no one here was ordinary. Excluding Lucas, the weakest was a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. They had taken note of that small action of his. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire


    This made Helnord''s expression worsen and he was almost at the point of lashing out.


    "Is there a problem with that?" Guilla inserted himself into the conversation.


    "Good day, Mr Guilla." Poch greeted with a polite expression, displaying a clear difference in treatment between him and Helnord.


    Helnord noticed this, but didn''t say a word. Meanwhile, Poch continued.


    "There''s indeed a problem. Many of us vestige-smiths working under the team have done so because of the absence of an official vestige-smith sponsor. This allowed us to not only display the fullest of our capabilities, but get rewarded for that in turn. Our efforts were clearly recognised by the public and attributed to each and everyone of us here. This allowed us to be able to earn a bit of income from third-party commissions.


    "As strange as it might sound, there''s nothing wrong with this as many other vestige-smiths in different teams do the same. Also, this isn''t against our contract to receive third-party commissions.


    "But the presence of an official vestige-smith sponsor threatens this for us. Our commissions would experience a significant decline and in the worst case scenario, we won''t even get any. Many of us have families to feed and lives to leave, and while our salaries do contribute a significant part to that, so does our third-party commissions. If we lose out on those, our lives would be affected, and some of us might find it difficult to last with the various financial burdens on us.


    "I sincerely hope that the board does reconsider their decision, if not for us, but at least for the families dependent on us." Poch bowed.


    He had worded his request eloquently, which was a drastic difference from his usual hard-headed self around Orvel and Jov?.


    Listening to Poch''s statement, Helnord frowned.


    Originally, the matter was simply the vestige-smiths being greedy for third-party commissions and not wanting to lose out on any. However, Poch had made it seem as if they depended on those commissions to feed their families.


    What bullcrap.


    Vestige-smith was one of the wealthiest professions in the world. Although it was very costly to practice, the profits were immense. Even without those commissions derived from being associated with the Versoa team, these vestige-smiths could still earn a significant amount on their own.


    Also, their salaries were incredible. While it wasn''t absurd, it was still a lot more than other career options. This was necessary to keep hold of these vestige-smiths and prevent the team''s design secrets from being leaked. So, even without those commissions, these vestige-smiths would still be able to maintain a somewhat lavish lifestyle.


    Poch was simply twisting facts to create a false impression.


    However, that was effective. While Helnord could raise the point that their salaries were significant, it won''t erase the fact that the commissions did consist of a significant portion of their income. After all, the Versoa team never had a vestige-smith sponsor, so every development in their performances was attributed to the team''s staff entirely. If there was an official vestige-smith sponsor, many would assume that the sponsor had a hand in designing the racing shuttle, which was true in most situations.


    ''Now, what will you do?'' Orvel, who hid behind, smirked at the scene.

 Chapter 1 - 1: Dead Again

    [[DISCLAIMER: NOTHING IN THIS WORK IS REAL OR RELATED TO ANYTHING REAL. THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.


    "How is the research going?"


    A middle-aged man in military attire asked the scientist in white labcoat beside him as they both glanced at the sealed room ahead.


    The scientist, a man in his 30s with lush black hair and a staggering appearance that would stun the hearts of women, frowned as he nudged his glasses.


    "Giving life to an inanimate object isn''t that easy, you know? Acting on the idea will inevitably be more difficult than in theory, general. This is essentially stepping on the path of a god. "


    "But he has constantly done the impossible. It''s not a stretch to call him a god." The general smiled as he stared at a particular figure in the room.


    Around the duo were individuals of different military, political, and educational backgrounds and foundations. What they all had in common was that they were famous people of their various backgrounds¡ªpeople who held sway over their occupations and were renowned for their influence and achievements. However, at this moment, all eyes were on the personnel inside the sealed room ahead.


    A couple of metres away from the group was a sealed room with only one doorway that served as both an entry point and an exit point.


    The five vertices of the room were barricaded by metal walls that were at least two metres thick. The sixth vertice, which also had the door, was, however, formed by a glass wall. Although the wall was glass and transparent, its thickness was at least equal to the length of an adult''s forearm, and the material was a special metallic alloy that looked and acted like glass but was even more durable.


    Within the room were contraptions of cutting-edge equipment from advanced-level engineering and scientific research. One could say that similar equipment only existed in top-secret military bases, and the number in the world could be counted on one''s hand.


    From the robotic assistants to the high-tech laser-targeting systems, or even the strange energy reactors further in, the miniature particle accelerators, and the energy compressors, everything could be described as limited edition.


    Apart from the equipment, there were a few researchers¡ªseven or so¡ªcoated in white level A hazmat suits. They were either working with the equipment and machines or taking records of the progress of the experiment. Coincidentally, this metallic glass alloy was also a product of this team, or, to be specific, the team head.


    "It''s starting." The suave scientist silently said.


    "Beginning Alpha Testing of Particle 019, the Barrion Memory Alloy." An assistant in the experiment room announced.


    A microphone was fitted into his suit, which broadcast his voice to the spectators on the other side.


    "Begin." The general pressed a button on a remote in his hands.


    A green bulb lights up in the experiment room, giving the crew the go-ahead.


    History was about to be made¡ªin technology, in consumer products, and in war.


    . . .


    48 hours later...


    "Cheers to success and a new world with a new Rhodia."


    "Cheers!"


    In a luxurious event hall, a party featuring some of the most powerful men in the country just kicked off. Classical music played by a world-famous orchestra resounded in the hall while the guests could be found mingling with each other with a glass of champagne in hand.


    "You''re the man of the day who has made a remarkable achievement, and you''re just staying here all by yourself."


    A soft yet sweet voice sounded, catching the attention of a man who stood on the edge of the balcony, away from the crowd.


    In a silver gown that properly accentuated her curves, a lady with black silky hair and a face capable of toppling a few cities, clearly at the peak of her beauty, walked over with a glass of champagne in each hand.


    "It is but one of my multiple achievements. I don''t really feel anything about it." The man replied as he twirled his glass filled with champagne.


    "Tch. Annoying as always." The woman snorted, but there was a complex look of warmth and melancholy in her eyes as she stared at the man.


    Lucas Saunters is currently 37 years old. The name might not seem special to an average man in most households, but to anyone in the science and even political communities, he was a reputed genius in chemistry and, most especially, material science. So much so that some even began to nickname him the ''father of metals''.


    At a very young age, he had already begun to show signs of being a genius, but he truly stunned the world once he clocked 27 years old. His research, developments, and advancements in material science were unlike anything ever seen before.


    Before the age of 33, Lucas had won three Renobel prizes in either physics or chemistry for his research, two of which were consecutive when he was 30 and 31 years old. He also held the record for being the youngest Renobel Prize winner in chemistry.


    Lucas had developed a few new materials and elements that were unheard of, like the metallic glass alloy that was encased in the experiment room. Even the experiment that birthed the latest new material being celebrated in this banquet, the Barrion memory alloy, which could potentially win him a fourth Renobel prize, was a creation of his.


    Despite all of that, the chief celebrant of the occasion was outside the party, giving off a lonely figure. It was simply his personality. Aside from his love for metals, Lucas rarely paid attention to anything or anyone else, not even her.


    "You should really stop drinking too much. It wouldn''t look good on your skin." Lucas commented, seeing the two glasses of champagne held by the beauty of the material science community, Rachel Grey.


    "I dare you to say that again." Rachel retorted.


    Lucas glanced at her and sighed, not saying a word further lest she throw a punch at him. In his mind, he thought that such a beauty being an alcoholic was weird behaviour, but he had seen much worse. At the same time, he wasn''t one to judge.


    Rachel approached Lucas in her tight-fitted silver-coloured dinner gown and downed one of the champagne glasses before tossing it away.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow but didn''t say a word.


    "Are you really okay with them taking all the credit?" Rachel asked as she stared at Lucas. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It is not something to be really bothered about. I''ve made my mark in the community and the world. Standing on the stage can get a little tiring, you know." Lucas replied.


    Although he made it sound simple, Rachel knew that the truth was different. She was, after all, his number one rival, a member of his team from the last project, as well as his number one lover, albeit unrequited and unknown to Lucas.


    Lucas Saunters. When a member of the science community thinks of the name, they imagine a world-class genius like Einstein or Newton. However, when those in the political and even military sectors recall his name, they think of a walking weapon.


    Apart from some practical day-to-day creations, most of Lucas'' discoveries had the potential to be disastrous, an equivalence almost rivalling WMDs (weapons of mass destruction). About seventy percent of Lucas'' new discoveries were all capable of being turned into weapons, which attracted the attention of the military and also a ton of money being invested in his team and research.


    Of course, this also attracted the envy and ire of some in the community, but Lucas never bothered about them. All he had in his eyes was his lab and research.


    The side effect of being a walking knowledge bank of weapons was having the attention of the whole world on him. If it weren''t for Rhodia being a top 5 world power, Lucas would have already been kidnapped by a foreign power and put under house arrest in a research facility.


    But even then, Lucas had still either received countless invites or suffered multiple assassination attempts in the last six years.


    Not many knew this, but as someone close to him and who had been paying so much attention to him, Rachel was aware of the burden Lucas carried.


    "I understand. Rachel sighed as she sipped on the last glass of champagne.


    The two remained quiet for a while, staring at the moon high up in the sky.


    ''It''s been 37 years now. Are you guys doing okay?'' Lucas got lost in his thoughts, staring at the moon. Those around him only knew him as Lucas Saunters, but only he knew that this was just his second shot at life.


    "Lucas," Rachel suddenly broke the silence.


    "Hmm?" Lucas turned towards her.


    A stunning face that could steal the show and attention, even in a crowded place, stared at him. Even at the age of 32, there was no sign of aging on her, and she looked to be at the peak of her beauty: mature and regal like an empress, yet exquisite like a fairy. However, there was a complex mixture of emotions in the eyes of this incomparable beauty.


    "What''s wrong?" Lucas asked.


    Just as the words left his mouth, Rachel leaned close and kissed him abruptly.


    Being so close to each other, Lucas could smell the perfume on her, but his thoughts were distracted from that. He could feel her soft lips clinging to his and moisturizing them with the touch of her tongue.


    What felt like an eternity but was in reality a mere two seconds brought the kiss to an end.


    "...Rachel." Lucas felt confused.


    Rumor had it that a young minister had once shown interest in Rachel, promising her a life filled with luxury and relaxation, but she had rejected him. And now that beauty had just locked lips with his.


    "Don''t say anything." Rachel stopped him with a smile on her face.


    "Consider it my month''s wages."


    Saying that, Rachel suddenly took off, leaving behind a stunned Lucas.


    "Was I just taken advantage of?" Lucas whispered.


    Luckily, Rachel wasn''t close by, or she would have buried him with her fists.


    Feeling complicated about what took place as well as how to respond to Rachel''s emotions, Lucas sighed once again and kept on drinking.


    The dinner party went on, but Rachel was nowhere to be found. Lucas guessed that she felt too embarrassed and left early.


    "It''s about time we depart." A man in a black suit whispered to Lucas.


    This was one of his personal bodyguards, an assigned agent from the state''s secret security service, the Federal Interior Security Agency, or FISS for short.


    Lucas nodded and left with him.


    Outside, a limo guarded by two other suited men who were also FISS agents was parked waiting for him. Even then, the driver was one too. A sedan was parked ahead of the limo, and within it were two more agents. From this lineup, one could see how much the nation of Rhodia valued Lucas; after all, a single FISS agent was equivalent to five highly trained military agents.


    Six FISS agents were the same as 30 military guards. Only the president had more FISS agents than Lucas, while the vice president was on par.


    Apart from the FISS agents, Lucas usually had a security convoy made up of some men from the military with him. However, as this was a celebratory ball involving multiple influential and powerful guests, there was no need for a military escort. Overall, such an event would be peaceful, and no one would have enough guts to make a move there.


    After Lucas got into the limo, the agent who escorted him sat shotgun, while the other two, who stood by the side of the vehicle, sat in the backseat of the sedan.


    A few minutes after the group had left the venue, an estate appeared up ahead. It was a safe heaven made by the Rhodia government to house and protect important personnel who could be compared to national treasures.


    "We are almost home, Mr. Lucas." The bodyguard, who sat in the passenger seat of the limo, said:.


    Lucas nodded and didn''t say a word. The celebratory dinner party had been eventful but ended in a complex manner for Lucas. For the first time ever, his thoughts were currently filled with a woman and not metal. There was no doubt that Rachel''s actions today had shaken him.


    ''I guess I''ll just sleep over it and deal with the issue tomorrow.'' Lucas thought.


    As the convoy approached the estate, they slowed down before the gate for the usual security check and clearance. Just as the sedan in front of them got cleared, something abruptly took place.


    Boom.


    "An explosion!"


    The guards at the gate yelled. Some of them exited a building that stood by the gate and ran to the scene.


    "Fire! Call the fire department and the bomb squad. Get a team here!" One of them, who seemed to be in charge, ordered with a shout.


    "Whose car was that? Who was inside?" The captain asked one of the men who regularly handled vehicle clearance and security checks. As it was late in the night and he was inside the building, he failed to identify the vehicle.


    "That, that¡­" The young man was stunned.


    "Answer me!" The captain roared.


    "That was a Hondian 43LMS. Only one person has that car apart from the president and vice president." The young man didn''t give a direct answer but he believed this would be enough.


    As expected, when the captain heard those words, he froze in shock.


    "We are dead."

 Chapter 2 - 2 : Transmigration

    Eretre was a planet occupied majorly by a two-legged specie known as hyumans. On paper, they looked no different from humans but they were very much different genetically. One could even say that hyumans were an evolved version of humans, just like the homo sapiens were evolved versions of the homo Erectus, but the gap was wider and not just a difference in skull or teeth size.


    Hyumans were currently in their prosperous age, having explored the universe and conquered the stars. This was all thanks to one of the genetic improvements they had when compared to humans, which enabled them to manipulate and assimilate stellar energy. Utilizing this ability, hyumans had grown stronger and defeated countless civilizations to become the overwhelming force they were now.


    Eretre was a planet in the hyuman occupied solar system, Kellan, and was one of eight planets.


    Currently in this planet, in an alleyway in one of the nations located on Eretre, a young man sprawled across the floor slowly regained his consciousness.


    "Ugh, where am I?" The young man, who looked to be in his early 20s, subconsciously muttered as he used one arm to support his body while the other hand massaged his forehead.


    The young man glanced around to try and see if he could recognize his surroundings, but at that moment, a strange wave hit him.


    "Ugh."


    With a low cry, he grabbed his head with both hands as he felt a wave of memories flush into his head. Those weren''t the memories of his present life or anything but his past life. He remembered who he was.


    "Hehe, so in the end, I still died again huh?" The young man laughed. However, if someone else were close by, they would sense a hint of sorrow in his voice.


    Rising to his feet, the young man glanced around until he spotted a window on a building nearby. This was an alleyway with buildings beside it after all so it was normal to find a window or two. The young began to walk towards the window and glanced at his reflection once he was close.


    "This¡­how is this possible?" The young man, or rather Lucas Saunters, was shocked.


    This body wasn''t the body of some native of this world or anything. It was actually his; or to be exact, the body of his first life.


    "Was it all a dream? Or did I go back in time? How come?" Lucas was stunned.


    However, he realized something strange. The air here was different, both from that of his previous life as well as his first life. In his previous life as Lucas Saunters, the air was a mix of very negligible compounds in the air; a product of pollution in the world.


    As for his original life, the presence of true energy and mana were the most prevalent points, but neither Earth from his past life, nor this world he was currently in had any. The air in this world was entirely different, and the closest description Lucas had for it was ''pure''.


    In that case, despite being in the body of what looked to be his younger self, Lucas realised that he didn''t go back to his previous world. He was in a brand new world but in an ''old'' body.


    ''What the heck is really going on?'' Lucas frowned as he walked towards the exit of the alley while pondering on his circumstance.


    The truth was Lucas had no knowledge or idea on how his previous transmigration had worked. Without the prerequisite strength, it was impossible to try and unravel the mysteries surrounding a mysterious phenomenon such as transmigration. However, Earth didn''t have any sources of mana or true energy, so Lucas had given up the idea.


    This was why he began to focus on the study of materials and metal; an element that fascinated him even in his first life, after all, the Lucas from then was a renowned blacksmith.


    As he exited the alley, Lucas was greeted by an impressive sight. Low altitude flying cars, or hover vehicles circled around the place in a hurried yet orderly fashion, towering buildings and floating platforms entered his sight. In the distance, he could even spot skyscrapers with heights averaging between 400-600m.


    Amidst what could be described as a jungle of advanced technology, the colourful hair atop the heads of the walking humanoids had also managed to grab Lucas'' attention[1]. Compared to the humans on Earth, those here had an abundance of naturally colourful hair.


    ''No wait. They aren''t humans.'' Lucas thought as he studied them carefully from the edge of the alley.


    Although ''they'' looked just the same as humans, Lucas felt they weren''t the same. His soul was quite powerful, a result of his training and tempering in his first life as well as his first transmigration. As such, it was quite sensitive.


    While he was suspicious and cautious, Lucas figured out that he wouldn''t achieve much by merely hiding in the dark, so he left the alley and decided to walk up to someone.


    The closest person before him was a young lady who looked no different from a human except for the naturally purple frizzy hair she had. If it weren''t for his senses, Lucas would have taken her to be a young lady on a wig.


    "Excuse me. Can you please tell me where I am?" Lucas stopped before her and asked.


    At first, the young lady was shocked and confused by his actions but then a look of disgust suddenly crept on her face.


    "Get the f*ck away from me."


    "¡­"


    Lucas was speechless as he stared at that face that displayed so much repulsion. If he hadn''t stared at his reflection a while ago, Lucas would have almost mistaken that he had a pile of dog shit as his face.


    "I''m just asking a question. What''s with your reaction?" Lucas frowned.


    No matter what, the treatment he got was strange for a simple question. Having lived close to the peak in his first life, and being a massive achiever with a status comparable to a natural treasure in his second life, it was natural for Lucas to have a degree of pride.


    Being looked at like a disgusting vermin that should be in the sewers was definitely a new treatment, and one Lucas couldn''t get used to all of a sudden; especially from someone who looked not much older than his current body.


    "Didn''t you hear me you stinking human? Get out of my face before I make you go extinct." The purple-haired young lady frowned in disgust.


    ''Wait a minute¡­ disgusting human?''


    Something seemed to click in his head but Lucas didn''t have the liberty to keep pondering on this as he noticed that the lady had caused such a commotion that the others were staring at them, or rather, him. On one hand, some had an expression almost as if they were looking at a zoo animal while the others, just like the young lady, were repulsed.


    Lucas stepped away from the lady''s sigh, returning back to the alley he exited with his heart filled with shock. The shock wasn''t just due to the experience but the fact that he also noticed that the language was quite different from any he knew on Earth, yet strangely enough, Lucas could speak it.


    ''Where the fuck did I land this time?''


    Just at that moment, a screen popped up before Lucas accompanied by a mechanical voice sounding in his ears.


    "Pre-booting process completed.


    Initializing loading sequence¡­


    Loading completed.


    Connecting to the Origin source¡­


    Connection complete.


    Verifying host''s eligibility and assessing host''s capabilities¡­


    Verification completed. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Assessment completed.


    Starting up programme¡­


    Start up completed.


    Welcome, Lucas Yohan Saunters."

 Chapter 3 - 3 : Hyumans

    "Pre-booting process completed.


    Initializing loading sequence¡­


    Loading completed.


    Connecting to the Origin source¡­


    Connection complete.


    Verifying host''s eligibility and assessing host''s capabilities¡­


    Verification completed.


    Assessment completed.


    Starting up programme¡­


    Start up completed.


    Welcome, Lucas Yohan Saunters.


    Please check your inventory for the System Activation And Welcome Package."


    A few lines of words filled Lucas'' vision as he stood frozen in shock. Although there were a bunch of words, one thing crossed Lucas'' mind at that moment, ''system''.


    If it were prior to his transmigration to Earth, Lucas would be confused right now, but it wasn''t. Before the age of 27, when he became popular on the international stage, Lucas had spent his time exploring the culture and technology of earth. Even after that, he still had a few hobbies and pastimes outside his research.


    One of them was reading; however, it wasn''t just reading research papers, library books and informative articles but also novels. From them, Lucas knew a lot of fantasy terms and ideas, some of which, surprisingly, were real in the world of his first life.


    Seeing one play out in front of him, Lucas couldn''t help but feel suspicious. In most similar tropes, the system was a creation of a certain being who either wanted to utilize the host for a greater plot or possess him. In summary, it rarely meant he would have a peaceful ending.


    ''When did this happen? Who could it be?'' Lucas contemplated as he furrowed his brows.


    All the names and faces of top mages, witches, deserters and cultivators in his first life began to cross through his mind but none of the seemed to fit the shoe.


    ''Well, one step at a time I think.'' Lucas thought as he decided to communicate with the system first.


    At the moment, his first priority was to understand his new environment, but with the racist treatment he got earlier, that would be difficult. Luckily, this time around, Lucas had a system with him.


    "System," Lucas spoke quietly.


    "where am I?"


    "The host is currently located in the suburbs of Baylands City, which is located in the Groeten continent of planet Eretre, which in turn is in the Kellan solar system. For more details on this, host needs to explore on his own or fully unlock the system." The mechanical voice from earlier sounded once again.


    "Definitely not Earth."


    Receiving the system''s response, Lucas sighed as he had now confirmed that he was in another world.


    Earth was in the Milky way galaxy and in an unnamed solar system. Although unnamed, one thing was for sure, the solar system wasn''t Kellan and the blue planet wasn''t named Eretre.


    "System, what are you?" Lucas asked the next question on his mind.


    "I am the Training system for the Crafts god. My very existence lies within my role, which is to grow the host to be a competent craftsman and rise to the rank of god."


    ''A god? And a Crafts god at that.'' Lucas was surprised at the response as he never expected it.


    It wasn''t like the books he read where the system helped the host to get stronger and reach the peak of strength, but instead wanted to aid him in crafts.


    ''Wait a minute¡­''


    "System, are you the one responsible for my first transmigration?" Lucas asked with a serious tone.


    In his first life, Lucas was known as Yohan and he was one of the top 3 most popular and skilled forgers of all time. What''s more, he was the youngest of the three and managed to reach that level far earlier than the others.


    At the age of 443 years, Lucas or rather Yohan, had managed to become a grandmaster at forging and sixty years later, his skill was rumoured to be closely approaching that of the second greatest forger alive at that time, a man with more than three thousand years of experience.


    503 years might sound like a lot, but to Yohan and those around him as well as the society of that world, he was actually a junior who just reached adulthood. He was destined to become one of the best in history if not for that incident back then which lead to his death.


    Thinking about it now, Lucas wasn''t suspicious that the system had planned his death, but that it had taken his soul away from the cycle of samsara and transmigrated him onto Earth with his memories intact, before doing so once again now.


    "Correct."


    It was just one word but it stunned Lucas. Not even the Ancients back in his first life were capable of such, but the system was. This was both impressive but also scary. After all, Lucas now had his life in its hands.


    "Since you''re to help me, you have no evil designs on me right?" Lucas asked innocently.


    "Indeed." The system replied.


    ''If it had any ideas on me, it should have acted on them already but it hasn''t. This means that I''ve either not fulfilled all the conditions or it is truly harmless.'' However, thinking up to there, Lucas chuckled. It was clearly the first option as even the system had somewhat admitted it already.


    ''Wait a minute, don''t the systems in those novels have the ability to read minds? What if it can?''


    "I can." The system''s voice sounded again.


    ''...''


    Awkwardness filled the air as Lucas froze with an expression similar to that of child who got caught stealing candy.


    "Ahem. System, tell me more about this world. Not in terms of location but culture, race and similar details." Lucas asked with a straight face, almost as if he wasn''t the one being suspicious of the system''s intentions a while ago.


    "Due to the host not unlocking the full functionality of the system, only the basic information can be provided."


    "Go on."


    "First will be the lifeforms. The Kellan solar system has eight planets of which only five are habitable. It is majorly populated by hyumans, with three of the five habitable planets having a concentration of at least 80% hyumans, the fourth planet having 60% while the last having less than 2%.


    Apart from hyumans, there are also other winged anthropoids which is actually a common term for two winged humanoid species, the Mara and Vara. Finally, there are the Nysa, the Kerman, and the human races."


    ''That''s quite a lot of races.'' Lucas raised an eyebrow at the report, astounded a bit by it.


    Although his previous life did have some other intelligent lifeforms, they were mostly monsters that had gained sentience and very few inherently intelligent species. However, just this solar system alone six races on five planets.


    "Apart from these intelligent races, there also exist a special class of animals distinctly separated from the usual taxonomy classification[1]. Although they are still in the same domain as other living creatures, they belong to a new kingdom of creatures in the taxonomy; the Desolatum, or commonly known as Desolate beasts." The system continued.


    Lucas sighed and felt grateful that his memory was impressive as he could recall his high school biology lessons, otherwise he would be confused by the terms used by the system, just like the readers and the author a few minutes ago.


    "The current rulers of the planet Eretre is the Oklo Dynasty. The current ruler of Baylands city is the city lord who is also the head of the Bergs family."


    "What about the solar system?" Lucas asked.


    Although that was out of reach for him, being able to know this wouldn''t hurt.


    "Access denied." The system blandly responded.


    Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "Hold on. You mentioned the hyumans as the dominating race and humans as separate. Aren''t they the same?" Lucas abruptly recalled.


    "They aren''t. Although their ancestry can be traced to be the same, the hyuman race is an evolved version of the human race due to artificially controlled intervention." The system answered.


    Lucas finally had an inkling of why he was looked down on earlier, as if he were a cockroach. It was simply because the other party thought of him as a lesser existence.


    Even in his past life in Rhodia, racism, although frowned at and very much discouraged, occurred amongst a species that were the same but different due to skin colour. In this new world, the difference wasn''t simply skin colour and was on a genetic level, with one being an evolved version, so it was inevitable that the treatment would be even much worse.


    It was no longer a matter of racism but speciesism.


    "Artificial? By who? And what for?" Lucas asked the system as he felt it had the answers he wanted.


    "Access denied."


    Not too surprised by this, Lucas turned to the only exit of the alley after a sigh and suddenly asked.


    "I need information about the training system in this world as well as how to level you up." S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he was outside, apart from noticing the difference in their soul wavelength which determined them as a different species, Lucas also discovered that the hyumans were much stronger. Some of them even seemed to possess some sort of special energy within their bodies. Without a doubt, those were practitioners of a special kind of magic system, martial art or something similar.


    "Access denied."


    "The heck?" Lucas cursed out loud.


    The system however, ignored him and continued.


    "To level up the system, host has to complete missions and make achievements. The host is also reminded not to be over-reliant on the system for information and explore this brand new world."


    It seemed that the system''s first response was to the first half of Lucas'' question which could be counted as an individual question.


    At that moment, footsteps sounded at the exit of the alley. Three figures appeared blocking the path and set their eyes on Lucas.


    ''As I thought.'' Lucas frowned.


    His intuition had sensed something which was why he turned towards the exit and in the end, he was right.


    One of the three men suddenly smiled at him.


    "A human, huh? And a young one at that. You look quite healthy and handsome. Hehe. I wonder how much you will go for in the slave market."

 Chapter 4 - 4 : Slave Traders

    "A human, huh? And a young one at that. You look quite healthy and handsome. Hehe. I wonder how much you will go for in the slave market."


    Three men blocked the exit of the alley as they stared at Lucas.


    One of them scanned him with a creepy look on his face while the other two grinned mischievously.


    Lucas frowned but didn''t know what to do. He could sense that these men were quite strong; although they didn''t seem to possess a mysterious energy like some of the hyumans he had sensed earlier, these fellows still gave of a dangerous vibe.


    Also, Lucas had just gotten transmigrated into a new world and although it was with his body, there was no ounce of magic within him. Even his physical strength was average.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas cursed as his brain went into quick-thinking. He had just transmigrated into this world and hadn''t even seen most of it. There was no way he would let it end just like this.


    "Can I help you gentlemen?" Lucas smiled while he communicated with the system in his head.


    ''Hey system, don''t tell me you want me to go out just like this? Isn''t there usually some cheat-code or something?''


    "Please check your inventory." The system sounded in his ears.


    Meanwhile, the trio were stunned by Lucas as they suddenly began to laugh.


    "Kid, you''re really funny." The previous speaker laughed. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    All three were at least middle-aged, so addressing Lucas as a kid wasn''t entirely wrong from their perspective.


    "Indeed, you can help us. Just come with us quietly." Another one of them spoke up with an evil smirk.


    During this time, Lucas had summoned the system interface, which was only visible to him and found the inventory section almost immediately. Entering that section, he saw the welcome package, which was a red gift box with a purple coloured ribbon on top. Ignoring the trio before him, Lucas hurriedly opened the gift box and glanced inside it.


    ''I should have known better.'' Lucas sighed inwardly.


    A few items had appeared in his inventory after the bundle was opened, but none of them were practical enough to get away from the situation.


    There were three sets of strange looking clothes, two sets of blacksmithing apron, a few loaves of bread, and twenty metal ingots of two different metals -ten each- weighing 1kg individually.


    There were also a few blacksmithing tools, like an anvil, a pair of tongs, a hammer, a hand-held sander, two sets of heat resistant gloves, a box of ten chisels of different sizes and shapes, another box of punch sets, a grinder, and a swage. In summary, apart from the clothing and bread, which stood out, the remaining items were portable tools related to crafting and forging.


    Even though he didn''t get what he expected, Lucas wasn''t too disappointed. While these may be work tools, in the right hands, they could also be used as weapons.


    "What''s taking you so long, kid?" The man with the evil smirk said this after noticing Lucas'' silent reaction.


    He moved his hand towards his back and withdrew an object that looked like a dagger. Having spent so much time studying metals and blacksmithing, Lucas could see that the metal used to make the dagger was uncommon and unlike any he had seen before. He could also feel a strange energy on the surface of the weapon, reminding him of special items from his very first life; magic weapons.


    Although the dagger wasn''t a magic weapon, it seemed to behave as one but was still a lot weaker.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. I just had a little bit of stomachache just then." Lucas naively smiled before walking towards them.


    The trio felt that they had successfully scared him; after all, the target was a human while they were hyumans. Although their stellar refining wasn''t anything noteworthy, they were still strong enough to handle a human youth. It was better that things went smoothly like this than cause a commotion.


    The city government might not seem to care much about humans considering how speciesism was a norm here, but that wasn''t entirely the case. On the surface, humans still had their rights and were protected by the government; after all, they shared the same ancestry as hyumans and were the predecessors of hyumans.


    So, even though slave trade was common, it had to be done under wraps. If Lucas were to cause a scene, the city patrol officers might step in.


    "Good kid."


    Seeing Lucas just a few steps away from them, less than three metres, the trio grinned as they felt they could already see their pay rolling in.


    "What''s going on here?"


    Just as Lucas was prepared to summon a chisel and kill the men, a soft voice spoke out.


    The trio abruptly turned to the exit, and even Lucas had his attention drawn. There, a stunning lady with black silky hair, a stern face, and an arrogant air around her stared at the four men with suspicion in her eyes. Dressed in a unique blue and black uniform with black trousers and a black boot, she exuded an air of indifference and a powerful aura.


    One glance was enough for Lucas to tell that she was a woman in power.


    As for the trio, they glanced at the special crest fixed on the woman''s chest alongside the medallion hanging on her neck and frowned. The lady was a city patrol officer and not just an average one.


    Although, based on her uniform, her rank of lieutenant wasn''t something to be scared of, the medallion on her neck was an insignia of a certain organization within the Baylands City Patrol Corps; the Red Fangs.


    Unlike the regular Patrol Corps members who functioned like the police, the Red Fangs were a special unit that dealt with high-risk cases. Sometimes, they even performed joint exercises with the Defense Corps.


    "Oh nothing. We just found our buddy here, who was apparently lost, and came to help him with directions." The man who spoke up the first time hurriedly replied. From how he behaved, he seemed to be the leader of the group.


    Although the crackdown on slavery wasn''t part of the job of the Red Fang, they had worked with the regular Patrol Corps members on one operation. The trio didn''t intend on drawing the attention of a Red Fang to them.


    "Ain''t I right, bro?" The man glanced at Lucas with a threatening smile.


    Lucas stared at him for a moment before smiling back.


    "Indeed. But I just remembered the road back, so I won''t be following you guys any longer."


    The trio frowned but didn''t push their luck with the female cop here. They watched as Lucas left the alley while cursing their luck.


    "Don''t think I don''t know who you guys are. Don''t push it." The woman said as she stared at them.


    "Alright officer. We will be off now." The leader chuckled and walked off with his crew.


    Once he passed the officer, he scowled and tried to find Lucas, but the latter was long gone.

 Chapter 5 - 5 : First Mission

    Lucas was already long gone from the scene by the time the trio departed. This wasn''t to say that he was scared of them but that Lucas felt it was unnecessary to draw the matter. Originally, he would have killed them if the female cop didn''t show up but since she did, he decided not to. The reason was quite simple; Lucas had just arrived in this new world that he knew nothing about.


    Rather than creating trouble out of nowhere, it was better to leave it behind until he completely understood this world.


    One thing he had learnt was the intense speciesism but from the female cop''s attitude, Lucas guessed that not everyone was like that. However, he couldn''t be so sure that he would be treated fairly if he had killed those three and it was later found out.


    Walking around the city, Lucas tried to keep a low profile considering he was ''special''. Luckily for him, it turned out not to be too difficult. Unless someone paid close enough attention, they wouldn''t really notice his status as a human after all, hyumans and humans looked almost the same.


    ''First I need to gather information.'' Lucas thought.


    This would be difficult if he faced bigotry but Lucas already had an idea in mind.


    ''From the system''s description, this seems to be a really developed society with interstellar travel capabilities. Developed societies on Earth tend to have a place with cheap services and large traffic.''


    Recalling the pubs, open-air restaurants and cafes back on Earth, Lucas felt that was a good option. Although lack of currency was a problem, in places like this, he could simply take a seat and order anything while he tries to strike up a conversation with others.


    As for how to find such a place, Lucas simply decided to ask around. One might wonder why he didn''t use this method to get the information he needed. This was because no one would stand up for a long time and answer every one of his questions.


    After experiencing one derisive look and three stares of disgust accompanied with disregard, Lucas finally got the directions he needed from someone, who albeit wasn''t as discriminative as the others, still behaved awkward while talking to Lucas.


    ''Is the bias really that deep?'' Lucas frowned.


    Humans were innately a special existence on Earth, but despite being intellectually superior, they had certain negative qualities that were demeaning of their intelligence. Despite having evolved to a newer species entirely, it still seemed that such characteristics remained with them.


    In a couple of minutes, Lucas finally appeared before an unimpressive two-storey building with a signboard that said Klein''s Pub. By the standards of Earth, the building was quite impressive and would cost no less than a couple hundred thousand, but from the various buildings he had passed by so far, the pub was indeed unimpressive.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t here to admire the scenery but to obtain information, and from the ambience within the pub, he felt that this would suffice.


    "Hey owner, send over a few bottles of jaur."


    A boorish voice sounded just after Lucas stepped into the pub.


    Klein''s pub was a popular hangout location in Baylands city. While it couldn''t compare with the four star restaurants or even the three star locations, it was impressive in its own way. With an assortment of affordable drinks and meals while still retaining good quality, an underground arena and a great location at the outskirts of the city, it was the place to be for any average hyuman or alien.


    Lucas could see the bustling atmosphere which had a mix of hyumans and winged anthropoids which he suspected to be either the Mara or Vara races. These fellows were on average 1.9 metres tall and they each had a hawkish appearances with pointed ears, feet with talons, and colorful wings. There were also some individuals who looked hyuman but not, presumably of mixed blood.


    Some had long ears and vertical eyes, others had four eyes instead of the usual two with a ferocious mouth and some even had horns on them.


    One could say that the pub was a melting point of different races and species, and with its spacious interior, there was no problem having them all together.


    Being in this place, Lucas felt somewhat comforted as he thought that even with his nature as a human, he shouldn''t attract much attention.


    He was wrong.


    "A human?"


    A light voice sounded in the midst of the noise,


    Usually, no one would have bothered or even noticed, but the content of the speech was quite shocking to say the least. All of a sudden, the pub went quiet as everyone glanced at the speaker who happened to be staring at the entrance. Gazing in that, they found an individual who kept a composed face and studied him a bit just to realise that the speaker was indeed correct; that was a human.


    "Oh my god, I haven''t seen one of them in a while now." Someone remarked offhandedly.


    Having so many individuals stare at him, Lucas felt uncomfortable, but still maintained a calm composure. In his first life as Yohan, he had met with more powerful individuals whose pressure -even just a one percent of it- was more daunting than the stares of the group here.


    Even in his second life which was the one before this, Lucas had attended events with hundreds and thousands of individuals and gave a speech. He had even stood before a Rhodian council once which comprised of the president and vice president, the senate and all the other influential individuals in the nation without breaking down.


    "Haven''t you guys seen a human before? Let the young man off and focus on your conversations." A grumpy voice sounded from the door that blocked the kitchen.


    Maybe it was thanks to the speaker, but after the first few seconds of staring, the group seemed to have gotten bored and returned to their prior actions almost as if they never looked his way. However, Lucas knew this was otherwise as he could still hear some whispering about him and glancing his way. Nonetheless, this was much better than being treated like a zoo attraction.


    Ignoring all of this, Lucas walked to a table by the corner and sat. As the pub was almost at full capacity, there were no empty tables, but the one he chose only had two other individuals. However, Lucas had no problem with this as it would make things easier for him. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You''re a human huh? You''ve got guts showing in the city like this." One of the men who wore a pair of glasses and had brown hair studied Lucas.


    "And why''s that?" Lucas acted natural as he asked.


    The four-eyed fellow smiled and didn''t answer, instead taking a sip from the glass in his hand.


    "Are you daft or something? Isn''t it obvious? You''d get kidnapped and sold in the slave rings." The man who reeked of alcohol answered instead.


    Hearing that, Lucas recalled his prior experience and realised that it was actually common here. Despite the laws and the existence of the patrol corps, people still kidnapped humans and traded them as slaves in broad daylight, otherwise this wouldn''t be well known in the city.


    "Seeing as you came here looking ignorant, I''m guessing this is your first time out huh? Which area are you from anyway? The Eastern Suburbs? The slums? Or is it from outside? Digress?


    I heard the city is quite amazing for something built by humans and mixed bloods." The drunkard bombarded questions right after the other to Lucas.


    The latter didn''t reply right away but smiled mysteriously. How could he reply when he knew nothing of what the man spoke. But if Lucas simply displayed his lack of knowledge, it might make things more troublesome for him, hence the silence.


    The drunkard felt his question was crossing the line so he kept quiet while enjoying the view outside.


    Lucas however, had just decided to move with his plan. Staring at the two, he now struck up a conversation.


    . . .


    At the end of the conversation, Lucas walked out of the pub with a much calmer expression. Although it was difficult, he had managed to do get some information from the strange duo thanks to his socialising skill.


    Lucas opened his interface then glanced at a section of it; the Mission tab. After opening the section, he saw at the very top a line of words:


    [[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.


    Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.]]

 Chapter 6 - 6 : Vinis

    [[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.


    Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.]]


    During his conversation with the strange pair, Lucas had received a notification from the system informing him of a new mission; his very first. The details surprised him and made Lucas even more irritated with the system but he didn''t say a word about it. In fact, he had to guard his thoughts for the moment as he really couldn''t ascertain whether the system was to be trusted or not.


    Only folks who aren''t cautious would abruptly place their trust on an existence that had manipulated their life and death while making a home out of their consciousness without permission or a heads up. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While the system had indeed stated it had no negative intentions and it had yet to actually do anything harmful to Lucas, as someone who has been betrayed in the past, he wouldn''t trust it just because it said so.


    As for the mission, Lucas had asked for information about any unowned or on-sale properties within the vicinity to which he got an answer from the man with the glasses. They both scheduled to meet the next day in the pub with the property owner to discuss the deal.


    As for the price, the man informed Lucas that it would cost at least four thousand federal coins as he didn''t know the average land price here, but to complete the mission he decided to go for it.


    Lucas couldn''t determine whether that was expensive or not so he decided to do more research with the time on his hands.


    Staring at the sun high up in the sky, Lucas felt he still had a bit more time on his hands and walked in another direction.


    The reason why he had scheduled the meeting for tomorrow was to purchase the building as soon as possible, after all, he had no roof over his head. As for where his confidence to get the money came from, it was the reward from the system.


    The metal ingots Lucas had received from the system looked valuable and the energy sensation he got from them wasn''t low. As such, Lucas believed that he could pawn these metals for some cash. However, he didn''t plan on putting up more than two of them.


    It took Lucas a considerable amount of time to get to the spot he was directed to, but looking at the exterior, Lucas felt that it could be worth it. The building wasn''t luxurious per say, but it looked much better and


    deluxe than Klein''s Pub.


    "Vinis."


    Pawnshops usually weren''t popular in Baylands city, but this area of the city was different.


    From the information Lucas got from the two, Baylands city was an extremely large city. In fact, calling it a city was an understatement as it was actually a city-state. The city-state of Baylands consists of twenty districts, five of which made up the main city while the other fifteen were essentially smaller cities and towns scattered outside the main city.


    The area Lucas had appeared in was in one of the five districts of the main city, the West wing. Compared to the other locations, the West Wing district was more poorer and pointed towards the Wastelands, a large expanse of space devoid of greenery and filled with a mountainous terrain.


    If one were to head further west out of Baylands city from West Wing district, they would encounter the slums; a place where the poorest of the poor stay as well as all manners of individuals and in between the Wastelands and West Wing district.


    It was due to the relatively poor economic status of the West Wing that pawnshops thrived in this location. Offering loans and sometimes buying items was a business that profited quite a lot here in the West wing.


    But of all the various pawnshops and trade houses in the district, Vinis was well known for it fair deals, offering up to 90% of an item''s value as loan when pawning, which was much higher than the typical 75-80%.


    Since he was low on cash, Lucas wanted to get the best value for his items while he can.


    After entering the building which was guarded by some men, Lucas scanned around as he headed to one of the empty front desks ahead.


    "Good day. Pawn or sale?" The young man behind the counter spoke without looking up.


    "Pawn." Lucas replied a second later.


    "Item and amount please."


    Handing over a purple metal ingot to the young man, Lucas stated, "Full price."


    In the Vinis pawnshop, one could decided how much value percentage of the collateral they wanted to loan. Full price indicated the highest which was 90%.


    The young man received the ingot and weighed it with his hands almost immediately. Once he turned his glance towards the metal, a look of shock flashed on his face and it took him a while to conceal it, but Lucas had already spotted it. The young man finally turned his gaze towards Lucas and seemed surprised but hid it much quicker this time.


    Lucas guessed that the young man figured his identity as a human based on the second look of surprise but he wasn''t bothered. According to the words of the drunkard, although humans were rare, they weren''t extinct or endangered. In fact, the system had already stated that humans did in fact live in this world, but just in the minority.


    "This is a Purple Iridium. It''s quite rare, but the energy in it isn''t up there. The size is also quite small."


    After scanning the metal ingot with a special hand-held device, the young man began to talk.


    "I''d say the value of this item is 5,500 federal coins. 90% would be 4,950 but I''ll round it up five thousand seeing as you''re a new face." The young man smiled at Lucas.


    From his attitude, one would feel his actions were professional yet friendly to the customer. There was no doubt that the fellow was a skilled businessman, but who was Lucas? More especially, who was with him?


    "System? Is that the appropriate value?" Lucas asked.


    "No."


    "What''s the correct value for this amount?"


    "Between 10,000 to 12,000 depending on the demand."


    A simple reply made Lucas frown as he stared at the dealer. Although he was shocked by the value of the metal, Lucas was even more irritated by the fact that the dealer offered him little. While it was true that Lucas wasn''t selling the metal but rather pawning it, as he was just starting off in a new world, the more money he could have in hand, the better things would be for him.


    "Since you are aware it is Purple Iridium, don''t you think that''s a bit too low." Lucas replied with a frown.


    The dealer raised an eyebrow, surprised that Lucas seemed to know the true value of the metal but didn''t fret. Instead he kept his smile as he replied.


    "While you are indeed correct, our store has a habit of offering lower values to unregistered customers. This lessens the debt burden on them and makes it easier for them to pay back. Also, you''re merely pawning the item to us and not trading it, so there shouldn''t be much of a hassle on this. If anything, this deal is in your favour.


    Of course, if you want a loan based on the real value, which is ten thousand federal coins, we can work something out and offer you nine thousand instead. Our store values our reputation above all else."


    Although the words made sense, Lucas felt something strange with them. Also, the store presented the lowest possible price for Purple Iridium as its real value. It was clear that this was how they made their profit even while offering a high rate. By giving a lower account of an item''s value, even if the debtor ended up defaulting on the debt, they would still profit.


    And since the value they gave was factually correct, the Vinis pawnshop stood out from other pawnshops who gave lower prices.


    "If you aren''t content with that either, we can work something else."


    "How about we do this? I''ll take the five thousand and if I require more money, I''ll change my application to nine thousand, receiving an extra four thousand." Lucas replied.


    "That isn''t a problem, but understand that if you eventually upgrade to the nine thousand offer, the interest rate would be calculated based on that." The dealer countered.


    "No problem." Lucas confidently replied.


    The dealer then prepared the documents following which Lucas scanned through it and signed before handing over the metal.


    "Cash or transfer?" The dealer asked.


    "Card." Lucas said.


    "I presume you are aware of the processing fee of 20 federal coins?"


    "Fine by me." Lucas shrugged. However, deep down, he felt quite shocked.


    One of the reasons why the Vinis store was very popular was because of their treatment to customers. An example was the payment options. While cash or transfers were the go-to options, there was the alternative of requesting a pre-paid debit card. This was for individuals, who for one reason or the other, didn''t have a bank account and had no intention of moving around with a large sum of cash.


    However, from his conversation with the duo in the pub, Lucas was aware that the average monthly income in Baylands city was 500 federal coins, but this was on the higher side for those in West Wing district. The average in West wing district was somewhere around 400 federal coins. In regions outside the city, it was even lower.


    As such, paying a processing fee of 20 federal coins for a pre-paid debit card that would eventually become useless was quite extravagant, but Lucas didn''t have much of a choice. It was safer to move with a card than a bag of cash.


    The dealer then handed over to Lucas a plastic card. It was a prepaid debit card that had already been loaded with the money. Once he got the money, Lucas departed the store.


    However, the dealer had a glint in his eyes as he stared at Lucas. A few moments later, he left his position and went deeper into the building.

 Chapter 7 - 7 : Stellar Refinement And mDNA

    Having left the pawnshop, Lucas'' next task was to find a place to stay for the rest of the day as the next day, he would be meeting the glasses-wearing man from the pub to go purchase a store. For the moment though, Lucas intended to know more about this world.


    "System, how do I unlock your full functionality asides missions?"


    "Upgrades come about from levelling up the system through completing missions. Asides from that, host can upgrade the system if special conditions are met. Said conditions are deemed confidential to the host and it is expected that you explore." The system answered.


    "You want me to explore a new world without any form of protection or knowledge? What if I get killed while taking a walk? Wouldn''t you be hostless?" Lucas couldn''t help but find the system''s methods to be obstructive.


    "If that were to be the case, then it means that the host was never fated to be the Crafts-God." The system succinctly replied.


    Lucas sighed at his fate that was quite miserable compared to certain main characters. At least in the books he read, the main characters would get transmigrated into a body with knowledge of the world, some in a noble family, a godly constitution, or whatnot.


    But in his case, he was brought over with no knowledge or information, has to deal with speciesism, and is in a body acclaimed to have the worst potential.


    Since the system wouldn''t give him the information he needed, Lucas decided to find it.


    This was a technological world and apart from electricity being an essential factor to such a world, there was something else equally important; the internet.


    For a world to advance, especially technologically, there must exist a vast network that holds massive information and enables an easier transmission of data or information from one point to another. On Earth, this was known as the internet and its Eretrean equivalent was what Lucas was after.


    A library was another good option but Lucas couldn''t be so sure that such would exist here. A digital version might, but it would most likely be in schools or educational facilities rather than the public area.


    During the next few hours, Lucas did his best to familiarise himself with this new world. He had managed to purchase a device known as a communicator, the Eretrean equivalent of a mobile phone. The device with a lackadaisical name referred to a more brand collection of devices which had different forms like a watch, a hand-held device or even a pair of glasses.


    Using the device after a little bit of learning, Lucas logged into the Eretrean server in the Kellan Solar System Intra-network (KSSI). This was a large network that covered an entire solar system and within this network were servers dedicated to each planet in the solar system.


    There was a similar network that spanned the entire galaxy with each star region being a server, but most times, the average individual didn''t need to log in to such networks as information and news on that level was too far from them. Having to focus on a solar system alone was more than enough most times.


    As for what a star region was, it was a new term Lucas had learnt. The system had only informed him that he was in Baylands City located in the Groeten continent of the planet Eretre, and that this massive planet was in the Kellan solar system.


    The Kellan solar system, from what Lucas read about however, was one of four (4) active solar systems out of a total of twenty one (21) solar systems in a region known as the Blue Mist star region. Above star regions was the entire galaxy which was dominated by the hyuman race, and this galaxy was called the Niera galaxy.


    Apart from that, Lucas had also managed to learn about the world in detail specifically its power system. Unlike Earth of his last life, this would seemed to cultivate a certain type of energy.


    In his very first life as Yohan, Lucas had practiced in the art of magic which was one of the most common. In his first life, there were two major forms of energy refining or cultivation based on two major mystical energies prevalent at the time: Mana and True energy, an energy equally as mystical as mana.


    In that world, there were two classifications for mystical energy users but the most used was based on the energy one refined. Those who refined and practised with mana were known as either mages or witches, while those who refined true energy were called deserters.


    Another classification was based on the usage of mystical energy with those versed in the art of summoning known as Summoners and they could either be mages or even deserters. There were also body honers who used mystical energy to refine their body and improve their physical strength and power, spell-casters, and so on.


    As Yohan, Lucas had started out as a spell-caster but when he began to venture into blacksmithing, the need to improve his body came about and so he dabbled into Body-honing as well, achieving both status by relying on mana.


    In this new world however, the mystical energy that existed was just one; Stellar energy. Just as its name implied, it was a mystical energy that existed in the cosmos and was rumoured to have birthed the stars and the universe as well.


    Although generally, the manipulation of Stellar energy is known as Stellar refinement, the classification of practitioners was based on utilisation as there was only one type of mystical energy. The equivalent of body-honers were known as Stellar evolvers and their art, stellar evolution, was the act of using Stellar energy to purify and temper one''s physical form.


    There were also summoners, but they were very rare. As for the rest, they were nominally called stellar refiners.


    Stellar Refining was the art of refining and absorbing stellar energy into the body. Based on the refining manual one used as well as the path they chose, the result would be slightly different and as such, everyone''s strength differed. There was also another determining factor of one''s strength and that was their talent.


    When reading about this, Lucas finally found out why humans were treated as such.


    Initially, the ancestors of the hyuman race were just like earthlings, humans who were occupying their home planet and had barely even explored their solar system. However with time, their technology advanced and they encountered alien civilizations.


    The ancestral humans had allied with one such civilization as a means to adapt to the interstellar society quickly, although they had the lower hand in this alliance. In the process of that, they had realised their weakness. Unlike the other intelligent species, humans couldn''t absorb and manipulate stellar energy; in fact, they couldn''t even sense it.


    All civilizations had advanced by relying on stellar energy, aiding them at higher levels to rely less on their physical needs like food, air and so on while strengthening them beyond their base form, which in turn enabled the species to explore more regions in space, move in space and even do battle.


    Without the ability to manipulate this mystical energy, it was deemed that humans would be left behind until they would eventually be conquered by a stronger alien race.


    Through the aid of their allies as well as the brightest minds in their race, the ancestral humans found a way to artificially induce evolution within themselves, creating the hyuman race; a stronger version of humans who could utilise stellar energy.


    Overtime, due to proliferation and the law of survival, humans began to go extinct while hyumans overtook them after all, who would want to remain a weakling or want their child to end up as such?


    Nonetheless, not all hyumans were born equal with some more talented than others in stellar refinement. This was all because of a special DNA within them; the essential element that differentiated hyumans from humans and enabled the former to manipulate stellar energy. It was known as the mDNA.


    Every hyuman was born with a different concentration of the mDNA in their body and the more one had, the higher their future prospects would be and the greater their talent. Due to the extinction of pure-blooded humans and some other factors, an mDNA concentration less than 10% couldn''t qualify as a hyuman and would be called a human.


    At less than 10%, one had almost no future in stellar refinement as such, there was no reason to see them as hyumans. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the start, the ancestral humans weren''t born with mDNA so they had to manufacture it. Overtime, natural hyumans came to be. As such, there are two types of mDNA: the m(o)DNA (Metamorphosed DNA) which was naturally occurring in modern-day hyumans, and the m(z)DNA (Metamorphized DNA) [1] which was used to create the first generation of hyumans.


    Hyumans born with a low m(o)DNA concentration can inject themselves with m(z)DNA to increase the overall concentration of their mDNA and in turn increase their talent. Of course however, there were limitations to this otherwise the hyuman race would easily be able to mass produced super-powerful beings with the ability to rule the entire universe. The limit was usually a 30% increase.


    For instance, a hyuman who was born with mDNA of 20%. As they are born as such, this implies their mDNA is entirely m(o)DNA. Said hyuman now injects the special serum containing m(z)DNA, increasing their total mDNA count by thirty percent to become a concentration of 26%, as thirty percent of 20 is 6.


    Also, although the total mDNA concentration increased one''s talent, the value of the m(o)DNA was more influential in this.


    Take for instance a hyuman whose mDNA concentration is 40% with seventy percent of this (28) as m(o)DNA and the remaining thirty percent (12) as m(z)DNA. They would be less talented than another who has the same mDNA concentration value, but entirely made up of m(o)DNA. What''s more, the latter can inject m(z)DNA into their system and increase their ability thirty percent, becoming more talented.


    "So in the end, two things determines one''s strength in this world; your refining method and your mDNA value. Unfortunately, pure-blooded humans don''t have a chance." Lucas sighed.


    It was stated that the current serums containing m(z)DNA couldn''t work on humans or rather hyumans with less than 10% mDNA concentration, much less true and pure-blooded humans like Lucas. Which meant that he was destined to be at the bottom rung of society.

 Chapter 8 - 8 : Ambushed

    "System, is there anyway to change my physique or something? You don''t expect me to somehow become a god without the ability to manipulate stellar energy, do you?" Lucas called the system.


    "The system is the Training system for the Crafts god. My task is to grow the host to be a competent craftsman and rise to the rank of god. It will only be natural for there to be solutions. Host needs not bother about this and focus on completing the mission at hand." The system responded with a flat tone.


    Lucas sighed inwardly but didn''t dwell on the issue. Although the earliest version of serums used in making the first generations of hyumans could be produced again, it was much costlier and was made on order. Considering Lucas just arrived into this world without any background of the sort, much less having a custom-order serum, he couldn''t even afford the mainstream versions.


    Those were drugs capable of changing one''s future; it was natural that they would cost a lot. The best option at hand was to trust the system, even if he didn''t want to.


    ''Hmm?''


    At this moment, Lucas suddenly felt a malicious gaze on him. He didn''t turn towards the direction of the gaze but acted natural and kept walking forward while trying to guess who it was.


    Having transmigrated twice and lived two different lives, Lucas'' soul was very sensitive, which in turn improved his body''s perception.


    ''Who is it?''


    Despite being human, it wasn''t obvious at first unless one took notice of him, so Lucas eliminated the option that someone in the crowd was after him. Also, the gaze had an intensely malicious hint to it, almost as if the wielder had some past history with Lucas. As such, it definitely wasn''t a stranger, but someone he had encountered.


    But Lucas had only been in this world for a couple of hours¡ªnot even a full day.


    There were only three options: from the pub, from the pawnshop, or the trio who tried to kidnap him.


    The first was possibly a human trafficker who was after him. The second implied that the owner of the pawnshop was after the material on him as well as its source, so it made sense why they would have hostile intentions. The third was self-explanatory.


    Moving naturally and without revealing a clue, Lucas slowly moved towards a less populated area while making sure his pursuers remained close. Once he noticed they were still after him, he slowly began to make his way into an abandoned alley.


    The West Wing district was close to the slums and bothered the Wastelands, so it wasn''t devoid of abandoned areas.


    Once Lucas was in the alley, three figures appeared behind him and blocked the exit.


    "Long time, no see, kid."


    A voice called out to Lucas, who halted his footsteps.


    "Oh, it''s you guys." Lucas calmly nodded.


    The group was surprised by his calm demeanour but weren''t scared either. Rather, they were confused. Humans were known to be unable to practice stellar refining, and even if there was a miracle amongst them, their achievements wouldn''t be much; getting stuck at the Body Strengthening stage.


    It was rumoured that on the Beast continent, the humans had teamed up alongside the mixed-bloods and formed a city-state there, just like Baylands, with some impressive characters amongst them leading the state. However, Baylands city was very far from there so it was impossible for the target before them to be from there.


    For that reason, even with their somewhat negligible level of strength, the trio didn''t fear Lucas. They had the upper hand both in numbers and quality so there was no reason to be afraid even if Lucas had a trump card with him.


    "Quite playing around, kid. You have two options; come with us now or we take you by force, although I can''t say how many intact bones you''ll have left if we do so." The man in the middle who seemed to be the leader of the group said.


    Lucas'' current body was that of his first life in his early 20s, and compared to the men before him, he was a lot younger, so it wasn''t exactly wrong for them to call him a kid, although it was demeaning.


    "I haven''t even been here for long, and you guys came after me. Luckily, I do have some good use for you." Lucas suddenly said.


    The trio were confused, but Lucas continued.


    "I spent quite some money getting a communicator, and I''ll have to spend some more on housing and feeding. I''m quite reluctant to use the little money I have on me, and it seems you guys understand this. So thank you, thank you for volunteering to foot my bills."


    "Is this kid crazy?" The man on the left couldn''t help thinking out loud.


    "Forget about it. Just take him down." The leader commanded.


    The stellar refinement path of the hyumans has six main stages: the Body Strengthening stage, the Aperture Opening stage, the Guardian or Origin stage, the Sage or Moon Walker realm, Star Lord realm and Paragon realm, with each stage or realm having having sub-levels. For example, the Body Strengthening stage had five levels, while the Aperture Opening stage has twelve levels.


    The current ruler of the hyuman galaxy who was also known as the Divine Galaxy Protector, was said to be at the Paragon realm, enabling him to dominate the galaxy and found the top power that controlled the galaxy.


    While hyumans had a bright future, the same wasn''t true for their ancestral counterparts, the humans. The latter''s limit was at the Body Strengthening stage and going any further was next to impossible for them.


    The trio were in the Body Strengthening stage and although their progress wasn''t anything to boast about, they could sense that Lucas had no achievement in stellar refining, so beating him was going to be an easy task. In fact, any of them could do so.


    The Body Strengthening stage had five sub-levels but the duo by the sides were at the second sub-level while the leader was at the third. They were just quite stronger than average people, but not too far off the limit, especially for the weaker two. This made sense, as anyone stronger would usually be off making a living fighting monsters or exploring the universe rather than kidnapping humans.


    The man on the left, who had a bulky physique, charged at Lucas with a low growl, intent on ending this confrontation in one move.


    Lucas calmly stood in front and stared at him. Although his body was devoid of any stellar refining art, he still had his memories. Lucas'' first life as Yohan saw him practice both body-honing and magic spells, so he knew a couple of martial arts and fighting skills. Even without having his body improved by stellar refinement, Lucas was confident in his skill and vast experience.


    "Restore."


    Staring at the incoming figure, Lucas uttered a single word without a hint of emotion.


    Suddenly, a pair of strange gloves appeared on his hands. These were the heat-resistant gloves that came in with his welcome package from the system, but since it was a product of the system, needless to say, it was definitely special and out-of-the-ordinary.


    The leader who stayed behind raised an eyebrow at this development. Although he was surprised, it was nothing too much. For starters, the current world was developed, so having storage items or items with invisibility features wasn''t rare. Also, wasn''t it just a pair of gloves? How could Lucas possibly threaten them with it?


    The man approached Lucas quite quickly and threw a punch right at him. Although his attention had been on Lucas, just like the leader, he saw no reason to retreat just because of the abrupt appearance of a pair of gloves.


    At that moment, Lucas, whose focus had already been heightened to the max, narrowly dodged the blow. Right after that, he threw a punch of his at the man with his right hand.


    A gentleman always had to give a response.


    Bam.


    The fist connected, and the impact was resounding. For a moment, the man was forced to see stars and took a few steps backward, almost falling to the ground.


    Seeing his opponent dazed and retreating, Lucas followed up with another attack, finally putting the man off his feet and down on the ground. He proceeded to ensure that his opponent was knocked out cold.


    The duo behind were stunned during this time; after all, their partner wasn''t supposed to be such a weakling.


    Although the second step of the Body Strengthening stage was nothing notable outside, it still increased one''s power, speed and endurance since it had to do with refining the muscles. In other words, even if a stellar refiner at this stage got struck by the hind legs of a horse, they would remain standing without so much as a flinch. Yet this happened.


    Meanwhile, Lucas moved his gaze from the man on the ground and faced the duo at the exit, as he said, Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s one."

 Chapter 9 - 9 : Taking Them Down

    The leader of the trio stared at the gloves on Lucas'' hands, thinking they were the reason for this strange turn of events. In truth, he was somewhat correct.


    [[ Craftsman Gloves : Gloves suited for one pursuing the path of a craftsman. Heat-resistance, penetration-proof, shock-absorption, burn-resistance, and elemental resistance guaranteed. A certain level of strength boost and increased hit-rate is also applied. ]]


    This was the description Lucas had seen when he was studying the gloves in his inventory.


    Although the gloves looked like those of a blacksmith, both its name and description implied that the former was nowhere on the same level as it. From a surface glance, the gloves didn''t seem to be any weapon of any sorts, but Lucas could see beyond just that. The strength boost advantage was clear but the shock-absorption feature could also aid in battles if used well.


    It made the gloves essentially an attacking and defending item, and since it was a product of the system -which was an entity that orchestrated his previous transmigration- it would definitely be more than ordinary.


    Also, Lucas'' current body was that of the 21-year old Yohan from his first life, and apart from his magical powers from back then, his current body retained every characteristics from the time, including his physical prowess. Although young, at the time, Lucas was quite strong and had dabbled a bit in physical development.


    When it came to mastering mystical energy, physical development would always be the first step. This was obvious even in this world where the Body Strengthening stage came first. Even with the improvement of the human species to become hyumans, they couldn''t jump right into manipulating or storing stellar energy in their body, and still had to make proper preparations.


    These preparations were the five levels of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Lucas'' current body had physical strength comparable to someone who just began the second level of the Body Strengthening stage, the Muscle Refining step. With the strength boost from the gloves as well as an element of surprise, it was no shocker that he took down the man in a few moves.


    "Get him."


    Although their companion had been defeated, the leader didn''t fret and took it as a slip-up from their side. He was still confident in capturing Lucas.


    Having received the order, the man on the right charged at Lucas just like his partner from earlier, but this time around, he took the latter seriously.


    Even though he had lost the element of surprise, Lucas still wasn''t scared. He had a few cards up his sleeve, and from how he saw things, there was no way he would lose.


    "Ha!"


    The attacker released a shout as he pounced at Lucas, blasting a fist in his direction.


    Lucas dodged the attack and maintained his distance from the attacker. His strength might prove to the task, but this didn''t mean that Lucas'' other abilities were on par with his opponent''s.


    The man delivered a forceful kick right after which forced Lucas to block with his arms and didn''t suffer a loss. On the contrary, he grabbed the leg, offsetting his opponent''s balance.


    The leader who stood behind raised an eyebrow in surprise, but how would he know that Lucas'' gloves could absorb the force from any blow?


    While holding the man''s leg, Lucas tightened his fist and let loose a punch right at the knee.


    Crack.


    "Ahhh!"


    The man cried out, but Lucas ignored him and rained down a turret of fists on the same knee.


    "Ahhh!"


    The man let out a hideous cry, looking rather pitiful as his leg got bent in an outrageous position.


    Lucas coldly glanced at the latter and still didn''t let go, drawing him closer and striking another blow at his face.


    After two more hits, the man was similarly knocked out, and Lucas finally let go of him. But at that moment, a deadly sensation swept towards him.


    Lucas hurriedly took a step back to avoid the attack, but his senses still ticked him off as he turned on his heels and moved to the side.


    Poom.


    A low rumble was heard as the punch from the assailant released an explosive force comprised of compressed air.


    "Good instincts." The leader of the trio commented, as he stared at Lucas like a predator facing off against prey.


    Lucas inwardly let out a sigh of relief. He had underestimated the fighting ability of this group, seeing as they were still unable to truly utilise stellar energy. However, that didn''t mean they were weak or without some skills.


    For instance, the move used by the leader was one where the user would release a blast of compressed air, which could only be done by someone who is both incredibly strong and fast.


    The leader of the trio was at the third step of refining in the Body Strengthening stage; the bone refining stage.


    The Body Strengthening stage focused on tempering the body and enhancing its physical nature. This was, in essence, setting the foundation for one to truly begin absorbing and storing stellar energy in their body.


    The first step focused on tempering the flesh, the second on the muscles, the third on the bones, while the fourth was dedicated to the organs, with the fifth dealing with the blood vessels, nerves, and the blood.


    Through this method, the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, nervous, and all other systems of the body would have the appropriate foundation to ensure that no harm is done when storing stellar energy in the body. They would also experience a large increase in physical attributes.


    At the bone refining stage, the focus is on the two hundred and six (206) bones of the human body, and when completed, with the prior muscle refining stage in mind, the boost to physical abilities like speed, strength, and endurance becomes staggering.


    Although one wouldn''t be at the stage of moving at the speed of sound or something as insane, their speed and strength could easily top any of the best Olympic athletes in history. Their average punch could even reach as high as 150,000 units [2], so one could imagine how powerful their blows become when they are serious.


    While the man had yet to complete the bone refining stage, his punching power was nonetheless incredible, especially when he became serious.


    "You should have just come with us quietly." said the man as he withdrew a dagger from his side.


    This was the weapon Lucas had seen back then, which reminded him of magic weapons from his first life. Although the weapon was a lot weaker, it still contained a hint of the ever-mysterious stellar energy, making it far more deadly than an average dagger.


    With the dagger in hand, the man lunged at Lucas and thrust forward.


    ''Fast.''


    Despite having created what he felt was a safe distance away from the latter, Lucas felt like he had underestimated the man''s prowess, and the latter closed the gap quickly with the threat of the dagger looming right in front of him.


    He hurriedly brought his right hand in front of him, opening his palm and grabbing the dagger.


    The man sneered as he thrust the weapon forward. While he had some suspicion that the gloves weren''t ordinary, what he had in his hands was a stellar vestige¡ªa weapon made with stellar energy infused. Despite the dagger not being a military-grade vestige, it was far better than a normal blade.


    There was no way the gloves on the young man, which had no trace of stellar energy, could even face off against his dagger.


    ''You''re dead.'' The leader thought as all he could envision was a splash of blood from Lucas'' hand.


    Tink.


    The dagger got caught in between the gloves, not moving an inch further.


    "How?" The man was shocked silly by this.


    How could an ordinary looking glove remain intact despite being stabbed with a vestige by a third level Body Strengthener?


    Lucas had already been expecting this to happen; after all, this glove was a gift from the system and had the attribute ''penetration proof''. After seeing the effect of the shock-absorption attribute, Lucas had no doubt and was never scared from the start.


    Gripping the dagger tightly within that one second, Lucas punched out with his other hand, aiming at the right side of the man, right where his liver ought to be.


    Bam.


    A liver shot [3] connected. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man opened his mouth wide, yet no scream could be heard, as the pain he felt at that moment was horrendous. Even with his prior body tempering and so on, that punch dealt an insane amount of damage. He was still at the bone refining level and had yet to have his organs refined, so the weakness still existed.


    However, he was still a Body Strengthener of the third level, so one punch alone was still unable to take him down. Lucas seemed to have realised this as he let loose another left hook.


    Bam.


    With the second shot connecting, another inaudible moan escaped the man''s mouth and he seemed close to crumbling but was still on his feet.


    Bam.


    The third punch connected, and this time around, it did the job as the leader collapsed to the ground while passing out at the same time.


    If someone were to have told him earlier today that he would meet a young human who would first escape his assault but later face off against his men, defeating two of them, stopping his attack, and finally taking him down, the man would have laughed it off as the joke of the century, but yet, such had happened.

 Chapter 10 - 10 : Lurking Danger

    Although the battle looked easy, it was anything but that. One shouldn''t forget that the opponents were stronger than Lucas in all physical areas. The only reason he came out on top was due to a few factors like the system''s aid. But the ones that stood out were his battle experience, the fact that he was underestimated and the element of surprise.


    The criminals underestimated Lucas and treated him like a simple human since they couldn''t get a whiff of stellar energy on him. At the same time, they didn''t know the qualities of the gloves and took it as something ordinary since they similarly couldn''t sense any bit of stellar energy from it. They never would have expected that it could not only absorb shock but was penetration proof.


    They also would have never guessed that their opponent wasn''t a simple human but someone with over five hundred years experience with a majority of that spent facing super-powered freaks and mages.


    After defeating the trio, then came the issue of clearing the scene.


    Lucas was having trouble deciding what to do now. If this were his home world, he would have killed them right away but it wasn''t. Back on Earth, Rhodia had security cameras on almost every street in every city so committing crimes was quite risky. For a technologically advanced world and an interstellar civilisation like this, the security measures would be even more impressive.


    Lucas wouldn''t even be surprised if there was a satellite up in the sky watching his every movement at the moment. As such, committing murder was risky.


    Although he could argue that it was done in self-defence, Lucas'' act of taking down the enemy was already enough and proved to show that there was no need to be extreme as he had already overpowered them. That added with the treatment humans received, Lucas doubted he could escape jail if he was caught.


    At times like this, it was best to stay low and not go overboard, so murder was off the topic.


    In the end, Lucas decided not to think too much about things. He simply searched the men and seized any valuables, specifically in the form of wallet cards and communicators. He wasn''t lying when he said he would have the group fund his lifestyle for the meantime.


    While this was an advanced world, the technology of credit and debit cards were still usable means. Although one could link their accounts with their communicators, for various reasons and fears, some would special cards called Wallet cards. These were special cards that functioned like a credit card and a debit card at the same time.


    Unlike the cards on Earth, they weren''t just a plastic or metal plate but made from a special alloy encoded with a high level security protocol. The more expensive ones were such that transactions couldn''t be carried out on them without a biometric confirmation to prevent theft. Of course, these trio couldn''t afford such cards.


    Once he was done collecting his spoils, Lucas dragged the bodies of the men and kept them out of sight before leaving the alleyway.


    . . .


    The Vinis pawnshop had two floors from the outside. The first floor was where they received clients and made their deals. There were also a couple of rooms dedicated to functioning as offices here for meeting high profile clients.


    The second floor was more different as it was a mix of both the office area meant for the store''s executives as well as showroom that took up to a third of the entire floor. Here, the store displayed some of their items put up for sale.


    However, there was a third floor, the basement. Unlike the other two, it was inaccessible to the public and even majority of the company''s staff couldn''t get here. While the second floor had a showroom, the basement was their storage room. But it also served an extra purpose, one that was related to the company''s dark secrets.


    "Any news?" A cold voice suddenly spoke up in a dark hall underneath the prosperous pawnshop.


    A shadow appeared in the hall and bowed towards a certain direction in the hall. "None yet, sir."


    "I need results." The voice sounded once again, this time more coldly than before.


    At that moment, the silhouette hesitated a bit but eventually spoke up.


    "...we noticed that he was being trailed by Ramirez'' people. But he managed to take them down alone."


    "Ramirez is on to him? Wait, he took them down alone? How is that possible?"


    "We don''t know. There was no sign of stellar energy or any mystical energy of sorts. He simply did it with brute strength and a blacksmith glove that seemed special. It was able to remain undamaged even after taking a direct hit from a vestige, albeit a low grade one." replied the silhouette.


    "Despite being a force worth contemplating about, Ramirez'' people are much too weak. Nonetheless, keep an eye out on him and don''t underestimate him. It seems that apart from the Purple Iridium, this fella has a few more secrets of his own. Don''t lose them." The voice said before going quiet. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The silhouette bowed and left the room.


    Unknown to Lucas, his action of pawning just a single ingot of Purple Iridium had already alerted the higher-ups of the store.


    Purple Iridium was a rare with great value one of which was forging vestiges. Just from the fact that its base price was 10,000 federal coins per ingot was enough to show how valuable it was. There was also the fact that Purple Iridium wasn''t mined in Eretre. Even in the entire Kellan solar system, there was no Purple Iridium deposit so it was much more valuable.


    When the system told Lucas the value of Purple Iridium to be between 10,000 to 12,000 federal coins, this was actually the value when considering the entire Niera galaxy, as such it was heavily underpriced.


    In a place like the Kellan solar system that had no deposits or mines for Purple Iridium, the value per ingot was higher, reaching up to 14,000 at the base price and this was if the owner was in a hurry to sell it. Otherwise if one were to purchase it from outside the solar system, including custom duties and transport fee, it would cost 16,000 per ingot.


    This ''cheap'' price of 10,000 was why the clerk had readily agreed to Lucas'' offer. At the same time, he had reported it to his boss. There was no way someone who could afford Purple Iridium would be in the West Wing and decide to pawn it. The only explanation was that he had stumbled upon it somewhere.


    The upper figures in Vinis pawnshop guessed that there was a possibility Lucas had a stash somewhere. As long as they captured him, they could find the information, but they didn''t plan on doing that. Instead, they wanted to make Lucas lead them to this ''stash'' instead. This was a safer option because capturing Lucas did not mean success.


    If the latter decided to commit suicide or refused to talk even with the threat of death, their golden egg would be gone. They saw that as a killing the goose for its eggs which was a dumb move. It would be better to monitor Lucas and find out where he stays then ransack the location and any other suspicion area he frequents.


    While all this took place, Lucas used the money he got from the trio and rented a room in a somewhat fancy hotel, and spent the night sleeping. Even though his soul was much stronger than in the past and this improved his senses, the tracker sent by Vinis pawnshop was a professional and wasn''t at the level of Body Strengthening, so it was impossible for Lucas to know he was being trailed.


    In fact, after Lucas defeated the trio, the man tasked with monitoring Lucas had changed the tracker to a stronger fellow.


    The next day, Lucas awoke and freshened up. After scrolling through the KSSI (the solar system web) and learning more about his new world, especially so about the value of money and housing, he checked the time and departed for the Klein''s pub where he met the man with glasses and a friend of his who also happened to be the owner of the building Lucas was interested in.


    The building looked a bit run down but that in terms of this world''s development. Although it had a few faults internally, its outward appearance was still above average compared to some of the buildings in his last life on Earth.


    For instance, the two storey-building had a helipad parking space on its roof that could fit ten SUV-sized hover-cars, a backyard with a not-so-small shed, as well a balcony on the second floor.


    The structure of the building wasn''t cement nor wood, but a special soft metal alloy that felt like bamboo to the touch but was a lot tougher than cement with a suitable heat conductivity and retaining factor, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.


    Apparently, this used to be a family-owned restaurant, but its isolated location and the low profitability margin made the owner, who was in debt, want to sell it and relocate elsewhere with the money. In summary, it was a rush sale.


    The starting price was 3200 federal coins but Lucas managed to get it for less -2800 federal coins- after some bargaining. The location of the store was bad after all and the interior needed a lot of fixing. 2800 was the equivalent of seven months pay so it wasn''t a bad price. Once a price was agreed, they began the deal process.


    Unlike on Earth where purchasing a building was a big deal, Eretre had a much faster yet secure system for this. Communicators were everything and made everything 10 times easier. They simply connected to the city-state government''s office online, filled the necessary forms, made the appropriate payments and signed on them with their biometrics and accounts.


    After a few minutes of waiting, the deal was confirmed by the city-state government and the documents were sent to Lucas while he got debited the required amount. In the other side, they got the money and the name on the ownership document in the government''s database was changed to Lucas Yohan Saunters.


    When Lucas bought his communicator, he had registered an ID with the city government as well as opened a bank account and an account on the KSSI. On his ID, his first name was Lucas and surname Saunters, same as his life on Earth. Yohan was his middle name here and also the name he used in his original life.


    An interface visible to only him appeared in front of Lucas at the same time the deal was concluded.

 Chapter 11 - 11 : Mission Complete

    "System, now what?" Lucas said after the duo left while he held the keys to the building.


    [[ Mission Description: As a trainee on the path of the Craftsgod, you should have a base of operations. Find and own one within one week.


    Overview: Own a building and build a store.


    Rewards: An Adventurer''s Manual


    Penalty: Death.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    ]]


    "To be honest, this reward is quite lacking if you ask me¡­" Lucas sighed.


    "Host is also lacking in a bunch of places."


    "..."


    To be honest, Lucas wasn''t looking down on the system''s reward. Just the abilities witnessed so far from the items he got from the welcome package were already good enough. So while the reward for his first mission was just one item, Lucas was still looking forward to it. He only made that statement to try and profit more.


    Lucas accepted the reward and he received a notification about a new item in his inventory. He opened the inventory and saw a tome in his inventory space with the title ''An Adventurer''s Manual''.


    Lucas first entered the building before he retrieved the tome from his inventory. As it appeared on his hand, a pop-up showed up right beside him.


    [[ Accept input? Y/N ]]


    "Yes."


    Suddenly, the book began to disintegrate bit by bit into a flow of light that went into Lucas'' forehead. It only took three seconds for the entire tome to disappear. At the same time, Lucas felt an increasing pain on his forehead, almost knocking him out on the spot.


    However, he gritted his teeth and endured throughout the entire ordeal while subconsciously cursing at the system for attempting to murder him. Of course, this was just a joke, as he knew that it didn''t intend on doing so.


    It took five minutes for the pain to subside and in those five minutes, Lucas felt as if his brain was about to burst. Even after the event, his clothing was drowned in sweat and Lucas had to support himself on one of the chairs in the building.


    ''What a horrible feeling.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    While it was an incredibly painful sensation, the result was worth it. Lucas could feel that there was a new set of knowledge in his brain. It was broad and could be termed as an encyclopedia''s worth. The category of knowledge focused on minerals, monsters, and even advanced information about astronomy such as calculating a planet''s orbit or direction and so on.


    Although the tome was termed ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', Lucas found it hard to believe that an average adventurer would require this much information. If someone did, they would have to be a very very high class adventurer or space explorer.


    Apart from all the aforementioned information, Lucas also got to know about the power system of this world, although he already knew that after looking it up the previous day. However, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'' gave more detailed information than what Lucas got from the communicator, which included how to achieve each level.


    Sadly, there was no information for humans on the subject, so Lucas still had no solution to his innate problem.


    After going through the information once, Lucas realised that he had spent three hours. He was surprised, as he didn''t realise he had spent that long reversing the information in his head, but he wasn''t affected by it. In a sense, Lucas was jobless, so even if he spent his time staring at the sun, there was no heavy repercussion, per se. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Host has finally awoken."


    The system''s voice sounded in his head.


    "What about it?" Lucas replied.


    "The building has been recorded in the system''s database, and renovations would need to be carried out. Host needs to be informed and grant the system permission to go ahead with planned renovations."


    "Oh?" Lucas was pleasantly surprised.


    He has previously been worried about renovations and how much it would cost him, but seeing as the system could provide similar services, he was amazed and glad.


    ''At least that saves me a couple of coins.''


    "Can I see the renovation plan?"


    "Access denied."


    "If I can''t access the designs to make amendments, why is my permission even required?" Lucas sounded frustrated by the system''s actions.


    "As the host gets stronger and the system upgrades, changes would be made available." The system''s bland voice sounded in Lucas'' head once again.


    With a sigh, Lucas granted the system permission to renovate the building.


    "Renovation commencing. ETA: 24 hours. During this period, the store would be closed and only accessible by the host and employees. Store activities would be on hold. Please be patient."


    "Employees? What''s that about?"


    "Access denied."


    "..."


    Despite being mentally old, Lucas couldn''t help but curse inwardly as he began to make his way to the top floor.


    The two-storey building was formerly a family restaurant. The ground floor [1] was the main serving location, and the first floor was reserved for private rooms and guests. There was also a rooftop terrace that could also be accessed from the top floor, reserved for guests who wanted to have their meal while enjoying the view.


    However, with the terrible location of the building, being surrounded by taller buildings, and lacking a natural scenic spot, there was no view to enjoy from the balcony.


    Behind the main building was a smaller building that looked like a patio of sorts, but it''s function was something Lucas was unaware of and wasn''t bothered about either. After all, the system would be renovating everything, so what it was in the past didn''t matter.


    Lucas went into one of the rooms on the top floor and decided to take his rest here. With the system upgrades taking twenty four hours and Lucas not knowing as much as he felt was enough about this world, he believed it was best to stay indoors for the time being and expand his knowledge.


    Although he had it in his memory now, Lucas had yet to completely digest the information from the manual. The three hours he spent were merely on perusing the information and just from the fact it took that long, one could imagine how much information was inside it.


    While one could say it was in his brain already, it wasn''t readily available, just like how people experience an event but find it difficult to recall it after a lot of time has passed. The memory exists, but it''s not readily recalled.


    There was also the communicator, an advanced technology that could aid Lucas a lot in learning more about the world.


    As for the matter of food, there was the bread he got from the system and if that wasn''t enough, Lucas could simply order with his communicator.


    As such, the next couple of hours were spent surfing the KSSI or the intranet [2] and revisiting the knowledge stored in his head until Lucas could completely grasp it.


    While Lucas was absorbing information on a large scale, a figure hid in a neighbouring building and kept a lookout for him. The individual was the spy currently in charge of monitoring Lucas. He had been keeping an eye on the latter the past few hours but was slowly getting impatient.


    Usually, a professional wouldn''t, but due to the pressure from his employers, the tracker felt he was running out of time.


    ''The boss already asked for an update in forty eight hours but this dude is just sitting. What the hell am I supposed to do now?''


    The spy''s mission was for him to find out about the source of the Purple Iridium and, if possible, get more. There was also a new side mission included, which was to find out where Lucas came from and how he had defeated the trio from Ramirez''s gang. Usually, 2¨C3 days would be enough to find out something about his target after spying on them for so long, but Lucas was different.


    Apart from meeting with the duo from the pub to buy the building, Lucas had spent most of his time indoors, dazing around or on his communicator.


    The first made no sense and as for the latter, there was no way for the spy to seize Lucas'' device without alerting him. Hacking it was also out of the question.


    Communicators were state-of-the-art devices with high-tech security systems and locks. Since they were linked with one''s personal information and account, it was only natural that there security was the best.


    Also, since the KSSI was an intra-network and now an inter-network, this increased the difficulty of hacking since to hack into one''s device directly and make a data request, a hacker would have to be able to hack the KSSI first, which was next to impossible.


    This was a network that served an entire solar system and so there was no doubt that the security was out-of-this world; both literally and figuratively speaking, as the data centers were in space.


    ''If he doesn''t make any move soon, that will leave me with only one option.'' The spy narrowed his eyes.

 Chapter 12 - 12 : Debt Collector

    On Eretre, a day happened to be the same as Earth, exactly twenty four hours consisting of roughly eleven hours of daylight and thirteen hours of nighttime. In truth, it wasn''t the same in some of the neighbouring and farther planets.


    For instance, Jota, one of Eretre''s neighbours, experienced 42 hours per day; 18 of those in sunlight with 24 in darkness.


    This might seem a lot but one should recall that a day in Venus is 5,832 hours (243 Earth days) whereas in Mercury it was 1,408 hours (almost 59 Earth days) or 4,224 hours (176 Earth days) depending on how one wanted to define a day [AN: too complicated to explain but in AN section].


    Although there were places with shorter days like Jupiter or Saturn, none of the habitable planets of the Kellan solar system were like such.


    Eleven hours might seem much but they easily went by for Lucas and it was nighttime soon. At that point, Lucas realised he was hungry but didn''t leave the store either. Instead, he used his communicator and ordered for a meal before resuming his activities which was mostly educating himself on the world.


    Apart from educating himself about his new world, Lucas had spent a significant part of his time revisiting an old love of his; metallurgy, the study of metals. Back on Earth and even in his first life, Lucas loved studying about materials, especially metals. In his first life, he worked on them with his hands and developed a passion for the art.


    In his second life on Earth, Lucas developed a passion for the science of the subject and went as far as becoming a world-renowned scientist for his groundbreaking research in metals and materials.


    Now he was in a new world that seemed to have combined both of his past world experiences, Lucas'' interest was hyped. Just as he had suspected, this new world had an assortment of new and old metals and materials so there was so much to learn about even after he had finished comprehending all the knowledge from the tome.


    Before Lucas knew it, he fell asleep deep into the night after being overwhelmed and woke up the following day.


    [[ Estimated time until renovation completion: 6 hours ]]


    There were still a few more hours before the store''s renovation and Lucas decided to spend the time reading again.


    One might wonder why he lacked an interest in moving around but to Lucas, it was best to know more about the world before doing so. This wasn''t like with his first transmigration to Earth where he was born into the world and so could easily fit into it. At the same time, he was a victim of speciesism here, to the point that he was almost kidnapped less than an hour into his transmigration.


    Without being able to refine stellar energy, Lucas'' next best option was to fully understand this world before moving around.


    However, Lucas wanting to live in peace didn''t mean that he would get his peace.


    Bam. Bam. Bam.


    "Hey, open up."


    A loud knock sounded at the door just as Lucas woke up from his sleep.


    Normally, he shouldn''t have been able to hear the ravings from the speaker, but the latter was putting in so much force into his knock and yelling provocatively, such that even if Lucas wanted to ignore it, he could still hear them.


    Infuriated as well as perplexed, Lucas went downstairs to see who it was.


    "Reminder: No one except the host can step into the building." The system informed Lucas.


    "I know. I just want to see who it is." Lucas replied. He indeed wanted to know who it was. Lucas hasn''t had much contact with anyone so far as he had only been in this world for barely two days with today being the third.


    "Who is it?" Lucas asked.


    "What do you mean who is it? Did you forget it''s time to pay your weekly fees? Open up and don''t try to run from me." The voice on the other side said.


    "Weekly fees? What weekly fees?" Lucas was confused.


    "What do you...hold on. Your voice sounds strange. Aren''t you Ramon?" The speaker asked.


    Lucas'' eyes glistened strangely. Ramon was the name of the previous owner of the building; the man who sold it to Lucas.


    ''It seems like there''s more trouble with this.'' Recalling that the man he met in the pub told him that Ramon was interested in finding a buyer to settle his debts and move out, Lucas had an inkling of what was going on.


    Ramon probably owed a large amount of money and was making weekly payments on them while trying to find a buyer for the building. Once it was sold, rather than clearing the debts, he used the money to escape town and start a new life.


    The problem was that, the creditor had yet to receive their full sum with the interest, so they wouldn''t easily give up and might even try to seize the house. However, Lucas wasn''t worried about that. The deal was approved by the city government so that meant there was nothing sketchy about it.


    Ramon was also confirmed to be the owner of the building and it wasn''t being used as a collateral for his debts, otherwise the deal would have been flagged by the city government and he would have been notified back then. In other words, there was no way the creditors could take it from Lucas'' hands so Ramon''s debts had nothing to do with him.


    Once he figured that part out, Lucas confidently replied back.


    "No, I''m not. Ramon sold this place to me just yesterday. I''m the new owner."


    "He what?! The heck you mean? Open this frigging door right now!" The other party began shouting at the top of his voice. From the tone, Lucas easily identified the speaker to be a male.


    "I''m sorry but I can''t. Whatever issues you have with Ramon, go settle them yourself." Lucas ignored the other party and walked away.


    "Hey, you better open this door right now or you''ll regret it. Do you know who Ramirez is? I work under Ramirez. Ramon borrowed from him and I''m here to receive the payments. It would be wise not to make any stupid mistake and open this door right now."


    Lucas ignored the fellow. With the system''s assurance that no one could enter this building during the renovation period, he wasn''t scared of anything. As for after that, Lucas had a feeling that the system would unveil a couple of surprises to him which might turn out useful.


    "Hey, can you hear me? I know you can. Open the door right now." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The party on the other side kept talking and knocking, but after realising that Lucas was a ''stubborn'' individual, he gave up and left.


    For Lucas, this experience wasn''t one he liked. He tried contacting Ramon but realised that the other was avoiding his calls. This further verified his earlier suspicions. Ramon might have even been expecting this to happen.


    Nonetheless, none of this dampened his resolve. Lucas simply filed a report of harassment to the city guard corps and left it at that.


    Meanwhile, the spy who was lurking in the dark watched all this happen and it made him all the more insecure. After a moment of contemplation, he finally reached a decision as his gaze on the building sharpened.


    This night, he would strike.


    . . .


    On the other side of the door was a young man who dressed stylishly and had braided purple hair. Hyumans were genetically different from humans, and some of them had naturally coloured hair just like the young man.


    The young man had a frown on his face as he left the area after banging on the door yet receiving no response. He hailed a hover-cab and moved away.


    A couple of minutes later, the young man alighted from the vehicle at a certain virtual gaming store and watched as the cab left. He wandered around the area for a few minutes, then began walking in the direction opposite the store. At times, he would turn in one direction, then walk a circle around a block before moving in the opposite direction.


    This went on for while and looked pointless but at the same time, the young man was actually moving further and further way from his starting point. It took thirty minutes of this seemingly pointless action until he began walking in a specific direction with a smirk on his face.


    At the same time, a couple of dozen metres away, a figure appeared with a frown and mumbled, "Lost him."


    Meanwhile, the young man, who had a victorious smirk on his face, soon reached a building that wasn''t anything special. On the outside, it appeared to be a fruit store, which didn''t stand out in any way. While supplements and the like were quite popular, organic food still had its place in the market.


    He walked in and said a few words to the cashier, who then led him to a room with a hidden elevator that descended downward.


    A deep voice in an intimidating tone greeted the young man as soon as he exited the elevator.


    "What took you so long?"

 Chapter 13 - 13 : Renovation Completed

    "What took you so long?"


    A deep, cold voice sounded just as soon as the young man exited the elevator.


    At that moment, he felt his entire body freeze and was scared out of his mind. The boss was angry, and whenever he was angry, someone had to pay. While still frightful, the young man managed to keep his calm as he responded while keeping his head low,


    "I was being monitored by some bugs. It took me a while to get rid of them."


    "Where''s my money?" The owner of the deep voice changed the topic.


    The young man looked even more nervous at this point but he knew that remaining quiet would cost him his life.


    "It''s as we suspected. Ramon escaped. What''s more, he sold the building to someone else."


    Crack.


    At that moment, a sound interrupted the young man, and he went silent.


    "Find him and get me my money."


    "...what about the building?" The young man fearfully asked.


    "What building? You mean my building?"


    "I understand." The young man hurriedly replied.


    How could he not understand what the boss meant by those words? Ramon might have thought he could play a trick and escape, but the man before him was someone not even the patrol corps could easily mess with.


    "I''ll take my leave now." Seeing as there was no command left for him, he bowed and raised his head as he prepared to leave. It was then that he noticed a corpse on the floor with the head bent in an impossible manner.


    Recalling the sound he heard earlier, the young man realised what had happened and made his exit right way.


    . . .


    Unbeknownst to Lucas, undercurrents that could cost him his life were stirring, but the latter was engrossed in his reading. With a strong soul that bolstered his physical capabilities, not only were Lucas'' senses sharp, but his reading speed and memory were better than they were in the past.


    "Congratulations host. The store has officially been upgraded and is open to launch."


    While Lucas was reading about the metals and materials in this new world and some other information that piqued his interest, the system''s voice interrupted his focus. However, Lucas wasn''t angry but was pleasantly surprised instead.


    ''Finally.''


    Lucas smiled as he felt that his efforts were finally paying off.


    It was then that he noticed that the interior of the room was quite different from how it was before. Probably because he was too engrossed in reading, Lucas had failed to notice when the room began to subtly change. It still retained the same background colour but the cracks and damages on the walls were gone.


    There were also some new patterns and posters that brightened up the place, as well as some new furnitures that didn''t look out of place. Everything had changed so drastically yet quietly, that if Lucas didn''t know what the room looked like before, he wouldn''t even have noticed anything different.


    This in turn raised his hopes, as he couldn''t wait to see the complete renovations.


    Departing the room, Lucas began to take note of the area and easily spotted the differences. The staircases were a different colour, the same with the floor tiling. The lighting was upgraded, and on one side of the wall was a rectangular tablet fixed on the wall. Lucas walked towards it and clicked on it, finding out it was a special kind of control device with monitoring capabilities.


    It seemed like the system had installed cameras around the building, and he could monitor the situation from this device.


    Lucas walked downstairs and was amazed by what he saw. Compared to before, the ground floor looked more organised and impressive.


    The old tables and chairs were replaced with new and exquisite ones. The layout wasn''t that of a diner like before, but a waiting lobby with sofas and coffee tables arranged in a random yet mysteriously organized fashion. There were a few paintings on the wall and some plants at the corners of the lobby, adding a natural touch to the room.


    The waiting lobby was divided into two sides, but this wasn''t obvious as the demarcation was nothing more than a few pillars with plant vases. As such, one could still easily peep into the other area.


    There was a checkout counter by the wall, close to the stairs, for attending to customers. Behind the checkout was a door that led to a room at the back. Lucas walked through the door and entered the room, only to be greeted with an astonishing work area for a blacksmith. There was a furnace, a work bench, a rack filled with tools, a line of counters, and more.


    In summary, the room was quite spacious and very well equipped and ventilated. Even as he stood here, Lucas felt as if an air conditioner was turned on, but he saw none in here. Lucas had no doubt that even if he was working here, the room temperature wouldn''t be as high as the furnace.


    Lucas happened to glance behind and noticed that beside the door was a see-through window, however, he never noticed the window from the other side. He went back to the checkout and glanced at the wall before returning to the work-station with his eyebrows raised in surprise.


    It turns out that wasn''t a window but an LCD screen that displayed the lobby area of the store. It was just so thin, and the current angle displayed made it such that Lucas mistook it for a window.


    Apart from the work-station, there was another room on the ground floor as well as a restroom.


    "This is quite impressive, system. Good job."


    So far, so good, Lucas was pleased with the renovations. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Host hasn''t explored the store entirely. The renovations cover the entire premises and not just this building." said the system.


    "The entire premises?" Lucas was shocked, following which he left the building and checked out the entire premises. One should recall that along with the building he bought, there was also a smaller one by the side.


    It wasn''t until thirty minutes later that Lucas was done, and he had a grin on his face. The system''s renovations were definitely of the highest standard, and what''s more, it added an extra floor to the main building; a basement. The basement could only be accessed from the workshop, and what lay underneath was part of the reason for Lucas'' grin.


    Lucas walked outside and realised that the changes were indeed encompassing. Even the pavement and grass were fixed up. Behind the building, there was now a small flowerbed that was in the opposite direction of the patio structure.


    As for the structure on the other side that looked like a patio, it was similarly renovated and became a building at this point, but wasn''t on Lucas'' mind at the moment. The system''s renovations, apart from the main building, would not drastically change the contents of the other structures.


    While it looked like a storage room, there was a possibility that it might not be simple, but Lucas left that for another day. He was already satisfied with the renovations, and he couldn''t wait to get to work right away.


    "Before host begins, the system would like to give a word of advice." The plain voice of the system sounded in Lucas'' ears after he re-entered the workstation.


    "Oh, what''s up?"


    "The operating mechanism of the workstation has been modified to suit the host''s familiarity, however, changes were still made to improve the integrity of the equipment and functionality. For instance, in the forge [1], you have to select your choice of flames, and this can be done through the push of a button or mental communication.


    For the moment, there are only two options; Crimson Dragon Flames and Blue Magma Flames. As for their functionality and differences, host will discover that on your own. Do keep in mind that certain flames would need to be fed when in operation.


    "The counters are spatial storages with a maximum storage of five cubic metres and you can find some spare materials for starting up in them. Some of the equipment in the work-station are automatic, while others operate manually. Host can decide to utilise them through either actions or thoughts. There are a few other things to take notes on, but host will find out as you go on.


    As the training system, it is inappropriate if the system is to give you all related information from the start."


    With each statement the system made, Lucas'' eyes shone brighter as a smile appeared on his face. He wasn''t bothered by the fact that he had to figure out the rest of the features but was pleased that the system gave him a starting investment. Lucas wasn''t exactly financially buoyant unless he sold his Purple Iridium stock, which was both dumb and out of the equation, so this was helpful.


    . . .


    Lucas eventually got to work and lost track of time. Before he knew it, the day was coming to an end. It was at this moment that the spy, who had been monitoring the premises, decided to make his move.

 Chapter 14 - 14 : Invader

    One might wonder how did the spy, who had his eyes and attention on the building for most of the time, fail to realise that the building and its attachments had abruptly changed. The answer was simple; the system''s meddling.


    The system was an entity that could easily orchestrate Lucas'' rebirth on Earth and transmigrate his soul as well as his past life''s body into this world. Changing a building and a few structures while brainwashing a character by the side at the same time, was nothing too difficult. Of course, neither Lucas nor the spy even knew this.


    At the darkest point at the night, the spy felt it was best to strike. He had less than fourteen hours to give results to his boss. What''s more, Ramirez'' men had come into contact with the target twice now. The spy felt a sense of urgency to make his move otherwise he wouldn''t get his commission and his profile in the community might get ruined.


    He arrived by the building and quietly scaled it, reaching towards a window by the side. Being a professional tracker at the first first level of the Aperture Opening stage, this wasn''t too difficult to pull off.


    The spy prepared to break in through the window but noticed that it was actually open. Albeit surprised, it wasn''t by much. Different people had different preferences.


    The room was dark but to the spy, this wasn''t an issue. He looked around and spotted a bed with a silhouette laid on it.


    ''Found ya.''


    The man pulled out a tranquilizer gun, but shaped like a Glock. He aimed at the silhouette and fired twice.


    The silhouette moved a bit but quickly went still. The spy smirked seeing this and approached the target.


    Suddenly, he took a step back and tilted his head to the side as his eyes abruptly narrowed.


    A chisel darted towards his throat but the previous action of the spy proved to be useful as the tool narrowly missed. However, that wasn''t all.


    At the same time the chisel flew out, a figure lunged at him from the other side of the bed. The spy had successfully dodged the chisel attack but he was put in a difficult position to dodge the next attack. Nonetheless, there was no sign of anxiety or fear in his eyes as he let go of the weapon and punched forward.


    Bam.


    Two fists collided and surprisingly, they were equal.


    Although he was slightly surprised, the spy counterattacked right away and punched with his free hand at the opponent.


    Thud.


    The attacker was forced backwards until they crashed into the wall.


    An opportunity to follow-up appeared, but the spy wasn''t in a hurry. From what he had experienced so far, the assailant was much weaker than he was, both in terms of speed and strength, so there was no rush.


    "Oh, it''s you." The spy said.


    "It seems like you noticed I''ve been monitoring you. I''m sure I was careful so how come?"


    Lucas stared at the enemy without responding, part of the reason being the intense pain he felt almost as if his internal organs were tumbling about. If not for his experiences in his past lives, the pain alone would have knocked Lucas unconscious.


    Originally, Lucas wouldn''t have been able to notice the man but with the spy constantly monitoring him all the time, it was inevitable that he would slip-up once. With his strong soul force and increased senses, Lucas would be able to spot him during such slip-ups.


    "Doesn''t matter. I''ll be taking you with me now, especially that glove of yours." The spy said. Together with the information he had as well as the earlier clash, he could see that the blacksmith gloves were quite special and probably had some force-negation effect.


    Lucas stood up from the ground with a frown on his face.


    This time around, the enemy was much stronger and the gap was larger. Lucas'' real strength averaged at the Muscle refining level of the Body Strengthening stage. Together with the special effects of the gloves, he could take on an opponent at the Bone refining level. However, the opponent this time around was different.


    Lucas could clearly sense a mystical energy within the enemy which showed that his assailant had completed the Body Strengthening stage. In this world, that would make him a practitioner of the Aperture Opening stage.


    In the Stellar Refinement system, until a practitioner reached the Guardian stage, which was the third stage, they would be a body-honer or Stellar Evolver; depending on their physical abilities and using stellar energy to boost those abilities. However, the second stage, Aperture Opening stage, was quite different from the first.


    Apart from relying on physical strength, they could also manipulate stellar energy externally. This, as well as the increase in physical prowess, made them much stronger than the first stage practitioners.


    Even with his experience and everything, Lucas was aware that this battle was one he couldn''t win. But at the same time, it was one he had to win. Luckily, he had the system.


    "You should just stay down quietly."


    The spy charged at Lucas once he stood up.


    Lucas tried to dodge, but despite having expected the attack, he was too slow to react in time.


    Tap.


    "Hmm?"


    The spy was surprised that unlike the last time, there was no reaction from his punch. The previous blow he landed on Lucas was held back with the only intent to keep his opponent down but not critically injure him.


    This time around, the spy used more power as he wanted to knock Lucas out while dealing a severe blow to him. However, Lucas remained standing and didn''t even take half a step back.


    The spy was confused but his thoughts were interrupted when he saw Lucas'' fist closing in on his face. He dodged right away but instead of retreating, the man sent a more powerful blow attack at Lucas.


    Tap.


    Without a doubt, the result was the same.


    At this point, the man suspected Lucas to be in possession of a force-negating body armour. If there could be a set of gloves, why not an armour? This wasn''t mentioned to him because Lucas'' previous enemies were unable to land a clean blow on him. Due to this, it was natural for his true skills to remain a mystery and so, it surprised the man.


    The man released another punch but the result was the same. Seeing Lucas prepare to counterattack, he hurriedly retreated and landed behind with a light step.


    "Who would have expected this to be happening? Quite interesting indeed." The spy smirked. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the same time, Lucas heard a voice in his head.


    "Host Protection Mechanism has been fully activated."


    Host Protection Mechanism (HPM) was a new feature Lucas had unlocked after the store''s renovation was completed. Unlike the other benefits he got from the system, the Host Protection Mechanism was only activated within the store (the additional building included) and the surrounding area of ten feet around it.


    Once the HPM was fully activated within the applicable space, Lucas would be immune to all forms of harm as defined by the system. According to the system''s description of ''harm'', this happened to be a hit with a certain level of force capable of injuring the host. At the same time, ''harm'' also referred to any dangerous substance or item capable of injuring the host.


    Essentially, within the area of the store, Lucas would be immortal and unkillable.


    As for why the first attack by the spy had injured him, it was simply because Lucas didn''t fully activate the Host Protection Mechanism at that moment. He had wanted to experience what it truly felt like to face someone on the Aperture Opening stage with his current abilities.


    Nonetheless, because the HPM was meant to protect the host, it would always be active, but in this passive form, the host could receive damage but not enough to kill or severely injure him. The excess damage from an attack would instead be converted into pain, which explains why Lucas was in severe pain after receiving a blow that should have broken a few of his ribs.


    "Although I don''t know how you did it, I don''t think a defence such as yours can stop me. To be honest, I''m quite curious. How much force can your armour negate? Which would last longer, the armour or you?" The spy''s voice sounded.


    Lucas frowned but took a battle stance right after standing up. There was no escaping here, what''s more, he had to capture the spy and interrogate him about his employers. Apart from the debt-collector and the kidnappers, Lucas didn''t recall offending anyone. Of course the pawnshop was a suspect and even the pub, but compared to the other two, they weren''t as suspicious.


    So to ensure he made no mistakes, Lucas wanted to capture this lead.


    ''I can''t lose this.''

 Chapter 15 - 15: A Gamble

    Once again, the man charged at Lucas but this time around, Lucas could sense a dangerous vibe from the opponent. If the previous strikes were an attempt to take Lucas down and capture him, the pressure Lucas felt at this moment was similar but mixed with killing intent. The spy was now serious.


    Whoosh.


    A fist tore through the air heading towards Lucas. The latter tried to dodge but proved slower than his attacker as the strike landed. However, once again, the blow didn''t result in anything substantial, but the spy was unperturbed by this as he unleashed a flurry of attacks on Lucas.


    Even though Lucas was immune to harm, the constant hits by the spy seemed to be somewhat effective as it managed to shake Lucas.


    According to the system''s description of ''harm'', any amount of force capable of injuring Lucas would be mitigated. However, this didn''t mean that all the force from an attack would be eliminated. A slight amount of force would remain, but to Lucas, it was very negligible.


    However, with the spy constantly attacking and not giving him any breathing space, the force began to have a minimal effect on him.


    To put it into perspective, it was like using a massaging equipment on your body. The force from the equipment isn''t enough to injure and could be described as soothing. However, if one were to have hundreds of massaging equipment acting on their body at the same time, the force would become uncomfortable and might even cause harm.


    This was what Lucas was experiencing. Nonetheless, it wasn''t harmful but uncomfortable, which caused him to shiver a bit.


    The spy noticed this and presumed that his attack was having an effect, strongly believing that he was close to reaching the breaking point of Lucas'' ''equipment''. As such, he increased the strength and speed of his attacks.


    Most times, Lucas failed to dodge the attacks and was struck by multiple of them. But there were a few times he either managed to dodge or block the attacks. Even so, things didn''t look good for him as the spy successfully dodged each of his counter attacks.


    If Lucas couldn''t turn things around, the spy might eventually get tired and decide to end things quicker, forcefully seizing Lucas. The Host Protection Mechanism could only protect Lucas from direct harm, but being captured didn''t constitute as direct harm.


    Also, being sedated with a tranquillizer didn''t count as harm too, which was why Lucas had faked his silhouette on the bed with a couple of pillows to avoid the tranquillizer gun.


    Realising that at this point, things looked bad for him Lucas decided to change his strategy.


    Lucas fired a fist at the spy but the latter easily dodged it by moving his head to the side.


    At that moment, Lucas'' eyes turned vicious.


    ''Restore.''


    A chisel appeared on his other hand right when Lucas counterattacked and he flung it at man. But the enemy dodged it and instead countered with another ferocious blow to his.


    Previously, the spy had been aiming at Lucas'' abdomen and limbs, but this time around, the attack was aimed at Lucas'' head. He wanted to knock Lucas out and end the battle.


    ''Restore.''


    Lucas didn''t retreat in the face of the attack, rather he couldn''t. Nonetheless, there was no worry in his eyes as he summoned another chisel from his system inventory and stabbed at the spy''s neck. He planned on taking the hit while delivering a ruthless attack of his own.


    The spy realised this and prepared to retreat, as it was impossible for him to continue with his attack and dodge Lucas'' attack due to the angle it came from. However, he noticed that there was a slight trace of hesitation and worry in Lucas'' eyes and this made him have seconds thoughts.


    All this happened within a few milliseconds and there was not much time to think, so the spy bit the bullet and continued with his attack.


    The man''s thought pattern was that Lucas wouldn''t be able to handle his attack and was bluffing with his. The trace of worry and hesitation in Lucas'' eyes was what made him confident in his estimation so he went on with his attack.


    The man guessed that Lucas was approaching his limit and his attack was threatening to the latter. So, as long as his attack hit, Lucas would be injured and unable to go on with his retaliation.


    Puchi.


    Blood dyed the ground as the sounds of fighting went still.


    He spy had his eyes wide open as he stared at Lucas who was unharmed, however, the same wasn''t true for him. Blood spurted out from the injury on his neck as reluctance hung in his eyes, but his emotions couldn''t change the result. His gamble had failed.


    Seemingly realising something, the man glared at Lucas and wanted to say a few words, but the latter strengthened his grip on the chisel and stabbed deeper into the man''s throat.


    The spy still tried to hold onto his life, refusing to believe that this was how he would do down, but Lucas wasn''t so nice. With a frown, Lucas moved his other arm -which also had a chisel in it- and stabbed at the other side of the man''s neck. Then he took out both chisels, leading to a stream of blood flowing from the two wounds.


    The spy was now plagued with two grievous wounds and the light in his eyes became clouded until they went dark.


    In the end, the spy died despite his unwillingness. As his last thoughts turned dark, he couldn''t believe that this was how he departed this world; at the hands of a human who didn''t even have a shred of stellar energy. The man didn''t even go all out against Lucas and only relied on his physical abilities, but that decision of his had now cost him his life.


    Lucas stepped away and let the corpse fall to the ground. He let out a sigh of relief as he sent the chisels back into his inventory and massaged his head.


    Although the Host Protection Mechanism had successfully kept him safe throughout the fight, Lucas couldn''t help but finally feel relieved.


    As for how he won, it was a trick he played mid battle. Lucas made a slight expression of fear and hesitation when the spy struck out, but he hurriedly kept it back. In truth, this expression was feigned and the intention was to mislead the spy. With the skills of the man, it wouldn''t have been difficult for him to dodge Lucas'' assault if he gave up on attacking.


    As such, Lucas had to prevent that from happening, hence why he gave the man hope through his expressions. Being quite skilled, it was naturally for the spy to spot the ''hidden'' meaning behind Lucas'' expression. In the end, he took the bait and fell at the hands of one he looked down on.


    Many factors affected this battle and led to Lucas'' victory like the fact the spy underestimated him, or his lack of knowledge on the existence of the Host Protection Mechanism or its impregnable characteristic. If the spy had from the start utilised his stellar energy or gotten his hands back on his tranquillizer gun, Lucas would have lost.


    This battle made Lucas aware of weakness and further strengthened his resolve to learn magic or stellar refining at the very least. This time round, the system came to his rescue but what about next time? What if he was assaulted outside the store? He could no longer keep dulling; this wasn''t Earth.


    With the spy now dead, Lucas couldn''t question him about his identity and hirer, but that wasn''t a problem. Lucas searched the corpse and found a communicator just as he had suspected. From the spy''s attitude, it was clear he didn''t find Lucas a challenging opponent, and with that being the case, he wouldn''t see the mission to be stressful.


    This might not seem like much, but it meant that the spy would be less cautious, to the point of carrying evidence and traces with him. If the target was a more higher or powerful figure, the spy wouldn''t move around with his communicator, lest his leaves behind trails once caught or killed.


    Lucas used the biometric option and activated the communicator after using the man''s finger. He then scrolled towards the message app and went through them one at a time, until he found something interesting; a name that made his blood turn cold.


    Kalvin Petri.


    The name wasn''t familiar to him, but the words written beside it was what caught his attention. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Kalvin Petri (Vinis Store vice-manager).


    It was somewhat unexpected that the spy, or kidnapper, was sent by the higher-ups from the Vinis store. While he had been a bit suspicious, Lucas had his attention more on the debt-collector from earlier or the three gang members he killed previously.


    He even felt it was more likely for a stranger who had seen him before to assault him as he had already experienced the ''allure'' humans had on his first day. The Vinis store was on the lower side of his list of suspects, after all, the store had a good reputation in the West Wing district for doing business. But it looked like that was a lie, a well-hidden one.


    ''I guess I owe them a visit one day.''

 Chapter 16 - 16 : Going Out

    Seven days went by with Lucas locking himself up within the store''s premises. He spent the days doing what he loved; forging and reading about metals and materials. Apart from that, Lucas had also tried to find a solution to his ''curse'', but there was nothing on that.


    Rather than saying there was no solution, it was more like Lucas was on the bottom tier of the power pyramid, so the information he needed was out of his reach.


    Lucas did find something interesting, though.


    Planet Eretre was ruled by a monarchical power known as the Oklo Dynasty. The Oklo Dynasty, despite being powerful, couldn''t directly rule the vast planet all by themselves, so they came up with the idea of having city-states, with each city-state having a city lord take charge of it to administrate on their behalf. At the same time, they granted each city-state a certain level of autonomy.


    As such, the four continents of Eretre ended up being divided into thirteen city-states. However, it might be more apt to say that there were twelve city-states split across three continents, as one of the four continents only had a single city-state and was ruled directly by the Oklo Dynasty.


    Despite being called city-states, their territories were essentially as large as nations on Earth. Each city-state had its own form of division, but the main seat of command would be the main city, which would have the same name as the city-state. Take Lucas'' location for instance; the city-state was called Baylands while the main city was called Baylands city.


    The lower divisions were called districts, but the five districts at the center were special because they formed Baylands City. A district was a very large city or town, nothing like their Earth counterparts.


    Back to what Lucas found out, there was a certain city-state known as Digress on the Beast continent. Unlike the other city-states, Digress was formed by humans and mixed bloods or different species. In summary, it was a paradise for lifeforms and species rejected or mistreated by the hyuman society or other alien societies, after all, Eretre wasn''t only populated by hyumans.


    It was rumoured that there were practitioners of stellar refining there, and they had reached high levels. Even the current city-lord of Digress was a human at a high level of the Aperture Opening stage; on par with the other city-lords. However, not only was Digress city-state on a different continent quite far away, the system had based Lucas here in Baylands so leaving wasn''t that simple.


    "System, Digress city-state is run by a human. How did they pull it off?"


    "Host needs to open the store for business; otherwise, the system can''t assist the host."


    Lucas was not surprised by the answer.


    Nowadays, the system has been harassing him to open the store, but Lucas spent the past week revisiting his forging skills and experimenting with the metals of this world. The system already gave him a stock of metals to work with, and although they couldn''t compare with the Purple Iridium and Red Iris Stone -the second metal he got as a reward alongside the former- Lucas was satisfied with them.


    He planned on using a month''s time to freshen up his skills and improve his strength in some way before leaving the store to explore. It might sound cowardly, but safety was important, and this was most likely his last chance at life.


    Suddenly, Lucas'' interface opened up in front of him with a message on it.


    [[ Mission Description: The host has been delaying, and as such, the system is being forced to take action.


    Overview: Open the store within thirty six hours.


    Rewards: Basic immunity package for craftsmen.


    Penalty: Death. ]]


    "Oh wow, how supportive of you." Lucas sarcastically remarked. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although the system''s rewards were usually worth it, the fact it decided to use a mission with a death penalty to force Lucas to open the store made him feel uncomfortable. This time, the mission wasn''t difficult, but what about next time?


    "Host need not worry. To prevent abuse of power and to give the host free roam, the system has a limited monthly quota of self-made missions. The quotas can''t be accumulated as well."


    The system, which clearly read his mind, replied.


    "How many is that?"


    "Access denied."


    Lucas gave up and exited the work-shop with a few objects in his hand. One of them was his latest creation; an object that looked like a flat board.


    Apart from spare materials, there were also some blueprints and drawings for Lucas to practice and learn from. When he first spoke to the system and asked what it was, the system stated that it''s role was to train a Crafts-god, not a Blacksmith god. Originally, Lucas didn''t think much of it until he saw the blueprints.


    Lucas placed all his creations into his system inventory and left the store after taking a quick bath and a change of clothes. The clothes, surprisingly, had appeared in his wardrobe after the renovations were completed, and they fit right into the fashion standards of this world.


    With a map displayed on his communicator, Lucas analyzed his surroundings.


    The location of the store was a bit isolated, one of the reasons why Lucas had managed to get it cheap, but the good thing was that it was still in the region of the market zone. The closest building to it was a closed down shop and two warehouses, but a couple metres away, there were more buildings and stores. Some of them sold clothings and apparel, while a few dealt in jewellery or some tech.


    There happened to be two stores that sold weapons and handled maintenance, but they were spaced apart by at least one hundred metres. Despite that, they had a lot of traffic. One of the most frequented buildings ''closer'' to Lucas was a restaurant, and it so happened that this restaurant was the reason Ramon went out of business and sold the store.


    Lucas decided to check out one of the stores that sold weapons, as, in a sense, they would end up being his competitors in the future. On his way, he noticed that a few of the clothing stores around him didn''t sell regular clothing. Rather, what they had in their stores was special clothing that doubled as armour.


    West Wing bordered the Wastelands to the west, so although it was part of Baylands city and protected by the city patrol corps, it was at risk of attacks by desolate beasts. For this reason too, one of the most common occupations in the West Wing district was Freelancing.


    Not to be confused with the equivalent on Earth, freelancing was a mercenary or adventurer role, from what Lucas found out back when he spent his time indoors reading. Some stellar refiners who were confident in their skills and needed a source of income or combat experience, would venture into Freelancing.


    They would take missions from a client to either hunt down a specific desolate beast or retrieve some rare herb or material in risk-prone areas like the Wastelands. Even when they weren''t on missions, freelancers would still venture into such regions to seize materials or kill desolate beasts for their parts, which they would then sell for money.


    West Wing was the closest to a desolate beast habitat, the Wasteland, so it was only natural for many of the occupants and visitors to be freelancers. The lower ranking freelancers lived in the West Wing district, but the much stronger and better rankers lived in the better districts away from the slums. Nonetheless, to get to the Wastelands, one would still have to pass the West Wing district.


    With that in mind, many of the stores in this market zone cater to freelancers.


    Lucas walked in and took a look at the armour and special clothings the store sold, impressed by the craftsmanship involved. The armours were lightweight yet sturdy and almost impenetrable, while the special clothing looked no different from everyday wear, but the materials used to make them were not your average cotton or wool.


    Even though he merely glanced at one of them, having worked with weapons and armour most of his combined lifetime, Lucas was certain that even the sharpest daggers on Earth wouldn''t be able to pierce the t-shirt despite its simple appearance. Maybe the vestige, the special dagger used by one of the three kidnappers, could do some damage. But to what extent was unknown unless Lucas tried it out.


    One of the blueprints at the store was a design like the armours here, but Lucas was still working on the simpler designs at the moment.


    "Hello, sir, are you interested in anything here?" A salesgirl walked up to Lucas and asked.


    "Not really. I''m just looking around." Lucas replied.


    The girl nodded and was about to step aside, but then she halted and stared at Lucas a bit more before she left. He noticed this but acted as if he didn''t. Lucas understood why she reacted like that. She probably noticed that he was a human after getting close to him. From a distance, it wasn''t obvious, but under scrutiny at close proximity, a hyuman would be able to see the difference.


    Lucas walked around the store a bit more as he took in the sight of the designs and clothing, there were jackets, dresses, trousers, and even underwear, both regular and special. Just as he was about to take a closer look at a trenchcoat that caught his eye, Lucas heard a voice from behind.


    "Excuse me, sir, but the management wants you to leave the building."

 Chapter 17 - 17 : Prejudice

    "Excuse me, sir, but the management wants you to leave the building."


    Lucas turned around and noticed the speaker was a man standing behind him. Looking at his outfit, he could easily guess that the man was an employee of the store.


    As he turned around, Lucas was a bit surprised and questioned,


    "Me?"


    "That''s right, mister. You." The man replied.


    "And why''s that?" Lucas asked.


    The man frowned slightly, seeing as Lucas was still asking questions, but he replied him albeit less pleasantly.


    "I''ve been monitoring you for a while now. From your actions, you seem be loitering around the store rather than meaning to purchase something. Our store doesn''t patronise loiterers as they consume space and might affect the business of others. As such, we have to escort them out."


    The man then pointed at a billboard hung on the wall. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was indeed a ''No loitering'' sign.


    Lucas was surprised that a store actually had such a rule. While reasonable, it might give off a bad impression and seem like a form of mistreatment. But then again, such a rule wasn''t exactly bad and gave off a premium air to a store.


    However, something was weird about this.


    Lucas hadn''t even spent five minutes in the store, and he was already deemed to be loitering. If someone said there wasn''t something strange happening, he wouldn''t believe it.


    At that moment, the pride of having sat on high tables and held powerful positions took over him.


    Lucas stared at the man with an enigmatic smile as he asked.


    "But what makes you think I was loitering?"


    "You''ve spent a lot of minutes wandering around the store, and it''s very obvious you can''t afford what we sell. Security, please escort this man out of the premises."


    At this point, the man was irritated and could no longer bear having a discussion on the topic.


    It was then that Lucas understood what was happening. The clothes that he got after the system renovated the store weren''t trendy or high fashion but average. That, paired with his identity as a human, Lucas understood a lot.


    The security guard wasn''t a living being, but a humanoid robot that stood guard by the door. There were three such robots, and one of them walked over after receiving the command.


    "Please come with me.


    Lucas couldn''t sense any sign of life in it, but based just on appearance alone, it looked no different from a human being, even if its bodily expressions were being considered too.


    Lucas ignored the robot and pointed at the apparel he was staring at before the drama started.


    "Wrap this up for me before I leave."


    Both the robot and man were stunned, looking at Lucas with a confused expression.


    "What? You don''t attend to customers any longer? I want this item wrapped up for me." Lucas said calmly.


    The man frowned as he was about to say something when Lucas added with a loud voice, "Last I heard, the store is open to every customer. Or am I wrong?"


    Lucas faced the man calmly, without any evident expression on his face.


    The man knew that, at this point, he couldn''t chase Lucas away. Their clash had already drawn attention, and with Lucas claiming to be a customer, they had to attend to his needs.


    Speciesism might exist in Baylands City, but that doesn''t mean everyone agrees with this point. An example was when Lucas went to the pub but wasn''t treated differently, or when the salesgirl noticed his identity but didn''t shoo him away from the store.


    With the matter now escalating, the man had to let Lucas be. However, he had a plan. The trenchcoat was quite costly, and unless one either had an impressive amount in their savings or worked a high-paying job like a freelancer, it would be difficult to afford it. On average, humans couldn''t work as freelancers due to their genetic disabilities.


    As for other high-paying jobs, those usually depended on one''s connections, and the connections a human would have in the West Wing district would definitely not be worth much. With all that in mind, the man suspected that Lucas was trying to find a way out.


    "Sure, let''s get it wrapped for you." The man smiled sinisterly.


    ''I''ll see whether you can afford it or not.''


    Lucas and the man walked towards the check counter with the security robot. An order was made for the trenchcoat. A bag was brought by a different salesgirl who was in charge of finalizing purchases.


    While all this took place, Lucas remained calm.


    The Purple Iridium ingot was pawned for five thousand federal coins. Lucas spent two thousand and eight hundred (2800) coins to purchase the store, leaving him with two thousand and two hundred (2200) coins left. However, after killing the three kidnappers and the spy from before, Lucas rummaged their corpses and retrieved a combined sum of seven hundred coins from both parties.


    In truth, he got more, but the cards with the majority of the money were inaccessible to him. The aforementioned amount was in the form of cash and prepaid debit cards. For most prepaid cards, the pins weren''t complicated and were sometimes recorded behind the card.


    With that much money, he wasn''t bothered about the cost of the clothing. The average monthly salary in the West Wing district was four hundred federal coins. Even for freelancers, this was still a sum for most.


    Also, this store didn''t look all that premium; otherwise, it wouldn''t be here. From that, Lucas estimated the trenchcoat to cost less than a thousand, even if it was of high quality. He planned on checking it out later in detail, so one couldn''t say that this was a rushed purchase, as Lucas would have both something similar while walking around the street.


    Once the salesgirl returned with the item, she also reported the price to Lucas.


    Normally, the price is reported before the item is brought, but the man made the salesgirl switch the order. Lucas gleamed from this that the man was probably a high ranking individual in the store.


    "Two hundred and seventy five federal coins." The girl said.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised it was ''cheaper'' than he thought. However, the man misinterpreted his silence as a concession.


    "Well, well well, I think it''s ti-"


    Before he could go on, he was interrupted by Lucas, who stretched out his hand with a card in it.


    "You can process the payment for me now and hand me my item."


    At that moment, everyone in the store was stunned. That was two hundred and seventy (270) federal coins, not some cheap change. Even rent in the West Wing district''s residential area didn''t cost that much, yet Lucas handed it out with an unperturbed expression. This showed that he didn''t consider it as much. Then what was ''much''? Their store probably didn''t even have such an item.


    In that very moment, the man who had singled him out was stunned.

 Chapter 18 - 18 : The Old Man And The Little Girl

    Two hundred and seventy (270) federal coins was not chicken change no matter how one looked at it. While federal coins were the major unit of currency, there was a lesser unit called federal pence, of which one hundred of them were equivalent to a federal coin. This was a means to prevent inflation due to the high value of a federal coin.


    Generally, most everyday transaction was calculated with pences and usually didn''t exceed thirty coins. Even the latest technical gadgets wouldn''t go past this figure most times, unless it had something to do with stellar energy or freelancers.


    The impressive value of the federal coin could be seen from the fact that the Vinis store charged twenty coins for a prepaid debit card, which was very costly for an average folk.


    So when the store employees saw as Lucas was unperturbed by the price of the trench-coat despite his looks, they were shocked and realised that they probably underestimated him.


    Being human didn''t deny one of the majority of opportunities, and while there weren''t much human freelancers, it didn''t mean that there weren''t wealthy characters amongst them. At this point, the man who worked as a salesman in the store, guessed that Lucas was one of them.


    ''Damn it.''


    The store had a rule against loiterers but not customers as that would be dumb. Now, the man was stuck in a difficult situation. He could simply swallow his pride, apologize and process the deal, but he didn''t want to.


    It was just like Lucas had guessed; the man had prejudice against humans and looked down on them. Despite the obvious fact that hyumans descended from humans, he looked down on the latter and felt that the comparison was the same as placing apes on the same pedestal as humans. So even if Lucas could afford it, the man wasn''t willing to give up.


    He had some authority in the store, and refusing to sell to some random human should not affect him negatively, even if the news got to the manager.


    "I''m sorry, but the item is out of stock." The man said this to Lucas.


    Not just Lucas, but even the salesgirl by the counter was shocked. The customers in the store who were paying attention to the scene were also surprised but some had a knowing look on their face. It was clear what was going on, but there was no solid reason for them to intervene; it had nothing to do with them.


    "Out of stock?" Lucas glanced at the man as if he were a fool.


    Holding back his anger, the man blandly replied, "Yes. What you see here is the last of our stock, and it has already been reserved by a high-value customer. As such, we can''t sell it. Please come again next time, and maybe we will have one available for you."


    At this point, Lucas realised that the man wasn''t willing to give up. One way or the other, he was determined to humiliate Lucas.


    Just when Lucas was considering whether he should blow the matter up or not, two individuals happened to appear close-by. One of them was a young girl, not more than fourteen years of age. She had brown hair and orange eyes, showing that her genes were extraordinary. The other individual was an elderly man with grey hair and a friendly smile.


    He looked like a genial grandfather figure as he held the little girl''s hand and walked closer.


    "Grandpa, what''s going on over there?"


    "Oh, it seems like the store''s employee is clashing with a customer."


    "Really? That''s bad."


    Some were surprised that the two were talking without a care in the world, despite the situation at hand. Even the man who was confronting Lucas had a slight frown on his face.


    Lucas, on the other hand, felt the duo were strange, especially the elderly man. Based on his experiences and senses, Lucas felt that the man was quite powerful. There was also a special feeling the man gave off. It wasn''t obvious and was even somewhat suppressed, but Lucas was quite sensitive to it.


    This sensation was one from someone in a powerful position as well as a figure who had seen blood; and lots of it. The old man was definitely not as ordinary as he seemed.


    "Grandpa, why does that guy give me a strange feeling?" The little girl said this as she pointed at Lucas, not caring how he felt.


    The latter raised an eyebrow in surprise but didn''t argue with her, as she was a little girl.


    "Hmm, that''s cause he''s human." The old man replied.


    "Human¡­?" The girl knit her brows.


    "Oh, like the people they taught us in school. The older generation. That''s amazing." The girl stared at Lucas with interest.


    "But why is he so weak?" She mumbled.


    "That''s how they are." The old man answered.


    ''...system, are you happy now? Even a kid mocks me in broad daylight.'' Lucas complained.


    "Host should open the store and then maybe there''s a chance." The system replied.


    Lucas'' eyes brightened, but then he calmed down. This might still be a ploy by the system to get him to open the store as soon as possible.


    The man was tired of the charades of the two, so he faced Lucas once again.


    "Since you are not buying anything, sir, please vacate the premises so we can better attend to other customers."


    Lucas frowned and for a minute, didn''t know how to respond. Based on the man''s reply, it was clear that even if he wanted to buy something else, the same dumb excuse would be given to him and Lucas could do nothing about it.


    Just then, the little girl''s voice sounded again.


    "Are they bullying him? Grandpa, can you lend him a hand?"


    The elderly man didn''t say anything but simply nodded as he glanced at the man.


    "Young friend, could you let him off for my sake?"


    The man frowned, seeing as the elderly man was about to intervene. He wanted to speak back, but when he glanced into the old man''s eyes, the man suddenly froze. Fear was in his eyes as he began to shiver slightly. Even breathing became an issue for him as he slowly felt his head become light.


    The robot guard that stood on standby noticed this and turned to the man, but he merely glanced at it, and the robot similarly froze in place. Despite the programming within it urging the robot to make a move, it just couldn''t.


    "You will do me this favour now, won''t you?"


    The man could finally breathe, but he was still terrified. He realised that the person facing him was not an ordinary figure but a freelancer, and a very high-ranking one at that.


    "Y, yes. Process the payment, quick!" The man rushed the salesgirl.


    She was stunned but did as she was told.


    Lucas paid for the item, and it was given to him right away.


    Seeing that everything was settled, the old man turned to the young girl with a smile on his face.


    "Let''s go elsewhere. I don''t think what we are looking for is here."


    "Sure, grandpa." The girl nodded.


    The girl was previously interested in Lucas'' identity, but it seemed like she had lost interest as she didn''t bother with him again.


    "Esteemed sir, please wait. I can help you look around for what it is you want. Even if we don''t have the exact model, a suitable replacement should be available. There are also a few nice items in stock."


    The salesgirl could guess a thing or two and realised they were high-value customers. If they spent a lot, she might get a commission, so she tried to convince them to stay.


    "No, thank you." The old man responded and left with the little girl.


    The robot was now free to move, yet it didn''t make a move any longer. The duo had already exited the store, and considering they didn''t commit a crime, its programming prevented it from chasing after them. Also, the robot knew that it could do nothing against the elderly man. After all, it was equipped with machine learning capabilities, so it was intelligent.


    As for Lucas, he had also left the store, not bothering to remain behind any longer. However, he did something no one else thought of doing.


    "Why are you following us?" The old man glanced behind.


    "I didn''t say my thanks for the help sir offered." Lucas bowed slightly and smiled. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No need." The old man responded with a flat tone.


    "If there''s anything the elder would like, I may be able to offer my help to you." Lucas said.


    "No need."


    "..."


    At this point, Lucas felt that he was communicating with a physical version of the system that usually went ''Access denied'' each time he was fishing for important information. Nonetheless, those experiences made him adept at handling such a situation.


    "Thank you for the help, little girl." Lucas said.


    "As a way to offer my thanks, I have a gift for you."


    Saying that, he took out a box, opened it, and displayed the content, which immediately attracted the little girl''s attention.

 Chapter 19 - 19 : The Interesting Youngster

    Inside the box Lucas took out was a metal bracelet with a red gem in the middle. The bracelet was designed so well that it was aesthetically pleasing just to look at. Being a girl and a less young one with not much worldly experience, the girl couldn''t resist being attracted to the jewellery.


    The elderly man frowned at Lucas'' actions, but when he glanced at the reed gem in the middle, he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow. Although it looked like a gem, on closer inspection, one would realise that it was actually metal. This was a rare and valuable metal known as Red Iris stone.


    It was called a stone because of its outward appearance, but under further scrutinization, one would find out that it was a metal.


    Seeing this expensive piece of metal in a bracelet, the old man couldn''t help but study Lucas once again, trying to figure out who he was.


    "I like it." The little girl said this as she left the old man and approached the trinket box.


    Even though Lucas was a stranger, she wasn''t scared and instead had her focus on the bracelet the whole time. Lucas couldn''t help but lament at how naive she was, but that helped his case.


    "What do you want?" The old man ignored the girl and stared at Lucas with a solemn expression.


    There was no way someone would give out a bracelet with Red Iris stone and ask for nothing, even if the piece was just the size of a thumbnail. What''s more, the elderly man could see that the craftsmanship used in making this ornament was exquisite.


    Although there wasn''t much stellar energy in it nor any stellar matrix on it, so much so that one could say it''s a failed product, it was the purest form he had seen in an item in the entire West Wing district.


    If the blacksmith who crafted this piece of jewellery had imbued more stellar energy into it by etching runes or a formidable stellar matrix on it, the bracelet would easily become a top-tier vestige.


    At that moment, Lucas came under the same pressure as the man in the store and couldn''t move his body. But he wasn''t afraid.


    "Nothing really. Like I said, I just want to give my thanks for the help." Lucas calmly replied.


    "Using a vestige with Red Iris stone?" The old man scoffed, clearly not believing Lucas'' words.


    Lucas smiled, but still spoke calmly, "If you don''t believe me, so be it. I found your actions helpful and decided to thank you with a handcrafted item of mine. I could see that you were of great standing, so I had to show more honesty and thought with my gift. Sir, you shouldn''t think too much about it."


    The old man was surprised when he heard this. Not because of Lucas'' reasoning, but a claim he made.


    A handcrafted item of mine.


    This meant that the skilled blacksmith who made this vestige with such pure stellar energy was actually the young man before him? The old man couldn''t help but be shocked.


    In Eretre, the classes of metalworksmen was divided into two: Blacksmiths and Vestige-smiths. The former dealt with metals, whether ordinary or special. The latter made vestiges out of these metals. This might not seem like much, but the difference was.


    Blacksmiths simply made weapons and even the best of their creations could only produce a trace of stellar energy using special metals. However, vestige-smiths could imbue stellar energy in any of their creations by relying on either formidable runes of other/ancient civilizations or stellar matrices which was the culmination of hyuman technology.


    Most vestige-makers were vestige-smiths and only few blacksmiths had enough skill to rival them or come close. The bracelet had a trace of stellar energy; the criterion for defining a vestige. For a young man like Lucas to be able to achieve this without relying on runes or stellar matrices, his skill was the real deal.


    "How come I''ve never heard of you before?" The old man asked.


    "I just moved in and haven''t opened my store yet. That will be tomorrow." Lucas replied.


    "Alright." The old man nodded. He glanced at the little girl who was taring at him with puppy eyes. Although she had dashed towards the jewellery for a closer look, she wouldn''t take it unless he agreed.


    "Go ahead." The old man smiled at her with a gentle expression, a direct contrast to how he dealt with other people.


    "Yeh!" The girl rejoiced and immediately took the bracelet, ignoring the box even though just like the bracelet, it also had a trace of stellar energy.


    Clearly, she fancied the bracelet not for its properties but just its appearance.


    Lucas couldn''t help but sigh and at the same time rejoice that a knowledgeable figure like the old man was here otherwise his plot would have failed.


    Indeed, everything that was taking place was a plan of Lucas. The system wanted him to run a store, so in the long run, profits would be a focus of his. Considering the isolated location of the store as well as the existence of reputable competition, it would be hard for Lucas to stand out. So, he had to utilise ingenious methods to steal customers. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The elderly man and the little girl didn''t seem like ordinary people. Based on how they carried themselves, the little girl was probably born into money and power while the old man wield it.


    Using one of his experimental products to win the favour and attention of such characters could be described as an investment. Originally, Lucas couldn''t do such out-of -the-blue, but the excuse of appreciation for prior aid offered worked really well.


    As for why he was confident that he had won the elderly man''s favour without the latter asking any question in particular, it was based off their actions and reactions.


    "Is there anything else, young man?" The old man asked.


    Knowing that the old man was hinting at his departure, Lucas replied with a slight bow, "Nothing. Thank you, sir."


    "Alright." The old man responded and left with his daughter whereas Lucas now had a smile on his face.

 Chapter 20 - 20 : Vestiges

    After separating from the elderly man and the young girl, Lucas began to check some other stores. His experience in the clothing store didn''t dampen his desire to explore the other stores. This trip was vital to the success of his store, after all.


    In the next few hours, Lucas checked out some other clothing stores, jewellery stores, and a blacksmith shop. Unlike his experience in the first store, Lucas didn''t encounter any ''special treatment '' again.


    Although some of the customers and staff were surprised that there was a human, they eventually moved on from the shock; after all, humans were almost no different from hyumans based on their external appearance alone.


    In fact, the only notable external difference was the fact that hyumans were born naturally with coloured hair and eyes, unlike humans that were limited to brown, blonde, red and black for hair, and blue, amber, brown, black and, very rarely, grey, for eyes.


    After checking out a few stores, Lucas finally reached his last stop for the day. It was a Vestige store.


    According to what he learnt during his seclusion period indoors, vestiges were special products that had stellar energy within them; this world''s equivalent of magic weapons. The advantage of having mystical energy within an object was that they would become much stronger, durable, and powerful than their regular counterparts.


    Most vestiges were weapons or armours as the main reason vestiges were made was to combat alien species who could utilise stellar energy.


    The production of vestiges was even rumoured to have come about before the first generation of hyumans, after all, humans were still exploring their star region but they faced threats from other alien species. Regular firearms and weapons couldn''t compete with the enemy, so they had to make improvements and that was how vestiges came to be.


    Stellar matrices, which was the core of vestiges, were created during this period as well.


    Blacksmiths dealt with regular items but the smiths that crafted or created vestiges were usually called Vestige-smiths. The title wasn''t just for those who made weapons, but those who made space-ships, jewellery and any object that contained stellar energy.


    Considering that the system intended for Lucas to be the Crafts-God, there was no doubt that its intention was for him to be a vestige-smith. As such, Lucas had to be familiar with the standards of this world.


    Just as Lucas stepped into the store and glanced around, he noticed a familiar figure browsing the items in the store. It was the female cop he met when he first came into this world; the lady that had intervened when Lucas first clashed with the kidnappers.


    Despite seeing her however, Lucas made no attempt to meet her nor greet her. Both parties were strangers, and based on her behaviour back then, Lucas knew that trying to be friendly with her might backfire at him. For that reason, it was best that he stayed in his lane.


    Lucas glanced around and noticed that apart from cold weapons like swords, axes, and the likes, there were surprisingly hot weapons too. Lucas saw an assault rifle on display, but unlike the ones from Earth, this has some strange carvings and groove marks on the barrel and other parts of the body. Even the cartridge[1] that was kept beside it wasn''t spared.


    There were a few other rifles in this section with differing designs.


    Both the weapons and the cartridges, especially the latter, were made of special metals and had either runes or stellar matrices on them. One of the guns by the side was marked with stellar matrices while its corresponding cartridges were carved with runes.


    There weren''t just guns though, as other popular hot weapons like grenade launchers, RPGs and so on were on display.


    Lucas was surprised to see hot weapons here but not so much. This was a technological world so it was understandable. In fact, despite seeing the designs and appearance, Lucas had a feeling that the principle of operation for these weapons were probably different from those on Earth. In other words, while it looked like an RPG, it might be a laser-type weapon.


    "Hey system, what''s going on?" Lucas asked mentally.


    The system understood his question and replied, "As host levels up the system, new blueprints would be available. For more information, please open the store for operation."


    Lucas nodded as it made sense. If he were just to get access to everything right now, he would have almost no need for the system. At the same time, some of them might be too complex for him at the moment, and being a training system, it wouldn''t make sense for the system to grant him access to these blueprints right now.


    Despite being a grandmaster blacksmith in his last life, Lucas wasn''t so self-invested or prideful to think that he could make anything and everything in this world right away. Just this past week of working on the blueprints from the system already widened his perspective and taught him a lot.


    After looking around a bit, Lucas prepared to leave. He had tried purchasing one of the vestiges but found out that he needed to have either a freelancer license, a permit or a recommendation from a registered freelancer. This wasn''t like a certain country in his past life on Earth where one could walk into a store and easily get a rifle as long as they were above 18 years of age.


    There was a strict system here that prevented vestiges from easily getting into the hands of an average individual.


    The difficulty of purchase aside, Lucas had already checked out the cold weapon-type vestiges and made some mental comparisons with his own creations as well as the vestige he took from the corpse of the kidnappers. This comparison made him more confident in his skills, with the only problem being his lack of knowledge on stellar matrices and alien runes.


    Although he could find some sort of replaceable information on the KSSI (the solar system intranet), it couldn''t compare to that of reputed vestige-smiths or companies. One could learn the meaning of certain runes and stellar matrices online, but the tutorial on inscribing them was different.


    Because runes and stellar matrices were closely related to creating vestiges, they were classified information of sorts and confidential to individual vestige-smiths and companies. Even getting access to the basic and standard tutorials required one to be influential of sorts, or have passed certain exams by the city-state government.


    However, Lucas wasn''t worried. He had done a few experiments and found out that the magic runes from his first life worked out just fine here too, after a few changes. Being the only one familiar with such runes would make his products unique, and this was intended to be one of his selling points; a branding strategy, if you will.


    Just as he turned around to leave, Lucas overheard a conversation from a couple. They seemed to be lamenting about the absence of a certain item they wanted. As he caught sight of this, a thought crossed Lucas'' mind and slowly solidified into a plan.


    A man and a woman left the vestige store and began to walk away into the distance, however, after going a few metres, they stopped and turned around. Behind them was a young man who looked to be between 21-23 years of age. Despite being so young, his eyes gave off a light of wisdom and calmness, something that an average young adult shouldn''t have so soon.


    "Who might you be, and why are you following us?" The man asked.


    Lucas, who had been following behind the couple, calmly replied with a s mile.


    "I mean you no harm. In fact, I can''t harm you. As you can see, I am a human." Lucas answered.


    "As for why I was following you, I overheard your conversation in the store. Something about looking for a spear at the third grade."


    The couple visibly relaxed after Lucas'' reply, but they still kept their guards up, but not by much. It looked like the line ''I am human'' worked a lot to Lucas'' advantage. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "And what about it?" The man asked with a plain look.


    "I happen to know a friend who''s a vestige-smith. I went over to his place just the other day and saw a really nice spear. It gave off an intimidating vibe, and looked quite powerful, too. I could hook you up if you are interested."


    Saying this, Lucas opened his communicator and projected an image right away, not giving the duo any time to react.


    The couple glanced at the image and were quite surprised by it. The spear in the image was well made from an aesthetic viewpoint. Even without seeing the real deal in front of them, it looked like a marvelous work by a blacksmith. However, what they wanted wasn''t regular metal work but a vestige.


    One couldn''t judge the value of a vestige by mere images, so there was no telling whether the spear was as powerful as it looked. Otherwise, it might as well just be a ceremonial weapon[2].


    The man frowned and prepared to reject, but the lady replied just then.


    "Can we have a look too?"


    "Well, not now. You see, he just moved into town and plans to open his store tomorrow. At the moment, none of his works are for sale until then." Lucas sighed.


    The woman stared at him for a while, before asking for the address of the store to which Lucas gave her. Right after that, the duo left.


    As for why Lucas lied and claimed the store was ran by a friend, it was simple. The duo were much stronger than him and having seen the value of a vestige in the previous store as well as knowing the importance of a vestige-smith, Lucas didn''t plan on telling them lest they kidnapped him and forced him to hand over his weapons as well as his secrets.


    Who knows, they might even lock him up in a secluded location and force him to make vestiges.


    This wasn''t impossible as human trafficking was a thing even with the government''s attempts at stopping it. As for whether those attempts are genuine or not, it wasn''t Lucas'' place to say.


    Lucas was currently weak, so he didn''t intend on drawing attention on himself at the moment. Unless he was in the store, he was as a weak as a chicken in the face of any freelancer out there. Nonetheless, even with the risk, Lucas still decided to give it a shot and invite them over for his launch the next day.

 Chapter 21 - 21 : Final Preparations

    The day was coming to an end, but Lucas wasn''t satisfied yet. While he had managed to draw the attention of two high-profile potential customers, he felt he could do more. Although it was true that the system didn''t give him a task to do so, it was obvious that once he opened the store, its progress and sales would affect the system.


    Apart from that, Lucas still owed the Vinis pawnshop, so he had to make enough sales to pay back the principal amount plus interest.


    The best method to generate hype for his store''s launch was to create a scene.


    If one''s goal was to become renowned, there was no such thing as bad publicity; this was something Lucas learnt on Earth. Even serial killers had blockbuster movies made after them, pocketing millions while in jail.


    Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t plan on going that route, as while it would give him the publicity he wanted, it would come at a cost. Rather, he had another idea.


    Lucas found a place to sit and logged into the intranet. He then looked for an advertising agency for cheap and paid them for their services. He had made seven hundred federal coins from the kidnappers and the spy sent by Vinis pawnshop.


    Even with the expenses from purchasing the prepaid debit card, the store, the trenchcoat, and feeding as well as transportation during this one week period, Lucas still had an excess of two thousand five hundred and sixty five (2565) federal coins. Considering the value of federal coins, it was more than enough to use five of them for advertisement.


    With the advancements in technology as a whole, it wasn''t difficult for the agency to generate a design based on Lucas'' requirements. There were AIs to help sort that out, so all it took was three minutes and Lucas'' ads were up and running.


    The caption read, "Seven Sparks Forge is launching: 3 days free maintenance and upgrade for the first 10 customers each day, spin the roulette for a chance to win a custom vestige."


    "Seven Sparks Forge" was the name Lucas came up with for the store. The number seven was quite special to him, as apart from being a lucky number, it was also the number of his birth month in his two previous lives. ''Sparks'' was derived from his name Lucas [1]. In summary, the name of the store had an intricate relationship with Lucas.


    The three days of free maintenance and upgrade for the first 10 customers each day was an idea Lucas came up with to attract people to his store. Being confident in his skill, Lucas believed all he needed to be successful was an opportunity to showcase that skill. However, not everyone could afford it, hence why he gave out free slots.


    Having seen the prices other stores charged for their services as well as their products, Lucas intended not to charge even one pence less. He was a grandmaster after all, and although he was new into vestige-smithing, it was roughly the same as making magic weapons. With the experience and skillset he possessed, there was no way he would offer his services for cheap.


    As for the roulette spin, it was a fancy idea Lucas thought of to act as an entertainment of sorts for people while feeding off the innate desire of humans to gamble or risk.


    The roulette spin was simple; a roulette wheel like the ones used in game shows, would be set up in front of the store. One would have to pay a fee to spin the wheel. There would be a few sectors on the circle with differing lines on them such as ''spin again'', ''10 federal coins'', ''win'' and ''fail'', with the latter being the most common.


    Upon landing on the ''win'' sector, the player would have an opportunity to order a custom-made vestige from the store with no additional fees attached. The ''10 federal coins'' sector meant that the player would win ten federal coins. The other two sectors are self-explanatory.


    To make the roulette spin more attractive, the fees were quite cheap. There were two tickets: the student ticket which costs three federal coins and the normal ticket which costs five federal coins.


    The reason for this difference was that there was a public school close to the market zone; and unlike how schools on Earth were, most schools in the main cities of Eretre also taught students stellar-refining apart from the usual curriculum. When the students graduate, they either work for big families, corporations, the military/para-military[2], or as freelancers.


    Very few work regular jobs as that would be seen as a waste of the training and education they received.


    The students similarly used weapons, especially those in their final year or penultimate year (the year before finals), as that was when the students would be sent on more practical activities to gain experience facing off desolate beasts.


    Lucas'' market targets were not just freelancers but these students as well.


    Although the sale of vestiges was regulated, students in these schools were somewhat of an exception as long as they were in their final or penultimate year with the proper identification and registration. To purchase a vestige, the conditions were for one to be a freelancer.


    In the case that one wasn''t, you''d either need a permit issued by a city-state government, an approved recommendation from a registered freelancer, or be a member of the city-state''s military or paramilitary forces.


    Students in their penultimate or final years could apply for a permit.


    The idea of the roulette spin was to attract individuals to try their luck. The cost of the spin for students was three federal coins while for others was five federal coins.


    Although the daily wage of an average individual was thirteen federal coins, making this quite costly, compared to the price of custom-made vestige -which was at least five hundred federal coins for the lowest grade- the ticket price was nothing. That added to the fact that there was another win option -the ten federal coins sector- many wouldn''t mind taking the risk.


    As long as they came to the store, they would eventually take a look around and might even buy a product or get a service. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The number one target of a business should be to get people to know about the business and visit it. This was what Lucas wanted to achieve.

 Chapter 22 - 22 : Seven Sparks Forge Opens For Business

    The next day came soon enough. Today, Lucas was going to finally launch the store and begin operations after staying over a week in this new world.


    The time slated for the opening was 12pm, but there were still a few hours before then. Lucas spent the time at the work-station, improving on his skills.


    *Ding*


    Just as Lucas had spent a couple of hours at the work-station, the bell at the entrance rang, signalling an entry from the outside. This bell was special in the sense that the sound could be heard everywhere within the store''s area, even from the backyard. However, it wasn''t as loud or glaring as one would think.


    At the same time the bell rang, Lucas received a notification from the system.


    [[ Congratulations on opening the store, Seven Sparks Forge.


    Mission Description: The host has been delaying, and as such, the system is being forced to take action.


    Overview: Open the store within thirty six hours.


    Rewards: Basic immunity package for craftsmen.


    Penalty: Death.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    . . .


    Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system. The system store is now available, inventory expansion has taken place, as well as a few other features.


    ]]


    Lucas was pleasantly surprised by this series of notifications as he ignored the bell.


    "Yes."


    Suddenly, Lucas felt an abrupt sensation creep over his body as invisible changes began to take place. At the same time, the system''s voice sounded in his ears.


    "Host has received Basic immunity package for craftsmen. Heat immunity increased by up to 2000¡ãC (3632¡ãF). Cold immunity increased to -150¡ãC (-238¡ãF). Poison immunity for Grade C and below poisons and diseases is granted. Shock endurance is increased by 20%.


    "As a bonus for levelling up the first time, healing factor is increased by 1.5x. Strength, endurance, vision, and senses are increased by 30%."


    Lucas was all smiles after the system informed him of the changes to his body. They might not seem like much, but they were very helpful, especially the basic immunity packages. These weren''t mere resistances but immunity, the difference implying the effect.


    To understand how helpful those were, the average temperature of molten magma is between seven hundred degrees Celsius (700¡ãC) and one thousand and two hundred degrees Celsius (1200¡ãC). In another context, that would be 1300¡ãF to 2200¡ãF. But Lucas was now immune to the heat of up to 2000¡ãC. This meant that he could dip his hand into magma and feel nothing. His skin wouldn''t get burned either.


    The same applied for the cold immunity effect Lucas received as well. The coldest temperature recorded back on Earth was -92¡ãC (-133.6¡ãF) [1]. The immunity level granted by the system was much higher. Although he had yet to understand the grading system, Lucas was confident that the poison immunity would be equally effective.


    After receiving his rewards, Lucas got up and went to the lobby area. He noticed that there were a few individuals already seated and checking the place out. Although there weren''t many, there were at least twenty of them present. Some had a malevolent vibe or the scent of blood on them, with a strong aura being radiated from their body. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just this one look made Lucas easily guess their identities; freelancers.


    It seemed like the advertisement he had posted on the intranet was quite helpful. The somewhat small number didn''t mean that the advertisement''s reach was small, but that people wouldn''t easily check out a new store in a secluded location right away. Having this many people present was already better than what Lucas initially expected.


    "Are you the owner?" One of them asked.


    "You can say so." Lucas nodded.


    "Welcome to Seven Sparks Forge. How can I help you guys today?"


    Another of the men glanced around and said, "Your store looks alright, but it''s quite lackluster for a grand opening day, don''t you think?"


    Lucas glanced at the other and noticed the man had black hair. Most hyumans usually had coloured hair, and while black wasn''t strange, it wasn''t pretty common.


    "I''m merely opening a shop, not throwing a party. All that fanfare is quite tedious for me."


    The black haired man smiled at Lucas'' response and didn''t say anything else.


    At that moment, another character narrowed his eyes as he stared at Lucas.


    "You''re human, aren''t you?"


    "What about it?" Lucas looked at him.


    "Tch. What a waste of my time." The man grunted and left the building. Some of the other guests did the same after Lucas'' confirmation.


    While it was uncertain whether they acted as such due to prejudice against humans, the most likely reason was the weakness of the latter.


    Vestige-smithing required one to not just be skilled with handling metals but also with controlling stellar energy, since runes and stellar matrices depended on them. For humans who were limited in their ability to manipulate stellar energy, due to their genetics, they were innately horrible vestige-smiths.


    In fact, it was impossible, at least to the knowledge of the citizens of Baylands, for a human to be a vestige-smith; a blacksmith was possible, but not a vestige-smith.


    Also, even if the best blacksmiths were comparable to vestige-smiths, looking at Lucas, it was obvious that he was too young to be such a blacksmith.


    Many of the guests today came to check out the store as it was advertised as one run by a vestige-smith. With a human being in charge, and one quite young at that, it was natural for them to think they had been tricked and depart in anger.


    At the moment, Lucas'' guests had dwindled down by half.


    "What about you guys?" Lucas glanced at the others.


    The man with the black hair smiled as he replied, "You don''t need to worry about me. I decided to try my luck here, so until I''ve done that, I don''t plan on leaving early."


    The others replied in a similar manner.


    The appearance of the store owner was unexpected, but they still remained behind, hoping to luck out.


    Fraud was highly frowned at and cracked down on thanks to modern technology. The penalty was also severe, so very few individuals engaged in such. This made some of the guests decide to still risk it and check out Lucas'' store.


    The advertisement stated that a custom-made vestige could be claimed if one won the roulette spin. At the same time, there would be free maintenance for the first ten individuals on their vestiges and weapons for the following three days.


    If it turned out to be a lie, Lucas would be arrested for fraud and deceit, and the guests would be compensated for their losses from Lucas'' possessions. If everything were true, they would have cashed out greatly.


    One should recall that custom-made vestiges were very expensive. Apart from that, it wasn''t easy to meet with a vestige-smith to have one made. Most vestige-smiths worked for big corporations and only took special orders from notable individuals. Having someone close by would be advantageous for these people, hence why they rushed to be the first.


    If Lucas turned out to be a grandmaster blacksmith or do the impossible and be a capable vestige-smith, being the first of his customers would help them build some sort of relationship with him; a relationship that would offer more profit than loss.


    "Alright then. As promised, the first ten individuals get free maintenance while the rest can make their orders." Lucas said. At the same time, he appeared behind the checkout counter and turned on the monitor. He went through the security footage and ascertained the order in which the people arrived, determining the first ten individuals, excluding those who departed.


    There were currently twelve individuals in the store, so only two wouldn''t be able to access the promo.


    One of the twelve, the first to arrive, walked up to the counter.


    "Maintenance. It got damaged while facing a Nolkin."


    As he said this, the man placed a short-sword on the table.


    From the special reward, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', Lucas knew that a Nolkin was a type of desolate beast that could fly and also dive into the water. It was a weird creature with wings and gills, looking like a mix between a batoid (manta ray and/or sting ray) and a bird.


    They usually spend one cycle of the day (day or night) either underwater or in the skies, then spent the other cycle in the other location.


    These creatures were quite common in the Wastelands and a popular hunt for freelancers due to the fact that there was a large market for their body parts.


    However, the problem most freelancers faced when fighting a Nolkin is that their saliva was corrosive and these creature usually coat their claws in them. As such, hunting a Nolkin was a money-burning affair because at the end of the battle, one''s weapon would usually be damaged.


    Nonetheless, as long as the hunt was successful, the freelancer would make a profit even after considering the fees for repairs.


    Lucas nodded and received the short-sword. He checked it out and slid his finger across the blade.


    "A basic repair would take thirty minutes, but if you''re interested in the advanced repair, it would take two hours."


    "What''s the difference?" The man asked.


    "Basic repair is just as it means; I''ll simply repair your vestige and it would be as good as new. The advanced repair means that I''ll make some new changes that would help. In this case, I''ll increase the corrosion resistance of the sword. If I''m correct, it gets worn out after one battle, right? I can increase its resistance and should be able to last three to four battles against a Nolkin.


    Any higher is impossible due to the materials used in making weapon." Lucas calmly replied.


    The man was surprised, as this was the first time he had heard of it. Other stores would offer what Lucas called the basic repair and it took them one hour. Compared to Lucas, that was twice the repair time. In fact, it was much more.


    Lucas had to attend to customers first before working, but those stores had a division of labour system in place, with employees dealing with customers and those handling the repairs. In other words, although Lucas said thirty minutes, it would take less time if he were to leave the counter and go work on it now.


    Also, there was no such service like the advanced repair in those stores


    "The advanced repair, please." The man replied.


    "Anything else?" Lucas asked.


    Maintenance was free for the first ten individuals, whether it was a basic or advanced repair. If he wanted to make profits, they would have to make a purchase or ask for a new service; otherwise, Lucas would have to attend to nine more people first.


    The man shook his head and went away to take a seat.


    He just wanted to check out the validity of this new store, which is why he went for the free service as well as using an auxiliary vestige. That way, even if things turned out for the worse, the man''s losses wouldn''t be much. If they report Lucas as a fraud and he gets arrested by the patrol corps, the man would be reimbursed for his weapon.


    "Next person." Lucas said.


    "No need, we can wait." The black haired man spoke up at this time. He was next in line, but in no hurry to be attended to.


    Just like the first person and everyone else here, he just wanted to try his luck. Now that someone has provided an opportunity for Lucas to showcase his skills, the man didn''t need to get attended to for the moment.


    Lucas glanced at him and everyone else in the store, easily reading their minds. He wasn''t bothered, however. Humans were innately suspicious and skeptical, and while hyumans were an advanced species, they still descended from the former.


    Lucas nodded at the men and then turned around with the short-sword in hand, heading into the work-station. It was time for him to make his official debut in this new world.

 Chapter 23 - 23 : Upgrading The Short-sword

    To the twelve men in the waiting lobby, two hours wasn''t long. They were all freelancers and usually spent days in the Wastelands, where there were man-eating horrors and monstrosities that could give one sleepless night. Compared to that, sitting in a comfortable place and admiring some artwork for just two hours was no problem.


    In the work-station, Lucas kept the short-sword on a work bench as he prepared his equipment.


    Repairing the short-sword wasn''t a difficult task, and he could get that done in twenty five minutes or less. The problem was upgrading it.


    Due to the limitations of the materials used in making the sword, Lucas couldn''t upgrade it from its current grade, Grade 1, to the next.


    The grading system for vestiges was the same as the power system for stellar refinement. The main classes were Aperture class for Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners, Origin class for Guardian stage or Origin stage stellar practitioners, and Moon class for the Moon Walkers or Sage realm practitioners. Each class of weapon was subdivided into lower levels based on quality and power.


    In Eretre, the vestiges were all Aperture class vestiges and graded from 1-6. Grade 1 was a beginner level of Aperture class vestiges and was typically used by first or second Aperture Opening stage warriors. Third Aperture Opening stage freelancers used them too, but most preferred the next.


    Grade 2 was still in the beginner ranks, but better than Grade 1. It was also a more common option for veterans, as they were affordable but still more powerful than Grade 1 vestiges.


    Grade 3 vestiges were used by the stronger and wealthier professionals, usually freelancers at the fourth or fifth stage, as at this stage, it would take some effort to be able to afford it. Most sixth Aperture stage[1] practitioners also used this.


    Grade 4 Aperture class vestiges were even more expensive, and only the top freelancers could afford them. They were usually found in the hands of seventh Aperture stage stellar practitioners or the more powerful sixth Aperture stage practitioners. People like this usually lead famous paramilitary freelancing groups or guilds, while some hold high positions in the military or other powerful forces.


    Grade 5 vestiges, were on a different level, and some could even be considered family heirlooms. Not just anyone could get their hands on them, as the vestige-smiths capable of making them were all concentrated in the Oklo Dynasty. It was rumoured that only the city lord residences and top families of each continent had them.


    These vestiges were best suited for eight and ninth Aperture stage stellar practitioners. Even the tenth stage practitioners used it. These were individuals who led a powerful family or a very powerful force. For instance, the current city lord and head of Baylands city-state is a stellar practitioner of the tenth Aperture Opening stage.


    The head of the Ross family, which runs a few industries, is at the eighth stage. Other similar family heads, like the Mertens, were at the ninth Aperture stage.


    As for Grade 6 vestiges, they couldn''t be found in Baylands city-state or even the entire Groeten continent. Only in the Bernin Continent ruled directly by the Oklo Dynasty could one find such, and it would only be in the Dynasty''s royal palace.


    Back to the present, Lucas couldn''t upgrade the short-sword before him so easily. In fact, the process of upgrading a weapon to the next grade without smelting it and reforging it was impossible. If one were to reforge it, the runes and stellar matrices on the vestige would be ruined, and new ones would have to be traced on it.


    As such, upgrading a weapon was costly for the customer and tiresome for the vestige-smith. This was one of the reasons other stores upgrade services weren''t so popular.


    Although Lucas could pull it off, he didn''t offer such an upgrade simply because it couldn''t be termed maintenance any longer. Reforging a vestige wasn''t a maintenance service.


    The advanced repair, however, was different. It involved changing or strengthening the stellar matrices and runes. Such an act could only be performed by a skilled vestige-smith whose rune and matrix-tracing skills were much higher than those of the vestige-smith who made the vestige.


    It wasn''t easy to find someone of that calibre and this was one of the reasons other stores didn''t offer this service.


    Another reason was that, it wasn''t profitable to do so.


    Why make the customer''s equipment last longer and reduce the number of visits they make to their store?


    But none of that worried Lucas. In fact, it would serve as an advantage for him and draw customers to his store.


    Lucas performed the basic repairs on the short-sword first, cleaning it, fixing up the notched parts, sharpening the blade, and polishing the sword, taking only twenty minutes to get these done. For an average blacksmith on Earth, just fixing the nicks and notches alone would take half an hour or more, but Lucas didn''t have such issues. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Not only was his equipment of the highest standard, but his skills were also on par.


    After the basic repairs, Lucas dipped the short-sword in a special gelatinous material and left it for five minutes. The liquid was a special compound that could eliminate the runes and stellar matrices on a vestige without damaging the product.


    Advanced repair was to either change or upgrade the matrices and runes, but for the short-sword, Lucas felt it was best to change the tracings (both stellar matrices and runes) on it. A magical rune from his past life crossed his mind when he saw the vestige and the damage done to it.


    The rune was an ancient draconic rune, meaning it was made by dragons of yore. The dragons used the runes on their flesh to strengthen the defensive property of their scales. This would in turn make them more sturdy and impervious to various attacks and damages, such as the corrosive effects of slimes.


    Lucas estimated that this rune would similarly be effective in making the short-sword more durable when facing Nolkins. Of course, it would also become stronger, but the increase wasn''t noteworthy enough to raise its grade.


    Apart from the draconic runes, Lucas also added two special magic sigils which would help with the flow of stellar energy, after all, this was a vestige. While he couldn''t trace stellar matrices, there were still similar arts in his first life, considering stellar energy was also a type of mystical energy just like mana and true energy.


    Inscribing the draconic runes from scratch took Lucas thirty minutes, and he spent twenty minutes working on the two sigils. In total, Lucas used seventy five minutes or an hour and a quarter (15 mins), to work on the vestige. There were still forty-five minutes left from the estimated 2 hours of advanced repair, but Lucas didn''t intend on using them all.


    In truth, he took quite some time working on this vestige, as it had been a while since he last inscribed draconic runes.


    Lucas then dipped the sword into another liquid for five minutes, but this time with the intention of strengthening the sword''s structure and cleaning off the surface. During the first five minutes of sword-dipping, Lucas had been working on the sword''s scabbard. He concluded the work during these five minutes and sheathed the sword right back.


    After that, he walked out of the work-station with the short-sword in hand.

 Chapter 24 - 24: Taking Orders

    Lucas exited the workstation and arrived back at the waiting lobby with the revamped short-sword in hand.


    Once he appeared, everyone in the room stared at him, or to be specific, the short-sword. Even though it was still encased within its sheath, they peered at it, trying to uncover its secrets with their eyes.


    "Complete." Lucas said as he placed the weapon atop the counter and called for the owner.


    In fact, there was no need to do so, as the owner was already headed towards him. The man took the sword out of its sheath and looked at it. A simple glance showed that it looked almost no different from before except the fact that the notches were absent and it seemed to shine a bit more. However, having had it in his possession for months, the man knew the short-sword like the back of his hand.


    He could see that the runes on it were quite different from what they used to be, suggesting that Lucas had changed them entirely. Even the new matrices on it weren''t the same stellar matrices previously.


    "This..."


    "There''s a room by the side for testing out vestiges. You can go have a try there." Lucas pointed at a door on the side.


    Apart from the work-station and lobby, the ground floor had two more rooms; a restroom and a spare room used for testing vestiges. The testing room had a simulation feature which made it great for combat testing, and from the checkout counter''s monitor, Lucas could easily control the changes in the room.


    The man went in the direction Lucas pointed, but he wasn''t the only one as over half of the guests remaining did the same.


    It didn''t take them long before they returned, with the man displaying a pleasantly surprised expression on his face. Without a doubt, everyone could easily guess that the advanced repair was well worth it.


    "Are you really a vestige-smith?" The man couldn''t help but ask.


    Like the others, they had come to the store in hopes of finding a vestige-smith. However, when the identity of the owner was revealed to be a human and a young one at that, he had given up that idea and hoped for Lucas to be a good blacksmith or at least, in contact with one or a vestige-smith.


    But from what he had just seen, there was no way a blacksmith could make something as good as what Lucas had done while still being so fast with it. This showed that Lucas was definitely not an ordinary individual.


    "Why can''t a human be a vestige-smith?." Lucas looked at the man before turning towards the others.


    "Next please."


    With a calm tone, Lucas called out the next individual on the list.


    The guests were currently shocked, but in a pleasant manner. Although some still had their suspicions about Lucas'' true occupation, the fact that he could still work on vestiges was what they were interested in. It seemed like their gamble paid off. Now, what they needed to know was the limit of Lucas'' skills. After all, the vestige the man gave Lucas was a Grade 1 vestige.


    Top class blacksmiths could fix them without too much of a hassle.


    The black haired man was next and he walked towards the counter with a smile on his face. Compared to the others, he wasn''t visibly bothered.


    "Grade 2. Damaged stellar matrix. I''d like to go for an advanced repair." The man said.


    Lucas nodded and took the vestige. This time around, it was a gun-type vestige with the shape of a pistol. Compared to cold weapons, vestiges based on hot weapons were complicated. This was because the vestige-smith would have to be versed in the technology and design of hot weapons before they can make or fix such.


    The black haired man was clearly testing Lucas'' knowledge with this task.


    "Is that all?" Lucas asked, unbothered by the request.


    "What are your rates?" The black haired man asked.


    Lucas was surprised. Truth be told, he didn''t expect anyone to actually ask for a service apart from maintenance today.


    "Due to the obvious lack of pricing system in this world as well as to prevent undervaluing, the system would designate prices for all services and products in the store."


    The system''s voice sounded in Lucas'' head before he could say a word, stunning the latter.


    Following that, a series of words and numbers appeared in his head, and a price list also popped up on the monitor.


    "System, what is the meaning of this?" Lucas was astounded.


    The prices the system gave for each product or service was eschewed. It would either be too expensive or too cheap. For example, the basic repair cost less than that of other stores. The advanced repair was different as its price depended on the grade of the vestige as well as the runes and sigils Lucas used on them.


    Generally however, it was slightly cheaper than that of stores who happen to offer advanced repairs just like him.


    However, when it came to crafting vestiges, whether they be custom-made or standard, the prices were insane. Standard products simply referred to vestiges that were made in large copies. Based on the system''s pricing, standard products would cost at least fifty percent more than the other stores while custom-made vestiges were an almost 200% increase compared to other stores.


    Lucas couldn''t help but curse inwardly, wondering how he would make money at this rate.


    "Hello?" The black haired man called out to Lucas.


    "Take a look."


    There was a display screen on the counter facing the direction of the customer. With his attention being brought to it, the man glanced at the screen and raised his eyebrows.


    "This..."


    "Our prices are fair." Lucas said.


    Since the system had already decided on the price with no way to negotiate, Lucas decided to settle with it. Also, his skills were at the peak in his last life. Even if this was a new world, he could definitely compete with high level vestige-smiths. Hence, the prices were fair in a sense.


    As for why the basic repair was cheaper, it could be some sort of advertising or maybe the system just looked down on such activities.


    The man was stunned that Lucas defended these prices and he almost had the urge to curse out. These prices were so insane that only the vestige-smiths at the Central prefecture district of Baylands City could compare.


    The black haired man hesitated, but decided to change his strategy in the end.


    "Are there any completed works?"


    Buying a created vestige was a much safer option than asking for one to be produced. The latter required one to have trust in the skills of the vestige-smith, hoping that the completed product would be of high quality. In the case of the former, one could ascertain the quality of a vestige on the spot, as even in every grade, there were still differences between each vestige.


    For instance, the vestige used by the kidnappers was a Grade 1 vestige, however, it couldn''t compare with the short-sword Lucas was given to repair.


    "Sure. Take a look at the side." Lucas gestured.


    The lobby area was divided into two, and while the second side still served the same function, it had a few items on display already. The black haired man had noticed them, but each vestige was encased in a special glass that prevented him from sensing the energy level of the items, so he couldn''t determine their grades.


    With permission from Lucas, he walked towards the area along with a majority of the guests as this was an opportunity to see what Lucas was capable of.


    "Whichever one you intend on screening, just tap on the glass." Lucas'' voice sounded from the checkout counter.


    The group nodded and did as he said, following which a series of exclamations sounded in the store.


    Their eyes were wide open as they stared at the vestiges in the glass. The view suddenly became breathtaking as a few freelancers were stunned silly on the spot, their eyes frozen on the vestiges before them.


    There weren''t many vestiges, but they were all of different grades. From Grade 1 to Grade 3, there were vestiges of high quality. Most of them already surpassed what could be found in mainstream stores in the West Wing district. Only vestige stores in the Central Prefecture could compare, but even then, there was still a slight difference.


    The black haired man stared at a certain vestige. It was a black trench coat with a belt on the waist. The energy from the trench coat signified that it was of Grade 2, but the stellar energy was so pure that the man was convinced that the trench coat could even rival a standard Grade 3 version.


    "This... how?"


    Not just the black haired man, but the others were similarly stunned. The owner of the store was a human. Common knowledge dictated that humans couldn''t achieve much in matters related to stellar energy. But what they saw before them broke this belief.


    If it were true that Lucas made these, then his skill wasn''t even lacking compared to most vestige-smiths. Heck, he could even rival the best Baylands City has to offer.


    While some were thinking of this, others had a strange glint in their eyes. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Before them were multiple treasures valued at hundreds if not thousands of federal coins. Just one of the Grade 3 vestiges here could feed an average family of four for two years, and there were five of them. This was but the financial aspect of thesd weapons. In terms of power, they could improve the strength of these freelancers by at least fifty percent.


    If they could own one of these vestiges, their freelancing lives would be easier. However, the cost would definitely be hefty.


    But...the owner was a human.


    When they recalled this fact, a certain thought began to lay a foundation in their minds.

 Chapter 25 - 25: Clash

    Lucas could sense that some of the gazes of a few guests[1] were different, but he didn''t dwell on it.


    Suddenly, one of them -who had a bald head- asked Lucas, "Can you remove this glass? I need to feel it up close and check if the weight is suitable for me."


    Lucas glanced at the other party before turning away. He found the question dumb and didn''t bother with the speaker any longer. It was obvious that the other party wasn''t actually interested in buying the vestiges.


    Releasing the vestige''s aura wasn''t the only thing that took place once the glass was tapped; there would be a display that appears on the glass, showing some of the details about the vestige like its name and weight.


    At that moment, a coercive force was released from the speaker as he stated at Lucas.


    "I insist you take the glass and let me have a closer look." The man with a bald head said.


    Right then and there, the atmosphere turned strange as it seemed like a confrontation was brewing; almost about to break out. The other guests knew what was going on, but none of them made a sound. Whether they were of the same idea as the man, or they were just spectators, was unknown.


    Despite the looming threat, Lucas ignored the man.


    The black haired man watched as things folded, wondering what made Lucas feel so calm and confident against a second Aperture Opening stage freelancer, as a human.


    *Ding*


    Two figures walked through the entrance of the store right when things were heated up. They glanced around before settling their sights on Lucas and walking towards him.


    "Welcome." Lucas nodded at the newcomers.


    The duo were the couple he met the previous day; the young man and woman who were looking for a Grade 3 spear.


    "I reckon what you told us was a lie?" The lady asked.


    "Not exactly. I''m just running the store for a friend." Lucas replied.


    The black haired man who was by the side was surprised by this. Lucas'' previous statements and actions always seemed to hint that he was the main vestige-smith here, but his explanation to the new arrivals showed that this wasn''t true.


    If that''s the case, then what was?


    "You might have to wait in line. The store has a first come, first serve policy." Lucas said.


    The young man who came in with the lady frowned and released a bit of his aura.


    "Can''t you make an exception?"


    Fifth stage! [2]


    This was the highest level of strength Lucas had ever seen, bar the elderly man from yesterday.


    The guests in the store were shocked and even the bald-headed man who wanted to cause a scene went quiet. He still couldn''t determine the relationship between Lucas and the newcomers.


    "Rules are rules." Lucas ignored his show of strength.


    The Host Protection Mechanism kept him safe from all forms of threat and harm. While the pressure the man gave off wasn''t classified as harm by the system''s definition, it was still of no threat to Lucas. In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had met face to face with the Dragon King, the Lord of all seventy-two dragon species.


    Such a powerhouse could wipe out the entire Eretre with ease and even compete with the entire hyuman Federation with its forces. Compared to the Dragon King who was like the Sun in its peak, the man before him wasn''t even worth calling a firefly. The difference was too big.


    "Don''t make things hard on the storekeeper." The lady by the side calmly said.


    The young man frowned but didn''t make things hard on Lucas as she instructed. Instead, he glanced at the guests.


    "Can you guys take a step back? The Black Lemon Squad would appreciate it."


    Black Lemon Squad!


    Once the freelancers in the store heard those words, they understood right away and couldn''t help but be shocked.


    Black Lemon Squad was one of the top freelancer squads in the whole of Baylands City, and by relation, Baylands city-state. The leader and founder of the squad was a six Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Although he still wasn''t at the top and couldn''t contend with some top family heads, the founder was incredibly strong especially when paired with his Grade 6 vestige; so much so that he could even contend with an average seven Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    A Grade 4 vestige was the limit for most freelancers, and unless one was a top figure in a city-state with some ties to the Oklo Dynasty''s region, it would be impossible to have a higher ranked vestige.


    Under the leadership of such a powerful figure, the Black Lemon Squad made its name as a top paramilitary force in Baylands City. It had also attracted other talented freelancers at the fifth and even fourth stages. As for those lower ranked, they were more, but each and every one of them was an elite.


    The young man in the store was a fifth stage freelancer, and by the Black Lemon Squad''s rankings, he would be a squad captain. In other words, he was a big shot. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just as the guests were about to relinquish their spots and let him go ahead, Lucas spoke up.


    "Relinquishing spots is against the rules. If you want to buy something or request a service, please queue up rightfully."


    The young man frowned and glared at Lucas, but little did he know that Lucas was cursing at the system right now.


    Just a while ago, the system had told him that queue-skipping was not allowed, neither was trading spots. This was to prevent powerful individuals from hogging the store''s services all to themselves. If they wanted something from the store, they had to line up for it, fairly and justly.


    What pissed Lucas off was that the timing of this information was bad. It would make it seem as if he was trying to purposely get on the bad side of the young man. Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t scared of offending him, but he was irritated by the system''s antics.


    "Are you messing with me?" The young man stared Lucas in the eye.


    Lucas stared at him back for a while then ignored him and glanced at the black haired man.


    "Are you buying anything else or not?"


    At this time, the young man lost it and unleashed his aura entirely. Even the young lady didn''t say a word as she too was pissed by Lucas'' actions.


    Lucas could feel a strange pressure acting on him in an attempt to get him down on his knees. Truthfully, this pressure wasn''t worth anything thanks to the Host Protection Mechanism acting up right away as it determined the pressure to be harmful. However, Lucas still felt an uncomfortable sensation on his body as he frowned slightly.


    The young man, the lady, as well as everyone else, was surprised to still see Lucas standing up straight without any sign of discomfort. In fact, the only difference between the Lucas under pressure and the Lucas not under pressure was the slight frown on his face.


    This intrigued the young man, but he was still pissed nonetheless. He increased his force and as he saw nothing come of it still, he stretched out his hand to attack.


    The young man''s movements was too fast for Lucas to see but he didn''t even bother dodging or anything. The system had his back.


    The young man''s hand caught Lucas by the neck and he grinned at him.


    "What do you have to say now?"


    Originally, everyone thought Lucas was impressive or maybe even like the human exceptions in Digress city-state. But when they saw him taken down so easily, they were surprised.


    Lucas glanced at the young man, seemingly unbothered by the situation he was in.


    Although the young man held him by the neck, the force was mitigated and Lucas simply felt as if a hand was laid on his neck with no force applied.


    "Sighs. Why do people behave like this?" Lucas said.


    The young man was surprised that Lucas could still speak after all, the force he used to clamp his neck was supposed to prevent that. It was then that the young man noticed that his hands weren''t tightly gripping Lucas'' neck as he thought. There seemed to be a strange feeling from his hand that despite being in contact with Lucas'' neck, he couldn''t tighten his grip.


    "What''s this?" The young man said out loud, but Lucas replied him with a punch to the face.


    *Bam*


    The young man was forced back and his hand released Lucas. He frowned and moved again, this time drawing out his stellar energy as he punched again.


    Until the tenth aperture is opened, hyumans don''t possess any superpower so most of their combat is done by using stellar energy in its refined form as well vestiges.


    Lucas saw the incoming attack but didn''t fret, letting it hit him.


    *Bam*


    A loud sound reverberated after the hit landed, but Lucas was still standing firm. At this point, everyone in the store was stunned silly.


    How the hell did a human take a blow from a fifth stage freelancer without taking a step back?


    The answer would remain unknown as in the very next second, Lucas had already retailated. The blacksmith glove has appeared in his hand at some point as he launched his counter attack.


    *Thud*


    The young man was punched and this time, he was sent flying.


    Again, the crowd was stunned.


    That was a fifth stage freelancer!


    The blocked strike could be explained as some high grade vestige. However, even if Lucas had some defensive gear to keep him safe, the gap was too large to be able to deliver an attack capable of sending the opponent flying. Considering Lucas'' strength, unless it was a Grade 5 or 6 vestige, it would be impossible to pull this off.

 Chapter 26 - 26 : Chased Away

    The crowd was stunned silly for the second time in a row. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    That was a fifth stage freelancer!


    The blocked strike could be explained as some high grade vestige. However, even if Lucas had some defensive gear to keep him safe, the gap was too large to be able to deliver an attack capable of sending the opponent flying. Considering Lucas'' strength, unless it was a Grade 5 or 6 vestige, it would be impossible to pull this off.


    The spectators stared at the gloves on his hands, as that was never there from the start. They suspected it to be a vestige, but there was no aura of stellar energy on it. Even so, some didn''t give up their suspicions so quickly. Lucas was a human with no sign of having refined stellar energy before, yet he was able to go unharmed after two attempts by the young man.


    Only Lucas knew the truth. Although the gloves did improve his strength, and with the thirty percent increase to his base strength after levelling up, Lucas'' strength only added up to one at the Bone refining step of the Body Strengthening stage. The only reason he turned out superior was thanks to a feature that came out after the system upgraded.


    Host Retaliation Function.


    Like the Host Protection Mechanism, it was only active within the store. Contrary to the latter however, the Host Retaliation Function was an attacking feature. It only activated when there was a large gap in strength between the host and the attacker. The effect was that it would mimic a portion of the attacker''s strength and apply it onto the host''s attacks.


    Together with the craftsman gloves boost effect, the attack would roughly be on par with his opponent''s.


    "You bastard¡­" The young man stood up and prepared to attack again.


    Lucas frowned seeing this. The young man was interrupting his business. He had held back with his blow as he didn''t want to take things out of proportion, otherwise the young man would have been seriously injured. But if the latter continued harassing him, Lucas would take things seriously.


    "That''s enough." The lady who came with him spoke up.


    The young man glared at her, but she glared right back. Seeing her take her stand, he snorted and drew back his energy. It was clear that he didn''t want to go again after she interfered.


    "Let''s forget about the little disagreement and head back to business, okay?" The lady said.


    "No problem." Lucas nodded.


    The lady smiled seeing this, then asked, "Can I see the spear?"


    "Stand in line. Also, he needs to leave." Lucas blandly replied.


    There was no way he was going to give them special treatment, not after the young man tried to kill him. Not chasing them both away was already Lucas being nice. As for letting her see the spear? That was actually no problem as the weapon was already on display, but Lucas easily recalled it into his inventory as such, they had failed to spot it.


    After his levelling up, the system''s abilities experienced a boost and the inventory was a direct beneficiary. It experienced an expansion and was also now capable of taking in outside-items (items not related to the system in one way or the other).


    Finally, as long as he was within the store, Lucas could place anything from the store into his inventory with just a thought, regardless of the distance between them.


    The woman was surprised that Lucas was still on this even after knowing they were from the Black Lemon Squad. She guessed it had something to do with their actions, but even then, so what?


    "Can you please make an exception for us this time around? On behalf of the Black Lemon Squad, we''ll owe you one if we find what we want." The lady pleaded.


    Her actions were nice and her words were too, but, Lucas couldn''t help but get a chill.


    Venomous.


    If Lucas were to describe her with one word, it would be just that.


    The lady was prideful and this could be seen from the fact that throughout the period of the incident, she made no effort to stop the young man, doing so only until after Lucas had take him down. Despite the actions of the young man, she never apologized even at the end of it all.


    She tried to brush it off and still requested they received special treatment, using the Black Lemon Squad''s renown to pressure him.


    Lucas was no saint, but even if he was one, he wouldn''t tolerate such nonsense.


    "There''s no need to bother. I won''t be attending to you any longer." Lucas said.


    The lady froze in shock and even the young man who had yet to leave was astounded.


    They had already mentioned who they were and decided to drop the matter, but Lucas remained staunch.


    "Are you sure about this?" The young man said.


    Lucas turned towards him and replied, "What are you still doing in my store?"


    At that moment, the young man understood that Lucas was being serious.


    This was the first time he had ever been treated like this, what''s more, it was in this backwater called the West Wing district.


    "Hmph. Fine. Fiona, I hope you''re happy now." The young man said to the woman while glaring at Lucas, before he turned around and left.


    While he could remain obstinate in the store, the young man was aware that he wasn''t Lucas'' match. His attacks all landed, but had no effect, whereas all of Lucas'' attacks took him down.


    The lady glanced at Lucas once and also left the store.


    The guests who remained behind could finally breath a sigh of relief, but some of them immediately left the store too. Lucas had offended the Black Lemon Squad, and he was a human at that too. The freelancer who left were weak and didn''t want to get caught in the crossfire between the two parties.


    After a few seconds, only seven of the previous twelve guests remained. Seeing this, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh.


    ''Running a business sure is difficult.''

 Chapter 27 - 27 : New Mission

    After the entire debacle, which left the number of customers down to seven, Lucas introduced the services of the store to them, including the roulette spin. He wasn''t worried that someone would be able to cheat with the roulette spin, as doing so would require the individual to be at least a ten Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Someone at that level would be on par with the city lord and most likely live in the Central Prefecture and not the West Wing district.


    Each spin cost five federal coins, and although the odds were 0.001%, or 1 in 100,000, the freelancers still went ahead and spun. A standard Grade 1 vestige costs at least five hundred federal coins. If one were lucky, they could get the custom-made chance without even spending that much.


    Some customers tried their luck, and naturally, they failed. Some were unrelenting, and the roulette spin awoke their gambling addiction. It wasn''t until they had lost quite a sum with the day coming to an end that they finally gave up.


    It turned out that at the end of the day, the black haired man had bought a vestige from Lucas; a Grade 1 vestige. This pleased Lucas until the system sounded in his head and took away his joy.


    The system would be taking seventy five percent (75%) of his earnings as some kind of platform onboarding fee. According to the system, this was to prevent the host from becoming "lazy and prodigal" from his earnings.


    Lucas didn''t say a word, or rather, there was no point in doing so. Throughout the period he had come into this world, the system had never backtracked in a single one of its decisions, and it definitely wouldn''t do so now.


    The next day came rather quickly and Lucas met a few more customers lined up, reaching a total of seventeen. It seemed to be due to the news spread by the seven.


    Some of the customers played the roulette spin, while the rest asked for maintenance on their equipment. After the ten free slots were gone, the rest had to pay, but they didn''t mind. Some of them were friends with the seven from the previous day, while the others had arrived after spotting the advertisement online.


    When the latter saw the results of the maintenance upgrade, they similarly didn''t mind paying for it.


    Although some of them had heard about Lucas'' clash with the Black Lemon Squad, they weren''t bothered by it. Some of them weren''t scared, while others believed that the clash could not directly affect them. There was no way the Black Lemon Squad would go around harassing everyone that visited Lucas'' store, as that could potentially offend the freelancer community.


    . . .


    Four days went by like this. The store had officially been open for six days and Lucas had spent two weeks and five days in this new world; over half a month.


    Today, just like any other day, he attended to the customers interested in maintenance. The promo was over, but there were still more people seeing him for maintenance, even though they had to pay for it. However, this wasn''t an issue. The price list made by the system was considerably cheaper when it came to maintenance services.


    Ding. Ding. Ding


    The sound of a bell continuously rang from the front.


    Lucas thought it was from the door but realised it wasn''t. The pitch of the sound was different, and this bell rang out multiple times.


    Glancing ahead, Lucas noticed that it came from the roulette spin.


    Suddenly, a thought crossed his head; someone had actually won.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised and walked over to find out who won. Soon enough, Lucas was outside, looking at every face until he stared at one.


    The individual was a young teen, about fifteen years old. He was dressed in an obvious school uniform, which implied that he was a student of a neighbouring school.


    Lucas was surprised, but not by so much. The entire roulette spin was luck, with a touch of the system''s calculative approach. With six days having gone by with no winner, it was a good thing that one now popped out.


    Lucas invited the kid over to the store and sat down with him. The young boy was clearly nervous from his expression.


    "You can relax. I''m not going to deal with you or something." Lucas said.


    "Alright." The boy nodded, but he was still clearly anxious.


    Winning such a lottery no doubt made him happy, however, he was scared that he might have done something he shouldn''t have.


    Lucas smiled but didn''t try to get the boy to calm down. Rather, he acted naturally and began asking the young boy a few questions. Most of the questions asked were regarding the custom-made vestige, and he took notes on the answers. This happened in the lobby in the presence of everyone, with the intention of quelling any disbelief.


    Some had been accusing Lucas of rigging the roulette spin, which was why he had to do this. Luckily, a winner appeared; otherwise, Lucas didn''t know how he would explain himself.


    As they talked, the young boy eventually calmed down and relaxed. He then spoke about his specialties once Lucas asked. The young boy was skilled in speed, with even his physique pointing that out. So, he needed a weapon that would compliment him. One that could be carried easily in fights; light yet still powerful and deadly.


    After learning about the young boy''s preferences and skills, Lucas decided that the best option was a spear. However, Lucas made intense changes to the design, making it more suited for the young boy while retaining its power.


    At the same time, a notification popped up on his system interface.


    [[ Mission Overview: You have finally received your first custom order. It''s time to let the world witness your light.


    Mission Description: Craft a high quality weapon, using the Violent Sun ores from the Wastelands, in one month.


    Reward: Bronze Grade Card. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Penalty: Loss of reputation.


    ]]


    ''A mission?'' it''s been a while.


    "By the way, since this is the very first custom order, I plan to make a special equipment. However, it will take a month or less to get it done." Lucas said.


    The young boy was surprised and began to fret. Although the three federal coins he used weren''t much to the freelancers here, it were for him. He didn''t come from a wealthy family but wanted a vestige. After seeing the prices, the young boy knew that there was no way he could afford it, until he remembered an ad he saw a couple days ago.


    After that, the young boy went to the location noted in the advertisement, and the rest was history.


    He never expected to win on the first try, as such, he began to wonder whether he was scammed or something.


    Lucas saw his anxious expression but didn''t say anything to calm the young boy down. That was none of his business. Instead, Lucas began contemplating the safest way to carry out this mission since he still couldn''t refine stellar energy.

 Chapter 28 - 28 : The Wastelands

    [AN: Changed mission location from Beast continent to the Wastelands]


    [[ Mission Overview: You have finally received your first custom order. It''s time to let the world witness your light.


    Mission Description: Craft a high quality weapon, using the Violent Sun ores from the Wastelands, in one month.


    Reward: Bronze Grade Card.


    Penalty: Loss of reputation.


    ]]


    "System, this says the Wastelands right?" Lucas couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yes." Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Same region swarming with desolate beasts, correct?"


    "Indeed."


    "How am I supposed to, you know, go and not die?"


    "As a legacy inheritor of a god and the successor to the Crafts-God, the host should be familiar with the term ''miracle''. With that in mind, the mission has been with the host''s strength put under consideration."


    ''Bullshit.'' Lucas cursed internally.


    The Wastelands was one of the most dangerous places in Eretre. To the people of Baylands city, the Wastelands was a risk-filled location with many desolate beasts all over the place. It was home to a horde of desolate beast with varying degrees of strength. Here, there were desolate beasts of all levels.


    It was even rumoured that a few of them could compare with city-lord class existences, in other words, ten Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners. However, this rumour was either false or the number was far too small, otherwise, the desolate beast would have overrun Baylands City.


    With his current strength, heading over to this region was no different from suicide.


    Lucas ignored the system and began thinking of how to make it work. He could have placed an order for the Violet Sun ores and commissioned a freelancer to get it for him, but the system clearly stated that Lucas had to make the trip himself.


    ''Wait, it didn''t.'' Lucas suddenly thought of something.


    "System, do I have to do it myself? Can''t I just commission someone to get it?"


    "No, as doing so would eliminate the purpose of the mission." The system replied.


    Lucas sighed. He was partly expecting such a response, and the system lived up to his expectations. Even so, Lucas wasn''t entirely disappointed or frustrated. He couldn''t keep living like this¡ªlocked up in a store and only working on vestiges. He had to get stronger to secure his safety.


    Although this mission was very risky and even deadly, since the system gave it to him, there was a significant chance of survival. With that being the case, there was no reason for Lucas to reject it.


    This was an opportunity to see the world outside, beyond the walls of the city. He would encounter different desolate beast and people. As long as he was careful and planned properly, there shouldn''t be much harm.


    Freelancers frequented the Wastelands in search of wealth, with the lowest of them being at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. Although Lucas wasn''t truly there, relying on the craftsman gloves and some of his self-made vestiges, it was possible for him to take on someone at that level. His attack power might even compare with that of a one Apertures Opening stage stellar refiner.


    This meant that even without the protection of the store, Lucas could ensure his safety to some extent.


    ''No use thinking too much about it.''


    Lucas decided to leave the next day. After the customers were gone and the store was empty, he closed for the day and made his preparations.


    . . .


    The next day, Lucas hung a ''Closed'' sign and left the store. He had already done his research and knew that there was a public transport system to the Wastelands, courtesy of the city state government.


    The history of Baylands City was quite interesting. Historically, the Wastelands predated the city and was home to much more desolate beasts than at the moment. Back then, it was said to be the central hub of desolate beasts on the Groeten continent.


    When the Oklo Dynasty began its war for expansion, they launched multiple assaults and raids against the desolate beasts on the Groeten continent, but even then, they failed to annihilate them entirely. In the end, they forced most of the desolate beasts into the Wastelands and built a fortress city to blockade a possible desolate beast retaliation or invasion. This city was known as Baylands City.


    With Baylands City as the central area, other towns and cities propped up around it. Under the control of the Oklo Dynasty, these cities and towns were known as districts, and by swearing fealty to Baylands city, they would be offered protection and other services. This was how the Baylands city-state was formed.


    Being a fortress city, Baylands city was the wall between the rest Wastelands and the rest of the Groeten continent. To be specific, it was the West Wing district that was the real border.


    To prevent a possible desolate beast upsurge, the Baylands city-state government, which was essentially the Baylands city lord office, allowed freelancers to venture into the Wastelands. In fact, they encouraged this act and put in place different incentives to attract freelancers to the city and send them to help explore the Wastelands while cutting down the number of desolate beasts.


    One such incentive was free public transport to and from the city and the Wastelands. Although the Wastelands was said to border the West Wing district, this didn''t mean that the distance between the two places were close. One should still recall that there was a small area of land known as the Slums, just outside of West Wing district.


    One would still need to go further west, at least seven hundred kilometres (434.96 miles) away, before they reached the Wastelands. With the current technology, this distance was just alright for the Baylands city-state government to monitor the region and react in time to any changes.


    After purchasing a ticket for a ride, Lucas headed into the light-rail train and took a seat. It was surprising that he got admitted despite not having a freelancer identity, but the agency in charge didn''t care. Some people would always want to try their luck with their meagre while others desired suicide or an opportunity to run away from reality.


    While this might sound sad, some saw it as a means of population control, and so, didn''t stop anyone. As long as one was of age, they could get a ride. The only difference was that non-freelancers would have to pay a fee, albeit a small one of three federal coins.


    Using a light-rail train, it would only take thirty to thirty five minutes to cover the distance even with disturbances. Despite being called a train, it was actually a flying shuttle merely shaped just like a train. In truth it could go faster, but due to the weight and weapons attached to it, as well as other safety reasons, it maintained a speed of between 1200km/hr-1350km/hr.


    Nonetheless, this speed was already fast enough for most.


    Very soon, the light-rail train had landed at its destination and everyone inside stepped out.


    The base station in the Wastelands was a small camp made up of a couple buildings. Some of these buildings were lodges and the others were varied spots like bars, restaurants, shooting ranges and even training centres. At the edge of the camp was the landing zone for the light-rail trains.


    The base station was made by the city-state government, but other forces helped with the further development, investing their resources into the place. For instance, some companies, especially those related to freelancers and basic needs, had their branches set up here. However there were few such companies.


    This was because the base station was located in the Wastelands, and very few individuals would want to work there.


    The living locations were only accessible to freelancers so if a regular individual wanted to work in the Wastelands, they would have to commute from the West Wing district. As a result, most stores were operated by robots.


    The Wastelands base station was the gathering spot intended for the freelancers who worked here. It wasn''t a strange thing for freelancers to spend months in the Wastelands. The city-state government hence built the base station just at the outer edge of the Wastelands. This was another incentive program to motivate freelancers to spend more time in the Wastelands.


    Although it didn''t have everything, the base station had everything one needed.


    Lucas admired the sight and thought to himself that it would have been better if he had set up his store here instead.


    While others could buy vestiges, the major customers of a vestige store were freelancers. Other parties, like students and the city patrol corps, didn''t engage in much combat, and as such, their vestiges were usually in top form. However, freelancers fought day and night as it was their source of income. This led to their equipment being damaged regularly.


    Just the expenses on maintenance alone was the bulk of a freelancer''s expenses. If Lucas had set up shop here, the money he would have made from maintenance in two weeks alone might have cleared his debt.


    ''No use crying over spilt milk.'' Lucas thought as he walked away from the port and towards the base station. His first task at the moment was to find a map to help him navigate to his destination.

 Chapter 29 - 29 : Meeting The Guide

    The Wastelands Base station was built from scratch by the Baylands city-state government, and further developed by the different forces residing in the city-state.


    As a product of the city-state government to motivate more freelancers to raid the Wastelands, there were a couple of buildings built to help satisfy the needs of the freelancers living here. One such was the Guild Centre building.


    The Guild Centre was actually a government agency made by the Baylands city-state government to help monitor and oversee the activities of freelancers. While the hyuman race now had the ability to refine stellar energy, not all members were interested in such and this led to a power divide.


    The Guild Centre was made to ensure that all freelancers and other stellar practitioners didn''t misuse their power. It didn''t directly control freelancers, but it did monitor and restrict them in certain ways. It also aided them by providing incentives and help whenever needed.


    The Guild Centre had a second head office in the Wastelands Base station which was a three storey building. The first floor was open to everyone and was a store of sorts. Here, freelancers could exchange some for their gains from the Wastelands in exchange for points that could be used to purchase items and resources in the same building.


    They could also purchase information or trade with whatever they had.


    There were similar stores owned by the top forces of the city, but the advantage of the Guild Centre was that it was run by the city-state government. The disadvantage however was that they didn''t have much resources to offer so most times, freelancers traded with the other stores.


    However, none of this concerned Lucas as he just wanted to get a map so he picked the most trusted.


    "Hello. Can I get a map of the Wastelands?" Lucas said to the clerk once it was his turn.


    The clerk stared at him suspiciously, thinking that Lucas was one of those ignorant people who wanted to hit it big by killing a desolate beast. Nevertheless, he could do nothing to stop him and the clerk wasn''t interested in doing so either. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Your identification and occupation please."


    "Lucas Saunters, blacksmith." Lucas said as he displayed an ID in his communicator and showed it to the clerk.


    "Are you registered with the association? Where''s your badge?" The clerk asked.


    "I don''t have any cause I''m not registered."


    The clerk frowned slightly at the response, then stared at Lucas once again. It was then that he noticed the latter wasn''t hyuman but a human. His expression then took an abrupt change.


    "Are you joking with me?" The clerk frowned.


    "I''ve already provided my details to you. If you want to have another look, I''ll gladly let you." Lucas said with a straight face, ignoring the clerk''s attitude.


    The clerk snorted before asking rudely, "What do you want?"


    "A map." Lucas repeated his intentions, getting slightly irritated at the treatment he was receiving.


    "There are two types of map, but seeing as you lack proper identification and are not a freelancer nor pioneer, I can only offer you the basic version."


    There were a couple of occupations for stellar practitioners with the majority dealing in fights. The freelancer role was the most notable of them all. However, there was another occupation quite similar to it. The role of a Pioneer majorly dealt with exploration.


    While Freelancers took missions and killed desolate beasts for resources, Pioneers explored dangerous regions and new locations, drawing maps and recording new species of alien races or desolate beasts. Very few worked as a pioneer as compared to freelancing where you''re adventuring in an explored region, pioneer was all about searching for the unknown and was as such, much more risky.


    When faced with the choice of risky and very risky, it was obvious which one people would choose right away especially since the pay gap wasn''t so large.


    Since Eretre was 70% explored, there were few pioneers here and on the Groeten continent, most of them resided close to the Wastelands; one of the few unexplored regions.


    Lucas paid five federal coins for the map, a price much more expensive than the trip from West Wing district to here. After that, he left the Guild Centre building.


    However, Lucas didn''t go straight into the depths of the Wasteland just yet. As this was his first time, he needed a guide, even with a map in hand. His destination was quite far and dangerous, so it was much safer to have someone lead the way. Luckily, freelancers could be hired for the task. This was something he learnt on his way here.


    Freelancers would take almost all sorts of jobs provided one paid well enough for it. Being a guide in a perilous region such as the Wastelands was a way for some freelancers based here to earn extra income. They were already familiar with the place, so using their knowledge to make some quick cash was not a problem.


    Lucas'' destination was the Cicalien Mountains, but it was quite far away from the base station and unpredictable in a bad way. What''s more, it was located in a region within the Wastelands known as the Astranian Forest.


    The Astranian Forest was a hunting ground for high level freelancers, but even they didn''t frequent the spot often as it was still quite dangerous. From this, one could guess that the level of desolate beasts in the area was quite high. For that reason, a guide was necessary lest he dies without knowing how.


    Lucas hired a freelancer team that was well known in the area as his guide. Although they were quite expensive, they were reputable and had even worked with a few humans before. As such, Lucas had no worries hiring them.


    Just a short while after Lucas left the Guild Centre building, two people came towards him; a man and a woman. The man had brown hair and black eyes with a calm poise even in his walking steps. As for the woman, she was a stunner, even in this world. With black hair let down behind her, a pair of blue eyes and a pretty oval face, she would have easily stood out on Earth.


    She was 169cm in height (5`6) and gave off a confident yet prideful aura with her eyes.


    Lucas glanced at the new arrivals who smiled at him.


    "Lucas Saunters, I assume, correct?" The man asked him.


    "That''s right." Lucas nodded. He recognised the duo, not because he was familiar with them but that they were his guides for the trip; part of his guides to be exact.


    The team Lucas hired was the Autumn''s Gate guild, which had seven official members. They were a well known freelancer guild and although quite expensive, the group had a good reputation and had even worked with humans in the past before, albeit not any pure-blooded ones like Lucas[1]. Even so, they were the best possible option for Lucas to travel with.


    For this trip, due to the uniqueness of the destination, four of the official team members were sent for the trip and Lucas had all the relevant information about them including their strength and appearances.


    "Alright then. Let''s go. Chad and the others are waiting for us." The lady said.


    The trio departed from the scene but unknown to them, there was someone monitoring them. A man stood beside a building with a communicator shaped like a tablet. Displayed on the communicator''s screen was an image; Lucas'' picture.


    [1] In chapter 7, I made an important distinction. There are two classes of humans: the pureblooded ones like Lucas and hyumans with less than 10% mDNA concentration. Having such a very low mDNA concentration means that their stellar refining potential is absurdly low. Even with serums, they have no future in it unless they utilise special grade serums for humans.


    But those are almost impossible to get.

 Chapter 30 - 30 : Autumn’s Gate Guild

    "So where are we at?" Lucas asked the group during their break.


    "Still a couple miles away. At the speed we are moving at, we might make it the next day." said one of the men, who had black hair but grey eyes.


    Parked close to the squad was a hover-vehicle used for traversing dangerous terrain. It was called a ''Sare'' shuttle or carrier, and looked like a space-shuttle but was much smaller and without the ''wings''. It was equipped with attack options and made with a tough material less susceptible to desolate beast attacks.


    Most freelancer teams and guilds made it their priority to get one of these, even if it were the cheaper editions. The journey in the Wastelands was usually not smooth or safe, so having a vehicle such as this was quite helpful for most teams.


    Apart from Lucas, there were seven other individuals present. These seven were the members of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Originally, Lucas was meant to move with only four of them, but coincidentally, the guild received a mission in the same direction Lucas was headed. As such, it ended up being all seven escorting him, but as this was an unplanned event, Lucas didn''t need to pay extra.


    The seven members of the Autumn''s Gate guild included their leader, the two vice captains, and the other team members. In truth, Autumn''s Gate was much larger than just the seven, however, the others weren''t official members. Also, due to the risk involved with the mission, the weaker members were asked to stay behind, with all seven official members taking part.


    The strength of the seven was impressive, as this was what led to the guild being renowned. The guild leader was at the sixth level, whereas of the two who went to meet Lucas, the woman was a vice captain and at the fifth level. She was quite a popular figure due to both her strength and potential, as it was rumoured that she reached this level just before her twenty-fourth birthday.


    A year has gone by since then, and while her strength didn''t break through to the next level, it was reputed that her current ability was nothing like the person she was a year ago.


    The other vice captain, who was also at the Five Apertures Opening stage, was a young man Lucas hadn''t spoken to yet. The other four members had their strength split between the third and fourth levels, making them all elite figures.


    It had been over twelve hours since they departed the base station, and they had yet to reach Astranian Forest. This wasn''t that their speed was slow, but because the distance was long.


    The Astranian Forest was home to many desolate beasts that could compare to stellar refiners at the third to fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. For that reason, the base station was built a couple kilometres away. Even if one were to use a vehicle, it would take over a day to get there.


    "You guys have been here a couple of times, right? How was it? Any survival tips?"


    As this was his first time outside the city, whats more in a dangerous location, Lucas wanted to know more about the area. This was a survival tactic from his first life kicking in. Back then, Lucas had lived his early years as an orphan, which was one of the worst-case scenarios for anyone in a world governed by the rule of the strongest fists. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was only natural to research and absorb as much information about a foreign place as possible in order to increase his chances at surviving.


    The grey eyed fellow was someone Lucas got a bit familiar with as he was chatty. He was a freelancer at the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage named Ju¨¢n.


    Ju¨¢n replied him,


    "Well, the experience was definitely one of a kind. There aren''t as many desolate beasts as the rumours say on the outer ring, but deep inside is a hellhole. For instance, while there were not many, there were still a handful of desolate beasts at the third level and a few at the fourth level. Everyone of them are more skilled than their counterparts elsewhere, like here.


    If you take too long settling a fight, the noise might attract even more desolate beasts to the area. So I guess that''s a survival tip. If you need something more detailed, it depends on the species of the desolate beasts, but the Astranian Forest has all types of them."


    Lucas nodded in understanding. Just these past twelve hours, they had encountered a few desolate beasts on the way, with each differing drastically from the other in terms of both appearances and strength. There were different ways to take on different desolate beasts, as their weak points differed. Only experienced and knowledgeable freelancers and pioneers could differentiate.


    Luckily for Lucas, the system had given him the tome, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', which was an encyclopedia of different topics. One such was desolate monsters.


    "You shouldn''t think much about it. The main key to survival is being calm and cautious at all times. Once you see a sign of danger, do not hesitate and run." The second female in the group said.


    During each fight the team engaged in, Lucas would pay attention to the techniques they used as well as their fighting style. Apart from the team''s leader and vice leaders, this woman was the next strongest in the group. Her level was at the fourth level, but by using a Grade 3 vestige, she was much stronger than your average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar refiner.


    Lucas even estimated that she could hold her own against a desolate beast comparable to a fifth level stellar practitioner.


    "Well, Anna has a point on this." Ju¨¢n said with a smile.


    Lucas glanced at him and understood the situation right away. He might not be experienced in that department, but Lucas had some knowledge of it.


    The trio chatted away and eventually rested. It was currently dark, and although there were technologies to help them see in the dark, hyumans were diurnal and preferred moving around during the day. Also, the nocturnal desolate beasts were so adept at hunting in the dark that a single misstep could cost one their life.


    Hence, it was safer to move during the day, even more so as they were heading in the direction of the Astranian Forest.


    When daybreak arrived, the group was already prepared to move, and they resumed their journey. However, they had only gone a few kilometres in when the scout signalled for them to stop.


    "What''s the problem?" The leader of the team asked.


    He was a brawny fellow with red hair and a crewcut, who gave off a thick military vibe. His deep voice and thick muscles made him look formidable and scary, but he was actually an approachable figure with the alias Crimson Fang. At the sixth level of the Aperture Opening stage, the man was quite famous in the freelancer community of Baylands City.


    It was even rumoured that some big forces had once tried to recruit him, but after retiring from the army, he had instead formed his own force; the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Today, the Autumn''s Gate guild was among the top twenty freelancer squads in the city with a total force of almost fifty men.


    "I spotted tracks of a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice up ahead." The scout, who was at the third level and controlled the scouting drones on the outside, said.


    Crimson Fang as well as the other team members in the vehicle, frowned. Ever since they were closing in on the Astranian Forest, they released a couple of scouting drones to move head of their vehicle. The team''s scout was a man with sharp-eyed vision, which made it easy for him to spot some irregularities in the terrain, using the scouting drones'' vision.


    A Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was a dangerous monster that usually operated at the Astranian Forest.


    It was on par with a fifth level Aperture Opening stage practitioner, but as the desolate beasts of the Astranian Forest were on another level compared to the others, even a fifth level stellar refiner would almost have no complete confidence in taking on this creature alone unless with a powerful vestige in hand.


    Usually, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice resided in the depths of the Astranian Forest, so most freelancers who came to the location never came across it unless they went deeper in. As such, encountering one at the fringes was unheard of before.


    Crimson Fang couldn''t help but take this occurrence seriously. Powerful desolate beasts were known to be territorial, and the only reason they would abandon their operating region was either due to a lack of food or they were forced out. None of the options were good for them.


    "Keep going, but be more cautious and monitor the surroundings even tighter. Try to avoid it, but don''t go too far out of our path. Ju¨¢n, work with him as well. The rest, prepare for a possible battle. If we can''t avoid it, we have to finish the battle as quickly as possible." Crimson Fang gave his orders.


    With his strength, a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was no problem, but Crimson Fang still had to consider the possibility that there would be even stronger desolate beasts up ahead. Regardless, he had no choice for now. The pay for the mission was very high, even for them, and there was no way they would retreat without even reaching their destination.

 Chapter 31 - 31 : Blue-Gemmed Cockatrice

    It didn''t take long for the scout to calm the attention of the team again. Despite their efforts, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice had managed to locate them. It was still a few kilometres away, heading in their direction, but to monsters of its size and speed, the distance could be covered in a few dozen seconds.


    "We can only afford thirty seconds on this with a max of forty five seconds. Any longer, and chances are high, we''d get spotted by a much stronger creature." Crimson Fang said with a slight frown. Even for him, a Blue-gemmed cockatrice was a hassle unless he utilized his vestige.


    The region they were in now was a vast expanse of land that constituted a savanna. Because there weren''t many trees to act as obstructions, a battle on a large scale would easily draw attention. Typically, battles with strong, desolate beasts always drew attention.


    "What''s its power level?" Crimson Fang asked.


    Unless one was skilled at it, it was difficult to ascertain the power level of a hyuman face-to-face. The same was even more true for desolate beasts, as their refining system was different from hyumans. As such, equipment for that was made and vehicles like the sare were usually equipped with such technology.


    Ju¨¢n, who manned the cockpit alongside the scout, began to press a few buttons, following which a reading was displayed on a holographic screen before him.


    "Peak fourth level." Ju¨¢n replied at that moment.


    "So it''s a young one." Crimson Fang nodded as he recalled something.


    Usually, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice were at the fifth level, with the only exception being the immature ones. A Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was one in its adolescent stage, almost at adulthood. It wasn''t a problem for the team to handle when compared to an adult version, but the circumstances were still strange.


    Even in the worst-case scenario, such as starvation, an adolescent Blue-gemmed Cockatrice wouldn''t leave the Astranian Forest.


    "Anna, Leno, with me." instructed the lady with the blue eyes, the second vice captain of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Leno was the last official member of the team, and just like the scout, he was at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. Nonetheless, he had a Grade 3 vestige on him. Every official member of the team had at least one Grade 3 vestige, although they were of differing strengths.


    With the combination of the female vice captain, who Lucas found out to be named Lisa, Anna and Leno, a fourth level Blue-gemmed Cockatrice should be no problem. Crimson Fang didn''t have an issue with the lineup and so gave his silent permission to it.


    The trio approached the exit of the sare, and tapped on a badge located on their chest. The badge suddenly expanded and released a material that covered them like armour. The process was alluring to a craftsman like Lucas, no matter how many times he saw it.


    The armour had a few strange lines carved on it, and there was a noticeable pattern on their back and chest regions. It was a black mist [1] in colour and had a lot of handy features added to it.


    This was a high tech armour unlike anything Lucas had ever seen before. It utilised nanotechnology, which made it portable and efficient. Despite its small size in its dormant state, the material of the armour dense and durable. The weakest edition among the team members could tank a full on hit from a fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner and not leave a scratch.


    Only top freelancers could afford it, as this equipment was expensive as hell. It was no underestimation to say that it cost a dozen years of an average family of four''s spending.


    "Activating artificial gravity." Ju¨¢n said as he pressed a few buttons from the cockpit.


    In the very next second, Lucas felt a force latch on to him strongly. This force was similar to gravity but much stronger than what he had ever felt before.


    "Go." Ju¨¢n''s voice sounded as the exit door opened up.


    Whoosh.


    Due to the difference in pressure, a vacuum was made, and the oxygen in the sare was quickly sucked outside. Lucas felt a pulling force from the exit, but thanks to the artificial gravity in place, he remained fixed in the spot. Nonetheless, he was quickly losing his oxygen supply and turning pale.


    This situation didn''t last long, as Lisa and the other two had already jumped off the shuttle and the door was closed back. Oxygen was then pumped in from the reserve tanks, and within just a few seconds, everything was back to normal. The sare also dropped its speed and began to hover not too far away from the departed trio. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    On the outside, Lisa, Anna, and Leno were currently skydiving. Suddenly, the stellar matrices on their armour abruptly glowed a dim blue light, and they began to hover in mid air.


    A few seconds later, a large azure monster showed up on the horizon. It had two thick legs with claws attached to them. Its wings were like those of a dragon, and its body was like that of a serpent. But one of the most odd features of this monster was its head, which shaped like a rooster''s.


    However, with the size of this monster, its head was much larger than that of a regular rooster and looked vicious. Another odd feature were the pair of fangs hidden behind its beak, making it look both hideous and scary.


    On its head was a crown made completely out of a blue gem that looked almost like a sapphire. This was the origin of the cockatrice''s name as well as its most valuable part.


    "Caw!"


    The cockatrice spotted the trio from afar and let out a warning sound, attempting to intimidate the latter into giving up.


    Lisa ignored it and said to the duo, "Anna, you and Leno try to take it down as soon as possible. I''ll provide cover and prevent it from escaping."


    Even though it wasn''t recognized for its speed, a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice still wasn''t a simple bird. From the start, the trio couldn''t fly on their own and depended on their gear to do so, which meant that their top speed was limited to what the armour could reach. This was different and also quite slower than the cockatrice, who depended on its own skill to fly.


    Since they intended on taking it down quickly to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, they had to prevent the monster from escaping.


    Some desolate beasts were very petty and vengeful, so unless one intended to avoid them from the start, it was best to finish them off rather than give the monsters an opportunity to strike back later.


    A few seconds later, the cockatrice was now only one hundred metres away. At that moment, Lisa gave the command.


    "Now!"

 Chapter 32 - 32 : The Power Of A Vestige

    Hovering in midair, the trio took out their vestiges and prepared to battle.


    Anna had a bow that looked technical and not like a product of wood carving. The bow was metallic and made of different tiny parts linked together to make the weapon, just like a compound bow. While it still maintained the structural appearance of a typical compound bow, the crafting of this weapon was much more complex.


    Every metallic part was integral to the weapon''s efficiency and functioned a specific role, being very distinct from their traditional counterparts. Even the string wasn''t as thin as regular bows, but was a metallic string the thickness of a thumb. Instead of the usual wheels, there were instead special rails built on it.


    At a single glance, one could indeed call this a bow, but at a closer look, it was much more advanced and even different.


    The bow didn''t use physical arrows, rather, it consumed the wielder''s stellar energy to form a stellar arrow, while applying the effects of the stellar matrices and runes carved on it to the arrow. Unlike a regular bow, it even had a semi-automatic feature, meaning that as long as one had enough stellar energy, the bow could fire as fast as an assault rifle.


    The weapons Leno had were a pair of pistols, but not like the ones back on Earth. Its attacking ability was dependent on two factors; the user''s stellar energy and the rounds fired. However, the guns could still be used even without specialised rounds, as one''s stellar energy could compensate; the only difference being that its attacking power would be much weaker.


    Apart from that, Leno also had a golden staff hanging behind him. It was currently in its passive form, measuring only a metre long. Compared to the pair of pistols though, the staff''s energy level was much lower, clearly a sign that in terms of grades, it couldn''t be placed alongside the former.


    It was quite normal for freelancers to have more than one set of vestiges, as each type performed a different function and could be used a different way. Nonetheless, not everyone was financially bouyant enough to afford such.


    Most times, a freelancer would concentrate their funds into one equipment, while those who desire the path of having a backup, would have their main and auxiliary vestiges, with the latter being weaker than the former.


    This wasn''t to say that they didn''t want both to be in the same grade, but the financial resources required to not only acquire the vestiges but also maintain them, was no chicken feed.


    The duo, who were already armed, immediately headed for the cockatrice. As for Lisa, she remained on standby. Her role for the battle was to prevent the monster from escaping and also ensure that her teammates didn''t get hurt. Also, if she managed to spot a chance to deliver a heavy blow to the monster, she would take it. In summary, she was the backup for the battle.


    While they were expected to end the battle quickly, they took every opportunity as a moment to hone their skills and train. Lisa stepped out of the way to give Anna and Leno enough space as well as an opportunity to face a peak fourth level desolate beast on their own.


    To prevent the monster from escaping, Lisa had also taken out her vestige; a black streamer that was inlaid with special gems and carved with countless stellar matrices.


    Once the cockatrice got within a one hundred metres distance from them, Leno released his stellar energy and channeled it into the pistols. He took aim and at the very next second, let loose his weapon, firing multiple shots at the monster.


    *Pew-Pew-Pew*


    Aquatic blue dots with a slender shape shot out from the pistols, almost at the speed of light. The shots tore through the air, heating it immediately and striking at the cockatrice. However, a peak fourth level monster, especially one from the Astranian Forest.


    *Bang* *Bang*


    The Blue-gemmed Cockatrice gave off a light blue shimmer from its body which then solidified to form a sturdy shield in front of it. The shots from the magical pistols collided into the light shield, forming sparks with each collision yet failing to penetrate through.


    Even so, Leno was unbothered as he kept raining shots after shots down on the monster, forcing its speed to slow down as it focused on defence.


    Although each shot wasn''t backed with a rune-carved round, the pistols themselves were a Grade 3 vestige and had a special enhancement function. Through this, Leno -despite being at the third level- was capable of releasing fire power comparable to a peak third level or a beginner fourth level practitioner.


    Even for the cockatrice, this firepower, although not deadly, was still of harm to it, so it regarded the attacks with caution.


    In the meantime, Anna wasn''t just taking the spectator role as she gripped her bow and drew the string right from its nocking point while injecting her stellar energy into the vestige.


    An energy arrow began to take shape on the bow, giving off an intimidating aura that could quell ghosts.


    The cockatrice suddenly sensed something as its gaze shifted from Leno to Anna, but by then, it was too late.


    Twang.


    The string was released alongside a one chord melody, with the energy arrow darting at its target at a speed difficult to be caught by the human eye.


    *Bang*


    Unlike with Leno''s attacks, the light shield formed by the cockatrice shattered immediately the tip of the arrow made contact with it. Like a glass wall falling apart after a gunshot, it broke into shards, but the arrow was not done yet.


    The remnant energy of the strike broke through the shield and hit its target with next to no resistance. As the cockatrice wasn''t expecting such a powerful attack to be made available so soon, its guard wasn''t completely up and the arrow dug into its left wing.


    If it weren''t for the tough hides of the monster as well as its natural constitution, the arrow would have penetrated all the way until the other side.


    Lucas marveled at this scene as he could witness the difference between a fourth level and third level stellar practitioners of the Aperture Opening stage while using vestiges of the same grades. Albeit there was some slight difference in quality, both the bow and the pair of pistols were Grade 3 vestiges, but the effects they produced in the hands of their users differed due to their levels.


    While Leno found it difficult to shatter the light shield, Anna was able to do it with one shot.


    The cockatrice had now identified Anna to be a threat as it turned its horrifying gaze at her.


    Originally, it had kept a lookout for Lisa as its instincts could sense that she was the strongest. But the distance between them made it less cautious. Also, even though it had sensed Anna to be at a somewhat similar level as itself, the cockatrice was a proud and cocky monster and deigned to believe that a creature much smaller than it could pose a significant threat to it.


    Leno''s shots being unable to penetrate its light shield gave this conclusion more grounds of being a fact, and so, it didn''t put up much caution against them.


    There was also the fact that this Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was an adolescent and probably didn''t have much, or even, any experience dealing with hyumans so it underestimated the group.


    Being injured by creatures it considered lesser, the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice didn''t get scared or consider a retreat. Rather, it flared up with anger, spreading its wings wide as it cawed at the duo. Its menacing eyes glared red as its fangs glistened with its mouth wide open.


    *Vroom*


    A blue beam of light exited from the mouth of the formidable creature, blasting its way forward towards Anna.


    Anna had already expected such a counter attack as the information regarding the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was already publicised amongst the freelancers. In fact, to minimise fatality rates, information regarding many desolate beasts was either open to the public as general knowledge or sold by Pioneers.


    Very rarely would one die at the hands of a desolate beast in the Wastelands unless they were uninformed, inexperienced, or facing a much stronger desolate beast.


    The blue pulverizing ray was a common attack method of a Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, apart from its physical attacks with its claws, beak or tail.


    Anna''s battlesuit surged with an intense intense blue light and a low hum, as she hurriedly dodged the beam.


    Meanwhile, Lisa flung her streamer with at the beam, effectively blocking it with the vestige and forcing the attack to dissipate. This was to prevent the pulverizing ray from causing a commotion elsewhere and attracting the attention of other desolate beasts towards their location.


    Right after that, Lisa controlled the streamer to extend around the battle zone, forming a circle around the three combatants.


    The radius of the circle was quite large and the cockatrice was in an enraged mode, having its attention on Leno and Anna alone, so it failed to notice this stealthy action.


    Meanwhile, Leno kept firing shots at the monster, and while the damage dealt to the cockatrice wasn''t much, it did succeed in drawing its aggro towards him. When the situation looked deadly or when she spotted a chance, Anna would shoot her energy arrows at the monster.


    In this fashion, the duo kept the cockatrice busy, but this time, Anna''s arrows didn''t always hit the target as the cockatrice relied on its natural airborne talent to dodge the attacks. Even for the attacks it felt difficult to handle, it would clash head-on with them using its claws that glowed silver right before each collision.


    When Lisa''s vestige, the black streamer, formed a complete circle, the gems on it lit up and the light extended to envelope the markings of the stellar matrices. When all the matrices were lit up, Lisa then muttered a word.


    "Seal."


    A strange wave was released from the black streamer, encompassing the battlefield and forming an invisible sphere over it. Inside the sphere were the trio: the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, Anna and Leno.


    At this moment, the monster felt a shiver and immediately awoke from its enraged state, but it was all too late.


    "Bury." Lisa said with a solemn voice, like a monarch declaring an indelible command.


    In the very next second, something incredible took place. The stellar matrices ''separated'' from the streamer and turned into seven large black and red magic circles, encompassing a much larger height than the streamer.


    At the centre of each magic circle, a bolt of pure energy began to form, turning into magnificent weapons that suffused with the scent of death. In the eyes of the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, fear appeared with a trace of anxiety as the creature dashed towards the opposite direction of the duo, ignoring them and fleeing for its life.


    However, the cockatrice didn''t get far away as it crashed into an invisible barrier that forced it back. Even though it was injured from that experience, it didn''t relent as it charged once more and clawed at the barrier. But all its efforts were for naught as the monster feared by many, was incapable of passing through the barrier. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It only managed to keep attacking for two seconds before the bolts of deadly energy took aim and fired right away.


    *Boom*


    All seven bolts, despite the distance between them, reached the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice all at the same time and exploded into a terrifying surge of energy. The attack was so powerful that even the invisible barrier materialized by the streamer failed to remain standing, dissipating alongside the creature.


    In that moment, Lucas was in awe. Even though he has seen much more powerful and stronger attacks and weapons in his first life, if he were to consider the level and strength of an Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioner, being able to produce such a formidable attack was very much impressive.

 Chapter 33 - 33 : Assassins?

    When humans first began to explore the far reaches of space, they came to the conclusion that their bodies lacked the innate ability to manipulate stellar energy and survive in the vast expanses of space. The issue of the latter could have been solved by developing special suits, but the former was a drastic disadvantage, so much so that it was termed a disability for the entire race.


    Humans then became a naturally disabled race, a title they felt humiliated by.


    After years of research, the first generation of hyumans: an advanced species that could not only manipulate stellar energy but could also live in special regions that humans would find uninhabitable.


    However, the impairment of their genetic constitution was but one of the problems the human race faced at the time. The inadequacy of their weapons to compete with that of alien species was a flaw in their society; one so bad that the leaders at the time felt it was on the same level as their genetic impairment. The creation of hyumankin seemed to point at a solution to this.


    Relying on their newly gained abilities thanks to their advancement on a genetic level, hyumans began researching a way to imbue their weapons with stellar energy, raising its destructive prowess up by a few levels. In time, which was accompanied by intense research and progress, the first generation of vestige-smiths were born.


    Vestige-smiths were talented geniuses with a high stellar energy manipulation ability, who dedicated themselves to the art of crafting stellar energy-based technologies known as vestiges. They differed greatly from the occupation of engineers and blacksmiths, but were somewhat similar.


    If one were to describe a vestige-smith in a simple description, you could say that they were the combination of an engineer, a blacksmith and a scribe, an occupation from Lucas'' first life that focused on storing spells inside scrolls by drawing magical runes on them.


    But at the same time, vestige-smiths weren''t just a simple combination of all these occupations; otherwise, a blacksmith could just learn engineering and memorise a few runes, then inscribe them on his product, and voila, a vestige.


    The truth was as simple as the description, yet not. It was for this reason that the professions of engineers and blacksmiths were separated from vestige-smiths. To be able to attain the latter title, one would need not only knowledge of the former two occupations but also to be extremely talented and naturally blessed.


    The blessing here simply refers to having a high m(o)DNA concentration and an exquisite ability to manipulate stellar energy to the atomic level and even further below; something even a Guardian¡ªa being at the peak of a planet and referred to as its ruler¡ªmight not be able to achieve.


    All these requirements gave birth to a profession that defined the next few generations of humanity and the hyumankin.


    Looking at the dead body of the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, which was taken down without a hitch by a vestige, albeit one under the control of a fifth level Apertures Opening stage freelancer, Lucas began to look forward to the extent of power a vestige-smith could realise through their creations.


    In his first life, there was an equivalent profession known as a magic weapon craftsman. However, these craftsmen were more of blacksmiths with some knowledge on inscribing runes. Compared to vestige-smiths, it was like a bicycle maker to an automobile engineering company; the difference was vast. Their creations weren''t on the same level of power.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t an average magic weapon craftsman, as he was among the top three in his world. He had also transmigrated to Earth, where he broadened his perspective and absorbed a lot of theoretical knowledge, exactly the same as those in this new world. As such, Lucas was confident that he could compete with the top vestige-smiths in time.


    ''One day, I''ll make a killing weapon like that.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the streamer that returned to Lisa''s side.


    At this moment, the trio were slowly returning to the sare shuttle, yet seemed to be bickering about something. It was only when they had gotten into the vehicle that Lucas realised that Lisa was actually reprimanding the duo on their actions. In her opinion, they used the wrong strategy and could not finish off the monster in time, forcing her to then step in.


    The team continued on their way and didn''t experience a strange event of a native monster abandoning its habitat as with before. This began to make them think that the situation with the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice was different and unique.


    Eventually, it took a few more hours until they had arrived just a few kilometres away from the Astranian Forest. As it was getting dark, the team captain was against entering at that time and instead decided to go in the next day. He was the only one with a handful of experience with the Astranian Forest, as well as being the team leader, so it was natural that everyone else went with his decision.


    They landed the sare and set up camp around twelve kilometres away from the forest. The distance might seem like much, but to a desolate beast of the middle levels, it wasn''t. Nonetheless, it was an appropriate distance that would offer the team enough time to assemble their formation or retreat, depending on the strength of their assailant.


    A while after they had set up camp, the team leader walked towards Lucas and sat beside him.


    "Hey." The middle-aged man smiled.


    Lucas was confused but nodded back in greeting while trying not to seem impolite.


    "I''ll get straight to the point." The middle-aged man said.


    "Did you offend anybody?"


    Lucas was surprised and immediately became suspicious, wondering what the man''s intention was.


    As if he sensed this, the man continued.


    "I''ve noticed that we were being trailed by someone. Their strength is lower than my team''s, so I doubt they''re after us. Our enemies wouldn''t be so dumb as to send weaklings to deal with us. That leaves the only possible target to be you, which is why I asked."


    Lucas now understood the man''s actions, but at the same time, he couldn''t help but be worried. It seemed that someone was keeping an eye on him, even after he left the West Wing district. What''s more, this was the Wastelands'' Astranian Forest region.


    If anything were to happen to him here, it would be easy to make it look like a monster assault and not a planned murder, so the city-state government wouldn''t even be able to avenge him. If it hadn''t been for this middle-aged man warning him, Lucas would have been at great risk.


    "Why are you telling me this?" Lucas asked with a slight confusion. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Naturally, it''s because you''re our client. Until the mission is complete, your safety is in our hands. However, I''d like to clarify one point: even if the enemy is much weaker than us, we can''t interfere too much in this. At best, we can grant you secure passage into the forest and delay them from finding you for a while, but after that, we can''t do much.


    This is because of an unwritten rule in the freelancer community, so unless we''re specifically being hired to ensure your safety throughout, it would be impossible for us to neutralise your trackers."


    Although he didn''t entirely understand, Lucas nodded at the response. The freelancer profession was based on accepting missions and completing them for a designated fee. However, there were situations where two missions could clash. In such situations, the freelancers involved were expected to act professionally.


    For instance, if one was hired to find a rare special material and another freelancer was hired to do the same, the two would have to compete professionally. If one of them found it, the other wasn''t allowed to attack him for the package, as that would draw the ire of other freelancers.


    Such an unofficial rule was put in practice by the top freelancers and guilds, over time becoming common knowledge in the community. This rule helped to maintain a certain sense of formality as well as safety to the community.


    In this case, someone was tracking Lucas and might have even been sent to deal with him. However, the Autumn''s Gate guild couldn''t interfere in this as their relationship with Lucas was merely limited to a single mission of them having to escort him safely into the Astranian Forest. As for what happens after he gets there, it was none of their business.


    This met that as long as the trackers didn''t make a move on Lucas until he arrived at the Astranian Forest, the Autumn''s Gate guild could not interfere. Coming out to warn Lucas of a possible threat in the shadows was already a warm gesture by the team leader. Having even offered to delay the trackers said a lot about the middle-aged man''s personality.


    "Thank you." Lucas said as he bowed slightly at the man.


    "There''s nothing to thank me for here. I just wanted to let you know to prevent any problems from my side. It would be bad on our reviews if this trip of ours ended on a bad note." The middle-aged man chuckled before standing up and taking his leave.


    As for Lucas, he began to brainstorm a solution as the protection offered by the Autumn''s Gate guild would come to an end the next day.

 Chapter 34 - 34 : Departure

    In truth, the head of the Autumn''s Gate guild was slightly hoping that Lucas would commission them with a new task, which was why he said those words.


    Being a top 20 freelancer squad involuntarily meant that those who could afford their services were big corporations and rich individuals. However, these parties either had their own private force, or were in an alliance with another top team, sponsoring them in exchange for their services.


    Even if the wealthy individual or company was looking for an independent freelancer guild for a task, there were still other top guilds, much stronger than the Autumn''s Gate guild, in the market.


    Naturally, there were the occasional wealthy merchants and so on who required their services; otherwise, they would have closed shop. Even so, the number of such missions they received in a month was still not enough in the guild leader, Crimson Fang''s eyes. He wanted his guild, the Autumn''s Gate, to become a top ten freelancer squad, and to achieve that, a lot of money was needed.


    Currently lacking sponsors, the best way for them to make that money was through missions, but they couldn''t drop down their price either.


    Although Lucas might be suspicious about the unwritten rule amongst freelancers, he could do nothing about it. The best option for him would be to draw up another contract with the Autumn''s Gate guild and have them protect him until he returns back to the base station.


    At the base station, it would be impossible for anyone to threaten him, otherwise the retaliation by the city-state''s Guild Centre would be enough to end them. Even a top 500 company of Eretre wouldn''t want to go against the city-state government.


    Unfortunately, Lucas wasn''t interested in another contract. How would they know that just this escort contract has cost him a lot? Even though Lucas could have been said to be a bit wealthy after pawning the Purple Iridium ingot, the escort mission nearly cost him 150 federal coins, and this was already cheap.


    One should recall this price was made in mind with him having only four members guarding him, of which two would be official guild members. However, he had luckily ended up with all seven official members escorting him. If Lucas were to request a new deal, he would have to consider all seven official members onboard. At that time, the price might even reach up to 500 federal coins.


    Considering his expenses from when he went shopping until now, including the fee for the escort, Lucas had only two thousand two hundred and fifty (2250) federal coins left. Spending almost a quarter of that would hurt his insides and eat him for a long time, even if it was for his safety. This was especially so since it wasn''t like Lucas was entirely out of options.


    . . .


    At the break dawn, just right when the first ray of light struck the ground, the group had already awakened and prepared to depart. Within just a few minutes, they covered the twenty kilometres distance and arrived a few hundred metres away from the Astranian Forest. This distance was nothing to the sare shuttle and one could say they had already reached their destination.


    The Astranian Forest was an astonishing vast expanse of land that could even compare with a state or prefecture in size. It was like a whole other world of its own, dominated by large greenery and massive trees towering up to twenty metres, roughly the same height as a four storey building.


    Even from the sare which was flying through the clouds, Lucas couldn''t see the entirety of the Astranian Forest. Just from this alone, he could now see why this was place meant only for freelancers with high ranks. One could only imagine how many desolate beasts were in here as well as the level of the strongest ones.


    From what Lucas knew, the Astranian Forest was merely just one of the many regions in the Wastelands. One could think of the Wastelands as a country, and the regions within it being states. The Astranian Forest was one such ''state'', and within this ''state'', there were areas the size of a city.


    Lucas'' destination, as well as the location of his mission objective, was a ''state'' known as the Cicalien Mountains.


    The escort mission was only meant to stop him within the Astranian Forest, as the cost of being escorted into the Cicalien Mountains was a lot more than he could accept. However, even though they had arrived at the Astranian Forest, the escort mission wasn''t entirely over.


    As with tradition, the Autumn''s Gate guild would drop him off a few hundred metres to one kilometre in, securing the perimeter and ensuring that nothing dangerous happened to their client.


    It was at this point that the guild leader signalled to Lucas and everyone else on the ride. Earlier on, the guild leader had already noticed the rest about the hidden party trailing them. Actually, the two vice guild leaders had sensed them, but they didn''t say a word to Lucas as it wasn''t their place to do so.


    The plan was such: the guild leader as well as one vice guild leader would drop off at a specific point and hold back the trackers. At that moment, Ju¨¢n would speed off with the sare to a destination quite far from this point where he would then drop off Lucas. The other vice guild leader was present to ensure that nothing would happen during this trip.


    As soon as Lucas was dropped off, they would move in another direction to create a fake trail and the contract would be over. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas didn''t have any problems with this plan; in fact, he couldn''t even disagree with it. From the behaviour of the team, Lucas could sense their earnestness and see how much effort they put into this when in fact, they could decide not to do so. Their contract was simply to get him into the Astranian Forest safely, and already being in the region, nothing else should have concerned them.


    But they went the extra mile, despite the fact that he was a human.


    This impressive action bred a strange emotion in him and for a second, Lucas was tempted to tip them. But when he recalled how ''poor'' he was, he eliminated that thought without any hesitation.


    "Get ready." The guild leader, Crimson Fang, said as he wore his armour.


    The vice guild leader who would accompany him was Lisa, as her vestige was very suited for hindering attackers and creating a defense. As for the other guild leader, his vestige and even fighting style, were all about offence, so he was better suited to move with the shuttle.


    Just after the group had moved three hundred metres into the forest, Crimson Fang and Lisa jumped exited the shuttle and arrived in mid air.


    Lisa unfurled her streamer and as with the battle against the Blue-gemmed Cockatrice, the streamer occupied a large area around them and formed a world of its own. At the same time, Crimson Fang abruptly pointed at multiple locations in mid air, blasting an orange ray from his finger each time he did so.


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    Explosive sounds broke out as the orange rays crashed into obstacles in midair. Once the air was cleared up, four figures were forced into the open. They were the trackers who were following the group.

 Chapter 35 - 35 : Separation

    The sare shuttle sped through the air within the Astranian Forest, but it didn''t fly above the canopy of trees. The reason for this was clear; the Astranian Forest was a very dangerous location filled with tons of deadly desolate beasts.


    Standing out would turn one into a target for the countless bloodthirsty creatures around. Under the assault of tens or even hundreds of such monsters, even a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner would die. As such, even if the defence of the sare was staunch and unbreakable, most would still not want to test it against the vicious wave of monsters.


    Inside the vehicle, the other vice captain of the squad and also vice guild leader, glanced at the screens displayed in, only taking a break away after he failed to spot any desolate beasts nearby.


    He then glanced at Lucas and noticed how the latter was calmly sitting in silence. At that moment, the vice guild leader couldn''t help but frown. S~ea??h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Truth be told, he was against Crimson Fang leading Lisa to hold back the pursuers. His justification was the unofficial rule as well as another important point; there was no reason to risk offending an unknown party all because of an ''expired'' deal.


    From his senses, the vice guild leader estimated that there were four pursuers with two of them being at the third level, one at the fourth and another at the fifth. One should know that individuals at the fifth level could be squad leaders or high-ranking members of a strong guild, just like himself.


    As for fourth level freelancers, they would be elites and still valued to some extent no matter where they were. This was because the average power level of a freelancer was between the first and third levels.


    Someone who could afford to hire these figures would definitely not be an ordinary individual or faction. Intercepting the pursuers would no doubt offend the party behind them, and this might attract unnecessary trouble for guild in the future.


    When the shuttle had reached a safe distance, they slowed down and Lucas exited the vehicle right away. The shuttle then zoomed off in a different direction. From here onwards, the deal with the Autumn''s Gate guild had ended and Lucas was on his own.


    Lucas didn''t look worried, even after this reality had dawned on him. On the contrary, he made his move, heading towards a different direction that led to the Cicalien Mountains. As was mentioned before, the Astranian Forest could be considered a ''state'''' within the ''country'' called the Wastelands. As for the Cicalien Mountains, it was a ''city'' within this ''state''.


    Compared to the broad green area, the Cicalien Mountains was fraught with more danger. This was how the Astranian Forest was; every distinct region would be crawling with dangerous and powerful desolate beasts, making them more perilous than the shrub-filled zone.


    Lucas opened up his communicator and located the mountainous region to be a couple kilometres away; less than ten kilometres to be precise. This distance wasn''t much; Lucas could cover it in twenty five to thirty minutes. But with a group of pursuers right behind him, it was a risky journey. He may not even have up to thirty minutes.


    ''Looks like I''ll have to use them.'' Lucas thought as he kept on running.


    Astranian Forest was a well known danger zone, and even a simple browsing action would reveal this. Since he was aiming for here from the start, Lucas had naturally done his research previously and made proper arrangements. The arrangements were specifically for desolate beasts, but there were also some preparations he made against hyumans.


    It might come as a surprise that Lucas was looking out for any unfriendly hyuman, but if one were to recall that his first encounter upon transmigrating into this world was to almost get kidnapped, and that he was assaulted on his store within just two weeks of transmigration, then everything would make sense.


    So far, Lucas has been in this world for three weeks, but these three weeks have been filled with a handful of ''interesting'' experiences, which in turn made him more cautious.


    As Lucas was travelling through the air, he occasionally plastered a piece of paper marked with red ink, on the trunk of a tree. He did this for roughly every three hundred metres until he had plastered seven paper slips over a 2.1 kilometres distance. Each time he was nine hundred metres away from a paper slip, Lucas would change an incantation and form some hand seals.


    But the time he was nine hundred metres away from the seventh paper slip, he chanted the same incantations and former the same hand seals.


    By this time, if one were to look at the area around the first paper from an aerial point of view, they would notice that a few desolate beasts of different shapes and sizes were conglomerating towards that direction. The same held true for the other five paper slips, with only the seventh one not showing any effects yet.


    Beast attracting talisman.


    This was a special talisman made by the witches in his past life. It was the direct opposite of the ''Beast warding talisman'', a product of deserters who cultivated in True energy. The Beast attracting talisman was a weapon of war hated by many factions, and its manufacturing process was bizarre.


    It required the caster or scribe, as they were called, to use their blood and draw a rune onto a special piece of paper known as a talisman paper. The blood would be infused with mana during the inscribing process, forcefully infusing a spell into the paper, to create a talisman.


    Once the talisman was activated, the scent of the blood on the paper would be reignited and strengthened, while being forced to diffuse around the area alongside an attractive aura produced by the mana.


    However, the scent of blood as well as the attractive aura of the mana would be noticeable only to beasts and man-eating monsters.


    In summary, the beast attracting talisman was a bait for monsters. However, if done well, it could be used to create a trap. In Lucas'' case, he intended to have the beasts cover up his tracks and force the pursuers to slow down if they somehow found out the direction he moved in.


    With that done, Lucas was confident that he would have enough time to make it to the Cicalien Mountains. As for when he would have to return, Lucas would naturally use a different route.

 Chapter 36 - 36: Encountering A Desolate Beast

    The Cicalien Mountains was a vast chain of mountains connected to form a mountain range. Towering peaks of different heights spread all over the area, forming ''waves'' in the region. Home to many desolate beasts, the mountain range was a dangerous place even for a high-ranking freelancer. However, despite being dangerous, it was also home to many mineral deposits and lodes.


    A couple decades back, the Baylands city-state government had launched an exploration campaign, aimed at understanding the Wastelands more in preparation for a future beast wave that could potentially pose a significant threat to the city-state.


    This campaign wasn''t meant to eliminate the monsters in the outer region, but to understand and record the various species of desolate beasts in the Wastelands as well as to map down the entire region. If there was also any important resource stock in the Wastelands, they would think of a way to retrieve and control it. Although this campaign ended in failure, a lot of progress was made.


    At that time, the city-state government had discovered the Astranian Forest and located the Cicalien Mountains deep inside. As the campaign was an exploratory study, they had special equipment for discovering valuable minerals. Under the investigation of their scientists, the team found out that the Cicalien Mountains had a special ore, Keton, deposit on one of the mountains.


    Keton was a metallic material which wasn''t expensive and could be said to be common. However, it was very vital to various industries. It was an important component for manufacturing certain hover vehicles and furniture.


    Logically, the city-state government should have built a mine on the deposit and began operations.


    But after considering the expenses for the project: which not only included construction of the mine, but transportation of both construction materials, ores and workers, protection of the cargo and workers, the setting up of a base, as well the payment of workers which would have to be high as they would be working in a perilous area, which they then compared to the value of the metal ore, the city-state government came to the conclusion that the excavation was not worth it and abandoned the idea.


    Some powerful industries and companies came to find out about the mine, but for the same reason, they also gave up on it.


    As for individuals, any one of them who could make it to the Cicalien Mountains was definitely a strong character, and someone like that wouldn''t stress themselves with a tiring task such as mining. Also, they would be able to make more off killing desolate beasts than mining for the ore and having to travel into the city to sell it, an endeavour which was clearly time-consuming and expensive.


    This led to the special situation where everyone knew that the Cicalien Mountains had ore deposits, but no one could retrieve it. It was like a pie in the sky.


    The metal Lucas was looking for wasn''t some cheap metal like Keton or something similar. In fact, it wasn''t even among the discovered ore deposits. On the contrary, it was a mineral deposit hidden inside the mountain. Unlike the discovered mine, this one was filled to the brim with a valuable metal called Violent Sun ores.


    Due to the presence of a special element around the Violent Sun ore deposit, a natural electromagnetic field was formed, invisible to the eyes. This EM field had jammed the equipment used by the exploration team and other groups, and this led to the deposit remaining untouched for decades. Luckily for Lucas, this wasn''t a problem as he had the system to aid him.


    The system had verified its existence, but the task of finding it was left to him.


    . . .


    Once he was in front of the Cicalien Mountains, Lucas was greeted by the impressive sight of a marvelous mountain range. After admiring it for a bit, Lucas made his way into the Cicalien Mountains, making sure that he proceeded towards the northwest direction.


    According to the instructions from the system, there was an average-looking mountain amongst the rest but located deep in. Hidden within this mountain was the target for his mission.


    Just five minutes after Lucas had appeared within the Cicalien Mountains, he noticed a strange silhouette less than one hundred metres ahead.


    Without any hesitation, Lucas immediately concealed his aura and breathing, and came to a stop as he studied the silhouette in front of him.


    It was a creature that looked like a mole yet was much larger than that. It was four metres tall when standing on its hind legs and had a pair of special hands equipped with claws on them which aided it in digging through the mountain floor. It had a long snout and its huge body was covered in intense brown-green fur that was as thin and sharp as needles.


    Its long snout was coloured green, but of a darker hue.


    At the moment, the monster was nibbling on some gnawed out rocks, seemingly having a look of bliss on its face.


    ''The Green-Snout Metal mole '' Lucas thought as he stared at the monster. He then began to revisit the knowledge regarding the monster in his head.


    The Green-Snout Metal mole was a special kind of desolate beast limited to the Cicalien Mountains and any other zones with metal ore deposits. It had fur as tough as metal, which was threatening to attackers and predators. Its terrifying arms also packed a punch so powerful that it could crush a boulder with one hit.


    Above of all, the claws of the Green-Snout Metal mole was its most dangerous weapon, capable of cutting through refined steel with ease. It was thanks to this that it could dig deep into the ground and excavate metals.


    The Green-Snout Metal mole was a monster with a capable defense, offense and stamina. Its only known weakness was its speed and vision, which were nothing impressive. However, it seemed to compensate in that department by possessing a long range attack option; it could fire some of its sharp needle fur at the target.


    Generally, a Green-Snout Metal mole was at the very least a third level beast, but most times, the majority would be on the fourth level. If one were unlucky, they would stumble upon a fifth level Green-Snout Metal mole.


    Luckily, Lucas didn''t encounter such a special situation. Even more so, this Green-Snout Metal mole was at the third level, the weakest of its kind. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 37 - 37 : Sneaking Away

    The Green-Snout Metal mole joyfully feasted on a huge rock that lay in front of it. Within the rock were metallic black pieces, which were a special metal that was quite common. Despite that, the desolate beasts behaved as if this was the best meal it had ever had in its life.


    One could only feel pity for it, as it was clear that the beast was ostracized by its kind to the point that a common metal could arouse such satisfaction from it.


    The desolate beasts community, even for the social ones, was one in the form of a pyramid. Those at the top would enjoy all the resources, while those at the bottom would almost have to cater for themselves. It operated by the rule of the strongest fist reigns supreme¡ªa dog-eat-dog world.


    However, none of this concerned Lucas. His plan was to move ahead while escaping the senses of the Green-Snout Metal mole. As for killing it? Was that even possible?


    The current Lucas, despite all the physical training he did in his spare time, was only on par with a Body Strengthening stage practitioner at the Bones refining step. Even when paired with his signature gloves and a Grade 3 vestige, he could only compare to a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner in terms of power alone.


    As for physical abilities like movement speed and reaction speed, Lucas still wasn''t there.


    In other words, even in his strongest form, a third level Green-Snout Metal mole was beyond him. If he were to face it, Lucas might die without even knowing how.


    There was the option to escape and go elsewhere, but he didn''t fancy that. The reason was quite simple. The Cicalien Mountains was very big and as previously mentioned, on par with a city. It would take a very long time to search every high and low for the Violent Sun ores.


    If one were to consider the roaming desolate beasts and other risks within, heaven knows how long it would take and whether Lucas could live through it all.


    But the presence of the Green-Snout Metal mole changed it all.


    Green-Snout Metal moles typically loved underground and loved to feast on metals; the more precious and powerful the metal was, the greater their desire or gluttony for it. Also, they were social desolate beasts and lived in a pack known as a labour [1]. In a labour, there would be at least an average of one hundred and fifty (150) to two hundred (200) Green-Snout Metal moles.


    With such numbers, it was easy for them to cover a large part of the outer region of the Cicalien Mountains.


    Lucas intended on sneaking into the moles'' tunnels and using them to explore the outer region of the mountain range. If there was any Violent Sun ore lode in the outer region, there was a ninety percent (90%) chance that the moles had found it. As long as he followed the explored path of the moles, Lucas would definitely find the lode.


    From his position, he could see that there was a hole a few metres away from the Green-Snout Metal mole, which was most likely dug by it. As long as he followed the hole, he would be able to trace it back to their burrow. The problem, however, lay in not only getting past the beast, but also sneakily entering the hole and exploring the burrow while remaining hidden.


    For this, Lucas pulled out a couple of talisman. He had made proper preparations before coming here. As for how he made the talismans, it was through using a secret technique from his past life. The talismans required mystical energy[2] to be activated and without being a stellar refiner, Lucas couldn''t pull it off.


    But he was a grandmaster blacksmith and also talented at drawing magical runes, so it was only natural for Lucas to know a few strange methods of manipulating mystical energy without having refined it himself.


    However, such methods were limited and difficult to utilise in battle; otherwise, Lucas'' fighting strength would have been raised by at least one level.


    Of the three talismans he pulled out, one of them was an aura erasing talisman, meant to eliminate his scent as well as seal his aura and heat within himself. Green-Snout Metal moles, due to living most of their lives underground, had bad vision. But to compensate for that, they had evolved to possess infrared vision, which helped them track down predators and live prey.


    Apart from metals, these moles occasionally ate smaller desolate beasts or creatures for their source of protein.


    The second talisman was a cooling talisman. This was to counter the adverse effect of having his body''s heat completely sealed inside of himself. At the same time, it could help Lucas outer body''s temperature match that of the underground environment since, typically speaking, the underground was colder than the surface. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The third talisman was an invisibility talisman. Compared to the others, this was much more difficult for Lucas to make. The complexities were well above-average and, logically, should have been impossible for someone without mystical, but Lucas managed to pull it off thanks to his experience. However, he could only make two of them.


    With all three talismans hanging on him, Lucas browsed through his system inventory and withdrew a pair of boots from his inventory.


    After the system had upgraded, following the opening of the store, Lucas could now store foreign objects -which were items not provided by the system- inside the inventory.


    The pair of boots were purchased the day before he left, and he modified them right after, improving their ability. The boots were meant to reduce the sound of one''s footsteps to the point that it was almost negligible. However, after trying it out, Lucas found out that the advertisement was deceitful, and so he made appropriate changes to it.


    Now, the boot could mitigate the force one used when walking, even distributing it in such a fashion that the noise generated was truly negligible. He also added cushions, which helped to reduce the sound.


    After changing his shoes to the new pair of boots and storing them in the inventory, Lucas prepared to take action.

 Chapter 38 - 38: Exploring The Underground Burrow

    When Lucas had made each talisman, he did so in good faith that they would work as simulated. As he was residing within the West Wing district, there was no means of testing any of his creations.


    For a talisman like the beast attracting, testing wasn''t exactly necessary. It was already well known that desolate beasts were attracted to the scent of blood, and most of them wouldn''t mind having a bite of human flesh. All this increased the odds of the talisman working out, and the only problem was simply the range the scent and aura radiated by the talisman could cover.


    A talisman like the aura-erasing was also not difficult to test out. With the current advancements in technology, infrared cameras sold for peanuts. There were also cameras equipped with scent-identifying capabilities. Gas detectors were already a thing back on Earth, so for an advanced civilisation like this, a scent-identifying camera wasn''t out of the ordinary.


    However, even with all of this, there was no assurance that Lucas could hide away from the Green-Snout Metal mole''s senses. He had no knowledge of its extent, and for technology capable of perfectly mimicking the creature, Lucas couldn''t afford them. Hence, his products were made using experimental data from his past life.


    To decrease the chances of getting detected, Lucas needed a distraction.


    Lucas retreated away from the monster and arrived at a different location. Here, he took out a talisman which turned out to be a beast attracting talisman. However, he didn''t just activate it. An average beast attracting talisman might work against any carnivorous or bloodthirsty desolate beast, but the major food of the Green-Snout Metal mole was metals.


    As such, Lucas had to make some small changes to the talisman.


    Lucas withdrew a slab of some slightly precious soft metal and chopped off a piece from it. He then crushed it and sprinkled the dust on the centre of the talisman while chanting some mysterious words. By doing this, the talisman would absorb the essence of the metal and attach it to itself. This was seen right away as part of the metal dust was clearly being absorbed by the talisman.


    By doing this, once the talisman was activated, it would no longer simply possess the aura and scent of blood, but also the metal used. Lucas didn''t consider using the Purple Iridium metal or Red Iris stone even if it was just a slight piece, because the value was way too much to be used as bait.


    Also, any metal would do and while the aforementioned two would be more effective, there was no difference between 100% and 300% in this scenario. As long as he could draw the beast away, it didn''t matter.


    After all the arrangements were done, Lucas stepped away and returned to his previous hiding spot from which he then activated the talisman and waited. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It took only two minutes for the Green-Snout Metal mole that was gnawing in a few metal pieces to begin sniffing its nose and turning in the direction of the talisman. A gluttonous gaze appeared on its face as it stated tightly in that direction. The beast seemed to hesitate a bit for whatever reason, but it couldn''t hold onto reason again as it stood up and immediately dashed towards the talisman.


    ''Now.''


    Once the Green-Snout Metal mole was away, Lucas activated all three talismans hanging from his body and dashed towards the hole in front. Although the Green-Snout Metal mole was quite fast as it was a third level monster, Lucas was still able to cover the hundred metres gap in time and dive into the hole.


    Inside the whole was dark with a cold breeze blowing through it at the moment. Lucas ignored all of this as he kept sliding his way deeper into the hole. By now, the Green-Snout Metal mole should have found out that there was no delicacy and would return back to its meal.


    If it were a bit cautious, it would check the tunnel, so Lucas had to make sure he had gone far enough to be safe from such a possibility.


    The tunnel was long and wide unlike what Lucas had expected. The structure was stable enough to have two Green-Snout Metal moles pass by side by side. When he had gone down for about fifty metres or so, Lucas finally landed on a horizontal surface. Thanks to the special shoes, he barely made a sound when doing so.


    The tunnel was so dark that one could barely see their fingers the further they went in. It was only thanks to the lighting from the exit point fifty metres above that Lucas could see the area five metres ahead of him. However, if he wanted to explore the burrow, he would need to be able to see past this distance. Luckily, Lucas had predicted such a scenario.


    Mineral lodes were synonymous with underground terrain and cave networks, so Lucas had considered the possibility of low lighting when he made his preparations. However, as the Cicalien Mountains was a danger-filled zone, using something like a flashlight would be a bad idea. Flashlights, however, were not the only solution. Even on Earth, there were night vision goggles and infrared glasses.


    Lucas had purchased a special goggle equipped with night vision and infrared capabilities from the base station.


    As the zone fashioned to accommodate freelancers, equipment such as this was very easy to find anywhere, including at the Guild Centre building.


    Armed with the goggles for sight, Lucas began venturing in deeper into the tunnel in a cautious format, least he attracts unwanted attention.


    At first, the tunnel was quite simplistic, despite being wide, was just a single underground corridor that led forward for up to three hundred metres. But when Lucas approached the three hundred metres point, he encountered a junction that had three paths ahead of him, all in different directions.


    Taking the wrong road would not only cost him time, but might even place Lucas at risk, so he had to consider his options carefully. At one point Lucas had even tried to question the system for help, but it was of no use. In the end, he settled for the path on the right as based on his investigation, was the most frequented path of the three.


    The reason why Lucas picked based on such a premise was because the Green-Snout Metal mole would have to regularly return to its home after scavenging for metals or monitoring the area. For that reason, the road which led to its home would be the most used of the three.

 Chapter 39 - 39: Astonishing Discovery

    Lucas followed the tunnel by the right, which took him through multiple turns, making him feel as if he was in a maze. Sometimes, the tunnel would make a turn to the right and then to the left. Sometimes, it would lead downwards or even upwards, forcing Lucas to rely on his physical abilities and make the climb. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There were even times when he would come across a junction, and relying on the previous method, Lucas would make a decision and pick a road. In summary, the journey was an ''adventurous'' one that Lucas never really expected.


    It wasn''t until after an hour of exploration that Lucas finally sensed some movement ahead. Relying on his strong senses and spiritual soul, Lucas could feel the movements of two creatures at the turn a few metres away. Although the talismans were still active, Lucas put more effort into maintaining his camouflage as he reduced his speed and even slowed down his breathing.


    When he got to the turn, Lucas peaked at the other side and spotted two Green-Snout Metal moles much bigger than the one above ground. Even the aura they radiated was a lot more ferocious, showing that these two were no strangers to murder, albeit he couldn''t be sure whether their targets were hyumans or other desolate beasts, but the latter was more likely.


    Not only were they larger, but they were also talked, and their fur was also losing its green colour and tilting towards brown. It was clear that compared to the first Green-Snout Metal mole he met, these ones were stronger by a factor. They were most likely at the fourth level, as this was the mainstream strength of most Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Lucas ''glued'' his body close to the walls and lowered his breathing speed by another factor as he scanned the two and waited for an opportunity to proceed. The two beasts weren''t guarding the road but had simply met each other and decided to offer a ''greeting''. Green-Snout Metal moles were social creatures, so this action of theirs wasn''t out of the ordinary.


    After a few seconds, the two monsters went their separate routes with one heading deeper into the tunnel and another moving towards the direction Lucas was coming from.


    Immediately, Lucas didn''t hesitate to remain absolutely still. He even held his breath right away, fearing that the slightest of actions would attract the attention of the beast. Fortunately, the fourth level Green-Snout Metal mole failed to notice anything and continued on its way.


    As the tunnel was large enough for two to walk by, there was enough space for Lucas to avoid coming in contact with it.


    Once the desolate beast went by, Lucas waited long enough to feel confident that the smallest movement wouldn''t attract it. From then on, it seemed as if he had closed in on the main burrow of the labour of moles as every couple of minutes, Lucas would be forced to remain still and hold.his breath, as he hid from the Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Accompanied with this was a problem; Lucas couldn''t use his previous method to choose a route amongst a group of paths. There was one junction wtih four paths, all of which had been frequented a lot. When Lucas investigated, he noticed that there was almost no difference in the amount of times the moles had passed by, based on the footsteps and evenness of the ground.


    In the end, Lucas randomly decided on a path and proceeded forward.


    After a while, he appeared in a large open cave with dozens of tunnels leading in different directions. The tunnels were so much that it was estimated to be almost one hundred of them. Lucas was stunned by the sight, even more so scared as a few metres below, at the centre of the cavern, there were tens of Green-Snout Metal moles moving about, all at the fourth level.


    Occasionally, there would be one or two exiting a tunnel and heading into another. This led to a realisation that he had finally appeared in the main network of the Green-Snout Metal moles'' burrow.


    As long as Lucas went in the right direction, he would find the Violent Sun ores. However, if he didn''t, he would have wasted his time. What''s more, he might end up unlucky and get spotted by a Green-Snout Metal mole. Once that happens, death would be the only outcome for him.


    ''Come on. Think.'' Lucas froze on the spot and stared at the various tunnels, trying to differentiate between them and find his target.


    The traffic in the cavern was much, and so, it was difficult to scan every single mole and reach a conclusion from there.


    It was a good thing that the tunnel he was in barely had many users amongst the mole horde below him. This gave Lucas some breathing space to run various calculations in an attempt to choose the best possible route.


    Thirty seconds later, Lucas noticed a Green-Snout Metal mole leaving a tunnel with something in its mouth. There was a yellow object within its mouth. The object was so large that a part of it protruded out from the mole''s mouth, preventing it from closing the pair of jaws.


    Lucas stared at the mole and watched as it exited one tunnel and entered into another. He then waited for less than a minute and noticed another mole carrying a similar material from the same tunnel but heading into a different one. Another mole also left the same tunnel but ended up going in the same direction as the first one.


    It was then that a thought appeared in Lucas'' head. Some of these tunnels were entrances to various mines while others led to storage houses or even the private residence of the moles.


    For example, after spending ten minutes watching the desolate beasts, the route of the first mole was followed by a few other moles, all carrying the same yellow object in their mouths. There were a few, however, who exited the same tunnel but went in a different direction.


    To completely understand the paths of the beasts, Lucas maintained his stealth mode and spent an entire hour monitoring as many Green-Snout Metal moles as possible. The talismans would all last for at least six hours. Not more than three hours had gone by since he activated them, so spending an hour to increase his odds was no problem.


    At the end of the one hour duration, Lucas finally had a basic understanding of the cavern and its tunnels. Relying on his knowledge of metals from both self-study and information from the tome, ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', he had also managed to identify the majority of minerals being miner by the Green-Snout Metal moles.


    Every one of them was valuable to some extent, and Lucas had even managed to spot two to three rare metals.


    It should be known that during the exploration campaign decades back, the Baylands city-state military had found a few lodes and deposits of various metals and minerals. However, after checking the value and estimating the size of such deposits, they reached the conclusion that it wasn''t profitable to establish a mine in the region.


    The investigation at that time wasn''t publicised, but news of it had spread to some extent, and so the freelancer community roughly knew the number of mineral deposits found in the Cicalien Mountains. There were seven such; two medium-sized ones, four small ones, and only one large lode. The classification was based on the estimations of the amount of minerals and metals in each deposit.


    Of the seven deposits, only one small one had rare minerals, but said metal wasn''t so rare as there was a supply point just north of Baylands City. The remaining six lodes were all filled with common metals and minerals.


    However, from his one hour stay here, Lucas found the truth to be more than just that.

 Chapter 40 - 40 : Discovered

    The Cicalien Mountains was a rocky, mountainous region, and a personal favourite of earth- and metal-type desolate beasts. It was rumoured to be filled with metal and mineral deposits, with the difference between the two being that one held metals while the other contained materials that were in a solid form but not classified as metals.


    Based on the classification of metals and minerals, there were five grades: Common grade, Special grade, Rare grade, Recherch¨¦ grade and Stellar grade.


    When the Baylands city-state government carried out the exploration campaign of the Cicalien Mountains, they discovered seven deposits. Two medium-sized ones containing metals, four small ones of which three were minerals and the last one was a metal deposit, and one large lode filled with metals, were discovered at the end of the campaign.


    The classification was based on estimations of the amount of minerals and metals in each deposit.


    Of the seven deposits, only one of the small mineral deposits had rare contents, but said mineral wasn''t exactly rare in the region as there was a supply point just north of Baylands City. The term ''rare'' was used when compared to the minerals and metals in the other six lodes, which were filled with Common grade materials, as well as their supply on the general market.


    In truth, the grade of the mineral was merely at the Special grade of materials.


    This information was open to freelancers at the Guild Centre building, and many top corporations with investments in beast hunting and mining were aware of it. But what Lucas saw in this cavern implied that the city-state military''s investigation was flawed.


    Lucas had identified a total of eleven metals and four minerals among the materials the Green-Snout Metal moles were carrying. This meant that there were fifteen metal and mineral deposits in the mountain range; a whopping eight more than the city-state military discovered and two of them were Special grade metals, on par with the one found before.


    Of the eight lodes discovered, seven were metals whilst the last one was a mineral deposit. If this news were to be leaked, the Baylands city-state government would surely consider setting up a station here.


    As long as the size of the mines was worth it -with three medium sized or above deposits and at least one of the Special grade metal deposits being a medium-sized one- they wouldn''t even hesitate to launch a new campaign in the Cicalien Mountains.


    Opening a mining area within the Cicalien Mountains was a costly endeavour. The mountain range was located in the Astranian Forest inside the Wastelands. Running a mine entailed creating a new transportation route from the mountain range to the Wastelands base station.


    Even if they intended on using Light rail trains, protection would have to be provided for those trains; otherwise, they would risk getting attacked by flying desolate beasts.


    Apart from that, the mines would also have to be protected 24/7, and the miners would need to receive an enormous wage, worker benefits, and so on, otherwise, no one would want to accept the job. The materials used to build the mines and the mining station would have to be of high quality, to resist attacks by desolate beasts.


    Even the equipment would have to be of high quality, since the rocks in the Cicalien Mountains were tougher than regular mountains.


    These problems might not seem like a lot, but every single one of them was extravagantly costly, such that, the seven mines alone were only able to break even and not secure a profit. But if there were eight additional deposits added to the mix, the story would be different.


    Even if operating expenses such as protection and employee fees increased, making a massive profit would still be very much possible.


    This was the value and attractiveness of the real Cicalien Mountains. Unfortunately, only Lucas currently knew of this, and he didn''t plan on revealing it. Instead, he wanted to monopolize this.


    The current civilisation was developed, and conflicts that would lead to death were exceedingly rare thanks to the improved security. However, there was a greater desire for resources. As such, the government tried to encourage pioneering, as they alone couldn''t provide for the masses.


    One such means, for instance, was that if one discovered a mine within the neighbouring region of a city-state, he or she could own it as long as they paid a certain amount of money as both land ownership rights and taxes to the government. This applied even to the mines in the Wastelands.


    Due to this benefit, a lot of big companies and freelancer squads would occasionally launch exploration campaigns into the depths of the Wastelands and other unexplored regions, all in a bid to discover a new resource point. Even professionals at this, known as Pioneers, would occasionally be spotted at the Wastelands base station.


    As long as Lucas went to the Guild Centre building and the City Hall to make his reports as well as file for ownership, he could gain control of the mines. But that would be for later; for now, he had better fish to fry.


    The hour of spying didn''t just enable Lucas to identify the materials being mined by the moles. It also helped him construct a plan.


    One of the seven new metals Lucas found was called Igrum steel [1] or Red-Fire iron. It was a special heat resistance metal that had above average ductility and malleability while maintaining an impressive degree of toughness. It was also a Special grade metal.


    The most important point for Lucas here was that an Igrum steel deposit had a certain chance to produce Violent Sun ores, although a very low chance.


    Nonetheless, this didn''t stop Lucas from having hope.


    The system gave him the mission to find Violent Sun ores in the Cicalien Mountains of the Wastelands, which at first seemed like a suicide mission; after all, Lucas had no powers. But prior to all of this, the system had informed Lucas that it had no intentions of killing him and that every mission assigned was done so based on his current abilities.


    Thinking in this direction, the Violent Sun ores would definitely be in the outer region of the Cicalien Mountains as this was the only place Lucas had a reasonable shot at survival; anything further in was certain death.


    It was for this reason that he had decided to use the Green-Snout Metal moles'' burrow for his exploration, as these monsters were on the weaker scale of the Cicalien Mountains monster pyramid, and they resided primarily in the outer region.


    Now, seeing that there was Igrum steel present here, Lucas was sure that the Violent Sun ores were also close by. The question was, where?


    From the actions of the Green-Snout Metal moles, it was clear that they were mining the materials and moving them over to a storage room. As such, there were two options before him at the moment: the first was to check out the moles'' storage cave as if there was any Violent Sun ores present, they would have mined it and stored it away. The second was to go to the mine and look for it himself.


    There was also a third option, which was to wait at the tunnel leading into the mine for a mole carrying the ore, and kill it. However, this option wasn''t even considered by Lucas was very obvious reasons; he was too weak.


    ''Wait. It''s been an hour already now. If there was any Violent Sun ores, I should have seen them carrying it. This means that they''ve probably not found it yet.'' Lucas thought as he stared in the direction of the mine.


    Reaching this point in his thoughts, there was now only one option left for Lucas. To go to the mines himself.


    After staking out for a few minutes, Lucas suddenly began to move towards his target; the tunnel that Green-Snout Metal miles carrying Igrum steel exited from. Lucas didn''t move hurriedly, but maintained a cautious and slow approach, ensuring that he wasn''t spotted by the moles.


    Luckily, the moles were too focused on their actions, and maybe it had to do with the fact that this was their lair, but their alertness was at its lowest.


    It didn''t take long for Lucas to reach the exit to approach the tunnel, and it only took him thirty minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, the location of the mine. This wasn''t just because the path was long, but mainly that Lucas had to proceed carefully and slowly to avoid being found. As of the moment, he had only an hour and a half left on his talismans, so he had to be quick. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Scanning around the mine, Lucas'' eyes were filled with the colour red. The light was so intense that the mine was brightened up a bit. This made Lucas even more cautious as the possibility of his stealth being compromised was much higher in here.


    All around were ores of Igrum steel mixed along with rocks and dirt. Igrum steel was a Special grade metal with a high fire attribute, which caused it to have a resplendent crimson colour. The space within the mine was higher in temperature despite the cave being very spacious with even the rocks closest to each steel being hot to the touch; a result of the attribute of Igrum steel.


    Luckily, it wasn''t at a point Lucas couldn''t handle, otherwise, he would have to retreat and make a new plan.


    Special grade materials were just as their name implied; they were very special and possessed mysterious capabilities. In the past, the classification of all materials were simply divided into two: Common and Special grades, with Common grads being materials that possessed no special attributes, and Special grades having one.


    However, with the discovery of even more powerful and unique elements amongst the Special grades and even Common grades, the material classification system had to be rebranded.


    For instance, the Purple Iridium metal Lucas had would have been termed as a Common grade metal in the past, but its toughness and strength was above most common metals. In fact, based on the new system, it was classified as a Rare grade metal, much higher than a Special grade.


    Lucas stared around, looking out for any moles, before moving deeper into the mine. Since the Green-Snout Metal moles had yet to find the Violent Sun ores, it could only mean that their mining progress was slow. There was also the possibility that there was no Violent Sun ores in this mine, but Lucas was unwilling to believe it just yet.


    ''System, can''t you provide me with some sort of help? Otherwise, how would I find what I''m looking for?'' Lucas mentally communicated with the system as he hid by the walls of the mine, in a position that was in the blind spot of the resplendent lighting of the ores.


    "The system is intended to help train the host, and not provide a solution to every difficulty." The emotionally absent voice responded in his head.


    Lucas sighed and gave up having to request help from the system after that rejection. Instead, he began browsing the memories of his first life for a solution. Within a minute, he found one.


    A technique that used one''s spiritual sense to scan an area. This was suitable for Lucas because it didn''t require the use of mystical energy, albeit using one would double the efficiency.


    By transmitting one''s spiritual senses through matter, the user could extend their senses, turning the matter into their sensory organs and probing it. In this way, whatever comes in contact with the matter appears in their spiritual vision.


    One could think of it like channeling electricity through a metal; whatever comes in contact with the metal would have a part of the electricity transmitted to it and get shocked. The concept was somewhat similar although not exactly the same.


    Lucas leaned on the wall and placed both hands on it, turning his focus onto the wall. His spiritual senses then extended into the wall and began scrutinizing every aspect of it.


    While it sounded simple, it was anything but that, and a huge amount of risk existed. If a mistake were to be made, Lucas could potentially end up crippled mentally. However, he was already experienced with such methods from his past life, and as long as he remained calm, nothing would happen to Lucas.


    Luckily, it didn''t take long for Lucas to be done as he found his target soon afterwards.

 Chapter 41 - 41: To Raid Or Not To

    When Lucas began searching the mine using the wave-style spiritual searching technique, it didn''t take him long to find the Violent Sun ores. In fact, Lucas was quite lucky. The spiritual searching technique couldn''t cover the entire mine and he had to be discreet about it.


    Lucas'' original plan was to search every area one at a time, but as fate would have it, he found the Violent Sun ores'' location just as he was checking the first area.


    Nonetheless, the ancients had a saying; that bad news comes hand-in-hand with good news and they weren''t lying about that.


    Just after he found it, Lucas realised that the ores were deep inside the walls nearby. They were at least three metres deep into the walls. This was understandable as if they were closer to the surface, the Green-Snout Metal moles would have discovered it and began mining for the metal. Even so, that would have been a better occurrence than the current situation.


    There was no way Lucas could dig five metres into the rock walls without making a sound. Once that happened, the moles would eventually spot and kill him.


    Lucas was now stuck in a conundrum. The current situation was such that it was equivalent to seeing the pie but not being able to eat it; a pie in the sky as one would say.


    "Chirp!!"


    Right when Lucas was preparing to risk it, an ear piercing squeal rang out in the entire mine from the cavern outside, almost deafening Lucas for half a second. Confused, he immediately froze on the spot and held his breath right away. The first thought that crossed his mind was that he was caught, but Lucas didn''t want to believe that as he was confident in his stealth.


    Before he could understand what had happened, the moles in the mine, numbering in the dozens, abandoned the metals they were mining and began to dash towards the exit. Lucas remained still and took all this in, wondering what had happened.


    The commotion outside got louder and despite being inside the mine, Lucas could overhear stomping sounds from the cavern. It seemed like all the moles in every funnel had been assembled to the cavern. Just from the sounds of their steps, Lucas estimated there to be almost a hundred moles, and the number was still increasing.


    Two thoughts crossed Lucas'' head as he began trying to understand the current situation. The first was that the moles were having a meeting of sorts, but the rate of gathering as well as the speed at which they moved was insane and violent.


    As for the second possibility, it was that a formidable invader had arrived in the burrows of the moles.


    Lucas was more inclined to believe the latter option as that would explain the sense of urgency amongst the moles. However, he didn''t act just yet, but waited for a couple of minutes to ensure that the moles had gone far enough.


    Once he felt that the coast was clear, Lucas went exactly at the wall he sensed the Violent Sun ores to be and extended his senses into it. This was to ascertain the exact location, depth and point the ores were.


    After a few seconds, Lucas frowned but was slightly relieved. The distance was about five metres deep. It was still within his reach.


    Pulling out a spear, Lucas gripped it with both hands before taking a stance.


    The spear was a Grade 3 vestige made with an alloy of various precious metals Lucas found in his workshop. It was also mixed with a bit of Red Iris stone, the second metal he received as a reward from the system alongside the Purple Iridium metal.


    Red Iris stone was a metal that had a stone-like appearance. It wasn''t suitable for making weapons on its own as it didn''t have a suitable malleability; it would crack upon exposure to intense hammering. However, the metal had a special quality; it was a superb conductor of mystical energy.


    By mixing Red Iris stone into the alloy of metals, Lucas was able to create a Grade 3 spear with impressive strength and mystical energy conductance. If a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner was using this spear, they could take down a second level practitioner.


    After taking in a deep breath, Lucas thrust the spear into the rocky wall with the entirety of his strength.


    *Bang!*


    The spear pierced the wall while shoving out a few rocks, however, it only managed to go less than a metre in. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas wasn''t disappointed by this strike as he had expected a similar result. The rocks were solid enough that even fourth level Green-Snout Metal moles had to take their time digging through them; otherwise these beasts might have found the Violent Sun ores long ago. If it weren''t for the Grade 3 spear in his hands, Lucas might not even be able to make a mark on it.


    However, the result of the strike spelt out a clear problem; his weakness.


    If it were a second level or even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, they would have been able to dig deeper with a Grade 3 vestige in their hands. Relying solely on his physical strength, which was even weaker than a true stellar practitioner, he would have to take more time digging through the rocks.


    Lucas resumed bombarding the walls with attacks from the spear. He didn''t bother to be careful with his actions as most of the moles were gone already, so Lucas didn''t hold back in his strikes. It eventually took him quite sometime, but Lucas managed to successfully dig out a five metres deep hole, about the width of an adult''s head.


    From the hole, Lucas could see a special ore that glowed just like the Igrum steel ores, but instead of a red glow, the rocks were orange. Their temperature was also higher than that of the Igrum steel ores.


    Although be already had a high resistance to heat, Lucas immediately wore his craftsman gloves before grabbing one of the ores. All of a sudden, a notification popped up in front of him


    [[ Violent Sun ores collection rate: 2% ]]


    A progress bar was displayed just below the line of text and Lucas understood right away. He used the spear to make the hole a bit wider before extracting as much ores as he could until the progress bar was filled. Even then, Lucas still emptied the hole before he stopped.


    ''Time to get out of here.''


    There were occasional vibrations and muffled sounds Lucas heard while mining, and he surmised them to be from the battle outside. It was getting furious and while there was no risk posed to him at the moment, Lucas felt uncomfortable remaining behind for long.


    Just as he was leaving, Lucas glanced at the Igrum steel ores left behind by the beasts. The sizes of the ores were very large after all, a beast at least two metres in height could mine and carry more than a palm-sized piece of rock. Every single ore weighed at least 100kg and was as big as a twelve year old or even more.


    Seeing these mined ores just laying on the floor, Lucas couldn''t help but feel pity that the ores would get cold and turn homeless. As such, he immediately stored them into his inventory. The system inventory was a mystical place that could store anything regardless of size, so even the hefty pieces of ore were no problem.


    Lucas gathered all of them up in his inventory and didn''t stop until he cleared the entire floor. Satisfied, he then ran towards the exit of the mine.


    There was less than an hour left on his talismans, so Lucas had to get away quickly. Although the battle would serve as a suitable distraction, it was better to be safe.


    When he arrived at the cavern from earlier, Lucas was surprised. The previous populated area was now sparse of Green-Snout Metal moles. The very few Lucas spotted, not numbering more than a couple dozen, were all dashing with gusto and fearsome appearances towards a certain tunnel, which was most likely the direction of the battle.


    ''The invader has to either be really strong or a group.'' Lucas couldn''t help but feel chilled.


    It was like playing witness to a war of species. His past life was filled with chaos and he was quite familiar with such events, but being in the presence of one with his current weak state was very worrisome to Lucas. He decided to get away quickly lest he gets caught in the crossfire.


    As Lucas took the first step out of the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine, he suddenly froze.


    A crazy thought appeared in his mind and firmly took root, refusing to disperse.


    Lucas glanced in the opposite direction of the tunnel, towards the part of the cavern that had the tunnels leading to the ''warehouses'' of the moles.


    A glint flashed through his eyes as the thought finally settled down and took shape. Lucas was ready to take a crazy gamble.

 Chapter 42 - 42 : Windfall

    In a few seconds, the cavern would be completely empty and devoid of Green-Snout Metal moles, leaving the entire place to Lucas. On the other side was a makeshift warehouse carved out by the moles to stash their mining gains.


    Without any security measures, it was all open to Lucas. It would be a lie to say that he wasn''t tempted to raid the tunnels. Actually, Lucas had already decided to do so.


    In less than a minute, the cavern was completely empty, but Lucas still didn''t make a move, waiting an extra minute just to be sure, before dashing over to the first tunnel. Based on his inspections, this tunnel had the shortest length, but the metal stored inside was important to him.


    Even with the equipment and his skills from his past lives, Lucas still couldn''t work with every metal, as the higher they were, the greater the requirement for refining them. Beyond the rank of Special grades, Lucas would need stellar energy to make a complete vestige. This was why he hadn''t created a complete vestige using the Red Iris stone or Purple Iridium metal.


    All the vestiges he made using them were produced with an alloy with a small quantity of these metals¡ªjust the right proportion he could bring under control.


    With a variety of metals before him but limited time, Lucas had to make his picks based on the metals he could work with for now.


    It took him less than two minutes to make it to the warehouse at the end of the tunnel. Inside, Lucas was greeted with a mix of stones and dull yellow metal, quite similar to gold but with a darker sheen.


    Without any hesitation, Lucas moved everything to his inventory and left the tunnel. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As he was doing so, Lucas felt that his speed was quite slow, and since the situation at the battlefield was still unclear, it would be better if he could wrap everything up fast. He took out a talisman and applied it to his body.


    Lucas called this talisman a speed boost talisman, since it increased his speed by almost a factor of two. Similar to the Invisibility talisman, it was difficult to make and he only had two of them. Lucas'' intention was to use these two talismans to escape danger and depart the Cicalien Mountains once he was done with his mission.


    But with the allure of metals before him¡ªthe love of his life¡ªLucas couldn''t resist using it to increase his progress.


    Within fifteen minutes, thanks to the speed boost talisman, Lucas managed to loot five more warehouses, leading to a total of six raided warehouses. If the Green-Snout Metal moles were to find out about this, they would surely rampage around in anger, as there were only fifteen such warehouses, and Lucas had wiped forty percent (40%) of them clean.


    It should be known that each warehouse was very big, as the individual sizes of these beasts and the size of their horde were large. The metals in these caves were supposed to serve as food supplies when things turned difficult for them. So, the size of each cave was large¡ªvery large¡ªat least enough to contain a two story building with a 100m2 area.


    You could imagine how many ores were inside one of them, much more, six caves.


    Right when Lucas was about to exit the sixth cave, he abruptly halted and froze on the spot. Even though his actions so far seemed to have been careless, Lucas was on alert all the time. There was also slightly more than twenty minutes left on the clock for the other talismans he had one. The speed boost only had five minutes left on it as each talisman lasted only fifteen minutes.


    The reason why Lucas stopped was simple; he could sense that in the cavern ahead, there were living presences. In this situation, it could only mean one of two things: a victor had been determined between the two fighting sides, or the battlefield had shifted towards the cavern.


    Lucas paid attention ahead and focused his senses, deciphering a few sounds of collision right away.


    ''They''re still fighting.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    As long as the chaos remained, escaping wouldn''t be too difficult.


    Once he arrived at the edge of the exit, Lucas glanced down and finally caught sight of the invader as well as the defenders.


    At the bottom of the cavern, there was a horde of desolate beasts gathered into two parties. The strangest thing, however, was that one of the two parties was only a single beast, facing off against the others.


    The desolate beast had the appearance of a scorpion but was a chimera version. It had two chelae [1] just like a normal scorpion, but its body was different. Unlike the wide and sturdy abdomen of a typical scorpion, it had a slender body, almost like that of a snake, but still retained the stinger of a scorpion.


    At its mouth, just after the chelicerae [2], there was a pair of jaws like a mammalian creature, with gory looking teeth.


    The chimera desolate beast was in a confrontation against the Green-Snout Metal moles. Amongst the moles was one larger than the others and more intimidating. It reached a height of at least three metres when on all fours, and seven metres when it stood on its hind legs. Its claws were terrifying and longer than the average Green-Snout Metal mole''s.


    On its head were two small poles jutting out from its head. A closer look revealed these ''poles'' to actually be bones; the mole was growing two born horns on its head.


    It was now clear who the invader was.


    Even with the distance between them, Lucas could feel the menacing aura from the two sides, albeit slightly off. The chimera''s was stronger than the leading Green-Snout Metal mole by almost one factor, however, it was outnumbered.


    Staring at the grievous injuries afflicted on both sides, Lucas finally realised what the off sensation he got from their aura was. Based on the degree of the injuries, it was evident that the two creatures were not in their best form.


    Lucas estimated the chimera to be at the sixth level or the peak of the fifth level at the very least, whilst the leading Green-Snout Metal mole was at the fifth level.


    Logically, it should have lost long ago, but Lucas guessed that the moles used tactics similar to humans, aka the human wave tactics, drowning the chimera with their numbers. Even though each individual Green-Snout Metal mole was incomparably weaker than the chimera, by relying on each other, they were able to pose a significant threat to it.


    Despite the grievous state of their injuries, the two sides were still capable of putting up an intense fight. The chimera dropped from the peak of the fifth level to the peak of the fourth level, bordering so close to the fifth level. As for the ''king'' Green-Snout Metal mole, it had dropped to the early point of the fourth level, on par with most of the other moles here.


    However, this was just in terms of stellar energy capacity, not pure strength. It still wasn''t a match for the chimera alone, but relying on its species, it was difficult to say who would eventually come out on top.


    At the moment, the normal moles were harassing the chimera on the side while the ''king'' recuperated. However, the chimera was more dangerous than predicted. It tore apart every mole that could get within its attacking range, relying on its claws and mouth. But the king was unbothered by this.


    Their battle had already lasted over thirty minutes and it was aware of the prowess of the chimera better than the other moles thought, so it knew the end result. But even then, the king didn''t give the command to stop. If it were to beat the chimera, it would have to rely on this cheap trick to do so.


    Meanwhile, as he stared at the ongoing rampaging battle, another insane thought crossed Lucas'' mind; this time even more terrifying than the last one.

 Chapter 43 - 43: No Risk, No Reward

    For the second time now, Lucas was breeding a daring idea in his head. Raiding the caves of the moles had resulted in him profiting a lot, but seeing the two mid level desolate beasts, Lucas felt it wasn''t enough. But even if he set his sights on them, there was a problem.


    The Green-Snout Metal mole king and the chimera were both heavily injured, but their aura was still on par with a fourth level and a peak fourth level stellar practitioner respectively. The battle was still far from ending, but the chimera had an advantage. If it won and managed to wipe out all the moles, no matter how weak it became, Lucas would not be of any threat to it.


    On the other hand, if the Green-Snout Metal moles won, they would still be able to handle Lucas. The weakest amongst the horde was a third level desolate beast whereas Lucas was still in the Body Strengthening stage.


    If he wanted to be the fisherman who catches both the clam and snipe [1], Lucas needed to make sure that both parties ended up dead or too weak to resist. The problem was, how?


    ''I should have spent my cash on a gun or something.'' Lucas began to regret his parsimonious behaviour.


    Vestiges used for battles were divided into two classes: cold weapons and hot weapons. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The cold weapons were the typical swords, spears, daggers and so on. The power of these vestiges heavily depended on the user. For instance, even though the spear Lucas used was a Grade 3 vestige, which was suitable for a fourth and fifth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner, he couldn''t produce enough power to compare with a fourth level practitioner.


    Hot weapons however, worked different. Just as with Leno''s pair of guns, they could be fired with one''s stellar energy or specialised rounds. For the former, the power of the weapon would depend on one''s stellar energy level, while in the latter, the attack was mostly dependent on the rounds.


    Although one''s stellar energy level still had some influence on a hot weapon, it wasn''t as much as with a cold weapon; in essence, the bar was lowered greatly.


    If Lucas had spent a lot to get a powerful cold weapon type vestige, as well as some specialised rounds, his attack power would have risen greatly. At the very least, he could maintain a steady output at the second level or even the third, if he spent more. It wouldn''t have been impossible to blast the mole king and the chimera to pieces as long as their strength dropped one more level.


    ''Hold up, blast them to pieces...''


    Lucas'' eyes brightened up. An idea just struck him.


    At this time, the dozens of Green-Snout Metal moles were attacking the chimera with the Green-Snout Metal mole king leading the assault, but Lucas wasn''t focused on that.


    Violent Sun ores.


    There was a reason why the ores were called ''Violent'' and this had to do with its explosive nature. Usually, they were in a stable state, but they could be used as explosives after going through some processing. To prevent acts of terrorism and destruction, the process was unknown to the common people, and even few freelancers knew how to pull it off.


    But this wasn''t a problem, because the Violent Sun ores reminded Lucas of something.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas was a grandmaster blacksmith and had dealt with many different types of elements. There was a certain metal which looked and behaved just like a Violent Sun ore and it was called the Explosive Sun stone.


    Just like the Violent Sun ores, the Explosive Sun stones were incredibly stable in their natural form, but they contained enough energy to set off an explosion.


    During his first life, there was a war that broke out between the Deserters -those who used True energy- and the Mages -those who used mana-. The mages resided in the south and the deserters in the north. Both sides occasionally clashed due to ideological differences, and sometimes, those minor clashes resulted in a full blown war.


    In one such war, there was a popular DIY [2] weapon which used Explosive Sun stones to create explosive devices. The process was so simplistic for a mystical energy user that even an amateur could make a bomb within fifteen to twenty minutes. Lucas was familiar with the production method and he intended to use it on the Violent Sun ores since both metals were very similar in nature.


    While Lucas lacked the mystical energy requirement, it didn''t mean that it would be impossible to make the bombs. Rather, it would be more difficult, but his experience as a grandmaster could make up for that.


    Lucas began to sneak back towards the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine. One strange yet important requirement for making the DIY explosives was the need for heat in the process. This was quite contradictory as heat and explosives did not go together, but this had to do with the nature of the Violent Sun ores/Explosive Sun stones.


    One of the major reasons the metal was able to remain stable despite having enough energy to cause an explosion was the strange effect caused by the heat generated. This was also why one needed to be a mystical energy user to make the explosives, as they could generate heat with their energy.


    On the way to the mine, Lucas was presented with another challenge. How to ensure that the explosion didn''t go out of control.


    Until the tenth level, hyumans had to utilise stellar energy directly or empower their bodies with it. They would only unlock their innate superpower at the tenth level. However, desolate beasts were different.


    Unlike hyumans, desolate beasts relied on their physiques. At the same time, they were natural existences whereas the hyumankin was a product of intense research and development by the past human race. This meant that desolate beasts would unlock their superpowers at an earlier level. It also meant that they had a much stronger physique and body than hyumans.


    For the two top desolate beasts, even if they were severely injured, they still wouldn''t die so easily if Lucas were to drop a bomb on them. The explosion has to be intense and powerful enough to penetrate their external defence, especially for the chimera which was covered in a hard carapace.


    However, if the explosion was too powerful, it could bring about the collapse of the cavern. This was of course, bad because not only would Lucas not be able to reap the benefits of his kill, but his life would be at risk once the cavern began to collapse; escaping might become a dream that he''ll never achieve.


    Nonetheless, if the explosion were too weak, it wouldn''t do the job. So on one hand, Lucas had to ensure that the explosion was strong enough to take down the two desolate beasts as well as the ''side dish''. On the other hand, it had to not blow the entire place up.


    The calculations required to pull this off was quite high, but luckily, Lucas had majored in physics and chemistry during his lifetime on Earth. He wasn''t new to calculations.


    Very soon, Lucas arrived at the mine and vegan to take action.


    Making the explosives wasn''t so difficult, requiring -apart from the physical elements- only intense focus and a stable hands.


    Lucas made a makeshift furnace by digging a hole into the wall and stacking it with Igrum steel roughly separated from the ores. He then carved specials runes on the Violent Sun ores before making a cearful cut.


    All of this occurred whilst the chimera and the mole king facing each other.


    Soon Lucas was ready.

 Chapter 44 - 44 : Hasta La Vista With A Bang

    The Green-snout metal moles didn''t hold back, even at the cost of death. There was no shred of care or caution, but simply viciousness. They charged at the chimera even if they were to get bit in half or crushed in one strike.


    Compared to earlier, the chimera had more grave injuries on its body. One of its legs was broken, while another was missing some flesh on it. Even with all these injuries, the chimera was still a terrifying beast.


    Lucas, who had already finished making the explosives, appeared by the edge of the tunnel. His talismans had all expired, and he was visible in plain sight. However, because the desolate beasts were too focused on the battle, they failed to notice him. Even if they did, they might be a bit surprised but would be unbothered by his presence, as Lucas was far from being a threat to them.


    To counter the issue of the explosives causing a cave collapse, Lucas had two reasonable options: to detonate within the desolate beasts or to control the size of the explosion.


    By detonating from within, the solid exterior of the beasts could act as a cushion and mitigate a portion of the explosion. This option, however, was laced with issues. For instance, it would damage the beasts'' body parts, rendering them almost unusable. Lucas did all this for their body parts, and if his gains turned out to be unusable, this entire plan would have been pointless.


    Also, he could only make one bomb in this time frame, and that meant only one target, which would most likely be the chimera. If the explosion was diminished so much, it would successfully kill the chimera but might only injure the Green-snout metal moles.


    As for controlling the size of the explosion, Lucas had never worked with the body parts of a desolate beast, much less any of the two species gathered here, so he couldn''t properly estimate the degree of toughness. In other words, he didn''t know how powerful he had to make the explosion to kill them.


    From this, one could see that both options had their flaws. As such, there was only one suitable choice; the third option of combining both.


    In Lucas'' right hand was a strange contraption that looked like a pipe. It was his home-made rocket launcher, created using a Grade 1 pole-type vestige he made as well as some other metal parts. For the propulsion system, Lucas had smashed a handful of Violent Sun ores alongside the Igrum steel.


    He also calculated the strength of the explosion to be close to the theoretical limit of the point where it could cause the cavern to collapse. The reason for this was to be sure that all the desolate beasts in the cavern would die, even if they were away from the centre of the explosion.


    Leaning on the ground by the exit of the tunnel, Lucas monitored the battle as he waited for a chance. Just then, he spotted one. The chimera was preoccupied with the king mole, having little attention for the weaker moles, which numbered less than twenty, a third of which were at the third level.


    One of the third level moles, knowing it was no match for the chimera but having no intentions of retreating, lunged to the back of the chimera. A third level Green-snout metal mole was about four metres in height when standing on its hind legs. There was enough atop the chimera for it to land.


    *Bang*


    The third level Green-snout metal mole brandished its claws on the chimera''s carapace, dishing attacks after attacks on it. Usually, the chimera would only feel a tingle from these strikes, as the gap between the two was vast, but this time around, things were different. Albeit still standing, the chimera had been beaten black and blue and covered with injuries.


    Its healing factor had fallen, and its energy was dropping too.


    The king mole and the other Green-snout metal moles saw the chimera falling behind with its attacks, and they all closed in on it from different angles, attacking furiously in a bid to end the battle then and there.


    Being assaulted by the mole king on one end, and having to split its attention to the other dozen Green-snout metal moles, the chimera was unable to pay much attention to the mole atop. It could only withdraw its tail from attacking a metal mole on the side and control it to go for the one atop.


    By doing so, it inadvertently left a particular spot open.


    ''Now.''


    Lucas, who had already set the rocket launcher on his shoulder and calculated the perfect trajectory, aimed his DIY weapon at the chimera''s pink spot [1], which was revealed as it stretched out its tail.


    The chimera''s fighting pattern was such that its tail attacked from an angle capable of shielding that precious chrysanthemum. But as it had to aim for the mole atop, the tail had to be fully stretched, which would in turn reveal that gap.


    "Asta la vista, or something." [2] Lucas pulled the trigger and fired the rocket.


    *Shhh*


    *Boom*


    Smoke blew out from the other end of the rocket launcher, and with a low but reverberating sound, a projectile shot out from the pole and darted towards the chimera''s pink spot.


    Lucas had built the rocket luncher and created the propulsion system to function in such a way that the projectile would make it to the target at the fastest speed possible. He performed his calculations while considering the distance of the tunnel''s exit to the opposite end at the bottom of the cavern.


    This was the farthest possible reach, and Lucas ensured that even if the target was there, his projectile would make the dash within a second.


    At the same time, there was a detonating sequence set for exactly one second. In other words, one second after the projectile entered the propulsion sequence¡ªjust as it began to exit the rocket launcher¡ªit would explode.


    This timing was made to ensure that it would explode close enough to the beast''s behind, but not inside of it. This way, the chimera would surely be killed, but its inside wouldn''t be damaged to the point of being unusable. With all the Green-snout metal moles literally hugging the chimera, Lucas was sure that they would all die.


    Even if by some absurd miracle, they lived, their injuries would be so severe that lifting a finger would be impossible.


    Lucas, though, hadn''t even bothered to check the result of his shot. The very millisecond he felt the rocket launcher lighten, he threw it aside and ran back into the depths of the tunnel with all his strength. He had even activated the second speed talisman a few minutes earlier.


    One should recall that the force of the explosion was calculated to be close to the limit of causing a cave collapse. In other words, it was so powerful that the majority of the cavern would be in flames, and part of those flames would spread into the tunnels. Standing at the entrance of the tunnel was no different from trying to turn himself into a human barbecue. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Boom*


    Lucas hadn''t even taken two steps when a loud explosion sounded behind him as the entire area brightened up. He didn''t even have enough time to curse his luck or pray for some miracle as Lucas felt the space behind him swiftly heat up. Despite that, he kept running and running to the point that his muscles were close to tearing up.


    The system had given him heat resistance, but this wasn''t flawless. As a blacksmith and a craftsman, being sensitive to the changes in heat was very important, so if he was completely resistant to it, his skill would drop. The heat resistance Lucas was blessed with could only make sure that he wouldn''t get killed or injured by any form of heat.


    However, Lucas could still feel the change in temperature, and therefore the pain, to some extent.


    But this wasn''t the problem.


    The problem was that the temperature of this explosion most likely exceeded his resistance limit, which was 2000oC (3632¡ãF). In other words, if Lucas didn''t run for his life, he might end up like an overcooked turkey.


    "Restore."


    A trenchcoat appeared on Lucas'' body and began to glisten with a dark light. Two seconds later, Lucas felt an incredible force slam into him, but the coat managed to protect him from the majority of it, although Lucas was still sent flying forward for a couple of metres.


    Lucas gritted his teeth and held his head with his arms to prevent getting a head injury from the incoming crash landing.


    *Whoosh*


    Flames engulfed him while still burning his coat, until Lucas'' silhouette was nowhere to be seen as the flames had blazed past his position. The entire walls of the tunnels turned black as they were being charred by the flames.

 Chapter 45 - 45 : Return

    Deep inside the tunnel that led to the Igrum steel mine, the charred walls had hardened intensely after being exposed to extremely high heat for a few minutes. The rocks in the walls had an impressive heat resistance level, which was why they birth Igrum steel ores. This was why it solidified rather than melting due to the high heat.


    Even after the explosion, the entire tunnel was still intensely hot, reaching at least 200¡ãC in temperature; this was enough to turn water into steam within a second.


    *Crack*


    *Bang*


    At one edge of the wall, there were a couple of stones piled. The stones were pushed from the inside, falling off and crumbling the pile as a silhouette came out from it.


    "Damn, I almost died back there. I really shouldn''t try stuff like this again."


    Lucas, whose face was covered in soot, let out a sigh of relief. He was completely naked as both the vestige he had on and his clothing could not survive the scorching flames that went beyond 1000¡ãC.


    Lucas quickly changed to one of the sets of clothing provided to him by the system''s welcome package when he has just recently been transmigrated into this word. With a light this, he then flopped to the ground to catch his breath.


    Even though the temperature of the stones were still scalding hot, he acted as if it was nothing. Lucas'' forge back in the workshop had reached temperatures much higher than this, so he wasn''t affected by the slight heat. There was also his heat resistance ability coming into play. Thanks to it, the pain of a 200¡ãC burn wasn''t even worth mentioning.


    He took off the remnants of the night vision goggles on his face and tossed it away. During the collision, the goggles had almost cost him his vision. Luckily enough, the design was made such that even if the lens were destroyed, they wouldn''t be able to harm the user.


    After breathing in a couple mouthfuls of hot air, Lucas stood up and walked towards the tunnel''s exit. There was still his gains waiting for him there. While walking, he took out a new pair of goggles from his inventory. Lucas was a cautious individual and being as weak as he was, he had to make multiple preparations and have extra sets of every important item ready just for this trip.


    It took him only a few minutes of walking to get to the exit, but when Lucas glanced outside the tunnel, he was dumbfounded.


    Although the tunnel was dark before, he could still see it with his night vision goggles, which also had the added feature of giving colour to the view. The cavern''s walls then were red-brown, a bit like wet clay or terracotta, and there were some tiny pieces of metal ores discarded by the Green-Snout metal moles stuck on them.


    However, the current cavern looked greatly different from that. Not only was it even hotter than the tunnel Lucas exited, but all its walls were covered in soot with some areas sporting cracks on them. If the explosion was any more powerful and lasted longer, the cavern might have collapsed.


    Lucas glanced downwards to the battlefield. There he saw jet black shapes and objects, some of which were half ashes and the other half still maintained an indescribable form. Of the various figures down, only two could barely be made out and they were the chimera and the Green-Snout metal mole king.


    The other metal moles were burnt to ashes, and even the leftovers that seemed to still have a form were mere shells of disguise. A simple touch and one would watch as the figures collapse into burnt ashes.


    Looking at the work of his hands, Lucas couldn''t help but feel relieved. As for pity or worry? None of that. He already knew the power of the rapid-made explosives. Back in that war, Deserters were quite difficult to kill with a regular explosive as they would simply conjure up a magical barrier.


    In order to cause enough damage to shatter the barrier while also harming the target, lots of research was put into this explosive for various metals and compounds were tested. The Explosive Sun stones/Violent Sun ores were the final pick after checking the data. Their power was unmatched when it came to potentials in explosion amongst similar materials at the same rank.


    The next hour was spent trying to scavenge whatever he could from the two corpses, following which Lucas now went looking for the exit of the burrow. But he was in no rush.


    The deal Lucas struck with the Autumn''s Gate guild was to drop him at the Astranian Forest and pick him up too. This was only natural as going back was equally dangerous as coming. The return trip would be three days after he was dropped off, and so far, only one day had gone by.


    Considering there were some individuals looking for him, it would be wise to wait just before the last 24 hours to head to the rendezvous point. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Also, the original arrangement was made without knowing that the Autumn''s Gate guild would be carrying out a mission afterwards. There was a chance that instead of after three days, the pick-up time would be longer. Although the odds were low, Lucas had to be prepared for anything.


    Luckily, Lucas had their contact info and the team would also message him twenty four hours before pickup.


    . . .


    "Any time you need a ride, just let us know alright?" Ju¨¢n said to Lucas as he separated from the crew.


    About four days had gone by since Lucas killed the chimera, the Green-Snout metal moles and the remaining metal moles with his explosives. After waiting a day, he received a message from the guild and reached the rendezvous location the following day. The return trip took two days, making the entire ''vacation'' from start to finish take six days.


    It had now been three weeks and four days since Lucas came into this world; almost a standard month, in terms of week-count [1].


    "No problem. I''ll seriously consider it." Lucas smiled.


    The trip was filled with ups and downs, but Lucas had to admit that the Autumn''s Gate guild was very professional. While they didn''t eliminate his pursuers, they did hold them back, granting Lucas enough time to escape and be free from worry for a long while.


    To ensure fairness in transactions between freelancers and others, the Guild Centre had developed a software for tracking mission progress and processing transactions. Once Lucas made the payment through the software, Autumn''s Gate guild would receive half after he was dropped off and the other half once he was brought back safely.


    This might as well be the reason why they intervened, but it was still not an easy decision to make.


    If it were any other team, they would have just stopped at dropping him off while receiving half their payment, and not involved themselves in the fight, even if it meant they wouldn''t get the other half.


    This attitude of the Autumn''s Gate guild which was contrary to many others, made Lucas had a better opinion about them and consider them a more likely option for any possible trips in the future; although Lucas wished more than anything that he wouldn''t have to be back here again.


    After saying his goodbyes, Lucas departed from the group and headed elsewhere.


    "He''s a strange person." Lisa, the female vice leader of the guild, said in a low voice as she stared at Lucas'' departing silhouette. Beside her, as well as the target of her statement was the guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild Crimson Fang.


    "Indeed. I had a feeling about that." Crimson Fang replied.


    "Is that why you decided to protect him?" Lisa glanced at him.


    "Someone, despite not even being a true stellar practitioner, decides to head into the Astranian Forest. Doesn''t that sound strange to you?"


    Lisa frowned and was about to say something, but Crimson Fang continued.


    "Even if he wanted to commit suicide, he didn''t need to pay for our services. There are other teams who would send him there for cheap. There are also other destinations he could go to and still achieve the same go. Since he asked for us, he definitely wanted his safety to be ensured. That means, he intended on coming back. However, he is still weak.


    So I wondered, what made him so confident and daring? Was it stupid ignorance, or did he really have something to rely on?"


    However, Lisa wasn''t satisfied as she countered.


    "And you decided to bet on him? But that''s not enough. We don''t even know what he was doing in there."


    "You''re right on that. But think more deeper, Lisa. What separates the Astranian Forest from the other regions?" Crimson Fang asked with a mysterious smile.


    "It''s quite big and is like a hive of different special regions. But the most notable ones are the forest area and the Cicalien Mountains. They aren''t too dangerous, yet still possess precious resources." Lisa said after some thinking.


    "Hmm," Crimson Fang nodded, before continuing in a mysterious tone, "when I shook hands with him, I felt his palms were a bit tough; tougher than normal. They reminded me of a certain friend of mine working in a particular occupation."


    Lisa widened her eyes as she knew what he was implying. This was because she had met that friend of Crimson Fang.


    "Do some more background check on him. It wouldn''t hurt to know more about our customer." Crimson Fang said before walking away.

 Chapter 46 - 46 : Ramirez’ Threat

    From the Wasteland base station to the West Wing district of Baylands city was a short thirty to thirty five minutes flight, and before he knew it, Lucas was back in the city. He didn''t waste any time, heading straight to his store, as he had been pursued just a few days ago.


    There was no saying that his assailants didn''t prepare a plan for his return, so it was best to get to the store as quickly as possible.


    When Lucas was a few metres away from the store, he noticed a silhouette waiting just a few feet away from the building. Lucas paused for a second, before proceeding calmly.


    Although he didn''t have photographic memory, Lucas had a good recalling ability, almost like an Eidetic memory [1]. The man with a hat who stood before his store was an unfamiliar figure and not a customer from the past. This made Lucas cautious, but he didn''t let down his guard or display any outward reaction.


    "And you are?" Lucas asked as he carefully stopped a few steps away from the man.


    The store''s entrance was only seven metres away, so he didn''t worry too much. His instincts told him that the man was a second level stellar practitioner of the Aperture Opening stage. Against such a figure, Lucas was confident enough to be able to cover a seven metres gap.


    "Lucas Saunters? Am I correct?" The man asked with a smile.


    "It''s not nice to not introduce yourself, you know." Lucas didn''t answer the question as he stared at the man.


    "I''m not here to start a fight, so relax. Rather, I''m here to strike a deal with you."


    The man then pinched the ring on his left ring finger as a screen was projected from it.


    Lucas glanced briefly at the ring, which was apparently a communicator like his but shaped like a ring, before looking at the projection. It was a contract, and the terms of the contract was to...


    "Hand over the building behind me and you''ll definitely not regret it." The man said.


    Lucas slightly frowned as he wondered what kind of trouble the previous owner of the building, Ramon, got into. Last time, during the renovation period, he was visited by a rascal who tried to barge into the store. Luckily, the renovation period prevented individuals other than the host from entering. But from the looks of things, the other party didn''t give up.


    "If you''re worried about the renovation expenses, I''ll reimburse you, so don''t fret." The man calmly said, as if confident that Lucas had no other option than to sign the papers.


    "And why would I give up a building I bought with my money?" Lucas turned his eyes away from the contract and to the man.


    Truth be told, if they were willing to consider buying the property, Lucas might consider it.


    Lucas wasn''t one of those individuals who would risk his life by offending someone unless he had no choice. Also, there wasn''t much of an option since he was weak and a disregarded member of society due to being human. In other words, it was possible for the other party to harm him and nothing would be done about it.


    Until he had grown strong enough to stand on his own, avoiding fights was for the best.


    However, from the terms stated in the contract, they simply wanted to take the building in exchange for...a chocolate bar.


    Not even Buddha or a Saint could tolerate this, but Lucas remained calm.


    If anyone from any of his past lives saw this, they would be sweating profusely.


    "Because it''s not your building." The man said, not caring about Lucas'' opinion.


    "Ramon staked the building as collateral to take a loan from my boss. He didn''t pay up before he ran away. As a result, his collateral¡ªthis building¡ªis now ours. Not yours."


    "There was no data about the building serving as collateral for any loan when I closed the deal." Lucas countered.


    This was an advantage of doing deals through the city-state government''s office. There was essentially no risk of a real estate scam as long as one made the deal through the city-state government. The building and/or land would go through rigorous checks to ensure its validity for sale, which included checking whether the building was put up for collateral on any official platforms.


    If it was, the deal would be flagged and the buyer notified. If, after the validity check, nothing was wrong with the deal, it would be approved, and the buyer would be debited the required amount while the seller would get credited. The ownership details and documents would also be changed in the government''s database.


    Such a fast and efficient method was accessible to everyone, with a small fee attached to it.


    Since the deal wasn''t flagged, it meant that it was never up for collateral on any official platforms.


    ''That only means one thing.'' Lucas thought.


    ''Ramon took a loan from an illegal organisation.''


    This was understandable, as compared to the official financial institutions, getting loans from these underground organisations was faster and had fewer requirements. But it wasn''t a free lunch.


    The problem with taking loans from an underground organisation was that they had high interest rates and were run by underground kingpins; meaning that the method they used to collect their principal amount and interest was not a simple act of coercion.


    Most times, very few people patronised these underground organisations and would usually favour banks or even pawnshops, unless they didn''t want their deals to be tracked.


    Thinking back to the previous scenario, Lucas had a feeling that Ramon intended on scamming the underground organisation he took a loan from. Since the loan was undocumented in the city-state government''s database, it was, by law, nonexistent. However, Ramon couldn''t just default on the loan and remain in West Wing district, as the organisation would hunt him down.


    Even if murder was illegal, there were many methods they could use to deal with him.


    So instead, Ramon took the loan and sold the collateral, before running away from the city with everything. Usually, no one would think of doing this as these kinds of organisations were dangerous, but Ramon was probably a man with a strong liver [2].


    Although this was fraudulently smart, it brought a boatload of trouble to whoever bought the building, in this case, Lucas.


    Of course, the underground organisation would still be searching for Ramon, but in the meantime, they would want to cut their losses by collecting the collateral. The issue was that, by law, Lucas was the new owner of the building. They couldn''t just seize it, as he was registered in the government''s database as the new owner.


    Hence, the man tried to coerce him into selling it, but for a chocolate bar.


    To an underground organisation, being scammed by Ramon was already irritating enough, and so they had no intention of suffering another loss. This meant that there was no way they would want to buy the building from Lucas at a fair price.


    "Data or no data doesn''t mean anything. My words are more important, and you can even take them as advice. Sell the house." The man smiled.


    "You''re a human, right? You see, humans don''t have it easy in life, even more so in a community filled with hyumans. Just sign the contract, and we''ll offer you as much protection as you need. Like I said, you definitely won''t regret it." S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No, thanks. If you have any issues, settle them with your debtor and not me. This is none of my business."


    Lucas ignored the man and continued walking towards the store. He appeared calm and in no rush, but this was all a facade. His direction, posture, and hand placement were all planned to set a trap. If the man were to make any move on him, Lucas would not only be capable of reacting in time, but also countering the offensive with a threatening attack of his own.


    However, the man didn''t take any action but simply smirked as he turned to face the opposite direction.


    "You''ve made a huge mistake, Mr. Saunters. Opportunities like this usually come only once. Don''t regret it."


    Lucas paused and looked up at the sky.


    A white cloud with an odd shape happened to be passing by at that moment, and he caught sight of it. But Lucas'' gaze seemed to transcend the cloud¡ªnot just the cloud but even the sky.


    "There are only three things I regret all my entire life, and even up until this moment. But after those events, I swore to never have any regrets about the present or the future."


    Lucas then turned around and glanced at the man with the hat.


    "If I were you, I would go looking for the culprit rather than harassing a bystander. If you keep up with this instead, who knows when you might end up hitting a wall in the end? But not just any ordinary wall; it might be one with thorns."

 Chapter 47 - 47 : The Young Boy Worries

    Three days went by quickly and apart from the short confrontation with the man sent by Ramirez, Lucas didn''t encounter any trouble. In fact, the days had been too peaceful for his store. He barely had any customers.


    This wasn''t because they were threatened or anything, but simply because Lucas was bad at running a store. The previous set of customers had already received modifications to their vestiges, and those who could afford it, bought some to use. Right after, they all went to the Wastelands at separate intervals. Typically, freelancers spend most of their time in the Wastelands or the base station.


    Those who come back to the city either do so for important events or to take a break from work.


    The current period was early May, which was part of the most active window of the year for beasts. So most freelancers would have their schedule booked by this time. A good example was the Autumn''s Gate guild which had received a high pay mission to the Astranian Forest.


    Without new blood coming to the store, it was natural for it to turn empty, but Lucas wasn''t bothered by this one bit. The less work he had to do, the more time he had to research and create new vestiges. Lucas had planned on fixing his weakness by creating a special set of vestiges to cover for them and boost his strength, and this time period happened to just be the best opportunity for that.


    However, the store being empty was contrary to the system''s goals.


    "Host is reminded to up the transaction numbers of the store to level up the system and receive bonuses. Remember, once the system approaches the required level, the host can access options to enable you to refine stellar energy."


    "Not interested." Lucas replied.


    While the system''s words were tempting, Lucas knew that the level the system had to reach in order for him to be able to find a solution to his ''disability'' was definitely high and not something he could achieve soon. So for the meantime, his decision to find a short-term solution was better than nothing.


    "Host has left the system with no choice."


    Suddenly, Lucas had a bad premonition.


    [[ Mission Overview: The system has once again been forced to take matters into its metaphorical hands. It''s time to become a proper craftsman.


    Mission Description: Receive 100 customers before the month is over


    Rewards: Bronze Grade card.


    Punishment: Crippling of one arm. ]]


    "Well, fantastic." Lucas sarcastically remarked.


    He could still remember the previous time something like this happened. It was during then that Lucas found out that the system could assign missions based on its learning machine capability. These missions were different from those within the built-in algorithm of the system, and merely devices by it based on the situation it perceived.


    Luckily, the system had a limit on its ability to create such impromptu missions per month, and the counts couldn''t be stacked.


    "Hold up..."


    Lucas glanced at the reward section.


    "Another one..." He muttered as his serious face collapsed with a grin.


    The Bronze Grade card was Lucas'' reward from the previous mission. He had already checked it out and knew what it was all about. It was a special item with a very special ability; it could raise Lucas'' power level (both physically, mentally and energetically) up to the level of the card.


    In other words, if it were a fourth level Bronze Grade card, once used, Lucas would become as strong as a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This sounded impressive, making the Bronze Grade card a very much desired item, but there were still flaws to this godly item. First, the card was a one-time use item, so once Lucas used it, it would be gone. Second and most importantly, the buff effect is temporary.


    All this made Lucas have a desire to accumulate as many of these cards as possible, since they could ensure his safety in a way more proactive and better way.


    ''All I just need to do is get one hundred customer this month, huh?''


    *DING*


    The bell at the entrance door jingled, separating Lucas from his thoughts. He cleaned himself up a bit and left the workshop to find out who it was.


    "Oh, it''s you." Lucas was slightly surprised by the appearance of the individual but not so much.


    "Hello, mister." A young boy looking about 15-16 years of age greeted.


    Lucas remembered him to be the first winner of his roulette spin, and the reason why the system gave him the mission to go to the Wastelands. What caused Lucas'' surprise though, was that he had informed the boy the trip might take up to a month, but he was here after a bit above a week.


    "So soon?" Lucas voiced his surprise.


    The boy nervously replied, "I initially wanted to wait a bit longer, but something came up. My school''s mid-term practicals are coming up."


    "What''s that about?" Lucas asked.


    When he looked up the details of this world, Lucas only focused on the important things like geography, politics, finance, and material science. Things like the school system and holidays of the year were not in his interest.


    The boy was slightly surprised by this question but didn''t think much of it.


    "Schools are typically divided into three; civil, technical and practical. The civil path caters to growing civil characters like a business genius, a political authority and so on. Technical focuses on the technical aspect of life like engineering, vestige-smithing and the likes. As for Practical schools, they raise freelancers.


    This differentiation isn''t so clear in high schools but it becomes so in universities.


    "I''m currently studying at the Greendale Highschool which is a subsidiary of the Greendale School of Refiners. Although the high school is a subsidiary of a technical school, they are still required to teach all the fundamentals of the other two paths. So twice every year, we carry out practical exercises. I''m currently in my senior year, so our practicals aren''t the usual hand-to-hand combat again.


    Instead, we''re sent into dangerous regions to face desolate beasts. There are invigilators to protect us, so the death rate is almost zero. However, the purpose of the exercise is to score high. I was hoping I could get something to help increase my chances at getting a good score."


    Listening to the boy''s explanation, Lucas suddenly had a question.


    "Vestiges are allowed?"


    "Why not?" The young boy was confused.


    "A vestige is classified as part of one''s power regardless of its grade. It''s a common fact that to draw out the power of a vestige, one should equally be strong as well. A Body Strengthening stage practitioner with a Grade 3 vestige would at most draw out a Grade 1 power from it, and that''s if they''re talented enough."


    Hearing this, Lucas'' mind began to spin. It was as if he had just received a burst of inspiration which could help him complete the mission.


    Lucas was truly surprised. While he knew that students in their final and penultimate years could purchase vestiges, this was applied to university students and not highschoolers.


    ''Hold up, vestiges are illegal for use to anyone who isn''t a freelancer, a military or registered paramilitary member, doesn''t have a permit or official recommendation from a freelancer. Is it alright to actually give this kid one? I won''t get in trouble right?''


    "Debatable." The system replied. It then explained to Lucas,


    "As the customer won the vestige in a lottery spin, it can''t necessarily be classified as a transaction. However, vestiges are valued items so the host might potentially get into trouble. The simple solution would be to apply for a permit on the customer''s behalf, but he doesn''t fulfill the criteria for one. Hence, the only solution is an approved recommendation from a registered freelancer."


    Lucas frowned as he realised what a messy decision he had made. It was unlike him to make such a flaw, but making a mistake didn''t mean he would quit.


    "By the way, mister," the young boy hesitated, "the, the vestige..."


    "Hey kid, come back tomorrow. I''m a bit busy now." Lucas waved him off as he turned around.


    "But, but, the practicals are in a week''s time. I need to make preparations and get used to the vestige as soon as possible."


    "Are you doubting me?" Lucas glanced at him.


    The young boy''s statement might seem to have no problems but Lucas could sense a bit of anxiety in them. The young boy probably thought that he was scammed and wanted to make sure about it. If it turned out to be true, he would have to look for a backup solution as soon as possible, as he was running out of time. But why would Lucas even want to scam a kid? And of three federal coins at that.


    Lucas felt insulted.


    "Don''t worry. Come back tomorrow and I''ll make a vestige that you''ll fall in love with right away. I''m busy now, so see yourself off."


    Lucas walked away.

 Chapter 48 - 48 : The Dark Side Of Hyuman society

    The next day came quickly, the second day of the fifth week of Lucas'' stay in this new world.


    Lucas had been busy all throughout ever since he met up with the highschooler. Apart from the ''encouragement'' he got from the system, another reason Lucas was desperate to make money was that his debt was piling.


    When he first came into this world, lacking any financial ability whatsoever, Lucas had to pawn an ingot of Purple Iridium metal to the Vinis pawnshop. This decision of his had brought about a significant amount of thrill and danger to his life, but it also helped him to stabilise himself in this new world, buying a communicator, a house and grocery items.


    The first month had gone by, so it was time to pay the loan. Lucas had taken a five thousand federal coins loan, and with a fifteen percent interest rate, meaning he had to pay back five thousand seven hundred and fifty federal coins.


    For every week he defaulted, he would pay an extra five percent, and not on the principal amount, but the outstanding amount after the first month, which was the initial interest and the principal.


    This seemed like a rip-off, but it wasn''t. The interest rates were bigger than banks, but for the fast response and good offer of ninety percent the agreed collateral''s value, it was a good deal. Also, the Vinis pawnshop was a registered financial institution in the government''s records, which ensured security for every transaction. With that in mind, the rate was acceptable.


    Back to reality, Lucas was in need of money; dire need. Once this week ends, he would have to pay five percent extra, bringing his total debt to six thousand and thirty seven federal coins, five pences. There was the solution of using the Purple Iridium to pay off the debts, but for Lucas, that was a last resort he had no intention of using.


    Inside the store, apart from Lucas who was sipping a cup of a drink similar to ice cola, the young boy from the previous day was on the opposite side with both knees tightened together, clearly anxious.


    Ever since he arrived at the store, the young was kept aside by Lucas. Even when the latter left from the work-station, he didn''t say a word about the vestige and just told him to wait.


    *Ding*


    The entrance door was opened as a figure walked into the store.


    "Oh, you''re out?" The newcomer said with a informal time of speaking.


    The newcomer was a black haired man and one familiar to Lucas. In fact, his arrival was as a request from Lucas. He was one of Lucas'' earliest customers and had been a regular ever since. His name was Harrison Reid, or Harry for short, and he was the leader of a team of freelancers.


    After witnessing Lucas'' skill with his eyes, Harry decided to introduce a couple of his team members to Lucas who eventually became regulars. There was no reason for this other than the fact that Lucas'' basic repairs were better and much cheaper than the others. Even if they were freelancers who made a lot of money, their expenses were also a lot, hence the desire to find a proper balance.


    If they could save more on repairs while getting better quality and service, then why not.


    "Did you bring it?" Lucas asked.


    "Of course. It''s a bit difficult to get ready with such a deadline, but you''re lucky you met me." Harry smiled.


    Lucas nodded then glanced at the young boy.


    "Wally, right?"


    "Yes..."


    Wally O''Connor was the name of the young highschooler which Lucas found out earlier.


    "Do you know what it means to have a vestige?" Lucas asked him.


    "...I don''t understand."


    "Let me change it then. Do you know the requirements to own a vestige?" Lucas stared him in the eye.


    "Y, yes. Everyone is taught about this in school." Wally nervously replied.


    "Have you fulfilled any one of them?"


    Wally turned quiet.


    "Then how do you expect to use a vestige for your practicals?" Lucas asked.


    "I, I don''t know. I, I just wanted to sneak it in and use it just this once. Even if it''s seized from me right after, I don''t mind. I just need to get a good score." Wally replied tensely while shivering a bit.


    Lucas frowned and began to radiate an overbearing aura subtly.


    "Do you know that if you''re found out, not only would you get jail time despite being a minor, but I''ll also have my store forcefully closed and get arrested? Your actions had almost jeopardised not just your future but also mine."


    "I know, and I''m sorry. But I don''t have a choice." Wally retorted.


    Tears began to flow from his eyes as he continued.


    "I''m not strong like the others. My arms are weak. I look younger and weaker than my age, and no one takes me seriously. I''ve always performed badly in the practicals, but if it goes on, my grades would be badly affected. I had no choice but to take the risk. My family is just average.


    We''re no better than a human. My parents aren''t talented in refinement and neither is my older sister. But I''m different. I''m the only hope in the family, but even then, I''m a failure."


    Wally began to cry.


    "15%." Wally muttered. "Even though I''m the hope of my family, my m(o)DNA concentration is only 15%. I''m an utter failure."


    Lucas was surprised as he didn''t think the boy''s mental resilience was this weak. He almost began to feel bad for him even.


    An individual''s future accomplishments in Stellar Refinement heavily depended on their mDna count; to be specific, the m(o)DNA. It was both the greatest creation of humankind, but it also created rifts in society. The higher one''s m(o)DNA concentration was, the more potential they had.


    Even if they reached the limit of their potential, they could increase it by injecting themselves with m(z)DNA serums, thereby increasing their total mDNA count. However, this was limited to only thirty percent of their m(o)DNA. From this, one could see the importance of a higher m(o)DNA concentration.


    Humans couldn''t produce m(o)DNA, and so serums with m(z)DNA couldn''t work on them and would instead kill them. This was why the human race was looked down upon; they couldn''t utilise stellar energy no matter how hard they try. But hyumans weren''t spared from this discrimination either.


    Anything less than ten percent m(o)DNA concentration was termed as trash and no different from humans, because the serums would similarly not work on them, although it wouldn''t kill them.


    With a very low m(o)DNA concentration and no possibility of an increase in overall mDNA count, hyumans with less than ten percent would have no future in stellar refinement. Even if they tried their best, they would most times get stuck at the Body Strengthening stage just like Lucas, or at best, make it to the first level of the Aperture Opening stage.


    It was rumoured that Digress city-state had a way around this, but no one could confirm that as the city-state was not just far, but it barely had any contact with the other city-states.


    For one to be a hyuman considered with a potential in stellar refinement, their m(o)DNA concentration had to be at least fifteen percent (15%), and this was just the barest minimum. It was exactly why Wally was depressed. He might have the highest concentration in his family, but outside of that, he was trash.


    One could only imagine how much suffering, bullying and mistreatment he had received for this.


    Even if Wally worked five times as hard, could afford serums, and gave it his all, his mDNA would reach a count of nineteen percent (19%) [1]. With such an mDNA count, reaching the third level might be his greatest achievement.


    Although mDNA count was usually used as an estimation of one''s talent and could be wrong, since it had to deal with genetics, it was mostly accurate and became the mainstream method of determining one''s potential.


    "Enough crying like a little kid already. You think I care about your sob story?" Lucas used one finger to pick his ear.


    "I came here to talk to you about how you almost got me into deep trouble and not listen to your backstory."


    "Damn. Even I can''t be this heartless." Harry muttered from one corner.


    "I, I am. Sorry." Wally hurriedly bowed down and apologised sincerely.


    "Sure, whatever. Either way, I''ve already made a promise. I can only blame myself for not predicting this situation." Lucas sighed, before stretching his arm to Harry.


    "Hand it over."


    "Hold up. That''s for this kid?" Harry was surprised.


    "Yeah, who else? Do you think I need something like that?" Lucas stared at him as if he was looking at a fool.


    Harry froze for a second, then palmed his face. Lucas was right; he was a vestige-smith, so why would he need that?


    "Sure." Harry then took out a communicator and projected a piece of paper. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "All you have to do is scan it and it will be transferred over to the communicator." Harry explained.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be amazed by the technology of this world, but now wasn''t the time for that.


    "Oi, kid. Scan this document and go sob elsewhere."


    "Eh?"


    "Don''t make me repeat myself."


    Wally was confused but he immediately did as he was told.


    As he scanned the document, he took a glimpse into it and saw the header.


    "This, this..."


    Lucas pat his shoulder and said to him, "Make good use of it, and don''t get it lost. Understand that you''re my living, breathing and walking advertisement."


    Wally was confused by the statement, but that didn''t stop him from dwelling grateful to Lucas.,


    "Thank you, mister. Thank you very much." Wally bowed his head as his eyes gushed out with years, but this time not of sadness, but gratefulness.

 Chapter 49 - 49 : Harrys Thoughts

    Thank you, mister. Thank you very much." Wally bowed his head as his eyes gushed out with years, but this time not of sadness, but gratefulness.


    In his communicator was a document detailing a request for the wielder to have and use a vestige alongside a recommendation for the request to be passed.


    That''s right. What Lucas had asked Harry to get was an approved recommendation letter.


    Harry was a freelancer and not just anyone, but one at the fifth level and even led a squad of his own. In other words, he was on the higher side of the rankings for freelancers. With his connections, prestige and power, providing a recommendation with his name wasn''t difficult, but would merely take some time.


    However, time was something both Lucas and Wally were lacking. So, Harry had to pull in a few of his strings and get a temporary permit to be used for the meanwhile. This wasn''t illegal and was made to be issued quickly in scenarios where the duration for an official permit or the period for a recommendation to be approved was too long for the applicant to wait.


    In such a case, they would be issued a temporary permit after twenty four hours; enough time to do a background check on the applicant of the permit or the sponsor/patron and the assignee for the approved recommendation.


    However, temporary permits had short lifespans; usually less than a month, depending on the results of the twenty four hours investigation.


    Lucas already had a plan in mind since he heard about Wally''s practicals. This was the time to have his goods advertised to a part of his target market.


    Although high schoolers couldn''t normally own a vestige, they could bypass the rules by getting an approved recommendation like Wally. At the same time, there was a chance they would also know someone who could use a vestige.


    As long as Wally''s performance was amazing enough to draw attention to the vestige, people would ask questions which would lead them to his store.


    To ensure this plan worked, Lucas had to find out all the requirements and any issues that would interfere with it. Luckily, he was on good terms with Harry, otherwise, getting a temporary permit, much less an approved recommendation, would have been impossible.


    "Now that''s settled, it''s time to begin your training." Lucas said.


    "My training?" Wally was confused.


    "You don''t think that having a vestige alone would turn you into some superhero or something, right? Well, it could if you can draw out the power of the vestige, but you''re too weak for that. Hence the special training." Lucas said.


    "Don''t worry about it. You might bleed, cry, or even shit yourself, but it will definitely be worth it."


    "Okay."


    Wally nodded, unsure about what was to take place and a bit scared. But to score better results in this semester''s practicals, he was willing to do anything. This was why he had ended up gambling his birthday money for a shot at winning a vestige. Luckily for him, Lady Luck had smiled his way then.


    "Before you guys go do whatever it is, you owe me a favour, you know." Harry said as he smiled at Lucas.


    For some reason, Lucas felt as if he was about to get scammed, so he didn''t say a word right away. Instead, he stared at Harry without moving an inch.


    "Don''t try to play dumb with me." Harry then stretched out three fingers.


    "Three custom-made vestiges, Grade 3."


    "***king thief. I''d rather bleed to death!" Lucas fumed as he cursed with glaring eyes.


    Despite being reputed for his calm and level-headed personality, Lucas couldn''t resist cursing at that moment. It couldn''t be helped; that price was insane and no different from highway robbery.


    "Okay, okay. I''ll take a step back. Two but still Grade 3 customs. Either that or three vestiges: two one custom and two standards, all Grade 3."


    ''System, is there a blacklist function?''


    "Host is adviced to think carefully before doing so." The system didn''t directly answer him.


    Time went by as the duo continued their "negotiations" with Harry tossing out a ridiculous price while Lucas tried to resist the urge from putting him in the store''s blacklist.


    In the end, they settled for a ''fair'' price. Lucas would make a Grade 3 vestige but Harry would have to provide all the materials and pay thirty percent of the bill. This couldn''t be helped as the system refused Lucas to perform acts of service it termed as "free transactions".


    Discounts could be given on certain conditions -in this case, Harry having to provide the materials- but there was no free item. Even the roulette spin wasn''t exactly free but a discount.


    Harry exited the store with a slightly disappointed look on his face, but once he was out of the Seven Sparks Forge building, his face broke out with a wide grin.


    ''Hehe, a kid is a kid. There''s no way he could beat me in a game of negotiations.''


    Satisfied with the deal he got, Harry departed.


    It might seem much, especially since the price of custom-made vestiges in the store was twice that of other vestige stores, but Harry didn''t see that as a problem.


    Compared to other vestige stores, the Seven Sparks Forge''s services and products were on another level. Just in terms of the purity of stellar energy in them was gaps ahead of the others. There was also the fact that the runes and matrices Lucas used were different yet more efficient than those used by other vestige-smiths.


    This would end up becoming a selling point for him, and make Lucas'' goods more valuable and popular in the future. In other words, once Lucas became more popular, this vestige Harry had got for a price that seemed to be expensive, would become even more valuable. The resale value alone might even surpass the cost price he got it at.


    In the vestige-smith business, one''s runes and stellar matrices were the lifeline of their business. It was a company secret which defined their brand. The size, shape and quality of a vestige could be replicated, but the runes couldn''t unless one had studied them. This was why the famous vestige-smiths would always have customers and followers even though there were other good vestige-smiths.


    "If that is to be a reality, I''ll need to help advertise his business too. But I have to profit more before I do so." Harry smiled.


    Having decided on what to do next, Harry immediately departed for the Wastelands base station. He had arrived from there and didn''t carry any valuable items with him. At the same time, he also had to take a trip to the Wastelands and acquire more precious items and resources for his custom-made vestige. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Freelancers didn''t usually replace their vestige often, so Harry wanted his to be as powerful as possible since it would end up being his long-term partner. Even though the Grade had already been decided upon, there were still differences between Grade 3 vestiges. His goal was to make sure that the materials used were top notch, so the result would be at the top amongst Grade 3 vestiges.

 Chapter 50 - 50: Paying A Visit To The EVL

    On the road of a certain street in the West Wing district, a black haired young man was strolling while taking in the sights around him. Despite not doing anything strange, there would be a few of the passerby glancing his way with a look of disgust or surprise on their face. However, he had no reaction to this.


    After Lucas had made a deal with Harrison Reid, aka Harry, he wasn''t expecting the latter to make the thirty percent deposit a few hours later. With this, as well as the previous vestige sale to Harry when the store was launched and his profit from past maintenance services, Lucas was able to raise enough money to cover back both the principal amount and interest of his loan.


    A custom-made Grade 1 vestige costs at least five hundred (500) federal coins. Custom-made Grade 2 began at three thousand (3000) federal coins, depending on the materials used and the vestige-smith as there were better skilled vestige-smiths in the trade. As for Grade 3 vestiges, they began at ten thousand (10000) federal coins.


    As for standard items, they were slightly cheaper than their custom-made counterparts.


    The system, however, priced Lucas'' custom-made products at almost 200% of the base market value while the standard products at fifty percent market price.


    For instance, the Grade 3 vestige Harry requested was valued at seventeen thousand, two hundred and fifty (17250) federal coins. However, their deal was that Harry would only pay thirty percent but provide the materials; after all, one of the major reasons for vestiges costing so much was due to the materials used in making them.


    Nonetheless, thirty percent (30%) of seventeen thousand, two hundred and fifty (17250) was five thousand, one hundred and seventy five (5175) federal coins. Together with his earnings from maintenance and leftover cash, it was enough for Lucas to clear his debt of five thousand seven hundred and fifty (5750) federal coins.


    When he made the payment, Lucas was pained. Not because of ''losing'' so much money, but that he had rejected the deal from the members of Black Lemon when he had opened his store. If he had sold the Grade 3 spear vestige to them, he would have made at least sixteen thousand federal coins from that; more than enough to clear his debt.


    Regardless, this ''regret'' didn''t last long and even if time were to be taken back, Lucas would still have done the same after how they treated him.


    Lucas was currently returning from the Vinis pawnshop and on his way to the Eretrean Vestige-smith League (EVL) building.


    The trip to the Vinis pawnshop wasn''t eventful. After making the payment, the Purple Iridium ingot was returned to him. Both sides acted formal with the transaction and Lucas didn''t reveal any hint that he was aware they were behind his attempted kidnapping.


    As for the other side, they only knew that their hitman went missing. Whether the hitman had met Lucas or not couldn''t be confirmed by the group.


    With both sides reining themselves in and acting natural, the transaction went smoothly.


    As for why Lucas was on his way to the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, he was planning to get his official registration as a vestige-smith done.


    When Lucas went to the Guild Centre building in the Wastelands base station, he was asked for a blacksmith badge after declaring himself as one, a decision he made because no one would believe that a human was a vestige-smith.


    The query he received then made Lucas realise that there were associations in charge of overseeing various important occupations in the city. The blacksmiths had theirs, and the vestige-smiths did too.


    After asking Ju¨¢n about this during one of their discussions, Lucas found out that it was called the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, and it was in charge of aiding and protecting the common interest of all vestige-smiths on the planet.


    It wasn''t a strict organisation and membership wasn''t compulsory for vestige-smiths, but it did have many perks. For instance, being a member would grant one a special badge which was an identity as well as a sort of confirmation that the owner is a vestige-smith. One could also gain access to connections and network with various vestige-smiths around the world.


    However, what Lucas aimed for was the badge.


    Lucas decided to pay a visit to the league, apply for membership and get a badge, because it would be helpful in the long run. For instance, advertising himself as a verified vestige-smith and a member of the league could help increase the value of vestiges and draw more customers to his store.


    Having spent most of his money on repaying his debts, Lucas was almost broke so he couldn''t pay for a ride to the EVL building. Luckily for him, the distance wasn''t so far -in Lucas'' terms- from the market zone, which was where the Seven Sparks Forge was located.


    After a mix of walking and running for two hours, Lucas finally arrived. That''s right. A journey of two hours was still ''not so far'' for Lucas.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League building was a two storey building that didn''t have an exaggerated outward appearance, despite being the centre of vestige-smiths in the West Wing district. It was also quiet as there was no one making their way into the building. However, it was still somewhat unique. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Unlike most buildings, the two storey structure was painted black. It had a fence around it with only one gate that served as both an entrance and an exit. In front of the gate stood an individual facing the street but with closed eyes.


    Lucas tried to get a feeling from the guard and realised that there was no sense of life from him. He derived two explanations right away: the first being that the guard was an expert who could rein in his aura entirely, and the second being that the guard was not a living being, but an android.


    The latter option was the most likely as various corporations tend to hire androids to take positions in their companies. Unlike living beings, androids didn''t need to eat or sleep, and could work 24/7, requiring no breaks at all or even a pay.


    The only problem would be maintenance expenses, but even the lowest rank amongst current models could be active for three years without any problems, if no extreme damage was incurred. After that, maintenance would only need to be carried out once a year or even once in two years.


    The bigger companies bought models which were not only stronger but also made with memory alloys, which were self-repairing metals. That way, even if the android was damaged in a fight, so long as the damage wasn''t extreme, it could still self-heal.


    Compared to hiring an expert which would cost a lot, an android -albeit weaker- was a more cheaper and suitable option to act as a gatekeeper.


    Lucas approached the gate which automatically opened as he stepped through it. All this while, the android didn''t open its eyelids, but Lucas had a strange sensation that made him realise he had already been scanned by the entity as soon as he walked by it.


    It probably had no reaction to him as it had ascertained Lucas to be of no threat; most likely because he had no weapon on him and was also a human.


    Ninety nine point ninety nine percent (99.99%) of humans couldn''t go past the Body Strengthening stage. To an android with physical abilities on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, and armed with hot weapon-type vestiges, such a character was of no threat.


    Knowing this, Lucas silently cursed, but that was all that he could do. Who told him to be transmigrated as a human?


    When he stepped into the building, Lucas experienced a slight shock. Compared to the exterior of the building, the interior was on a whole other level.


    The interior of the EVL building had white and gold colours as the theme, and was decorated with art pieces hung on the walls, or plant pots set in appropriate locations.


    ''No, wait...'' Lucas glanced at the furniture and decorations once more before taking in a cold breath.


    The furniture and decorations weren''t ordinary products but top of the class blacksmith goods. Different from vestiges, blacksmith products contained no stellar energy. The best of them might however, have a very negligible amount of stellar. Nonetheless, this ''flaw'' didn''t mean that a blacksmith product was crap.


    The level of craftsmanship and skill one needed could only be gained either by being a godly genius or an experienced professional with years practicing the art under their belt.


    From his experience as a grandmaster blacksmith in his last life, Lucas could see that the furniture and decorations in this building were made by a very experienced blacksmith. The quality was so good that a few of them had a slight amount of stellar energy in them; just the size of a strand of hair, but this was still incredible.


    ''Based on skill alone, the person who made this could barely compare with a one star Exponent. He''s just lacking the mystical energy requirement.'' Lucas judged the creations with a look of appreciation on his face.


    An Exponent was the title given to a blacksmith in his first life. The rankings then were: Apprentice, Novice, Exponent, Master, Grandmaster, with each rank having at least five subranks. The Exponent rank however had nine sub-ranks, one star to nine star, with nine stars being the highest.


    After that short pause, Lucas walked over to the counter to be attended to.

 Chapter 51 - 51 : Wait What?

    With the aggressive expansion of the reach of hyumankin, it was only natural for them to come across new species in space, with each species being different from the other not just in looks but also ability. Hyumankin had to constantly improve with every battle as the next opponent became stronger.


    At a point, when the hyumankin had yet to reach its current peak, they were facing two species of similar strength as themselves. During that period, hyumankin was the closest it had been to becoming extinct or being relegated to second class citizens, apart from its inception era into interstellar travel. There was fear on all planets and rumours of extinction spreading around.


    The people were beginning to lose faith in the Federation Assembly, and even the Congress found it difficult to manage the problems in society, both economically and politically.


    In the end, however, hyumankin had managed to turn things around and win the war, wiping out the two alien races that ganged up on them. This period marked the great ascension of the hyumankin to become one of the top races in the universe, expanding their rule, increasing their rule and gaining numerous resources.


    And the key to this victory, was the vestige-smiths.


    From then on, vestige-smiths were treated preferentially, and the Federation Assembly had even granted them many perks, building a grand school of vestige-smithing in the Pangaia solar system of the Arcadia star region.


    The Arcadia star region was the centre of the hyumankin and the home of the Federation Assembly with only three solar systems. One of them serving as the location of every important administrative facility in the galaxy, the home of the senators and supreme judges, and also the home of the founder of the Federation Assembly and de facto ruler of hyumankin; the ''Divine'' Galaxy Protector [1].


    The other was the headquarters of the military and the final one, Pangaia, was the ''open area'' as well as the wealthiest solar system in the entire galaxy.


    The fact that the vestige-smiths were given a grand school in one of the four planets of the Pangaia solar system showed how much the Federation Assembly valued them. This was because not just anyone could erect a structure or even own a piece of land or building in any of the four planets. This applied to the three solar systems of the Arcadia star region too [2].


    After the vestige-smiths received such great honour, the majority of them decided to band together to form a union that could help protect their interests. The union wasn''t to be too tight as most vestige-smiths liked their freedom, hence the first vestige-smith league was formed, and it oversaw vestige-smiths on a grand level.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League was but a much smaller version that copied the former. Even though it was a mere copy though, there were some connections between the two.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League oversaw the vestige-smiths in Eretre but not in an official manner. It had no control over vestige-smiths in general, but protected the interests and safety of its members. In other words, if a member of the ESL was in trouble or in need of help, they can request aid from the league and would be provided such.


    They also had a library filled with knowledge and experience of various vestige-smiths. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the occupation of vestige-smithing was somewhat closed off with each smith hiding away their precious knowledge and stellar matrix inscription methods, it was difficult to move further or learn the trade without working under somebody. However, the library of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League was open to all members, and contained quite a few books about stellar matrices and runes.


    This, as well as a couple other fringe benefits, were what solidified Lucas'' decision to get registered. It would also be helpful in the long run and help him get a better idea of the vestige-smithing skill level.


    . . .


    Similar to the guard at the gate, the clerk at the counter was also an android. It was so realistic that if not for the absence of a life aura, it would have been difficult to differentiate. For a normal hyuman or human, they would fail to spot a difference, but a strong practitioner or one with a sensitive soul like Lucas would find it odd.


    Having seen two androids taking up important roles, Lucas was a bit surprised, but he didn''t think too much; on the contrary, he felt this decision to be novel and it widened his understanding of the role of vestige-smiths in society.


    Compared to the blacksmiths in his first life or the engineers in his second life, vestige-smiths were ahead of the curve. The occupation was like a combination of the two, but more advanced thanks to the utilisation of stellar matrices and special runes.


    "Good day. How may I help you?" The lady behind the counter asked with a smile on her face.


    "I''d like to register as a member of the league." Lucas replied.


    The lady raised was a bit surprised as the feedback from the guard at the gate informed her that Lucas was a human. Based on the information in her database, 99.9% of humans couldn''t get past the hurdle of the Body Strengthening stage, which made it impossible for them to be vestige-smiths.


    It was impossible to become a member of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League without being a vestige-smith. The only way for an exclusion to be made was for the applicant to be an exceptionally talented genius, showing significant potential of being a great vestige-smith even while being at the Body Strengthening stage.


    Forget being such a genius, the idea was absurd because Lucas was a human.


    "I''m sorry but, I can''t process your registration." The lady apologetically said.


    Lucas wasn''t startled by this and he had expected such to happen. What dumbfounded him however, was her attitude and reaction. If it were a hyuman in front of him, Lucas might have been thrown out from the building and given a restraining order.


    ''I guess androids are much nicer than people.''


    Even though he appreciated the gesture, Lucas wasn''t going to give up so easily.


    "I''m guessing it''s because I''m human, right?"


    The lady wasn''t confounded by this as she already guessed that Lucas would know why. Even so, she was confused as to what he was attempting to do by stating this.


    "While it''s true that I am a human, the Eretrean Vestige-smith League is open to all vestige-smiths even if they''re of a different species. On the official site, I saw some members of the Vara and Kerman races, so you can''t deny this."


    The lady nodded, "You''re right, but I have no intention of denying it either. However, we both know why they can make the cut and why you can''t."


    "There''s an exceptional basis for entry and it requires one to take an exam. I would like to apply for it." Lucas replied.


    The lady behind the counter finally went speechless. She didn''t expect this to have be Lucas'' intention right from the start.


    The Eretrean Vestige-smith League only accepted vestige-smiths into their numbers, but there was an exception; one had to be a very talented genius with potential to be a vestige-smith who would then be recommended to apply for an examination by the league. If the examinee successfully passed, they would be granted membership, albeit one with a lower tier due to their inadequacy.


    "But to apply, you''ll need a recommendation from a-"


    The lady suddenly went quiet as she noticed a document being projected by Lucas'' communicator. It was a recommendation letter from a vestige-smith.


    Naturally, Lucas didn''t contrive a phoney replica or something. He had asked Harry to get this for him in exchange for another favour. Luckily for Lucas, being the head of a freelancing team, Harry had a wide network and knew a bunch of people. After a little bit of convincing laced with some bribes, he managed to acquire an original recommendation letter for Lucas.


    There was nothing illegal or wrong about this as a vestige-smith recommendation letter had no real value except giving one an opportunity to take the exams. It was also somewhat common for vestige-smiths to give out recommendation letters to people they felt had potential.


    "I guess, you can apply." The lady finally relented.


    Lucas sighed with relief. If the android lady didn''t relent and kept refusing to accept his application, there was nothing he could do. Even if Lucas tried to make some noise in the net by giving them a bad review or reporting the league, no one would take him seriously.


    A human claiming to be a vestige-smith? No one would believe that was even possible. Even some of his customers still believed that Lucas could only perform maintenance and repairs on vestiges, while the standard and custom-made vestiges were done by an elusive in-house vestige-smith.


    "I''ll send you a registration form which you''ll need to fill out. After that, you''ll have to wait for the next exam. It might take anywhere between two weeks to a month from now. It could even be shorter than that. Just be on the lookout and turn on your notifications for any mail from the league.


    The exam would be at the head branch in the Central Prefecture district, so make your preparations before then."


    "Alright." Lucas nodded.


    "Wait, what?"

 Chapter 52 - 52 : The Factions

    "This branch in the West Wing district only caters to the needs of members and registration of new members. We don''t have the authority to carry out exams." The android female said.


    Lucas was nonplussed for a while before he sighed.


    Baylands city-state government had twenty districts, each the size of a city. Even though the five districts of Baylands City comprised the city itself, they were still individually as big as a standard city on Earth. The Seven Sparks Forge was located in the market zone of West Wing district, which was pretty close to the centre.


    The distance from the Seven Sparks Forge to the Central Prefecture alone was a five hours walk.


    One could imagine how large the entire Baylands City was. It could even dwarf some of Earth''s largest cities when comparing the two sides.


    There were light rail trains and hovercars which made moving around better. Nonetheless, moving was costly. Even if one was going for a vacation, they would have to consider the difference in value between the two places. For instance, West Wing district was the bottom of the barrel among the five districts of Baylands City.


    As a result of this, the economy was poorer and the cost of living wasn''t exaggerated.


    However, stepping outside the district, one would realise how much costlier things are and how impoverished West Wing district was. The difference was especially so when the target of comparison was the Central Prefecture district, the home of the wealthiest in the entire Baylands city-state.


    Just a night at a three star hotel there might cost up to twenty federal coins. The equivalent in West Wing district wouldn''t reach up to five federal coins. Nonetheless, quality was assured in the Central Prefecture district.


    But this wasn''t Lucas'' problem. The issue was that, he was broke.


    Clearing his debts made Lucas turn from an opulent human to a miser. Even worse, he was now owing Harry a favour. All the money Lucas had on hand at the moment could only help him survive, unless he sold a vestige.


    ''One problem at a time. One problem at a time.'' Lucas massaged his temples.


    "Thanks for the help." Lucas waved and left.


    At the very least, he now has the registration form so once he had enough money, Lucas would fill it and wait.


    ''Next week is Wally''s practicals. He''s been doing well in training so far, so he''s likely to make an impressive performance then. As long as he stands out, people would spot the value of the vestige he has and they''ll be coming to me. Then there''s Harry.


    If the vestige I make turns out to be amazing enough, he''ll advertise my business to his teammates and the freelancers who observe him in action would also be interested.'' Lucas thought.


    ''But that''s not enough. I can try to run some ads on the intranet again, but it''s not as efficient. Deals would fall apart too once they find out I''m human; not everyone can be as nice as an android. Do I pose as a reclusive vestige-smith?''


    Although Lucas was mentally more than five hundred years old, his experience was only in a specific niche; that is, creating magic weapons. His life on Earth had helped him broaden his mindset and knowledge, but Lucas had only spent thirty seven (37) years there, and the majority of it was studying physics, chemistry, engineering and material science.


    When it came to running a business, Lucas could only apply common sense and his experience from his first life.


    It should be known that despite being a magic weapons creator, Yohan (Lucas in his first life), did not operate a store. He simply forged on request and as he got better and better, there was no need to advertise himself or utilise marketing strategies. He had already become renowned for his high quality products.


    In other words, all of this -running a business and marketing strategies- were all new to him.


    ''The number one method of building a successful business should be to stand out. Since most freelancers already have a go-to store and pretty much every vestige-smith has a strong reputation, making something common just like the rest would get me drowned in the market until I go bankrupt. Standing out would almost be impossible. Hence, I have to do something unique.''


    Lucas suddenly stopped and gazed in front of him. His eyes stared ahead blankly, lacking focus in them as he was lost in his thoughts.


    ''There are two schools of vestige-smithing under weapons. Hot weapons and cold weapons, each with their advantages. Cold weapons are the usual blades and spears; much easier to produce but the requirement for the base material is very high. On the contrary, hot weapons, like the guns and cannons, don''t have such a massive requirement for base material.


    But they do have a significant demand for knowledge.''


    Weapon-type vestiges, apart from the grading system, were divided into two: cold and hot weapon-type. This division also defined two schools of vestige-smithing: the Forger faction and the Multiplex faction. There were other factions and schools of thoughts in the vestige-smith trade, but when it came to weapon-type vestiges, there was only these two.


    The Forger faction advocated that cold weapon-type vestiges were the best as not only were they simpler to create, but there was no need for any sort of ammunition, hence making them more lasting and reusable. They believed that cold weapon-type vestiges were the way to go, being more efficient than hot weapons and cheaper in the long run.


    After all, when using hot weapons, one would need to still purchase rounds for the weapon, but such a thing was nonexistent for cold weapons.


    There was also the fact that hot weapon-type vestiges were very complicated to make as they didn''t just require stellar matrix inscription knowledge, but also engineering, physics and sometimes chemistry knowledge. You couldn''t make a gun or a laser cannon without knowing any or all of these.


    However, the Forger faction only used blacksmithing knowledge paired with stellar matrix inscription, as such the bar for entry was lower, and it was easier to train vestige-smiths.


    Despite this, the Multiplex faction argued differently. The Multiplex faction believed that hot weapon-type vestiges were more efficient than cold weapon-type, the opposite of what their rivals said, because they believed and had proven that hot weapon-type vestiges had a low limitation for use compared to their adversary.


    When using a spear or sword Grade 3 vestige, the amount of power one could exhibit with them depended on the strength of the user. A Body Strengthening stage practitioner using such a vestige might not even be able to bring out destructive force on par with a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. But this issue was mitigated on hot weapon-type vestiges.


    If the Body Strengthening stage practitioner was using a Grade 3 gun vestige, as long as they had loaded specialised rounds inside the weapon, exhibiting strength on par with a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner was as easy as drinking water.


    If they tried their best and used better rounds, they could even possess the destructive force of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    This was what the Multiplex faction argued: that hot weapon-type vestiges reduced the bar for vestige usage, thereby increasing the overall prowess of a freelancer. Although the cost of rounds was something to consider, nothing was free. In exchange for more power, that could not only save oneself but increase their hunting ability, what was a little extra spending?


    Also, compared to cold weapon-type vestiges that required high quality metals to make, hot weapon-type vestiges didn''t necessarily need such. To make a proper and very durable sword, one would need high quality steel. The higher the grade, the higher the demand for the quality of the metal.


    However, although the crafting of hot weapon-type vestiges did utilise high quality materials, it wasn''t always a metal and the demand for quality wasn''t as extreme as with cold weapon-type vestiges. This made the base price slightly cheaper, but in the long run, the consumption of rounds might overall make it costlier.


    The debate between the two factions on whose ideology was better was something that had been going on for over a hundred years. Both sides had their advantages and their appeal, so they naturally existed even until this point in time.


    ''If I want to stand out, I can''t just follow the line. I have to be unique, but in an eccentric fashion.''


    Lucas abruptly smiled. An idea just came to mind;, one that could potentially tear down the rivalry between the two factions or better yet, create an entirely new faction to face them.


    Just as Lucas decided to continue walking, he abruptly sensed something coming his way.


    *Bang* S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The sound of a gunshot reverberated in the area.

 Chapter 53 - 53 : Assassination Attempt

    Ignoring the looks of disgust and intrigue from different people who noticed his ''uniqueness'', Lucas began considering how to stand out from other vestige-smiths and stores on the spot. He came to the conclusion that he had to do so in the most distinctive way possible which was by competing against the two factions of weapon-type vestiges, the Forger faction and the Multiplex faction.


    There was a certain phrase Lucas had learnt from Earth, and that was ''there''s no such thing as bad publicity'', and this inspired his idea. If Lucas was to basically stay in line with the other vestiges and abide by the philosophy of one faction, it would be hard for him to stand out. Even if he practiced both philosophies, the situation would still be the same.


    In fact, many would doubt his expertise as most vestige smiths focused on one area.


    Hence, the only way to really make a hit was to rely on an entirely new school of thought¡ªone that might bring about doubt but also curiosity.


    Having thought of an idea, Lucas began walking again, this time around planning to check out a few material stores in the market zone.


    Just then, Lucas spotted an individual walking towards him from the front. There were many others who were similarly walking either from behind or from the front as this was a somewhat busy street, away from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League''s building and quite close to the ever-busy market zone. As such, there were a lot of people going and coming from different directions.


    Despite the traffic, for some reason, this individual stood out in Lucas'' senses.


    At that moment, Lucas noticed that one of the individual''s hands, hidden inside his jacket, was being pulled out. Alarm bells rung in his head and without even a moment of hesitation, Lucas jumped towards the side.


    *Bang*


    The sound of a gunshot reverberated in the area, drawing the attention of the crowd to the scene. Few among the crowd on the street fled to a safe distance before glancing backwards, while the majority were merely stunned and frozen on the spot.


    At Lucas'' original position, a figure had collapsed on the ground, eyes wide open with one arm gripping their chest. The young lady was dumbfounded, being confused for second before turning anxious, scared and sad. She could feel the last bits of life flowing away from her and try as she might to run away from it, death was slowly pulling her into its embrace.


    "M-murder!"


    A bystander abruptly yelled with disbelief. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The crowd was dazed silly.


    This was Baylands City, this was the capital region. How could such even happen? Despite the fact that this was the West Wing district, the poorest and least safest district in Baylands City due to its proximity to the Wastelands, it was actually very safe. There had been no desolate beast tides approaching the gates of the district much less invading the district in the last eighty years.


    Crime rates (against hyumans) were at an all-time low and incidents of murder were barely ever heard about.


    All these resulted to the average citizen having a very low sense to danger. One could say that their warning systems were turned off, which was why the majority didn''t think to take cover or retreat right after the gunshot. A murder, much less one with a hot weapon, had never occurred in over thirty years.


    The result of such an extended period of peace was quite obvious at this moment.


    ''Damn it.'' The man who wielded the gun vestige cursed as he looked at the corpse a few metres away from him.


    Just as he had pulled out his gun and taken aim, Lucas had jumped to the side, dodging the shot. However, there was a hyuman behind him who became the victim of the attack. That miss had caused a relapse in the assassin''s thoughts and Lucas took the opportunity to dash away from the scene.


    The man knew he was in big trouble after not only missing but killing a hyuman. If the victim was simply Lucas, although he would be arrested, his boss could pull some strings and get him out with the condition that he would be forced to never step foot in Baylands City again. He might also get a fine and some jail time due to his usage of a vestige, but that would be all.


    However, the victim was a hyuman. Even his boss would be forced to cut off any tracks that would lead to him, otherwise the consequences would be severe. The case might even be handed over to the Red Fangs of the Baylands City Patrol Corps due to the involvement of a gun vestige; and if it were, death would be an even better option for the man.


    The mission could have been done with a regular cold weapon-type vestige, but the previous attempts had shown that the target was not an easy figure to kill. Hence, why the man went for a hot weapon. There would be no trace of it, no killing intent, and it could be fired from a range. Nothing was supposed to go wrong, but it did.


    "Damned fucking bastard. This is all your fault." The man roared before chasing after Lucas.


    Lucas'' heart was beating profusely but he had managed to calm it down as he continued running. The assassin''s moment of hesitation was enough to give Lucas a fifteen metres head-start, but that wasn''t enough. The opponent had a gun and the previous attempt had already revealed him. As such, he would have less concerns about shooting again.


    Lucas maneuvered through the buildings and the crowd, weaving left and right while using any and every thing as a cover. Even if it was wrong to use a living being as a cover, in the face of such a threat, Lucas wasn''t bothered about right or wrong, but simply surviving. This was a trait he had developed in his first life when he was forced to live in a dog-eat-dog world as an orphan.


    Unsurprisingly, Lucas'' actions forced the assassin to not take aim again as another shot would potentially kill someone else and increase the crime on his head.


    The realization of the death of the young lady had awoken a sense of fear and dread in the crowd, causing chaos all around as everyone ran in different directions. This chaos proved useful for Lucas and unfavourable for the man. Despite trying his best to chase after Lucas, the man eventually lost him in the crowd.


    ''I need to get out of here.'' The man eventually gave up on his mission and decided to escape.


    Since his boss would abandon him, it was best to run away now. If he were caught, it would be the end of him. As for selling out his boss to the patrol corps, that would be a dumb move; even more so than his current crime. As such, the best cause of action was to attempt an escape from the west Wing district and Baylands City as whole.

 Chapter 54 - 54 : Lucas In Trouble…?

    A couple of minutes later¡ªless than twenty minutes or so¡ªthe patrol corps had arrived and locked down the scene. The deceased had already been taken to a hospital earlier, along with some of the civilians who were involved in a stampede that broke out while escaping.


    Among the patrol corps members who were there, two individuals stood out from the rest. The two were both men, but one was younger than the other and had brown hair, while the older one had red hair. With a slightly different uniform from the others, their uniqueness didn''t just lie in this, but in the aura they exuded. Even the other members of the patrol corps kept their distance from them.


    They were members of the famed Red Fangs; an arm of the Baylands City Patrol Corps that handled special missions. They were highly trained and very professional in their work, but most of all, they were all very strong and dangerous. Due to this, the Red Fangs only handled high-profile cases involving a lot of risk, and they occasionally participated in joint missions with the Defense Corps.


    Founded over a hundred years ago, they even participated in the last disastrous desolate beast tide eighty years ago. Although, the members who did so were either dead, retired, or held very high positions in military or paramilitary organizations, the current members should still not be underestimated.


    "A murder in the city, and what''s more, with a gun. It seems like these underground gangs are getting quite ballsy." The brown-haired officer looked at the scene and smiled.


    "Indeed. It looks like we might have to carry out a purge sooner or later. I''ll bring this up to the lieutenant when we get back." the red-haired man said.


    "No need." A female voice sounded from above.


    The two, as well as the other corp officers present, glanced above and saw a hovercar silently descending. Hanging by the door was a stern looking lady who was also a beauty rivalling the midnight moon. She wore a unique black and blue uniform coupled with black trousers and a black boot; the standard uniform of a Baylands City Patrol officer.


    However, the medallion on her neck signified her identity; a member of the Red Fangs. What''s more, the red-gold patch marked on her collar and shoulders indicated her rank of lieutenant.


    It wouldn''t take a genius to know that she was the person the red-haired man mentioned.


    The lady jumped from the hover car, ignoring the potential risk of a ten metres fall, and landed safely on the ground close to the duo.


    "Lieutenant, ma''am." The two members of the Red Fang saluted.


    She nodded at them in response and asked, "What''s the report?"


    "At exactly 14:13pm, an attack occurred in the vicinity, leaving one dead and twelve injured due to the chaos caused by it. The victim is a female hyuman, about 20 years of age. Identification measures have currently been carried out on the deceased, and we found out she worked as a salesgirl in a store but recently got fired.


    Also from a family of four." The red-haired man projected a document as he spoke.


    "That''s not what I want to hear." The woman commented.


    The red-haired man paused, then switched the document before continuing,


    "We examined the security footage of the crime scene and found out that the deceased was a victim of circumstances. It turns out that she was never the target of the assailant, but someone who was just unlucky. As for the target, he is a human."


    "A human?" The woman was surprised.


    Humans were quite rare with the majority of them living in districts outside of Baylands City; in other words, residing in the other fifteen districts. The only city where they could be found in large numbers was Digress City, but that was on an entirely different continent.


    "Yes. We followed up from there and performed facial recognition on the target. We then ran a database check and found out the information of the target."


    As the red-haired man spoke, an image of Lucas as well as his details appeared in the projection.


    ''It''s definitely him, alright.'' The woman thought as she looked at the picture.


    When she heard the target was a ''human'', Lucas crossed her mind and she once had an encounter with him a few weeks back. However, that was a brief one but a bad experience for Lucas, so she thought that he would have left the city right away. Who would have thought that not only did he remain behind, but he was now a target for an assassination.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters, age twenty three. Born on the eighth of July. 179cm tall, with black hair and brown eyes. His mDNA exact value is unknown but from the spiritual feedback sensed by the onlookers and his ID, it''s too low to be classified as hyuman, hence he is human. He runs a store in the blue area of the market zone and it''s said to be a vestige store.


    He''s apparently carried out a few transactions in the store already, one with a famed freelancer, Harrison Reid, a deal with the Autumn''s Gate guild and even a clash with the Black Lemon squad. We are trying to find more information on him as we don''t anymore, except that he recently made an ID about four weeks ago. I''m guessing he''s most likely an immigrant, but not from the surrounding districts."


    "In other words, he isn''t an indigene of Baylands city-state. Not much information is known about him because of this." The brown-haired man added.


    "I always knew that stupid bill for open registration would cause such problems." The woman snorted.


    A couple of months ago, the Minister of Human Resources for the Baylands city-state had pushed for a bill to make registration easy and open to everyone, in a bid to increase the overall population of the city-state as the city-state''s population was projected to be declining.


    The bill made it such that immigrants could easily get an identification and citizenship to be able to work in the city-state. However, it sacrificed the stringent measures which were originally in place to prevent spies and criminals from sneaking into the city. S§×ar?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It wasn''t like the indigenes of Baylands city-state were against the bill¡ªit wouldn''t have been passed if that were so¡ªbut rather, the security personnel had an issue with it because it affected that tracking and background-checking ability.


    "Please, lieutenant ma''am, we are in public. It would do us all well if you kept the comments about the ministry to private conversations." The red-haired man sighed.


    The woman glanced at him briefly while releasing some of her pressure.


    "I apologize, ma''am." The man hurriedly bowed.


    "Hmph. Continue."


    ''Handling the boss is always such a hassle.'' The man couldn''t help but complain inwardly, but he didn''t show any signs of doing so.


    "We are currently trying to find out who would want him dead and why, but with little information about him, we can''t be so sure just yet. However, we do have suspects in mind; a pawnshop and the underground human traffickers."


    "What about the assassin?" She asked.


    This time around, the brown-haired man spoke up,


    "The assassin is an unknown small rat from the underground, so it would take some time for us to find something on him."


    "In that case, let''s go find the other one." The woman turned around and walked towards the already parked hovercar.

 Chapter 55 - 55 : The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

    About twenty minutes ago...


    After Lucas had lost the assassin, he didn''t return right away to the Seven Sparks Forge, but hid somewhere close by and monitored the assassin.


    Lucas might always act calm and cautious most of the time, but it didn''t mean he was one to take a beating without hitting back.


    A peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner might be able to survive gunshot on Earth, but it was still not enough to tank a shot from a vestige. The weapon might have sounded just like a gun on Earth, but the mechanics as well as the rounds differed, resulting in a more intense power. However, Lucas wasn''t scared.


    Compared to an average Body Strengthening stage practitioner, he had his self-made vestiges and the system''s equipment. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Who could it be this time?''


    Lucas began pondering once he had hidden himself in an alleyway.


    There were two parties possibly after his life.


    The Vinis pawnshop had already proven themselves to be a possible main suspect after their kidnapping attempt a few weeks ago. However, with Lucas repaying the bill and taking back his ingot, they should have taken a more subtle approach than this.


    The store had a reputation and if they were found out to be related to this incident, even if Lucas was a human, their reputation and business would fall apart. They would lose customers and the City Patrol Corps would react aggressively, especially since a hyuman had been involved as a victim.


    The other suspicious party was the group of harassers who had been after him since Lucas got the building. They were an underground organisation and even after Lucas had asked Harry to help him investigate the name ''Ramirez'', there was not much information about them except that the individual was a former freelancer.


    However, their desperation to get back the land, to the point of sending a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner after him was insane.


    The two sides were equally suspicious and guessing around wouldn''t lead to any outcome. So, Lucas decided to take matters into his own hands.


    . . .


    The assassin wasn''t exactly a professional as he didn''t keep a lookout for any pursuer. Truth be told, he couldn''t be blamed. The incident had only occurred less than two minutes ago, which wasn''t enough time for the Patrol Corps to react. Also, who would have expected that the target wouldn''t retreat, but chase after him?


    From a typical logical perspective, the assassin needn''t worry about any retaliation or tracking, at least for the next two minutes. But reality gave a different story.


    The hunter had unknowingly become the hunted.


    "Damn that fucker. That bastard human. Why the heck did he have to jump at the last moment?"


    The man cursed under his breath as he ran away. He had parked a hover car about two blocks away from the scene in an isolated spot as part of his escape measure. As long as he got to it, the assassin could have a chance of leaving the district. This was only a chance at escaping the district however, not the Patrol Corps.


    ''There it is.''


    At a certain corner that had almost no hyuman traffic, an unsavoury and typical hover car was parked by the side, almost as if it were neglected. It looked like a sedan from Earth, but with some slight differences. However, with the current technology in this world, such a ride was lacking in taste.


    Despite its looks though, this hover car was packed. The engine had been switched with a more powerful one that utilised nuclear technology with heat conversion devices, ensuring that there was almost no energy lost.


    The vehicle had an exhaust pipe but hover cars didn''t use an internal combustion engine; the exhaust pipe was actually a set of nitro-benede boosters, a variation of nitrous oxide that only exists in this world.


    It was pretty much a sleeper build.


    The assassin hopped into the hover car and started the engine almost immediately. The car hovered into midair at around fifteen metres, before hanging there and beginning its taking off sequence. During that moment, the man noticed that there was a figure a few metres ahead, looking his way. The man gawked at the figure in disbelief.


    "I can''t believe this shithead chased after me." The man cursed.


    He wasn''t scared of Lucas as the latter was a human and a Body Strengthening stage practitioner at best, the same as him. However, Lucas might take a picture of his vehicle which would aid the Patrol Corps in finding him faster.


    "Dman that brat. You''ve ruined me and I still can''t do anything." The man growled.


    In order to increase his chance at escaping, the man had initiated the hypersonic drive sequence before booting his ride. That way, he would be moving at top speed as soon as he took off. If the Patrol Corps were on his heels, it would take some time to initiate the hypersonic drive sequence, hence why he started it now.


    The vehicle was a typical hover car and not a Sare [1] like the Autumn''s Gate guild''s which was equipped with attacking options. A hover car was just a civilian vehicle after all.


    Glancing at his timer that had ten seconds on the clock, the assassin decided to forget about Lucas. There was nothing he could do to this target of his, and at the same time, there was nothing Lucas could do to stop him.


    Was what he thought...


    Lucas stared at the hover car up in the air, with its engine slowly gaining momentum. Even though he had never driven a hover car nor knew its principles of operation, he could easily surmise that the vehicle was about to depart with great speed; the assassin was clearly trying to escape.


    This wasn''t what Lucas wanted, but with his target now encased inside the vehicle which offered some sort of protection, he was somewhat out of options here.


    "Retrieve."


    The craftsman gloves made an appearance once again as they wrapped around Lucas'' hands. But that wasn''t all he took from the system inventory. A spear had also appeared in Lucas'' hands -the same alloy spear he had used in digging the Violent Sun ores in the Igrum steel mines.


    This was Lucas'' most powerful weapon in his arsenal, thanks to the mix of Red Iris stone. Although he was lacking mystical energy, which would have increased the power of the vestige and ensured that it would penetrate the hover car, Lucas wasn''t worried.


    Gripping the spear tightly, Lucas took a stance and aimed at the hover car.


    The assassin, who was inside, noticed this, but smirked at it. Even though the exterior of the hover car looked nothing special, it was still not something just anyone could damage. It was durable and strong, as the intention was to survive a hypersonic speed trip. It wasn''t something that a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could wreck by just tossing a spear.


    The man was thinking how much of a fool Lucas was to try and attack his hover car when Lucas shot the weapon. In the next moment, only half a second was left before the hover car entered hypersonic drive, but Lucas'' attack had already appeared before it.


    *Bang*


    To the astonishment of the assassin, the spear pierced through the exterior of the vehicle and happened to strick the engine.


    *Boom*


    A loud explosion sounded as the hover car was forced from its hypersonic drive by force, following which it crashed towards the ground.


    *Boom*


    The hover car crashed horrifically to the ground, and with the already damaged engine, an explosion set off on the spot. Lucas retreated, but not before taking the spear which was thrown away from the vehicle by the explosion.


    Immediately after that, Lucas turned away and left the scene.


    Luckily, the area was empty -an intention of the man, which ended up killing him and aiding Lucas to cover his tracks.


    By the time the people outside had noticed what had happened, Lucas was already gone.


    A short while later, a Patrol Corps member has appeared at the scene and closed the place off before informing the others, following which more Patrol Corps officers arrived and blocked off the area while investigating. Twenty minutes later, a hover car landed close by and from it appeared three individuals; the three members of the Red Fangs.


    "Is this his last location?" The woman asked.


    "Based on the security clips, yes. He was here about twenty minutes or so. Apart from him, the assassin was also present." The red-haired man said.


    "We surmised that the assassin was trying to escape with a hover car fitted with hypersonic driver systems. But for some reason, he has failed."


    "Do you really think it''s a strange that he failed?" The woman glanced at the red haired man and asked.


    The latter was stunned a bit before shaking his head.


    "Even if we want to say he did it, there''s no evidence of that happening. Also, he is a human; how can a human destroy a hover car, especially one with hypersonic speed capabilities and structure?" The brown haired man said.


    The lady stared towards the horizon as she said,


    "There''s only one way to find out."

 Chapter 56 - 56: Lucas Is Arrested

    "Based on the security clips, we''ve gathered that Lucas Saunters was indeed here before; about twenty minutes ago to be precise. Apart from him, the assassin was also present." The red-haired man said as the trio stood close to the site of the wreckage.


    The fire had been extinguished, but the damage was still clear. The metal on the hover car had melted in some areas due to the high heat. There was no sign of a corpse, despite the fact that a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner''s flesh was tough and sturdy. This showed that the heat from the explosion after the crash was so intense, that the corpse couldn''t even survive it.


    "We surmised that the assassin was trying to escape with a hover car fitted with hypersonic driver systems. But for some reason, he not only failed but also died while at it. The forensics are currently on it, but the preliminary scan identified a problem with the hypersonic drive sequence. It seemed to have been damaged just before it reached full output."


    "Don''t you think it''s strange that he failed?" The woman glanced at the red haired man and asked.


    The latter was stunned a bit before shaking his head. He understood what she meant, but until the forensics analysis in the place was completed, they couldn''t go around pointing fingers, especially at a human.


    "Even if we want to say he did it, there''s no evidence of that happening. Also, he is a human; how can a human destroy a hover car, especially one with hypersonic speed capabilities and structure?" The brown haired man said. He similarly knew what the lieutenant meant by her words, but he was of the same idea as his colleague.


    The lady stared towards the horizon as she said,


    "There''s only one way to find out."


    . . .


    After Lucas had murdered the assassin, he immediately made his way back to the store as that was where he felt safe. Although he was close to the market zone, the Seven Sparks Forge was still far from the area, so Lucas decided to bite the bullet and pay for a hover taxi.


    While in the hover taxi, Lucas asked the system,


    "What are the odds of them finding out I''m related to his death?"


    "One hundred percent." The system succinctly replied to him.


    Lucas wasn''t surprised by this.


    This world was much more advanced than Earth, especially in terms of technology. Even though he had never spotted any cameras, Lucas was sure that there was something keeping an eye on everyone, but he couldn''t identify what it was. There was no saying whether he was caught by the monitoring system when the crime took place, but it definitely observed him following after the assassin.


    "If I get investigated, what are the odds I''ll end up in jail." Lucas asked again.


    "Host should know that the system''s function is to aid you in becoming the next Crafts-God and not for answering a Q&A session."


    "True, but as it stands, that would be difficult to pull off if I get in jail. Who knows, it might be so long that I''ll end up dead in prison." Lucas said nonchalantly.


    "In that case, the system would take the next best course of action."


    Lucas felt a foreboding feeling before asking


    "...which is?"


    "To abandon you and find a new host."


    Lucas silently cursed at the system for being so heartless, but he wasn''t affected by this. He took the system as an equipment to help him get stronger and improve his skills, while the system used him as a probable labrat. Each to his own, but it was still a win-win situation for both sides. There was no emotional entanglement between them and it was simply a transaction relationship.


    Lucas brought his thoughts back to reality and began analysing his situation. He had currently murdered a hyuman, which was one of the gravest crimes in Baylands city-state. Even though the target was an assassin after his life, Lucas has survived the attempt and the option of escaping was a viable course of action. However, he chased after the man and killed him.


    It would be difficult to classify this as self-defence.


    What''s more, Lucas was human. If he was a hyuman, it might be possible to fight for an exoneration on the terms of self-defence and retaliation. However, if the judge was someone who disliked humans, that would be impossible.


    Even if the judge wasn''t a speciesist, about seventy percent of hyumans didn''t consider humans to be the same as them -quite alright-, so they didn''t have any sense of relation or consideration for them.


    All this added together made Lucas realise that if he was arrested and trialled, there was a more likely possibility of him ending up in jail.


    The hover taxi soon reached the store and Lucas got down and went into the building. Right now, he had to figure out a way to not escalate the situation.


    ''Worse comes to worse, I''ll hole up in the store or I''ll just burst out of jail.'' Lucas thought.


    He went to the workshop to work on some items, almost as if he had forgotten about his impending trouble. It didn''t take long for Lucas to abruptly stop and face the entrance of the store.


    "System...?" Lucas asked as he could sense something strange in the air.


    "Host''s suspicions are correct. The store is currently surrounded."


    "Indeed. They came quite fast." Lucas smiled as he walked out of the workshop.


    *Ding*


    The bell on the door rang as a few figures stepped into the store.


    In the lead was an icy beauty dressed in a blue and black attire with stern looking eyes and an air of indifference around her. Despite being in foreign territory and looking not more than twenty five years, she was composed and still radiated a confident feeling as if everything was under her control.


    Behind the woman were two men dressed in a similar attire, with one of them looking younger and having brown hair, while the other one had red hair. The brown haired man was like a snake, with shifty eyes that scanned the entire store while giving out a dangerous vibe.


    As for the red haired man, he gave off the feeling of a veteran tiger that had lived in the jungle for a long time, mastering the art of stealth and burst.


    When the trio saw Lucas they stopped a few metres away and simultaneously studied him for a few seconds.


    "How may I help you?" Lucas plainly asked.


    Even if they were the police or whatever, he wasn''t obliged to give them special treatment and neither would he. Lucas had seen even more terrifying people in his past life, and while he might be starting anew, it didn''t mean that he would behave differently.


    "Are you Lucas Saunters?" The red haired man asked, despite having seen his picture before.


    "I am." Lucas replied.


    "Please come with us. We need your help in answering a few questions." The man smiled.


    Instead of replying, Lucas glanced at the woman. She was clearly the leader of this group, but relegated the role of talking to her deputy. For some reason, this irked Lucas a lot. The look in her eyes was almost as if she considered having a conversation with Lucas beneath her.


    This wasn''t the same as the haters of humanity who looked down on him due to his species; this was an innate sense of arrogance she possessed.


    But even with such an explanation, Lucas didn''t like it.


    "And who might you be?" Lucas asked, facing the woman, but his words were clearly aimed at the group.


    The woman''s brows wrinkled as she released a hint of her pressure.


    Fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    From his experience with the Autumn Gate guild and the desolate beasts of the Cicalien Mountains, Lucas could easily approximate the woman''s strength. Such a level of power achieved and while still being so young was amazing. But, Lucas had seen more. Even if one were to eliminate his past life''s experiences and solely consider his encounters in Eretre, Lucas had seen more powerful characters.


    For instance, Lisa, the vice guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild, who was of roughly the same age as the woman before Lucas now. However, Lisa was much stronger and already at the fifth level.


    Others were: Harry, who was at the fifth level; the chimera monster at the Green-Snout metal moles'' hideout, which was at the peak of the fifth level; and Crimson Fang, the guild leader of the Autumn''s Gate guild, who was at the sixth level.


    All of them were much stronger than the woman present, and Lucas didn''t react to the display of their aura. So, there was even less to say about this attempt. What''s more, this was the store; the Host Protection Mechanism was always active.


    Lucas just stared at her as normal, looking as if he felt nothing.


    The woman was surprised by this and increased her force, pressuring Lucas with it, but he still remained nonchalant. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Suddenly, the lieutenant snorted and grabbed at Lucas.


    Her hand speed was so shockingly fast that Lucas failed to react in time; even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it. Before he knew it, his neck was clasped in her hand.


    "You''re coming with us, now."

 Chapter 57 - 57: The Central Prefecture

    "Is this how you treat a citizen?" Lucas looked at the hand and asked calmly, seemingly unaffected by the chokehold.


    "Cut the crap. Don''t think because I saved you last time that I''m on your side. You know what you did." The woman stared at him with a menacing expression on her face.


    "And that would be?" Lucas stared her in the eye, unfazed by her expression.


    The brown haired man smirked and answered, "Murdering of a hyuman and causing a commotion in the city."


    "So, self defence?" Lucas responded.


    "The deceased was a valuable asset to finding the ones behind the assassination as well as taking down an underground organisation or two. But thanks to you now, none of that would happen." The lieutenant scoffed.


    "So, I also helped you clear out some trash." Lucas smiled self-assuredly.


    Not only the lieutenant, but even the other two men were stunned by Lucas'' response. His reaction was definitely not what they expected and all too calm, almost as if he wasn''t even their target.


    "That''s enough talking, come with us." The woman let go of his neck and ordered.


    Lucas massaged his neck a bit to relieve it of the slight pain. However, he didn''t go with them just yet.


    "I''m a victim in this entire incident, but rather than treat me as one, I''ve been threatened and harmed by you. What makes you think I''ll now go with you? What if I do, and you end up trying to silence me? With such a risk, do you think I''ll take it?"


    "Are you intending on resisting arrest then?" The red haired man asked with a confused look on his face.


    Although Lucas'' actions were a bit against the law, it wasn''t too serious as he had been attacked by the assassin. However, if he resisted arrest, it would make things even more problematic for him. The man just didn''t get why Lucas would want to make a mountain out of a molehill.


    "No. I just don''t trust myself to be safe in your hands." Lucas replied.


    "From the very beginning, your actions have been recorded by a hidden camera in my store. Even if you try to accuse me of resisting arrest, I can simply present the video recording to the court and clarify the incident. By then, it wouldn''t be me who is in trouble, but you. I can sue for trespassing, assault and battery, as well as speciesism.


    It might be true that humans like myself are looked down on, but in the eyes of the law, we are all equal." Lucas smirked.


    The lieutenant, her deputy and the brown-haired man finally realised that their opponent this time wasn''t an ordinary individual. He was a crafty fellow who they had to treat with caution.


    The woman stared at Lucas but didn''t say a word. As a result, the atmosphere became even more cold and the temperature was steadily dropping.


    "Fine. I apologize on her behalf. We won''t harm you or anything, but we do need your assistance for the ongoing investigations." The red haired man sighed.


    Lucas nodded as he knew this was the best he could get from them. Pushing the group more might be counteractive to his plans.


    When he stepped out of the store with the trio, Lucas noticed that the store had been surrounded in all four major directions by other members of the Patrol Corps. They were in place just in case he tried to escape.


    Lucas only glanced briefly at some of them before departing with the trio in the hover car they came with.


    It took almost an hour for the hover car to reach its destination, but during the trip, no one said any word.


    When the hover car landed and Lucas came out beside the brown-haired man while the other man and the woman walked ahead of them. Lucas scanned the area and discovered that he was in an entirely new area. This wasn''t the West Wing district as he knew it to be.


    The air was fresher, the buildings were more stunning and modern, even the roads were paved with a different material than those of the West Wing district. The hover cars in the air were also more luxurious in terms of appearance.


    "Welcome to the Central Prefecture district. You''ve probably not been here before, I take?" The brown haired man smiled.


    ''Makes sense.'' Lucas thought while ignoring the former.


    The Central Prefecture district.


    If Baylands City was the capital of Baylands city-state, then the Central Prefecture was the capital of Baylands City and the major centre of Baylands city-state. This was the region reserved for the city-state''s richest and most influential factions and powers.


    Whether it was the wealthiest families, the top freelancer guilds, top 500 companies on the continent, or the city lord''s office, they were all based here.


    Every important administrative agency was also headquartered here, and as a result, the security was on a different level.


    Unlike the West Wing district that was littered with underground organisations and human traffickers, the Central Prefecture had none of that. Describing it as being on an entirely different level wasn''t enough; it was at least two levels ahead of the West Wing district.


    The cost of housing and living was much higher, and acted as an obstacle to anyone interested in living here.


    However, the most notable barrier was the indispensable requirement of owning a Recognition Permit, which was a special kind of document granted to people who had lived in Baylands City for at least ten years and fulfilled a couple of conditions or were related to residents of the Central Prefecture in some manner.


    It was this absurd requirement which had led to the Central Prefecture being termed as the Forbidden City[1].


    There were exceptions for special guests and visitors, but the rule was applicable to those who intended on residing within the ''city''.


    "I thought I was just heading over to a station." Lucas asked the brown-haired man.


    The fellow smiled before responding, "This is our station. Ah, I think you made a mistake about our identities. We aren''t you average Baylands City Patrol guys, but members of the Red Fang. I''m Barry and the red-haired fella over there is my mini-boss, Nafir. As for the missus..." sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The brown-haired man, Barry, liked around carefully and walked closer to Lucas before muttering, "she''s my boss, Lieutenant Lily. A pretty girlish name, if you ask me, which is probably why she doesn''t like anyone calling her by that. Just call her lieutenant if the need be."


    Lucas was surprised and glanced at Barry, wondering why he told him such information. Actually, he had guessed it. Based on Barry''s cunning appearance, Lucas could fathom that his intention in saying this was to have Lucas do exactly just that; to call the lieutenant by her name at some point.


    Although he didn''t know what would happen, Lucas reckoned that the result wouldn''t be good for him.


    The trio headed into the building and were greeted by the individuals there; to be specific, it was the lieutenant, Lily, who was greeted by them. It seemed like in the Red Fangs, the rank of lieutenant was somewhat high.


    As they walked, Lucas scrutinized the area as well as the individuals here. Just like Barry and Nafir, they all possessed a certain vibe. Based on his past experience, Lucas determined this vibe to be that of a killer. Every single individual in this building, even those at the desk and the ones laughing intimately, were all killers, and professionals at that.


    ''This is like a den of monsters.'' Lucas thought as he calmly proceeded forward with the trio.


    Being a killer didn''t mean they took the lives of others hyumans. Lucas guessed that the lives they took were mostly that of desolate beasts.


    He had heard of the Red Fangs once, when he was reading about the organisations to look out for in Baylands City.


    Despite being a government agency, the Red Fangs operated almost like a private militia. They were under the command of the Commissioner of Police, just like the Baylands City Patrol Corps, but they took orders directly from the Director of the Red Fangs.


    They didn''t handle average internal security issues like the regular Patrol Corps, but mostly ones related to desolate beasts and organised murders. They also took on high risk and high-profile cases that the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps couldn''t handle.


    However, one of the most interesting discoveries about the Red Fangs was the fact that they carried out missions outside of the city -a stark contrast to the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps who always operated within the city.


    These external missions were mostly joint missions with the City Defence Force, and they entailed exploring the Wastelands and other dangerous regions, as well as quelling terrorist groups, riots and beast tides in the other fifteen districts.


    Terrorism was one of the major problems faced by the current hyuman society and it was somewhat unavoidable. With hyumankin having expanded and raided various other civilisations, they didn''t always eliminate all the intelligent lives they encountered, but forcefully assimilated some of them.


    However, in some areas, these intelligent lifeforms were treated like second class citizens, and sometimes worse.


    Considering humans, the ancestors of hyumans, were treated terribly and even trafficked by underground organisations, one could imagine how alien lifeforms were treated.


    This resulted in some of them banding together and forming terrorist organisations, wreaking havoc throughout the galaxy.


    Eretre was a planet that was ninety percent occupied by hyumans, but there were some alien life forms here. Although the majority were in Digress city-state, some were scattered all over. They lived in peace and isolation, but a few of them occasionally carried out terrorist acts.


    The Defence Force and the Red Fangs were the organisations who handled such rogues. So, it was inevitable that they would have a ton of blood on their hands.

 Chapter 58 - 58: Interrogation

    Inside an interrogation room with only one table and two chairs, Lucas and Nafir, the deputy form the Red Fangs, were both seated on the opposite sides.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters. Age, 23. DOB, 8th of July. You run a vestige store in the blue area of the market zone." Nafir read out loud from a projected screen.


    "Those are merely your basic details, and not much is even known. Other details regarding you include your actions of severely injuring three hyumans, but their involvement in human trafficking and attempted kidnapping led to this case being buried under the tag of self-defence. You had a clash with the Black Lemon Squad just when you opened up shop.


    You were also under the surveillance of a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. At exactly 00:02 a few weeks back, he had invaded your store with the possible intention of murdering you or kidnapping you. However, based on security footage, he never left the building, but you were alright."


    Lucas was surprised by the information in the hands of the Red Fangs. Many of these were things he had carried out secretly in the past and the assault on him in his store was one he was surprised they found out. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But along with the surprise was a slight trace of anger in Lucas'' heart. Since they knew that someone had assaulted him in his store, why didn''t they help him? Why didn''t the Patrol Corps investigate the matter?.


    Seemingly, sensing Lucas'' emotions, Nafir spoke up,


    "To be honest, your file is really interesting. It was buried amongst the masses, but this incident brought it to limelight. We were lacking information on you since your identification papers are just recent, so we had to review all footage from your arrival until now."


    "I thought I''ll be interrogated regarding the attempted murder, but nothing of the sort has taken place since we arrived here." Lucas said as he turned his eyes away from the projection and faced Nafir.


    "Don''t underestimate the Patrol Corps. Whether you say something or not, we will be able to find out who was behind the assassination attempt. However, we want to use this opportunity to find out more about you. Lucas Saunters, who are you really?" Nafir studied him.


    "Humans are well known to be unable to utilise stellar energy as efficiently as we hyumans. This makes them terrible vestige-smiths from the start. Even though the state of Digress has found a way to improve their strength, thereby defying the previous opinions, they are still unable to manufacture vestiges.


    Digress city-state had solved the problem of quantity, making it possible for them to possess stellar energy and advance in their refinement. But the issue of quality still remains, hence why they can''t refine vestiges.


    "Despite this, you''ve somehow achieved something that a city-state couldn''t. In fact, it''s no understatement to say that you''ve done something an entire civilisation has failed to do. What''s more, you did it without even reaching the Apertures Opening stage.


    "So I ask, who are you really? Where are you from?"


    Lucas was somewhat surprised by this, as most refused to believe he was a human vestige-smith; even Harry seemed to believe that there was a reclusive vestige-smith backing him. However, after recalling the past couple of minutes, he felt it was natural. The information garnering capability of the Red Fangs was clearly not something he could compare with that on Earth.


    "I''m just as you''ve found out. A human who''s also a genius." Lucas replied calmly, as if stating a fact.


    Nafir stared at him for a few seconds as if scanning him. However, Lucas'' heard the system''s voice in his head just then.


    "Detecting a mental invasion on the host. As this is the first time, the system would consume one of the host''s exoneration slots to exterminate the threat.


    "Threat detected and analysed.


    "Determining an appropriate response sequence in relation to the host''s current situation. Found.


    "Carrying out response sequence.


    "Successful.


    "Threat extinguished."


    Lucas was dumbfounded by the series of announcements, but he didn''t show it on his face. At the same time, his body turned cold as he became aware how much he had underestimated these people.


    "System, what was he trying to do and what response sequence did you carry out?" Lucas communicated mentally.


    "The invader''s technique is one used to pry into a target''s memory and scour through it. However, the user is clearly unskilled and merely intended to use it to determine whether the host was lying or not. Since it would not show any signs of usage, the target''s mental guard wouldn''t be raised and they would fail to spot anything. Luckily for the barely capable host, the system is active 24/7.


    The response sequence was simply a false response created and fed to the user''s technique."


    Lucas ignored the sarcastic jab by the system and couldn''t help but be startled that such a technique existed. Ever since he had been in this world, Lucas had yet to encounter someone with a special power as it was said that only at the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage would one have a chance at gaining an innate power. It looked like he had to be more cautious nowadays.


    Apart from the shock, he was also impressed by the system''s ability and rapid response. Lucas couldn''t help but wonder what exactly the system was and who made it.


    Nafir''s eyes flickered a bit, holding a variety of emotions within them which disappeared almost right away as he changed the topic.


    "Know this face?"


    An image of a man with a brawny appearance and a rough beard was projected.


    Lucas shook his head.


    "His name is Ramirez. One of the most powerful figures in the underground community of West Wing districts. We have reasons to believe that the assassin was sent by him. Do you know why perhaps?"


    "I did receive a threat from some guy about the building I bought. It was from an individual that owed some money to someone named Ramirez. The loan was supposed to use the land as collateral, but there was no information about this from the city government office." Lucas responded.


    Dragging the police in this matter would force Ramirez to consider his actions more carefully before he made a move. At least this would give Lucas enough time to complete his preparations.


    "Alright. Please write out a report concerning this as well as some of your thoughts on the matter." Nafir said. It was clear that he had put behind the previous topic and was now focusing on the incident.


    "Regarding your murder of the assassin, it would still have to be mentioned to the appropriate departments. Chances at that you might get dragged to court for it, and if your luck is bad, the judge might be anti-human. The good thing is that even in the worst case scenario, your sentencing would only be limited to a fine, as the matter could be defined under self-defence and retaliation.


    Once you''re done with the report, you can leave." Nafir added before he left the room.


    Lucas thought deeply about those words. It seemed like the Red Fangs already knew that there were people who hated or looked down on humans, but they could do nothing about it; maybe they didn''t bother themselves about it. It was quite sad.


    Humans, in some way, could be called the ancestors of the hyumankin. There would have been no hyumans without humans. Despite this obvious fact, the successors looked down on their predecessors and tried to make life difficult for them.


    Even for the hyumans who weren''t speciesist, they closed an eye to the matter, sharing somewhat similar sentiments that humans were weaker and shouldn''t be cared about as much.


    ''I guess this is just a part of the cycle of natural selection.'' Lucas sighed.


    The evolution of the human race to create hyumankin was all in a bid to survive the intergalactic era. Not only could the hyumankin refine and store stellar energy in their bodies, but they could also survive in more extreme habitats, whether they be higher or lower temperature regions, or radioactive regions. In comparison, humans were indeed too weak and not fit for intergalactic exploration.


    All that the hyumankin had achieved today would have been impossible if they were still humans.


    . . .


    On the other side, after Nafir left the room, he went up to the female lieutenant who stood in another room, watching a display screen that showed the previous room. Apart from her, there was also Barry, the brown-haired man who came with them.


    "My technique didn''t find a strange reading on him. Everything he said was the truth." Nafir said.


    "Makes sense. If he was a spy, there would be no reason for him to stand out like this." said the lieutenant, Lily.


    "But it''s still strange. Is he truly a genius?"


    "I can''t say for sure, but he should be. That''s unless he found a way to bypass my skill." Nafir answered.


    Barry shook his head. "That should be impossible. No one knows that you''ve unlocked a hint of your superpower so early. Most would have to wait until the tenth level and exceptions are very rare. Exceptions like yourself, who tap into a bit of their innate power at the third level, are even rarer. Also, superpowers are already rare much less mental superpowers.


    Apart from myself, the boss and the director, no one should know about the details, so it''s impossible to be prepared for it."


    "The ancient humans never thought that in the future, their kind would dominate the galaxy, but here we are. Nothing is impossible." Lily suddenly interrupted.


    "Once he''s done, send him back, but keep an eye on him. Don''t make it clear though; he seems to be aware of any surveillance on him. I have a feeling he will bring us more surprises in the future, but whether they would be good or not, I don''t know."

 Chapter 59 - 59 : Last Day Of Training

    "Again." Lucas glanced at Wally who was breathing loudly like a dog that had just run a mile.


    After the interrogation at the Red Fangs station and making a report of the event that day, Lucas was sent back to his store the following day. At the store, he resumed his usual daily activities, which were improving his skill, calculating and testing out the feasibility of his idea, and finally, training Wally O''Connor.


    The duo were inside the white room that was very spacious. The walls and flooring of the room were designed with criss-crossed black lines, just like a grid, giving the entire place a weird feel.


    The ground floor of the Seven Sparks Forge building had four rooms: the work-station, the lobby for attending to guests, a restroom and finally, this white room which was called the Simulation room.


    The Simulation room was the strangest place in the entire store after the system''s renovation; it was even more fascinating than the workshop, a fact Lucas had a hard time admitting to.


    The special thing about this room was that one could change its appearance and even size. According to the system''s description, it utilised advanced spatial manipulation technology to be able to expand and contract the size within the room. When combined with top-of-the-line illusory and simulation technology, the Simulation room could be changed to replicate any environment.


    Due to the sturdy nature of the room, it was the best place to test out the power of vestiges as well as to carry out Wally''s training.


    Wally held a spear in his hand as he wiped the sweat on his face. Compared to other spears, the vestige he had was lighter and more slender. But one shouldn''t be deceived by its appearance as the weapon was as deadly as a Grade 1 spear.


    Grade 1 was the limit of vestiges students could use for the mid-term practicals. As the students were still at the Body Strengthening stage, it made no difference what Grade they would use as even the most talented of them would at best display a level one stellar practitioner''s strength with even a Grade 3 vestige.


    Since there was no difference in power, it was best for everyone to be limited to the same grade of vestiges, as a difference would now mean relying on the equipment; after all, in terms of structural integrity, a Grade 3 vestige was more durable than a Grade 1.


    With a cap to the grade of vestiges allowed, Lucas made Wally''s vestige to be exactly at that grade. However, it was much stronger than the average Grade 1 vestiges and the stellar energy within the runes was even purer. At face value, it was definitely a Grade 1 vestige, but the power one could exert with it was closely approaching Grade 2.


    "Even though you''re allowed to use vestiges for the practicals, you shouldn''t depend too much on them." Lucas said as he glanced at Wally who was still trying to recover.


    While the latter had a spear in his hands, Lucas was unarmed.


    This was natural, after all Wally''s opponent was a 530+ years old former Grand Magician who had engaged in intensive physical training too. Even though he wasn''t on par with his past life''s peak, for Wally who was still at the third level of the Body Strengthening stage, it was enough.


    Wally stood up and nodded. He didn''t charge in right away, but calmed his beating heart and stared at Lucas like a calculative hunter.


    ''This kid... he''s definitely something.'' Lucas thought as he smiled.


    "Come."


    Just as the words left Lucas'' mouth, Wally abruptly lunged at him with the spear aimed for Lucas'' neck.


    With a slight smile, Lucas stepped to the side and tapped the shaft of the spear with two fingers.


    The spear suddenly moved to the side and Wally almost lost control of it. Instead of resisting this change, Wally flowed with it and moved the spear in the direction of the force, making a full circle at the spot and sweeping the spear at Lucas.


    Lucas was unperturbed by this attempt as he bent low and let the spear just sweep above him. Having been fed up with dealing with attacks, he delivered a kick right away, forcing Wally to block with the spear''s shaft.


    *Bang*


    The kick didn''t have Lucas'' full strength, but it was still on par with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage, and almost forced Wally back. However, the teen was already experienced with such powerful attacks from Lucas. He didn''t even budge as he retaliated, firing a punch at Lucas with his left hand.


    Lucas retreated while taking back his foot, but Wallg followed up right away. His attacks with the vestige was almost like the wings of a hummingbird, flashing rapidly at Lucas.


    What looked like one strike would be two or three thrusts, aiming different locations in a bid to minimise Lucas'' range of motion.


    The attacks intensified so much that Lucas was nearly having a difficult time with them. After days of intensive training, Wally could now concurrently launch five thrusts with the vestige each time he made a move.


    Once Lucas tried to widen the gap, Wally would chase right after him. Even when Lucas had prepared a counterattack just for that, Wally would block with the spear before attacking with his left fist. Lucas would then be forced to either block or dodge, giving Wally enough time to attack with the spear again, resuming the same relentless assault strategy.


    This resulted in a situation were Lucas was forced to stay on his toes as any slight relapse in concentration would lead to his defeat.


    "I guess this is enough for a warm-up." Lucas suddenly said.


    Wally was startled by this, but almost immediately his muscles tensed.


    ''It''s coming.'' Wally thought.


    This wasn''t the first time something like this happened. It was about two days ago. Wally had made massive improvements and could force Lucas to be on the defense for over thirty minutes. Although it was mostly because Lucas was holding back and fighting only with the strength of a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner without a vestige, it was still impressive.


    However, Lucas became dissatisfied and burst out with more power. He was still using the strength of a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner, but the skill and expertise with which he did so made it difficult for Wally to be able to react and he was beaten black and blue soon after.


    In the end, Wally''s training became as such: the first half would be made up of him suppressing Lucas until the latter had ''warmed up'', following which it would be Wally''s turn to take a beating.


    ''Here!''


    Although he was still forcing Lucas to remain dodging on the defence, Wally noticed the air around him change.


    At the start, Lucas could be described to be giving off the air of a friendly sparring partner who was just trading blows with him, but with no intention of causing severe harm. However, when he had turned serious, the Lucas before him would become an oppressive and formidable beast that could rip him in shreds within a few seconds.


    It was almost as if what he was facing was no longer a human, but a bloodthirsty creature that had survived in the wild and knew the laws of the jungle; silent but deadly, and seizing any and every opportunity it got within a split second.


    Just after Wally had launched a barrage of thrusts and was about to attack again, he saw a fist flashing in front of him.


    Wally was stunned by the speed of the attack, but he didn''t lose his cool as this wasn''t the first time such had happened. Instead, he hurriedly retreated while moving his head to his right.


    Grasping his vestige tightly, Wally was about to attack and seize back his momentum, but a kick suddenly appeared at the edge of his right eye''s vision, aimed for his head that had tilted to the right.


    Gritting his teeth, Wally forced his body to react quickly as he placed the spear in between him and the outstretched leg, blocking the attack. But that wasn''t all.


    A fist appeared from his left side, aimed his chest. Wally''s two hands were occupied as they held the vestige in resisting the kick, so he was left open.


    *Bam*


    The fist connected and Wally spewed out a bit of saliva with his eyes bulging in pain.


    Even after seeing this, Lucas didn''t hold back in his attacks as he pummelled Wally right away. This beating, ah, training session, went on for five more minutes before Lucas stopped. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You managed to handle two attacks this time. That''s quite good." Lucas praised.


    However, Wally''s mouth twitched at those words. Who would be satisfied with just blocking two kicks while getting pounded like yam for five minutes straight?


    "Your practicals begin next week right? That''s in two days." Lucas suddenly asked.


    "Yeah." Wally barely responded.


    "Alright. You don''t need to come tomorrow. Take a break and get your body in peak form. You can go now."


    "...alright." Wally nodded before dragging his weakened body out of the simulation room.


    Lucas glanced at the youngster who was leaving with a mysterious look on his face.


    Wally might have taken it to be him letting out his frustrations, but the beating was still part of the training. Lucas had only been training Wally four hour sessions for barely five days, but in this time, Wally had shown so much progress that Lucas thought him to be inhumane.


    Lucas had initially raised the bar high, starting with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage degree of power while using only five percent of his skills. But within three days, Wally had actually managed to force him to remain on the defence. Although part of that had to do with the fact that Wally was armed with a vestige while he wasn''t, it was still incredible.


    To prevent being disgraced, Lucas decided to occasionally use ten percent of his skill when things got a bit risky, and in just two days, Wally had managed to react to two strikes of his. If he was a bit stronger physically, he might have blocked the third attack.


    ''Is this a hyuman thing or is this kid a genius?''

 Chapter 60 - 60: The Mid-Term Practical Test

    In Eretre, the education system was somewhat different from that of Earth, but roughly the same as the standard in the other planets of the Federation. This has to do with the fact that there was a lot more to study thanks to hyumankin''s intergalactic exploration and expansion, and also because of the presence of stellar energy and the art of refinement.


    Education in the Federation was divided into three paths: Civil, Technical and Practical. The Civil path was the standard path and one of the most common. It included mostly art majors and social sciences such as history, languages, politics, economics, and mostly theoretical knowledge like pure mathematics.


    The Technical path focused on the more hands-on majors like engineering, vestige-smithing, nuclear studies, and so on.


    As for the Practical path, it was one of the most aspired, but relied heavily on natural talent. It was aimed at raising stellar practitioners who would either become freelancers, private workers or work for the government.


    While some comprehensive schools -institutions that taught all paths- did exist, they usually focused more on one path than the others. For instance, Wally''s high school, the Greendale Highschool, was a Technical school, but they offered comprehensive courses in the Civil and Practical paths. Such an institution was referred to as a comprehensive school with the opposite being a ''pure'' school.


    The Baylands City-state had a couple of high schools and colleges, but very few ''pure'' ones. The term ''pure'' simply referred to institutes that placed their entire focus on only one path, specialising solely in it rather than offering comprehensive courses.


    It was every student''s dream to attend such a school as the teaching standards and education offered was much higher and better then comprehensive schools. However, such institutions had high standards, were more expensive, and difficult to get into.


    But there was a shortcut to getting into one. If the student''s high school or previous institution of education was a subsidiary of a pure school, as long as they did well, they could get a letter of recommendation to get into the pure school.


    The Greendale Highschool was a comprehensive school subsidiary to the pure college, the Greendale School of Refiners. This made it somewhat easier for students of the high school to get into the college; but to do so, one had to show promising talent in vestige-smithing, craftsmanship and engineering, as the college was one on the Technical path.


    This seemed somewhat unfair to students of other paths who studied in the high school, as such, the mid-term and final term practicals were brought about. These were a series of tests used to quantify a student''s talent, skill and performance, which would then be recorded in the student''s data folder.


    When a student applies for college, apart from the entrance examination, the college would take into factor the information from the student data folder from their high school.


    For students who dreamed of the Practical path, the term practical tests in their final year of high school was the most important, as that was when their ability as a stellar practitioner would be tested. They only had one mid-term and final term practical tests, so failing even one would be disastrous.


    As for those of the Civil Path, their performance would usually be tested in the previous mid-term and final term practical tests. As for the Technical path, it was regularly tested, after all, the Greendale Highschool focused on the Technical path.


    Wally was currently in his final year of high school, making him a senior. It was time for the mid-term practical tests -the first deciding test for a student who dreamed of the Practical path.


    Truth be told, Wally wasn''t a fan of battles and fights, rather much preferring to sit behind a desk while working on a spreadsheet, or spend his time reading webnovels. However, his family''s circumstances weren''t the best to speak of. Although both his parents were working, and even his older sister had a job too, they could only live an average life in West Wing district.


    West Wing district bordered the Wastelands, so it was a place frequented by freelancers a lot. In recent years, the cost of living has begun to steadily increase. As such, the more successful individuals here were people whose job was related to desolate beasts or freelancers. Unfortunately, of the three working adults in the family of five, none of them worked in the appropriate sector.


    All three were busy most of the time, and barely had time to spend with Wally and his little brother.


    To give his family a more comfortable life, Wally''s best option was to become a freelancer. As luck would have it, he had a better mDNA count than the rest of his family members, and his m(o)DNA concentration of 15% meant that he had a good chance of reaching the third level of the Apertures Opening stage, which was the level of a veteran freelancer.


    But to be able to reach such a level, Wally had to work on his potential as early as possible. A pure school of the Practical path was the best option for him. The mid-term and final term practical tests were the platforms Wally needed, and he had to make the best of them.


    "Yo, Wally. Been a while." A young boy roughly the same age as Wally greeted.


    "Oh, Astar. It''s you." Wally replied.


    Astar was one of Wally''s few friends in high school. They both bonded easily and had been friends ever since their sophomore years [1].


    "What''s gotten into you? You haven''t been to classes the past few days and you''re already looking lost." Astar asked worriedly.


    "Nothing much. Just been training." Wally smiled.


    Before any of the practical tests, the academy usually gives the students a two weeks break from mandatory lectures. During this period, students are free to come to classes or not. The whole point of the break is to give them time to prepare themselves for the test.


    Wally had been practicing with Astar at school during the first week, but in the second week, he started his training with Lucas at the Seven Sparks Forge store.


    "Oh, that''s good." Astar felt glad. "How do you feel about this time''s tests?"


    "I can''t really say. I just did my best to prepare."


    "Is that a vestige?" Astar pointed at the wrapped item Wally held with his right hand.


    "Yeah." Wally smiled.


    "Wow. So cool. How did you get that? Can I see it?" Astar became intrigued.


    A vestige was costly and not anyone could afford it. Even if one could, buying it had strict requirements. They were highschoolers, making it almost impossible for them to own a vestige unless they had some sort of connections.


    Astar knew a bit about Wally''s situation which was why he was surprised that the latter had a vestige with him. It should be noted that Astar also had a vestige.


    "I had to make a deal with the owner." Wally awkwardly replied.


    Astar suddenly grabbed Wally and shook him furiously.


    "Are you alright?! It''s not those kinds of deals where you sell your organs or become a labrat, is it?"


    "N-no. Nothing of the sort." Wally hurriedly calmed his best friend.


    While the two continued catching up and discussing the tests, a commotion broke out behind them. They were at the assembly hall of the school, and every final year student was supposed to be gathered here. The other years had their gathering location.


    Turning to the scene of the commotion, Wally and Astar discovered that it was due to the appearance of three students similar to them; two boys and a girl.


    "The heavenly trio have arrived." Astar muttered mysteriously.


    Wally''s eyes glistened as he took notice of the trio.


    The Heavenly Trio was a special nickname given to the top three students of their year, who also happened to be the top 3 students of the academy. Not only were they well versed with Technical and Civil courses, but their Practical path skills were the best of everyone else.


    It was also rumoured that their mDNA count was ahead of the others and their m(o)DNA concentration could even match up with some of the top freelancers today.


    All three students were judged to have enough potential to reach the fourth level at least, and even possibly charge for the sixth level. Compared to Wally whose limit would be the third level of the Apertures Opening stage even after using serums, they were on a different plane.


    Every student envied them while the teachers looked up to them. In time, these three would be popular names in the freelancer community.


    ''I shouldn''t think too much.'' Wally shook his head.


    Unlike the trio, he wasn''t born ''blessed'', so he had to keep his dreams close to the ground. Reaching the second or third level and earning a decent amount of money was all he wished for. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''And to achieve that, I have to do my best.''


    After a short while, all the final year students of Greendale Highschool had arrived at the assembly hall. A few minutes later, the dean alongside a few other teachers arrived at the stage.


    Once the dean stood on the podium, the students turned quiet, awaiting the opening speech.


    "As you all know, this is the mid-term practical tests. I''d like to clarify to you all that this isn''t the same as the previous practical tests you''ve had before. Not only would the mid-term not be held on school grounds, but your opponents would be bloodthirsty desolate beasts. This is a very important test that would define the future for many of you here.


    Although it is targeted at those walking the Practical path, I sincerely hope that the rest of you still give it your all. This is a matter of your student data folder, which is of immeasurable value to you all. Do your best, but consider your safety foremost. With that well said, you may proceed to the test venue."

 Chapter 61 - 61 : Greendale Highschools Practical Tests

    The Greendale Highschool''s term practical tests were the most important evaluation exercises for the students, as the results of these tests would go into their student data folder.


    The Student Data Folder (SDF), was a digital folder that contained the performance of a student in all previously attended institutions. One could think of it like a r¨¦sum¨¦ for students.


    For the students of Greendale Highschool, the mid and final term practical exercises were very important, not just because they would be inputted into their data folders, but that the high school was a subsidiary of a pure college. As such, it''s evaluation was taken even more seriously.


    It should be noted that the term practical tests weren''t always ''practical'' in nature and could simply be a quiz or a written exam.


    For the first years, or freshmen, their mid-term and final term practical tests were written exams focused more on courses of the Civil path with the other two paths taking lower stances.


    The second year''s (Sophomore year) term practical tests focused primarily on courses of the Technical path, a bit on the Civil path, and the Practical path barely taking up much space. Much like the first year''s term exercises, they were also theoretical.


    The third year''s (junior year) term practical tests were slightly more complicated. The mid-term practical tests were an equal mix of Technical path and Civil path questions, but the final term practical tests were a mix of exercises from the Technical path and Practical path. However, unlike the first and second years, the third year''s term practical tests were hands-on exercises.


    The Technical path tests involved maintenance and repair of some technological equipment and vestiges. The Civil path tests were questions that required intense reasoning and knowledge on the application of the various topics. As for the Practical path tests, they were sparring sessions against fellow students.


    The fourth and final year''s term practical tests were focused on the application of the knowledge accrued from the past years.


    For the mid-term practical tests, the students would take two tests. The first was a written examination on the Practical path. The written test would gauge their knowledge about various desolate beasts, how to deal with them and how to identify resources in the wild.


    After that, they would be shipped to a designated region for the second test, where the students would have to survive three days against desolate beasts. Survival was only one aspect of this test, as they were expected to hunt down the beasts in exchange for points.


    "Damn. I''ve never written a test so hard." Astar looked downtrodden after exiting the examination hall with two other boys his age.


    "Tell me about it." Wally, who was beside him, sighed. He glanced at the boy by his side, who looked much better and relieved than himself.


    "How did you do, Klein?"


    The third boy, Klein, was a mutual friend of Astar and Wally. The trio made a clique and were quite similar to the other, one way or the another. While Astar and Wally became friends in their second year, Klein was a longtime friend of Wally since their first year.


    "Hmm, I think I''ve decided on what I want to do in the future." Klein suddenly said.


    Although confused by the statement, Wally asked, "What''s that?"


    "I''m going to give up on being a freelancer and just take after my dad''s shop." Klein responded. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Yeah, he''s fucked up too.''


    Wally and Astar thought at the same time.


    "Let''s look at the bright side. The written part only accounts for thirty percent of the final scores. The survival test is what matters most." Wally tried to cheer his colleagues up.


    "True, but it still won''t be easy. This time around, out opponents are desolate beasts. Any small relapse and we could die." Klein said seriously.


    "I don''t think the academy would let that happen. There should be some security measures in place for us." Astar countered.


    Klein nodded, but he still argued the statement.


    "True, but what if they don''t come in play at the right moment? What if something goes wrong? Or something out of the ordinary occurs? Let''s not forget, we signed a possible death contract before the practical tests. Also, accidents have happened before."


    The trio recalled that during their freshman year, the final term practical tests for the then senior years had ended with a mishap. Usually, the Practical path aspect of the mid-term and final term tests for senior years was to hunt and survive against desolate beasts in a designated zone.


    The zone would have been secured by the academy and made safe, in the sense that there would be a limit of the strength and number of monsters -just enough to make sure they don''t die. However, a mistake had happened back then.


    Apparently, the zone prepared for the Practical path trials for the senior years was secretly harbouring a third level desolate beast. For the high school students, who were usually at the peak of Body Strengthening stage or the first level of the Apertures Opening stage in their last semester, a third level beast was an opponent they could not beat, even with a Grade 3 vestige.


    That incident had resulted in ten students dying before the academy swiftly took the monster down. And this was with the academy responding almost immediately. If the desolate beast was left to roam the field a bit more, at least half of the students would have died then.


    "Well, not like we can bail out now so what use is there in worrying." Astar shrugged.


    "If we work as a team, we should be safe. Even if we encounter a first level desolate beast, taking it down shouldn''t be too much of a challenge. Escaping would be even more easier." Wally said.


    The other two nodded as he was right.


    The Greendale Highschool didn''t prevent students from teaming up during the tests, but what mattered in the end was one''s points. Points couldn''t be shared and only the student who gave the final hit would take it. As such, teaming up was an occurrence only for students who weren''t confident in their skills and strength.


    For the geniuses and talented ones, they would rarely team up together unless their target was strong. Like for instance, a late rank first level desolate beast, which was the strongest grade of monster found during the trials.


    A short while after, all three hundred or so students of the senior class were done with the written aspect of the mid-term practical test. They were then guided by their teachers to a large vehicle that was hovering in the parking lot.


    The vehicle looked like a really large bus with a ''nose'' just like an airplane. It was also wide but shaped like a cylinder. This was a Sare shuttle [1], the typical vehicles used by freelancers in dangerous regions. However, this one was much larger and could carry up to five hundred people at once.


    For the less than four hundred students of the senior class, along with some teachers and freelancers for security reasons, the vehicle was more than enough.


    When every required party had boarded the vehicle, it lifted off and blazed towards it destination: the Bayena plains.

 Chapter 62 - 62 : Bayena Plain

    Eretre has four continents with thirteen city-states spread across them. The Groeten continent had five city-states, of which Baylands city-state was one of them.


    However, the territories of all five city-states only added up to roughly sixty percent (60%) of the continent''s landmass, averaging twelve percent (12%) per city-state. The remaining forty percent were occupied by desolate beasts, with the Wastelands being the largest of them all. It was rumoured that the Wastelands was equivalent to twenty percent of the continent''s landmass, the estimated.


    The remaining twenty percent were various other danger zones and arid regions devoid of civilisation. They were occupied by desolate beasts, abominations and banished individuals.


    The Bayena Plain was one such region. It was home to a few desolate beasts and abominations. Abominations were strange creatures that weren''t desolate beasts, but they couldn''t be defined as an alien civilisation either.


    Abominations weren''t exactly a species, but a general term used to define a group of monsters.


    Once upon a time, the Oklo Dynasty as well as some other powers had conducted experiments on desolate beasts. There were also some underground organisations and terrorist groups who experimented on hyumans, humans and other intelligent lifeforms in a bid to produce something novel and powerful.


    However, all the experiments, whether they be those by the legal authorities or the illegal factions, all ended in failure and resulted in the creation of abominations.


    Compared to desolate beasts, abominations were much weaker and usually used as training targets. As they bordered between intelligent lifeforms and desolate beasts, abominations were a more challenging opponent. But their weak stellar energy prowess made them less dangerous than their desolate beasts counterpart, which was why abominations were seen as good training dummies. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Bayena Plain was a well known hotspot for abominations and the average level of desolate beast here was lower than the fourth level. Even the third level desolate beasts were rare.


    "That''s what the introduction manual says." Wally projected a document using a wristband-type communicator.


    The students were still on the Sare and had yet to reach their drop-off point as it would take forty minutes from the academy. If they were using a light rail train, it would have been faster, but such a medium of transport was somewhat costly. Most especially, it was needless.


    While the students waited, many of them had already grouped themselves and were discussing the strategies they would take.


    "There are five levels in the Body Strengthening stage. The Flesh Refining level, Muscles Refining level, Bones Refining level, Organ Refining level, and the Blood Cleansing level."


    "Whoever named the levels of the Body Strengthening stage is really lazy." Astar muttered, interrupting Wally''s briefing. Even though he knew the levels even before his freshman year, Astar was confident that he had a better naming sense than whoever did it.


    "Hey, hey, at least we didn''t get a Blood Refining level." Klein smiled.


    "That''s enough." Wally sighed at his friends who had interrupted him just to crack a joke.


    "As I was saying, apart from the first three levels, we get points for killing abominations from the fourth level and above, and desolate beasts. 1 point for an Organ Refining level abomination, 3 points for a Blood Cleansing level abomination or desolate beast. 5 points for abominations at the first level, but 10 points for desolate beasts.


    15 points for abominations at the peak of the first level and 20 points for desolate beasts on the same level. 30 for abominations at the second level and 50 points for desolate beasts at the second level.."


    Desolate beasts were born at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, unlike hyumans and humans who have to strive for that level. In fact, this situation was common in other alien species. Hyumankin and the human race were much weaker in comparison.


    As for why there was a stark difference in point between desolate beasts and abominations at the same level, this has to do with the fact that desolate beasts were stronger and had more stellar energy than abominations; even though the latter had more fighting patterns.


    "It''s advised not to go after second level desolate beasts though." Wally added.


    "Of course we know that. The addition of second level beasts to the scoring system is probably due to the Heavenly Trio." Astar sighed.


    "Indeed. The academy is probably trying to spur them to go all out." Klein laid out his thoughts.


    "Regardless. That has nothing to do with us. We should set our sights on the peak Body Strengthening stage monsters and first level. We all have vestiges so it should be okay to handle those." Wally said.


    "Let''s use this time to get ourselves together and rest. The test would last for three days after all."


    With that said, the briefing came to an end. There were still murmurs and whisperings here and there, but the trio tried to not concern themselves about it. They did some final checks for their supplies and decided to rest for the remainder of the journey.


    Twenty minutes later, the Sare shuttle had finally reached the drop-off location in the Bayena Plain.


    "The test officially begins today. Students, you have 72 hours to survive in the wild and accrue at least twenty points, otherwise, you will be determined to have failed this try. I wish you good luck."


    One of the teachers in charge of this trip said.


    ''Twenty points. That''s twenty abominations at the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage, the Organ Refining level. Or two desolate beasts of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Even if one is going for the easiest method, three days should be enough.'' Wally thought.


    ''But that''s not enough. I''ll do my best and shine as much as possible in this. I don''t only have my family depending on me, but Mr Lucas. He''s put so much faith in me; I can''t just end this with a mediocre score.''


    "Wally, let''s go." Astar''s voice sounded, waking him up from his thoughts.


    "Hmm."

 Chapter 63 - 63: Lucas Retaliation

    "I finally have enough time to work on this now."


    Lucas smiled as he stared at the skeletal framework that was arranged in front of him.


    During the last couple of days, Lucas had spent at least four hours a day training Wally. This was to ensure that the latter would perform well, especially with the vestige he had made for him. However, this has led to a drop in Lucas'' working time.


    Lucas'' time was usually spent researching the vestige-smith art, calculating and simulating the two major projects he had in mind, and improving his skill. Anyone of the activities would consume a lot of time, and with him spending not less than four hours a day on Wally, it made Lucas tight for him.


    With the training cycle over, Lucas finally felt relieved.


    ''It would have been nice if this test were a couple of months, or at least weeks away. I would have had a prototype ready by then.''


    Lucas sighed. But when he recalled that there was still a final term practical test, he wasn''t as bothered.


    There were currently two projects Lucas was working on: the first has to deal with his security. Lucas has been worried about how to go about exploring other places and surviving dangerous encounters against other hyumans who were at the Apertures Opening stage.


    Although he had the Bronze Grade card, it was a one-time usage item with a time limit, and Lucas didn''t want to have the fate of his life lie in such an item.


    The second project he was working on, was something that would possibly redefine the vestige-smithing society. It was the new equipment Lucas planned to create to make a name for himself and seize a part of the market. He could still remember the system''s mission to have received one hundred customers before the month was over.


    After working for five straight hours, Lucas decided to take a break. But even during his break, he was still working, at least mentally.


    ''To complete both projects, I would need a powerful control unit or CPU. The more advanced it is, the better. But unfortunately, I can''t make those.'' Lucas thought.


    What he was trying to build wasn''t something that could simply be described as a weapon any longer, so the requirements for it were... special. Sadly, Lucas couldn''t create the entire parts himself and would need to outsource some of them, particularly the most important component, the CPU. However, it was not just an ordinary CPU but a stellar processor.


    When the usage of stellar energy became more popular, technology was similarly influenced. The profession of vestige-smithing also came to be. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A misconception by some was that vestiges were all weapons, but this was wrong. Even the two factions -the Multiplex and the Forger factions- were just branches in the weapons department of vestige-smithing. Vestige-smithing went beyond just making weapons, to reshaping technology.


    It was to the point that the lines of differentiation between it and engineering were so blurred, that one could mistake them to be the same.


    When a technology was made without the utilisation of stellar energy, it was simply an engineering technology. However, when stellar energy was used, either as a power source or an important integral of its operation, it became a vestige. In layman''s terms, a vestige was a technology made with stellar energy in mind.


    Apart from the common weapon vestige-smiths, there were also all other types of vestige-smiths. For instance, there were the vestige-smiths who built the light rail trains and sare shuttles. There were those who made consumer tech and even security tech.


    However, the most popular branch of vestige-smithing, apart from the weapons branch, was the school of vestige-smithing known as the School of Analytical Reasoning, with the leading faction being the Methodical faction.


    The School of Analytical Reasoning was the most popular branch of vestige-smiths, together with the weapons branch, because they made a very important component that almost all engineers and vestige-smiths couldn''t do without -stellar processors.


    Stellar processors were Central Processing Units (CPUs) or microprocessors made using stellar energy as a very important component.


    Compared to typical processors, they were more powerful, could handle more intensive tasks, and were very fast. Most interstellar spaceships and even hover cars were powered with a stellar processor at the control unit, which was exactly why the Methodical faction was the most popular vestige-smith faction.


    "System, I''m supposed to be a Crafts-God, but there''s no training manual to be a stellar processor vestige-smith. What''s with that?"


    "Host is clearly a bit slow." The system responded.


    "The difficulty of making stellar processors is on par with a Grade 4 vestige. As host currently lacks the ability to make such, you shouldn''t even be considering this."


    Lucas'' lips twitched, at the response as he had a sudden urge to curse the system. It could have passed the message in a much nicer way than that, but clearly, it refused to do so. Sometimes, Lucas was convinced that the system had emotions, despite its dispassionate tone of speaking.


    "Hey owner, get the fuck out right now!"


    A loud voice sounded from the lobby.


    Lucas was surprised that someone was causing trouble, after all, he had lived a somewhat quiet life here. As he left the work-station, Lucas tried to think of anyone who would do such, and only one party came to mind, but that was even more unbelievable.


    At the entrance of the store, three men stood and stared at Lucas as he walked into the lobby from the work-station. They all had menacing looks on their faces, and two of them held batons in their hands. Seated in front of them was another individual with a hat, one whom Lucas found to be familiar.


    "We meet again." The man with a hat spoke up.


    "To my disliking, yes." Lucas replied.


    The man was the second level Apertures Opening stage who had confronted Lucas the day he came back to the store from the Wastelands. From what Lucas knew, the man was a lackey of Ramirez, the underground boss who had his eyes on the land the Seven Sparks Forge was set on.


    "You thought having the Red Fangs know about our little matter could save you?" The man smirked.


    "You''re too ignorant. Not to talk of the fact that the Red Fangs base is in the Central Prefecture, the West Wing district is Ramirez''s home; it''s our backyard. Even if those Fang fellows leave a few guards to monitor your surroundings or investigate that suspicious attack, there are many ways for us to go around them or to draw them away."


    "To what do I owe this visit?" Lucas calmly asked as he took a seat opposite the man.


    One of the men behind, the one without a baton, walked forward with a bottle of wine and a glass. He carefully handed the glass to the man with a hat and then poured a bit of wine into it.


    "Ah. Refreshing." The man said after taking a sip of the wine.


    "Regarding my visit, I think you can easily guess it. My boss is interested in meeting you."


    "I''m quite busy, so I''ll have to decline." Lucas waved his hand.


    "Busy?" The man smiled as he glanced around, implying that the store was anything but that.


    "You wouldn''t know anything." Lucas ignored his scornful attitude.


    The man with the hat couldn''t help but chuckle. He wasn''t just dumbfounded by Lucas'' response, but most importantly, his behaviour. Despite being a human, Lucas showed no signs of fear even when confronted by a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    As he thought about this, the man couldn''t help but keep laughing.


    "Haha. Haha. Haha."


    *Bang*


    The wine glass in his hand abruptly exploded as his laughter came to an end.


    The man in the hat narrowed his eyes at Lucas as he said, "I wasn''t asking for your permission."


    The two men behind, who held a baton in their hands, walked up and came to Lucas'' side. They glared at him and radiated a bloodthirsty air as the grip on their weapons tightened. With such an overbearing nature, their peak Body Strengthening stage aura was on full display.


    Even without saying a word, it was obvious that they were signalling for Lucas to leave with them; otherwise, they would let loose and attack him right away.


    "So, kidnapping?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.


    "It''s not your first experience, but it won''t end as before." The man calmly replied.


    Lucas'' eyes glistened. The man''s response seemed to hint that the trio he met when he first came into this world were related to them, and the man was aware that Lucas had dealt with them.


    "I''m honestly tired of so much killing. It''s barely been a month, and I already have this much blood on my hands. Why must you force my hand?" Lucas sighed.


    The two by his side didn''t hesitate to strike with their batons right away. They had been informed that Lucas was at least on par with a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner, which is the Organ Refining level. He was more likely to be at the peak level of the Body Strengthening stage, which was the Blood Cleansing level, the same as themselves.


    With that being the case, it would take them going all out and cooperating well enough to be able to take down Lucas without being injured. Any hesitation on their side would result in a disastrous result, even with the second level Apertures Opening stage practitioner on their side.


    Their batons swung at Lucas, smashing through the air with great force as they headed for Lucas.


    Even with the incoming threat, Lucas remained calm and maintained his sight on the man in the hat. He ignored the duo attacking him to the point that one would have to ask whether Lucas failed to sense the incoming threat or he was just dumb.


    ''Idiot.''


    Both fighters sneered at him. Even if Lucas was at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, trying to tank two full-powered hits from peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners aimed at his head, was almost nothing short of suicide. Even if he didn''t end up with his brain mushed, Lucas would suffer a severe concussion and be unable to retaliate.


    *Bang*


    The two batons connected with their target without fail, but the result astonished all sides, except Lucas.


    There was no sign of damage nor any reaction from their target. Even his head remained in the same position, not moving a slight inch.


    "How..." One of the attackers couldn''t help but exclaim.


    In the very next second, all four intruders went speechless as Lucas'' voice sounded


    "That tickles."


    Both men were simultaneously embarrassed and infuriated as they took back their weapons and swung at Lucas again. However, even if the attacks would cause no damage to him, Lucas had no intention of acting as a punching bag for the duo.


    He moved forward and dodged the two swings, then stretched out his hand towards the two.


    "Retrieve."


    A pair of daggers mysteriously appeared in Lucas'' two hands, and unlike the weapons of the two attackers, they were vestiges.


    The timing of the daggers'' appearance was such that as Lucas stretched out his hands, they appeared and stabbed into the two attackers.


    The two men had not expected Lucas to retaliate. Considering the previous shock from their first attempt, they were too enraged to evaluate the possibility of their prey attacking them. This led to a flaw in their attacks, a flaw that Lucas had targeted and successfully clinched.


    "You..."


    "Ahhh."


    The two men now had vestiges stuck on their chests, just a few centimetres away from their heart. Regardless, the damage was dealt and they were in severe pain and desperate straits.


    But Lucas wasn''t satisfied with just a stab alone. He gritted his teeth and tightly gripped the daggers, dragging them horizontally and widening the wound.


    The two attackers only had the chance to let out a mournful scream before they fell to the floor with blood flowing from their wounds almost like a stream.


    "Interesting. I underestimated you a bit, but this is all you can amount to."

 Chapter 64 - 64: Suppression

    "Interesting. I underestimated you somewhat, but this is all you will be achieving today."


    The man in the hat said as he slowly stood up from his seat.


    Even with the two lackeys he brought lying dead on the floor, he showed no sign of remorse for them. It was as if they were nothing more than insects who had served their purpose and died.


    "I hope you can entertain me a bit, or I''d have to take back some interest." The man chuckled as he took off his hat.


    It was then that Lucas realised that the man was bald. However, the lack of hair wasn''t the most startling reveal; rather, it was the jarring scar on his spotless head.


    Lucas didn''t have enough time to study the blemish, as the man had abruptly appeared in front of him with a wide grin on his face.


    A fist appeared in Lucas'' field of view, and he could barely respond to it as it connected with his abdomen.


    *Bam*


    Lucas released a low grunt as he was forced back by the attack. The pain was intense, and if it weren''t for the Host Protection Mechanism, he would have been dead.


    As for why he had been forced back, it was simply because Lucas had used the HPM''s passive mode, which would allow a certain degree of damage to take effect on him but not enough to injure or kill Lucas severely. The reason he had done so was that Lucas wanted to figure out the difference in pure strength between himself and a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    ''That really hurts.'' Lucas couldn''t help but frown.


    The second stage of Stellar Refinement, the Apertures Opening stage, was supposed to focus on opening the apertures within a hyuman''s body, enabling them to store stellar energy and increase their refinement speed. For every aperture opened, the practitioner would gain an extra storage ''tank'' and their refinement speed would increase by a varied percentage.


    This step in stellar refinement was essential and unavoidable for hyumans as if they attempted to skip it, their progress speed in stellar refinement would be very slow. It would be so dawdling that even with a thousand years of lifetime, it would be impossible to get to the fourth stage of stellar refinement, the Sage or Moon Walker realm, irrespective of their mDNA count.


    Because the second stage, Apertures Opening stage, was focused on opening the body''s apertures, it was thought to be more focused on energy, with the increase in physical attributes being secondary. Despite this, Lucas felt that the casual blow from the man was on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner''s all-out punch.


    "Hmm? You''re uninjured." The man was surprised.


    He was confident that the force within his attack was enough to incapacitate, if not severely injure, an average peak Body Strengthening stage fighter. However, Lucas was still standing.


    Another thing which caught the man''s attention was that at the very last second after the punch connected, he felt a strange sensation upon collision with Lucas'' body. While the man felt the entire force of the punch transfer over, at the same time, it felt like a majority of it disappeared. The feeling was fleeting, and the man wasn''t sure if he had made a mistake in his senses or something.


    Nonetheless, he wasn''t worried. The scarred man didn''t say another word as the air around him abruptly changed.


    Lucas, who had recovered from the previous hit, could sense something brooding in front of him. His instincts went crazy, informing him that there was great danger ahead.


    Lucas glanced at the scarred man and noticed that, at some point, he now had a pole in his hands. Scrutinising the weapon, he found that there was a strange energy wrapped around it. Lucas wasn''t unfamiliar with this phenomenon.


    It was stellar energy. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Until the tenth level, when Apertures Opening stage practitioners unlocked their innate superpower, most of the combat was physical. Although there were a few individuals who unlocked a hint of their superpower before the tenth level, for instance, the Red Fangs member Nafir, all battles were commonly done this way.


    Vestiges were used to supplement one''s attack power, while stellar energy was used to boost one''s damage and power those vestiges.


    The vestige the scarred man had taken out was a Grade 2 vestige which was understandable as Grade 3 vestiges were costlier and could only be properly used by fourth level practitioners.


    *Whoosh*


    ''Full activation.''


    The pole, laden with stellar energy, swept through the air and struck towards Lucas. It was so fast that Lucas was only able to get one thought in before it appeared right in front of him.


    *Bam*


    The pole struck Lucas'' left arm, emitting a thud, but Lucas stood unaffected.


    The man was a bit stunned by this, but being a veteran at dealing with people, he didn''t drop his guard or slow down his pace as he unleashed another furious attack.


    The pole was immediately retrieved and lashed out in the very next second, but this time, it was a thrust.


    The head of the pole once again connected with Lucas'' flesh, but there was neither any sign of harm nor a resultant effect from it. Well, there was one, which was the clothes Lucas had on being shredded at the targeted spot, but that aside, Lucas took no damage whatsoever.


    ''Interesting.'' The scarred man grinned horrifically.


    It was like a child seeing a new toy and couldn''t help but be attracted to it. Like a predator who had found tasty prey, the man stared down at Lucas. He relentlessly attacked with the pole, striking Lucas with every hit, but the latter remained firm even after the man had increased his force.


    On the other hand, Lucas was beginning to get frustrated. Just in terms of physical prowess alone, Lucas was greatly lacking compared to the man. In terms of pure strength, he wasn''t doing badly.


    Lucas had already summoned his craftsman gloves to amplify his strength, and with the added effect of the Host Retaliation function¡ªdue to the difference in strength between him and his attacker-, Lucas'' attacking power was somewhat equal. However, his speed and reaction were a notch slower. By the time Lucas had discerned the man''s attack, he could barely react in time.


    ''I need to make an opportunity.'' Lucas thought as he tried to dodge the man''s attacks but to no avail.


    There was a reason why the hyumankin were superior to the human race, and it was thanks to the difference in stellar energy prowess. The gap between a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner and a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner was already massive, much less when the former was a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    *Bam*


    Another strike from the pole landed on Lucas, but rather than the usual indomitable response, he was flung in the direction of the attack while coughing up a slight amount of blood.


    The active mode of the HPM would eradicate the force of any attack on him. While this was impressive, it prevented Lucas from being able to use the force of his opponent''s attacks to his advantage, like in retreating. So, Lucas had to deactivate the HPM''s active mode, bringing it back to its passive mode.


    There were two reasons for this, the first was to utilise his opponent''s attack to retreat, and the second was to create an illusion.


    ''It looks like whatever he''s been using is approaching its limit.'' The scarred man thought as he chased after Lucas.


    ''Retrieve.''


    Lucas swung his hand at the man while internally chanting the inventory keyword.


    A sword suddenly appeared in his hand, and it brandished its way towards the scarred man.


    The enemy wasn''t befuddled by the sudden appearance of a vestige. He had already noted that Lucas could summon items out of thin air from when he had taken down the other two men and with the gloves'' abrupt appearance. Such a technique wasn''t really special. It could be achieved with a piece of special equipment called a spatial vault.


    A spatial vault was an accessory that contained a certain amount of space within it. It was very expensive, being equivalent to a Grade 4 vestige in terms of price; which meant that it would cost at least a breathtaking fifty thousand federal coins. It was very rare, and only a few amongst the top freelancers, families and organisations had one.


    The only reason the scarred man knew about it was because he had once seen a famous freelancer guild leader use it.


    Although he was surprised that Lucas had one, the scarred man was more pleased because it would become his if he took Lucas down.


    When the sword came his way, the man took a step back and easily dodged the blade of the vestige with a smirk on his face. He followed up by swinging the pole at Lucas once again. The stellar energy revolving around the pole was even more vibrant than before, and it had a deathly feel to it.


    The appearance of the vestige had ignited his greed, and the man wanted to end the battle quickly.

 Chapter 65 - 65: Lucas Versus The Scarred Man

    When Lucas swung the vestige for the first time, the scarred man dodged it without a hassle before brandishing his pole at Lucas. The stellar energy revolving around the pole was even more vibrant than before and Lucas could sense a terrifying feel from the man.


    Previously, the opponent had been battling Lucas to find out his limit. However, the scarred man now intended to take him down right away.


    Even though he had managed to deceive the Red Fangs and snuck into the Seven Sparks Forge building, the man knew that it wouldn''t be long before the Red Fangs came back. At best, it would be within the next twenty minutes.


    Seeing the pole encroach towards him, Lucas ignored it and slashed his sword again.


    ''Stupid.'' The scarred man thought.


    Lucas had already coughed a bit of blood from the last strike, implying that he was already approaching his limit. With the strength of his attack raised a notch, it would be difficult for Lucas to tank the hit safely. So, ignoring the sword and pushing onward with his attack seemed to be the most logical course of action.


    However, the scarred man was quite cautious. He didn''t ignore Lucas'' strike just yet but grabbed at it with his other hand while channelling stellar energy through it.


    The sword gave off the energy of a Grade 2 vestige, and in the hands of a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, it would demonstrate a first level Apertures Opening stage strength at best. Even if it were a bit stronger, it was still something that the scarred man could catch with his hand.


    But he was wrong.


    *Whoosh*


    "Ahhh!"


    The sword cut through the man''s hand, slicing off half his palm, including his five fingers. The latter was stunned, and his eyes opened wide as he let out a horrifying scream.


    Because both attacks were at the same time, the man''s attack was still unaffected by this. On the contrary, it had reached Lucas at the same time. However, Lucas had already reactivated the Host Protection Mechanism''s active state and he only felt a slight itch from the pole strike.


    The pain from having his palm sliced in half prevented the man from responding in time, and Lucas made good use of that time. He quickly closed the small gap between them with a step forward and brandished his sword once again at the man.


    When the scarred man realised this, there was only one second left for him to respond. But that was on the condition Lucas let it be. After being suppressed for so long and finally finding an opportunity, there was no way Lucas would give him half a second to breathe, much less a full second.


    ''Die.''


    With eyes wide open, the scarred man could only express thoughts of regret and frustration as the vestige pierced through his chest. To make sure that he got his opponent in one hit, Lucas had aimed for the heart.


    "Ugh."


    The abrupt explosion of force, which destroyed his heart, affected the man''s blood flow, forcing him to spit out blood.


    As the life in his body rapidly drained out, the scarred man could only raise his eyes and stare venomously at Lucas. Never did he think that he would go down like this; so easily, so quickly, without even a chance at saying his last words.


    Lucas pulled out the sword, letting blood splatter on the store''s flooring as the man''s corpse fell to the ground.


    Peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners had strong vitality, and it was even more so for Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners. Usually, if they are stabbed by a blade, they could still walk away from it, albeit with the degree of injury depending on the stab.


    Weapon-type vestiges were made with this in mind, which was why they were so lethal and made stellar practitioners seem like average humans after getting stabbed by one.


    After recalling this fact, Lucas raised his head and glanced at the last man standing; the fellow who stood behind the scarred man and served him.


    "Y, you. What do you want to do to me?" The man nervously asked as he took a step back.


    Lucas was tempted to kill him right away, but he held back. As it stood, Lucas didn''t know much about his opponent. All he knew was what Harry had told him, which was pretty much open information in the freelancer community. If he wanted to know more about Ramirez and his organisation, it would be best to interrogate one of them.


    Staring at the man who acted weak but had secretly slid his right hand behind to extract some type of weapon, Lucas abruptly made his move and knocked the fellow out before he could react.


    For Lucas, who had survived his very first life in a world filled with unscrupulous humans, entities and living beings, he was quite cautious and could tell between a coward and a sly individual.


    After knocking the last man out, Lucas tied him up and hid him in the work-station. This was the only place in the store that no one could enter without his or the system''s permission. Following that, he gathered the three corpses and threw them into the furnace.


    The Red Fangs were already on to him and suspicious of his ability. This might not seem like a problem, but Lucas'' identity as a human was the issue.


    Lucas had recently learnt of something after his stay at the Red Fangs station. The various city-states, despite being ruled by the Oklo Dynasty, were somewhat independent and not exactly close friends or allies. It was even more so with Digress city-state.


    It had an isolated identity, and most of the other eleven city-states (Oklo excluded), were on unfriendly terms with it and the others were basically neutral. Baylands city-state just happened to be neutral, but it was leaning more on the opposite side, which was clearly obvious from how humans were treated in the city-state.


    If the Red Fangs found out that Lucas was stronger than a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, he would be suspected of being a spy from Digress city-state, as that was the only place on the planet where humans who exceeded the Body Strengthening stage were found.


    If he was arrested on the grounds of being a spy, Lucas could kiss his freedom goodbye. And since he wasn''t even an actual spy, neither did he have any relations with them, the Digress city-state would not be bothered to intervene for his sake.


    As such, Lucas wanted to erase as much suspicion as possible, and clearing the ''evidence'' was the best way possible. Although the city''s security footage might have caught the four gang members arriving inside his store, Lucas could just blatantly bluff that he had no idea where they went.


    Within the store, the system was god, and as the host of the system, Lucas was the proxy of god. Lucas didn''t just possess immortality in the store; he could easily ''reset'' the store''s appearance. This would bring the Seven Sparks Forge to its initial state (the state after it got renovated).


    In other words, it would clear away every single footprint, thumbprint or traces, that might lead to suspicion.


    Right after doing all that, Lucas returned to the lobby and sat down. A tablet appeared in his hands, which was a store-maintained appliance. Just like the desktop on the checkout counter, it was a piece of equipment that came with the renovation.


    It wasn''t like a communicator and didn''t have many functions except aiding Lucas to monitor the store and control its various equipment no matter where he was.


    A few minutes later, Lucas saw a Sare shuttle appear close to the Seven Sparks Forge. The shuttle looked fancy and didn''t have the usual space-shuttle design. Instead, it looked just like a sports car, but a bit bigger and without any tires.


    From the vehicle, a familiar duo stepped out and walked towards the store. They were the ''cops'', Nafir and Barry. This time around, the lieutenant, Lily, didn''t show up with them.


    *Cling*


    The sound of the bell hung by the door frame rang, signalling movement from the door. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas glanced at the door''s direction after having put away the tablet into his inventory.


    "Oh, what a surprise. To what do I owe this visit?" Lucas calmly looked at the two men.


    "No visitors?" Barry asked as he glanced around, not even bothering to greet.


    "Not exactly. Although business has been slow recently, I do have a few." Lucas answered.


    "What about the men that came in a while ago? Did they leave?" Nafir asked as he stared at Lucas.


    Lucas suddenly had a feeling that Nafir was using the same technique from his time at the Red Fangs base. However unlike then, Lucas was now in the Seven Sparks Forge. Any mental spell or technique applied to the host would always be deemed as a threat, so the Host Protection Mechanism disabled the technique.


    However, the HPM didn''t give any rebound or feedback to the attacker; it simply acted like a hidden cushion and absorbed an attack. So, Nafir wouldn''t notice that his technique failed. Nonetheless, Lucas had to respond properly, otherwise, Nafir would notice something out of the ordinary and be on alert.

 Chapter 66 - 66: Monster Attack

    One day had gone by since Wally and the other senior year students of Greendale Highschool had arrived at the Bayena Plain.


    Thanks to the preparations by the academy''s staff, there was no recorded case of death, but there were injuries. This was inevitable, as the students were up against desolate beasts for the first time in their lives.


    Although the strength cap of the beasts was at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, the majority of the students were still at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage or below. Wally, for instance, was at the third level of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Against a first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast or abomination, he would likely end up severely injured, and if not for the security measures by the academy, killed.


    It was for this reason that Greendale Highschool didn''t prevent forming teams between students with no limit to their number. Nonetheless, they still prioritised the last hit on the monster to be the receiver of the points. In this way, the academy was testing the students'' team-working capabilities and leadership abilities.


    As for the absurd gap in strength between the mainstream students and the peak limit of desolate beasts and abominations, it was just as Astar had said¡ªthese monsters existed to test the strength of the top three students who had already reached the peak of the Body Strengthening stage.


    For the Heavenly Trio, as they were called, they could take on a first level Apertures Opening stage abomination with a vestige in hand. If they worked together, it might be possible to face a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.


    Due to this, the academy had only let in one second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast and one second level Apertures Opening stage abomination into the region. The peak first level Apertures Opening stage creatures were less than ten, while the regular first level Apertures Opening stage creatures numbered at least fifteen.


    The remaining monsters below this¡ªboth desolate beasts and abominations¡ªwere in the hundreds. There were, after all, three hundred students or thereabout, so the monsters had to be a lot.


    Apart from limiting the number of elite creatures, the academy had also provided the students with special bracelets that could project a light shield capable of blocking attacks from a peak first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. It could also survive three hits from a second level desolate beast.


    However, there would not be a need for that as the operating area of the second level creatures was limited and quite a distance away from the students'' landing zone.


    Wally, Astar and Klein had naturally teamed up for the practical test. All three had vestiges, and they have been familiar with one another for over a year. Their strengths were also roughly the same, with the strongest being Astar, who was at the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage.


    Long term familiarity, similar strength, and good understanding made it so that teamwork wasn''t an issue for the trio.


    Klein took the lead as he was the most knowledgeable amongst them. His grades in the theoretical aspects were well ahead of the other two, and he was more logical in his thinking, making Klein the best option to be in charge.


    They were currently in a slightly bushy area of the plain. There were a couple of trees here, which made it suitable for ambushes. The tactic they used was to have Astar bait some abominations or desolate beasts towards the target location, where the other two would now launch their attacks on the prey.


    The target location was rigged with traps to help take down the monsters quicker, and after each assault, the area would be cleared out and the traps renewed.


    "We''ve already scored the required points with this." Klein said as he dropped his bow-wielding arms and sat down to take a break.


    "Finally." Astar sighed with relief.


    "Giving just three points for peak Body Strengthening stage and one point for fourth level Body Strengthening stage monsters is crazy. Had us grinding for so long just to get sixty points." Wally lamented.


    "I doubt just anyone can pull this off so quickly on their own like us. Excluding the obvious trio." Astar said.


    Klein shook his head as he said, "You''re forgetting the few like yourself. As long as they form a team of at least three, taking on peak Body Strengthening stage monsters shouldn''t be difficult with vestiges. They might even be able to get sixty points in a day."


    "Twenty one monsters in one day? Is that even doable?" Wally was shocked by the statement.


    Taking on just a single peak Body Strengthening stage monster, whether abomination or desolate beast, wasn''t easy. At the very least, one would need seven of those to get the required points, as each one gave three points, adding up to a total of twenty one points. Even with a vestige in hand, it would be difficult for students as this was the very first time they faced monsters as their opponents.


    "It should be. A fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner with a Grade 1 or 2 vestige can deploy strength on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, and even burst out with the power of a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. If there are three of them, it wouldn''t be difficult to take down a peak Body Strengthening stage monster in a few seconds.


    Sixty in a day shouldn''t be impossible." Klein explained.


    "It''s too bad that we can''t see the leader-board yet. It would take at least two more hours before it''s uploaded." Astar commented.


    The leaderboard was a table that displayed the students with the most points, but it would only come online halfway through the tournament, which was at noon on the second day.


    "Doesn''t really matter to us. Now that we have our points, surviving and avoiding elimination should be our main goal." Klein proposed while stretching his arms a bit.


    Elimination entailed when students were attacked by monsters and their defence shields were activated, or when they got severely injured. Once a student is eliminated, regardless of whether they had accrued the required twenty points or not, they would be deemed to have failed the test.


    Klein was of a cautious mindset and preferred that the group find somewhere safe to wait out the test, which was why he made that suggestion.


    However, not everyone was of the same mindset.


    "We should work for more points." Astar suddenly said.


    It should be recalled that the Greendale Highschool was a subsidiary of the Greendale School of Refiners, which was a pure school of the Technical path. It didn''t exactly cater to students of the Civil or Practical path, but the information that it could input to one''s Student Data Folder was very valuable.


    However, for students who dreamed to walk those two paths, they had to perform exquisitely in the required mid-term or final term practical tests. The term practical tests for the senior years was aimed at those who intended to walk the Practical path. Astar was one such student.


    Telling him to simply quit and be satisfied with the bare minimum of twenty one points was the same as cutting off his future. If Astar wanted to get into a good university or college, especially a pure school, he had to perform superbly in both the mid-term and final term practical tests. There was no way he would end up being satisfied with the bare minimum.


    Despite this, Klein wasn''t of the same mind. Klein, unlike Astar, pursued the Technical path, so as long as he passed this test, there was no problem. Whether he got twenty one points or even forty points, made almost no difference for him, as the Greendale School of Refiners didn''t care about one''s fighting ability.


    "What do you say, Wally?" Klein turned to face Wally.


    As the third member of the group, he was the deciding vote in this poll.


    Wally glanced at Klein, then turned to gaze at Astar. He could understand the latter''s feelings.


    "We can''t just quit right away. Let''s at least keep hunting for today." Wally said.


    His response was appropriate, as he didn''t truly side with any of the two options, but managed to satisfy both sides. Killing monsters for the rest of the day would help the group gain more points, benefiting Astar. However, after the day was over, they would have to stop.


    Whether Astar went on his own or not would be left to him, but at the very least, their relationship wouldn''t be affected as much. S§×arch* The N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Klein narrowed his eyes, quite impressed by Wally''s response and nodded. Even Astar had nothing to say about it.


    Just then, a loud roar sounded a couple of metres away from them, spooking the trio. Alarmed, they immediately rushed into hiding.


    "What the hell? How did it get past our perimeter?" Astar couldn''t help but curse over the team channel using his communicator.


    When the group had found this place, they made a circle of motion sensor bots around the area to ensure that they wouldn''t get sneaked up on by any monster. This circle of motion sensor bots was nicknamed the ''perimeter'' by the trio.


    "The motion sensor bots can only cover a limited range. If we had expanded the range, there would have been too many blind spots." Klein suddenly said.


    "What''s your point?" A slightly irritated Astar questioned.


    "Even with that arrangement, there still exist some flaws in the perimeter. We''ve been overlooking it for a while, as we didn''t notice any monster that could get through the perimeter through that method." Klein calmly continued his explanation.


    "You mean..." Wally suddenly sucked in a cold breath of air as he understood where Klein was heading. He immediately raised his head up.


    Astar might have been slow, but he wasn''t dumb. It took him only a second or two later to finally guess what the two were referring to. Right away, Astar looked up as well.


    "Roar!"


    A mighty roar hollered from midair as a large beast cast a shadow down to the ground.

 Chapter 67 - 67: A Mistake

    "Roar!"


    Above the ''forest'' the trio hid in, a desolate beast about seven metres long hovered while occasionally releasing a frightening roar.


    Wally, Astar, and Klein felt their blood run cold as the aura of the beasts pervaded the area. Even though the monster was in midair, it was still able to give off such a presence from the distance, alarming the trio.


    "First level Apertures Opening stage. Peak level." Klein muttered with fear visible in his eyes.


    A first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast was more than enough to tear apart any single one of them, and even if the trio were to face it head-on, they only had a slim chance of success. Against one at the peak of its level, even running away would be a challenge.


    While it was said that a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could exhibit a first level Apertures Opening stage power with a Grade 1 vestige, this was on the condition that the user was at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. Otherwise, they would have to be a true heavenly genius.


    In other words, none of the students could hold their own alone against a first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was a reason why first level Apertures Opening stage monsters were limited after all. The existence of these monsters was merely for the Heavenly Trio, who were peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners. Having them hunt Body Strengthening stage monsters was of no challenge, neither was it of any meaning, as they wouldn''t have a problem against such monsters.


    As such, first level Apertures Opening stage monsters were brought in. There were also two second levels isolated in a specific region, as a sort of collaboration challenge for the trio.


    Apart from them, no one else was expected to face the monsters at the Apertures Opening stage.


    Before the test, the academy had worked with some freelancers to carve out a region in the Bayena Plain for the test. To ensure that the students didn''t face the Apertures Opening stage monsters so soon, they further separated them.


    Based on the original map, it would take at least a five kilometres journey from this small forest before one would reach the zone occupied by the Aperture Opening stage monsters. On a normal occasion, the monsters couldn''t leave that region. So the only explanation was that this was an abnormal occurrence.


    Even though they could guess this, none among the trio were bothered about the reason. On the contrary, their focus was on how to survive this encounter.


    "From the looks of things, it has yet to notice us." Astar''s voice sounded on the team chat.


    "Then why is it here?" Wally asked with a frown.


    "It''s chasing after something." Klein, who was the most familiar with the patterns of desolate beasts, disclosed his thoughts as he stared at the monster with a scrutinising gaze.


    "Chasing after something?" Astar couldn''t help but be surprised.


    The monsters of the first level Apertures Opening stage were kept away in a different area. There were also contingencies made to ensure that they couldn''t escape from the area. For a desolate beast to escape and chase after something or someone over this distance, it had to have been important.


    Just then, Astar and Wally focused their hearing and glanced towards a certain direction ahead. They could both hear the slight footsteps that sounded.


    "What''s the matter?" Klein asked in the team chat.


    "Other students." Wally answered him.


    A few metres ahead, a group of four students made their way to the point where Wally and the other two were hiding. The distance between the two parties was less than twenty metres. However, as they had remained still all this while, the newcomers failed to spot them.


    Wally couldn''t hear what they were saying as the group was communicating on a team chat just as they did.


    "Look at their energy level." Klein suddenly said.


    "At least one of them is on par with Astar, and another might be too. I''m guessing they intended to try their luck with a first level Apertures Opening stage monster. But they picked the wrong target. It''s possible that during their escape, they might have inevitably helped the monster escape too."


    Astar and Wally nodded as they felt that the explanation was reasonable.


    "However, why haven''t the instructors noticed it yet?" Wally asked the question that had been on their minds.


    Just then, the communicators of the three suddenly vibrated. It wasn''t just theirs, but also the four students who had arrived recently had similarly received a notification on their communicators. However, the communicator of one of the four had instead released a low-pitched ding.


    The trio of Astar, Wally and Klein carefully checked the notification. Almost right away, they were stunned by the contents.


    {{ Warning: The Bayena Plain has been invaded by terrorists and the resident monsters have been agitated into causing a commotion. The test will be halted as a result of this unexpected occurrence. Kindly find a safe environment and wait for the rescue team to locate you. }}


    While they were still processing this shocking information, the desolate beast in midair suddenly flew over and hovered exactly around where all seven students were. It glanced at the four students who it had been chasing for a while before turning its eyes at Astar, Klein and finally, Wally, as it sensed them around.


    The desolate beast had located all seven of them thanks to the notification by the academy.


    Most students had switched their communicators to silent mode, but one of the four newcomers made a silly mistake, which would now cost them their lives.


    Having found its target as well as a new group, the desolate beast didn''t hesitate any longer. It let out a roar and immediately charged down at the team of four first, swinging its claw at them.


    "Help." Someone amongst the four cried out as the monster''s claw reached for them.


    Almost at the same time, a green light shield appeared and protected the boy. The same happened with the other three students on his team, as they were all shielded by green force fields that were projected from a bracelet worn on the wrist.


    *Bang*


    The beast''s claw clashed against the force field but failed to cause any damage to it. The desolate beast didn''t give up and continued with relentless attacks, but all it managed to do was force the group four to remain at the same spot. Seeing that it couldn''t get to its targets right away but they were also unable to escape, the monster abruptly turned towards Wally and his two friends.


    "Run."

 Chapter 68 - 68: Argument

    "Run!" Wally screamed as he took to his heels and made his escape.


    Astar and Klein didn''t dilly-dally either as they ran away from the scene. None of them had their four fellow students in mind, as the only thought in their heads was to escape.


    The desolate beast was at the peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. It was an opponent none of the students could take on their own. Escaping was already a challenge, so there was no need to consider rescuing their classmates.


    As the three ran, the desolate beast didn''t rush to chase right away but glanced at the four students on the ground who had a green light shield protecting them. A bird in hand was better than one in the sky, and the desolate beast seemed to be familiar with this proverb. It tried to claw at the shield but failed. It even tried to eat them, but the shield was tough.


    In frustration, the beast pounded two of them deep into the ground and threw the other two into the distance, before rushing after Wally and his crew.


    The trio didn''t run much, as their legs could only take them so far as compared to a flying desolate beast. Instead, they relied on the complicated terrain to immediately find a new hiding spot, which was a hole situated close to a large tree. The hole was barely wide enough to let one person through at a time, but the inside was quite spacious.


    It could fit in the three of them with a bit of room to spare for movement. It was most likely a burrow of some underground desolate beast, but had been abandoned by the said beast or maybe the owner had been killed. They remained there while pondering their next course of action.


    Although the light shield was an option, doing so was no different from failing the test. Even if it was temporarily halted, there was no saying whether they would be excused or not, as the Greendale Highschool is known for its strict standards. This event might even be recorded in their student data folder, together with their response to it.


    After all, in the real world, accidents and unexpected scenarios were very common; things wouldn''t always go as planned. This means that, if they performed well, it would be a plus. But if their reactions were poor, it would affect their future.


    So until they had no other option, relying on the shield was the very last decision they would take.


    "We should split up. There''s no time." Klein abruptly said.


    "We can''t. We''re no match for it on our own." Wally refuted right away.


    "Then what else can we do?"


    "Why don''t we kill it?" Astar suggested.


    "Are you crazy? That''s a peak first level desolate beast!" Klein turned and glared at Astar as if he were a mad man.


    "Look, we already know a lot about desolate beasts; their weak points and all that. Also, it''s still at the first level and we have vestiges with us. We are also split well, with ranged and close combat fighters. If you go all out, you can make a shot with your vestige that''s pretty close to the first level in terms of power. I can also exhibit something similar if I push myself to the limit.


    It''s worth taking the risk unless you want all our hard work to go down the drain." Astar stared back at Klein.


    Seeing the daring look in Astar''s eyes, Klein couldn''t help but yell back, "You''re truly a mad man. Leave me out of this."


    "Hold up first. What do you say, Wally?" Astar asked, hoping that Wally''s response would be on his side.


    "We can''t. It''s too risky." Wally shook his head.


    He felt that maybe because it was Astar''s first time facing monsters or that things had been going somewhat smoothly for them, but Astar''s danger sense was badly low. He was becoming more daring with his suggestions. Although such a mentality was good for a freelancer, they were still just students.


    "Are you guys really going to give up on such an opportunity? That''s twenty points." Astar couldn''t help but try to convince them.


    "Oh yeah? And who would be getting it?" Klein narrowed his eyes.


    "I can compensate you guys for it. But just please, let''s do this." Astar said.


    Wally couldn''t help but frown.


    Of the trio, Astar was the one in the most comfortable financial situation. This was why it was only until their second year that they became friends. On the contrary, Klein was in a similar situation as Wally, but a bit better as his family could afford a vestige for him, albeit after losing an arm [1].


    Originally, the difference in social and financial status never affected their friendship, but Wally sometimes got a certain feeling from Astar in their conversations; it was the aura of a trust-fund baby. Even right now, Astar was overconfident and detached from the reality that their ''target'' was a monster that could kill them over and over, if not for their shield.


    Instead, he felt that they could take it on, which was somewhat delusional. He even thought he could convince them to risk their lives with his money.


    "Wally, I''m leaving." Klein suddenly said as he turned around to crawl his way out.


    "Roar."


    The desolate beast''s voice sounded outside.


    "It''s close. We don''t have much time to escape. Our only option is to fight." Astar said.


    Klein ignored him and quickly crawled out of the hole before dashing in the opposite direction. Only Wally and Astar were left, but they quickly exited the hole as remaining behind was risky. The desolate beast might have been too large to crawl in, but it could bury them in the ground.


    Just as they left the hole, the roar of the monster was quickly heard and only just a few metres away.


    "It''s too late." Wally sighed as he prepared to fight.


    "You guys keep it distracted while I try to aim for its weakness." Klein''s voice sounded in the team chat.


    "You''re still around?" Wally was surprised.


    Klein had left a few seconds earlier, which was enough time for him to have gotten to a safe distance. Even if the desolate beast showed up, it would have been distracted by Wally and Astar, giving him more time to escape. Despite that, Klein didn''t run.


    "We came here together, so we have to leave together. Astar, you owe me one." Klein said.


    "Sure."


    Astar grinned as he understood that Klein''s statement was the same as agreeing to let him have the points if they managed to kill the beast.


    At that moment, the desolate beast came into full view in front of the group. Previously, they were too scared and in a hurry, not bothering to take a good look, but the situation was different now.


    "A helokiel." Wally muttered.


    There were a lot of desolate beasts in the world, and the species depended on the environment and even the planet, as each planet had different living conditions. The majority of desolate beasts on Eretre had been recorded. For the Greendale Highschool students, they were taught about the monsters on their continent¡ªthe Groeten continent.


    The helokiel was a somewhat common aerial desolate beast in the region. It had a stout body with eagle wings, menacing jaws, and terrifying claws. Unlike most monsters, it didn''t have a tail.


    If one were to describe a helokiel using normal animals, it would be a monstrosity with the head of a hyena, the wings of an eagle and a muscly body similar to a tiger, but without the patterns and tail.


    "We can''t handle this." Wally said.


    "Hold on."


    Seeing as the desolate beast had yet to take action, Astar took out a certain pill and swallowed it. He grimaced a bit, but in the next moment, Astar''s face was flushed, and he looked energized. Even his aura had subtly risen to be on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


    "!!!"


    Wally and Klein were both surprised by this but they didn''t say a word. Now wasn''t the time to be asking questions.


    "We have fifteen minutes."


    Astar gripped his vestige, which happened to be a sword.


    sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 69 - 69: The Spears Ultimate Skill

    The pill Astar took was called a booster drug, which was a type of drug that was best effective for Body Strengthening stage practitioners. Booster drugs increase one''s physical prowess by pushing their body to its limit or burning one''s vitality.


    Since the focus of the drug''s effect was on one''s physical strength, this was the reason why it was best effectively used by a Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


    At the Apertures Opening stage, the determinant of one''s power was in their stellar energy and not just physical strength. So, booster drugs weren''t used by most Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners. But unlike the Apertures Opening stage, the Body Strengthening stage focused on honing the body and improving it. As a result, physical prowess became the determinant of one''s power.


    This made booster drugs very useful for such practitioners.


    Since booster drugs worked by either stimulating one''s potential or burning their vitality, they had intense side effects and were frowned upon by many. The Greendale Highschool had also listed booster drugs as a prohibited item for the practical tests for this reason and one more.


    The longer the effective period of a booster drug was, the costlier both its price and the side- effects would be. A booster drug with a fifteen-minute effective period wasn''t something just anyone could afford and the side effects were nothing to smile about either.


    But neither Wally nor Klein paid attention to any of this. They were in a life-and-death situation, so the current goal was to survive.


    "I''ll take the front." Astar said as he held the sword and charged at the desolate beast, Helokiel.


    With the stimulation from the booster drug, Astar was currently on par with a fifth or peaky level Body Strengthening stage practitioner. Together with his Grade 2 vestige, Astar was currently capable of taking on a first level Apertures Opening stage monster. Defeating one though, was still under debate, even more so for a peak first level.


    As a flash of sunlight glittered on the blade, the sword swept forward and aimed for the monster.


    *Clang*


    The desolate beast, Helokiel, struck its claw against the vestige, managing to block it as sparks flew away from the collision.


    Wally, despite being afraid, held back his fear and recalled his training with Lucas. He had been watching Astar''s moves, looking for an opportunity. When he spotted one, Wally attacked right away with his spear.


    At some point, he was already beside the beast and thrust his spear forward.


    "Roar."


    The helokiel was incensed and shoved Astar away, before swiping its other claw towards Wally.


    *Bang*


    A loud metallic reverberation resounded as the two weapons clashed. Despite its weak appearance, the spear forged by Lucas for Wally was very strong. It was only a Grade 1 but its structural integrity and stellar energy purity could almost compare with an average Grade 2 vestige. As such, the weapon was able to hold out against a direct clash with the helokiel''s claw.


    Astar, who was flung away, managed to get his feet back on the ground and charged back at the monster.


    Klein hid behind and fired a few arrows at the monster. Since he couldn''t use stellar energy just yet, all his attacks consisted of physical arrows, which were expensive. Every shot was precious, and Klein didn''t just randomly fire them. He only made his move when an opportunity provided itself or one of his two friends was in danger.


    The helokiel was enraged by the irritating tactics and tried to go after Klein, but Astar intercepted it.


    Astar went full out, brandishing his sword in a flurry in this battle of life and death. At times he would abandon the option of defence just to force the helokiel to show an opening, which Klein would then capitalise on.


    The result of such a self-inflicting tactic became obvious as the helokiel was constantly being harassed by both Wally and Klein. Eventually, it growled furiously and ignored attacks from the two sides, before lashing out at Astar.


    "Astar!" Wally screamed as he watched his friend sent flying by the desolate beast.


    However, there was no time to hesitate as the helokiel appeared before him.


    ''Just like mister taught, use its force to my advantage.''


    Wally calmed his breath as he concentrated his attention on his opponent.


    With a formidable roar, the desolate beast swung one of its four claws at Wally. Wally waved the spear at the beast, blocking the strike while taking a few steps back as his strength couldn''t compare with it. But this in itself was already impressive, after all, even Astar¡ªafter taking the booster drug¡ªwas sent flying by the monster.


    When facing Lucas, Wally was able to force him to use five percent of his fourth level Body Strengthening stage power and still suppress Lucas. Five percent might sound so little but when Lucas was at the second level, he had killed a third level Body Strengthening stage practitioner and two second level practitioners with ease.


    Five percent of his ability wasn''t something an average inexperienced teen could handle.


    The two metres tall helokiel was incensed that Wally still stood in front of it and immediately lunged right at him once again. Wally jumped to the side and avoided the attack, but the monster''s reflexes were faster as it reacted right away and chased after him.


    ''Damn it.'' Wally cursed as he thrust his spear at it to force the monster back.


    The helokiel dodged the spear''s tip and opened its mouth as it tried to devour Wally.


    "Are you ignoring me you fucking beast?!" Astar shouted. He ignored his injuries, which were clearly bleeding, as he slashed his sword at the desolate beast''s right wing.


    *Spurt*


    The vestige managed to not only hit the monster but penetrate almost halfway through its wing, spilling blood on both the blade and Astar.


    "Roarrrrr!" The helokiel stopped its assault as it cried out in pain.


    It immediately moved its body and bashed Astar away as it retreated in fear. The damage dealt to its wing disabled its airborne capability and the monster was clearly infuriated by this.


    *Twang*


    The sound of a bowstring being drawn quietly resounded from the grove of trees as an arrow tore through the shades. It pierced through the wind and stuck its tip right on the hind legs of the desolate beast.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel almost fell to the ground but managed to barely regain its composure. However, on its left hind leg was a black arrow firmly latched.


    From the point of entry of the arrow, a mixture of green and black fluids steadily poured out, staining the shaft of the arrow and the monster''s leg. The green liquid was its blood whereas the black liquid was poisoned blood. The arrow was a unique type of arrow that could be termed as a vestige. The arrowhead was crafted with a special material that was poisonous to most desolate beasts.


    The moment the helokiel had tripped, Wally, who had been on alert all this while, gripped his spear tightly with one arm and chanted a word.


    "Rez."


    The spear suddenly gleamed with a dull purple light and released an inaudible hum as Wally lifted it over his shoulder. In the very next second, he forcefully threw it at the monster.


    The spear flew mid-air, tearing through the air and moving at a speed closely approaching the speed of sound. Even with the difference between them and the strength of the helokiel, it failed to notice the flying spear in time.


    The spear aimed for the cut on the monster''s wing and before one could even say the word ''go'', it dug deep into the injury, tearing through the flesh, muscles and bones of the desolate beast and detaching the wings off from its body.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel cried as it did its best to retreat away.


    "Wow."


    Astar and Klein were both shocked by this. Wally''s throw had impressed them, being capable of cutting off the half injured wing after being thrown out. But what was even more astonishing was the quality of the spear, and the weird effect it gave off just then. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Concentrate, guys."


    Although astonished as well, Wally recovered quickly and yelled at them. He had already tested this special effect with Lucas during his training, so he wasn''t as stunned by it. Nonetheless, Wally never expected it to cut through the helokiel''s flesh like hot knife through butter. If he had known this, he would have just aimed for the monster''s head or body instead.


    With its right wing cut off, depriving it of its aerial ability; its left hind leg injured, inhibiting its movements; and finally, the monster having been poisoned, it looked as if the team was on the road to success. If they kept on and defeated it, this record would be put down on their student data folders, increasing their chances of getting admission into their various academies.


    The same was true for Klein, as even though pure Technical path schools didn''t care as much about one''s fighting strength, having it as a bonus wasn''t bad.


    At this moment, ten minutes had already gone by since Astar took the booster drug. There was only five minutes left and they had to make it count.


    "Let''s end this." Astar grinned as he held on tightly to his sword.


    Just then, the desolate beast of the air, the helokiel, froze and began to shudder.

 Chapter 70 - 70: Bayena Plains Invaders

    Somewhere deep in Bayena Plain but close to the region designated for Apertures Opening stage desolate beasts and abominations, the entire ground was smeared with the colour of red. This wasn''t the natural colour of the soil, but in fact, a change brought about by the immense amount of blood flooding the surface.


    There were corpses and limbs strewn all over the floor, the source of the blood that had muddled the area. Some of the corpses were incomplete, with signs of either being eaten, chopped or just crushed.


    Looking closely at the corpses, one would notice that they were all hyumans, rather than monsters. What''s more, some of them wore a certain uniform, synonymous with that of the Greendale Highschool staff. Some of the corpses were dressed in special leather or metal armour, similar to what freelancers wear. Some of their armours were actually vestiges, Grade 1 and few Grade 2.


    The armours weren''t the only vestiges present, as various kinds of weapons, whether cold or hot, were scattered right beside each corpse.


    However, the most interesting thing to note about the corpses wasn''t their appearance or the clothing or weapons they had on, but their aura. Even though they had been killed, their blood was still warm and fresh, with a hint of their aura left on their corpses. Every one of the corpses was at least a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    There were even a handful of third level Apertures Opening stage freelancers amongst them.


    In total, there were at least thirty second-level and above stellar practitioners. Such a lineup should be able to handle any threat in the Bayena Plain with ease, but they had ended up mercilessly butchered, leaving behind corpses, scattered limbs, and vestiges.


    Despite the protection and weaponry, they all ended up dead with their eyes wide open in fear. One could see that even until their death, they were still haunted by the terror they faced.


    "Yawn~ Even though we exposed just a tiny trace, they still managed to catch up to us so quickly, huh. The hyumankin sure is annoying, don''t you agree?"


    A figure who stood at the centre of the corpse yard yawned lazily as he gazed into the distance.


    The speaker had two legs and two arms just like a hyuman, but his facial appearance was quite different. Although he looked like a hyuman male, he had four eyes instead of the usual two, with the upper pair appearing like a regular hyuman''s while the lower pair were narrow slits. Each pair was coloured differently, with the irises of the upper pair being brown, while the lower pair were purple.


    The individual''s ears were vertical, similar to those of the legendary elf races in human folklore, but they were much thinner and closer to the head.


    Apart from the difference in facial structure, the arms of the speaker were unique. There were a pair of blades sticking out from each arm: one on the forearm and another on the upper arm. Blood was currently dripping from the two pairs, staining his arm with a deep red colour, but he ignored it.


    The creature also had a maroon (brownish-red) skin tone, but in the Niera galaxy where hyumans had different skin tones due to the differing environments of the planets they lived on, this wasn''t special to be exact. But in Eretre, such a skin tone was unique and rare.


    The man was a mixed-race creature, born of a hyuman and an alien parent.


    "Kroka Gataka sho."


    Behind the crossbreed was a creature, which was truly a monster in the simplest of definitions.


    The creature walked on four legs that looked like those of a spider. Each leg was incredibly thick, rivalling the thigh of a fully grown adult from top to bottom. Unlike the legs of a hyuman that could be divided into the thigh and the lower leg, the legs of this creature were uniform. Its upper and lower legs all had the same size and thickness.


    As for the upper body of the monster, it was unlike anything that ever existed on Earth. If one were to find an Earthling with the closest appearance to it, one would have to go back to the prehistoric era of dinosaurs. From there, one could then describe this monster as having the head of a triceratops and the body of a Borealopelta [1].


    From its appearance alone, there was no semblance of intellect; even its response sounded like the ramblings of a monster.


    However, despite its monstrous look, this creature was actually an intelligent species. Just like hyumans, it could speak, think, and innovate, but in a different way from hyumans. It was part of an alien race known as the Saurian.


    Back when hyumans were expanding their empire, the Saurians were an alien race they encountered which heavily resisted their efforts. Nonetheless, the Saurians fell to the powerful hyumankin and the majority of them were wiped out.


    Unlike other races the hyumans had conquered, the Saurians had too much hate for hyumankin and their race was well known for holding grudges. The Federation Assembly, comprising: the Military Chamber; the House of Senates, which is also known as the Congress; and the House of Lords, which is also known as the Parliament, had passed a bill to wipe out the Saurians after the war.


    Even the Universe Supreme Court, which was the highest judicial power of the hyumankin, didn''t find a fault in this act.


    However, some Saurians had managed to escape extermination, but their hate still remained. They eventually became space pirates or terrorists, trying to destroy the stability of the hyumankin''s Federation.


    "Oh, you agree with me too? Well, that''s to be expected." The crossbreed smiled.


    The Saurian ignored him and began to munch on a corpse, not caring about any possible diseases or the blood that stained its carnivorous mouth. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Enjoying yourself? Well unfortunately, we''ll soon have to leave. The space-sink bomb has already been launched, and the effect has been recorded. Also, with the amount of hyumans we''ve killed, the next batch would be much stronger. We might actually die if we hang around here for too long."


    The Saurian lifted its head and growled slowly,


    "Bashoko jeta kuli?" (What about your toys?)


    "Hmm, it should be acting up just about right now. It would have been a shame to show up here and not leave a gift for the new generation, don''t you agree?" The crossbreed smiled mysteriously as his upper eyes squinted.

 Chapter 71 - 71: Ill Stand With You

    Right as Wally, Astar and Klein prepared to put an end to the helokiel, it abruptly began to shudder like a human undergoing a seizure.


    "What the hell is happening?"


    The trio were dumbfounded by the strange occurrence. There was no written record about desolate beasts undergoing frantic seizures, so the group of friends were inevitably confused about the situation.


    "We have to kill it." Wally suddenly said as his instincts yelled at him.


    Having fought against Lucas for a couple of days, Wally had improved considerably and gained certain skills he could call his own, one such being his sixth sense. Although he didn''t know what was happening, Wally felt that it was very dangerous.


    Klein nocked a black arrow with an orange arrowhead onto his bow. The arrow he used wasn''t the ''cheap'' variation he had been firing all this while, but ones that were very expensive. He could only afford three of them after scraping his savings for an entire year.


    Originally, Klein had no intention of using these arrows during the mid-term practical tests, and had only gotten them for the finals, but he brought one of the arrows just in case he would need it.


    Seeing as Wally was almost in a hysteria and the helokiel was laying down wide open, Klein decided to end it once and for all. As for the agreement to have Astar take the last hit, that would depend on his luck. If the monster was left on its last legs, then Astar could proceed. If it wasn''t, there was nothing Klein could do. Their survival mattered more than a few dozen points.


    Once the arrow was set in place, Klein aimed it at the chest of the monster, in the position where its heart was meant to be.


    *Twang*


    The bowstring was released and the arrow darted through the air as it made its way to the helokiel. The speed of the arrow couldn''t compare with Wally''s previous spear throw, but it was still not something one could dodge so easily. With the desolate beast undergoing a severe seizure, it was all the more unlikely for the arrow to miss its target.


    Just then, the aura of the helokiel went through the roof. The energy it exuded was no longer the same as a peak first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast, but closely approaching that of a second level. It was almost indistinguishable at this point as the trio felt cold sweat seep through their skin.


    The arrow was still on its way when this happened, but it immediately arrived before the desolate beast before the next second. It struck the monster and penetrated through its tough hides, almost as if it were cotton.


    *Whoosh*


    An orange flame burst out from the arrowhead which had penetrated the monster. The wound was set ablaze as the flames erupted from the spot, charring the flesh of the desolate beast black. Despite this, the helokiel was unmoved and didn''t even scream. It merely retained its jerking state while a part of its body was set ablaze.


    "What is going on?"


    Astar and Wally were surprised whereas Klein was flabbergasted.


    Klein knew the power of the arrow he had shot. It was almost equivalent to a one-time usage Grade 1 vestige in terms of power as it was an arrow that contained the outer flames of a vestige-smith''s furnace. These were flames used in refining metals for the production of vestiges. The temperature was insanely high, and its burn damage was nothing to joke about.


    Yet, even with all of that, the helokiel didn''t make any reaction.


    "Run!"


    Wally shouted as he turned around to escape.


    Although there was no explanation for what took place, one thing was for sure; remaining behind was suicide. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Klein followed suit and even Astar, who was pro-battle before, didn''t stop to question or convince anyone otherwise and also escaped.


    While the trio ran, the aura of the monster slowly increased until it settled into the second level for the Apertures Opening stage. It didn''t stop at the ''entrance'' but went a bit in until it was completely stable. With a roar, the helokiel regained its composure and shook away its fatigue. It was in a new self, and even with the injuries previously afflicted on it, the creature felt reborn.


    Being at the second level, the poison used on it was no longer as effective and the helokiel could ignore it. The injury on its left hind leg slowly closed up as the arrow was forced out together with the poison and infected blood. Its wings couldn''t recover back, but the helokiel was more energetic than before.


    As for the seating flames on its body, the desolate beast shook once, releasing a grey streak of energy that put the flames out.


    After settling its composure in place, it glanced at the direction the trio ran and chased after them.


    Unlike before, the group of three failed to find any hiding spots and were forced to remain on the run. However, they could only go so far before the helokiel caught up to them.


    It was now a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast, and even if it wasn''t, catching a group of humans below the peak Body Strengthening stage even with a head start wasn''t anything difficult.


    "Damn it. What the heck happened?" Klein cursed as he ran.


    Suddenly, he felt a gaze on his body. His blood ran cold and without even a hint, Klein knew that the helokiel was eyeing him. It was probably still incensed by the harassment shots and what''s more, the flaming arrow Wally had used just a while ago.


    ''N,no.''


    Klein began to feel desperate as he forced himself to run quicker.


    However, his legs could only do so little so for him.


    "Klein!"


    Wally''s cry sounded as the helokiel appeared just behind Klein with a claw outstretched.


    "Damn it." Klein cursed before activating the bracelet given to him by the academy.


    Although the protective light shield could activate automatically, Klein didn''t want to take the risk and wait for that, deciding to do so himself.


    *Bang*


    The helokiel''s claw crashed into the shield and forced Klein back, but he was at least safe from that attack.


    But that was for now.


    The light shield could only handle three attacks from a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. Usually, that would have given enough time for the staff on duty to dispatch a freelancer to the scene, but the situation was different. The students weren''t aware that most of the staff and freelancers had already been killed by two terrorists.


    Even if they didn''t know, some could figure out that the appearance of the terrorists would lead to a delayed rescue effort. This was why the trio''s first response was to try and escape. They could guess that there was no one coming to help them, as if there were, they would have showed up minutes ago.


    "You guys should run while you still can. I''ll try to hold it back." Klein shouted at the two.


    "You can''t! You''ll die." Astar screamed.


    "Just shut up and run!" Klein didn''t look back at them but faced the helokiel with his bow in hand.


    "Don''t let us all die here. Better one than all three."


    With tears in their eyes, Wally and Astar wanted to stay back, but they knew that Klein was right. If they remained behind, everyone would die. But if Klein stood back, he could at least buy some time for the two of them. His shield had also been activated and the helokiel seemed intent on taking him, which made things easier for them.


    However, they couldn''t just abandon their friend.


    "It''s all my fault. I''m sorry. I''m really sorry." Astar cried as he ran away.


    Klein sighed, but didn''t hate him. Survival was an instinct of every living being. Just as he prepared to take on the helokiel, he noticed that Wally hadn''t left.


    "You..."


    "Shut up and focus!" Wally roared. He didn''t run as Klein had wanted; he couldn''t.


    Even if there was a chance at surviving by doing so, Wally knew that such a chance was nothing more than a fleeting hope. With the speed of a second level helokiel, it would catch up to him eventually. The only hope would be to encounter a freelancer or teacher on the way, but if that were to happen, it would have been so a couple of minutes ago.


    As it stood, death was pretty much certain no matter which option it was.


    However, there was a small viable shot at living if they fought the helokiel. It was still injured, so maybe they could kill. But Wally knew that this was also a futile wish.


    In this moment of life and death, Wally simply decided to stand by his friend. Since they were going to die either way, he might as well die with someone having his back.

 Chapter 72 - 72: Wally Is In Trouble?

    Going back a while ago...


    "So what about the men that came into the store a while back? Are they gone?" Nafir asked Lucas as he stared at him.


    Lucas already knew that Nafir was using his special lie detection technique, but he wasn''t worried about it. The Host Protection Mechanism of the store automatically blocked out all mental arts from affecting him. The issue however, was in the HPM.


    The Host Protection Mechanism didn''t block out attacks but absorbed them, just like a sponge would absorb water. This led to a situation where the attacker wouldn''t feel any feedback from their attack. In the case of Nafir and his mental spell, receiving no feedback, even if it was a rebound, would give rise to suspicions and this wouldn''t bode well for Lucas.


    As Lucas was unable to create a false impression for the technique to perceive, he had to figure something out quickly. Otherwise, once Nafir noticed something strange, he would have a suspicious inkling that Lucas could avoid his technique. This would then lead to him presuming that the results of the interrogation at the Red Fangs base station, might have all been tweaked to Lucas'' advantage.


    ''I hope this works. Deactivate HPM''s active state.'' Lucas gave the command.


    He usually had the active mode turned on all the time, but Lucas decided to switch it off for now. The passive mode was still there to protect him though.


    "Hmm. They did arrive at the store, but they''re gone now." Lucas responded with a calm demeanour.


    By switching off the HPM''s active mode, Lucas could reduce the obstruction of the technique. Through mixing the truth with lies, he wagered that he could deceive Nafir. As for whether it would be successful or not, only Nafir could say.


    After a short second, Nafir nodded at Lucas. His face was still the same, preventing Lucas from knowing the results.


    "By the way, I shouldn''t be telling you this but a problem recently cropped up. Normally, we have some guards stationed close to you, but we had to call them back for an emergency, which led to this." Barry, who stood on the side said.


    "And, what''s that about?" Lucas asked nonchalantly. He truly wasn''t interested in the conversation, as he wanted nothing more than for them to leave the store.


    Barry ignored Lucas'' attitude and continued, "Terrorists have been spotted close to the city, with their target being the Bayena Plain. According to our info, this happens to also be the test venue of a group of high school students. If I''m correct, they should students of Greendale Highschool, an impressive institution with good standards.


    There''s also been a weird space break there and the monsters are going out of control. To prevent more lives from being lost, the Red Fangs had to call up everyone nearby including the men who watched you in secret."


    Lucas froze and couldn''t respond at all. His face was still the same bland look, but deep inside, Lucas'' mind was in turmoil.


    Terrorists. Greendale Highschool.


    ''Wasn''t that the name of Wally''s school?'' Lucas was stunned and couldn''t believe what was happening.


    "Why are you telling me this?" Lucas stared at Barry.


    "From the information we''ve got, it seems you had some dealings with a student from the academy. This happens to be his final year in campus, so he''s one of the test-takers at the moment. His life could potentially be at risk any moment from now, so we decided to give you a heads up just in case he doesn''t make it out alive." Barry explained. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I guess that makes sense, but I''m not like his parents or anything. I also can''t exactly do anything about it. Civilian security is meant to be provided by you guys. Since the opponent is a terrorist, they will be an Apertures Opening stage practitioner and as you may already know, I''m only at the Body Strengthening stage.


    I feel this information may be a little needless to me." Lucas expressed as he just shrugged his shoulders.


    "True. You do have a point there. Well then, sorry for disturbing you. We''ll be on our way." Nafir said before leaving the store with Barry.


    After they left, Lucas still remained seated. He took out his tablet and calmly scrolled through it for a few minutes.


    ''System?''


    "Clear." The system''s voice resounded in his head.


    Lucas sighed before his face suddenly contorted.


    "Why didn''t you tell me about Wally?" Lucas grimaced.


    In Lucas'' opinion, the system was an existence that bordered the term ''all-knowing and all-seeing''. It was nigh omniscient and omnipotent as it was able to spot him out of billions of living beings and have him transmigrated not once, but twice.


    That wasn''t something even the Dragon King could pull off; and this was a creature who exceeded many of the strongest Grand Archmages in terms of both power, knowledge and spells.


    Lucas firmly believed that the system knew about Wally''s current situation as the latter was an important customer, yet failed to notify him.


    "The system is created to train the host to become the next Crafts-God. As such, matters deemed unnecessary to this will be automatically sidelined by the system." The system''s emotionless voice sounded, a bit cold to Lucas'' ears.


    "Even if it''s related to a customer?" Lucas'' response came, even colder than the system''s tone.


    Truthfully, to Lucas, Wally wasn''t just a customer. In Wally, Lucas could see an old friend of his, one of the few people he had met during his lowest times in his first life.


    Back when he lived the life of Yohan, Lucas was an orphan who lived more than seven years on the streets and the mountains. To survive, he would beg, go through trash, or even steal from merchants. On one such occasion, Yohan had tried stealing from a baker''s stall, but was caught by the baker''s son, a young kid of the same age as the young Yohan.


    The kid looked a bit pale, but was slightly healthier than Yohan, which was strange as the latter was an orphaned beggar while the former was the son of a baker.


    At first, the young boy chased after Yohan for the bread, barely catching up to him and engaging in a fight. But in the midst of their tussle, he lost to Yohan before he ended up crying. However, Yohan didn''t get away entirely as the bread was broken and covered in gravel. Nonetheless, being literally dirt-poor, he still picked it up and ate.


    The young boy was slightly astonished by this, and holding back his tears, he questioned Yohan why he ate it, to which Yohan replied, "I don''t have a choice like you do".


    That intriguing encounter became the start of a friendship between these two young boys.

 Chapter 73 - 73: Will you be my brother?

    Later on, Yohan would occasionally come to steal bread from the stall, but the young boy would try to beat him, losing in the end. Although their clash was quite intense, Yohan felt it was more like a game of tag. Even the young boy slowly began to treat it as a contest, hoping to one day finally beat Yohan.


    In the end, a friendship blossomed between these two, with the young boy occasionally sneaking out some other baked goods for Yohan.


    Days passed by and turned into weeks, until two months had gone by. These two months were special to Yohan because the young boy''s father had found out about him and took pity on him, sharing some of his produce with the young Yohan in exchange for his help. At that time, Yohan had worked as a part-timer for the man after he upgraded his stall to a rented shop, making deliveries for the store.


    The young boy had also enrolled into a magic school after he was discovered to have potential for magic.


    One day, Yohan was passing by a certain street and saw the young boy getting bullied by others. Incensed, he ran and stood up for the boy. Even though the opponents knew some basic spells, the mana-less Yohan fought against the other bullies and chased them away at the cost of a few injuries.


    When asked why he did so, Yohan didn''t have an answer, but to not appear soft, he replied "Only I can bully you."


    After that he asked the boy what had happened. It turned out that the young boy had the lowest category of potential for magic and was being bullied by others in school for that. However, he hid the truth from his father and even Yohan, until then. The young boy cried that day, making it the second time Yohan had seen him in tears. At the same time, Yohan found out more about him.


    The young boy was born with a certain disorder and that may or may not have affected his magic potential, but it affected his physique nonetheless. Even though the young boy was born physically weak, his father still wanted him to live a better life than he did, so he enrolled his son into a magic academy with all his savings. However, the young boy could barely make much progress.


    While others made progress with a single stroke of effort, he would have to make three times or even four times the effort to result in the same progress. But with the state of his body, it was even more difficult to do such. One could imagine how much despair he felt. On his shoulders were his father''s dream for him to have a better life, and the young boy''s wish to not disappoint his father.


    But with the weakness of his flesh, it was next to impossible to defy reality.


    Despite all that, he still worked hard. Yohan could even remember the times he saw the boy late at night, carrying out exercise routines, jogging round the street, and attempting to lift any heavy object he could find. It all made sense then. Yohan felt pity for the boy, but that was all he could do as he too was young.


    However, everything changed one day. Yohan had gone out to deliver some baked goods and when he came back to the store, it was wrecked. The father and son were murdered in broad daylight.


    From the chatter of the spectators at the scene, a mage had visited the store and wanted to buy some bread. When presented with the pastry, he was irritated by the taste and caused a ruckus. When he wanted to take down the building, the baker tried to stop him and in anger, the mage killed the man.


    The baker''s son was in so much anguish, pain and anger that he attacked the mage, leading to his death as well.


    To the spectators, such a situation wasn''t uncommon. That was just how harsh their world was. But to the young Yohan, the world became a cold place; a very cold and heartless place.


    Even until now, Lucas could still hear the voice of his young friend from his life as Yohan.


    "When I grow up, I want to become a strong mage. I want to make dad proud and build a brand new bakery for him. I''ll help him hire staff so he won''t have to work as late as he does. He would have some free time to spend with us."


    "They said my potential for magic is too weak. I''m such a disappointment. How can I help dad? How can I make him proud like this?"


    "I need to work harder. Even if it takes ten times the effort, I need to do it."


    "Hey, Yohan. Dad made some pie for us. Come, let''s eat together."


    "Yohan. Sometimes, I wish you were my brother. Will you be my brother, Yohan?"


    Recalling memories from then, Lucas'' eyes unwittingly became wet, but his anger to the system still existed.


    Wally reminded him of his young friend in his past life. They both had their family give their all for them to have a better life. They both were born with the worst potential possible. But even at that, they both struggled and gave their all to be better. They both wanted to be better, not just for themselves, but for their family as well.


    Despite being so young, they were both mature mentally, held back so much pain and hurt behind their smile, just so they could hope for a brighter future.


    One was dead, while the other might soon be as well. However, Lucas had no intention of letting that happen; he wouldn''t, even if it meant losing an arm or a leg.


    "System, get me to Wally''s location or you can forget about having a host."


    "That can''t be done." The system refuted.


    "The life of the hyuman known as Wally will in no way relate nor affect the host''s progress towards becoming the Crafts-God. As such, the system sees no reason to intervene."


    Lucas'' aura flared up and his anger was through the roof. If the system were a physical entity, there was no doubt that he would be strangling it to death right now. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Speak." Lucas calmed down and said.


    If he tried to make it on his own, it might be too late. But the system would definitely have some method to teleport him there. This method was what Lucas was targeting.


    "The system cannot assist the host. Unless..." The system''s voice trailed off.


    "Unless what?" Lucas narrowed his eyes as he felt the system was scheming at the moment.


    "Access denied." The system returned to its monotonous mode of speaking.


    "I don''t get you. You can help me but don''t want to tell me how?" Lucas became infuriated as he slammed his fist on the table.


    After a moment of silence, the system''s voice sounded again.


    "...the host can make a trade off."


    "A trade-off? What''s that?"


    "Access denied."


    Lucas frowned as he felt there was something weird going on here. The system presented him with an opportunity, but it came at a cost which he couldn''t know anything about. No matter what anyone told him, this was filled with too much conspiracy. Who was to say that the system didn''t predict or arrange this? Despite such thoughts, there was nothing that Lucas could do about it without any proof.


    After hesitating for a bit, Lucas finally stood up.


    "I accept. Just get me over to where Wally is right now."


    It took two minutes before Lucas finally got a response from the system.


    "A teleportation portal has been established to the target''s location. The warp point is located in the restroom."


    "The restroom?" Lucas was surprised, but then froze.


    "Where exactly?"


    "The toilet." The system replied.


    "Fuck you."


    Lucas couldn''t resist cursing even if he was Buddha. After all, he was being forced to enter the toilet in order to be teleported over to the Bayena plan. Lucas could almost see a floating figure above his head.


    -1,000,000 aura.


    "Is there no other way to go about this?" Lucas asked, clearly reluctant to enter the toilet.


    "Host is free to reject." The system blandly responded.


    "Tch. Fine. Isn''t it just to enter the toilet?"


    Lucas snorted before entering the work-station. He packed up some special items and new products, storing them all in his inventory before departing for the toil-, the teleportation station.


    "If there ever comes a day you become a physical entity, dread that day, system." Lucas cursed before using the whimsical whirlpool.

 Chapter 74 - 74: Is This The End?

    Astar retreated under the cover of Klein''s existence, whereas Wally had stayed behind to fight the monster along with his friend. However, this was nothing more than a suicidal action. A second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast wasn''t something two teens below the peak of the Body Strengthening stage in their early years could take on.


    "Roar!"


    "Watch out!" Wally barely let out his shout before the helokiel had jumped Klein again.


    *Bang*


    The creature smashed its claws into the light shield and Klein was once again thrown a couple of metres away.


    "Klein." Wally worriedly let out a shout.


    The helokiel turned and glanced at him with intense bloodlust exposed in its eyes.


    ''Shit.''


    Wally only had enough time to let out a thought before a shadow appeared in front of him.


    *Bang*


    A green flicker appeared in front of Wally, shielding him from the attack of the helokiel. However, just like Klein, he was thrown away by the impact.


    The protective shield bracelets given to the students were all high quality items. Since it was made in consideration of a second level beast''s potential attack, the deployment speed of the shields equally matched such monsters and even slightly exceeded some of them.


    In this fashion, even if the students were too slow to respond to an attack, the shield would come up at the very second before they were attacked.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel let out an intimidating roar as it asserted dominance. The nearby stellar energy in the atmosphere immediately into it and was absorbed in a flurry as the monster''s aura blazed.


    The reason the helokiel had lost the first half of the battle was a mix of the duo having coordinated perfectly with Astar, whi had taken a booster drug to help increase his strength to hold it back. Following that, they were on an aggressive offense, targeting its weak points while working in an almost perfect sync.


    The helokiel had also underestimated them from the start as they were weaker than it, so when the trio had taken hold of the battle''s momentum, it was too late for it to counter. If it had taken them seriously from the start, they might have beaten it, but after taking severe injuries.


    However, now it was different.


    Not only was the team of three brought down to two with the most important individual departing, but the helokiel was now at the second level. The difference between the first and second level was a large hurdle, almost the same as the first level and the peak of the Body Strengthening stage.


    At the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, one could still be considered as a Body Strengthening stage practitioner of some sorts. This was because, despite being able to now store and utilise stellar energy, there wasn''t so much contained in the body of a first level stellar practitioner.


    Most of the time, the stellar energy was sparsely used, and even when it was, it could only be employed to boost one''s strength.


    This was why it was still possible, but not certain, for a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner to defeat a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, especially with a vestige.


    However, when the topic of focus changed to a second level, winning was a dream. One would have to be a mythical genius to be able to win at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, but anything below was ludicrously impractical. As for a mythical genius? In the more than three thousand years of history, Eretre under the Oklo Dynasty has never witnessed such a legend.


    The helokiel didn''t move right away to finish off the duo, but intoxicated itself in the new sensation of power. Suddenly, the stellar energy visibly gathered to its mouth as the monster let out an even more terrifying roar.


    *Crack*


    Wally''s shield began to crack under the pressure of the sonic attack, but his mind wasn''t on it. Instead, he ran towards Klein to check up on him. As the roar was a stellar energy attack, the shield could defend against it, but not for long as the attacker was at the second level, which was the shield''s limit.


    "Are you alright?" Wally asked as he helped Klein up.


    Klein''s shield was heavily damaged and filled with many more cracks than Wally''s. Just from appearance alone, it looked as if it would collapse any second. This made Wally even more anxious, but there was nothing he could do about it.


    *cough* *cough*.


    "You should have run away when you had the chance." Klein let out a few words as he barely got his footing.


    Even with the shield in place, some of the force from the helokiel''s blow had got him. It was a second level desolate beast and the shield had already been damaged, so this was unavoidable.


    "Even if I got away, you wouldn''t have lasted this long. It would have come after me right away. At least with both of us, we can buy Astar some time." Wally said.


    "Yeah..."


    "It''s coming." Wally stopped talking and faced the desolate beast with his friend.


    The helokiel saw that the effect of its sonic attack wasn''t as impressive as a close-up. This had to do with the fact that it was still inept with stellar energy skills, but to the helokiel, this was an insult. The two insects that had injured it were still standing even after three attacks.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel suddenly disappeared from the vision of Wally and Klein, before appearing in front of Klein.


    "Watch out."


    Wally had guessed that it would aim for Klein first as the latter''s shield was visibly more damaged than his. The second before the helokiel had made its move, he had swiftly jumped in between the duo and brandished his spear in front of Klein.


    Just as he had predicted, the helokiel appeared in front of Klein, but with Wally in the way, it had to face him first.


    *Bang*


    "Wally!" Klein''s eyes went red as he stared at Wally''s fleeting body. He could already guess what had happened and his body shivered in response.


    The helokiel didn''t care about Wally, whom it had sent flying. It promptly turned its attention back to Klein and swung its claws at him.


    ''Is this it?''


    Klein froze at the sight of the helokiel, which had now exceeded a two metres height after its advancement. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Bam*


    The claw crashed into the shield, but this time around, the shield shattered on impact, exposing Klein to the remnant force of the attack.


    "Klein!"


    Wally, who had forced himself to recover quickly, gazed ahead and witnessed as the helokiel''s claw was dyed red.


    The helokiel''s blood was green, not red.


    "Ahhhh!"


    Tears gushed out from Wally''s eyes as he let out a scream like never before.


    Klein''s body fell to the floor as the helokiel turned its attention to Wally who was crying in pain. Desolate beasts weren''t entirely brainless and were actually much smarter than most animals. It stared at Wally for a second, then abruptly grinned. Although it couldn''t understand emotions as effectively as hyumans, it could understand that Wally was in pain after what it did.


    The helokiel bent down and glanced at Klein''s body, before lifting it''s right claw and brandishing at the body once again.


    *Splat*


    Blood sprayed once again and the helokiel grinned even more fiendishly.


    "Bastard!" Wally cursed as he bit his lips.


    He gripped his spear tightly and with his eyes filled with red, Wally charged at the monster.


    Even though Wally knew that this was suicidal, even though he knew that doing so was meaningless, even though he knew that doing so couldn''t change what had happened to Klein, Wally was still outraged at the brutality and behaviour of the helokiel.


    The helokiel maintained its grin and abruptly flashed, appearing before Wally.


    As if expecting this, Wally had already swung his vestige at it. This time around, it was glowing a dull purple lightjust like before.


    In that one second before the helokiel''s claw struck him, Wally glanced at the desolate beast who appeared at him as he had expected, managing to utter out only one word as he stabbed out.


    "Rez."


    The spear let out a muffled hum and began to visibly shudder, but Wally kept it under control as he thrust it out.


    *Bam*


    *Schtick*


    At the same time the helokiel''s claw struck his barrier, the vestige managed to pierce it, stabbing deep into its body.


    "Roar!"


    The helokiel let out a painful roar as it halted in its steps. As for Wally, he was thrown away by the attack. His shield had shattered, but as the desolate beast held back at the last instance, Wally wasn''t severely injured but thrown away.


    However, not being severely injured didn''t mean Wally was tossed out unscathed.


    "Hehe. Even if I go down, I''ll make sure you regret it." Wally simultaneously laughed and cried as he bled from his head and body.


    "I''m sorry, Klein. I couldn''t make it in time. Mom, Dad, sis, I failed you. I couldn''t do it in the end, and I''m going to die here. Little Tom, your big brother couldn''t become rich and famous, and buy you spaceship collections as I promised."


    With no shot at surviving, his body bleeding and his best friend dead, Wally couldn''t see a reason to keep going. It wasn''t that he wanted to end it all, but there was literally no way to survive this scenario. His body was aching and he couldn''t find the strength to stand up and fight. Even if he could, the helokiel wasn''t an opponent Wally could beat.


    Wally knew that he would die here, but what pained him the most was that he couldn''t see his family one last time. He couldn''t call them or even anyone as for some reason, the communicators had no service.


    So, Wally decided to record a voice note and send it out to them. As long as the communicator wasn''t destroyed, the message would be sent once there was service.


    "If there''s some God in this world, please, keep them safe and watch over them for me. Mister Lucas, I''m sorry, but I might not be able to fulfill my own end of the bargain." Wally cried with a smile before closing his eyes.


    *Boom*


    Just then, an explosion sounded.

 Chapter 75 - 75: The Gauntlets Debut

    "If there ever comes a day you become a physical entity, dread that day, system." Lucas cursed before stepping into the toilet.


    Right as his right leg entered, the water began to spin into a whirlpool that forcefully tugged at him, dragging him into it.


    "..."


    Lucas held his breath and shut his mouth, mentally cursing intensely at the system and wondering why things had to be like this.


    Luckily, the toilet water was sparkling clean otherwise he would have torn his brain out and searched for the system to murder it.


    A mix of dark and dull colours appeared all around him as Lucas was in a state of confusion during this while. He could neither hear, smell, nor feel anything. Lucas could only ''see'' the dark dull colours that surrounded him as he expressed a strange sensation.


    In the very next second, bright white light greeted his sight, stunning Lucas'' eyes for a second as he hurriedly adjusted to it. Flapping sounds resounded in his ears as Lucas experienced a sense of weightlessness with a slight force tugging him downwards.


    When his sight had recovered, Lucas surveyed his surroundings just to find out that he had appeared high up in the sky, and was rapidly falling down.


    "..."


    For the umpteenth time, Lucas had the urge to curse out loud, but he knew that it was of no use. Also, having appeared in a new area, it was best to understand the situation than expose his location right away.


    As for the current situation? Lucas had been in worse situations and he came prepared. So, he wasn''t worried about a fall, even though it was from over a kilometre high, and would take less than half a minute to fall down.


    Staring down beneath him, Lucas saw a vast plain covered in a few shrubs and scattered groves. Lucas narrowed his eyes at a region where his instincts seemed to have alerted him of danger. Thanks to his improved spiritual senses and the advantage of a bird''s eye view, Lucas could sense an incredible blood energy from that exact location


    Based on his experience, there were only two reasons for this: there was either a blood magic user, or a large-scale murder had been carried out there.


    ''It seems that the situation is worse than I thought.'' Lucas frowned.


    He then turned his eyes towards a location closely beneath him, where he sensed an intense energy outburst alongside a roar.


    Scanning the area with his eyes, Lucas noticed a desolate beast with a thick body and one wing, as the other had been sliced off. He watched as it stared at a particular location.


    At first, Lucas thought it was a regular student and decided to save them. Once he did so, he could ask them to help him find Wally.


    However, as he kept watching whilst free-falling, Lucas managed to catch sight of a familiar silhouette.


    Instantly, his eyes widened as Lucas gripped his palms tightly.


    "Retrieve."


    The craftsman gloves first appeared on his hands, boosting his strength significantly. But that wasn''t enough. Based on the energy signature he was getting as he approached the monster, Lucas knew that it was at the Apertures Opening stage, and above the first at least. The power boost from the craftsman gloves wasn''t enough, but as was earlier mentioned, Lucas had made preparations before leaving.


    "Retrieve."


    A pair of gauntlets suddenly appeared in Lucas'' arms. The gauntlets covered the entirety of his forearms, but what was most conspicuous about them was the size of the gauntlets. They each looked to be almost as big as the waist of a fully grown adult male.


    The black metal gauntlets had beguiling red lines on them and strange patterns carved on the surface. It appeared like a piece of metal art that somehow managed to wreak a devilish energy from it.


    The gauntlets were made using a combination of Devil Mark stones and Gretac-Titanium alloy, which were metals Lucas received in the work-station after the building was renovated. There was also half an ingot of Purple Iridium metal put into the work, and despite wanting more, Lucas could only manipulate a maximum of half an ingot at a time, due to his lack of stellar energy.


    For the magic runes and sigils, Lucas used Red Iris stone, which was well known for its conduction of stellar energy, and the recently acquired Violent Sun ores for some parts, to give the runes more aggressive nature and force.


    The pair of gauntlets was Lucas'' tour de force of vestige-smithing ever since he came into this new world. It had taken him a total of eight hours to melt the metals and prepare the materials, twenty hours just to make the structure, and seven hours to carve the runes. The truth was that it could have been longer, but this was the first prototype of the deisgn.


    They were meant to be a part of a set Lucas was building to protect himself, but so far, only the gauntlets had been completed without any issue.


    The gauntlets also applied the recent ideology Lucas came up with, which was why the creation process was lengthy and complex, and the size was this large.


    *Hum*


    When he was less than one hundred metres above, a height that would take less than five seconds to descend, the gauntlets suddenly began to glow along the red lines.


    At this moment, the helokiel was about to dish the finishing blow to Wally, who had already given up. However, it suddenly sensed something above and lifted its head to take a look.


    *Boom*


    The gauntlets smashed right into the face of the helokiel. On impact, it let out a small explosion, shoving the monster down to the ground.


    The astonishing combination of the force from a free fall, the intense punch, the weight of the gauntlet, and the explosion released on impact, all dealt a heavy blow to the monster, burying it into the ground.


    "What was that?" Wally was stunned and tried to lift his head to take a look. However all he could see was a mix of dust and smoke.


    He had barely escaped the reach of the explosion as he wasn''t within its range, but the attack still caught him unaware.


    "Hey, kid. Who said you could die without fulfilling your end of the bargain?" Lucas'' cold voice sounded from the haze.


    "Mi-mister?" Wally was astounded. He couldn''t believe his ears even though he found that voice to be familiar and knew the owner.


    "Move away a bit. I need to teach this fella a lesson for messing with my plans."


    "O-okay." Wally nodded before forcing himself to stand up and leave.


    When he saw Klein''s body on the other side, Wally froze at the sight.


    "Mister, please-"


    "I got it." Lucas cut him off.


    Although he had just arrived, Lucas got a quick glimpse of the situation from above and understood right away.


    "Oi, get up. There''s no way you would go down from that alone." Lucas massaged his arms as he glanced at the crater formed by the attack.


    "Graaaaa." The helokiel rose from the crater and released a low growl.


    It was incensed by the new arrival, especially by the attack that struck it. On the helokiel''s body, a hole the size of the gauntlet''s fist had appeared, bleeding out green liquid. The edge of the hole was filled with burnt marks and even part of the injured flesh was as black as soot.


    "Second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. An irritating fellow." Lucas'' brows furrowed.


    If it were a first level desolate beast, the gauntlets he had on as well as the boost from the craftsman gloves underneath, would have enabled him to take it on. However, a second level beast was out of the equation. Taking the risk of facing it alone might end up with him dying.


    "Although I''d like to play with you a bit, I''ve got bigger fish to fry."


    Lucas took in deep breath and in the next second,


    "Release."


    *Boom*


    A burst of aura exploded from Lucas, rising quickly from the peak of the Body Strengthening stage to the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. It didn''t settle there and went one step further to the second level, before calming down a bit. His body was also covered in strange black tattoos that gave him a mysterious and somewhat culturally aesthetic appearance.


    *Whoosh*


    At the same time, a grand mass of stellar energy gushed into his body, rejuvenating Lucas and giving him a new sensation.


    ''So this is stellar energy.'' Lucas relished in the sensation of having a mystical energy flow through his body, blood, veins and organs.


    ''It''s a bit like mana but less weighty. Are all mystical energies different?'' Lucas thought.


    The helokiel stared at him wide-eyed, speechless as to how the creature before it had gone straight from the peak of the Body Strengthening stage to its current level. Although it had also previously undergone a transformation, the helokiel was at the peak of the first level and had received assistance from two strange creatures before achieving its current state. S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But the little being before it simply breathed in and out once.


    *Bang*


    "Let''s get this done with." Lucas pounded the gauntlets together, generating a strange wave of electricity over them that dissipated almost immediately.


    "Roar!" The helokiel released an intimidating bellow.


    The enemy was merely at the same level as it, and had only managed to injure it by surprise. Even though it was injured, the helokiel suspected that Lucas'' current state was a sham.


    In truth, the helokiel was a tad right. Lucas'' current state was as a result of activating the Bronze grade card he got from fulfilling a mission in the past. It was a second level card which meant that for the next two hours, Lucas would possess the strength of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    "Noisy." Lucas muttered.


    In the next second, the helokiel disappeared and appeared beside him, waving its claw towards him.


    *Bang*


    Lucas'' left palm opened wide and caught the helokiel''s claw, leaving the monster dumbfounded.


    "Ro-"


    *Bam*


    A punch greeted the helokiel''s face, shutting it up halfway through its roar.


    "I said you''re being noisy." Lucas coldly stated.


    His gaze was like that from the deepest depths of the abyss, freezing the monster and making it shiver for a bit. For a second, the helokiel was confused as to who the real beast was.


    Still holding tightly onto the monster''s claw, Lucas grabbed a part of its head -which included an eye- with his right arm, and lesser firmly on it.


    "This is for making me use my equipment before it''s completed."


    The helokiel''s covered eye could suddenly see a blue light that rapidly expanded before blasting brilliantly.


    "Roar!"


    The monster let out a mournful scream as it tried to struggle away from Lucas'' grip. It brandished its free claw at Lucas in an attempt to efficiently escape.


    Lucas didn''t hold onto it any longer, letting the monster withdraw from his reach since it was counter-attacking. He wasn''t bothered about it escaping; with the combination of his new vestige and his strength now at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, the helokiel couldn''t escape even if it were at the third level.


    "Save a bit of your voice before you lose it. You''ll be screaming like this a couple more times soon."

 Chapter 76 - 76: The Red Fangs And CDF Arrive

    [[AN: CDF is an acronyfor the City Defence Force. ]]


    At the outskirts of the Bayena Plain, two silhouettes were moving across the grass at a steady speed. Their aura was almost nonexistent that if someone was close by, they wouldn''t even sense or hear them. Even if one were to glance in their direction at a distance, they might confuse the silhouettes for normal creatures as the duo didn''t have a hint of stellar energy on them.


    But the truth was the opposite.


    The two figures were the wanted terrorists who had invaded the Bayena Plain and interfered with the Greendale Highschool students'' practical exercises. They were currently making their escape from the region, having gone over thirty kilometres from their previous location. Currently, they were fast approaching the border of the Bayena Plain and past that was a mountain range.


    The mountain range was a suitable place to escape from as the terrain could help shield them away from satellite view. The thick rocks could also block certain scanning signals from sare shuttles and unmanned drones.


    While dashing across the plain, the monster duo abruptly came to a halt.


    "They caught up quickly." The crossbreed smiled as he glanced backwards.


    "Ho koron bo." (I told you). The saurian grunted.


    "Whatever. You pretty much know why I had us slow down. I''d like to see how good the fighters in this backwater are. Don''t act like you aren''t interested as well."


    The saurian snorted, but didn''t speak anymore. Instead, he gazed into the distance together with his companion.


    *Hum*


    A sare shuttle appeared in mid-air, quickly closing in on the duo. Within only just three seconds, the shuttle had appeared less than one hundred metres away from the two criminals. But that wasn''t all.


    Loud humming sounds broke out as more shuttles flew over from the horizon. They were a rapid response team hurriedly gathered to vanquish the attackers. There were at least six of them and everyone was an attacking model with impressive speed designs and defence.


    They hovered to a stop less than two hundred metres away and faced the terrorists, spreading out and forming a defensive net. The two hundred metres distance might seem significant, but it was nothing to a sare shuttle. However, it was still enough to keep the passengers safe from the attacks of the terrorists.


    Drones hovered away from shuttles, flying towards the other side and surrounding the shuttles. Once the drones got into formation, they released strange blue lights that connected with each other, forming an energy net.


    All of this took less than fifteen seconds, but the two terrorists remained calm at the sight. They didn''t even bother to stop it, merely glancing at the ''show''.


    "Give it up, you''re surrounded."


    A voice sounded from the lead sare shuttle as two fighters stepped out of it, encased in armour. One of them was a woman, and someone Lucas was quite familiar with. She was a lieutenant from the Red Fangs and at the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    As for the other individual, he was a lieutenant of the Baylands City Defence Force, and similarly a fourth level stellar practitioner.


    It should be recalled that the Red Fangs unit was a security uniform concerned with Baylands City. However, unlike the City''s Patrol Corps, they usually operated outside the city, with the few internal matters being high risk cases. One of the most common tasks handled by the Red Fangs was the quelling of beast tides, usually in coordination with the City Defence Force.


    But there was also another mission handled by this combination; the dispatching of terrorist groups and individuals.


    The Greendale Highschool had earlier informed the City Defence Force of a mishap in their practical exercise, after they failed to get feedback from their staff members and the freelancers sent over. So, a Red Fangs platoon and a platoon from the Defence Force were sent over.


    This was because the incident had occurred outside the city and involved the disappearance of many second level fighters and a couple third level Apertures Opening stage freelancers.


    A platoon consisted of sixteen soldiers and was lead by a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. In other words, there were currently thirty two soldiers split between the first to third levels of the Apertures Opening stage, and two lieutenants at the fourth level. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is that a battle suit? Interesting. I never thought I''d see one here, although it''s an inferior edition." The crossbreed smirked as he glanced at his opponents.


    "What is your decision, criminal?" The lieutenant from the Baylands City Defence Force coldly asked.


    "That''s a stupid question cause you know the answer better than I do." The crossbreed chuckled.


    "You''re not from here, are you? Why are you here and why are you doing this?" Lieutenant Lily asked.


    Saurians weren''t native species to Eretre. Even if there was one that came for a visit, they would be recorded in the planet''s database. The appropriate city-state would also be informed by the planetary Transport Security Agency and update their records about the visit.


    Baylands city-state had no record of a saurian paying a visit, so the only explanation was that the latter was coming over from a different city or snuck in.


    The first possibility could be checked by asking the planetary TSA for recent visitation records of a saurian, but that would take some time. As for second possibility, it was what they decided to go with. Regardless of whether the saurian was from a different city, he had arrived in Baylands city-state''s territory and wreaked havoc.


    Since the crossbreed was with the saurian, then their situation should be similar.


    "You''re right about us being foreigners. As for why we are doing this? Why shouldn''t we?" The crossbreed turned to her.


    "You hyumans have always felt yourself to be a more powerful species, thanks to all your countless successful campaigns. Isn''t it about time you got put in your place?"


    "By killing innocent lives?" Lily frowned at the man''s nonchalant attitude.


    "''The sins of the parents are passed onto their children. No one is innocent.'' This is a line popularly said by a certain Federation senator. How can you not be aware of it?" Chuckling once again, the crossbreed shook his head.


    "You shouldn''t be like this. I understand your situation and the mistreatment you''ve received, but you can be better than this." Lily argued.


    "Oh? What''s this? Mikolos, is she actually pitying us?" Turning to the saurian, the crossbreed showed a surprised expression. The latter however, ignored him.


    "You''re an interesting fellow. But your worldview is wrong. Well, it can''t be helped as you live in such a backwater place like this. Enough talking; I know that you''re trying to buy time. I''ve already patronised your attempt enough." The crossbreed smiled.


    Lily and the lieutenant from the City Defence Force both grimaced. The crossbreed was right about that. Their two platoons was merely a rapidly assembled strike force. Although it consisted of their members, facing up against two terrorists who had wiped out dozens of stellar practitioners at the first, second and third levels, victory wasn''t certain.


    As the duo had kept their aura to themselves, it was hard to discern their power level.


    Although the two lieutenants were at the fourth level, if their opponents were at the same level as themselves, it would be a tough fight even with their platoon members offering some backup. However, if the terrorists were stronger, it would be even more challenging to win.


    This was why Lily tried to buy time for backup.


    "I guess we have no choice. I''ll take the saurian while you handle the other guy." The man said.


    Saurians were an innately aggressive race and Thier entire physical body was a war machine. The scales all over their body was extremely solid and difficult to cut through. Without a doubt, it was most likely the strongest opponent of the two, by face value.


    Lily didn''t disagree with the man''s decision, and summoned her vestige right away. Although they were both at the same level, he was slightly strongest than her and had better equipment.


    "I hope you can entertain me a bit."


    Seeing Lily charge towards him, the crossbreed calmly smiled at her and swung his arm forward.


    *Clang*


    The sound of metal colliding with metal resounded as sparks flew off between the two.


    "Feisty." The crossbreed commented as he shoved Lily away with his arm blade.


    On each arm, there were two blades sticking out of them; one from the forearm and the other from the upper arm. These were the crossbreed''s weapons, and they were almost as solid as a Grade 2 vestige.


    The human race was disadvantaged compared to other species, not just because of their inability to utilise stellar energy, but also their physical form. Although the creation of the hyumankin had enabled them to harness stellar energy, they were still handicapped in terms of physical form.


    This was why the invention of vestiges were one of the human race''s greatest ever achievements alongside the creation of the hyumankin.


    Vestiges gave them a way to contend and kill alien species, otherwise, hyumans would not have been able to be the superior species in this part of the universe.


    *Clang* *clang*


    The crossbreed dashed at Lily and swung both arms crazily, with each action moving from a difficult angle. Compared to a sword or any other bladed weapon that was an external aspect, blades that literally stuck out from one''s arms were somewhat at an advantage.


    "Come on. Faster, faster." laughed the crossbreed as he turned his attack speed up a notch.


    Lily remained calm and cold, responding to every strike with a slash of her sabre [1].


    After a short bout, the two separated and stared at the other.


    "Do you know what the outside world looks like?"

 Chapter 77 - 77: There Is No Justice

    "Do you ever wonder what the reality of the outside world is like?" The crossbreed suddenly asked.


    "The reality of the world outside? What do you mean?"


    Lily stared at him in confusion. She could guess that he referred to the other solar systems and planets ruled by the hyumankin, but Lily still didn''t understand his question.


    "I guess you don''t." The man smiled.


    "You''re probably taught about how magnificent the world outside is, or how amazing the society out there is. Of the prosperity that exists without comparison, and the peace that thrives just like the lotus on a lake. Of the strength the practitioners wield and of how the hyumankin advances step by step, facing no solid obstruction nor observing any pause.


    Taking it one step further, you''re made to believe in how there is equality and justice, and how every race or species are treated the same, whether victor or vanquished. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What a joke." The crossbreed scoffed.


    "There is no peace that thrives without the suffering of another. No prosperity is achieved without exploitation. With each step hyumankin takes in the universe, many alien races fall to the cold hands of death and face extinction.


    "What about the ideology of equality that is being preached? It is a mere illusion; a painting on a wall, created to hide away the dark reality that every species face behind that wall.


    "In life, there is no justice."


    "Absurd. You don''t know what you''re saying." Lily refuted.


    The crossbreed chuckled calmly and he responded.


    "Oh, but I do. Unlike you, I''ve been to the outside world. I witnessed not just the harsh reality of this world, but that of the so called ''justice''. In fact, I didn''t just witness it; I lived and breathed in it."


    Lily hesitated as she saw how serious he was.


    Lily Mayer was someone who firmly believed in justice and the rule of law. Even though she kept a cold face, she was actually quite considerate about other species. Take for instance how she came to Lucas'' rescue when he first transmigrated into this world, preventing him from being taken away by the kidnapper trio.


    There was also how she let Lucas go even after the murder he committed in broad daylight, on the account that it was self-defence, which was a valid reason. If it were someone else, they would treat Lucas harshly, especially if they knew that he was a human.


    However, Lily didn''t look at one''s race of species in negative light. Since the law had stated that all species under the federation were equal, she held steadfast to that belief and presumed it was so, especially on a broader scale. This was why Lily always hated terrorists and couldn''t understand them.


    While it was true that the hyumankin had destroyed their civilisation and seized their lands, all was fair in war. Even after that, the hyumankin had shown mercy, not wiping them out despite their losses and still returning a portion of lands back to the original owners. They were also granted rights, freedom and access to the technology the hyumankin possessed.


    With such great compensatory treatment, there was less of a reason why one should engage in terrorism.


    But the truth was different, and terrorism became such a serious issue in the galaxy, to the point that even individual planets, like Eretre, were affected.


    Listening to the crossbreed''s speech, Lily understood a bit, but she still refused to believe it. She was convinced that while there might be people who looked down on other species and disliked them, they only existed in backwater places like this. In the grand scheme of the universe and the world outside, where the law was more firm and stable, there was peace, and acceptance.


    As for the terrorists who existed, they were simply people bored of the status quo, and desired to change it radically. They were also alien species who had lost to the hyumankin and wanted to regain back their honour, and not individuals who were mistreated.


    This was Lily Mayer''s belief.


    "You''re lying." Lily firmly refuted.


    "You still refuse to believe me, huh? I guess it has to do with the fact that people like you, who were born in this backwater, could easily relate with other species. What''s the average mDNA count here? 18-22%?" The crossbreed held his chin as he revealed.


    "With it being so low, it''s no wonder why the ''hate'' here is just average. In the outside world, anyone at your level would merely be relegated to beginner roles, and the treatment you would receive might as well be the same as that offered to other races. In summary, it doesn''t matter whether you believe or not, as you are not much different from us.


    "The truth will forever remain the truth and nothing more. You wouldn''t know that until you see it."


    The crossbreed said confidently.


    *Whoosh*


    Lily widened her eyes abruptly as a figure appeared in front of her. She immediately moved her sabre and blocked in front of her.


    *Clang*


    A blade appeared in front of her, being hindered by her sabre. However, that wasn''t all.


    The crossbreed attacked with his other arm, utilising both blades attached to it forced Lily into a retreat.


    "Ha!"


    The battle suit Lily wore suddenly glowed purple as the energy in it exploded.


    Battle suits were special types of vestiges made with different components and parts. The aim of a battle suit was to increase one''s overall strength, or in some cases, a particular aspect.


    Lily''s battle suit was equivalent to a high quality Grade 2 vestige, and it was very powerful; at least more so than a single Grade 2 equipment.


    She responded to the attack of the crossbreed vehemently, managing to make a mark on his skin, forcing the opponent away.


    "That''s the spirit! Let''s make some music and dance to the rhythm."


    The crossbreed laughed as he re-engaged Lily in a fierce battle.


    The two continuously attacked each other, forming craters on the ground after every failed attack. Even though they were only at the fourth level, their attack and reaction speeds were far ahead that of a regular hyuman. At times, there would be blurs flashing round the area as they moved at the speed of a race car.


    The platoon crew could only remain in their shuttles and monitor the situation from inside. This battle was beyond their capabilities and if they were to attack with the sare shuttles, they would risk hitting the wrong target.


    Instead, the crew tightened their surveillance of the surroundings and deployed anti-escape equipment to prevent the terrorists from running away. Some of them also contacted the approaching reinforcements and urged them to hurry over.


    Occasionally, Lily would glance on the other side to see how her partner had been holding. However, compared to her, the man was having a much harder time.


    Saurians didn''t speak like hyumans and they were also an aggressive race, so it didn''t give the man any breathing space as the crossbreed did with Lily. It was only natural for the man to have been having such a hard right from the start, even if he was stronger than Lily. However, he still held on and wasn''t in a disastrous situation. He even managed to get a few hits in.


    After a minute of constant clashing and intense battling, the crossbreed said,


    "I''m tired of this farce."

 Chapter 78 - 78: 97% Mortality Rate

    "I''m tired of this farce."


    As the crossbreed said this, he gave up on defence as he launched a self-inflicting tactic against Lily. He was wide open to her attack, ignoring it while swinging both arms at her.


    Lily was immediately taken aback by the act, but responded quickly by lunging towards the side.


    The crossbreed waved his left arm and took a nick at Lily''s armour, leaving a mark on it.


    "You guys are too inefficient with your powers. Fourth level Apertures Opening stage and you depend so much on your vestige. Well, what can I expect from people living on the fringes. With all that power and all you can do is wave a stick, how laughable."


    Snickering, the crossbreed stretched his hand towards Lily with the palm facing her.


    "Let me show you how to truly use stellar energy."


    Suddenly, a small gust of air flowed by as a swirl of stellar energy gathered in front of the crossbreed''s palm. A green-black ball of stellar energy was taking shape on his palm and it evoked a sense of danger from Lily''s instincts.


    Just as the crossbreed was about to attack, he suddenly raised his eyebrows with his lower pair of eyes widening abruptly. The hand that held onto the energy ball quickly turned to the side and aimed to the sky.


    *Vroom*


    The green-black ball of energy exploded into four green-black energy beams, as thick as an adult''s arm, that shot into the air.


    In mid-air, another energy beam, even thicker, was rapidly descending towards the crossbreed. However, it met with the green-black beans instead and collided into them. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Boom*


    The two attacks crashed into each other and set off a magnificent explosion in midair. Radiation burst from the point of collision as a stunning yet lethal aurora formed right after. However, that wasn''t all.


    Almost immediately, more beams of sizzling energy shot down from the small fleet of sare shuttles, simultaneously targeted at the crossbreed.


    The crossbreed didn''t have enough time to think and simply raised both arms up, shielding his face.


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    Multiple beams struck him, scorching the ground black and raising a large amount of dust into the air. The explosions were so powerful and loud that even the saurian and the lieutenant from the City Defence Force paused their battle and looked that way.


    "Ginon..." The saurian said as it stared at the centre of the explosion.


    Lily had already retreated after the attack, and she gazed at the scene, narrowing her eyes at the location of the crossbreed.


    "Did we get him?" A voice sounded from her battle suit.


    It turned out that there was a communicator on it, and Lily had used it to signal the fleet to attack.


    "Good job." Lily commented, "but it''s not over yet."


    "How come?" The speaker on the other side was surprised by her conjecture.


    Lily, however, didn''t reply and remained staring at the area.


    A gasp could be heard on the other side of Lily''s communicator, but she didn''t even notice it. Rather, her focus was on the alarming energy signal she could sense from the centre of the explosion.


    "Haha. That was a nice party trick." The crossbreed''s voice sounded from the centre of the area.


    The crossbreed waved his arm once, shoving away all the dust in the area. His stature was revealed to the open, devoid of any critical injury or harm. There were only a few burnt patches on his red skin with a portion of his hair being gone. Apart from this, the only injury worthy of note was a ping-pong sized hole on his left arm.


    "You..." Lily''s eyes were wide open as if she had seen a ghost.


    She wasn''t dismayed at the fact that the crossbreed survived that assault without any serious injuries, although that in of itself was shocking. Lily''s speechless expression instead laid in what she sensed from his body.


    "This energy...it can''t be."


    "You know, you guys almost caught me there. If I were a regular fourth level practitioner, I would be dead, or at the very least, lost half my body. Unfortunately, you weren''t aware of my full capability."


    From the body of the crossbreed, the aura radiated was no longer that of a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, but a fifth level.


    "I was really thinking of holding back all through, but you forced my hand." The crossbreed sighed.


    He then waved his right hand in the direction of the small fleet of six sare shuttles. Even the seventh shuttle which was used by the lieutenants to arrive was targeted.


    A bizarre and invisible vibration coursed through the air at the speed of sound, reaching the shuttles before they even noticed it. When the waves touched the shuttles, they were immediately torn apart. There was no explosion, no flames, or any backward movement; the shuttles were simply shredded into metal scraps.


    Some of the scraps were stained red or with fleshy parts stuck to them, but neither Lily nor the other lieutenant paid attention to this. They were appalled by the ability the crossbreed had demonstrated. That wasn''t a simple manifestation of stellar energy; that was a superpower.


    For hyumans, only at the tenth level would they possess such due to their inadequate physical form. There might be exceptions, but even they could only utilise a tiny bit of their innate superpower. But the same wasn''t so for alien species. Unlike hyumans, most alien species could use stellar energy and even more so, had innate superpowers.


    The more superior races could already use it right from birth.


    The crossbreed was born of both a hyuman and an alien species, so he possessed the qualities of both sides. Hence, it wasn''t strange for him to be able to have an innate superpower at the fifth level rather than the tenth level.


    The saurian, not wanting to be left behind, similarly burst out in power.


    ''Oh no.''


    The lieutenant tried to retreat, but the alien, despite its heavy body, flashed and reappeared in front of him, sticking one of its legs through his body


    "Puah."


    The lieutenant puked out blood with his eyes wide open.


    As the saurian, Mikolos, pulled out its leg, the lieutenant collapsed to the ground with blood rapidly flowing from the new hole in his body.


    "We have to get going." The crossbreed, Ginon, sighed.


    "In my eyes, you''re no different from us, but even more pitiful. So, I''ll spare you today. Bye~" Ginon smiled before tossing out a strange orb behind.


    The orb exploded and formed a blackhole which he and Mikolos stepped into before it closed up.


    Thirty-four stellar practitioners were sent on seven sare shuttles to take down the terrorists. Even if they couldn''t, they were expected to hold them back just long enough for reinforcements to arrive.


    However, in less than seven minutes, thirty three (33) of the thirty four (34) practitioners were killed; a mortality rate of 97% percent.

 Chapter 79 - 79: Uproar

    "Good morning everybody. This is the Baylands City News Network, or BCNN for short, and I''m your host for the Sunrise Programme, Fiona Von Aurst." [1] Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A blonde lady white yellowish skin and blue eyes sat in front of a desk and faced the camera. The news was being displayed live to multiple devices, and almost everyone in Baylands City was tuned in to it. Even the public squares in the five major districts had their display screens tuned in on the channel.


    "On today''s programme, I bring you breaking news, and I mean this both literally and figuratively. We''ve just received and confirmed information that yesterday, a group of students, along with their staff and a few freelancers on protective duty, were killed by terrorists; radicals who seek to usurp the current peace of the galaxy.


    "The affected institution was the Greendale Highschool located in the West Wing district''s Sinol street. According to our investigations, more than sixty casualties were recorded; a mix of students, academy staff, hired freelancers and members of the Baylands City Defence Force and Patrol Corps wing, the Red Fangs.


    The perpetrators have been identified as two terrorists involved: a crossbreed between a hyuman and an Evonika; and a saurian, both suspected to be at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. They have been accused of not only directly attacking the victims, but also drugging the desolate beasts in the area, increasing their abilities and violent tendencies.


    This in turn created a chaotic situation that was too difficult for the students of the practical tests to handle on their own, leading to dramatic losses and deaths.


    "Further investigation on the identities of the culprits have yet to be confirmed, but we can assume that they might still be within the territory of Baylands city-state.


    "As a result, a notice from the Baylands City Lord Office has been released. Everyone is to move with caution and report any suspicious activities or individuals to the Patrol Corps or the Defence Force."


    On the screens of the viewers, there were two images displayed alongside the reporter. They were the images of the crossbreed and the saurian. After displaying the images for a short while, it switched to the scene of the incident, where the corpses of the freelancer and staff were being carried out by the medics.


    Many people stared horrified at their devices. Deaths weren''t so common, especially to people who didn''t work in the line of Freelancers. Even for those who did, such a large casualty count from one incident was very rare in the industry.


    The news of the attack had stunned everyone and it reminded them that even with the peace that existed, there were some who still threatened it with the power they held.


    Some of those watching the news were parents who had sent their kids off for the practicals three days ago. Others were relatives or even spouses of the freelancers and Defence Force soldiers who had passed away. Tears streamed down their eyes as they watched the news.


    While a few of them had been informed of the situation the previous day, not everyone got the memo in time. Finding out that their loved one had passed away in the morning news was definitely not how they planned to start their day.


    "Death to all foreign races!"


    No one knew who yelled it first at the public square of the Eastern Creek district [2], but very soon, many others joined to do so. Even in the public square of West Wing district, which was the most affected by the news, there were ongoing shouts and chants for alien species to be strictly monitored and investigated.


    Some even went one step further and called for all humans to be taken into custody, and the city-state of Digress to be brought to ''justice''.


    A furore suddenly broke out in the two most populous districts of Baylands City; the West Wing district to the west, and the Eastern Creek district to the east. The Patrol Corps hurried to keep things under control and prevent a riot from bursting out, but the people were still allowed to protest as it was their right.


    The anger in the air was evident, and even some members of the Patrol Corps were influenced by the news this morning. Some of them are related to the victims while another group was friends with them.


    One should recall that the Red Fangs were a division of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. The two organisations were closely related and had worked a few times on cases within the city, so it was inevitable for members of both sides to get familiar with each other.


    Hearing that their friends who they drank with, laughed with, or celebrated with, were now dead, some still felt the situation to be unreal


    With the ongoing protests and chaos, the City Lord''s office quickly organized a meeting to discuss their next measures.


    Originally, the news about the attack wasn''t supposed to be broadcast, but with the massive casualty rates, there was no way to keep it under wraps for long. Apart from that, some of the freelancers and staff had survived due to being mobilised elsewhere, like rescuing the students for instance.


    They leaked the news to their colleagues and those related to the deceased, and as the circle of those knowledgeable increased, it eventually got to the ears of some media company. These media companies circulated the information quickly the previous day, and the City Lord Office was forced to act.


    The City Lord Office at that time, had decided to use the city''s official media, the BCNN, to make a formal announcement about the deaths. This was because if the people were not given an answer to unconfirmed information circulating from the other media channels, they might lose faith in the government.


    With his reputation slightly damaged due to this incident, the current city lord decided to focus on damage control. This was why they made the announcement in the end. Since some of the people already knew and the majority would find out in the end, it was better to admit to the incident having taken place and make some reparations for it.


    Of course that alone wasn''t enough, but the government planned to perform 200% of the usual and crackdown on all crimes during this period.


    Regardless of whatever reason the City Lord Office had or whatever decision they would take, it was no doubt that the recent incident had sparked a strong sense of hate in the hearts of many.

 Chapter 80 - 80: The Board Of Trustees Visit

    After saving Wally, Lucas escorted him and Klein out of the area. As it turned out, Klein wasn''t dead yet, but was close to being so. With second level Apertures Opening stage power for the next two hours, leaving the Bayena Plain while watching over two teens wasn''t an issue for Lucas.


    The Bayena Plain was mostly home to abominations and desolate beasts below the third level, and with his new vestige, even third level monsters might not be an issue to take on.


    When he brought the duo to a safe location, which was very close to a temporary shelter set up by security forces and the academy, Lucas reminded Wally not to mention that he was there no matter the circumstance. He also made up a suitable fake story for Wally, before returning back to the store.


    It was currently the next day; Lucas, just like seventy percent of the Baylands City population, was watching the news report on the Baylands City News Network. Although he was in Bayena Plain just the other day, Lucas didn''t get to look around much, so he wasn''t aware of the casualty rate or how deadly the event was.


    ''I should really stay in the store more often.'' Lucas thought.


    Having used his last Bronze grade card, Lucas was truly powerless. The new vestige might be powerful, but without having stellar energy, Lucas couldn''t utilise its true power. Until the set was complete, activities far from the store would have to be postponed.


    "System, when will you fix my condition?" Lucas asked as he recalled that the system stated it had a way for him to use stellar energy in the future.


    "When the system reaches level 5, the host would be able to utilise stellar energy." The system responded.


    "Level five? What level are you at now?"


    "After the host had opened the store, the system had stepped into the first level."


    "How can I get you to level up faster?"


    "Missions related to the system''s growth would occasionally be released. Also, completing regular missions, whether created by the system or originally programmed for the host, would grant the system a random number of points which would aid the system''s growth."


    "Hold up, shouldn''t it be the other way around? Shouldn''t I be getting experience points or something?" Lucas froze. This wasn''t what he read in those web novels.


    "The host doesn''t think you can simply get stronger by doing random missions, do you? Wouldn''t that invalidate the efforts of others who have been working hard? Or those who have been born superiorly talented?" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas was speechless at the system''s retort. On one hand, it had a point, on the other hand, he never expected it to give such a response.


    Sighing, Lucas gave up arguing and asked another question.


    "How difficult would it be to get to level five? Is it close or far?"


    "Well, five minus one is four, and four isn''t really a big number."


    Lucas was once again dumbfounded.


    "If I didn''t know any better, I''ll genuinely think you''re against me."


    Lucas gave up the topic and focused back to reality. Although the system has joked around, which was something quite rare, it did answer his questions in a roundabout manner. Getting to level five wouldn''t be so difficult and merely be a matter of time. However, how strong he would become in the future still largely depended on him.


    The system''s only role was to raise a Crafts-God, not a Battle God, so strength wasn''t an important point of focus for it. It would provide him with materials, training manuals and even equipment to improve his skill; the system might even help him with stellar refining. But as for battle techniques, skills and anything fight-related, Lucas would have to figure all that by himself.


    Luckily, he was a transmigrated body and soul from a magical world.


    *Ding*


    Just then, the doorbell rung, signalling a guest in the store. Lucas, seated on the checkout counter, raised his head and stared towards the entrance.


    Three hyumans had walked in. They all appeared different, with one of them having pale skin and black hair while another had a slightly yellow skintone and brown hair. The last man had medium-fair skin with purple hair. They scanned the area before walking towards him.


    The dressing of all three was quite formal, and from the way they carried themselves, it was obvious that they were people of somewhat high standings.


    "How can I help you?" Lucas glanced at them and asked.


    "Are you Mr Lucas Saunters?" One of the three men, the one with the black hair and pale skin, asked.


    "Yes." Lucas replied.


    The man immediately smiled and introduced himself.


    "Hello. I''m Mr. Gerald Veltmann, a manager at Norsegold Co. I''m also a board member for the Greendale Highschool Board of Trustees. These are fellow members of the board as well."


    "Hi, I''m a Dean at that academy." The man with brown hair and yellow skin stretched out his hand.


    Lucas shook the hand, and nodded, turning over to the last man who similarly did the same.


    "I''m also a member of the board of trustees."


    "I''m sure you''re confused, but we''re simply here to thank you for your aid yesterday." The Dean said.


    "Aid?" Lucas froze.


    Before he left, he had sternly informed Wally not to let anyone know of what happened as it might bring trouble for him. Lucas was confident that Wally would follow his orders to the last letter, so he was confused as to how they found out. The communication network was also down during the time, so it was technically impossible for him to have been noticed.


    ''Did they really find out?''


    "Indeed. A student by the name Wally O''Connor had helped save a couple of students with a vestige from your store. From our findings, the success of his rescue operations was largely dependent on the vestige. Although it doesn''t seem like much to you, we still needed to thank you for your efforts."


    Lucas calmed down but was still quite surprised.


    It seemed that Wally had participated in a rescue operation after he dropped him off at the temporary shelter. Lucas could guess that there weren''t many security personnel on ground at that time, so they were forced to work alongside some student volunteers to rescue the other students.


    From what the news had reported, the terrorists had used some sort of drug to stimulate a couple of the desolate beasts, strengthening them by a random percentage. In the case of the helokiel, it had experienced an increase in level after the drug treatment.


    This had caused the students to be in dire straits, and any further hesitation on the part of the rescue team would have lead to more deaths. The mass wipeout of the rapid response teams made things more difficult for the academy''s personnel. One hand, they needed to provide reinforcements to capture the perpetrators, and on another hand, they had to send in more men to rescue the students.


    The surviving staff and freelancers were few and only at the first level, which wasn''t enough to move alone in the Bayena Plain, even more so with the desolate beasts more aggressive than ever.


    Forming squads with a mix of talented students and surviving staff members and freelancers was the best option at the time.


    "That was nothing. It was simply a transaction." Lucas honestly replied.


    It was indeed a transaction and one he hoped would turn into an advertisement. There were changes to the original procedure, but it seemed like the end result was the same.


    "Oh please. We still have to offer our thanks for that." The dean smiled before handing a card to Lucas.


    "It''s a simple thank you from us at the board of trustees. Twenty federal coins." The dean smiled.


    Lucas was pleasantly struck by this. Twenty might sound like a small number, but when the follow-up words were ''federal coins'', it was anything but small.


    Twenty federal coins were enough for one to order a table full of food in a fancy restaurant, four times. In a more practical usage, it was enough to feed an individual in lower districts (the other fifteen districts) for a month. Even in the West Wing district, it was the equivalent of five percent of the minimum salary.


    Nonetheless, in a place like Baylands City, it was somewhat the equivalent of a tip for some of the more wealthy folks.

 Chapter 81 - 81: Interested Partner

    "It''s a simple thank you from us at the board of trustees. Twenty federal coins." The dean smiled as he handed Lucas a prepaid debit card filled with twenty federal coins.


    In the Vinis pawnshop, such a card was worth twenty federal coins, so in total, one could say that the ''reward'' was worth forty federal coins. However, Lucas wasn''t moved by it.


    A custom Grade 1 vestige would go for at least five hundred federal coins, and could go higher depending on the choice of materials and design. A standard version was cheaper, albeit reaching at least three hundred and fifty federal coins. Some versions even sold for up to four hundred.


    Thanks to the system''s high quality standards, Lucas'' items sold much higher than market price. The standard items sold for at least fifty percent (50%) higher, whilst the custom items sold for at least two hundred percent (200%) higher.


    This means that, even after considering the system''s 75% ''taxation rate'', Lucas would make at least one hundred and thirty one (131) federal coins on the cheapest Grade 1 vestige. For a Grade 1 custom item at base price, he would make at least two hundred and fifty federal coins. Hence, the ''generous'' tip from the board didn''t attract much of his attention.


    ''Rather than this, it would be great if they have some way to help me cut down the system''s tax rate or level up at least.'' Lucas thought.


    Lucas had once found out that one of the perks of the system''s leveling up was the decrease in its on boarding fee percentage. As long as the system gets to the second level, it would drop from seventy five percent (75%) to fifty percent (50%), and even further as it levels up.


    The system''s justification for the onboarding fee was to prevent Lucas from getting complacent with his earnings and to urge him to fulfill missions and work harder. While he didn''t like this, Lucas had to admit it was unfortunately effective.


    Who wouldn''t want to pay less taxes?


    Coming back to reality, Lucas shook his head and didn''t accept the card, which made the dean a bit surprised.


    "I''ll be more grateful if you patronise my business." Lucas pointed over to the collection of vestiges displayed on the other side of the lobby.


    "Oh, about that," Mr. Gerald Veltmann, the manager from Norsegold Co., interrupted.


    ''Here it comes.'' Lucas thought. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He wasn''t a dummy and knew that the visit by these men wasn''t to reward him for any act of service. What Lucas had done was what any dealer or vendor would do, which was to sell their products. Even if it was an impressive work, there was no reason for Wally''s actions and achievements to be attributed to Lucas for his act of selling a vestige to Wally in the first place.


    It was clear that these men were after something else, and the ''reward'', was merely a means to bring themselves closer to him and make Lucas feel as if he owed them.


    "I saw your products in action and I''m quite interested in them." The man said.


    Lucas wasn''t familiar with the name Norsegold Co., but he could easily figure out that they were a trading company with some stocks in the vestige market; the weapons branch to be exact.


    "Oh?" Lucas appeared to be interested.


    Mr Gerald smiled friendly while his eyes flashed cunningly.


    "That''s right. I don''t know whether you''re aware, but my company, Norsegold Co., it a leading trading company in various freelancer materials and equipment. We also deal in the sale of weapon vestiges and have many branches across Baylands city-state. We would like to form a partnership with you, purchasing your goods at a solid market price rate.


    In other words, we hope you can be a supplier for our store."


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, slightly interested in the idea. However, it was merely an interest. He had no intentions of working under anybody, or doing more than necessary.


    One shouldn''t forget that Lucas only loves his hobby of burying himself in the workshop or reading about metals and materials, and nothing else; otherwise, the system wouldn''t have been giving him abrupt missions or limiting his finances.


    "The host should sincerely consider the idea of running the store properly." The system''s voice sounded in his ears. By ''running the store properly'', the system didn''t mean partnering up with some one or cooperation, but to just do exactly the literal meaning; to run the store properly.


    "Sure thing." Lucas replied with an unenthusiastic expression.


    "What would the details be?" Lucas asked Gerald Veltmann, wanting to know whether there would be an opportunity to work together in the future or not.


    Although he wasn''t skilled enough to run a mega company, Lucas has some experience in day-to-day trading activities. One shouldn''t forget that in his first life, Lucas was a blacksmith and had to run a store at one point to make a living. He had been fleeced a couple of times back then, before becoming experienced in the market.


    Apart from that, Lucas had also occasionally read some topics at random, one of which was a bit of marketing and another was contract law; but only a little bit.


    The first was due to just a random interest while the second was because Lucas needed to understand how contracts work. After he became popular in the material engineering society, there were many companies and countries interested in working with him, so it was important that he knew what each cooperation meant.


    "Ah. For that, I would have to discuss it with the vestige-smith as well." Mr Gerald said.


    "I''m the vestige-smith." Lucas curtly responded.


    Mr Gerald froze for a second, ridicule and vexation flashing through his eyes, before he composed himself right away.


    "Oh really? That''s interesting."


    Although the words were said nicely, for some reason, Lucas could feel a hint of sarcasm in them. He has also noticed the expression in Gerald''s eyes, as his powerful soul strength has heightened his senses.


    "Regarding that, it''s quite simple you see. Norsegold Co. would have priority pick for all your vestiges and purchase them at a rate ten percent above market price. We''ll purchase at least ninety percent of your creations as long as the quality fits our taste, so you don''t need to be worried about sales. For more details, you can go through this preliminary contract if you''re interested."


    A document was projected onto the air right after that. Lucas pointed his communicator at it and the document immediately flashed into it.


    This was a pretty common feature of communicators. One could download a hologram by simply pointing their communicator towards it. As long as the hologram was displayed with a public share feature, it would be downloaded into the device.


    After downloading the document, Lucas didn''t respond but began to browse through it. It was quite thick for a preliminary contract, having at least through pages, but this wasn''t a problem for Lucas. A stronger soul meant stronger mental abilities, including mental focus, which in turn meant faster brain processing speed and reading speed.


    It only took Lucas less than five minutes to flip through the document and he had just one sentence to say: this man had some balls.

 Chapter 82 - 82: Failed Talks

    To summarise the document, it would give the Norsegold Co. priority pick in any vestige he makes. This meant that they would get to decide whether they want to keep it for themselves or not before anyone else, which included Lucas himself. As long as the vestige was to their liking, the Norsegold Co. would buy it at a price ten percent higher than market price.


    This sounded nice to the ears, but one should recall that based on the system''s price settings, Lucas'' vestiges already sold at least fifty percent above market price. The system would never settle for less. Even if Lucas did, there was still the seventh five percent ''tax'' rate, which would make his earnings even lower.


    From a considerable one hundred and thirty one (131) federal coins in profit to only ninety six (96) federal coins, which was roughly a twenty seven percent (27%) drop in profits.


    What''s more, when the system''s rates drop after it reaches level two, the loss margin would be even wider.


    The drop in profits wasn''t the only problem with this clause. Norsegold Co. agreed to buy at ten percent of market price, which made it seem impressive, but in truth, Lucas'' vestiges could sell for more. They were made utilising never before seen magic runes, and encompassing a bit of his knowledge together with the new ideology he thought up.


    In summary, they were novel to the industry, which inherently increased their value. If launched properly, ignoring the system''s pricing scheme, they could sell for at least thirty percent above market price or much more.


    Giving Lucas ten percent above market price was quite unfair, considering that the work of production would fall onto him alone. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But this wasn''t all.


    All vestiges sold to Norsegold Co. would be tagged as unbranded. This meant that the former could simply claim to have produced them in-house and brand it as an original product. It didn''t just stop at the vestiges, but the R&D (Research and Development) rights would also be handed over to Norsegold Co.


    Which means that the production method and the rights to expand on those, would automatically become Norsegold''s.


    This might sound simple, but there existed a devious layer of trap in this clause.


    Once the production method belonged to Norsegold Co., Lucas would have to request permission to be able to forge a similar vestige again. If he forged a vestige using the same runes and production method as the vestiges sold to Norsegold Co., they could sue him for intellectual property infringement.


    This simply meant that they would sue Lucas for using ''their production method'', although it was initially his. This part wasn''t mentioned in the contract, but it was obvious to Lucas that this is what would take place.


    There was also another clause in the contract that stated that Lucas wouldn''t be able to cancel the deal for the next five years without paying a hefty sum in termination fees (fees paid as penalty for breaking a contract).


    In summary, this wasn''t a partnership contract or anything that Gerald made it to be; it was a thieving contract.


    This was why Lucas'' first thought, after skimming through the document, was to curse the man.


    "So, how about it?" Gerald asked once he noticed that Lucas'' atttention was brought back to reality.


    "I''ll pass." Lucas shook his head at the question.


    "If the pay isn''t to your liking, we can discuss that." Gerald said, but Lucas remained firm in his decision.


    How could it only be the payment rate that would be discussed?


    Seeing the behaviour of Gerald, Lucas had decided to eliminate any possibilities of cooperation with the Norsegold Co. Not to talk about the fact that this wasn''t even a cooperation, but a disgustingly thieving contract.


    A subtle glint flashed in Gerald''s eyes after facing an unexpected rejection from Lucas, but he didn''t let it get to him.


    "No problem. Please contact me if you decide to change your mind, or if you need anything."


    Gerald placed a card on the counter before nodding to the other men and leaving. After Gerald, it turned out that the third man, the one with purple hair, was also a worker for a different company. He presented Lucas with a slightly better offer, but none were entertained by Lucas.


    The dean had similarly departed with the rest, but he didn''t give Lucas any offer. It seemed as if he was had been there to escort them or something else, but Lucas didn''t bother.


    For the moment, his attention was on how to dealt with the next wave of guests. These two has probably capitalized in their position as members of the board of trustees to get first-hand information and make it here. However, with time, there would be more agents and companies finding out exactly what happened the previous day.


    Some would also get interested in the vestige Lucas made and might either try to get it off Wally''s hands for research, or just come to meet him; the last option being the more likely one.


    Lucas wasn''t interested in a deal, but recalling the ''one hundred new customers'' mission, he had to do something to spread the awareness of his store.


    Lucas also found out that the system was against him selling the store or any rights, and working as an employee of anyone else. In the system''s opinion, to be the most suitable host and candidate for the Crafts-God role, Lucas would have to maintain the store himself and exhibit a certain level of independence; something he wouldn''t be able to do as an employee.


    He would however, be able to hire employees, but that was after the system''s next level up.


    For the moment, Lucas'' main focus was on his growth and the mission. He let the matter about cooperation rest at the back of his mind as he knew that a sincere partner would be rare to find.


    Wally''s vestige was a trial product at the new ideology, but it wasn''t what Lucas created to truly stun people. If there was one suitable, it would be his new vestige -the pair of gauntlets-, but those weren''t for sale. Lucas was already working on something suitable, and it would be ready by the next day.

 Chapter 83 - 83: The Suspicions Of The Public

    The next day, things played out as Lucas had predicted, while he was busy at the store.


    Try as they might, the academy wasn''t able to keep information regarding the day of the event a secret, especially since the Baylands City News Network had already confirmed it took place. Due to this, many media channels had interviewed a couple of students, staff and freelancers who were present that day, to get a proper understanding of what exactly took place.


    From the retelling, they found out that a few students had actually teamed up with the adults to rescue their colleagues. The media teams then focused their efforts on interviewing these students and covering the event.


    In order to reduce the criticism for not providing proper security, despite having hired freelancers to be on duty that day, the Greendale Highschool decided to aid these media teams by providing some footage from the day and allowing the staff to be interviewed regarding the event.


    Naturally, the staff were to mention that the academy had made a lot of security preparations and the attack was out of their capability. Also, the security footage released were those that displayed the academy''s efforts to control the situation and rescue their students after the desolate beasts had changed.


    This was all done in a bid to present the academy in good lighting, and wash away the stain on their record as much as possible.


    In some of those videos were the fights of the students who participated in rescue operations. The idea was to show that the Greendale Highschool, despite being a subsidiary of a pure school of the Technical path, could train talents of the Practical path.


    The Heavenly Trio had caught the most attention, being the strongest of the final year students. Their fame wasn''t just due to their strength, but their skills and battle awareness. Many in the media team were wowed by their performances and couldn''t wait to interview them. However, some others also managed to stand out, one of them being Wally. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When his battle clip was checked, the media team wasn''t as impressed as they were when watching any of the Heavenly Trio, but they soon noticed something. Wally''s fighting style might have looked a bit crude, but he had a lot of potential. The professionals amongst them could even see that he had only recently received some sort of special training.


    However, what really grabbed everyone''s attention was the power of the vestige.


    "Incredible. It appears to be a Grade 1 vestige, but its power is closely approaching Grade 2. I''ve never heard of a vestige-smith who could pull off something like this."


    "Look at the runes on them. It''s unlike anything I''ve ever seen before."


    Many of these men in the media team needed to work in dangerous regions and so, they had a certain level of power, reaching at least the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage. All of them were well versed with freelancer terms and equipment, so they could easily spot what separated Wally''s vestige from the rest.


    "That technique used with the vestige, it kind of reminds me of some cold-type weapons with the complex nature; the Magi branch."


    In the weapon branch of vestige-smithing, there were two main ideologies or factions: the Forger faction and the Multiplex factions. These were the two that had existed since time immemorial and still held the ruling positions. However, as of recent, a new school had been on the rise in the weapons branch.


    To be exact, it wasn''t really an independent school and more of a sub-branch in the Forger faction. They were called the Magi branch.


    The Magi branch was a vestige-smithing school of thought that created vestiges using technology gotten from ancient civilisations who used a system similar to stellar refinement. However, this system approached what the humans had called magic.


    An example of a vestige made by the Magi branch is the main vestige of Lisa, one of the two vice guild leaders of the Autumn''s Gate guild [1]. Her vestige was a black streamer with inlaid special gems on them. Those gems were a product made using the techniques of an ancient civilisation.


    They were what made the streamer powerful, otherwise it would have been nothing more than a piece of material with impressive defensive property. The gems contained special spells within them that would activate once the appropriate keyword was uttered by the wielder.


    Compared to traditional cold-type vestiges, the vestiges of the Magi branch were more mysterious, but they still abide by the ideologies of the Forger faction. For instance, there was no need for knowledge of physics, chemistry or engineering when smithing a vestige of the Magi branch.


    It also wasn''t as complicated as building a ray-gun for this reason, but it was more difficult than forging a spear [2]. Vestiges of the Magi branch also required high quality materials just like other Forger faction vestiges.


    Back to the point, some reporters felt that Wally''s vestige was a product of a vestige-smith from the Magi branch, but such individuals were scarcer than vestige-smiths of the Multiplex faction. There were only three known vestige-smiths of the Magi branch in Baylands city-state, and they all resided in the Central Prefecture.


    An average student from the Greendale Highschool would have no connection there, much less to those vestige-smiths.


    The reporters had also confirmed that Wally didn''t come from wealth, so after a round of questioning, they finally found out where he got it.


    The Seven Sparks Forge.


    The name was unique and unheard of for these reporters who were familiar with all top freelancer stores. However, they were sure that Wally didn''t lie to them.


    Some of them continued their investigations and interviews, while a few actually smelled a story and left for the store right away.


    For Lucas, who wanted to have a one day break after his ''stressful activity the previous day'', he was deemed not to have one right away.


    Speaking of Lucas, he was currently focused on one of his two major projects.


    Many suspected his vestige to be following the path of the Magi branch, but Lucas knew it wasn''t. He was aware of the Magi branch, as they seemed to create items similar to the magic weapons from his past life. Using that knowledge, Lucas could easily have blended as one of them, but that wasn''t what he wanted. Lucas hoped to take the world by storm and start something that had never existed before.


    While others suspected that he was a vestige-smith of the Magi branch, Lucas was actually trying to create an entirely new faction in the vestige-smithing industry. And his key to doing so, was the project he was working on.

 Chapter 84 - 84: The Unexpected Guest

    After dealing with a bunch of customers that were a mix of story-hungry reporters, curious freelancers and more, Lucas sighed with relief and plopped onto the seat beside the checkout counter.


    Glancing at the mission progress on his interface that displayed forty three out of one hundred (43/100), Lucas felt a bit satisfied.


    The mission was to receive one hundred customers before the month was over, however, there was no distinction between old and new customers. This made the task easier, but not by much. Lucas'' old customers were few to start with, and it was not everyday one would want a basic or advanced repair. Most freelancers didn''t maintain their equipment often unless it was damaged.


    Apart from that, they were usually at the Wastelands base station, where there were other stores who could offer the same services, albeit not of equal quality.


    As for buying equipment? The only thing the average freelancer could afford without skipping a heartbeat in the Seven Sparks Forge were the repair services. As for the vestiges on display, those cost at least fifty percent (50%) more than the other stores. Even if the quality was much higher, most would go for the cheaper option as they were still technically of the same grade.


    This made it such that on average, Lucas would get from anywhere between 0-2 customers per day. Even if he got the max of two customers per day, in a thirty days time margin, Lucas would still fail to reach one hundred customers. So, he needed new customers.


    Almost two weeks, or exactly twelve (12) days, had gone by since Lucas received the mission. There were still eighteen (18) days to go and having almost reached the halfway point, he couldn''t help but be pleased.


    The crowd that had visited his store managed to score some points for him. While the majority of those interested in his services opted for the repairs, three people actually bought vestiges from him, Grade 2 to be exact. This sent Lucas through the roof as his finances were slowly dwindling to a state of abject poverty.


    Ever since the Seven Sparks Forge had opened, Lucas had only sold a vestige twice, and both times were to Harrison Reid, aka Harry. These three new sales were now added to the record.


    One of them was a custom order for a vestige while the other two simply wanted the standard items on display.


    The two standard orders were at three thousand and seven hundred (3700) federal coins, and three thousand, eight hundred and fifty (3850) federal coins respectively. As for the custom order, it was valued at five thousand and four hundred (5400) federal coins. A grand total of twelve thousand, nine hundred and fifty (12950) federal coins.


    Even after the system''s taxing, Lucas still and at least three thousand federal coins. He was pretty much a mini tycoon.


    ''I need to level up the system, fast.'' Lucas thought after realising he had ''lost'' nine thousand federal coins just like that.


    *Ding*


    The doorbell rang for the umpteenth time today. Lucas wearily glanced ahead to get a look at the figure. When he saw an old man standing by the entrance, Lucas froze.


    "I thought you wouldn''t be showing up anytime soon." Lucas smiled.


    The old man was a familiar face a few weeks back. The day before the Seven Sparks Forge was opened, Lucas had gone around the neighbouring stores and when he encountered a problem in one of the stores, the old man had helped bail him out under the plea of a little girl.


    Lucas had then used a special bracelet he made, as a "thank you" gift to the little girl in an attempt to bridge the gap between them. Even after inviting them to his store''s ''grand opening'', they made no appearance ever since, so Lucas forgot about him. At least that was until now.


    "I really didn''t think I would be here either. But you ended up surprising me." The old man said without any expression.


    Lucas remained silent after those words. He knew that the old man was someone immune to flattery or needless talks, so he would get straight to the point soon.


    As expected, the old man continued, S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I heard about you and decided to come take a look. You don''t need to worry as I''m not interested in your business."


    Lucas was slightly surprised by that. This was the first person who came today, except the journalists and the freelancers, that wasn''t interested in acquiring the store by some means. Apart from Gerald from Norsegold Co and his pals, there were a couple other agents and managers who came to the store to strike a business deal.


    "Even if I was interested, you''d have to be worth investing in. And from what I know, there''s nothing worth investing in here, at least not yet."


    When Lucas heard this line, his lips twitched a bit. This was the second person to brutally assault him with word; the first being the omniscient system.


    "Then what are you here for?" Lucas asked.


    "To know whether you''re worth investing in."


    Lucas was confused. The man had just said he had no interest in the store, yet he came to gauge whether Lucas was worth his interest.


    ''What kind of crazy old man is this?''


    But Lucas didn''t say that out loud. Not only was he suspicious of the man''s strength being at the sixth level or even higher, the old man deemed to be someone of status and wealth. There were more benefits to befriending him than offending the man, and even if Lucas didn''t want to make friends with him, it was still best to keep their relationship not hostile.


    "Take this."


    The old man tossed an envelope to Lucas.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow in surprise at this. In this world of advanced technology, papers were rarely used, much less something like an envelope.


    Removing the wax seal, he took out the card that was wrapped inside and read it.


    "As long as your performance is enough to get recommended, I''ll consider working with you. I don''t have any intentions of buying you out or anything like the others. But my offer will be something you simply can''t resist." The old man said as he walked out of the store.

 Chapter 85 - 85: The Truth Behind Lucas Death?

    Sare shuttles of different shapes and sizes zoomed in the air zone of the modern jungle known as the West Wing district. The streets were bustling with crowds of various skin and hair colours of different shades; a view that a human on Earth would be unfamiliar with.


    Even though the West Wing district was the least successful of the five districts of Baylands City, it was still a part of the city, making it more populous and wealthy than any of the other fifteen districts. The market zone of the West Wing district, most especially, was known for being the centre of commerce of the district.


    West Wing district neighboured the Wastelands, one of the largest and most dangerous desolate beast zones in Eretre. As a result of this, the district developed in consideration of this, building its economy around the trade of desolate beasts and the occupation of freelancing. The market zone, being the centre of commerce, was the go-to area for every freelancer who made their way to the district.


    There one could find all sorts of stores, buildings, malls and even stalls, dealing in vestiges, desolate beast parts, armours, shuttles, and whatever it was a freelancer needed.


    The Seven Sparks Forge was located in the western region of the market zone, in a corner far off the centre. However, it had recently gotten a bit of fame, being related to the terrorist attack and the outburst of desolate beasts in the Bayena Plain. But right when one would expect the owner of the store to capitalise on this little fame, the door was currently shut close.


    In the lobby of the Seven Sparks Forge, a burgundy coloured envelope with a broken black wax seal and a letter peeking out from it, laid atop the checkout counter opposite the entrance. The store was empty, devoid of any life except for the owner who sat down by the counter and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.


    Lucas was currently contemplating the offer of the old man.


    Since he came into this world, Lucas never intended on working for anybody, but being entirely independent had its flaws.


    For instance, in his first life, Lucas had lived a solo life, lacking any power or organisation backing him. When he was a nobody, this wasn''t necessarily bad, so Lucas had it somewhat easy. However, when he became famous, a lot of sects, cults, organisations, bands and whatnot tried to invite him to work for them.


    They lured him with whatever imaginable idea they could think of, and with his past world being one where the fist ruled, some even tried to kidnap him or threaten Lucas.


    The appeal of a magic weapon-smith was just as attractive as a vestige-smith in this world, and maybe even more. This was because Lucas'' first world lacked the level of technology in this world, so everything had to be done by hand. In this universe, cold weapon-type vestiges could be assembled by machines with the rune writing and stellar matrix inscription done by the vestige smiths.


    This lead to a situation where there was a large influx of vestiges as the procedure had been simplified.


    But in his first world''s situation, there was no technological advancement and magic weapons had to be created by hand from the very first step until the end. This made magic weapon-smiths valuable, and the higher one''s skillset, the more valuable they were.


    Respect would be given to them by organisations on their righteous side, but some on the dark side simply utilised threats and any means they could to have magic weapon-smiths do their bidding.


    This was how Lucas had died, but, it was more, interesting, than that.


    The experience of his first life made Lucas understand that working for an organisation was important as he could be offered protection. This was how he led his second life on Earth.


    After being recognised for his smarts, Lucas gave his skill and knowledge to the service of his home country, Rhodia. But who would have thought that even after being regarded as a national treasure, he was still assassinated in the end.


    His second death had left Lucas with a bunch of unanswered questions, and truthfully, he was suspicious about it. There was no way a foreign power could have been able to sneak past his security and planted a bomb. All the guards by his side were also members of the Federal Interior Security Service, which was concerned with his safety. None of them could be spies.


    All of this led to Lucas drawing up an insane conclusion; his home country had orchestrated his death.


    Rhodia ranked top amongst the top five most powerful nations in the world, and Lucas'' existence was steadily pushing them to be number one. Lucas wasn''t just a genius; when it came to the study of materials, including nuclear elements, he was like an incarnation of Einstein, Newton and Galileo of his time, all in one body.


    If he wasn''t such a genius, Lucas wouldn''t have been classified as a national treasure.


    His research had created new metals and materials, expanding the periodic table as we know it, by at least thirteen more slots; five of which had the potential to redefine the weapons industry, with two of them being radioactive in nature [1]. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While all this sounded great, Lucas'' existence was a threat to other nations. Even if they organized joint projects with Rhodia, Lucas being an asset of Rhodia irked them and they tried to kill him secretly. This was why Lucas was assigned security detail on par with the vice president.


    Despite this, while Lucas was secured, the same couldn''t be said about Rhodia. They had been pressured by other nations above and under the table to give up Lucas. Whether it was in trade deals, sanctions and so on, Rhodia experienced it all.


    Lucas suspected that the harassment was getting out of hand, which was why they had decided to take him out. If that were true, then the Rhodian government must have destroyed his research on the surface after his death, while secretly hiding them for their own use.


    To further ensure that no loose ends were made, they probably weren''t the ones to have actually killed him, but an assassin from a foreign nation. But in a normal situation, the assassin wouldn''t succeed, unless Lucas'' security purposely exposed a flaw.


    With Lucas murdered by a foreign assassin and all his research ''destroyed'', the other nations would have no justification to keep harassing them lest they wanted a world war. In fact, Rhodia could cause a commotion as Lucas'' death was a direct act of one of the top foreign powers. They could showcase out a ''hurt'' display and retaliate against the other powers for a while, before calming down.


    As long as Rhodia played the act well enough, the other foreign countries -suspicious or not- would lessen their pressure on Rhodia, while the latter could explore Lucas'' research in-depth in secret.


    Of course, there was no way to confirm any of this unless Lucas could get back to Earth and find out the events that took place after his death. But regardless, his suspicions made Lucas realise that working for someone else was also not a viable option. That was unless his partner/employer was so powerful that no one would want to offend them.


    But as he was now, why would such an individual or organisation approach Lucas?


    The two options marked out, left Lucas with a new option. With the store and the system assisting him, Lucas was confident that he could do better in this life. But before that, he would still need some help.


    ''A business cooperation doesn''t sound bad, but I have too many secrets and I don''t think the system would let another person run the store with me. It''s pretty much a majority shareholder and decides most of the store''s rules already. It would be difficult to explain that to another shareholder.''


    ''But this is a tempting offer.''


    Lucas glanced at the letter on the table.

 Chapter 86 - 86: The Silver Fig Trade Convention

    "Finally, the Red Fangs have teamed up with the City Patrol Corps to crack down on many underground organisations after the terrorist incident. If I''m correct, the city lord is very likely pissed and wants to win back the favour of the people. The next elections would be in two years time, so such a drastic event like this could affect his votes then. That''s all."


    Underneath the Vinis pawnshop two storey building, there was a basement as wide as an entire floor. In the hall in the basement, a silhouette briefed a shadow on the current happenings in the city. The silhouette knelt infront while the shadow could clearly be seen seated in a throne.


    "So the city''s underground is in chaos now? Interesting." A cold voice sounded from the direction of the throne. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The terrorist attack which had led to the deaths of many academy staff and freelancers, as well as a multitude of desolate beasts going berserk and slaughtering the students, had caused a lot of trouble for the city. It had also affected not just the academy, but the people''s faith in the City Lord.


    If it were a simple beast wave, then the blame would have been on the academy alone for not making proper preparations and arrangements. However, there were terrorists involved. The people began to feel that part of the blame should be assigned to the city-state government for being unable to monitor the area and prevent terrorists from sneaking in.


    On the sare shuttle the students used, it took them forty minutes from the academy in the West Wing district to the Bayena Plain. With a light rail train, it would have been much faster. The whole point was that with a vehicle, the distance wasn''t much to get to West Wing district. At such a ''close'' distance, terrorists had been spotted and they had carried out a massacre.


    It was only natural that the people wouldn''t feel safe again, and so they called out the City Lord for this.


    To regain the people''s trust, the City Lord government has ordered for harsh measures to be carried out to anyone suspected to be in relations with the terrorists.


    "Ramirez shouldn''t be doing so well now, right?" A cold voice sounded from in front of the man.


    "Yes. On suspicions of his involvement with the terrorists, his gang has been the most affected. Ramirez is currently on the run and the security personnel have yet to find him." The man responded.


    Ramirez had taken advantage of the terrorist attack, which had forced the Red Fangs to drop their guard, to attack Lucas back then. The Red Fangs had a hunch that Ramirez knew the assault would take place as his ordered attack on Lucas was too coincidental.


    With the go-ahead from the City Lord to operate harshly on any suspicious avenues, the Red Fangs had immediately raided Ramirez''s hideout and taken down most of his gang members. Even with his strength, Ramirez couldn''t do much against a government body like the Red Fangs, and was forced into hiding.


    "That kid, Lucas, seems to have an impressive halo. Not only was he able to mysteriously survive all the assasination attempts on his head, he also had the Autumn''s Gate guild as well as the Red Fangs protect him. I hear his vestige store is also doing well, and the prices are much more bloated than the competition''s. It would be nice if we could have him under our control.


    For now, withdraw our underground arms until the coast is clear." The speaker with the voice stated.


    "Understood." The man nodded.


    . . .


    Four days had gone by since the old man''s visit to the Seven Sparks Forge. The atmosphere in West Wing district had calmed down considerably when compared to the time of the terrorist attack. Hyumankin has advanced much, and with a wide network like the KSSI, which allowed one to browse the ongoing situations in the entire solar system, there was so much information for one to consume.


    The inevitable result was that situations like the terrorist attack, could be forgotten after a few days. But this was only in a broad sense. When the election period arrives, it would be dug out, which was why the City Lord had put so much effort into clearing the incident.


    With the incident briefly forgotten, the city has recovered a part of its energy considerably. However, today, it was a bit more festive than usual, particularly the public square.


    At the centre of West Wing district was a clear expanse devoid of any towering skyscrapers or fixed abode. It was the public square, and a place set out for hosting large scale events in the district, second to the auditorium. The public square was currently filled with stalls and temporary buildings erected to act as stores.


    There was a mammoth crowd of hyumans swarming the area, and on each stall were displayed some items; vestiges to be exact. Whether it be swords, spears, guns, laser canons or even armour, one could find them all here. This was a strange situation as such a sight was usually only common in the market zone, but today, the public square had all the attention instead.


    That was because today was the start of the annual Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was a special trade fair organised by an alliance of merchant groups and companies known as the Silver Fig Consortium. These parties ran top companies related to the freelancer role in Baylands city-state.


    They held a share of either the vestige market, danger zone logistics, sare shuttle business, desolate beasts market, materials industry or some other market/industry. They were like the Nestler and Kreft Heinzer of Baylands city-state''s freelancer industry. In summary, they were the industry movers and the market controllers of the freelancer industry.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was a trade fair organised by the consortium as a pro-bono service, and it took place for five days in all five districts at the same time.


    The public squares of each district would be rented out for the duration of the convention by the consortium, and store owners, vestige-smiths and other businesses could only open a stall or a temporary shop and display their goods.


    Usually, no items were sold during the fair and it was more of an exhibition show than a market. However, freelancers, guilds and mercenary teams could check out the various vestiges that catch their attention and place orders for the items.


    The whole point of the convention was to offer free advertisements for other small or medium-sized businesses, and have them display their prized works to the public. As for why these businesses would do such a thing, this was because appraisers of the Silver Fig Consortium would secretly move around the public squares of the five districts during these five days.


    They would create a list of items and vestiges they found captivating and with magnificent potential. The creators or owners of these items would then be invited by the consortium to present their products for a high class auction typically held on the sixth day, the day after the convention.


    Apart from that, if a member of the consortium finds the product to be worth investing in, they could initiate a trade deal with the producers. The businesses were protected from harassment regarding any affairs that took place during the convention.


    This meant that even if a deal crashed or was rejected for one reason or the other, the small or medium-sized business would not need to fear retaliation from the consortium member.


    It was this rule that ensured that these businesses could display their magnum opus with nothing to fear. Thanks to the hype of the convention and the large spectators and high-profile guests it attracted, it became the perfect advertising spot for new releases and the likes.


    From this, one could see the value of the Silver Fig Trade Convention for small to medium-sized businesses in the freelancer industry. Even some bigwigs who weren''t part of the Silver Fig Consortium would still participate in it, as the event was equally advantageous to them.


    Although the Silver Fig Trade Convention was free for participants, becoming a participant wasn''t easy. One would have to either be formally recommended by a consortium member or have submitted a bid statement for a spot prior to the convention.


    The bid statement didn''t cost much money from an enterprise''s point of view -only ten federal coins- but it would take a period of examination and evaluation by the consortium staff before one was approved through this method. Usually, this would take between one month to three months. This made the procedure very time-consuming, and one would have to begin way before the event itself.


    Lucas was new, and he only came into this world barely over a month ago. There was no way he would have been able to participate as it was too late to submit a bid statement. However, inside the envelope the old man handed to Lucas was a recommendation letter from a consortium member, so Lucas would be participating this year.

 Chapter 87 - 87: The Silver Fig Trade Convention 2

    The envelope the old man gave Lucas has only one letter inside, which was the recommendation letter as well as an approval slip attached to it, that was marked with some information. However, the old man''s departing words were that a cooperation between them could only happen so long as Lucas got a sale slot for the auction to be held on the sixth day.


    In other words, the old man wanted Lucas to compete with all the vestige businesses in the West Wing district, for a limited opportunity. Not only was this insanely difficult, but it was impossible for any regular individual to pull off. Even an experienced vestige-smith couldn''t say for such that they had this in the bag, unless they were one of the top in the district.


    Even then, it was possible for a nobody to get a slot over them, as what the appraisers judged wasn''t the fame of the creator, but the value and potential of the vestige.


    For Lucas, this convention was good news. He would get the free advertisements he''s been dreaming off, and he could get a boatload of money from the auctions too. As part of the pro-bono movement for the industry, there was no commission on items sold in the auction, so the entire money generated would go to the creator.


    Arriving at the public square, Lucas glanced around and was surprised; even though he left as early as 7:30 am, he was still ''late''. Many stall owners had already erected their selling point. As for the big companies participating, they had set up temporary buildings on the spot. With the technology of the era much advanced, moveable houses were a thing.


    Staring at the temporary houses a few metres away, Lucas couldn''t help but want one. Unfortunately, those weren''t sold in the West Wing district, and Lucas didn''t know how to make them.


    He ignored the others and logged into the KSSI, locating the site designated from Eretre and then Baylands City. Lucas searched for the convention''s homepage and logged in with the details on his recommendation letter.


    For the convention, participants had the option to rent setup equipment from the organizers at a fair price, and Lucas had opted for this option a while after he arrived.


    To prevent fights and disagreements from breaking out, the distribution of vendors in the public square was assigned by the organizers as soon as a participant was approved.


    On the approval slip for Lucas'' recommendation letter was marked a location for his stall to be opened. The old man''s recommendation had only enabled Lucas to get enough space to open a stall, and not a store, but Lucas didn''t mind. Even if he had enough space for a building, he didn''t have the connections to buy one of those temporary buildings, and he couldn''t make them either.


    After putting in the details and paying for a stall to be set up, Lucas immediately set off for the designated location. The space wasn''t so big, but it wasn''t small either, roughly about four metres wide and three metres long. It was even smaller than a studio apartment, and roughly the size of a small bedroom, but that was to be expected. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It didn''t take long for few drones carrying equipment to arrive at the scene. The unmanned drones immediately began to assemble the stall in front of Lucas as he waited.


    "Excuse me."


    Just as Lucas was waiting for the assembling to be done, a voice called out to him. He turned around and noticed the person calling out was a middle-aged man in uniform, exuding the aura of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Based on the outfit he wore, Lucas figured out the man was a security guard for the event, but this shocked him even more.


    Most functions would use robots for security as they were much cheaper and could be deployed en masse. But the Silver Fig Consortium had actually hired freelancers for security purposes. The cost for this was definitely not cheap, and the convention wasn''t a moneymaking event either. This just showed the financial prowess of the consortium.


    Seeing Lucas turn, the man said, "Identification."


    Lucas handed the letter to the man to check, alongside a projected image of his ID.


    After going through them, the guard nodded, then handed the letter back to Lucas and left. He was slightly surprised but didn''t seem to be bothered about Lucas'' identity as a human participating in an event usually dominated by hyumans.


    The reason was actually quite simple; some stores had proxies running them until the last two days, which was usually when the original owner would appear and unveil their masterpiece. In the guard''s opinion, Lucas was most likely an employee of a business who was sent to look after their position for the meantime.


    After waiting for about thirty minutes or so, the stall was finally completed. Although it was called a stall, due to the available space, it was much larger than a typical booth. It had a partition inside which separated the space to create a private room for the owner. Lucas was impressed by this and intended to use that private space as a work-station.


    "System, will any transaction carried out here, be added to my mission count?"


    The system didn''t reply right away until three seconds later.


    "Yes."


    "Perfect." Lucas grinned.


    The Silver Fig Consortium banned the physical sale of vestiges during the Trade Convention, but orders weren''t prevented. In other words, one could place an order for a vestige and get it outside the convention or after it was over. The aim of the convention was the same as an exhibition show; to attract attention and offer advertisement.


    In the case of services such as maintenance, the procedure was slightly different. On-site maintenance was banned just as physical sales, but one could simply leave their vestige with the vendor and collect it at the end of the day or elsewhere.


    For instance, freelancer A could give his vestige to the smith at B, who would then fix it and return it to A after the convention was over for the day or at a later time outside the convention''s venue.


    Because of this rule, most participants would place a limit on the vestiges they would accept each day for maintenance, unless it was a big company that had dozens of workers. But even they still limited their maintenance slots per day


    The main focus of the event was still on vestiges and not services, so most of the vestige-smiths would be busy making final touches to the vestiges they planned on showcasing from the fourth day.


    But Lucas was different. Compared to other vestige-smiths, his speed at maintenance and repairs was on another level, one could even say he was two levels ahead. As such, he could accept more requests than others, and even compete with the big companies.

 Chapter 88 - 88: Vestige Duel

    On the first day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, the event had just kick-started, so there was a lot of fanfare ongoing. The convention was an annual five days long event and hosted by an alliance of the top richest companies in the vestige industry. It was only natural that it would get the best coverage and be an event worthwhile for freelancers.


    While the other participants of the convention had set up their stalls and showcases earlier, Lucas had just completed his. But right after doing so, he left to check out the other participants'' booths.


    It was his first time attending such an event, and it gave Lucas the opportunity to see upfront, the difference in products between the other vestige-smiths and himself. While Lucas had previously visited a couple stores for this, the convention was on a different level. Here, no vestige-smith vendor or business would hold back or hide away their prized creations.


    Everything that could be termed as the ''best'' would be put on display, and on the last two days, they would pull out their ''ultimate weapons''.


    On the second day, Lucas still left his stall empty and unattended as before. Once again, he wandered around the public square like a potential client.


    Compared to the first day that was calm and peaceful, the second day was different. There was still a large crowd, but the atmosphere was different. If one were to describe it, the atmosphere was energetic and eventful. As for the reason, it was quite interesting.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention, for big businesses, was a routine operation that they were obligated to participate in. But for others, especially small businesses, it was different. For them, the convention was an opportunity to stand out and make a name for themselves.


    The selection process for the convention''s participants, while cheap, had strict standards to prevent scammers from getting in. This was why the process took between one to three months.


    For the small businesses that managed to pass, they were glad and took it as an achievement, but the journey didn''t stop there for them. In fact, it only began.


    Due to the fact that the convention was an annual event, it gathered tons of vestige-related businesses in the district. The West Wing district was as large as a major city and close to the Wastelands, so there were a lot of such businesses in the district. Even after the selection process, many businesses of different sizes still got approved.


    This made it difficult for the small parties to compete and attract clients in the convention. So, some of them decided to utilise unconventional approaches and techniques to stand out.


    One such was the Vestige Duel.


    A vestige duel was a contest between two or more vestige-smiths or businesses, with the focus being on the quality of their vestiges. It involved having vestiges from the different competitors exposed to the various tests until there was a clear lead. It was similar to the "striking blade against blade" challenge that was used to test swords in the ancient epoch of the human race era.


    The second day of the convention was usually when vestige duels began to take place, which was why the ambience was more lively than the first day. On this day, many small businesses or vestige-smiths would go to different stalls or stores and challenge the owner to a vestige duel.


    Since such events were competitive and interesting, it attracted a lot of spectators. The winner would receive exposure and even a few interested clients. As for the loser, as long as their vestige performed well in the duel, they might still make an impression on the spectators. But there was always the risk of being ridiculed and developing a bad reputation.


    The challenged side could reject the duel, but it might give birth to the idea that they were afraid, unless the difference was vast. For instance, if a random small-time vestige-smith were to challenge one of the vestige-smiths at the top, it was natural for the latter to ignore the duel and consider it a waste of time.


    Big corporations and well-known vestige-smiths valued their prestige a lot, so they didn''t engage in vestige duels as often. As a result, the ''sport'' was more common for small-time sides, and occasionally witnessed between medium-sized businesses or vestige-smiths with some reputation.


    Currently, Lucas was spectating a vestige duel. It was between a somewhat popular vestige-smith against a vestige-smith company.


    Vestige-smiths weren''t so common, but they weren''t rare either. It was an occupation just like doctor, engineer, and so on, except it had even more strict requirements. Just like an average occupation, succeeding alone as a vestige-smith was something very difficult, hence why there were more successful companies than individually-ran businesses.


    It should however be noted that vestige businesses were different from vestige-smith businesses. Whereas the former only sold vestiges, the latter sold as well as created vestiges. Despite that, a vestige-smith business was sometimes not even owned by a vestige-smith, but someone who knew how to run a business.


    Nonetheless, such vestige-smith businesses could still participate in the convention, and a duel as well.


    Vestige businesses could participate as well, but without the ability to produce a vestige, it was pointless to do so as they would be overshadowed. Most times, they attended the convention as a client, looking for vestige-smiths to partner with. The Norsegold Co., for instance, was a vestige business, and they would most likely be in attendance at the convention as a client.


    The vestige-smith was the challenger, and the vestige company was the challenged side. The vestige-smith was someone who had a bit of a reputation in the West Wing district. Many vestige businesses placed orders with him and bought his products, which they would later sell at a higher price.


    "I can''t believe ''Grey Finger'' Sofoklis is participating in a vestige duel as a challenger. It''s been so long."


    "You''re right. The last time Sofoklis challenged someone was five years ago, and it was a fellow vestige-smith. I heard that not only did he win, but he won so convincingly that he ended the man''s caterer as a vestige-smith."


    "Yeah, I heard that too. Rumours say his opponent retired from the industry and became a teacher instead." S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s insane."


    Listening to the murmurings and discussion by some in the crowd, Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised as he stared at the middle-aged man who stood opposite a stall.


    The man was calm and didn''t show any reaction to the words of the crowd, only staring at the stall. ''Grey Finger'' was an alias given to the man, as that was the insignia he left on the vestiges he made¡ªa kind of logo to promote his brand.


    The stall in Grey Finger''s view was similar to Lucas'', but it was slightly larger. It was clear that even though the Silver Fig Trade Convention was open to all, the treatment each participant received was slightly different. Lucas was unknown, so the space he was given and the stall were all basic.


    But this vestige-smith company had a bit of a reputation in the district, so it was natural that their treatment would be better.


    While this didn''t seem like much, it would still affect one''s ability to attract clients.


    In the stall were five individuals who appeared slightly uncomfortable at the challenge.


    A vestige duel might seem like an opportunity, but it was one filled with risks. Even if the loser could still retain a bit of dignity after the duel, it was only on the condition that their performance was similarly impressive and the gap was not much. If it were the opposite, it would not only affect their sales but also their stocks.


    Hence why vestige duels were very risky for businesses, and avoided by the big companies.


    "Is the Gold Rain Factory going to remain hiding in their stall, or will you accept my challenge?" Sofoklis said as he stared at the five individuals.


    "Is the Gold Rain Factory catching cold feet?"


    "It can''t be helped. The title ''Grey Finger'' isn''t an unknown one. Apart from those bigwigs, not many vestige-smiths could compete with him. There''s a reason why he''s a supplier for many businesses you know."


    "Even still, if the Gold Rain Factory does nothing, they''d lose a lot of trust from the market. Can''t they at least put up a fight?"


    The crowd discussed the situation that took place. Lucas watched with interest, not intending to compete or interfere with them. It was currently afternoon and Lucas had already watched a few vestige duels, but those were between small-level businesses and vestige-smiths. This was the very first one that involved reputable parties.


    One of the five, who happened to be the manager assigned to the venue for the day, walked out with an anxious smile in his face


    "I don''t know why you''re targeting us, Mr Grey Finger. Can''t we just talk this out amicably?"


    "I''m not targeting you. I''m merely here to prove a point and test a new creation of mine. Don''t waste any time and give me a response, as my time is limited." Grey Finger Sofoklis replied without any consideration of giving face.


    It was clear that he didn''t plan on retreating just because of a few words.


    The manager, seeing that his efforts to avoid a duel had failed, gritted his teeth.


    "Don''t look down on us just yet. Since you want a duel, a duel you shall, receive!"

 Chapter 89 - 89: The Trident

    Vestige duels were challenged that compared the performance and statistics of a vestige with another with the purpose of finding the marginally better side.


    Since vestige duels were created to attract attention and boost the prestige and reputation of a vestige-smith or vestige-smith company, they were typically done with fanfare; a stark contrast to the personal tests vestige-smiths would conduct on their creation.


    "So, how do you want it to be?" The manager menacingly asked the ''Grey Finger'', Sofoklis.


    Weapon vestiges differed from one another, and this was a well-known fact. The existence of the two main design schools that focused on cold-type and hot-type weapons, respectively, was a clear example of this. As a result, vestige duels became somewhat complicated to organise.


    For instance, if a vestige-smith of the Forger faction challenged another of the Multiplex faction, how would they compete? How can one determine the better of a gun and a sword, in a way that emphasizes their overall structural integrity, strength, and design? It was close to impossible as both were different. It was like asking which is a better fruit, an apple or an orange?


    Both had their advantages and might even have slight similarities, but they were innately of different families, structures, and nutrients. Similarly, the Forger faction vestiges and the Multiplex faction vestiges, despite all being vestiges, were different.


    Even among the vestiges of the Forger factions, differences existed. Some weapons could be specifically created to be used in certain environments, while others were for general purposes. Take, for example, a sword made to be able to function properly and withstand a -78¡ãC (-108.4¡ãF) temperature pitted against an average sword or spear.


    The two weapons were made for different environments, and so, the former might perform worse than the latter in some tests or vice versa.


    Hence, a variety of genres were created to be conducted during a vestige duel, depending on what was to be tested.


    "Let''s go for a general duel." Sofoklis replied.


    A general duel was pretty much the most common duelling format. It was meant to be used for standard gear. The opposite was a specialized duel, which would be used for special vestiges, like the extreme-cold-resistant sword from the previous analogy.


    Less than a minute later, the four other staff in the stall brought out a few pieces of equipment. Every stall that was rented from the convention''s organizers was given the items as a bonus. The organizers were already familiar with the tradition, so they did what they could to help it; after all, this made the event flourish in turn.


    Sofoklis stared at them, but didn''t act right away, choosing to shut his eyes instead. The manager of the Gold Rain Factory''s stall thought that Sofoklis was getting ready by meditation. This wasn''t an uncommon practice, so he felt nothing about it. However, he was wrong.


    Less than two minutes later, the spectators suddenly cleared out an area as a group of men in uniforms appeared. They were the security personnel for the convention, but they came here for different reasons. In their hands were a few pieces of equipment, which were immediately set up in the open.


    "What''s the meaning of this?" The manager was confused, but for some reason, he felt wary.


    "Nothing much. I''m already bored of using the standard equipment we''re provided with, so I applied for something better." Sofoklis said with his eyes still closed.


    The manager began to feel dread, and even his forehead was slowly being covered in sweat.


    The duelling equipment provided by the organizers was naturally not of the best quality. There were hundreds of participants and the organizers had to account for the possibility that everyone would be involved in a vestige duel.


    As such, they cut corners when providing the equipment for the duels, going for second-rate items, or standard ones for the better known vestige-smiths and vestige-smith businesses.


    While this sounded wrong, there was no problem with it. The duel could still be carried out, with the only issue being that the tests would not be as accurate, but they wouldn''t be wrong either. Also, the set of equipment was suitable for testing most vestiges.


    Small time vestige-smiths, who usually participated in vestige duels, were unlikely to be able to make anything that could surpass the limit of the equipment, even if they were substandard.


    As for the standard equipment, it was usually more than enough for the more prominent and renowned business and individuals.


    For Sofoklis to make a special request for a new set of equipment, what he wanted to test was definitely not ordinary and could possibly surpass the testing limit of the standard equipment. Usually, only the ultimate vestige created by each participant could achieve such a mark. However, such creations were kept hidden until the fourth or fifth day of the convention.


    ''Is he revealing his masterpiece so soon?''


    The manager wasn''t the only one who thought this way. In fact, over eighty percent of the crowd had the same opinion.


    "Is it possible that, Grey Finger intends on using his masterpiece from the last convention?" Someone in the audience asked the person beside him.


    "That might be possible, but the Gold Rain Factory can also do the same. Also, it''s been over a year now. Everyone is aware of the quality, weaknesses and strengths of all the masterpieces from last year. Even if Grey Finger made improvements to it, the Gold Rain Factory could have done the same with theirs. In fact, that''s how most new ultimate works are made, so I doubt that''s what he did."


    A year might seem long, but in the interstellar era, it was actually quite short. In such a short period of time, it was naturally impossible to make great progress at every convention. And so, some vestige-smiths and businesses would just improve on their work from the previous year and present it as their magnum opus.


    "Then are you saying that he made two masterpieces for this year''s convention?" The first speaker was surprised.


    "...we can''t say yet, but we can''t eliminate that possibility."


    While the crowd discussed, the security had finished setting up the new equipment.


    "Let''s begin." Sofoklis finally opened his eyes. To the manager who stared at them, it felt as if hidden within those eyes was a space filled with complexity he found no words to describe with.


    The manager of the Golden Rain Factory''s stall gritted his teeth and whispered something to one of the staff. The man froze, but quickly recovered and rushed into the stall before coming out.


    "Can the two duelists present their vestiges?"


    A man who had followed the security personnel to arrive earlier spoke up. He was dressed differently from them, but this didn''t make the public treat him less. In fact, unlike the security personnel that were hired, the man was an employee of the organizers of the Silver Fig Trade Convention; an employee of the Silver Fig Consortium. He was present to act as an overseer for the duel.


    Since Vestige duels were a variety of tests conducted to find the better vestige, there was no need for a judge. However, an overseer was required to ensure the integrity of the duel and act as a witness.


    Behind Sofoklis, a young man walked out with a long box in hand. He kneeled on the ground piously and carefully laid a cloth, before dropping the box on it.


    ''From what I''ve heard, it''s said that Grey Finger is part of a sub-branch under the Forger faction and that guy should be his disciple. They call themselves the Ecclesiastics.'' Lucas thought as he watched the display.


    The Ecclesiastics, just like the Magi branch, were a sub-branch of the Forger faction. However, they were very eccentric. Unlike how most factions or branches are formed, the Ecclesiastics weren''t formed by a technological idea or belief, instead, it was a religious ideology. The Ecclesiastics revered vestiges.


    Whereas others saw the creation of the hyumankin to be the number one achievement of the human race, the Ecclesiastics argued otherwise. They held the belief that vestiges were the number one creation of the old race, and also the very important component that led to the rise of the hyumankin''s position in the galaxy.


    Whenever a member of the Ecclesiastics created a masterpiece product, they would treat it as their precious baby and, in some cases, as their god.


    Lucas had one word to describe them; they were loco[1].


    ''Best to avoid them if possible.''


    With a reverent expression, the young man carefully opened up the box and a vestige was revealed. It looked like a spear, but at the same time was not.


    ''Hmm? A trident?'' Lucas thought as he glanced at the smaller-sized prongs by the side of the weapon''s shaft.


    Apart from the alluring matching red and purple colours, a result of the metals used, the trident didn''t seem special. It didn''t even radiate any stellar energy, which was a typical sign of the power of a vestige.


    Some in the crowd were confused as to why Grey Finger had brought out such a vestige to compete, but the professionals were astonished.


    Unless the vestige Grey Finger''s disciple brought out was a flawed item, then it was powerful, very powerful. For a vestige to be able to rein in its aura was a testament to the vestige-smith''s skill. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The manager, although not a vestige-smith himself, was familiar with the craft. He already guessed the two possible explanations for the vestige having no aura. He had similarly eliminated one of them and chose the more likely option, which wrapped him with fear.


    This trident was definitely a masterpiece!

 Chapter 90 - 90 : The Duel Tests

    After the unveiling of the trident by Sofoklis'' disciple, it was the turn of the Gold Rain Factory team to display their vestige. The staff who had been sent away had returned with a similar box as Sofoklis'' disciple. It was similar in length, but compared to the latter, it appeared to be more decorated.


    There was a ruby-like gem inlaid atop the box, and on the sides were carved some cryptic writings.


    The vestige-smiths and well-learned ones among the spectators easily identified the gem to be a special material that had a sealing-like function, and the writings as runes. The runes worked in tandem with the gem to create a seal that worked over the box. While this sounded like magic, it was just a different method of utilising stellar energy and a part of the hyumankin''s technology.


    It was just like how a caveman would consider the idea of sending messages or voices from one part of the world to another as magic, but the modern man would term it technology. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the box was opened, a burst of energy exploded into the air and was felt by the crowd. Roughly ninety percent of the spectators were freelancers at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage and above, so they were quite sensitive to stellar energy.


    The nature of the stellar energy was quite pure and aggressive. It was like the aura of a warmonger general whose loyalty lied to the country¡ªa man who would slaughter enemies on the battlefield until his last breath, even if he was the last man standing, simply because he had a people to protect behind him. This was the sensation the crowd could feel from the aura exuding from the box.


    "What a marvelous creation." An experienced vestige-smith in the crowd couldn''t help but exclaim.


    A vestige that could arouse emotions from the wielder and stir the crowd just by the aura it exuded was definitely not an ordinary one. This was another masterpiece. It was of a different nature to Sofoklis'' vestige, but that didn''t make it any bit weaker.


    The people who attended the convention as clients today couldn''t help but be glad. No one would have expected that two masterpieces would be revealed today, and even more so, be pitted against each other in a vestige duel.


    Masterpieces usually came out on the last days of this five-day convention, but it was merely the second day. Also, even when masterpieces were revealed, they were hardly challenged to a vestige duel. The reason for this was simple. Every participant who had a masterpiece creation revealed it for the sole purpose of attracting the attention of the appraisers from the Silver Fig Consortium.


    As long as they captured the interest of the appraisers, they would earn a sot for the auction. Since the appraisers could determine the quality of a vestige at a glance, there was no need for a vestige duel; those were used only to impress the public.


    For these auction aspirers, a loss in a vestige duel could affect their chances of getting a slot. Even if the appraiser clears their vestige to be auctioned, the final price might end up affected by that negative sentiment born from the loss. Although winning would increase their chance of getting selected for the auctions and even possibly raise the final bid price, the risk was more.


    Recovering from the shock of the stellar energy, the crowd stared at the item inside the box. It was similarly a long weapon, but rather than a trident, it was a spear; an overbearing one at that.


    The spear was coloured gold with the runes and stellar matrices engraved on it with a special white ink. There was a purple-red gem fixed on the shaft, just below the point where the blade connected to the shaft. A white tassel was attached to the joint, giving the spear a royal feeling.


    "I present to you all, our masterpiece for this year''s convention: ''Annalia''. It takes its name from the ancient human race era, meaning ''God''s grace to me''." The manager introduced.


    "It seems the rumours are true. It all makes sense now." Someone in the crowd said.


    "What rumours?"


    The man explained, "It''s said that Grey Finger has a rival in the Ecclesiastics. Both sides were talented vestige-smiths and had competed with each other ever since they got their certificates. His rival was said to have gone missing a few years back, but about two years after the Gold Rain Factory announced that they had recently attracted a new vestige-smith into their ranks.


    However, the vestige-smith''s identity wasn''t disclosed, even on their official website. However, rumours eventually came out that the new vestige-smith was of the Ecclesiastics branch. The Gold Rain Factory neither refuted nor admitted to this, so the rumours later died down. But it seems like they were true; and the vestige-smith is probably that man."


    Although no name was mentioned, the crowd could guess who ''that man'' was. When they thought about things, it finally made sense.


    Sofoklis probably knew that his rival had joined the Gold Rain Factory and that this year''s masterpiece was a product of his, hence why he challenged the Gold Rain Factory to a vestige duel. By using his masterpiece to compete, the Gold Rain Factory would be forced to do the same, unless they wanted to throw the towel or just refuse the duel.


    However, the Silver Fig Trade Convention wasn''t an ordinary exhibition fair. Any action taken here by a corporation or vestige-smith would affect their reputation in the market negatively or positively, depending on the nature of the action.


    Throwing the towel or refusing the challenge would definitely affect the public opinion since Sofoklis wasn''t a nobody, so they would most likely give it their all.


    From the start, Sofoklis wasn''t competing with them to find out the better side, but was merely re-enacting his rivalry. He didn''t come to compete with the Gold Rain Factory, but his old rival.


    The spectators were once again swept in emotions and couldn''t wait for the duel to begin. Even Lucas couldn''t help but look at Sofoklis differently.


    "Let''s begin." The overseer said.


    Sofoklis'' disciple wielded the trident while the staff who brought the box carried the spear in hand.


    The vestige duel was a general duel that comprised of multiple tests to evaluate the performance of a vestige. It was similar but different to the quality tests performed by vestige-smiths.


    The tests of a general duel for cold-weapon-type vestiges were focused on seven properties: durability, sharpness, hardness, strength, power, rune or stellar matrix efficiency, and finally, stellar energy purity.


    Durability was the ability of a vestige to withstand damage and wear.


    Sharpness was a measure of the vestige''s piercing factor.


    Hardness was the ability of the vestige to retain its shape under resistance.


    Strength, similar to hardness but entirely different, was the vestige''s ability to maintain its structural integrity under stress or strain. Simply put, it was the ability of a vestige to resist permanent deformation.


    The difference between strength and hardness was that the former was the measure of how much stress a vestige could handle before permanent deformation or fracturing. In simpler terms, it was a measure of how much force a vestige could handle before cracking or breaking. As for the latter, it was a measure of a vestige''s ability to resist surface deformation, like scratching or piercing.


    Power was a measure of the vestige''s grade, or better yet, the grading system for vestiges.


    Efficiency of the runes and stellar matrices was a measure of the inscriptions'' ability to function. Some runes were more powerful than others, and some stellar matrices could draw stellar energy from the vestige''s wielder faster than others.


    Even if two vestige-smiths were to use the exact same runes and stellar matrices for their creation, there would be differences in efficiency, resulting from the differing inscription expertise of the two vestige-smiths.


    Stellar energy purity was a very important property as this not only determined the grade of a vestige, but it also affected its ranking on the grade. It was well known that even within a specific grade, there would be differences in raw power between vestiges.


    For instance, Lucas'' vestiges were more powerful than other vestige-smiths, which was why Harry didn''t mind paying the bill for one even though it was costlier. This was all due to the fact that the stellar energy purity was on a different level.


    Stellar energy purity didn''t rely on whether or not the vestige-smith had stellar energy. Instead, it was influenced by the material used as well as the refining process.


    Every material used in forging vestiges had some amount of stellar energy naturally stored within them, and the higher the stellar energy and its purity was, the more valuable and rare the material became. However, the purity and even concentration could be affected by the forging method of the vestige-smith.


    The ability to retain almost or the exact same quality and concentration of a vestige, defined a vestige-smith''s ability. In some cases, some vestige-smiths could even raise the stellar purity and concentration by creating a resonance with other materials used.


    For instance, if one were to create a vestige using an alloy of a valuable material and a lesser one, if the vestige-smith''s skill was up to the task, he or she could create a resonance between the two materials. By doing so, the final product -the alloy- would have a stellar energy quality and purity not just higher than the lesser material but even on par with the more valuable material.


    "For the first test, the durability test."

 Chapter 91 - 91: Another Mission

    "It, it can''t be..." The manager fell to his knees with a horrified expression.


    The vestige duel had just concluded. All seven tests were carried out in public and the results were displayed at the same time to everyone.


    The trident crafted by Grey Finger Sofoklis had actually surpassed the spear by a margin. Although the gap wasn''t wide, winning only four out of the seven tests, a win was still a win.


    The durability test was won over by the spear created by the Ecclesiastics member from the Gold Rain Factory. It also managed to clinch a victory in the Sharpness and Strength tests.


    However, the stellar energy properties -stellar energy purity and matrix efficiency- were won by the Trident. The Hardness test was also taken by the Trident as well, bringing both sides to an equal number of victories.


    The power test was the last test and it usually ended in a draw in most vestige duels. It wasn''t easy for one to forge a Grade 4 vestige, so that made the best piece of equipment anyone could create to be at Grade 3. Minute differences couldn''t be used to determine a victory here because that was used for the stellar energy purity test.


    If such practice was taken, it would mean that whoever won the purity test would naturally win the power test, which would imply there was no point to the latter test.


    As it usually ended in a draw, the manager was calm and felt lucky. Even if the trident won the stellar energy purity test, it didn''t matter. A draw was better than a loss, and it wasn''t like the spear performed badly in the tests it lost. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, just as the power test was carried out, his worst fear -which he never even considered- occurred.


    "Hand of God Trident, Grade, Grade 4!"


    The overseer screamed while staring at the result. It might be the weakest Grade 4 he had ever seen, but it was definitely a Grade 4 vestige.


    In fact, the overseer wasn''t the only one shocked by it. Everyone else was too.


    Hand of God was the name of the trident Sofoklis had created; a masterpiece that could truly be described as a one after this vestige duel.


    A Grade 4 vestige was something only the top companies and master vestige-smiths could make; it wasn''t something the Gold Rain Factory or the previous Sofoklis could create. For it to be done now, there was only one explanation, Sofoklis had advanced in rank and skill.


    As for whether he cheated and had someone else forge it, no one had that idea. It was a taboo for a vestige-smith to use a vestige not created by their hands for a vestige duel, unless they stated it prior to the duel. The other exception applied to companies.


    If one were found guilty of cheating, not only would they lose their standing in the industry, but they would be stripped of the right to create and sell vestige anywhere on the planet. If the higher-ups were informed of this, they could even lose the right to sell vestiges anywhere in the galaxy. Hence, no matter what, vestige-smiths never cheated during a vestige duel.


    Sofoklis remained calm, but the slight smile on his face showed that he wasn''t truly immune to the gasps and shocking stares of the crowd.


    "Master Sofoklis, have you?" The overseer carefully asked.


    Sofoklis didn''t reply to him, but his aura burst forth. It was at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    "Indeed. I apologize for the disrespect." The overseer bowed.


    While the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage was difficult to achieve, stellar practitioners at this level could still be found here and there. Most freelancer guild leaders were at this stage. In top families and higher ranks of the City Defence Force and the Patrol Corps, one could also find them. However, the seventh level was a different story.


    At this level, one would become an influential member of society and a true leader.


    For vestige-smiths in Eretre, the common prerequisite to be able to forge Grade 4 vestiges was to be at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. It was due to this prerequisite that there weren''t as many Grade 4 vestiges in the market as there were Grade 3, because vestige-smiths capable of making such were rare.


    Being a seventh level stellar practitioner was difficult, but being a seventh level stellar practitioner and a vestige-smith was even more so difficult.


    Now that Sofoklis was confirmed to be this level, he couldn''t be treated the same as himself from a few minutes ago. Even the overseer, despite being from a hegemonic association had to be respectful and address Sofoklis as ''master'', while also apologising for the questioning.


    "Don''t worry about it." Sofoklis remained calm while signalling for his disciple to pack up the vestige.


    As soon as the latter was done, the duo left the scene, acting as if what they had just done and revealed was a common occurrence.


    ''Tsk. Such horrible acting.'' Lucas snorted, but he didn''t underrate them.


    A Grade 4 vestige was truly a powerful item from what he could sense during the test. Actually, thanks to his sensitive soul, Lucas had already identified the winner before the vestige duel even began. He had noticed that Sofoklis'' vestige was quite different from a Grade 3 vestige.


    Having made what could be described as the best Grade 3 vestige ever, Lucas had to admit that even the gauntlet could only barely compare to the trident.


    There could hence only be one explanation; the trident was at a higher grade.


    ''Grade 4 vestiges are indeed something. If I could make one of those, I wonder how much it could sell?''


    With the store''s 200% prices compared to others, Lucas couldn''t help but salivate at the amount of money he would make from one Grade 4 vestige sale. Even if the system took its usual charges, his profit would still be enough to purchase a few shops in the market zone.


    ''No, this is wrong. System, you have to bring down your charges.''


    Just as he said so, a mission popped up.


    [[ Mission Overview: The host has finally been exposed to some of the traditional practices of vestige-smithing. It is now time for the host to announce his existence to the world and stomp all other craftsmen to the ground.


    As the successor to the Crafts-God, neither failure nor mediocrity is acceptable!


    Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.


    Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats).


    Penalty: There exists no penalty for abandoning the mission or failing to complete it in time. However, if the host were to accept the mission and lose a vestige duel, one random ability granted by the system would be taken away. ]]

 Chapter 92 - 92: The Four Forbidden Techniques

    [[ Mission Overview: The host has finally been exposed to some of the traditional practices of vestige-smithing. It is now time for the host to announce his existence to the world and stomp all other craftsmen to the ground.


    As the successor to the Crafts-God, neither failure nor mediocrity is acceptable!


    Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.


    Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats).


    Penalty: There exists no penalty for abandoning the mission or failing to complete it in time. However, if the host were to accept the mission and lose a vestige duel, one random ability granted by the system would be taken away. ]]


    Lucas was surprised by the notification that popped up in front of him, but he wasn''t vexed by it. On the contrary, this mission actually rhymed with his plan.


    There was a reason why Lucas had yet to open up his stall even after the first day had gone by. Part of his time was indeed spent checking out the other stalls and stores, but the reason for that was to estimate the quality of the vestiges produced by others. The market zone had a bunch of stores with vestiges on display, but those were just common items.


    To see the rarer ones, one would either need to be a VIP of the store, or provide proof of wealth. It was only during the Silver Fig Trade Convention that one could see the best of the best without any stringent conditions.


    As for why Lucas wanted to estimate the ability of the vestige-smiths, it was because he wanted to outshine them. This was just how he was back in his first life. Lucas always aimed to be the best at his craft, and in this life, it was no different.


    The system mission just came in time, and what''s more, it was exactly what he planned right from the start, albeit a bit more tedious.


    "Hey, system, is it me or are your penalties much nicer? At least I don''t have to lose an arm or die, and also, I could actually reject the mission."


    The system went silent for a few seconds, before replying,


    "The fourth-wall beings filed a complaint."


    "Huh? The fourth what?" Lucas was dumbfounded.


    ''Does the system have a chuunibyou-self or something?''


    Lucas decided to ignore the system and return back to the Seven Sparks Forge store. He had seen enough for today and decided to resume his project.


    Because the gauntlet was intended to be a secret weapon of his, Lucas had decided to craft something new and exquisite for the convention.


    Due to his lack of stellar energy, Grade 3 vestiges were the best Lucas could make using the forbidden techniques from his past life -techniques that fed on his blood and mental energy. This was why Lucas didn''t have more than four Grade 3 vestiges in his arsenal. After each creation, he would need to take some time to recover his lost energy.


    "''If I want to make something that stands out, I need to go all out."


    At the work-station, Lucas stood before a work bench situated at the centre of the room. Although it was called a bench, it looked more like the centre table in a kitchen.


    Atop the table was a blueprint stretched out, which Lucas was currently working on.


    ''There are currently four forbidden techniques I can use in my current state, capable of making a Grade 3 vestige or even higher. All four have high requirements for a substitute to mystical energy, and the closest substitute is blood energy.''


    In the world of Mana and True Qi, a witch had once tried to find a means for normal civilians, who could not practice magic or cultivation, to be able to contend against mages, cultivators, deserters and other witches. The said witch, after a stroke of inspiration, decided not to look for a solution outside, but internally.


    After an intense and lengthy study of the anatomy of the human body, down to even the spiritual aspects, the witch had finally discovered something: blood energy.


    Blood energy was a term used to describe a theoretical mystical energy that existed within living beings. It was the equivalent of one''s vutal life force, and the energy that kept the body alive. Once a person''s blood energy went too low, they would either die of spiritual exhaustion or become too feeble, and might end up a vegetable.


    Hence why individuals had to be careful with their blood energy usage.


    Due to the unique nature of the blood energy and the studies of the witch, it was discovered that blood energy could be somewhat used to substitute mana or true qi. The issue, however, was that unlike the other mystical energies which could easily be recovered and increased, an average human typically has a fixed amount of blood energy they could store.


    What''s more, this amount would decrease as they aged. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The witch went a step further and created a technique that could cast spells by combining both blood energy and mental energy, a unique kind of energy that was weaker than mystical energy. But this still wasn''t enough, and was merely a stop-gap to the issue.


    One of the forbidden techniques Lucas knew was exactly this technique. However, he didn''t use it for fights, but to create vestiges. The amount of blood energy spent on creating a vestige was less than in a battle. Also, Lucas could take his time to recover after each usage. If he instead used this for fights, the effect would be detrimental to him, especially with how often he got into battles.


    The second forbidden technique wasn''t exactly a taboo per say, but was more of a lost technique. Lucas happened to have chanced on an ancient relic and found it there. The technique was one that allowed a non-mystical energy user to be able to possess mystical energy by tapping energy from a unique material.


    Unique materials were naturally occurring objects that could store mystical energy, like the metals used in making vestiges and so on.


    This technique could allow the user absorb the energy and use readily. However, there was no way to store it in the body. As such, practitioners of this technique always had to carry a unique material on hand.


    The downside of this technique, apart from having to carry a unique material everywhere you go, was that unique materials had a fixed amount of mystical energy, and it usually wasn''t much. So, unless one was lucky enough to find a heavenly metal, herb or something, with a boatload of mystical energy, they would have to constantly carry a significant amount of unique materials.


    This obviously resulted in this technique inefficient for combat, which was why Lucas never used it for so. However, in a work-station, it wasn''t bad.


    The third forbidden technique was now something that could truly be termed as a forbidden. It was a heinous technique that came about from a different research -a deserter- who wanted to fix the flaw of the Blood energy technique.


    An individual''s blood energy was fixed and would steadily decline as they grew older. There was no way to increase the cap, and even the rumoured methods required heavenly items that were as rare as a Phoenix. Naturally, this created dissatisfaction for many.


    The deserter, was a mage who got banned from the mage society after he fixed this flaw. As for how he did it, it was with a method he deemed natural.


    Since one''s blood energy was limited, why not plunder from others?


    The deserter created a technique that could allow the user to steal blood energy from other living creatures of blood. Needless to say, this harmed the target of the technique. If the user were to go all the way, the victim would be totally drained of their blood energy and die.


    The most suitable targets for this blood energy were living creatures of blood, but the closer the living creature was in nature to the user, the more in sync the plundered blood energy would be with the user. Hence, humans were the best targets.


    Both the mage, witches and cultivation societies collectively agreed to ban this technique and hunt down anyone who practiced it, terming them as devils.


    As for how Lucas got his hands on this technique, that was for another day.


    The final technique was equally atrocious. However, while it did plunder from a living creature as well, it didn''t have the same limitations as the previous one. This technique aimed not at blood energy, but the soul of a living being.


    The soul was a mystical existence that couldn''t be seen or described as it was an enigmatic concept. However, a certain crazy cultivator had made a study in secret. This was after the discovery of blood energy, and that research had paved the way to it. The cultivator theorized that since the body possessed a mystical energy of its own, why not the spirit?


    He tried to work with mental energy, but felt that was lacking.


    Having made no achievements, the cultivator decided to stop looking for an energy, but a form. If there was no energy, why not use the form as a fuel? After all, a human body, when burnt at the right conditions, could form charcoal which could fuel a fire.


    After working in that direction, the cultivator chanced on the soul, and then created a technique which could be used to strip this incorporeal form away from the target. The technique would not just seize the soul, but also decompose it to form soul energy, a new kind of mystical energy.


    Compared to the previous forbidden technique, this was even more nefarious because it would deny one an opportunity at reincarnation. As it targeted all existences with a ''soul'', it wasn''t only limited to lifeforms of blood, as even trees had spirits.


    The flexibility of this forbidden technique to direct its spear at any lifeform and also deny them the opportunity of reincarnation, made it even more hated than the Plundering Blood Technique. The creator was not only caught, but he was also executed in public. Every record of the research was also destroyed by the joint alliance of witches, cultivators and mages, or so they thought.


    Because if that were so, Lucas would have never learnt about it.

 Chapter 93 - 93: Buying Desolate Beasts

    The Blood Energy circulation, Materialization Technique, Blood Plundering Technique, and the Soul Dismantling Spell were the names of the four forbidden techniques.


    The Blood Energy Circulation dealt with utilising the blood energy of the user.


    The Materialization Technique enabled powerless humans to be able to draw the mystical energy within unique materials for their own use.


    The Blood Plundering Technique was a modified version of the Blood Energy circulation, but it relied on alternative sources of blood energy apart from the user.


    As for the Soul Dismantling Spell, it was a forbidden spell that could be used to absorb and decompose souls to form soul energy, an artificial mystical energy.


    Of the four forbidden techniques, Lucas had only been using the Blood Energy Circulation and the Materialization Technique. Usually, he used either one, but for more powerful vestiges, Lucas would have to rely on both methods to cover up for his lack of stellar energy.


    For instance, during the forging process of the gauntlets, Lucas had used the two forbidden techniques in tandem to create the vestige.


    Looking at the blueprint on the work bench, Lucas sighed. Since he wanted to defeat everyone with one item, it had to be very powerful; at least on par with the gauntlets. But even making those was too difficult for Lucas.


    When making vestiges, the importance of stellar energy was not to be underestimated. For some unique materials, they couldn''t simply be melted or shaped by exposure to high heat. Stellar energy was also used in the quenching process, making the final product more durable.


    In summary, stellar energy was used in a whole bunch of places during the vestige-smithing process. The more stellar energy one had, the easier the process and better the final product would be. This was because some of the processes in vestige-smithing couldn''t be paused, so the vestige-smith wouldn''t have the time to recover their stellar energy.


    The higher the intended grade of the vestige, the more one would encounter such processes.


    If the vestige-smith was forcefully stopped or used an inadequate amount of stellar energy in the process, probably due to being drained out, the quality of the vestige would be affected and it might even turn out to be a failure.


    To avoid a failure during the forging process for the gauntlets, Lucas had spent eight hours just to melt the metals and twenty hours to create the form. That was the most intensive task he had ever taken ever since his death in his first life.


    However, Lucas was currently lacking time. He had less than sixteen hours to work with, and this was with pulling an all-nighter. The only way Lucas could conclude before the deadline was if he used a different forbidden technique apart from those two.


    ''Should I pay some underground gangs a visit?'' Lucas thought.


    ''Forget it. Security has been tight recently. I should have kept those corpses intact if I had known I would be doing this.''


    Sighing, Lucas opened his communicator. After scouting the net for a while, he visited a certain site, and made an order.


    "System, do you believe that there''s such a thing as an evil technique?" Lucas suddenly asked.


    After four seconds, the system responded,


    "The system doesn''t concern itself with such remarks. What matters in the end is the end goal."


    "Hmm, I guess we''re the same, but not at the same time." Lucas said.


    "How so?" The system asked; a situation that rarely ever occurred.


    Albeit slightly surprised, Lucas answered,


    "I don''t believe in evil techniques. A technique can only be called good or evil depending on what it is used for. Even good can be done for evil reasons."


    "Isn''t that the same?"


    "No, my ideology differs from yours. You believe in the end goal, but not the principle. If I were to sacrifice innocent lives to forge the greatest vestige ever in order to save the world, the end goal would be achieved, but the act would still remain evil.


    However, if I were to sacrifice criminals, or individuals who willingly give up their life for the cause, to achieve the same result, then the act would be more justified." Lucas answered.


    "Isn''t that hypocrisy? Isn''t all life being equal a common belief of humanity?"


    "All life should be equal, but unfortunately, all life is not equal. It''s the same way a mother would value the life of her child over that of a stranger. In her heart, her child''s life is of more value than the stranger''s, and even hers." Lucas said with a strange tone, staring out in the air.


    Less than an hour later, a hovercar appeared in front of the building. As it landed, a humanoid robot walked out with a form.


    It glanced at Lucas and scanned his face at the same time to confirm his identity.


    "Good evening, esteemed customer. Please sign here."


    Lucas took the form and signed where necessary. After the robot confirmed the signatures, it went into the hovercar and carried out a few cages. There were four in total and inside them were desolate beasts.


    West Wing district had the nickname of Freelancer city and this was due to the many businesses that catered to and supported by the freelancer community. The trade of desolate beasts was one such.


    Desolate beasts had different physical and anatomical structures compared to hyumans, with some of them having bones as strong as metals and fireproof skin. Due to this, it was only natural that people would want to acquire their body parts, which was how most freelancers made their money. However, some enthusiasts wanted desolate beasts as pets, or might just want to have a taste of their meat.


    As a result, a new career in freelancing was born, which was capturing young desolate beasts.


    Young ones were targeted because once they matured, they would be at the Apertures Opening stage, and capturing a matured desolate beast, although not impossible, was quite difficult.


    Two of the desolate beasts brought out looked like rabbits, but their appearance was more wild and ferocious. They had a pair of fangs with ears as long as a child''s arm. On their feet were sharp talons that could year apart their earthly counterparts.


    One of the remaining two desolate beasts looked like a crossbreed between a wolf and a lion. While standing on all fours, it surpassed the waist level of an average human adult. On the two hind legs, it could easily tower an adult. The lion-wolf desolate beast didn''t only have a set of vicious fangs for teeth, but it exuded a bloodthirsty aura even in captivity.


    Its crimson eyes stared at Lucas like a beast eyeing a prey. There was no doubt that once the cage was opened, it would pounce on him right away.


    The final desolate beast was a viper-like monster, and unlike the other three, it looked docile. However, Lucas knew better than to treat it as harmless. Of the three types of desolate beasts, the snake was the most dangerous.


    This was because while the other two were termed desolate beasts, they were younglings and below the Apertures Opening stage. However, the snake was closely approaching that level. One could even say that it was equivalent to a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner who just needed a slight push.


    Thanks to his sensitive soul, Lucas could ''see'' that the snake had already accumulated almost enough stellar energy to break through. It was a suitable offering for the forbidden techniques.


    ''Good thing there''s no such thing as animal cruelty for desolate beasts, otherwise I would have my store shut down.'' S§×ar?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas thought as recalled his past life on Earth where a certain animal-lovers organisation constantly hampered down on people. Although their goal was a respectable one, they tend to take things too far, even at the cost of harming other humans.


    With the purchase of four desolate beasts, Lucas'' newly acquired wealth had dwindled considerably. Desolate beasts, even if they were young and of the lowest grade species, cost a lot. However, these expenses were necessary for what he wanted to do.

 Chapter 94 - 94: Im Not Showing, So What?

    The third day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention kicked off at the ninth hour of the day (9:00 am). Although there was no grand style commemoration or performance, that didn''t diminish the interest or excitement of the crowd.


    The previous day was the start of the vestige duel fever and the clients had witnessed a lot of fascinating matches. There were many winners and losers the previous day, but regardless of the result, none of the participants closed down their stall.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was the biggest event for vestige-smiths and vestige-smith businesses in Baylands City, so just leaving after the second day was a loss no business planned on taking. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Losing a vestige duel didn''t mean that a stall would fail to attract clients during the convention; that was unless the losing side lost drastically and underperformed expected targets. And so far, only a few losers have underperformed so badly that the convention might as well be tagged over for them. As for the big companies and famous names in the industry, they still kept their stands.


    However, none of them had exposed their masterpiece yet; the situation with the Gold Rain Factory was a rare one and the Factory couldn''t really be classified as a large member of the industry.


    With the start of the third day, expectations were high. Everyone was looking forward to the upcoming vestige duels and wondered if they would be a reputed company participating in one just like the previous day.


    "Hmm? This stall is finally open?"


    A freelancer who had attended the event as a client glanced at a stall by the side. He had been coming to the event for the past two days and followed a similar route each time. According to his memory, this stall, although set up, had been closed each time.


    At that time, he presumed that it was run by a vestige-smith and the latter was probably ill or something, and so couldn''t attend the convention.


    ''I guess he''s back to good health.'' The freelancer thought.


    He then walked over to the stall to check it out. By its design, it was clear that this was run by an unknown vestige-smith, but to be able to participate in this convention was a testament to the person''s skill. The freelancer decided to find out more, probably in hopes that he would stumble upon a good vestige-smith and be able to close a cheap deal.


    "Welcome." Lucas greeted the man who stood in front of the stall.


    The man glanced at Lucas with surprise. There were two reasons for this and each was equally astonishing. The first was that Lucas was a human. Why would a human be here? A suitable explanation could be that he operated the stall on behalf of the actual owner, so this calmed the man a bit. But the situation still made him stunned


    It was because Lucas was relaxing by the side of the stall.


    Between each stall was enough space for three people to work side by side. Just within that gap, Lucas had set up a retractable deckchair and laid on it calmly. He also wore a pair of sunglasses, a pair of floral-patterned khaki shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops on his feet. Rather than a convention, it looked as if he had gone to the beach.


    The freelancer couldn''t help but be speechless at his appearance.


    "Is there a problem?" Lucas asked.


    Of course he was aware the man''s surprise probably had to do with his outfit, but that was exactly what Lucas wanted. Acting out of the ordinary would always attract attention. Yes, this was all a strategy, and not because Lucas was too poor to afford proper clothing. Definitely not that.


    As for where he got the outfit, the system had provided Lucas three sets of clothing as well as a couple other items and equipment in his welcome package. The entire outfit made up one set of clothing.


    "Uhm, no. Nothing really. I just wanted to see your goods." The freelancer asked.


    "Not showing." Lucas waved him off.


    "..." The freelancer was once again dumbfounded.


    "What do you mean, ''not showing''?"


    "I mean not showing." Lucas straightforwardly replied.


    "After being exposed to so much crap lately, you wouldn''t be able to differentiate silver from stainless steel."


    The freelancer was stunned. This was the first time a participant not only shooed him away, but humiliated him. Although he wasn''t renowned, he still had a name to himself and as a third level stellar practitioner, not anyone could treat him so badly.


    "Do you want a beating? Call your boss right now and if I don''t receive a proper apology, I''ll make sure to report you and have your stall torn down." The freelancer grimly stared at Lucas.


    "Well, I''m the boss."


    "Do you think I''m stupid?"


    The freelancer got tired of talking and grabbed at Lucas.


    Fights were banned during the convention, but considering that Lucas was a human and the owner of this stall was a low and almost unknown vestige-smith, teaching Lucas a small lesson shouldn''t be a problem. At best, the freelancer would have to pay a small fine after that, but so what?


    In exchange, Lucas'' bones would be broken and he would know his place as an attendant and most importantly, a human.


    *Pat*


    Lucas struck the palm of the man to the side and glared at him.


    "How?"


    The freelancer raised his eyebrows in surprise. He recovered almost immediately, and with cheeks burning in shame, he attacked once again, but this time more ferociously.


    Lucas frowned and unlike before, he didn''t go easy on him again. The Craftsman gloves appeared on his hand and he grabbed the freelancer''s fist and responded with a punch to the latter''s face.


    *Bam*


    The freelancer''s face scrunched up after the punch, but before he could even recover, Lucas released a flurry of attacks on his face and body.


    *Bam* *Bam*


    Every punch was resounding, but it was executed with just the right force and form to ensure that the target wasn''t hurled away yet.


    After delivering fifteen blows to the man, Lucas landed a final hit and knocked him out.


    "If I say, not showing, I mean, not showing." Lucas declared.


    The system had already informed him that the stall was counted as an outlet of the Seven Sparks Forge for the duration of the convention; therefore, all abilities of the system could be used here as well. As such, he had no fear of attackers or troublemakers.


    With the commotion caused by the fight, a lot of attention was drawn towards the area. The neighbouring stalls and guests who walked by all stared towards Lucas. In their eyes was not only shock due to seeing a human take down a freelancer, but there was also a bit of mirth.


    "Dimwit. Doesn''t he know the rules?"


    "Haha. He''s a human, what do you expect from such archaic species? Let''s just watch how the show turns out."

 Chapter 95 - 95: The Bigger The Better

    "There is no such thing as bad publicity."


    These were the exact words spoken to Lucas by a friend of his on Earth. This friend was a graduate of the esteemed Pavard Business School and he had a degree in marketing as well.


    Back then, Lucas had just graduated from college and was seeking sponsorships for his research on materials. However, as a fresh graduate and an unknown individual in the science community, getting grants for his research was no doubt extremely difficult.


    Lucas had to compete with prestigious academies and famous names in the community, and even if he was a genius, he lacked the experience and connections of these parties.


    In order to achieve his goal, Lucas had once asked his friend for advice. This friend of his gave a suggestion that was somewhat ridiculous, but also valid. He told Lucas that the best way to achieve his goal was to gain publicity and the method didn''t matter, whether good or bad.


    As long as one carried out an action that gained enough media coverage, the higher-ups would be the ones to decide whether it was worth punishing or rewarding. Even the scientists of a certain formerly powerful nation were absorbed into the forces of a superpower on the winning side, despite their hands in the sinful crimes committed by their warlord.


    So, the main point of worry wasn''t what action to take, but whether Lucas had something worth offering. As long as he did, then all Lucas had to do was gain as much publicity as possible by carrying out an insane stunt. The bigger the act, the wider the publicity.


    Back then, to be rewarded a grant, Lucas rented a boat and sailed to an unoccupied island. Once there, he set off a nuclear explosion, sinking the island while filming the entire process.


    What Lucas had to offer was a new material he had discovered, or to be specific, artificially created. It was radioactive in nature and had the potential to rival hydrogen when used to create a bomb. Lucas had controlled the amount and made proper calculations to ensure that the bomb would damage the island, but he had slightly underestimated its power as it caused the little island to sink.


    When the video came online, it attracted a ton of attention as some had testified to hearing a loud explosion and seeing a mushroom cloud on the day of the explosion. The secret service of Rhodia had even caught on to it from their satellites, and within two days, Lucas was arrested.


    He was eventually released and given whatever amount he wanted in grants to continue his research, proving his friend''s point.


    Now in a new world with new intelligent species, Lucas decided to once again employ the same tactics. He wasn''t going to set off an explosion, as that would obviously be more disadvantageous than advantageous to him, but Lucas still intended on causing a commotion.


    That''s right. From the very start, Lucas had intended on goading the freelancer to attack him. Lucas was aware that fights were banned during the convention, and together with his identity as a human, it would surely attract a lot of attention.


    The security personnel for the convention arrived and they surrounded Lucas'' stall. At this time, the freelancer was still knocked out, but they managed to get him back to his feet while one of them interrogated Lucas.


    "What is the matter here?"


    The captain of the security team asked.


    "Nothing if you ask me." Lucas shrugged.


    "What do you mean ''nothing''? A fight broke out and someone was knocked out. From the report, you''re the known cause of this incident. Is that what nothing sounds like to you?" The captain frowned.


    "oh. If you''re talking about that, it was merely me handling a troublemaker." Lucas calmly replied. But at the same time, he studied the captain and couldn''t help but have a thought.


    "A troublemaker?" The captain asked.


    Pointing at the freelancer who just awoke, Lucas said,


    "That''s right. That stranger over there. He came over to my stall to cause trouble for no apparent reason."


    The freelancer flushed and screamed,


    "Liar. I just asked to see your vestiges, but you denied me and even knocked me out. This is a convention; since when was glancing at a vestige a crime? Please treat this matter sincerely."


    The latter part was said to the captain of the security team, a third level stellar practitioner just like the freelancer.


    The freelancer knew that if he was found guilty, the usual punishment would be a ban or suspension from the current and future Silver Fig Trade Conventions. For any freelancer who intended to further their career, this was quite devastating.


    The security captain then turned to Lucas.


    "What do you have to say for yourself?"


    Lucas glanced at the freelancer, but wasn''t surprised.


    It might seem like Lucas had attacked a random person, but the opposite was true. From the man''s reaction to Lucas'' words back then, it was clear that he looked down on humans and people he considered lesser. A normal response at that time would have been to ignore Lucas and walk away, or if one was still interested, question him on the criteria to see a vestige.


    But the freelancer''s mode of response was to launch an attack right away.


    For someone so violent, Lucas saw no reason to be nice to him.


    ''I guess I''ll play with you a bit.''


    "My stall operates a special rule. Due to the nature of the vestiges, not just anyone can be allowed to take a look at them. The man over there didn''t qualify, hence why I didn''t show it to him. As for his claims of attacking him, I only acted in self defence after he assaulted me."


    "That''s enough fraudulent accusations. What do you take me for?" The freelancer argued back.


    "One more word and I don''t mind showing the clip to the security." Lucas glared at him.


    "What, what clip?" The freelancer stuttered as his eyes held a trace of suspicion in them.


    "The stalls aren''t fitted with security devices as no one expects any individual or party to cause trouble during the convention; offending the Silver Fig Consortium over a minor argument is clearly a stupid action. The lack of security might have emboldened you to act, however, I have a habit of making sure my surroundings are filmed as a result of my special identity." Lucas smiled.


    The freelancer finally froze as his blood turned cold. He could now understand what Lucas meant.


    When he attacked Lucas, the freelancer was aware that there were no security cameras around. He also knew that even if the security team were to arrive, most of the bystanders would side with him as eighty percent of hyumans in the city were anti-social and critical about humans.


    Even if there was one good Samaritan amongst them, it wouldn''t matter; the victim was a human so even the security team wouldn''t take it seriously.


    However, he never expected that not only would Lucas be capable of retaliation, but he had also filmed the entire act.


    Also, Lucas'' statement that somewhat offhandedly mentioned not offending the Silver Fig Consortium was actually a slight way to pressure not just the freelancer, but also the security captain. It was a clever use of words that would force the security captain to handle the matter properly.


    Humans might be looked down upon, but if a situation where a hyuman was in the wrong first was brought out to the open with hard evidence, even the security team couldn''t act like hypocrites. After all, the city-state''s law covered both hyumans and humans, and the Silver Fig Consortium was an alliance of businesses operating under this law.


    "Let the matter go." The security captain suddenly said.


    "He was in the wrong and you''ve punished him for that. I think we can end this here."


    It was clear that the security captain wanted to end things here, and not mete out the full punishment or even carry out a proper investigation.


    Lucas turned to him, at first with displeasure, but then quelled his rage.


    ''It seems like I''ve forgotten the true nature of reality.'' Lucas thought.


    Having associated with a few friendly individuals in this while, Lucas had actually forgotten his ''place'' in the city. He was a human, and in Baylands City, that was no different from being a second class citizen; in some cases, it could be even worse.


    "Sure."


    The freelancer sighed with relief, but before he could walk away, Lucas'' voice sounded. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "But that depends on something."


    "What?" The security captain frowned.


    He had thought that Lucas would be smart enough to figure out his intention and act accordingly, but it seemed like he was wrong. Either that, or Lucas just wanted to make things more difficult. Regardless of which, he had already aggravated the situation and irritated the man.


    "The usual way matters are settled; a vestige duel."

 Chapter 96 - 96: A Bet

    "Let''s have a vestige duel."


    "Haha, are you delusional or dumb? I''m not a vestige-smith." The freelancer mocked as he breathed out with relief. He had expected Lucas to ask for something impossible, but the latter just had to be half-witted.


    "Of course I know you aren''t one, but that doesn''t mean you can''t participate in a vestige duel." Lucas smiled.


    "Typically, vestige duels are between vestige-smiths. Even if you want to challenge him to one, how would you go about it?" The security captain glared. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "There''s never been an official rule about who can participate in a vestige duel, so it''s simple. We just compete."


    Lucas explained.


    "I''ll also toss in a handicap for him. All he has to do is present his best vestige and I''ll match its grade with mine. How''s that?"


    The freelancer was stunned, but he felt something was wrong.


    With the proposal by Lucas, it essentially gave him the advantage. As a third level stellar practitioner, it was natural for him to have a bit of wealth accumulated which he would invest into his gear. Although his best vestige wasn''t a Grade 3 vestige, it was still one of the top quality Grade 2 vestiges available, and a customised version at that.


    Typically, apart from higher grade vestiges, only a few vestiges of the same grade could beat it in terms of quality. So, it seemed destined that he would win.


    However, something still felt off.


    ''Maybe he''s just ignorant and underestimated me.''


    Thinking of this, the freelancer couldn''t wait to compete and put Lucas in his place.


    "I accept. But let''s make it a bit more entertaining. If I win, not only would this matter end here, but you will kneel down and apologize to me while compensating me with a suitable fee for my wasted time." The freelancer declared.


    Muffled bursts of surprise came from those who stood by the side to watch the scene. None of them had expected the freelancer to be greedy, despite being the one at fault.


    Lucas however, had an idea after those words.


    "In that case, if I win instead, you don''t need to kneel and apologize. Just a small compensation fee of one hundred federal coins should do."


    This time around, the crowd''s astonishment shifter towards Lucas. Not only was he greedier, but he also claimed a fee of one hundred federal coins to be a ''small compensation ''.


    However, in some sense, it was ''small''. Freelancers made a lot more than the average worker and just the cheapest vestige alone already cost the average monthly salary in West Wing district. Hence, in some sense, one hundred federal coins was indeed ''small''. At least compared to the freelancer''s vague compensation that could imply anything, a stated fee was cheaper.


    "Sure." The freelancer agreed, confident in his victory.


    Lucas smiled once he got the reply he wanted and asked the security team to clear some space for the duel.


    The captain glanced at Lucas and was annoyed by the look on his face, but he still did as told.


    As for Lucas, he had already walked into the stall to retrieve the necessary items for a duel. As he was the only one around, it took quite some time for him to do so.


    "I''ll need a volunteer to act as an overseer." Lucas spoke towards the crowd.


    Since the vestige duel wasn''t between participants of the convention, the organizers of the convention didn''t need to send in a staff to act as an overseer. For that role, Lucas would have to outsource elsewhere, and his best bet was the crowd.


    An overseer didn''t hold much influence over the results of a vestige duel as it was clear to everyone; their role was more of a referee without significant authority.


    "Let me."


    A middle-aged man walked from the group of spectators. He was a vestige-smith participating in the convention, and his stall was only a few metres away from Lucas. He had taken note of the clash that occurred earlier, and had his interest piqued by Lucas'' way of settling the issue.


    For a vestige-smith, there was no glory in challenging a regular individual to a vestige duel. If one were to win, there were no benefits. However, a loss would affect their reputation. This brought about confusion for some vestige-smiths regarding what Lucas was trying to do. Although he wasn''t a popular vestige-smith, having his image stained in a big event like this would affect his growth.


    "What test do you want to start with?" The man asked.


    Vestige duels consisted of seven tests each aimed at seven major and common characteristics of a vestige:, Durability, Hardness, Sharpness, Strength, Stellar matrix efficiency, power and stellar energy purity.


    "I''ll leave the decision to the challenged." Lucas replied.


    The freelancer smirked and called out the first test.


    It was the sharpness test.


    After that, he took out his vestige.


    "That''s...!"


    "Oh my goodness, this vestige-smith is done for."


    Exclamations burst out from the crowd once the freelancer revealed his vestige.


    It was a Hozier-class Halberd, a special series of halberd made by a certain popular vestige-smith company, and what''s more, a custom-made variation.


    The company was founded by a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, which was the rank for vestige-smiths capable of creating Grade 4 vestiges. Due to the rank of the founder, the company became renowned and quite popular. It also had a couple other vestige-smiths to support production.


    The Hozier-class Halberd was one of the bestselling vestiges made by the company in their premium line. It covered vestiges from Grade 2 up to even Grade 4. The Hozier-class Halberd in the freelancer''s possession was a Grade 2 edition, even then, it was very powerful and few other Grade 2 vestiges could compare.


    The man who acted as the overseer for the duel was visibly shook and somewhat worried for Lucas. Not many vestige-smiths could make a vestige that could beat a Hozier-class Halberd, even more so for an unknown vestige-smith.


    However, when the man turned to glean Lucas'' reaction, he noticed that the latter was calm and unaffected by the vestige.


    ''It''s either he''s confident, he''s putting up a front or he doesn''t know what that vestige is. If it''s the former, that would be nice. But if it''s the latter, then he''s a failure of a vestige-smith.''


    The man shook his head. He had already surmised it was most likely the former. After all, no average vestige-smith could beat a Hozier-class Halberd.


    He was visibly disappointed that Lucas still put up a front, and if it was the last option, then that was even worse. As a vestige-smith, one should be familiar with all top vestige-smith companies and vestige-smiths. It was like being an athlete and not bothering to research other athletes, especially the top figures in the sport. It showed that one was either too proud or too stupid.


    While the spectators expressed their different thoughts yet similar thoughts about the duel -already judging that Lucas had lost-, the man at the centre of this stared at the halberd, unimpressed.


    ''Oi, system, why are people thinking that this piece of junk could win?'' Lucas couldn''t help but ask the system.


    Although he already had a certain understanding of the vestige-smithing skill in the West Wing district, that was only for the common models. As for the ones in the Silver Fig Trade Convention, except for the ones from small-time vestige-smiths, they were all a notch or two higher than what was on the market.


    At the very least, with the exceptions remaining excluded, everything here was at Grade 3 and above.


    In other words, this was the first time Lucas was seeing a vestige from a premium line that was lower than Grade 3.


    "I''m glad the host feels the same way. As such, the system hopes you understand the pricing scheme for the store.''


    ''I definitely do alright. If I had stellar energy, I could even make something like this with my eyes closed.''


    Ignoring the cacophony in the background, Lucas browsed through his system inventory for a suitable vestige.


    ''I need to wow them, but not overdo it just yet. That''s difficult.''


    All the vestiges Lucas had made were stronger than the Hozier-class Halberd before him, that was unless it was of a lower grade.


    ''Let''s go with you.'' Lucas glanced at a vestige in the inventory. He then left for his stall to create the illusion that he wanted to retrieve the vestige from there. If the general public were to know that he had a spatial inventory quite similar to the Grade 4 vestige, Spatial vault, Lucas would be in big trouble.


    After a few seconds, Lucas returned with a dagger in his hand.


    The crowd was surprised by this. One should know that typically, a dagger was weaker than other types of weapons. This was because its small size made it lighter and weaker in comparison to weapons like a sword or a spear. It was also more difficult to fend against such weapons using a dagger. The same applies with vestiges.


    "Is he giving up already?"


    "Well, what else can he do? He''s up against a Hozier-class."


    While some questioned the choice of vestige while others weren''t surprised by it, the major consensus was that Lucas was giving up on the duel. Even the freelancer thought the same as he had a mocking grin on his face.


    "Let''s get this started."

 Chapter 97 - 97: Hozier-class Halberd Versus An Ordinary (?) Dagger

    Among the testing equipment Lucas brought out for the duel were two robots about a metre tall. They were known as robo-testers and they were the personnel that carried out the testing.


    While society had advanced to the extent that quality tests could be carried out in a few short minutes with a simple scan, vestige duels were made a bit more traditional in order to generate more suspense.


    In a situation involving a living being, it was easy to manipulate the test, but with programmable robots, integrity and accuracy were ensured.


    Robo-tester was a type of robot capable of exhibiting strength up to a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, because the Silver Fig Consortium cut costs in the vestige duel equipment, the robo-testers were models capable of only exhibiting the same strength as a fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner.


    While it might seem lacking, this wasn''t a problem as the purpose of the robo-testers were to test the vestiges and not participate in battle.


    The two vestiges -the Hozier-class Halberd and the plain looking dagger- were each handed over to a robo-tester.


    "The first test, the sharpness test." The man who acted as the overseer announced.


    In front of each of the two robo-testers was a strange block of metal with a screen at the top. The metal block was taller than the robo-testers, reaching a similar height as an average human adult [1].


    This metal block was forged entirely out of an alloy of a special hard metal known as Deophene. Deophene was a metal stronger than steel with an very compact molecular structure. This made the outer and even inner layer quite difficult to cut through. It was so tough that it made cutting through diamond look like child''s play.


    The name Deophene was also adapted from an ancient human language known as Latin, with the ''Deo'' standing for God. This was to imply how difficult it was to slice through the metal.


    Deophene, despite being so tough, wasn''t used for a vestige-smithing as not just any vestige-smith could work with it. It was also quite expensive despite its difficult nature, but not so much as it wasn''t a rare metal. However, Deophene had a special allotrope [2] that was much tougher, costlier and rarer.


    For the sharpness testing metal block, it was an alloy of Deophene and two other metals. It had a low concentration of Deophene, which made it easier to cut through, otherwise this test would have been pointless. Nonetheless, the presence of Deophene still made it almost impossible for any vestige below Grade 4 to completely slice through it. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for testing the sharpness of higher grade vestiges, the metal block used for that would have a much higher concentration of Deophene than the one before Lucas and co.


    The sharpness testing equipment didn''t just consist of the metal block alone, but two other parts; the screen and a special x-ray scanner tool.


    The purpose and procedure of this sharpness testing was quite obvious. The robo-testers would utilise the same amount of force and land one attack at the metal block, with the intent to cut through it. The one that cut further into the block would win.


    The x-ray scanner device had the responsibility of measuring the cut and it would send the result to the screen to be displayed.


    "First would be the slashing."


    As the overseer''s voice went low, the robo-testers immediately swung their weapons at the metal block.


    *Clang*


    A resounding metallic sound rung in the air. It was almost as if the two vestiges had struck an iron plate except it was something harder.


    However, upon closer inspection, one would notice that a cut was made on the rocks; it wasn''t deep, but it was still clear. But as which of the two cuts were deeper, it was difficult to tell from the angle and distance the crowd stood.


    The freelancer frowned, not expecting Lucas'' dagger to not be garbage. Nonetheless, he wasn''t bothered. He has to admit that Lucas must have something to rely on to be so arrogant, and it was probably this dagger.


    ''But it''s not going to be enough.'' The freelancer grinned.


    "Next, thrusting." The overseer''s voice sounded again.


    The scores wouldn''t be displayed yet until both segments of the sharpness test were concluded. Then, the processor attached to the screen would combine both figures and judge the better side after running some calculations.


    The robo-testers immediately took their stances once again, but this time, they thrust their swords at the metal block.


    *Clang*


    The familiar metal ring but of a different pitch, sounded once again. This time around, the crowd could glimpse a few differences between the two based on the depth the swords managed to fix themselves at.


    "The dagger seems to be better."


    "I don''t think so. It''s probably due to its small size, that''s why you think such."


    When they surveyed the vestiges, many noticed that the dagger seemed to have gone deeper in when compared to the halberd, but this sparked an argument. Most of the spectators refused to believe that it was possible for an unknown vestige-smith to be able to beat the Hozier-class Halberd in any thing.


    Although sharpness wasn''t the halberd''s strong quality, it still performed well above average in this department.


    After the robo-testers retrieved their vestiges, the crowd didn''t resume arguing and decided to just await the results.


    *Ding*


    The display devices fixed atop the separate metal blocks simultaneously released a tune as they lit up with figures.


    On the testing equipment of the halberd, a few numbers were displayed: 182.


    One hundred (100) was the standard sharpness measurement for a Grade 2 vestige of the lowest quality. Anything below this was a failure for a bladed weapon.


    One hundred and twenty (120) was the standard mark however. As from one hundred and sixty (160) and above, this was the average digits for a premium model bladed Grade 2 vestige.


    A score of one hundred and eighty two (182) was an impressive performance, as not many vestiges could top that.


    "Heh." The freelancer grinned, before turning over to look at Lucas'' score.


    "How can this be?"


    Exclamations burst from the crowd.


    The display screen on Lucas'' testing equipment was already lit with a value: 192.


    One hundred and ninety two (192) was a really high number. This was because above two hundred (200) was the entry point for Grade 3 vestiges in terms of sharpness; anything close to this was the peak in terms of sharpness for a Grade 2 vestige. As such, every one digit after one hundred and ninety (190) was of deep meaning and power.


    "This is impossible!" The freelancer couldn''t help but shout.


    "He must have cheated somehow and tweaked the equipment beforehand. Yes, that must be it."


    The accusation was heavy, but it managed to still convince some amongst the crowd. This was because Lucas'' opponent wasn''t just any vestige but a Hozier-class Halberd. What''s more, he had managed to score a peak value in terms of sharpness, using a plain looking dagger.


    To top it all off, Lucas was a human and the vestige-smith behind his stall was unknown, otherwise, they wouldn''t have gotten such a basic stall.


    No matter what he wanted to say or how he wanted to defend himself, it would be difficult for Lucas.


    Soon enough, a couple of individuals in the corner were convinced and began pointing fingers of accusations at Lucas.


    "That''s right. He probably cheated."


    "True. This makes no sense. How could he beat a Hozier-class? If he could, we would already know who he was."


    "Are you kidding me? He''s clearly a human. There''s no way he can forge such. He probably works for an Elite vestige-smith or even a Master. Who knows where he got this vestige. You can''t call that cheating." Someone tried to defend Lucas.


    "If he was representing someone, he should have stated so right from the start. Not doing so is cheating." Another countered.


    Lucas however, was simply picking his ears at the commotion.


    ''Working for some Elite or Master? What''s that? Also, why would they still think I can''t forge even after I''ve said so?''


    "Hehe." Lucas smirked coldly and chuckled.


    "What''s with you?" The freelancer glared at him.


    "Nothing much. I just find it funny that even after taking a loss, you can''t admit it. I cheated? Then prove it. Otherwise, stop barking like a dog and let''s proceed to the next test."


    The crowd went silent seeing Lucas'' strong stance. For a second, some of them began to hesitate.


    Vestige duel was a tradition of the vestige-smith trade, and it was an abomination to desecrate this tradition by cheating. Anyone found guilty would not only be sidelined by the other vestige-smiths, but in some cases, they could even have their license revoked.


    "Putting up a strong front, are you? I''m not scared. Overseer, please confirm that he isn''t cheating." The freelancer turned to the middle-aged man acting as the overseer.

 Chapter 98 - 98: Surprise Turn Of Events

    With the accusation of cheating being laid out, the duel was put on hold. The overseer, who was also a vestige-smith, approached the equipment and performed a status check on them. He also did the same with the other equipment, to prevent a possible reoccurrence. The entire process wasn''t time-consuming and was eventually wrapped up within


    "Everything is fine."


    The middle-aged man announced after looking through the equipment.


    "How can that be?" The freelancer was bewildered. He couldn''t believe that Lucas had actually won fair and square.


    "I understand that while I might be somewhat unknown, you might not trust. Do, however, not doubt my judgement as an overseer." The middle-aged vestige-smith coldly said.


    The freelancer decided not to cause a scene any longer, lest he offends the man. Vestige-smiths took pride in their occupation as it was one that the entire hyumankin civilisation relied heavily on. Offending one of them through false accusations could harm his career in the long-run, so it wasn''t worth it.


    With the results being confirmed, there was nothing else to say. Even if the crowd was surprised, they still went on with it after the investigation.


    The Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t extraordinary in terms of sharpness, so losing out on this round didn''t really affect the spectators'' belief in its victory. However, they were impressed at Lucas'' vestige and couldn''t wait to see if there were more surprises it could give.


    "Begin the next test."


    The hardness test was next. It wasn''t particularly difficult or complicated as it was a test to see how much a vestige could resist surface deformation like scratching, indentation or piercing.


    There was a machine that was roughly half a metre tall. It consisted of a special hydraulic component with three different types of attachment. One was an attachment with a sharp tip, another with a blunt tip, while the final one had three tips. All three tips were made a Deophene alloy for better effectiveness.


    For the hardness test, the three attachments would be used on each vestige while a sensor takes note of when the vestige approaches its limit. The sensor was to ensure that the limit would be discovered before any irreparable damage was done to the vestige, as that could potentially affect the other tests. S§×arch* The nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the halberd and the dagger were tested, the results were once again calculated. This time around, the halberd came out on top, unsurprisingly to the spectators.


    The values were of the same parameters as the sharpness test, and this was so for all the other tests; a decision made by the Hyumankin Galactic Vestige League (HGVL). The halberd had scored an impressive 191, which was typically a score for thick vestiges like a staff. The dagger however, only landed a 182 on the score board, which was still pretty high, but lacking compared to the halberd.


    Typically, winning the hardness test would mean the same for the strength test and vice versa, although this wasn''t always true. However, it did happen this time around.


    Once again, the halberd snatched another win, scoring 192 in the strength test while the dagger scored 185.


    At this point, even though the crowd believed that Lucas would lose, they were still impressed by the quality of the dagger. It was a vestige that could be sold as a premium model, yet it was unknown. This made them interested in the vestige-smith as some believed that if the latter gave their all, they could probably make something on par with the Hozier-class Halberd or close.


    Some had already decided that once the vestige duel was over, they would meet with Lucas and try to speak to the vestige-smith to close a deal.


    Even the freelancer was a bit tempted, but knowing that he had offended Lucas, he wasn''t confident he could make a deal with the latter.


    ''I''ll just meet with the vestige-smith instead. He should be easier to talk to than this crappy bastard.'' The freelancer thought.


    With three tests done, only the durability test was left for the physical aspect, after which the latter three tests would all focus on the stellar energy aspect of the vestige. Since both vestiges were of the same grade, the power test didn''t matter, so the results of the six other tests would define the winner.


    With the Hozier-class Halberd on a two test win streak and Lucas'' dagger having only won on the sharpness test, there were three more to go. Due to the fact that the Hozier-class Halberd was a premium model of a popular company and the blueprint was originally designed by a Tier 1 Grandmaster, many believed it would win the stellar energy categories.


    In other words, defeat was already certain for Lucas. All he could do now was lessen that by winning the durability test. That would at least prove that the dagger was a good premium model.


    The durability test was aimed at a vestige''s ability to withstand wear or tear and to last long under pressure.


    While the strength test focused on finding out the maximum force a vestige could handle before breaking or cracking, durability was a bit similar but with respect to time [1].


    It was conducted with the same equipment as the strength test but with different settings. The equipment specially ensured that there was no need for the vestiges to experience irreversible damage to figure out the values.


    Since it was time-based, the durability test was the easiest test to determine a winner as the audience could spot a winner without having to wait for the sensors to display the results.


    It usually took thirty seconds for the durability test of a Grade 2 vestige to be completed with this equipment. But even after that time had elapsed, both equipment were still being tested.


    "Past the thirty seconds mark is usually reserved for premium models, yet both are still going."


    "That''s to be expected for the Hozier-class Halberd, but this dagger is truly a premium model."


    "Indeed. All that remains for confirmation is its performance in the stellar energy category, but asides that, it''s doing just fine."


    While the crowd discussed, a chime was suddenly heard, signalling that one participant was down.


    Many weren''t surprised by this and glanced to the site expecting to see the dagger, but they were surprised when the vestige signalled out was the halberd.


    "How come?"

 Chapter 99 - 99: A Tie

    Sharpness Test: Lucas'' Dagger 192, Hozier-class Halberd 182


    Hardness Test: Lucas'' Dagger 182, Hozier-class Halberd 191


    Strength Test: Lucas'' Dagger 185, Hozier-class Halberd 192


    Durability Test (physical aspect) : Lucas'' Dagger 52 seconds, Hozier-class Halberd 45 seconds.


    "How come?"


    The durability test involved exposing the vestige to varying proportions of pressure and force over time, aiming to figure out the vestige''s longevity and resistance to wear, fatigue and environmental factors. Due to this, similar to the other tests, it had more than one phase.


    When done in a lab, it was more complicated, but for a vestige duel, the process had been simplified into three phases; the physical, chemical and environmental aspects.


    The scores displayed were for the physical aspect of the durability test, which many expected the Hozier-class Halberd to easily win. After all, it performed greatly in the hardness and strength tests, so by logic, it should be much more durable than the dagger. Yet, the results turned many speechless. The dagger has actually lasted longer.


    "This should be impossible, right? I mean, the halberd is stronger and harder which implies it''s of a better build and material. So logically, it should be more durable." Someone couldn''t help but utter.


    "What do you know? A vestige''s durability isn''t only dependent on the material used. Some vestige-smiths can make their vestiges longer-lasting even if they make it with plain plastic." Someone said.


    As it turned out, the performance of Lucas'' dagger in the vestige duel was so splendid that it had managed to garner some fans. Some of the vestige-smiths were at the lowest rank and compared to a huge company like the one behind the Hozier-class Halberd, they were nothing. It has always been a dream of theirs to top such an entity, but they lacked the talent to do so.


    With someone capable of pulling off such a miracle, while some might be envious, it was natural for a few others to support him.


    "Indeed. There''s a stellar matrix known as Hulmit''s Prism. It''s a somewhat complicated stellar matrix and quite difficult to inscribe. One would have to be at least a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith to be able to pull it off. However, it''s capable of increasing the durability of a vestige by making some ethereal changes to its internal physical structure.


    Because of this, the vestige''s hardness and even strength might not exhibit much improvements, but its durability would skyrocket." Another explained.


    Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith was the rank for vestige-smiths capable of making Grade 3 vestiges, and it was a very respected rank in Baylands city-state, second only to Tier 1 Master.


    The freelancer doubted the score and was about to protest, but he held back the urge. The overseer has already confirmed that the pieces of equipment weren''t tampered with. If he protested, not only was his doubting the overseer''s judgement, but the freelancer would inadvertently be questioning his victories.


    The freelancer''s anxiety couldn''t be helped, after all, he had wagered one hundred federal coins for this duel.


    ''It''s not over yet. There are still two more phases and even if I lose this, I still have two wins. My halberd should also be able to win the Steller energy categories, so the win is still in the bag.''


    The chemical aspects tested a vestige''s resistive ability towards toxic chemicals that could be found in certain desolate beasts and regions. Most of these toxins were harmful to the hyuman body, but they could also damage vestiges. As such, a vestige-smith had to consider making their vestige durable against such toxins, hence why this test came to be.


    The environmental phase test measured a vestige''s resistive ability to various environments, such as cold, hot, increased gravity and so on. This was because each planet had different environmental parameters and in some planets, the regions drastically differed. Take for instance Earth, where the north and south poles were exceedingly colder than the regions along the equator.


    Vestiges had to be made considering contrasting environments in mind.


    Nonetheless, this didn''t mean that the average vestige could be used in all environments, but that they were made to still maintain their form at least for a while and a few short battles; the longer the period was, the better. However, there were still unique vestiges for special regions which differed from the typical vestige.


    Despite his hopes, the freelancer actually went on to lose the chemical and environmental aspects. When all three results were collated and formulated into the final durability test rating, Lucas'' dagger won by a large margin.


    Durability Test : Lucas'' Dagger 196, Hozier-class Halberd 184.


    "Incredible. This is a score equivalent to some of the top premium model vestiges."


    "Indeed. Beyond the 189 mark is left for top class premium models at Grade 2, but above 195 is for the best of the best. This dagger could already compare to them in terms of durability."


    "Hey, forget about that. Haven''t you guys noticed it yet?" Someone said.


    "Noticed what?"


    "They''re tied."


    "!!!"


    The statement finally brought the crowd''s attention back to reality -the vestige duel. Both sides had two wins each from the four physical tests and were now tied. Even though the majority of the crowd didn''t believe Lucas would win, drawing with a premium model vestige while using an unknown vestige model was downright unbelievable and breathtaking.


    It was enough to appear on the front page of vestige magazines and freelancer gossip sites.


    In fact, some had even begun hoping, praying even, for a miracle to happen.


    "It would be remarkable if that dagger can somehow come out on top." S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Heh. Why do you think that?" A supporter of the Hozier-class Halberd scoffed.


    "Isn''t it obvious?" Someone else replied. "The dagger was able to win the durability test by relying not only on its materials but the matrices inscribed on it. This means that in terms of stellar matrix designs, the vestige-smith is better."


    The doubter was stumped and didn''t have a reply.


    "Delusional." A vestige-smith who wore glasses sneered.


    "What did you say?" The man who had replied before snarled.


    "I said you''re being delusional. So what if he won based on a matrix? It could just mean that he was more knowledgeable about unique stellr matrices. Also, the Hozier-class Halberd is a finished design; adding an extra stellar matrix would be difficult, which would explain why it lacks something like the Hulmit''s Prism stellar matrix.


    The material used is also firm and of good quality, so there''s no need to abandon an existing attack matrix for a durability-boosting. We can see that from its score. The dagger just won simply based on luck, so saying that the result already implies that the vestige-smith of the dagger is better than the veterans of the Ninth Arc Company is absurd and risible."


    The nearby vestige-smiths, freelancers and other attendees froze. They thought deeply on the words and realised that he was right. Even the new supporters Lucas had just gained were slowly losing their newfound fervour.


    Even after tying after four tests, the odds still weren''t in his favour.


    "Now that we''re more than halfway through, why don''t we take a short break?" The overseer suggested.


    "No need. Let''s round this up quick." The freelancer said.


    He was scared that Lucas would try to pull something sneaky during this break, so he wanted to finish things right away.

 Chapter 100 - 100: Peak Premium Model Rating

    With the freelancer asking for the vestige duel to continue without a break, the overseer looked towards Lucas for his opinion. After all, both were the two sides of the duel and their input was needed before any decision was taken. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sure." Lucas expressed his thoughts.


    "Okay. For the next test, it would be the stellar energy purity test."


    The robo-testers took the vestiges from the durability testing equipment for the environmental phase, and stood before the crowd. On one hand was the vestige and on the other metallic mechanical arm was a small piece of equipment. It was a stellar energy meter, which was used for measuring stellar energy and determining its purity.


    It was a pretty common piece of equipment not just for vestige-smiths, but also freelancers and a couple other professions.


    The stellar energy meter used for the vestige duel was one specifically for vestiges.


    For the stellar energy purity test, the vestiges would be tested by the meter which would then take the readings. Compared to all the other tests, this was one of the simplest and least complicated, as just about anyone could carry it out.


    *Beep*


    *Beep*


    *Beep*


    The meters began to make beeping sounds once their probes were placed on the vestiges. After a short while, the beeping stopped and some values appeared on the meters. However, the crowd couldn''t see this just yet.


    "Announce the results." The overseer said to the robo-testers.


    "Hozier-class Halberd. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Median Orange."


    Unlike the physical test that utilised a uniform system in their calculated values, the stellar energy purity test used a different value system.


    The Greek alphabet was used to identify which stage of stellar refinement the quantity of stellar energy within the vestige was qualified as. The grading was for the grade of the vestige. As for the class reading, it was the purity of the vestige''s stellar energy and was identified via a six-colour scale, from the least pure to the purest: Red, Orange, Yellow, Ice-Blue, Grey, and White.


    Each colour was further separated into three sub-groups: light, median and deep.


    An Alpha reading implied that the tested vestige was at the Apertures Opening stage. As for the stellar energy purity, it ranked orange which was pretty high. In Baylands city-state, the highest reading ever recorded was median Ice-Blue, and this was for a Grade 1 vestige. Going higher, it became more difficult to achieve better purity levels, even for a Tier 1 Grandmaster.


    Orange was pretty much the standard for premium models irrespective of the grade of the vestige, although the entry point was light orange. Very few premium models could achieve deep orange.


    The freelancer smirked at the result. A median orange class was pretty good as the average Hozier-class Halberd was at the light orange class. It was probably due to the fact his vestige was a customised model that it had managed to be better than the standard models.


    ''Let me see you beat this.'' The freelancer waited to Lucas'' robo-tester to announce its result.


    "Unknown dagger. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Deep Orange."


    Another win.


    "Impossible!" The freelancer yelled.


    Despite interrupting the contest, no one actually stopped him. In fact, the crowd was stunned speechless that they couldn''t even help but doubt their ears.


    "What did you say? Repeat it." The overseer glanced at the robo-tester.


    "Unknown dagger. Alpha reading, Grade 2. Final class reading, Deep Orange." The robo-tester repeated the exact words with the same tone.


    The overseer inhaled a large amount of air at the response. Still doubting, he asked the robo-tester to conduct the test again, but this time it swapped the stellar energy meters with the other robo-tester. As for the other robo-tester, it re-conducted the test on the Hozier-class Halberd as well.


    Once done, the two robo-testers announced the results and it was still the same.


    "Pe-peak premium model rating." Someone in the crowd stuttered after regaining himself.


    With the robo-testers having re-conducted the tests after exchanging meters, no one could doubt the results any longer. Lucas had one, and he had done so in a terrific manner.


    While the crowd was still shocked by this, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh. Unlike the other vestige-smiths, he never had a habit of testing his vestiges after they were created. By mere glancing at it, he could instinctively estimate its quality. This was a skill Lucas had learned from his extraordinarily long time as a magic weapon forger, and his powerful soul improved this ability.


    However, Lucas'' estimates were usually done with the standards of his past life in mind, and not that of the vestige-smith community. With this being the first time a vestige of his was tested by this world''s methods, Lucas couldn''t help but release a sigh.


    ''If it''s deep orange class then it means the others were at light yellow or even median. I guess this is how far I can go without stellar energy.''


    The dagger was the weakest item. It was so weak that even Wally''s spear was of a better quality. However, this allowed Lucas to be able to estimate the quality of his other works. The result was disappointing for him and it made Lucas want to learn stellar energy refinement desperately.


    ''I guess I finally know why the system charges so high now. Orange class is the standard for a premium model, but my creations are already an entire class above that. Charging two hundred percent more doesn''t sound so absurd now. In fact, I think it''s even cheap.''


    Lucas suddenly had this feeling that maybe Harry was aware of the truth, which was why the latter would always try to get Lucas to owe him a favour and cash that in for a vestige.


    ''I''m not letting him go easy the next time I see him.'' Lucas thought.


    While he was absorbed in his thoughts, Lucas failed to notice that many in the crowd were staring at him. When they heard his sigh and saw the look of disappointment on his face, they couldn''t help but twitch their lips. Some of them had almost ran towards Lucas to strangle him.


    Who the hell would sigh and display a disappointed face after taking our a vestige that has achieved a deep orange class?


    What kind of two-faced shameless actor was that?


    This was deep orange class!


    Only those top companies, like the ones in the Silver Fig Consortium could actually make one of these. Even though the vestige was Grade 2, which dropped the difficulty for achieving purity, deep orange still wasn''t something just any riffraff or average vestige-smith could pull off.


    "Hmm? What are you still waiting for? Let''s wrap this up." Lucas glanced at the overseer.


    The latter almost spewed out blood and cursed, but as Lucas was a competitor and he simply acted the role of an overseer, the middle-aged man held back his temper.


    "Fine."

 Chapter 101 - 101: Final Test

    Looking at the overseer that had almost lunged at him, Lucas was confused for a second, but quickly understood. Nonetheless, he didn''t care.


    To the people around him, a deep orange might be impressive, but it was lackluster to Lucas. Having been aware that there was a much wider world out there, Lucas couldn''t keep his sights on Eretre alone; and this was not even considering the fact that he had transmigrated from another world.


    Deep orange class might seem impressive to the crowd, but Lucas believed that it was nothing in some planets out there.


    Eretre was one of five inhabited planets in the Kellan solar system. The Kellan solar system was one of four populated solar systems in the Blue Mist star region. As for the Blue Mist star region, it was one of five star regions in the hyumankin''s Niera galaxy. The number of planets alone in this galaxy was staggering, even after the abandoned and uninhabitable ones were taken out of consideration.


    The Blue Mist star region was an average star region. It couldn''t compare to the Eastern star region that was the centre of production, or the galaxy''s centre of wealth and power, the Arcadia star region. It also couldn''t compare to the Calux star region that was inhabited by many alien species, making it a melting point of technology and culture.


    What''s worse, the Kellan solar system was a miniscule solar system in the Blue Mist star region, that didn''t get as much attention as the other three solar systems in the star region.


    From this, one could see that Eretre was a kind of backwater planet in a backwater solar system. The citizens were aware of this, but they didn''t think too much about it. Just exploring the entire planet alone was a herculean task for many, much less the entire solar system. As for the star region? That was left for the powerful or excessively rich folks. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But what Lucas took from this was that he shouldn''t base his standards with this planet''s. He should always aim at least three floors higher.


    The system wanted him to be a Crafts-God and to be honest, Lucas wanted that too. Who wouldn''t want to be the God of a hobby or activity they loved? As such, Lucas always had to walk more than three steps of the crowd. If others worked hard, he had to work at least thrice as hard. Even one hundred times as hard shouldn''t be out of the equation.


    There was no such thing as too much hard work on the path to becoming a God. As a former grandmaster for sixty (60) years, and the youngest at four hundred and forty three (443) years old, Lucas knew the importance of hard work and dedication. From the tender age of 14 until 443, all those years were spent building the foundation of one who was to become the youngest ever grandmaster blacksmith.


    But to build a god, the difficulty level would be incomparable, even with the system assisting him. The mentality was still very much needed.


    "Next test and the final test. The stellar matrix efficiency test."


    The stellar matrix test was quite similar to the stellar energy purity test, but the main difference was that it wasn''t the vestige''s dormant stellar energy being tested but the runes and matrices inscribed in it. This was done by having stellar energy power them to check their functionality, while a scan would also be carried out to check the skill level of the inscription.


    For accurate measurements, a stellar energy meter was also used, but the settings would be rewired, not to measure purity but efficiency.


    Fixed to the meters were a pair of extended probes with one side connecting to the vestige and the other side free.


    "Can we get two participants to assist us?" The overseer looked towards the crowd.


    After a short while, two people stepped out with one grabbing the halberd while the other took hold of the dagger. The robo-testers then attached the free probe of each meter to the practitioner holding the vestige.


    As soon as the practitioners released stellar energy through their hands and into the vestiges, the meter would quantify the amount of stellar energy released. Once the stellar energy flowed from one end of the vestige to the other, through the runes and stellar matrices, the other probe would similarly quantify the amount of stellar energy flowing through the inscriptions.


    Both values would be gathered and their differences taken by the sensor''s processors.


    If there exists a loss in stellar energy, the processors would be able to determine the size of the loss. The amount of losses experienced would equate to the quality of the stellar matrices.


    Losses during transmission were a natural and almost unavoidable incident for vestige-smiths. It was the same even for modern technology. The more complex the matrices were, the harder it was to prevent stellar energy losses. It was only in an ideal situation that there would be no losses.


    However, an ideal situation was only a theoretical situation and couldn''t exists in reality due to various reasons and conditions.


    When the signal was given to the two participants, they released their stellar energy into the vestiges. The two were at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage. This made them suitable to test out the Grade 2 vestiges as their stellar energy was neither too strong nor too weak.


    After about thirty seconds pumping in their stellar energy into the vestiges, the two stopped and retrieved the energy. Only a negligible amount was expended since they didn''t battle with it.


    As the crowd waited in abated breaths, with even the freelancing tightening his fists, the robo-testers called out the readings.


    Just as with the stellar energy purity test, the values for this test didn''t follow the standard for the physical category.


    It simply made use of a 0-10 range, with 0 meaning no loss and a count of ten signifying 100% loss. However, this didn''t mean that every one digit was a ten percent loss.


    For a premium model, the typical value was around 4 points. The halberd was expected to get just around that, or maybe even 3.


    This time around, Lucas'' scores were called out first.


    "Unknown dagger, rating of 3."


    "It''s over." Someone quietly whispered.


    Even though the Hozier-class Halberd''s rating hadn''t been called out yet, many doubted it could beat Lucas'' dagger. A rating of 3 just about meant that the energy loss was at the level of a premium model vestige.


    Even if by some stroke of luck, the Hozier-class Halberd was at the same rating, it would be a tie, but Lucas would win the duel as he was currently leading. As for winning? Only a peak premium model vestige could top this level and the Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t one.

 Chapter 102 - 102: A Lie

    "It''s over." Someone quietly whispered.


    Even though the Hozier-class Halberd''s rating hadn''t been called out yet, many doubted it could beat Lucas'' dagger. A rating of 3 just about meant that the energy loss was at the level of a premium model vestige.


    Even if by some stroke of luck, the Hozier-class Halberd was at the same rating, it would be a tie, but Lucas would win the duel as he was currently leading. As for winning? Only a peak premium model vestige could top this level and the Hozier-class Halberd wasn''t one.


    As expected, when the robo-tester called out the rating for the Hozier-class Halberd, it was a rating of 4, which meant that Lucas had won the vestige duel.


    "Incredible."


    Many stared at the dagger, not Lucas, in surprise. To the crowd, Lucas was just someone running the stall on behalf of the actual vestige-smith,so they didn''t pay much attention to him. Rather, it was the vestige as well as the mysterious identity of the vestige-smith behind it, that got them talking.


    "Since we''re done, pay up." Lucas beckoned the freelancer.


    "You, you cheated. Otherwise how?" The freelancer pointed at him and spat.


    "This again?" Lucas frowned.


    "That''s enough." The overseer appeared angered as he glanced at the freelancer.


    "Are you doubting my judgement once again?"


    The freelancer hesitated a second, but bit the bullet.


    "It can''t be helped. Otherwise, how do you explain some unknown brat pulling out a dagger that could beat a Hozier-class Halberd?"


    "The new replaces the old. It''s not impossible for an upstart to be able to surpass an existing company." The overseer argued.


    "Ha. That only works after a bit of experience. As for the vestige-smith of this dagger, we know nothing about them. Heck, we''ve never heard of them before." The freelancer mocked as he pointed to Lucas.


    "What''s more, this fellow claims to actually be a vestige-smith? A human? As a vestige-smith? Don''t make me laugh. He''s clearly hiding the real identity of the vestige-smith for a reason."


    The freelancer made a good point which caught the attention of the crowd. Although stalls could have anyone operate them and even participate in a vestige duel on the behalf of the vestige-smith -like with the manager of the Gold Rain Factory had done the previous day- this was only for the owner of the stall. If it were otherwise, one would have to declare the vestige-smith they were representing.


    The freelancer''s argument was that Lucas didn''t use a vestige forged by the vestige-smith who owned the stall, but had used a different vestige from a higher ranked vestige-smith, and failed to declare such. While there was no evidence for this, suspicion didn''t necessarily need one as long as the statement was convincing.


    Lucas, at this point, was tired of the farce and accusation. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You can say whatever you want, but you still owe me and you can''t default on that. Considering that the overseer had already done a preliminary investigation and found nothing, by tradition, I''m innocent and your accusation is a sham. Since you''ve lost, you have to fulfill your side of the bet.


    As for any other concerns, those should be touched upon after further investigations, if you wish to do so. The convention will be ongoing for at least two more days, which should be enough time for your investigation."


    In a vestige duel, the overseer played the role of a referee and monitored the process. Since the overseer had previously admitted that Lucas was not cheating, by right, Lucas was innocent of all accusations. Even if the freelancer had his suspicions, he still had to go by the rules of a vestige duel.


    The freelancer could continue his investigation after the duel, and if he turned out to be right, the duel''s result would be cancelled. A new one might also be done, or the win awarded to him, depending on what the freelancer wanted.


    However, at the moment, the freelancer had to follow the rules, and by the rules, it was technically his loss.


    "He''s right about that." The overseer suddenly chipped in.


    Originally, he intended to stay out of this, but the freelancer had been calling his judgement to question which had irritated him. Also, what Lucas said made sense. It followed the standard, and it also gave leeway for doubt.


    The five-day Silver Fig Trade Convention would still be going on for two more days as this was only the third day. Two days was enough time for the freelancer to request some experts from the organizers to check the equipment for any modifications.


    "Indeed. He''s right."


    "True. This is a vestige duel so we have to stick to the rules of a vestige duel."


    Lucas'' supporters, or rather, the supporters of the dagger, all sided with Lucas'' statement. Not only did they do so because it was correct, but because the freelancer had actually offended them by questioning their tradition.


    Vestige duels were almost ritualistic to vestige-smiths, and they abhorred the practice of cheating. But at the same time, they hated when someone questioned a duel without solid evidence and only mere prejudice.


    "Hmph. Fine. But I''ll see how long you can laugh."


    The freelancer snorted and sent Lucas the money.


    With one hundred federal coins in his wallet, Lucas could finally let out the stifled breath he had been holding in. He could finally eat good food and not be frugal with his money.


    As soon as the duel was settled, a few freelancers and agents from vestige businesses came over to Lucas. Without a doubt, they all wanted to know more about the vestige, its creator, and its availability status.


    If Lucas handled the matter well, he could easily complete the one hundred customers mission from the system.


    "Good day. Can we talk to the vestige-smith please? Or at least have his contact info?" One of the men said.


    Lucas didn''t answer right away. From past experiences, it was clear that no one would believe he was the vestige-smith. Even Harry, his number one customer and closest acquaintance, still believed that there was a reclusive vestige-smith behind the store despite Lucas having stated otherwise.


    If Lucas were to be honest to these men, many would doubt him and presume he intends to swindle them. Some might also look down on him for that. Although Lucas could prove the truth by displaying his skill before them, that would be very disadvantageous to him.


    If he did so, Lucas might end up being tagged as a ''spy'' from Digress city-state, as his techniques -which allowed humans to create vestiges- was something that should probably only be possible in Digress city-state.


    There was also the glaring issue of Lucas'' weakness. Who could tell when one of these men would attempt to kidnap him in order to steal his techniques for themselves or have him slave all day and night for them?


    All these added to his worries and made Lucas reach a simple conclusion; to create a fake individual.


    "I''m sorry, but my master strictly mentioned that I do not provide any of his personal details."

 Chapter 103 - 103: Day 4

    "I''m sorry, but my master strictly mentioned that I do not provide any of his personal details. But I can facilitate any deal on his behalf, so no need to hesitate." Lucas answered the group.


    Creating a false persona to wield the identity of the vestige-smith was a much safer option than being honest. It would also shift some attention away from Lucas as people would take him to be an errand boy. But with Lucas being the only point of contact to the vestige-smith, this would ensure that he wasn''t mistreated by anyone.


    "No problem. Why don''t we continue this conversation inside?" The man suggested.


    The reason he said this was to see the other vestiges made by the vestige-smith and decide whether he would only purchase the dagger or not.


    "Sure." Lucas nodded and turned around.


    . . .


    [[ Mission Description: Receive one hundred customers before the month is over.


    Status: Completed.


    Accept rewards: Y/N


    ]]


    "Finally." Lucas smiled as he glanced at the notifications.


    The awareness brought about by the previous vestige duel was very beneficial towards completing the mission. Previously, Lucas had already achieved forty three visits out of the required one hundred, but he didn''t have much hope of completing the requirement if he kept at it with his previous pace. And so, Lucas had decided to attend the Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    The exposure from the Greendale Highschool incident added together with that from the vestige duel made it easier for Lucas to close a few deals. Some of them were maintenance-related as the agents who came over wanted to know more about the vestige-smith''s capabilities.


    The name, Seven Sparks Forge, was now beginning to stand out in the vestige community.


    "Accept."


    Lucas gave the command and a new Bronze grade card appeared in his inventory. Ever since he had spent the previous one, Lucas had been a bit desperate to get a new one as it made him feel safer. With that now successful, he could let out a sigh of relief.


    . . .


    A new day began with the rising of the Kellan solar system''s orange sun, Lomarus. The fourth day of the five-days Silver Fig Trade Convention officially began. Different from the other days, there were more people in attendance today. The reason was for none other than the fact that today would be the first day top vestige-smiths and vestige-smith companies would finally display their masterpieces.


    The incident with the Gold Rain Factory was uncommon. On one hand, usually, no one would challenge such a company so early. On another hand, the Gold Rain Factory couldn''t truly be deemed as a top vestige-smith company just yet. The top companies included those who were members of the Silver Fig Consortium, and some others in the industry.


    They usually waited until the fourth or fifth day before they unveiled their masterpieces.


    With today being the fourth day, it was the first day of masterpiece revelations, and many agents of vestige companies, reporters, and freelancers from top guilds in West Wing district would be in attendance.


    "Are we going to check out the usual stalls this time or work around a bit?" Ju¨¢n said as the team walked into the public square.


    "It''s been a while since we''ve explored so no need to stick to routines. You can go around and see if you can find something useful for us. I have a feeling that this year''s event wouldn''t be the same as usual." Crimson Fang glanced around the public square.


    The group of seven who just walked into the Silver Fig Trade Convention were the main force for the famous freelancer guild based in West Wing district, the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    Autumn''s Gate guild was a pretty popular guild in the West Wing district and the Wastelands base station. This was due to the fact that the guild leader and founder was at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage, while the two vice guild leaders were at the fifth level. The other four were pretty strong as well, being between the third and fourth levels.


    Even the weakest was armed with enough power vestiges to enable them to take on an average fourth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast at least for a while.


    While their strength and status were impressive, what mattered to vestige-smiths was transaction size. The Autumn''s Gate guild didn''t only consist of the seven, as there were a few dozen more members. For such a big and famous guild, they were an important customer to any vestige-smith or vestige-smith company.


    "Why do you say so?" A purple haired young man who stood slightly behind Crimson Fang asked.


    The young man had purple eyes as well, which were alluring, and with his hair that would easily stand out on Earth, he had an attractive face and could be termed as both a beauty and a handsome talent. There was no doubt that if he was born on Earth, he would be a feast for the eyes especially for the ladies, married or not; a natural homewrecker.


    The young man, apart from being the second vice captain for the Autumn''s Gate guild, was also the scion of a rich family. His father operated a vestige business[1] that had chains in the other minor districts of Baylands city-state. Those areas lacked a vestige-smith as they were concentrated in the city, so they mostly relied on vestige businesses to supply them.


    Young, handsome, strong, and rich, this was the perfect recipe for a lady-killer.


    Crimson Fang smiled at him and replied, "You guys didn''t do your research? There''s been a small upheaval recently. It started around two days back. It''s giving me a feeling that we might soon see more surprises this year."


    The group was surprised by this and a bit of anticipation welled up in some of them. They couldn''t wait to explore, and who knows, if their luck was great, they might spot an unknown vestige-smith with a masterpiece collection in their hands. Bidding for a masterpiece was difficult and costly, but with unknown vestige-smiths, they would have no competition.


    Only the purple haired young man and Lisa were calm. For the young man, he was from a wealthy background and has seen a few masterpiece vestiges growing up. There was even one in his father''s collection, so these vestiges didn''t really draw much interest from him.


    "We''ll move in groups. Ju¨¢n and Anna will form one group. Lisa and Scout, Nathan and Leno would form another group. I''ll move alone." Crimson Fang said.


    "If you find anything impressive, do make sure to note it down and let us all know."


    Nathan von Klaus, the purple haired young man, had a slight frown on his face because of the pairing. He glanced at Lisa, who was to move with Scout, and then towards Crimson Fang, but he didn''t say a word.


    Right away, the team split and departed in different directions.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only freelancer guild present today, neither were they the only reputable faction in attendance. Lots of guilds, associations, agents of vestige businesses, and reporters of vestige and freelancer magazines showed up. But at the same time, some parastatals were in attendance. For instance, the Red Fangs.


    "Ugh, another Silver Fig event. Yeah..." The brown-haired Barry sarcastically celebrated.


    "Behave. We are here to get a new deal for a batch of vestiges, so don''t be dramatic." Lieutenant Lily Mayer chastised.


    "Yes, ma''am." Barry saluted, but then he smiled slyly. "But wait, if I recall correctly, doesn''t that human fellow run a vestige-smith store?"


    "Oh, really? A human? Well, what about it? I don''t think he can make it to such an event, or am I wrong?" A Red Fang member who accompanied them asked.


    Nafir was busy with work, so someone else tagged along. However, this new face wasn''t as familiar with Lucas as Nafir.


    "Oh, you might be. Who knows? But from a certain investigative report, I found out that his store has been closed for the last three days. This is something only common for small-time vestige-smiths who are participating in the convention." Barry smiled.


    "Oh? That''s impressive then. But what does it have to do with us? Don''t tell me you want us to source our vestiges from a human?" The man laughed.


    "I wouldn''t say that close to, ehem, if I were you." Barry whispered as he glanced briefly at Lily.


    Lily ignored his statement and kept leading the way.


    Seeing he got no reaction, Barry smiled and felt emboldened. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "My point was, while we are here to find a new batch supplier, we could go see how he''s doing. It shouldn''t be so much of a hassle right?"


    The Red Fang member was confused as to why Barry spoke so much about this human. But at the same time, this confusion brought about interest in this mysterious figure.


    "Lieutenant Mayer, what do you say?" The man asked.


    He was of a similar rank as Lily, so he still had to ask for her input.


    "That''s fine." Lily said after a bit of thought.

 Chapter 104 - 104: A Frog In The Well

    "Duel over. The win goes to Seven Sparks Forge." The overseer announced.


    "Wow. That''s the seventh straight win now, right?"


    "Damn. He''s been steam rolling everyone that came by."


    "Incredible."


    After beating the freelancer in a vestige duel, Lucas didn''t have the time to take things easy. He was swarmed by a group of agents and reporters, who were covering the convention. The discussions mostly centered on the dagger, whether there were other vestiges like it, and the identity of the vestige-smith.


    Lucas answered the first two truthfully, while sticking to his cover-up lie for the last question.


    However, even when he was done with all the queries, Lucas still had a lot more to do. There was still the other mission from the system, with even better rewards. Lucas didn''t plan on letting that mission go, as the rewards were too attractive for him, and it would also help boost his renown.


    Luckily, Lucas didn''t have to do much. Less than two hours later, a vestige-smith had appeared to challenge him to a duel.


    The news about what had taken place had already made some rounds, and alerted a few vestige-smiths. After all, the dagger had managed to beat a Hozier-class Halberd in a vestige duel. This meant that the vestige-smith''s skill was worth taking note of, and beating such a person would aid their fame.


    Those confident in the task had appeared to challenge Lucas to a vestige duel. They were smart enough to use a Grade 3 vestige, as the stats of the Grade 2 dagger was something none of them could beat. However in the end, they failed; all of them.


    Seven vestige-smiths and businesses, seven duels, seven wins for Lucas.


    "Is there anyone who can even stop him?"


    "In this region? I don''t think so. The difficulty level of his opponents need to be increased for us to find the boundary."


    While the spectators and ''analysts'' discussed about the duels, Lucas was quietly seated beside his stall as before.


    The seven vestige duels were quite profitable, not just in terms of the exposure they gave him, or the fact they helped fulfill his mission quota; they were actually profitable in monetary terms.


    Following the vestige duel with the freelancer, Lucas decided to add a bet to all other duels. The vestige-smiths, who were desperate to beat him, didn''t mind as they were confident in their works. But with their loss came expressions of shock while Lucas smiled counting his earnings.


    From all eight vestige duels, Lucas had made more than three hundred federal coins.


    ''Seven duels are done but I have to complete twenty. However, the second Bronze grade card''s power level depends on the strongest vestige-smith I''ll face.'' Lucas thought. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By vestige-smith, the system referred to the creator of the vestige and not the person standing in for the duel. So, if Lucas were to beat a stall''s Grade 4 vestige as his highest rank duel, once he completed the mission, the second Bronze grade card would copy the power level of the vestige''s creator.


    The creator of a Grade 4 vestige was usually at least at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    A Bronze grade card at the seventh level was enough for Lucas to easily take on any opponent in the West Wing district. Even the entire Autumn''s Gate guild would lose to him in combat. Sadly, the requirements for Lucas to make a Grade 4 vestige capable of challenging a Grade 4 masterpiece were arduous. He would also have to depend on one of the more heinous forbidden techniques to pull it off.


    However, that didn''t men''s that he couldn''t aim for those just a bit lower.


    "Today''s the fourth day of the convention. Aren''t you going to reveal your masterpiece?" Someone suddenly asked Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at the speaker and saw it was a previously unfamiliar but now familiar face. The speaker had been present for a few of his duels and also participated in the negotiations the previous day, making Lucas recall her identity. The speaker was a woman, and from her introduction the previous day, she was an agent of a vestige business called Novanio Tech.


    Novanio Tech was a vestige business that dealt in the wholesale and retail sale of types of vestiges, specifically stellar processors. They were quite big for a company, but the vestige industry was a difficult one and Novanio Tech had many competitors due to that.


    Recently, they''ve been trying to expand into the weapons market, but as all the top vestige-smiths were either working for a vestige-smithing business or started their own, Novanio Tech was facing difficulties entering the market.


    The famed tech company decided to search low for vestige-smiths with potential and have them sign a supply contract with them. However, their standards were quite high, so they had yet to find a good partner. Even Lucas was still on their consideration list.


    Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t care about that.


    "My masterpiece? I don''t think there''s anyone here worth making me show it." Lucas stated as a matter-of-fact.


    The crowd went wild at his statement and soon enough, those words were spread around the region.


    The public square was large and was segmented into three regions for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The region Lucas stayed in was for the lower ranked vestige-smiths and companies -those at the bottom and near it. In this region, Lucas was already quite popular and many people were watching his every move, waiting to see his masterpiece.


    So, within the first thirty minutes after the statement was made, over seventy percent of the stalls in the region have already gotten the info.


    "That bastard. Who does he think he is because of a few wins?"


    "A mere errand boy actually has such guts?! And a human being at that? We need to put him down to his place!"


    "Just one good win, and a mere seven lucky ones and he thinks he''s something?"


    "...I don''t agree with you there. Seven wins can''t really be lucky, right?"


    "Yeah, true. Ahem, I meant, seven wins against weak opponents, how''s that?"


    "Much better for our propaganda."


    The various vestige-smiths and stall managers reacted differently, but one thing they all had in common was that they believed Lucas was tooting his horn.


    Just then, a fresh announcement appeared on the forums.


    A masterpiece from one of the top 10 companies had just been unveiled.


    This immediately attracted attention as everyone wanted to know more about it. However, this was just the start. By the time it was 12pm, four hours after the start of the day''s event, eight more companies had unveiled their masterpiece and six vestige-smiths who were popular in the community joined in as well.


    West Wing district was home to a lot of freelancers, so it was filled with many vestige-smiths; after all, vestige-smithing was an occupation just like any other, only much more difficult to succeed in and requiring more talent. As a result of this, there were quite a few companies and businesses founded by vestige-smiths, but only less than twenty stood out in the West Wing district.


    In a virtual press conference by one of the top twenty companies, the reporters caused a commotion, trying to have their questions answered.


    "Sir, you just released your masterpiece vestige today, rather than tomorrow. Are you that confident in your work?" One of the reporters asked.


    "Of course. As a vestige-smith, it''s only natural to have faith in our products. This time around, although our masterpiece is only at Grade 3, it''s still capable of competing with some Grade 4 vestiges out there, in the right hands." A middle-aged man with silver hair and black eyes responded.


    He was a vestige-smith and the creator of the masterpiece. Usually vestige-smiths wouldn''t attend the convention until the fourth or fifth when the masterpiece would be unveiled, and the man had appeared just for that.


    Another reporter asked, "Excuse me, sir. I don''t know whether you''re aware, but there''s a stall from the lower grounds making rounds recently. The stall has consecutively won eight vestige duels and one of them was against a Hozier-class Halberd, albeit a Grade 2 one, while the other duels were with Grade 3 vestiges.


    Recently, the manager of the stall announced that no one is worthy of seeing their masterpiece. What do you think about that? Or to be specific, do you think your vestige is up to the task?"


    It was clear what the reporter''s intentions were, but he wasn''t reproached by anyone. Gossip sold better than documentaries, and what these reporters wanted was a tale to sell. Intentionally brewing rivalry was also a common tactic they used to create a story.


    The silver haired man was aware of this, but he simply smiled in response.


    "A stall from the lower grounds actually thinks no one is worthy? Well, I don''t have much to say about that. It''s like our ancestors used to say; a frog in the well knows nothing. As for challenging the stall to a vestige duel? That would be equivalent to insulting our masterpiece. But I don''t mind playing around with him with some random vestige.


    I think that alone should be enough."

 Chapter 105 - 105: Tomans Workshop

    3pm.


    "That''s another victory. He extends his streak to ten with this." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Whoever made these vestiges is talented. If they aren''t a popular vestige-smith yet, then in a few years, they would be."


    The crowd conversed as Lucas seized his tenth win. That''s right, excluding the vestige duel against the freelancer, Lucas currently sat on ten wins now. What''s more, they were consecutively without suffering any loss.


    ''Ten more to go.'' Lucas thought.


    As he was soon to round up the mission, Lucas decided to turn his eyes elsewhere. At this rate, he needed to challenge someone more difficult, so that his reward would be even better.


    At this moment, the agent from Novanio Tech walked over.


    "Aren''t you tired of beating these people over and over? It''s quite clear that you will find no competition amongst them."


    Lucas glanced at her, understanding what her intentions were.


    Among the group of agents that came over the previous day, not all of them made a deal with Lucas, and even those who did, didn''t ask for much. Although the volume helped Lucas complete the mission, it equally displayed the degree of trust the agents had in him. They has yet to see anything extraordinary, as the dagger was simply just a Grade 2 vestige.


    There were a few other vestige-smiths who could make something on par or even better.


    For these agents who wanted to build a relationship with such type of vestige-smiths, they didn''t invest much effort in talking to Lucas. However, there were a few of them who believed that the vestige-smith backing Lucas was worth the wait.


    Today was the day most vestige-smiths and companies reveal their masterpiece, and they were expecting to see Lucas'', but he didn''t show any. Now some of them, like the lady, were getting a bit impatient.


    "What I do is my own business. I think that should be obvious, right?" Lucas asked.


    "True, but I''m guessing your master had you attend this event to help advertise his crafts. You would get a better effect facing off against more reputable vestige-smiths rather than what you''re doing."


    Lucas couldn''t help but mentally agree that she was right, but he didn''t say anything as she continued speaking.


    "As it just so happens, a certain top twenty company had a few words to say about you."


    Lucas was surprised by this as he asked, "About me? That''s quite interesting."


    "Well, it wasn''t really complimentary so I don''t think so. They also offered an open invitation to a duel. What''s your opinion about that?"


    "What''s my opinion? Of course I have to take a look." Lucas smiled.


    The news came just in time as he wanted to change his opponents. Without further delay, Lucas closed the stall and went towards the location of the mid tier region.


    The mid tier region was an area in the public square designated for slightly renowned and somewhat popular industries for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The Gold Rain Factory belonged in this category, albeit at the top ranks. Even if this area was left for mid rank companies, there would naturally still be a difference between them.


    "Hmm, aren''t you going there?" Lucy, the agent from Novanio Tech asked.


    As she was still one of the few agents seriously interested in Lucas, she had been monitoring him from the start of the day.


    "Do you think they''d be bothered with me, if I did? They can simply ignore my challenge and no one would think anything about it. For the moment, I need to build momentum." Lucas smiled as he walked towards the first stall.


    A graphic signboard was hung in front, written on it ''Toman''s Workshop''. Toman was a somewhat popular vestige-smith who operated a store on his own. Despite being a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, he refused to work for any company and decided to open a workshop and operate independently. He was skilled enough to make his name known and gain a few contracts from vestige dealers.


    Lucas appeared in front of the stall with a shield in hand. He laid the shield in front of the store and announced.


    "I''m challenging you to a vestige duel."


    "Who are you?" A man in the stall asked. He was Toman''s eldest son and manager of the stall in his father''s absence.


    "Who I am has no meaning, only my intentions." Lucas stated with a nonchalant expression.


    "Heh. I don''t know what makes you think that some rag-tag individual can challenge us, but leave. We''re busy." The man pursued Lucas.


    "Acting like a big business when you''ve been constantly rejected for three years now. Where''s all this attitude coming from?" Lucas commented.


    Toman''s workshop had previously participated in the Silver Fig Trade Convention and this was their fifth attendance. However, for the past three years, they had failed to make a masterpiece worth being invited to the auction on the sixth day. This had been a thorn in their hearts as being invited for the auctions would raise their prestige.


    But having failed to achieve this for three years in a row, especially when they had done so in their first attendance, now roughly placed them with those beneath.


    The young man became incensed at the comment, as this was something that pained him. He was soon to take over the workshop and it was a dream of his to break this ''curse'', and with this year''s event being his first time in charge, he hoped to do just that.


    "Hehe. Fine. You want to be humiliated? Then let''s go."


    Lucas smiled. He didn''t just come to the mid tier region with no plan in mind.


    Previously, Lucas had asked Lucy for help; to be specific, he asked for information on some of the notable vestige-smiths and companies in the area, irrespective of their ranking. Toman''s workshop was one such popular one, but it had recently been going downhill.


    "I don''t intend on making it difficult for you, so I will go easy on you." Lucas suddenly said.


    The young man was confused about what he meant by going easy, but before he could even question that, Lucas continued.


    "All six tests, excluding the Power test. If you manage to beat me in just one, it''s your win."


    "!!!"


    The young man was immediately livid at the statement and the spectators who gathered upon hearing a vestige duel were stunned silly.


    This was the first time someone had suggested such a format, and it said a lot about their confidence. However, the opponent was Toman''s Workshop, and even if they hadn''t been invited for the auction yet, they were still pretty good at making vestiges. Looking down on them like this was something only the best vestige-smiths in Baylands City might be capable of doing.


    Not even the top vestige-smiths in the top ten companies could disregard them this much, when the contest is with vestiges of the same grade.


    "Are you crazy?" The young man growled.


    "What do you-"


    Lucas interrupted, "You''ve accepted so don''t waste so much time talking. I''ve already taken out my vestige. Where''s yours?"


    The young man tightened his fist and was incredibly pissed, but he began to chuckle furiously.


    "Sure."


    "Oh, I forgot. Fifty federal coins. Winner takes all." Lucas slapped his head.


    At this point, the young man was just a bit away from losing it at lunging at Lucas but he forcefully held back his anger. Gambles weren''t new in vestige duels, so there was nothing wrong about it. Also, Toman''s Workshop might have been going downhill, but it wasn''t to the point where they couldn''t afford fifty federal coins for a vestige duel.


    Soon after, the young man returned with a box. Stellar aura suffused from the box despite it being closed, signifying the quality of the vestige. It was clear that even though he saw Lucas as a fool, the young man didn''t underestimate him.


    When the box was opened, a cold-weapon vestige was revealed. It was a blue sword that appeared to be made of glass, but that was actually a special type of metal that was pretty rare. Inscriptions decorated the blade of the sword and the hilt was carved with runic marks. The aura of the sword was cold, like a killer assassin.


    Mere glancing at the sword would make one filled with chills and a longer look for those below the third level of the Body Strengthening stage would hurt their eyes.


    "This is the masterpiece from last year, Aquilo''s Sword."


    One of the bystanders who was familiar with Toman''s Workshop said.


    "If they''re using the masterpiece from last year to compete, does it mean they have something new this year?" Someone couldn''t help but ask.


    "They should. After all, it''s been a dream of theirs to get back into the auction."


    With the reveal of the sword, more and more people were attracted by the commotion. This was the only vestige duel currently ongoing in the region, so it was unavoidable that it would garner some attention.


    The young man glanced around felt sullen. A win was pointless and could be termed as bullying since Lucas was unknown. But a loss would greatly affect their reputation, although he didn''t believe that he could lose.


    Aquilo''s Sword was a very powerful Grade 3 vestige, so much so that it was close to the ranks of a Grade 4. However, the auction had limited slots for each district, and the West Wing district only had fifteen slots. Aquilo''s Sword had lost out as it only managed to take the eighteenth position -three spots always from invitation.


    This time around, they had worked on a new creation, but that didn''t make Aquilo''s Sword any less valuable. The vestige was still a weapon many freelancers desired. Unfortunately, the materials used to make it were very costly and the effort was tedious, so it couldn''t be mass produced.


    The old man, Toman, has rather kept it in his collection, as a reminder of how close they were and why they should work harder.

 Chapter 106 - 106: 14 Wins

    "Overall winner. Brown shield." The overseer announced with shock.


    "How, how come?" The young man was astonished.


    Lucas calmly retrieved the shield from the robo-testers and dusted it a bit.


    Brown shield was the name of the shield. There was no hidden meaning or anything; the shield was simply brown so Lucas decided to call it that.


    Lucas ignored the commotion and walked to the next stall on his list. Similarly, he beat them after a few minutes. But he didn''t stop there.


    By the time Lucas arrived at the fourth stall, Lucas noticed that it looked a lot different from the one he had. In fact, the stalls in the mid tier region were all improved compared to his in the lower tier region. However, this particular one had a drastically different appearance. At this point, it was no longer a stall, but a small building.


    "West Wing district, rank 15 store." Lucy said as she stared at the building which belonged to a vestige-smith company.


    Above the mid tier region was the high tier region, but only the top ten companies and vestige-smiths in West Wing district had a shop there. A store with a rank of 15 was one quite close to the top ten. The ranks were determined from the previous year''s rating.


    Aquilo''s Sword had taken the eighteenth place for Toman''s Workshop, but compared to that, this store had seized fifteenth place last year, which meant that their masterpiece had qualified for the auction. They were definitely not a simple opponent.


    However, compared to them, the vestige-smith who had mocked Lucas had achieved the thirteenth place last year, and was poised to earn a spot this year once again.


    "A mere fifteenth spot. It would be good if they can make me work a bit." Lucas said as he approached the building.


    At this point, the staff had noticed them coming thanks to the small crowd following behind the duo. They were a bit confused, but after one of them said something, they appeared stunned and a bit nervous. This was unavoidable. As a result of his consistent run of thirteen victories without a loss, Lucas had built some level of reputation already, especially amongst the participants.


    Although ten of those wins were against those from the low tier region, the other three were against some names with a level of reputation, especially his first win here which was against the rank 18, Toman''s Workshop.


    While the low tier region had hundreds of participants, the mid tier region had a couple dozens. Nonetheless, being capable of appearing in the mid tier region was an achievement, but above all, being in the top 20 rank. Even if they were outside the top fifteen, the other five in the top 20 rank were characters capable of fighting for the slot, unlike those below them.


    This was why the victory against Toman''s Workshop, especially using a shield, was impressive.


    One should recall that among the seven tests, there was a Sharpness test which favoured bladed weapons. Despite that, Lucas had managed to beat Aquilo''s Sword using a shield. Although it was because the shield had detachable bladed teeth around its edge, winning was thought to be impossible, but he still achieved it.


    "I''m here for a vestige duel." Lucas announced right as he stopped in front of the building. Just a few steps away was the entrance, which was without a door, but he didn''t go any further.


    "Should we accept?" One of the staff inside the building whispered to another.


    "We don''t really have a choice. He''s not like the other challengers, so we can''t ignore him." The manager of the stall sighed.


    "Bring out the masterpiece."


    At the moment, many had already begun to consider the brown shield Lucas had used to beat Toman''s Workshop and the next series of participants as a masterpiece item. This was a vestige that beat last year''s eighteenth place masterpiece, so it was definitely strong enough to enter the top 15 of last year, and maybe even this year.


    So, avoiding a challenge from Lucas was equivalent to damaging their reputation as avoiding a vestige duel against another masterpiece was a sign that one was lacking confidence in their own masterpiece. Even if the appraisers from the Silver Fig Consortium didn''t look down on them, the public''s opinion would be that their creation was weaker.


    Since they would be facing Lucas, the only worthy opponent would be their masterpiece for the year''s convention. Using last year''s product was the same as asking for a loss, since Lucas already proved that this product was more than capable of entering the ratings of last year.


    "Winning by his terms won''t be enough, so we have to bring down his momentum entirely. Doing so with our masterpiece would not only raise its value, but also the reputation of our company. Our stocks could even rise a bit from this." The manager motivated his staff.


    A box was soon brought out and the manager walked out alongside three other staff members.


    "You should be aware of my usual terms, or do I need to repeat them?" Lucas asked.


    "No need." The manager confidently smiled.


    The usual terms were that if Lucas lost even one test out of the seven tests, it would be the same as admitting his loss. There was also the fifty federal coins bet as well. There was no way Lucas was letting that go as it was almost free money to him. From just the last three vestige duels alone, he had made one hundred and fifty federal coins "tax-free".


    Making so much without the system''s evil hands stretching towards his money felt a bit addicting.


    "Let''s begin." Lucas smiled.


    15 minutes later, Lucas was spotted calmly departing the building''s environment with the same iconic brown shield in hand. Meanwhile, the crowd was dumbfounded, even more so the manager of the store, who stared at the vestige he had brought out.


    The vestige was a red saber that gave off a fiery glow and the energy around it was tumultuous. It was like a weapon of the god of flames, incarnated into a mortal form. Just mere staring at it for long would give one the illusion that their body was on fire.


    If the person looking at it was below the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage, they would feel dehydrated the longer they stared at it. However, it wasn''t true dehydration, but simply the body responding as if it were indeed dehydrated.


    Below the third level and looking at the saber for longer than three minutes could lead to death, as by then, the brain would truly believe that it was dehydrated and give out.


    Despite such impressive abilities and strength, the results didn''t end in the favour of the saber.


    "Another win. The record continues." Someone in the crowd widened his eyes in utter disbelief.


    No doubt, this saber could have been able to enter th top fifteen for the year; it had a very good shot at doing so. Despite that, it had lost to a nameless brown shield.


    "A legendary masterpiece. It''s probably on par with those from the top vestige-smiths in the Central Prefecture." An old man who looked knowledgeable said.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention was not only held in the West Wing district. It was an event for the entire Baylands City, but due to the massive size of the city, the event has to be split.


    For five days, there would be a convention held simultaneously in all five districts of Baylands City, and the top fifteen rated vestiges from each district would be brought to the Central Prefecture district for the true Silver Fig Trade Convention on the sixth day, which was the auction. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seventy five top class vestiges from all five districts in one place. Such an event was one every single vestige-smith in the city desired to attend.


    West Wing district had the most vestige-smiths, but it didn''t mean they had the best. That record was held by the Central Prefecture district, which was the home to not just the best vestige-smiths, but also the strongest freelancers, powerful families, and also headquartered top companies and conglomerates. The Central Prefecture was truly the best in all regards, and the centre of the city.


    The top vestige-smiths there were steps ahead of this in the West Wing district, and the same was true for the companies based there.


    "Old man, isn''t that a bit overboard?" Someone asked.


    Describing the brown shield as being on par with the masterpieces from the Central Prefecture was typically a compliment left only for creations of the top ten West Wing district vestige-smiths.


    "Hah. What do you know? I''ve been to the auctions at the Central Prefecture before. I can tell you that that brown shield had what it takes to qualify." The old man snorted.


    "Don''t take that old man seriously. He''s a drunk who says too much nonsense." Someone else interrupted while staring at the old man with disgust.


    "Not to talk of the fact that the top vestiges from the Central Prefecture district are all Grade 4, even their Grade 3s are capable of seizing the top spot here. The Silver Fig Trade Convention being held in five different locations at once was to simply give everyone an equal opportunity to qualify for the auction.


    Otherwise, the entire auction would be filled with vestiges from the Central Prefecture district. That''s just how accomplished they are."

 Chapter 107 - 107: Newfound Fame And Riches

    After that bout with the fifteenth place, Lucas went on to carry out two more vestige duels before the day finally concluded. Unsurprisingly, the other two opponents had surrendered before the duel even began. The news had already spread, and no one was foolish enough to bother engaging in a vestige duel with Lucas.


    Luckily for him, the system still considered them as victories, so his count was now brought up to sixteen. There were now only four more vestige duels left and Lucas would have completed the mission.


    Just as he returned to the stall to close up, Lucas was surprised to see a crowd of people gathered in front.


    "What''s going on?" Lucas asked.


    "You''re finally back." The man lined up in front smiled.


    "We''re here to check out your services, and get our gears fixed."


    Lucas was surprised by this, but on second thought, he understood.


    Having generated a buzz recently and made a name for himself, or at least the vestige-smith supposedly behind him, it was only natural for there to be more customers interested in the services offered. It was just like when he had won his very first vestige duel against the freelancer and was flooded by a few agents and freelancers.


    Except this time around, Lucas had defeated vestiges much more impressive than the Hozier-class Halberd, and this made people take him more seriously and even want to patronise the stall for their own benefit.


    "If you''re here to take orders, you can copy the code in the stall and check out our price list. But if you''re here for services, unfortunately, there''s a limited slot for those."


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention banned on-site trading and maintenance, however, the organisers had purposely left some loopholes to this rule. For the first, one could simply draw up a contract for the sale of vestiges and the matter would be settled at a later date.


    As for maintenance, the vestige-smith stall could accept maintenance orders and fulfill them outside of the public square or at a later date after the convention.


    However, due to this, vestige-smith stores would become busy after the convention. To reduce the load, they would limit the number of transactions, especially maintenance works, that they accepted.


    "No problem. Just let us know and we''ll figure it out." The man smiled.


    Lucas nodded and went into the stall before bringing out a small plastic board, the size of a palm. The board was turned on and it projected a special diagram that looked like a QR code.


    The diagram could be scanned by a communicator to reveal the information on it; the pricing list of vestiges in the Seven Sparks Forge.


    When the crowd scanned it and went through the list, one could hear occasional sounds of astonishments and deep breathing. Lucas, however, was already used to this and wasn''t bothered. He now has a good understanding of the vestige-smithing ability of the West Wing district. As such, Lucas was more than confident that his prices were fair.


    "These prices, aren''t they a bit too much?" Someone carefully asked.


    "A bit? With these prices, I can buy two vestiges. If I want to consider quantity and not quality, I might even be able to get three vestiges." A middle-aged man grumpily complained.


    Lucas glanced at him for a brief second before ignoring them all and walking towards the stall.


    Whether they wanted to buy or not, Lucas didn''t let that bother him. Those who could afford it and understood the real value would buy it. Those who couldn''t afford a vestige here, yet still understood its value would inform those around them about this. But there are those who could neither afford nor understand the value of the vestige.


    For such kind of people, Lucas deemed it unnecessary to dawdle on their matter.


    Seeing him ignore them, the group went speechless. Usually, a vestige-smith stall would try to convince them otherwise. They would use all sorts of linguistics, marketing tactics and lines all to make them consider buying something. But Lucas straight up ignored them.


    "Who does he think he is?"


    "You''re wrong. The question should be who do you think he is? He beat the top eighteen and fifteenth place from last year. He''s currently on a sixteen win streak; seventeen, if you count his victory against the Hozier-class Halberd."


    "Yeah, but the one who did all that was the vestige-smith. He''s just a representative." Someone else argued.


    "True, but that makes him the only connection between us and the vestige-smith. So, we might as well act politely." The man who stood on Lucas'' side said.


    Eventually, some from the group had departed over the prices, while the others entered the stall and made their orders. At the end of everything, including previous orders, Lucas had now made over thirty thousand federal coins in revenue. Even after the 75% deduction by the system, his profit was large.


    After he was done with that, Lucas left and returned back for eh Seven Sparks Forge building in the market zone.


    . . .


    Meanwhile, somewhere in the West Wing district. A fleet of hover-bikes with members of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. There were at least ten of them, and behind the pursuing group was a hover car with the logo of the Patrol Corps.


    "Catch him." A voice sounded in the helmets of the Baylands City Patrol Corps as they pursueed their target.


    Inside the hover car were three members of the Red Fangs, with the one leading them being a familiar face. It was Nafir.


    Soon enough, the pursuing team caught up to the target and pinned him down on the ground.


    The target was actually a green-skinned alien who appeared in a humanoid form. However, despite having two legs, the lower part of the legs branched out to form a pair of lower legs. As a result, the alien had two upper legs but four lower legs.


    Also, rather than hair on his head, the alien had a few tentacles. Each tentacle was laced with enough poison to knock out a full grown adult horse, making the alien a walking danger. He also had three fingers as opposed to a regular hyuman.


    The hover car arrived and Nafir stepped out of it alongside the other. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "A mixed race? Tell me, what are you doing in a Baylands city-state unregistered?" Nafir glanced at the creature who has been cuffed with special handcuffs.


    "Kekeke. You might have caught me, but don''t think I''ll talk. A mere patrol corps, don''t get too high on yourselves." The alien grinned.


    Nafir fromwed and waved, signalling to his men to take him away.


    Suddenly, the alien began to convulse before frothing from the mouth.


    "Poison, hurry!" Nafir screamed.


    One of the Red Fangs near him rushed towards the hover car for a medical box, but by the time he returned, it was already too late. The alien had died.


    "There goes our lead." One of the Red Fangs duo sighed.


    "To be able to commit suicide, just to prevent leaking any type of information. Such a kind of dedication to his belief, is incredible, but also dangerous in this case." Nafir frowned as he studied the corpse.


    "Baylands city-state might soon get less peaceful in times to come."

 Chapter 108 - 108: Anticipations Of Day 5

    While the Red Fangs were hunting for a lead to the terrorists who had attacked the Greendale Highschool students at the Bayena Plain, the fifth and final day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention drew closer until it arrived.


    Similar to the fourth day, there was a gigantic crowd in attendance for the event today. Being the last day of the convention right before the auction, it was only natural that everyone in the industry would try as much as possible to be in attendance today.


    "You guys heard about what happened yesterday?" Ju¨¢n looked at his teammates as they arrived at the public square.


    "You mean the ''masterpiece killer''? Yeah. It''s been awhile since the convention has been this eventful." Crimson Fang said with interest. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The ''masterpiece killer''?" Nathan asked.


    "Hmm. It''s the title given to some new fellow representing a vestige-smith. Apparently, it''s his first time in the convention, but he''s defeated sixteen other participants -six of whom were based in the mid tier region. One of them was at the eighteenth place from last year, Toman''s Workshop. They had contended with the same vestige, Aquilo''s Sword, but lost the duel.


    Fifteenth place from last year was also in attendance, but even after using their masterpiece, they similarly lost." Ju¨¢n enthusiastically explained.


    "That''s impressive, but I don''t see why he should be nicknamed ''masterpiece killer''. The only notable opponents were one party that barely qualified for last year''s auction and another that didn''t even make the mark." Nathan dismissed. Although the record was astonishing, he felt that people were overreacting.


    "If that was all, then yeah, you''re right. However, it isn''t." Ju¨¢n mysteriously said.


    Nathan raised an eyebrow, waiting for the latter to continue, but he didn''t. After a bit of hesitation, curiosity got the best of him and Nathan asked,


    "What else? Did he beat someone more impressive?"


    Ju¨¢n smiled seeing that he was hooked.


    "It''s not that. Rather, it''s how he beat his opponents. The ''masterpiece killer'' had challenged the six opponents from the mid tier region to a vestige duel using the same grade vestiges. The win condition was for the challenged side to win just one test out of all seven, yet they all failed to do so. What''s more, the ''masterpiece killer'' won using a shield."


    Nathan was immediately stunned, halting at the spot. In fact, he wasn''t the only one shocked by this as Lisa and Anna reacted the same. It was clear that the duo similarly didn''t know much about the ''masterpiece killer''.


    "He won such a contest?" Anna dazedly questioned.


    "That''s exactly why he''s making rounds and why we should go check him out today." said Ju¨¢n.


    "He''s currently on a sixteen win streak and has been challenging from the lowest level up. Speculations suggest that he would still challenge more people today, maybe up to twenty. It''s also believed he would soon aim for the top ten since his vestige us quite powerful." Leno, who was a fan of vestiges, replied.


    "Well, I guess we can go check it out together then." Crimson Fang decided.


    "However, if any of you have a different opinion, feel free to go with it."


    The others didn''t say anything contrary as they were actually all interested, including Nathan. A vestige capable of beating masterpieces at the same grade without losing a single bout was definitely something rare, even if it came from the hands of vestige-smiths of the top ten companies. Maybe only those old fellows in the Central Prefecture could do better.


    It was common sense that a sword would be sharper than a shield, an axe stronger than a dagger and so on. However, this ''masterpiece killer'' had defied such logic as the vestige fielded for the fuel was actually a shield. A shield that was sharper than a sword was something no one would have ever thought to be possible.


    "So where should we go?"


    "There''s only one answer." Ju¨¢n took it upon himself to answer the question.


    "I heard that he was dissed a while ago by a certain vestige-smith in the mid tier region, ranked eleventh place. However, he hasn''t challenged them yet. Let''s go over there and wait."


    "Alright then." The group agreed and made their way over.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only group making their way there as well. Many other freelancers and drama-lovers who had heard the news were also heading towards the building.


    The silver haired vestige-smith who had insulated Lucas -calling him a frog in a well- had already caught onto the news. He couldn''t believe that this frog was actually so deadly, but that didn''t change the man''s mind. At best, Lucas'' store was okay and has corrected his earlier prejudice, but it didn''t mean that he was scared that he would lose.


    "Unlike his opponents, we''ve appeared in the auction for seven years now. The Silver Fig Trade Convention auction only began ten years ago. I can confidently say that I''m not worried about anything. He might be worthy to gaze at our masterpiece, but if he thinks he would win, then he''s being delusional."


    When those words were spread around the convention, the guests and spectators were pumped. They could sense an intense rivalry brewing and many expected this vestige duel to be the highlight of the convention.


    Eleventh place ranking might be out of the top ten, but it was the closest one could come towards it. At the same time, the silver haired vestige-smith had once made a vestige that appeared in the top ten rankings, about three years ago.


    While his next two works failed to get the qualification, rumours had it that the man was confident of usurping the top ten rankings this year. The vestige duel against Seven Sparks Forge was said to be the first step towards this. Winning it would raise the prestige of his creation which could also influence the judgement of the secret appraisers sent by the organisers.


    At the same time, this was seen as another difficult challenge for the Seven Sparks Forge stall.


    Compared to previous opponents, the current target was someone who had previously made it to the top ten and confident to do so this year. Defeating the opponent in the same style as the previous duels would imply that the brown shield vestige was very capable of getting a top ten spot; as for the top fifteen, many already believed that the brown shield was more than qualified for that.


    Due to the stakes, many had begun to term this as the first battle for top ten. As for the current top ten, they held no opinion nor displayed any reaction to this. However, rumours had it that they were secretly spectating this duel. After all, the winner of this vestige duel would be their opponent for the ranking. This was especially so for the tenth, ninth and eighth places.

 Chapter 109 - 109: The Anticipated Duel

    When Lucas arrived on the fifth day, he noticed a crowd of people gathered around his stall but he wasn''t surprised by this. Lucas had already gotten used to having people follow around him ever since the previous day.


    Ignoring them, he opened up his stall before leaving once again. The act of opening the stall was a somewhat mandatory action as it implied to any passerby or potential client that the owner was around, even if there was no one present at the moment.


    The entire point of this was to make it so vestige-smiths wouldn''t lose out on an opportunity, but at the same time, they would be able to freely explore the convention.


    If anyone interested in the stall wanted to have a conversation with the owner or see more vestiges, there was a contact info pasted on the side of the stall.


    Leaving the low tier region, Lucas stepped into the mid tier region. It was just as many had speculated -he wasn''t going to stop challenging at just sixteen wins, and he was going to face the vestige-smith who had mocked him. Having built a reputation now, Lucas was confident that he wouldn''t be rejected on the grounds of being "too weak" or unknown.


    If the other side were to avoid the duel, it would be perceived both by the system and the people as a win.


    But before that, Lucas stepped into a random mid tier region stall and smiled at the staff. When they saw who it was, their blood froze and they glared at him.


    Even though Lucas was human, he was currently the most feared character for all stalls and vestige-smiths outside the high tier region. Although the losers in the low tier region didn''t have it as bad after comparing themselves to the others who lost, the participants in the mid tier region were scarred by his presence.


    They would display a hint of fear upon seeing him as the outcome was generally known even before the duel began.


    Some of them had even tried to bribe Lucas in secret to prevent him from coming to their store, even though the odds were low. However, despite his recent love of money, Lucas refused the offers. To Lucas, no amount of wealth could compensate for the mission.


    "I''m here for a vestige duel. " Lucas stated.


    "Is there even any meaning to this?" The manager in the stall complained. However, Lucas paid him no heed and waited for an appropriate response.


    After hesitating, the manager finally sighed and shook his head.


    "It''s our loss. We surrender. "


    [[ Congratulations to the host for the seventeenth win in a row. ]]


    "Time to round this up." Lucas said before leaving for the venue everyone expected him to be at.


    A few minutes later, Lucas was now at the scene. As he walked, a few eyes moved towards him as he scanned the area. Compared to the crowd following him, there were a lot more people present here, seemingly having anticipated this final showdown. Lucas even spotted Autumn''s Gate guild and some members of the Red Fang in the scene.


    He would have seen a lot more but unfortunately, these were the only ones Lucas was familiar with.


    "Are you the one?" A man who stood at the entrance of the building like a guard asked as he saw Lucas walk forward.


    "I don''t know what you mean by that, but I''m here for only one thing." Lucas calmly said.


    "State your purpose." The guard glared imposingly at him.


    "A certain vestige-smith had once called me out for being a frog in a well. So today, I decided to come pay him a visit to broaden my vision and experience." Lucas smiled, but beneath that smile, many could feel a lurking blade hiding underneath.


    The security guard clearly understood why Lucas was here and couldn''t stop him, so he went in to call the vestige-smith.


    Meanwhile...


    "Hey, isn''t that that guy from back then?" Ju¨¢n pointed at Lucas.


    "It''s him. What''s he doing here? Don''t tell me he''s the ''masterpiece killer''?" Leno was surprised.


    "It''s said that the ''masterpiece killer'' has never really made an appearance in public, and all the duels have been carried out by his human employee. I''m guessing that''s him." Crimson Fang commented.


    The Autumn''s Gate guild wasn''t the only one with something to say after spotting Lucas. Lieutenant Lily wore a shocked expression, and even her lower rank, Barry, was also surprised by this. The other Red Fangs lieutenant who showed up with them was confused by their expressions. However, when he sensed that Lucas wasn''t a hyumankin like him, but a human being, he pieced two and two together.


    "Is that the guy? I thought you said he runs an average vestige-smith store?" The man felt like he had just discovered a shocking detail.


    "I also thought the same." Barry appeared stupefied seeing Lucas there.


    Unlike the crowd, the Red Fangs had done some digging on Lucas'' background, so they were aware that his vestige-smith store wasn''t being backed by any notable vestige-smith. It was difficult¡ªalmost impossible¡ªfor someone that good to sneak through the Red Fangs network. The only reason the terrorists made it past was due to the possible existence of a mole, otherwise, it would have been impossible.


    However, Lucas never had such a connection, and there was no other mole found after the department''s cleansing. So, it was clear that the store belonged to Lucas, although how he made the vestiges was unknown.


    Never in their lives would they have thought that the human they ignored and considered to be just a side character, would have developed into a main character in just a few days.


    "Do we ask him to help us?" Barry''s eyes flashed as he expressed his thoughts.


    The lieutenant frowned slightly but began to actually consider the subject. He had previously joked about it, but with Lucas now turning out to be the ''masterpiece killer'', or at least related to the real fellow, having him help them with a new vestige batch was looking like a reasonable idea.


    "Let''s see whether he wins and can make it to the auction first." Lily Mayer cut in.


    Just then, a group of people walked out from the building. One was the recognisable silver haired middle-aged man who had made the comments that sparked all of this the previous day.


    Beside him was someone dressed in a suit with a monocle on his left eye. The monocle was actually a communicator with appraisal capabilities.


    Seeing this ''one-eyed man'', the crowd was surprised.


    "That''s an appraiser from the consortium!"


    "Indeed. Today is the fifth day, so they should already be moving. Considering this is the most hyped duel, it''s not impossible for at least one to be in attendance."


    Many whispers broke out, but the gist of the matter was that the man was an appraiser from the Silver Fig Consortium, sent over to rate the masterpieces of the various vestige-smiths.


    Usually, there would be at least ten appraisers who moved around both secretly and in the open. The appraisers would inspect the masterpieces of each stall that had one and give it a detailed rating in a similar format as a vestige duel, m from one to ten, with ten being the highest.


    After the day came to an end, the ratings would be gathered and calculated, with the rankings being formed from it. The top fifteen on the rankings would be announced the morning of the next day; from there, proceed to the auction to be held the evening of the same day.


    A trip from any district in Baylands City to the Central Prefecture usually took roughly five hours or less using a light rail train, so there was no issue with the process.


    It was because the system of rating used by the appraisers was similar to vestige duels that the top companies and vestige-smiths usually avoided challenging a masterpiece with a masterpiece. If they were to lose, it would make their vestige look bad even if it was quite strong.


    The appraisers wouldn''t turn biased because of a loss, but with a comparison in mind, the public would have their own thoughts. Also, with a clear lead, it was unavoidable that the loser would end up with a worse rating than the victor.


    Apart from the appraiser, there was someone else who happened to be with the silver haired man.


    "Oh, Lucy. Is that you?" The man asked.


    Lucy glanced at the brown coloured man by the side who had orange hair. Just like her, he was also an agent from Novanio Tech.


    Novanio Tech was a company that designed and developed stellar processors. Novanio Tech was a really big company in Eretre, but the branch in Baylands city-state wasn''t doing really well. As such, they wanted to delve into the weapons market.


    However, the weapons market was already somewhat fixed, and it would be difficult for a new competitor to be born, especially if the existing players in the industry found out the competition was started by a multi-million federal coins corporation like Novanio Tech.


    To ease their entry, Novanio decided not to develop their own vestige-smith industry for weapons, but to start a dealership or a vestige business. However, for this to succeed, they needed a supplier.


    Most top vestige-smiths were already in exclusive deals with other dealers, or were hired to work in top vestige-smith companies. So, the board at Novanio Tech Baylands city-state branch decided to search low.


    On this matter, there were three factions with differing opinions. One opted to find some established vestige-smiths and poach them from other companies or steal exclusive rights from other vestige dealers.


    The second faction thought to aim a bit lower and find the less renowned vestige-smiths and sign deals with them.


    The third faction went even lower and wanted to find vestige-smiths with potential and invest in them. The advantage of this was that if Novanio Tech ever had a change in mind and decided to start a weapons vestige-smith branch company, these low ranked vestige-smiths potential can become the core force and foundation of that company.


    After all, unlike established or renowned vestige-smiths who were quite prideful, a vestige-smith they invested in and supported from the hardest stage up, would definitely feel like they owe them a lot and wouldn''t mind working under them.


    Lucy belonged to this third faction, which was why she was in the low tier region. As for the orange haired man, he was a member of the first faction; the faction that aimed to find top vestige-smiths and get exclusive sales rights from them.


    The top ten were all companies with a couple of vestige-smiths under their belt. Only the eleventh place wasn''t a registered vestige-smith company but a single vestige-smith doing the work. Such a party was exactly what the first faction wanted best. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 110 - 110: My Vestige Was Incomplete

    The top ten were all companies with a couple of vestige-smiths under their belt. Only the eleventh place wasn''t a registered vestige-smith company but a single vestige-smith doing the work. Such a party was exactly what the first faction wanted best.


    "I never thought we''d meet again so soon even more so like this, Lucy." The orange haired man smiled.


    Lucy grimaced upon seeing him. Even though all sides worked under Novanio Tech, the three factions were competing with each other, so they kept their movements hidden from the other.


    "Arlott." Lucy nodded at him.


    "Oh don''t be like this. You seem to forget it''s your side that''s challenging mine, so no need to act offended." Arlott smirked.


    Lucy frowned and ignored him. On one hand, Arlott was right, but on the other hand, all this started because the vestige-smith had decided to mock Lucas during his press conference the previous morning.


    "Are you the little guy who''s been making so much noise recently?" The silver haired vestige-smith asked as he stared at Lucas.


    "If that''s how you want to address me then fine." Lucas shrugged.


    The inspector suddenly walked out and stared at Lucas.


    "I''ll be the overseer for this vestige duel."


    Lucas had no problem with that and wasn''t worried. An overseer didn''t have much influence in a vestige duel after all.


    "Both contestants bring out your vestiges."


    "Since you''ve been competing with a Grade 3 vestige, I''ll entertain you today."


    The silver-haired vestige-smith smirked. While Lucas'' streak of victories might seem troublesome to others, to him, he wasn''t bothered by it. The reason was quite simple; he was very close to the Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, meaning he could barely make the weakest Grade 4 vestige with assistance from others. However, he didn''t field such a vestige for this duel.


    In fact, even his masterpiece wasn''t Grade 4.


    Unless one was a bona fide and experienced Tier 1 Master, a Grade 4 vestige wasn''t necessarily stronger than a Grade 3.


    For instance, Sofoklis, who had just ascended into the ranks of Tier 1 Master, had competed against the Gold Rain Factory using a Grade 4 vestige he made, the Hand of God Trident. Despite the difference in grades, the Gold Rain Factory''s Grade 3 Annalia spear had managed to beat the Hand of God in three tests -durability, sharpness and strength tests.


    The Hand of God only managed to win the vestige duel rather than draw simply because it was a Grade 4 vestige, thereby winning the Power test.


    Forget being an experienced one, the silver-haired vestige-smith wasn''t even a Tier 1 Master yet. Trying to make a Grade 4 vestige would only result in what could be termed as a half-baked creation. Putting the effort and resources into making a powerful Grade 3 vestige was much better.


    An assistant walked out from the building with a box. However, the box was so large and heavy that he needed the aid of two lift robots to carry it. Lift robots were robots that appeared to be automated mini forklifts. Their main function was to assist one in carrying a heavy load.


    The fact that the box needed to lift robots to aid the assistant was a testament to its great weight.


    "Defeating you with just any vestige won''t do it. So I''ll let you know the difference between us." The silver haired man spoke.


    When the contents of the box was revealed, it turned out to be an axe and a really large one at that. The full length of the axe was equivalent to a door, while the blades were half the size of it. Their edges were black with red runes inscribed on the left blade while blue runes were on the right. The shaft of the axe was unsurprisingly metallic with a silver sheen to it.


    At the point where the two blades connected to the shaft, there was a strange red and blue crystal fixed on the point.


    "My masterpiece for this year''s convention: Winter-Summer axe." The silver haired man introduced.


    The Winter-Summer axe was a very powerful vestige that made its debut just the previous day. It was a masterpiece created by the silver haired man, Nicholai, and was one everyone was confident would get accepted into the auction. All that remained was for its final ranking to be determined.


    There was no doubt that this was a top fifteen rank vestige in the entire West Wing district, and it could potentially rank in this year''s top 30 Grade 3 vestiges in Baylands city-state.


    "The Winter-Summer axe is designed with the ability to deal out two varying types of damage, making it suitable for battling in two different environments. Due to the dual kinds of damage, the danger value of the Winter-Summer axe is increased to a whole new level." Nicholai said with a proud smile on his face.


    The Winter-Summer axe was most likely the only vestige he had that could beat the brown shield from their investigation.


    A vestige duel was a duel where the results were open to all, hence why there was no need for a judge. However, this was somewhat problematic for some. In this case, Lucas had participated in over sixteen vestige duels, with six of them involving the brown shield, the results of the vestige duels were pretty much known, as well as the details of the vestige.


    This allowed Nicholai to pick the most suitable one he could find to achieve a clear victory.


    As for why Lucas'' opponents didn''t use such a method before, it was because there was no time. Unlike with Nicholai, who had a couple of hours to prepare and was facing a somewhat popular foe, the other vestige-smiths were seeing Lucas for the first time during their duels. Their experience was the same as with Toman''s Workshop -looking down on Lucas and not taking the duel seriously.


    It was only after a couple of wins with the news spreading around that the details of the brown shield were finally spread around. That was after Lucas'' duel against the fifteenth place on the list; the fourteenth match. The next two duels ended with the opponents surrendering as they were now aware of the abilities of the brown shield and knew they couldn''t compete against Lucas.


    But now, such a decision was against him. Lucas, however, wasn''t worried about this. On the contrary, he had a smile on his face.


    "It''s your turn." The overseer glanced at Lucas.


    While the majority in the crowd didn''t think much, some already realised that Lucas had the lower hand in this duel already. Nicholai had enough information about his vestige, and so could field a much better option.


    On the other hand, Nicholai''s masterpiece, which was only just revealed the previous day, had gone unchallenged by any other participant until today. As such, there was no single detail of information about it, except what Nicholai had mentioned in public.


    However, Lucas was very sensitive to mystical energy, and he could tell that the brown shield as it was would surely lose to the axe. The gap wasn''t so wide, but it was enough for a clear winner to be determined.


    Nonetheless, Lucas smiled and still took out the brown shield. However, he didn''t hand it to the robo-tester just yet.


    "I never really said anything about it before, but the brown shield is incomplete."


    "Incomplete?" Nicholai was stunned for a moment before frowning. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What kind of stupid tale are you spouting here?"


    "Whether it''s stupid or not, we''ll find out soon enough."


    Lucas'' free-hand suddenly appeared to have a metal plate sitting on it. The metal plate was black in colour and roughly the thickness of a newborn''s arm. It was decorated all over with yellow runes that gave it a mysterious yet somewhat solemn feel.


    Once the plate approached the brown shield, a compartment formed on the shield, roughly the same shape as the metal plate, revealing a space available for the plate to be fitted in. Lucas did just exactly that and the metal plate attached itself to the shield with a click.


    "You see, when I made this shield, I didn''t finalise the designs. I held back a bit as I thought it was unnecessary to compete with the final product."


    As the metal plate fitted into the compartment, it let out a low hum and the yellow runes on it lightly glistened.


    "The final product is a vestige I made by combining two major philosophies; a new path I''ve decided to pave myself. You should feel proud being the very first vestige-smith to experience this first-hand in a duel."

 Chapter 111 - 111: Winter-Summer Axe Versus Upgraded Brown Shield

    "The final product is a vestige I made by combining two major philosophies; a new path I''ve decided to pave myself. The idea is still under realisation, but it''s more than enough for today. You should feel proud being the very first vestige-smith to experience this first-hand in a duel."


    After Lucas said that, the hum quietened and the glow disappeared. The entire area was silent as the crowd was stunned by just what took place. They could all feel that the brown shield became different after the metal plate was inserted, but they couldn''t put their finger on what the difference was.


    If anything, the brown shield gave off a strange solemn sensation.


    Ignoring the confused looks, Lucas finally gave the shield to the robo-tester to begin the vestige.


    "First test, hardness test."


    The overseer recovered himself and adjusted his monocle. The overseer had his reasons for choosing the hardness test as the first test.


    After the brown shield''s transformation, even he, despite being an appraiser of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, was unable to spot the change in the shield. To be exact, he had sensed a rise in stellar energy purity and quantity and spotted slight changes to the runes, but that was all; if he were to have truly noticed nothing, then he was incompetent.


    However, the appraiser believed that the change wasn''t limited to just that; in fact, he felt it was much more. This was why he went for the hardness test.


    The hardness test was a priority test for shields to pass, alongside durability and strength tests. Passing alone wasn''t just enough, as they had to ace it. A premium model shield vestige had to score the highest in these tests. Even an average model had to score within the highest possible range for an average model vestige.


    The performance of the brown shield was already known to all, but the appraiser felt that there would be a surprise waiting after that transformation, hence why he wanted to figure it out right away.


    Nicholai glanced at the appraiser and could guess his thoughts, but he wasn''t bothered. From the start, the advantage was in his hands, and he had made proper preparations. What could a metal plate attached to a shield change?


    The robo-testers carried the two vestiges to the hardness testing equipment, which was a complicated piece of equipment about a metre and a half tall (fifty-nine inches or roughly five feet tall). It looked like something one would get straight out of a factory or a laboratory, with its arms, sensors, displays, and hydraulic press.


    There were three stages in the hardness test, each done with three different attachments used on the equipment.


    The first stage was carried out with the first attachment, which was a probe with a sharp tip, similar to the Vickers hardness testing machine. The probe would stab the vestige with a specific force that would be slowly increased to find the vestige''s penetration point.


    The second probe had a blunt round tip and was used for finding the dull indentation point of the vestige.


    As for the third probe, it was shaped like a trident. Its function was a bit more complicated than the other two, but it worked for checking the scratch resistance and rune defence features of a vestige. As there were runes that increased the strength and hardness of a vestige, it was only natural for the effects of such runes to be tested in this regard.


    This was a different test from the stellar matrix efficiency test carried out in vestige duels.


    Compared to his previous vestige duels, as this was one with great stakes, the equipment used for testing was a level higher than the ones Lucas was more acquainted with. Just the difference in height between the hardness tester used here and the one used in his vestige duel against the freelancer was enough to show the difference.


    The preparations for these pieces of equipment were done earlier since many had already predicted he would be challenging Nicholai today.


    Both vestiges were tested at the same time, with all three stages carried out at once. It came as no surprise when the Winter-Summer axe began to show signs of damage before the brown shield. In all three stages of the hardness test, the brown shield came out on top.


    The point systems followed the same logic for the Grade 2 vestige duels. From the 201 points mark up to 500 was left for Grade 3 vestiges. This was quite a vast range compared to the 100-200 points for Grade 2 vestiges.


    The reason for this was simply because Grade 3 vestiges could be made in various ways and by different people, who were even more skilled and creative than Grade 2 vestige creators, the Tier 1 vestige-smiths [1].


    For a Grade 2 vestige, it usually had to average at least 400 and above in all tests to be considered a masterpiece. The even more powerful ones could go past 500 points in some tests, touching the level of a Grade 4 vestige. The Winter-Summer axe, for instance, was rumoured to have achieved such a feat.


    For the results of the hardness test, Lucas managed to do very well, scoring an incredible 484 points. As for the axe, it only got 467.


    Lucy appeared relieved at the result. One could say that apart from Lucas, she was the next person whose results affected the most in their camp. This wasn''t just a contest between Lucas and Nicholai, but one between Lucy and Arlott, and the factions behind them as well. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Whichever side came out on top, as long as they could sign a deal with them, the Novanio Tech board would reward the agent who aided the deal.


    Supposing Lucy got Lucas to sign a deal, but he lost to Nicholai, the aftermath would be negative. Usually, the loss wouldn''t be an issue, but if Arlott were to bring Nicholai, the victor, over to his side, then it would definitely be a big deal. It would affect how much interest and resources the company would invest in Lucas.


    This in turn would also affect her, the agent who brought along a ''failure" to the company, after all, comparisons breeds discontent.


    "Hmph. Lucky strike." Arlott snorted.


    However, unlike the agent from Novanio Tech, Nicholai, the overseer and some others were stunned at the result.

 Chapter 112 - 112: Another Win

    Whereas Arlott saw the scores to be a lucky win for Lucas, Nicholai and the overseer¡ªas well as a few others¡ªsaw things differently.


    Previously, Lucas had competed in multiple vestige duels. This led to there being a boatload of information about the performance of the brown shield. However, comparing that to the current information, they realised that there was a problem; the two weren''t the same.


    The brown shield got 484 points in the hardness test, but in the past, it only managed to get 459.


    ''Is this change brought about by a single metal disc? He didn''t make any previous adjustments, now did he?''


    Improving a masterpiece wasn''t against the rules or anything, but it was easier said than done. Nonetheless, Nicholai felt this was the most likely explanation. He just couldn''t believe that a simple metal disc could improve the stats of a vestige by so much, even if one were to consider Lucas'' words that the brown shield was previously incomplete.


    The crowd regained themselves and the duel had to go on. The overseer wanted to confirm his suspicions, so the next test was just the same as the first¡ªone that gave the shield an advantage. The strength test.


    In this test, Lucas once again scored higher with the brown shield.


    Then came the durability test, and surprisingly, it was a draw, which was very rare.


    The current scores were two wins with one draw for Lucas, and one draw for Nicholai.


    Even though he was losing, Nicholai wasn''t as worried as one would expect. However, he was a bit anxious. This anxiety didn''t come from the fact that Lucas was taking the lead, but rather that the points the brown shield scored in the following two tests after the hardness test differed from previous records.


    It was just as he had feared, Lucas, or the vestige-smith behind him, seemed to have upgraded the masterpiece by a notch. It was closely approaching the level of work for the top ten companies.


    "Shall we go on?" The overseer asked as he glanced at the two sides.


    "Of course. I don''t know about you guys, but I haven''t had breakfast yet. So, I need to get this done as quickly as possible." Lucas said.


    Nicholai didn''t say anything either, silently accepting the same decision as Lucas.


    With both sides having come to an agreement, the overseer could only do as they wished, as his role was simply that of a referee.


    The vestige duel went on, but with each test carried out, the gap increased.


    ''How come?'' Nicholai gritted his teeth and widened his eyes, both in shock and fear.


    At this point, Nicholai didn''t want to win the normal way again. He simply hoped he could win just one test. Even the sharpness test was similarly lost to the shield.


    The stellar energy tests of purity and matrix efficiency came along then. The brown shield''s clean sweep of the Winter-Summer axe was so unexpected, that the overseer had even personally inspected the runes of the brown shield himself.


    While no one had said it, some were beginning to consider that the duel was rigged in Lucas'' favour because everything that took place was unexplainable. But the issue with this judgement was that the Silver Fig Trade Convention would be drawn as a suspect. The entire equipment for this vestige duel was provided by them, and Lucas had no way to interfere.


    So, the only explanation based on this suspicion, was that the organizers wanted to side with Lucas for some reason. Maybe he was an industry plant, or his backer had connections with them, who knew which exactly?


    The overseer feared such news breaking out and tainting their image so, he decided to actively participate in the vestige duel in an attempt to find a fault. However, he was astonished to realise that he couldn''t identify any of the runes on the brown shield.


    Not all appraisers were vestige-smiths, but they knew the trade as well as the latter, especially when it came to runes and stellar matrices. While vestige-smiths learnt the application, appraisers learnt the history and identification. Despite this, the overseer had failed to identify the runes on the brown shield when he had inspected it personally.


    ''Just who was the vestige-smith behind this creation? Did he explore ruins? Does he have connections with the pioneers? Is he from Baylands city-state?''


    The overseer had so many questions, but now wasn''t the time to be asking them.


    When it was time for the stellar purity test, the Winter-Summer axe scored an Alpha reading Grade 3 with a class reading of light Yellow.


    Greek letters were used to refer to the stage of stellar refinement. Alpha, being the first letter of the Greek alphabet, represented the Apertures Opening stage, which was the first stage of true stellar refinement.


    The class reading was divided into six colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, Ice-Blue, Grey and White, each further sub-divided into three shades: light, median and deep.


    Baylands city-state''s highest-ever class reading on all Grades was median Ice-Blue and this was for a Grade 1 vestige made by a Tier 1 Master from the Central Prefecture district.


    For the Winter-Summer axe to land a light yellow reading was pretty impressive. It easily surpassed at least eighty-nine percent of vestiges in the convention. However, the brown shield was not one of them.


    "Alpha reading Grade 3. Class reading light Yellow." The robo-tester announced. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the score was called out, everyone stared at the brown shield in shock. It was another draw, but in the stellar aspect.


    This was the last test, and totalling it with all the others, Lucas won five and drew two. Although it wasn''t a devastating loss as with the previous challenges, the result still shook many. However, having reached the stage, not everyone was stunned. The constant victories and one draw had already made it clear that Lucas would win.


    "You can forward the payment to my account," Lucas said before picking up the brown shield and walking away. He still had two more victories to take.


    ''Ah. This is getting boring now. I''ll just wrap it up with some small wins.'' Lucas thought.


    Nicholai was a Tier 1 Elite and the strongest Lucas had met. He was at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage. Having a card at that level was pretty powerful and could help Lucas deal with most of his problems and some in the future. For instance, Ramirez, who was at the fifth level.


    As Lucas left, he noticed someone was after him. He stopped and glanced behind to see there were two people following him. One was Lucy, and considering she wanted to sign a contract with him, it was understandable. However, the second person was actually the overseer for the vestige duel, who was an appraiser from the Silver Fig Consortium.


    "Pardon my actions, but I needed to clear some of my doubts." The man said once he got within talking distance.


    "First, I''d like to invite you to the auction. Your masterpiece is more than capable of qualifying for such a prestigious event. As this is your first time, I''ll be forwarding to you the rules regarding the auction as well as an invitation card. It can be used to attend either physically at the conference venue in the Central Prefecture district, or the online broadcast."


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention organising committee has access to the information and contact details of the participants, so Lucas wasn''t surprised this could be done.


    "Next, if possible, I''d like to discuss with you about those runes. Preferably in private." The man sneaked a look at Lucy.


    "No need. I don''t know anything about that, as I am not the vestige-smith." Lucas flatly declined.


    This was one reason he had decided to create a persona to take on the role of the vestige-smith. At the lower level, one might not notice anything, but the professionals and veterans might spot something different between Lucas'' vestiges and the ones in circulation. Unlike them, Lucas couldn''t use stellar matrices or the runes concocted in this world.


    On one hand, it was because Lucas was lacking stellar energy. On the other hand, it was because he didn''t know them.


    Having a fake identity to take all the blame and suspicion would put him in a safer place.


    "I am aware of that, but I just want you to help connect me to him." The man pleaded.


    Lucas hesitated, before replying with a sigh, "I''ll see what I can do, but the master isn''t a fan of outsiders or guests."


    "Thank you." The man smiled before walking away.


    As an appraiser, he still had to mind his behaviour as well as public perception, especially with how the vestige duel had ended. Spending too much time conversing with Lucas might raise suspicions about the result of the vestige duel.


    "Let''s talk at the stall." Lucas said to Lucy before walking away.

 Chapter 113 - 113: Notification From The EVL

    [[ Mission Description: Consecutively defeat twenty vestige-smiths in a vestige duel before the convention is over. Host is to not take any loss or reject a vestige duel during the duration of the mission.


    Reward: Two Bronze Grade Cards (fourth level, second card''s level depends on the level of the strongest vestige-smith the host defeats: sixth level).


    Status: Completed


    Accept Rewards: Y/N ]]


    Seating opposite the checkout counter in the store, Lucas accepted the rewards for the mission. His stock of Bronze Grade cards was now brought up to three, making Lucas feel much safer.


    The first card came from the mission he received to get one hundred customers within one month. The card was at the third level, and the weakest compared to the other two, however, Lucas wasn''t bothered. In his hands, the strength of a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could compare to a fourth level''s.


    Even with the advancements in genetic research, hyumankin was still with a limit. As for Lucas, he had lived for over five hundred years and experienced so many events and battles. His battle experience was something no hyuman on the planet could compare to. At the same time, he was also a genius.


    However, the said genius was now counting his profit with a money-grubber-like smile on his face.


    ''Hehe. Twenty vestige duels but if I exclude the three who gave up before the duel, that''s seventeen duels. If I include the one with that freelancer, that''s eighteen. Multiply that by fifty and I''m rich. Damn you, system~ You can''t touch this.'' Lucas couldn''t help but chuckle like a kid who just stole a lollipop.


    Although odd, this behaviour couldn''t be helped.


    The Silver Fig Trade Convention let Lucas know the difference between himself and the other vestige-smiths. This didn''t just apply to skill but also finances. Whereas the vestige-smiths didn''t mind gambling away fifty federal coins, Lucas was penniless at the start. Fifty federal coins deducted from his account was enough to bring him close to debt. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    One cause for this was the system''s taxes, but in truth, it couldn''t be blamed as much. The major reason for Lucas'' miser behaviour was the crazy expenses he made when making a powerful vestige.


    Lucas'' limit when solely using the Blood Energy Circulation technique was Grade 2. Any higher and he would have to use the other forbidden techniques instead, or Lucas would die of exhaustion.


    The Materialization Technique required quality materials, and the higher the grade of the vestige, the more valuable and powerful the material had to be. To a vestige-smith or blacksmith, using precious materials just to draw energy out of them was wasteful and Lucas felt the same.


    This meant that only the last two techniques could be considered. However, of the two, the Soul Dismantling Spell was ruthless and denied one a chance at reincarnation. Hence, the only available option was the Blood Plundering Technique, but for this, Lucas couldn''t go around committing massacres, so he had to pick the next best option; using the blood of desolate beasts.


    Each Grade 3 vestige Lucas made took a lot from his pocket as he had to buy enough desolate beasts to provide the energy for the creation. So, even with the impressive amount he regularly made from sales, he would still have to spend a boatload for the next vestige-smithing. This would continue until the system reached level 5 and gave him the key to practising stellar refinement.


    "Now, to settle this." Lucas stared at a few documents projected in front of him.


    Today was the sixth day of the Silver Fig Trade Convention, and although not officially a part of the event, it was the day of the auction. However, Lucas didn''t attend it. He didn''t even put the brown shield up for auction. The reason was a bit complicated.


    Originally, Lucas thought the process for the auction was simple: create a good vestige, it gets appraised, you get qualified for the auction, it''s sold, and you get your money. But the truth was different.


    First off, being qualified by the appraisers and invitee was just one step. To boost the value of the goods and reassure the participants of the auction on the values of the vestiges, there was a contract every vestige-smith, who has their vestige recommended, had to sign. It was an exclusivity agreement.


    The details of the agreement went two ways, and the vestige-smith could decide which of them to go by. The first option was that the auctioned vestige would not be replicated or reproduced in another form within the next three years. The only exception to this is if the vestige-smith intended to use an upgraded version to partake in the following year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    The second option was that the vestige-smith would be granted a limited number of replica slots for five years, and not produce more than that. Usually, the number of slots was limited to seven, but could be reduced to five, depending on the Silver Fig Trade Convention organisers'' evaluation of the vestige.


    Another important detail in the agreement was that the organizers would take a seven per cent cut from the vestige. There was also a priority sell option to them if the vestige-smith chose the second option and intended to sell the replicas.


    These, as well as a few other little details, were what caught Lucas'' attention and made him refuse the invitation. Although the popularity and money he would make would have been significant, Lucas didn''t like the binding nature of the contract. He wasn''t averse to contracts, but the clauses just weren''t to his liking.


    Irrespective of whichever option it was, Lucas refused it and, as a result, didn''t use his invitation to attend the event. What point was there going, especially since the destination was an expensive area?


    Lucas changed the documents being projected into something else. This time around, it was still a document, but the details were different. This was a draft contract; an MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) sent by Lucy. The document detailed how their cooperation would go. Lucas, or rather the vestige-smith behind him, would mass produce as many vestiges as he could, and they would buy them all.


    It wasn''t a labour contract, as Novanio Tech could not determine a fixed number of vestiges Lucas would make. It was a contract of equality where whatever one side produced, the other side would buy.


    The MOU also detailed that Novanio Tech would have exclusive distribution and sales rights in the regions outside of Baylands City. This wasn''t a problem for Lucas, as he only had and operated one store, which couldn''t cover the entire city-state. The city alone was more than enough for him at the moment.


    Overall, the contract was okay, but what Lucas had a problem with was the pricing. The MOU stated that Novanio Tech would only purchase the items at a maximum price of twenty percent above market price. However, the system set the prices of the vestiges and all of them exceeded seventy percent, much less a meagre twenty percent.


    This contract might be attractive to others, but to Lucas, it was bland and out of consideration.


    Just as he thought this, Lucas'' communicator let out a ding. As he glanced at the mail, Lucas was surprised as well as delighted.


    The mail came from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League and it was a notification to inform him about the date for the exceptional basis examination.


    When Lucas had gone to the EVL building in the West Wing district before, he was rejected from the registration process as he was a human. Being an official registered vestige-smith with the league would give a ton of benefits, and it would create connections for Lucas. He would also have an official identification badge that would have him recognised as a vestige-smith.


    If he were to keep running the shop without these, it might end up troublesome at some point in the future. However, the rejection had affected his plans.


    In the end, Lucas chose the second option, which was to take the exams for exceptional individuals.


    The EVL only accepted bona-fide vestige-smiths, and the only time an exception was made would be when the applicant was a genius with potential and a passion for vestige-smithing. They would then, under recommendation from a registered vestige-smith, apply for membership on an exceptional basis. After an exam, the individual would be registered as a member if they passed.


    Failure, however, didn''t just mean that they won''t be accepted but that one could no longer try to register as a member through this method.


    The notification was a message informing Lucas of the time, date and location for the exam.


    "Central Prefecture district. I guess in the end, I''ll still be going over there today."


    The location was within the Central Prefecture district, and the date for the exam was the next day. In order not to miss it, Lucas had to depart today as the exam was in the morning of the next day.

 Chapter 114 - 114: Revisiting The Central Prefecture District

    The notification was a message informing Lucas of the time, date, and location of the exam.


    "Central Prefecture district. I guess in the end, I''ll still be going over there today."


    The location was within the Central Prefecture district, and the date for the exam was the next day. In order not to miss it, Lucas had to depart today as the exam was in the morning of the next day.


    He left to pack his things, and once done, Lucas hung a "Closed" sign on the door. As long as the sign was up, the store would be locked by the system, with only Lucas being the one capable of undoing that. After closing the store, Lucas left in the direction of the light-rail train station.


    A few hours after Lucas had left the store, a hover car parked close by, and from it, two figures descended.


    "Such a lacklustre and low-traffic area. Are you sure this is where he is?" A man asked as he walked around the place.


    "Looks can be deceiving, right? But don''t worry, sir. We''ve confirmed with a few visits that this is the place." Barry said.


    This group was roughly the same team sent by the Red Fangs for the Silver Fig Trade Convention. The only difference was that Lieutenant Mayer, who was a part of them, was sent to the auction instead of all three. The goal of these two was Lucas, but unfortunately, the latter had just departed for the Central Prefecture district.


    "It''s closed. I guess we''re late."


    . . .


    Lucas was currently in a light-rail train heading for the Central Prefecture. Light rail trains were so fast that even the 700km (434.96 miles) distance between the West Wing district and the Wastelands could be covered within thirty-five minutes.


    For the Central Prefecture district, which was about three hundred kilometres from the light-rail train station, the journey was a mere fifteen or so minutes. Nonetheless, Lucas left a short while after he got the notification because the procedure for getting into the district was strict.


    The last time Lucas was here, he was under arrest and so, did not need to go through the usual process. However, coming in as a visitor, he had to go through procedures. At the same time, Lucas decided to take a look around the district.


    With over one thousand federal coins in his possession and more to come thanks to the agreement deals he made during the convention and the maintenance works he took, Lucas wanted to enjoy himself a bit. What other better place to do so than the centre of the entire Baylands city-state?


    The light-rail train stopped at a station located just at the border of the Central Prefecture district. Stepping out of the vehicle and inhaling the air, Lucas had a sense of deja vu, which was expected as he had been here before. After enjoying the refreshing air that was almost addicting, Lucas checked out the place.


    The station was massive and well-furnished, almost like a museum. The interior design and decor were almost like they was made by a world-renowned architect. Even the chairs weren''t standard items you''d see outside.


    With paintings hung on the wall to give a vibrant touch and decorated pillars that gave off an imposing yet dignified feeling, the light-rail train station would have been a must-go tourist destination on Earth.


    The station had only two entrances and exits on opposite ends. One of them was for the light-rail trains, while the other was for civilians. In other words, as long as one came in from the outside, they could only follow a single path into the district from here on out. At the same time, if one wanted to depart the district, they would have to do so through the light-rail train exit.


    This was because the entire Central Prefecture district was covered by an invisible shield to prevent invaders.


    Unlike the other districts, the Central Prefecture district''s security was on an entirely different level. Not only did it have the headquarters of every security agency in the city, but it also had a powerful invisible barrier preventing spies and intruders from sneaking in.


    The only way to enter the district was through the light-rail train stations at the border, but getting through the gates required strict checks and searching.


    With the email from the EVL, his identification card, and some of the previous letters of recommendation he got from Harry, Lucas managed to get through the checkpoint after fifteen minutes. It took this long simply because this was his very first time. For constant visitors or citizens of the district, the checks didn''t take more than a minute but usually averaged around half a minute.


    Walking through the gates of the station, Lucas was now able to see the Central Prefecture district in its glory. The sky-high skyscrapers scattered, the aesthetic monuments set up in strategic positions, or the roads that were paved with a material comfortable to walk on, yet capable of withstanding wear and tear¡ªevery single aspect of the district spelled advanced technology.


    Even though the West Wing district was pretty advanced compared to Earth, the Central Prefecture district raised the bar up a notch.


    If you could imagine it, it probably already existed there.


    "I guess it''s time I do some exploring," Lucas said to himself.


    Ever since he arrived in this new world, he had limited himself to the West Wing district; the only exception being the mission that forced Lucas into the Wastelands. Part of the reason for his unwillingness to travel was Lucas'' weakness. But with three Bronze Grade cards in his hands now, Lucas didn''t need to worry too much.


    He opened up his communicator and activated the GPS function. The Central Prefecture district''s map, which was normally unavailable, became available as he was within the district.


    Lucas browsed through the map before finally settling on his destination; a restaurant. It was a crime to travel out and not try out the local cuisine, even more so in such a gentry-dominated environment.


    Throughout the next couple of hours, Lucas was spent trying out the district''s unique features until he got tired. He then found a motel and stayed the night. The next day would be the day of the test, so Lucas needed all the energy he could get. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 115 - 115: Oder Family

    Before 9 am, Lucas left his lodging and located the EVL head branch in Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district.


    Staring at the skyscraper that towered over one hundred floors, Lucas couldn''t help but admire the stunning building like a piece of art. Although he had seen even more massive and impressive buildings in his past lives, the architectural style of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League main branch was of a different taste.


    "What a stunning sight to see. Am I right?"


    A voice interrupted Lucas'' thoughts.


    Lucas glanced sideways to discern the speaker. It was a young boy about eighteen years or so of age. He had brown hair and amber eyes with a light smile on his face.


    "I''m Havos. Nice to meet you." The young man extended his arm and introduced himself.


    Shaking his hand, Lucas replied, "Lucas."


    "What''s a human like you doing here?" Havos asked his question after they were done with the pleasantries. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m participating in the exams. I''ve been a vestige-smith for a while now, but they won''t let me get registered, and so, here I am." Lucas explained his situation.


    "Oh. A human vestige-smith? Is that even possible?" Havos stared at him astonished.


    "Why shouldn''t it be?" Lucas countered.


    "Haha. You''re right. You''re one funny guy indeed." Havos laughed right after.


    Suddenly, the duo turned towards the side, where they noticed a young man walking towards the building. He looked to be of the same age as Havos, but unlike the latter, he had a cold bearing and an arrogant look on his face. His eyes seemed to say that all existences were beneath him as the young man ignored the bystanders and made his way forward.


    "He''s here too?" Havos suddenly appeared uncomfortable.


    "Who is he?" Curious, Lucas asked.


    "Maximillus Oder. He comes from the famous Oder family, which is a family with a deep vestige-smith history. It is said that their ancestor had studied under the guide of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith from the Bernin continent for a while. He then relocated to the Groeten continent during the expansion phase of Baylands City, some three hundred hundred years ago.


    "Maximillus is said to be a genius in blacksmithing with a high education degree in engineering. He even completed college at a Pure School at the age of 18. It''s rumoured that he''s already made his first vestige at the age of seventeen, but this hasn''t been confirmed yet.


    I''m guessing it''s true but he held back the information because he wanted to participate in the tests and stand out." Havos said with a sorrowful expression. Competing against such a talent meant that there would be no competition for first place.


    The exceptional basis exam had a ranking system. The whole point of the exam was to permit geniuses to be registered under the EVL, even if they couldn''t vestige-smith yet. At the same time, it also allowed for one to be registered as a vestige-smith in the EVL even if they had yet to meet certain standard requirements.


    The ranking system was included to identify people with better potential and talent worth investing in. It also made the exams competitive for the applicants and made them give it their all.


    As for the Oder family, it was a very influential family with a deep background. Tracing their lineage up to three hundred years in the past, and to a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, was a boastful heritage to be proud of. Although the Oder family wasn''t among the top four families, it was still a famous and powerful family.


    The Oder family had records and training manuals from the time of their ancestor and controlled a vestige-smith company as well as owned shares in a couple of vestige dealerships. They were somewhat of a behemoth in the industry.


    During the Silver Fig Trade Convention in the Central Prefecture district, the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. made a masterpiece which managed to clinch the second position. At the same time, Prestige Star Ltd was also a member of the Silver Fig Consortium.


    From this, one could see how powerful the Oder family was in the vestige industry.


    Lucas only stared once at Maximillus before turning away.


    So what if the young teen was a genius and had a college degree at 18? When he was still in his mother''s womb, Lucas was busy winning international prizes and more Earth. Before Maximillus'' father was born, Lucas was already a grandmaster. Before the Oder family''s ancestor was even born, Lucas was already a famous blacksmith; one much better than a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    Maximillus Oder might be a genius, but Lucas had seen even more absurd geniuses. A college degree at 18? He has seen someone swallow a star at 12. A college degree at 18 doesn''t sound as cool again when compared to that.


    The duo walked together without needing to make a verbal agreement. Havos kept talking about the exam and even the building, but Lucas noticed that his tone had a bit of disquietude in them. It was clear that Maximillus'' presence added a bit of pressure on him. Regardless, Lucas didn''t bother to comfort him or anything.


    Inside the building was a large waiting hall with many people present. As it turns out, Lucas, despite leaving early, was still later than most. Many were either anxious about the exam or, for one reason or another, had decided to make it to the venue extraordinarily early.


    Some of them were as young as Havos and Maximillus, while others were as ''old'' as Lucas, and some even older, although not exceeding twenty-four (24) years of age. Even though there were many vestige-smiths, there were many more who failed to succeed in wielding the title. Despite that, they still wanted to gain some benefits from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League.


    As long as they could pass the exams, they would gain access to the library of the league, which was a large pool of information that could increase their odds of being a successful vestige-smith.


    For the blacksmiths in their early to mid-20s who wanted to advance in occupation, the exceptional basis exam was their best option unless they had some sort of connection or enough financial resources and talent to apply to a Pure school.


    After waiting for a while, a man walked out from a door by the side of the hall. Lucas didn''t sense a sign of life from them and reached the conclusion that this was a robot. Robots were pretty common and used for menial tasks and roles, as they were cheap to maintain and required neither wages nor breaks.


    "Welcome everyone. As you all know, today is the day of the exceptional basis exam. For the first-timers, if you check your communicators now, you will see a message with the rules and format of the exam. You''ll be given ten minutes to go through it, after which the exam will commence."


    The robotic man went silent right after, and the first-timers like Lucas and Havos, began to check their mail. However, not all first-timers were like this, as some already knew the rules and format. For instance, Maximillus Oder.


    ''So the exam is a two-part exam, both written and technical. Well, crap.'' Lucas thought.


    Engineering was not his major on Earth, and he didn''t study that here either


    Luckily, the exam was made with consideration of the various branches in vestige-smithing: the weapons vestige-smith branch''s Forger faction and the Multiplex faction; the School of Analytical Reasoning''s Methodical faction; and various other branches.


    There was no one-size-fits-all in vestige-smithing, so the exam had to be done after proper consideration. The result was to test the basics of vestige-smithing. Stellar matrices and runes knowledge, inscription skills, analytical skills, forging techniques and so on were tested.


    When it comes to stellar matrices and runes, Lucas didn''t know any, as such knowledge was kept tight and one could only learn such in a Pure school or to study under a vestige-smith, neither of which Lucas has done.


    ''Whatever. I just need to pass, right?'' Lucas thought as he turned off his communicator.


    Soon afterwards, the ten minutes was up and the robotic man spoke up once again,


    "Any questions?"


    After waiting a short while and no response, the robot continued,


    "You should all now be familiar with the procedure of the exam. Please comply with the rules and not cheat. The punishment for cheating won''t just be a simple failure, but you will be banned by the Eretrean Vestige-smith League from practicing vestige-smithing. If it is discovered that you have broken these rules, you would be imprisoned or have your stellar refinement crippled."


    While the Vestige-smith League didn''t control vestige-smiths, they protected their interests, and in exchange, most vestige-smiths just went with their decisions as long as they were fair and weren''t extreme.


    The group of examinees walked behind the robotic male, who led them to a different hall for the first part of the exam, which was going to be a theoretical exam.


    As a science major, vestige-smithing had a lot of emphasis on theory. Just like engineering, it relied on physics, material science, chemistry and more, depending on one''s area of expertise. Apart from that, there were still the stellar energy courses like matrix and rune inscription, material refining methods, vestige-smithing techniques and so on.


    In summary, being a vestige-smith didn''t just rely on skill, but also a wealth of knowledge, and the theoretical exam tested just this.


    For many of the participants, this was the exam they were least worried about. For Lucas, this was the exam he was most worried about.

 Chapter 116 - 116: Rankings Released

    In the exam hall, Lucas sat before a table with a single small cube on it. The cube was a mini-computer¡ªmuch like a communicator¡ªbut only contained the questions for the exams. It was a foolproof device that could relay and receive questions and answers within a second.


    The cube achieved this by making the exam a silent one. All the examinee had to do was touch the cube and the questions would be projected into one''s mind. The examinee would then mentally answer the questions and the cube would capture and process their brainwave signals, before sending the answers over to the main system.


    The main system would now compile the answers, score the students and record the results.


    The cube could also take note of the changes in its surroundings, whether they be physical or astral. This would prevent the examinee from cheating even if they had a communicator with them.


    The questions were divided into two sections: the general and the specialised sections. The general section contained questions relating to basic knowledge and the know-how of vestige-smithing. The specialised section dealt with questions relating to the examinee''s focus on vestige-smithing.


    Not everyone present was interested in the same branch of vestige-smithing, so, questions for each branch would be given to the student interested in it. The EVL knew this from the form they had filled out earlier.


    For Lucas, he had selected weapon vestige-smithing. When it came to which branch he was¡ªcold or hot¡ªLucas decided to go for the cold weapons branch. So far, he has been making only cold weapons. However, picking this didn''t mean that he would go under the Forger Faction; Lucas was still intent on building a new school of thought.


    ''It''s not as bad as I thought. In the end, the physics in this world is still pretty much the same.''


    Lucas, whose eyes were closed, calmed down a bit. He proceeded to answer where he could and left empty the ones he couldn''t. Even with his thirty years on Earth, the knowledge from there was somewhat antique compared to Eretre''s; new theories had been made, phenomena discovered and much more.


    Nonetheless, Lucas was still able to do fine with his Earthly knowledge, and substituted some parts with what he knew from his first life.


    After a while, the exam was over and everyone was asked to leave the hall with the cubes remaining where they were.


    Once outside, Lucas spotted Havos walking out with a relaxed composure. He looked much better than earlier when he saw Maximillus.


    "So, how was it?" Havos asked.


    "I probably did okay." Lucas replied, unsure of how the examiners would consider his answers.


    Havos froze as he stared at Lucas, but then laughed it off. The theoretical exam was usually the easiest, and if one were to find it average or difficult, their performance onwards would usually be below par. Regardless, Havos didn''t think much about it. He didn''t know Lucas personally, so he couldn''t really judge him.


    "How did you do, Maxxy?" A voice spoke loudly, not considering the people around.


    Lucas and Havos turned to the side and spotted a flashy-dressed teen who was sporting opulent attire from head to toe. Lucas identified a vestige brand on his jacket, and the watch gave off the energy of a vestige.


    A typical communicator was just an electronic device. Very few would be powered by a stellar processor, and even fewer were made as a vestige. The latter was very expensive due to its rarity, as the vestige-smiths capable of making such were rare. Just the price alone was enough to limit those who could afford it.


    The affluent teen with black hair smiled at Maximillus as he called out to him.


    "Vergil." Havos said with a strange expression.


    "Who''s he?" Lucas asked, feeling that the information was quite important.


    "He''s similarly from a powerful family like Maximillus. However, compared to the Oder family, Vergil''s Mertens family is wealthier and more powerful. They aren''t into the vestige business, but food production and the desolate beast industry. They''re also younger than the Oder family, but thanks to their incredible line of family heads, they rose to a bigger rank than the Oder family."


    The desolate beast industry was another industry that thrived in Baylands city-state thanks to the Wastelands close by. It was the industry that encompassed the selling of desolate beasts (dead or alive), their body parts, and even their flesh. Freelancers hunt desolate beasts for their body parts, which are valuable as materials for vestige-smithing, medicine, or even food.


    Some desolate beasts'' blood could be used to produce either a life-saving medicine or even a strong alcohol.


    For instance, among the common desolate beasts, a Helokiel''s skin could be used for leather as it was much tougher than that of farm animals. A Nolkin, which had corrosive saliva and looked like a mix between a batoid and a bird, had tasty meat, and its saliva could be used to produce medicine. In the underground world, the same saliva was also used to produce a special hallucinogen that sold crazy.


    Some even used this hallucinogen as a replacement for alcohol in making wines.


    Overall, there were many utilisations of desolate beasts depending on the type, which was why the freelancer community was one of the biggest and wealthiest in existence, creating other industries from it alone. And the Mertens family was a family that capitalized on this to become a top three family in Baylands City.


    Havos continued, "I heard that their young generation has two geniuses, but one of them is a potential vestige-smith genius. The family has invested a lot in him in hopes of finally entering the vestige-smith industry. I didn''t think the supposed genius would be such a playboy."


    Lucas glanced at Vergil once again. The playboy personality didn''t come as much of a surprise to him, but it was the fact that there were so many people with deep backgrounds here. It was just his second day in the Central Prefecture district, and Lucas had already come close to two individuals from the top four families of the city and, by relation, the city-state.


    Chances were that the others around him were all from some sort of significant background, albeit not as much as Vergil and Maximillus.


    Lucas suddenly turned to Havos.


    "Who are you?"


    Havos was struck speechless by the question, but he understood and smiled lightly.


    "Me? I used to think of myself as a genius, but seeing so many others, I don''t really know. My family isn''t rich or powerful either. I''m just a guy who came all the way here through a scholarship."


    After the response, Havos asked back, "What about you?"


    "I''m human." Lucas replied.


    Havos raised an eyebrow, surprised that was his answer, but then understood. A human can never be influential or have backing in Baylands City or anywhere else, apart from Digress city-state. The answer "I''m human" was a perfect response.


    . . .


    While Lucas was taking the exam to get an official registration under the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, the Silver Fig Trade Convention auction was still underway.


    Although the auction was alluded to kick off on the sixth day, which was the previous day, that was merely the opening ceremony and formalities. Since the convention would end on the fifth day, the auction began on the evening of the sixth day, giving the participants enough time to make preparations and arrive on time.


    Some items and vestiges would be sold at the same evening, but not too many of them. The best, as always, would be left for last, which was exactly on the seventh day since the start of the Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    On this day, not only would all the approved vestiges be sold, but a ranking would also be released midway into the event. The ranking would determine the annual ranking of vestiges for the year as well as those who would be appearing in the high and mid tier regions for the convention the following year.


    For vestige-smiths, this ranking was the highlight of the event for them and mattered a lot. Only the top fifteen vestiges from each of the five districts, adding up to seventy five (75) vestiges, could participate in the auction. But the top fifty masterpieces of each district would appear in the ranking, meaning it was a top two hundred and fifty (250) ranking out of tens of thousands of vestiges.


    Sometimes, one might spot a vestige-smith saying they wouldn''t mind going celibate for a year as long as they could appear in the rankings. That was just how much they valued it.


    Roughly at the same time Lucas had concluded the theoretical exam, coincidentally, the rankings were released at the auction. Fifty vestiges had already been sold, leaving behind twenty five more. Releasing the rankings would affect the final prices of the vestiges, but with most of the weaker ones already sold, the organizers weren''t bothered.


    If anything, the rankings could even influence the final prices for the remaining twenty five vestiges positively.


    "Ladies and gentlemen," The auctioneer spoke. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Before I call out the next item, we will now release the rankings for this year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention."

 Chapter 117 - 117: Virtual World

    The top two hundred and fifty vestiges of Baylands City were announced at the auctions, and the list was uploaded to the official site. As vestige-smiths, staffs, and corporation leaders glanced at it, some rejoiced while others felt down. There were a few who didn''t have any reaction to it, but they were mainly the top companies who felt the results were expected.


    Although the rankings only judged vestiges, many used it as a way to rank vestige-smiths and vestige-smith companies; after all, if one''s best work was ranked high, it meant that their skill was stupendously remarkable.


    The top 250 had a couple of changes as those ranks were easy to subvert. In the top one hundred, there were still significant changes in some spots, but it wasn''t as much as with the top 250. The top 20 had even fewer changes, especially concerning new entries. Most on the list were all familiar names in the vestige-smith community. However, there was one new entry to the rankings this year.


    Brown Shield by Seven Sparks Forge.


    "What''s that?"


    Many questioned as they found the name of the creator, Seven Sparks Forge, to be unfamiliar. Only those in the West Wing district knew of the name and couldn''t help but be astonished.


    Many of them in the West Wing district had expected Lucas'' vestige to gain an auction qualification after beating Nicholai, and, in turn, get ranked. But this was only in terms of the district ranking, and not the city ranking that was being announced.


    "How, how did he do it?"


    At the same time, the district rankings were also dropped. When those in the West Wing district went through it, they found out that Lucas'' black shield somehow took the seventh position. It didn''t just beat last year''s eleventh place, Nicholai, but proceeded to defeat the tenth, ninth, eighth, and seventh places. For a debut, that was a spectacular achievement that even the media took notice of.


    However, while this occurred, Lucas was unaware and faced the second exam-the practical exam.


    . . .


    Just like the first exam, the second was also done on a mental plane. This was not only cheaper, but it could also ensure the accuracy of the exam and prevent cheating. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For this round, the examinees were given special VR headsets. Upon activation, their consciousness would be transferred into a virtual plane where the exam would be conducted. Since it was a virtual world, every material needed could be provided without consideration of cost, and time wasn''t an issue.


    A procedure that may take four hours could be shortened to take only thirty minutes, thanks to the time management system in the virtual world. In simpler terms, time moved faster in the virtual world.


    To ensure the accuracy of the exam, the examinee''s physical condition was mimicked close to perfection. This would ensure that the integrity of the exam in the virtual world was sustained, and there would be no complaints right after.


    Looking at the vast expanse of white space, Lucas couldn''t help but admire this futuristic technology. In this white space, anything can be created. The dead can be brought to life, the fabric of reality torn apart, and more, as long as one could imagine it, it would be so in this world.


    However, for the exam, limitations were put in place, otherwise, there would be no need for an exam if the examinee could just imagine the right answer.


    "Applicant," a voice sounded in the white world.


    "You are to attempt creating a Grade 1 vestige. The closer your attempt is to an actual vestige, the higher your score."


    "So I just need to make a vestige." Lucas was surprised. He never thought it would be that easy; however, on second thought, it wasn''t.


    The exceptional basis exam was made for two types of people. The first was the younger generation, who were potential geniuses. As they were yet to fulfil the criteria to join the EVL, the exam was made for them as a means of early access to the EVL''s resources. However, some under this age group were already qualified as vestige-smiths, but had yet to register under the EVL or graduate from college.


    The second category of individuals were those, who, for one reason or another, didn''t reach the requirements of the EVL, yet were still very skilled. Most under this category were skilled blacksmiths and engineers, who lacked the necessary and final push to become a vestige-smith.


    Usually, candidates from both categories weren''t vestige-smiths, so the exam was to make an attempt at vestige-smithing, which was very difficult. The closer one''s attempt was to a successful vestige, the higher their score. This score would then be calculated alongside the theoretical exam scores and their age¡ªsince the point of the exam was to find geniuses¡ªto give the final exam score.


    As long as one passed the cut-off mark, they would be accepted into the EVL on exceptional basis.


    Despite supposedly being difficult, for Lucas who had already made a few grade 3 vestiges worth calling a masterpiece, it was too easy. Nonetheless, there was a problem.


    "System," Lucas called out. Since it was his consciousness that was brought into this world, Lucas believed that the system has tagged along as it was rooted within him and could even access his subconscious thoughts.


    "Everly present." The system sounded.


    "Can you make the security system here fail to identify my techniques?"


    Lucas'' method of making vestiges was different from mainstream ones as it could allow even a powerless human to become a qualified vestige-smith. However, this would bring trouble to him once it was discovered, so Lucas had to do his best to keep it hidden.


    In this situation, the system that had brought him back to life twice, and given him superpowers, was his strongest support. For the system, invading a virtual world shouldn''t be a problem. It was more of whether or not it would do so, but Lucas wasn''t worried about that as he believed it would.


    "Initiating the protection sequence for the host."


    After a short while, the system''s voice sounded again.


    "Successful. Host is free to move as you please."

 Chapter 118 - 118: Sixth Place

    In a room elsewhere, a group of individuals¡ªabout eight in number¡ªwere seated staring at a display screen ahead of them. The display screen showed the virtual world of a few select participants, enabling the people in the room to spectate their actions. These men were of different age groups, but none younger than 33.


    Despite appearing ordinary, their bearing was anything but that; their backgrounds were even more awe-inspiring.


    Every single individual in the room, whether woman or man, was someone of significant wealth, influence, and background. Whether they ran companies in the vestige industry, the food industry, or even politics, they were all accounted for here. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The exceptional basis exam is held every six months, but this period''s talents are said to be the best in the last three years. How accurate is that?" A middle-aged lady who looked to be at the prime of her beauty asked as she stared at the screen.


    The lady was a second-generation heir to a conglomerate and was pretty popular in the upper circle of people in the Central Prefecture district.


    "It''s as accurate as it could ever be, Giselle." A man with a large beard replied. With red hair and a red beard, he looked as if he descended from a direct line of ancestry belonging to intimidating Vikings.


    "The little kid from the Oder family and the Mertens'' special case are among the participants this year. It''s definitely going to be a show."


    "The results of the theoretical exams are out. Let''s look at them." Someone said.


    The display screen split into two, with one side still showing some of the examinees. As for the other side, it broadcasts a list. The list contained the names of all the examinees as well as their scores from the last exam.


    "Unsurprisingly, first place is the Oder kid." The man with the red beard said as he narrowed his eyes.


    The Oder family''s business was a direct competitor of his company, and seeing a genius being raised in the family was an uncomfortable feeling.


    "Thank you for your compliments. It''s just the theory and doesn''t matter much." A young man around 27-28 years of age smiled as he sipped from a glass of wine. The young man was Maximillus'' older brother and a high-ranking manager in the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. company.


    With one of their descendants participating in the exams, it was only natural for a representative of the family to be present at the scene.


    "At second place is that playboy." The middle-aged lady, Giselle, faintly smiled.


    Her words might have seemed like nothing, but she was hinting that Vergil Mertens was closing in on Maximillus, and with the older of the Oder brothers claiming the theoretical exam was nothing, her words further implied that the gap wasn''t much between them.


    Even though the individuals in the room were gathered together and appeared to be friendly, the truth was quite different. Being from wealthy factions that controlled various industries, it was unavoidable that they would have clashed often on the business frontlines. The red-haired man''s company and the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd. were a good example.


    As for Giselle, while her family wasn''t directly into vestige-smithing, they sold and maintained hover vehicles and sares, a special kind of hover vehicle used by freelancers and government agencies operating outside the city-state. For sares, a certain branch of vestige-smiths helped maintain them.


    The Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd also had a branch company that maintained hover vehicles and sares, so the two families were competitors.


    Nothing would make her more happy today than seeing the acclaimed genius of the Oder family being brought down.


    "Hmm, who''s this kid?" A man with white hair glanced at a name on the list.


    "Lucas Yohan Saunters, a human?"


    The man was dumbfounded as he saw the word in the species section.


    "What''s a human doing here?"


    The others asked with a strange expression.


    "Not just that. Look at his score." The white-haired man said.


    "Sixth place?" Red beard exclaimed.


    For this year''s exceptional basis exam, there were sixty-four examinees, and a few of them were even repeats. For a human to take sixth place was an amazing feat. Red Beard''s exclamation was very much justified.


    "He''s probably a bookworm and sixth place is all that will get him." Someone else in the room calmly said.


    "That''s harsh. Maybe he''s trying to prove us wrong with his talent." Giselle smirked, but her eyes made it obvious that even she didn''t think so.


    While harsh, there was nothing wrong with the statement. Humans had an innate weakness when it came to stellar refinement, and due to this, they couldn''t become vestige-smiths.


    However, while the rest mocked Lucas, Red Beard had a different emotion in his eyes. He had a suspicion, but couldn''t confirm it as Lucas'' virtual world wasn''t one of the selected ones on display


    . . .


    In the virtual world, Lucas was currently creating a vestige. Since the requirement was a Grade 1 vestige, he didn''t intend on going past that. There was no reason to show off, and making a Grade 1 vestige could easily be done with the Blood Energy Circulation with little side-effects.


    Since the virtual world could mimic his body''s conditions and various scenarios, Blood Energy circulation could be replicated. If it couldn''t, Lucas would have to resort to the Soul Dismantling Spell and consume a part of his soul, but he would rather fail the test than do so. Luckily, the Blood Energy Circulation worked without a hitch.


    For the exam, Lucas didn''t put much thought into the vestige. Instead, he decided to give himself a handicap and experiment a bit. The vestige he had in mind was a gun, and it was his very first time making such in all three lifetimes. Although Lucas was familiar with the mechanics, making one was entirely different from reading about it. However, the gun he would make was not just an ordinary one.


    Gun-type vestiges, although not as common as cold weapons, were still popular in the freelancer world. Lucas'' new vestige-smith philosophy was to combine the mechanics of both types of weapons to create an all new one. He had somewhat succeeded in this with the gauntlets, which could shoot out lasers and has special boosters attached to the sides to increase the user''s punch speed.


    However, that still wasn''t enough. The philosophy Lucas had in mind was one that could perfectly combine hot and cold weapons, and not just adding a few features.


    ''Let''s give it a shot.''

 Chapter 119 - 119: First Place Is A What?

    "Time''s up."


    A voice sounded in the virtual world.


    Lucas glanced at the finished vestige before him and felt a bit satisfied. It looked like a handgun but with a futuristic appearance and strange hieroglyphs carved all over it. The weapon was powered not by bullets but by a stellar energy capsule Lucas had also created at the same time.


    This meant that even if one was a Body Strengthening stage practitioner, or even worse, a human, they could still use the vestige. However, compared to a stellar practitioner who could utilise stellar energy, their power output would be weaker and they would be using only a portion of the vestige''s real power.


    ''Doesn''t matter anyway. This is a virtual world and none of this is real.'' Lucas thought as he studied the handgun.


    Since it was a vestige created using his new theory, it wasn''t just as simple as a weapon that could shoot stellar energy lasers. Apart from the runes that could boost the power output of the rounds depending on how much stellar energy the user imbued, or the other runes with complementary features, there was one special rune inscribed on the handgun. It was called a transformation rune.


    When the transformation magic rune on the handgun was activated, it could reshape the handgun into a dagger. However, it was not just any normal dagger. As the original form of the vestige was a handgun, some of its properties would be maintained despite the modification made to it. For instance, the magic runes inscribed on it.


    While this might not sound as much when one considers that in its handgun form, the vestige''s working principle, it becomes a bit different.


    The vestige, in its handgun form, is powered by a stellar energy capsule, which can be substituted with the user''s stellar energy. Through the internal workings with the assistance of some runes, the stellar energy is compressed into a somewhat unstable pellet that is fired at great speed.


    The pellet is capable of withstanding the air resistance for a while before setting off once it exceeds its maximum tolerance level. It could also explode upon contact with an obstruction, giving it impressive firepower that could even damage the scales of a defence-type desolate beast. However, that''s not the point.


    The point is that this entire mechanic is preserved even after the handgun transforms into a dagger.


    In other words, the dagger would possess the ability to fire projectiles, albeit not as accurate or enhanced as its handgun counterpart.


    ''However, in close range, the effect is much more impressive.'' Lucas smiled.


    Hot weapons have the problem of limited power. A gun would usually produce roughly the same amount of power even if fired multiple times. One could use factors such as wind direction and speed to their advantage, especially in the case of a sniper rifle, but it''s not like the environment would always be on your side.


    That limitation also exists for gun-type stellar vestiges, and it''s more pronounced as factors such as wind can''t affect it as much. Although runes can help boost the power considerably, it remains limited. But this is entirely different.


    It is a well-known fact that the maximum velocity a bullet attains is at its muzzle. Upon exit, it begins to lose this velocity with time. Velocity, in turn, affects the power of a gun. This is because momentum is affected by velocity, and it can define how much damage a bullet can cause. This law also applies to stellar energy, as all energy possesses mass.


    If a gun was fired at point blank, it would possess its strongest force at that moment. Then imagine if it was fired from the inside of the target.


    When transformed into a dagger, the vestige could be used to pierce the target. Once successful, the user could activate the runes and fire a laser from within the target. Compared to shooting from the outside in its handgun state, the damage caused by this would be more deadly to the enemy.


    ''This should sell well in the real world.'' Lucas thought as the virtual world began to fade out of existence.


    In the next second, his consciousness recovered in his body. Lucas knew this because he could feel a weary sensation as he opened his eyes, and his soul felt different here. In the virtual world, it felt free and open, but at the moment, it was somewhat stuffy and contained.


    Taking off the headgear, he left the room filled with people just like him and exited.


    As with the theoretical test, the examinees won''t be made aware of the results just yet. Only after everything had been calculated and no cheating was confirmed, would the results be announced.


    ''System, nothing should go wrong, right?'' Lucas asked the system once he returned to the waiting lobby.


    Recalling how he had requested the system to prevent the virtual world''s artificial intelligence from monitoring him, Lucas was a bit worried that the examiners would feel something was up.


    "Host should not be afraid. The system ensured to cleanse all tracks, up until the point the vestige was completed. As it is a virtual world, cheating is almost impossible, and no one would believe that it could be hacked either, even more so by a human. The examiners would most likely summarise it as an equipment fault.''


    Lucas felt relieved by the explanation.


    "Hey, Lucas," Havos called out as he walked towards him.


    "Well, how was it?"


    "It was okay." Lucas calmly responded.


    ''Another okay?'' Havos'' lips twitched as he began to feel sad for Lucas.


    ''It was okay'' was a line used after an exam by people who usually didn''t do great. That, or a genius who felt nothing about it. But no matter how Havos looked at things, Lucas was definitely not a genius.


    "Oi, Maxxy. How did you do?" Vergil appeared once again and shouted.


    "You should stop being so obsessed with me." Maximillus glanced at him and frowned.


    "Tch. You don''t always have to be so stuck up. Chill out, party a bit more often, and hang out with the ladies." Vergil grinned.


    "I wonder what your sister thinks about your lifestyle."


    Vergil froze at the comment and gritted his teeth, before walking away with a huff.


    In the Mertens family, there are currently two geniuses in the younger generation. One of them was the family''s first-ever vestige-smith genius, who was Vergil. However, the other was a stellar practitioner genius and Vergil''s older sister, Laura Mertens.


    Born with an m(o)DNA count of 27%, Laura was termed a destined genius from birth. With such bloodline purity, it meant that she could boost it using m(z)DNA serums to get a total mDNA concentration of up to 30%. 30% was the hallmark requirement to reach the peak of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Every family head, famous freelancer, and even the city lord had at least this much mDNA concentration in their body. In other words, Laura was a potential family head figure.


    Being born with potential was one thing, but she exhibited the skills and growth rate of a genius. It was said that Laura achieved the first level for the Apertures Opening stage at fourteen. At the age of sixteen, she had already reached the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, a level that most would get to in their early or mid-20s. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When Laura was eighteen, she was well into the third level. At the age of twenty, Laura had achieved the fourth-level status.


    At the moment, she was currently twenty-four years old, and not much was known about Laura''s stellar level. But by following the pattern of progress every two years, it was estimated that she was at the sixth level. Even if one were to consider the fact that going higher became more difficult as of the fourth level, she would still be at least at the fifth level.


    With such a sibling older than him, it was rumoured that Vergil was overshadowed by her brilliance and had focused more on vestige-smithing rather than stellar refining, as he saw no chance to surpass her. Many also suggested that his bad boy behaviour was his act of rebellion against the ''treatment'' he received from his family.


    As for what was true or false, only Vergil and the direct family members of the Mertens family knew, but that didn''t stop Maximillus from attacking him.


    Lucas took all this in strides and didn''t think much about it. Second, third or fourth generation rich kids¡ªeven one-hundredth generation- Lucas had seen all. He could surmise, from his experience, that the upper class was a murky water.


    After a few minutes of waiting, it was time for the results to be announced, but there was a delay in the examiners'' room.


    "What did you say?!" A man in a white gown roared at the humanoid robot before him.


    Despite being a robot, the humanoid being actually displayed signs of fear at the man as it stuttered.


    "F, f, first place, is a human."

 Chapter 120 - 120: Level Up

    "First place is a what?"


    Inside the room, which held the main processor system for collating the examinees'' results, a man in a lab coat stared at the humanoid robot as it informed him of the final scores.


    "F, first place is a human." The robot, which looked just like a male teenager, stuttered.


    Although it was a machine, it was a high-end product equipped with emotional reaction capabilities and a special algorithm known as ''Reading the room'', which allowed it to act more hyuman. The robot could sense and process the man''s emotions, reacting in the most proper way that would make it seem emphatic. In this case, it was now truly afraid.


    "How the heck did a human get first place?! How am I supposed to announce these results? How the gaggle-lore am I supposed to explain this?" [1] The man roared.


    "Do you think anyone would believe these results? There''s the genius of the Oder family, the Mertens'' star child, Master Bolks'' personal disciple, Kalerka Pure College''s number-one student in the last decade, and so many other freaking geniuses. How do you think their backers would feel once they hear that a human outperformed them? Who would even believe this crap?!"


    No matter how the chief examiner looked at it, it was just ridiculous. A human being taking sixth place in the theory was already strange enough, but not entirely impossible. However, to take first place in the practical was practically impossible. The craziest part wasn''t just a human doing so well in the exam, but surpassing certified geniuses who participated alongside him.


    No logic, mystery, or magic could explain it. Even Digress city-state didn''t have any human vestige-smiths despite having figured out a cheat code to improve their stellar energy level. So, even if the main system had calculated the results and given them to him, he refused to accept them.


    The humanoid robot kept silent, but in truth, it was calculating plausible explanations or a justification for this incident. There were two possible conclusions it had calculated.


    The first was that Lucas had cheated in the exam, but that was impossible as the technology was foolproof. The virtual world was a technology the Baylands City''s EVL branch got from the head office in the Bernin continent. The only way to cheat was to hack the system, but doing such was incredibly taxing and difficult.


    What''s more, how could a young adult human male pull it off without anyone noticing something strange?


    The second possibility was an equipment fault. However, the robot had conducted a test of all the pieces of equipment and found nothing wrong. It then decided to check the footage of the virtual world to see if it could notice something strange.


    Suddenly, its eyes flickered.


    The man in a lab coat had been paying attention to it as he knew it was trying to figure out an explanation. Seeing the change in expression, he hurriedly asked,


    "What did you find?"


    The robot blinked its eyes and responded.


    "The recording of the vestige-smithing process is nonexistent. It seems like a fault occurred at that moment, and so, there is no footage available."


    "Damn it." The man cursed.


    None of them suspected Lucas for this. The idea that a human could tamper with the footage of the virtual world was as absurd as an ant lifting a planet on its back.


    After a bit of thought, the man''s eyes glistened.


    "Release the results, but place that human kid in twenty-third place."


    There were sixty-four examinees, so having the human take twenty-third place, although unbelievable, was still not as bad as first place. At the same time, such a ranking would draw attention to him. This was because the top twenty were those who had either successfully made a vestige or their final product was 90% close to a real Grade 1 vestige.


    Being just three places behind would mean that Lucas was lacking only a little, but not a vestige-smith. This made sense, as a young human couldn''t be a vestige-smith. However, being a skilled blacksmith was still doable.


    If Lucas wanted to argue the result, who would believe him? A human, making a vestige? That sounded like the joke of the century.


    Placing twenty-third was already impressive, and since everything was in a virtual world, there was no evidence that he had made a real vestige. The examiner also had the right to decide whether or not to release the footage, and deciding not to do so would not be seen as an issue by the others, and that was all that mattered.


    "What about first place?" The robot asked.


    "Who''s second?"


    "It''s a tie between Maximillus Oder and Vergil Mertens."


    The man was surprised by this but then sighed with relief.


    The two individuals were from top families that could somewhat influence even the EVL branch in Baylands City. Having their descendants caught in a tie was a safe bet. It could also motivate the two to become true rivals, and maybe the city would witness the birth of two more Tier 1 Masters. Tier 1 Masters were hard to come by, and Sofoklis was the most recent one in the last four years.


    "Release the results as they are." The man ordered.


    . . .


    "What''s going on? Why haven''t they released the results yet?"


    A commotion burst out in the viewing room filled with powerful individuals and the waiting room for the examinees. It usually takes less than fifteen minutes after the exam has been concluded for the results to be released. But thirty minutes had gone by, and there was still no sign of it. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sorry for the delay." The robot who had spoken with the examinees at the start arrived.


    "I will now display the results."


    Meanwhile, Lucas wasn''t paying attention because he had just received a notification from the system.


    [[Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: The One Above All.


    Mission Description: Take first place in a vestige-smith registration exam.


    Rewards: Random precious materials x10, Special ability card x1]]


    The notification was pleasing, however, it wasn''t that notification that got Lucas'' attention but the next one.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for leveling up the system. Inventory expansion takes place. One new system ability granted. Host can now earn system coins per mission.


    Rewarding 10 system coins. One drop of Icarus'' tears. ]]

 Chapter 121 - 121: Icarus Tears

    [[ Congratulations on completing the hidden achievement: The One Above All.


    Mission Description: Take first place in a vestige-smith registration exam.


    Rewards: Random precious materials x10, Special ability card x1]]


    The notification was pleasing, however, it wasn''t that notification that got Lucas''attention but the next one.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for leveling up the system. Inventory expansion takes place. One new system ability granted. Host can now earn system coins per mission.


    Rewarding 10 system coins. One drop of Icarus'' Tears. ]] S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Finally.'' Lucas felt glad.


    It had been almost a month since the previous time the system had levelled up, which also happened to be its first. With this, the system was now level 2, and that meant three levels left until level 5, which was a turning point for Lucas.


    ''In this one month, I''ve four missions; one of those was forced, two were in line with its programming or so the system would. As for the last, it was actually a hidden achievement. The levelling requirement is either dependent on the number of missions or how many experience points the system gets from them, if any at all.'' Lucas analysed.


    For so long, Lucas had been trying to figure out how to level the system up faster, but the system didn''t give him any information on that except to keep completing missions. What''s worse was that there was no progress bar, so Lucas couldn''t monitor his progress or witness the value of his efforts.


    He had almost given up and decided to just keep going along with the system, but this experience helped him to have a slight understanding about how things worked.


    ''A hidden achievement. If I''m correct, the experience points the system gains from this should be more, seeing as the rewards are quite different from the usual.''


    Lucas had ignored the description of the hidden achievement as he felt nothing about it. First in the exams? That was a given.


    Although he wasn''t confident about the theoretical exam, when Lucas had stepped in for it, he was surprised it wasn''t as difficult as he had expected. Some of the laws, principles and practices were similar to those on Earth and even his first world''s. However, there were still those Lucas knew nothing about, which made him not confident about his result.


    As for the practical exam, if Lucas took second place, who would dare take first place?


    Even if he had held back and used the exam as an opportunity to experiment, the stellar energy purity of the Grade 1 vestige Lucas made was on another level. Based on vestige duel standards, it had an Alpha reading Grade 1 with a final class reading of Median Orange, which meant it was close to a premium model vestige. Premium models began from a final class reading of Deep Orange and above.


    For these first-timers and even the examinees who knew how to make a Grade 1 vestige, creating something on the level of Orange was a dream. Even the best amongst them could barely achieve a standard of Deep Red.


    With such a wide margin in the most important aspect of the exams, it would be easy for Lucas to close the gap created in the theoretical exam and snatch first place. As such, he never worried about it. Instead, he had his interest on the rewards from the notifications.


    ''Special ability card?''


    Lucas opened his inventory and saw a card much like the Bronze Grade card, but of a different colour and design.


    A short detailed description of the card appeared once he tapped on it.


    [[ Special Ability Card: For a limited time, possess a random superpower with limited effects. ]]


    In the next second, Lucas ignored the card and searched for the other item.


    A random superpower with limited effects? That could be good or bad. If anything, Lucas felt it was almost useless.


    What if he was in a near-death scenario and the random superpower was the ability to tell good jokes? Whose life could that save?


    Turning his to the other rewards, Lucas was now pleased.


    The ten random items all seemed to glow from his inventory screen and they possessed a strange energy around them. They were definitely valuable materials and good for vestige-smithing. Some might even be better than the Purple Iridium ingots he had, and those almost cost Lucas his life.


    ''That reminds me, I need to pay those guys back for all the special treatment.'' Lucas thought.


    The next item he checked out were the system coins.


    When Lucas had first levelled up the system, he had unlocked the system shop. The system shop was a feature tied to his system. On the shop were special items with unique properties that Lucas could purchase. However, he needed system coins to do so, but there was no way to earn them. Seeing the notification and the coins in his inventory, Lucas finally understood.


    Based on the prices in the store, ten system coins could get Lucas a few items there.


    The final physical reward Lucas received from the system was the unique item called Icarus'' Tears, of which he only got a single drop.


    Glancing at the description for the item, Lucas almost stumbled despite standing.


    ''This, this, damn!''


    Lucas couldn''t believe his eyes.


    [[ Icarus'' Tears: A unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug, or a potion to change one''s physical condition. Consuming in its raw form would grant the user a random percentage of gaining a mysterious superpower related to transcendence. ]]


    The contents of the description tab was breathtaking, but what caught Lucas'' eyes was a certain phrase: a potion to change one''s physical condition.


    This was a material that could be used to fix Lucas'' special condition.


    Suddenly, Lucas had a thought. To confirm this, he asked the system.


    ''System, is this what you meant by waiting until level 5? After each level, I would get a material to make the potion, am I right?''


    "Host has finally unlocked his inner wisdom. Yes." The system responded.


    Lucas'' lips twitched at those words, but he understood that it was the system''s way of telling him that he was right. There were three more levels to go which meant three more materials needed to make the potion.


    However, Lucas was somewhat tempted by the last line. Consuming the drop of Icarus'' Tears would grant him a mystic superpower, and with how the superpower is said to be related to transcendence, it definitely wasn''t an ordinary one.


    Nonetheless, Lucas held back the temptation. Gaining the ability to use stellar energy was more important than having a random superpower. With stellar refinement, he would eventually wield a superpower once he reached the tenth level.


    While he was thinking this, Lucas overheard a few shouts.


    ''It seems like the result has been released.'' Lucas thought as he moved his line of sight from the invisible system interface to a hologram that was recently projected in the air.


    "What the fuck?"

 Chapter 122 - 122: Questioning The Decision

    Having lived two lifetimes, witnessed the rise and fall of multiple empires and famous individuals, himself included, Lucas had subconsciously believed that nothing could shock him into cursing. That was until today.


    "What the fuck?"


    Staring at the displayed results, Lucas was left with his mouth wide open.


    When he first glanced at the list and failed to spot his name in first place, it took Lucas only half a second to understand what had happened. An act of speciesism which he was already familiar with. However, even witnessing such unfair treatment, Lucas held back any complaints and kept scanning the list for his name.


    What mattered to Lucas was passing the test so he could get registered under the EVL. As for his position in the test? That didn''t matter. There was no reward for being recognised as first place by the EVL, and the system had already given Lucas his rewards for achieving first place. So, public recognition wasn''t necessary.


    However, Lucas was stunned to see that he was given the twenty third place; not because of its distance from first, but that he had been made to fail the exam. Beside his name on the display screen, there was an intimidating red word floating beside.


    Failed.


    This was the source of Lucas'' anger; not the fact first place was taken from him or that he was given the twenty third place. But rather, for an exam he had performed undeniably so well in, Lucas was made to fail it.


    "I can''t accept this."


    At the same time, some were rejoicing while many were disappointed. Only the top twenty had managed to pass the exam. This wasn''t to say that there was a limit set, but coincidentally, only twenty people had performed just enough to pass.


    "I got in." Havos rejoiced as he glanced at his name on the twelfth spot.


    When he began looking for Lucas'' name and saw it on the twenty third spot, he was astonished.


    ''He''s amazing.'' Havos thought.


    He wasn''t mocking him but was truly stunned. One should know that the top five spots after twentieth places all scored at least 70%. The score attached to Lucas'' name was 77%, meaning he was just 3% away from the pass mark of 80%. He was infinitely close to the level of a vestige-smith. For a human being, this was something to be proud of.


    Only the greatest human blacksmiths could cross that gap and succeed in making a Grade 1 vestige, and Lucas looked to be close to that level.


    Without the blessing of using stellar energy, he had surpassed forty one of the other examinees, and was so close to making a real vestige. Compared to a hyuman vestige-smith, a human blacksmith who could make a Grade 1 vestige was even rarer and well respected. This was because for them to achieve such, their talent, hard work and efforts were more than ten times that of others.


    ''Maybe in a few more years with some practice, he would finally do it.'' Havos thought as he glanced at Lucas. But then he seemed to spot an expression of anger and frustration on the latter''s face.


    ''I guess he''s unwilling, huh?'' Havos thought as he patted Lucas'' shoulder.


    "Don''t be so down. If it makes you feel any better, you''re the best human blacksmith I''ve ever seen. You''re really close to the mark as well. You know what, once I get in, I''ll borrow a few books and materials to help you realise your goal." Havos said. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Lucas ignored him. Instead, he glanced at the robot who had been in charge of the examinees.


    "Excuse me."


    Lucas'' voice broke the murmurs and sounds of celebration in the hall, drawing attention towards him.


    "What is it?" The robotic man asked. It recognised Lucas as it held the information of the students in its memory.


    "Are you sure these results are correct?" Lucas asked.


    The entire hall suddenly went silent.


    This was the first time in years since one had doubted the results of the exam. Even those from significant backgrounds did their best not to do so. For instance, despite coming to a draw with Vergil which affected his pride, Maximillus Oder didn''t question the results and only settled with it.


    Unlike other associations, companies and so on, The Eretrean Vestige-smith League wasn''t a Baylands city-state existence. It was an association that wielded power all over the planet and was based in the Bernin continent, the home of the Oklo Dynasty who were rulers of the planet.


    The EVL, despite claiming to be a guild designed to simply protect vestige-smiths, had quietly developed a significant influence and force. Even if they couldn''t utilise this power as they wished, it became a dissident to any malicious thoughts. Many parties would rather not give them the opportunity to do so.


    "What do you mean by that?" The robot asked.


    "You should very well know what I mean, or better yet, where is the chief examiner?" Lucas stared at it.


    The robot was confused as to why a candidate would challenge the authority, even more so a human being. He had failed and that was expected. However, his performance was much better than many others.


    ''To think he wouldn''t be satisfied.'' The robot thought.


    It wasn''t aware of what had happened in the examiners'' room as the chief examiner had wanted to keep things under the wraps and limit the number of entities aware of the truth.


    "Candidate, please refrain from any false accusations or outbursts, otherwise you''d be mete with punishment."


    "I would like to speak to the chief examiner or whoever is in charge." Lucas didn''t give up.


    "Shut your mouth, you insolent worm." A young man coldly said.


    Being frustrated with scoring behind the dandy known as Vergil, and the Oder family''s Maximillus, the young man was further annoyed with Lucas speaking out of place. If someone such as him had settled with the results, who was the latter to speak out?


    Lucas glanced at the young man who spoke. He looked handsome and had brown hair. But his eyes were clearly cold and filled with arrogance and disdain. Lucas recalled him as Havos had once introduced the individual to him before. The young man was the disciple of a certain Master Bolks had taken second place in the exam; only behind Maximillus and Vergil, and was of the same age grade as they were.


    Master Bolks was a famous Tier 1 Master vestige-smith in Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district. In the just concluded Silver Fig Trade Convention, the Oder family''s Prestige Star Ltd had taken second place whereas Master Bolks had clinched the fourth position. This irritated his disciple and the latter swore to regain their atelier''s honour in this exam.


    However, he had failed to do so which made him more irate than usual.


    Luca only took a quick glance at the young man before ignoring him and facing the robot once again.


    Argue with a spoiled brat? What value would that bring him?


    "As I was saying, I would like to speak with the head examiner."


    "You...!" The young man raised his hand and pointed furious at Lucas.


    The robot was beginning to find Lucas annoying, but as this was the first time it had encountered someone who questioned the decisions, it didn''t know what to do. In the end, it sent a message to the chief examiner, the man in a lab coat.


    "You bastard, self-obsessed ingrate. Who do you think you are to ignore me when I''m speaking?" The young man roared as he began to make his way towards Lucas.


    "You''re a dirty human. You should be glad you managed to clinch the twenty third spot on the list, yet you bring it question? That''s right. It''s probably even a mistake. How can an existence as useless as yourself even be that spectacular? Yet, rather than celebrating a mistake in your favour, you bring it to question.


    Who do you even think you are?"


    By the time the young man had concluded his rant, he was face to face with Lucas.


    At this point, Lucas had enough.


    *Pa*


    A resounding sound echoed as the young man had his face staring at the floor in stupor. The other examinees who were witnessing the situation were stunned silly and Havos was almost about to convulse at the sight.


    Lucas had slapped the young man.


    "A word more and it won''t just be a slap." Lucas coldly said.


    Ignoring the fact that the young man was just eighteen years of age, which was five years younger than Lucas'' current body, his strength wasn''t much to speak of and was only at the peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Not everyone could be like Laura Mertens who was at the third level when she was eighteen.


    For someone who could barely be called an adult and was still at the first level, Lucas didn''t see any reason to hold back. His background? And so what? As long as Lucas didn''t kill or maim him, nothing would happen to him. One should know that Lucas was currently under the surveillance of the Red Fangs.


    The Red Fangs, despite being under the same power, were different from the City Patrol Corps that have to consider backgrounds and the likes. Harming someone under their protection or surveillance without any justification or right would bring trouble to the assailant even if they were from a significant background.


    The robotic male took all of this into attention, but didn''t do anything to stop it. Why? Because there was no reason to do so. The fight between examinees and the next generation of future leaders had nothing to do with it.


    "You-" The young man roared and lifted his head but what greeted him was a punch to the face.


    He tried to dodge it but the fist was like a snake, moving deftly and appearing in his line of motion.


    *Bam*


    Compared to the slap, the punch carried more force and sent the young man back a few steps, almost falling to the floor if he hadn''t regained his balance at the last moment.


    At this point, everyone was dumbfounded by Lucas'' guts. Even Havos stared at him from head to toe, wondering if this was the young man who replied "okay" nonchalantly each time he asked how he did in the exam.


    ''B-bad ass.''

 Chapter 123 - 123: Rejected

    "Hey, you guys should take it easy."


    At this point, some others stepped into the matter and tried to calm both sides.


    There were those who were disgusted at Lucas for his actions, but having seen how he beat down the young man, not caring that he was a disciple of Master Bolks, they decided not to intervene. In their opinion, Lucas was done for. Only those who didn''t want to see the situation spiral out of control had stepped forward. One of them was surprisingly Vergil Mertens.


    "Oi, oi, that''s enough." Vergil glanced at the young man who was itching for a fight.


    "Get out of my way." The young man glared.


    "You started it by cursing at him out of nowhere. From the start, his act of questioning the results has nothing to do with you, yet you interfered. You''ve received your punishment and that''s enough. Go sit down and cry elsewhere." Vergil waved him off.


    "Don''t shit with me you, fucking bastard!" The young man roared.


    Vergil froze at those words. In the next second, his aura changed from that of a dandy who played with women and spent money without regard, to an experienced freelancer who had cold blood running through his veins.


    "Hey, say that again."


    The young man jolted and held back his tongue.


    Unlike him, Vergil was already in the second level, and he was a descendant of a powerful family. The Mertens family didn''t deal in vestige-smithing like the rest of them, but was into the beast industry. To succeed in this industry, one didn''t just buy and sell beast parts; they also had to hunt. As such, the Mertens had their own freelancer organisation.


    It was said that their family members -especially direct descendants- would be sent to work there at least for a year to garner experience, just as certain countries would have their youths participate in a compulsory military service. This was usually at the age of 17.


    Vergil was eighteen years old this year, which meant that he had already participated in his compulsory service. Whether it be strength or battle experience, the young man definitely couldn''t compare to him.


    "Tch. This isn''t over." The young man snorted before walking away.


    Just as things began to cool down, a couple of footsteps were heard. The eight individuals from the viewing room who held real power, unlike the younglings participating in the exam, had finally appeared.


    "Looks like I was right. There seems to have been a clash." The red haired man, who was nicknamed Red Beard, smiled as he took a look around.


    All eight of them had significant stellar energy power levels. Even the weakest of them was at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage, while the strongest were closing in on the seventh level. For experts of their calibre, they could sense the commotion from a distance, but didn''t rush to interfere. Instead, they felt that such fights were necessary to help foster their juniors.


    Competition breeds growth, and what better way to create rivalry than a fight or an argument?


    Giselle, Red Beard, Maximillus'' older brother, the white haired man who had noticed Lucas and four others smiled as they scanned the area. However in the next second, they froze.


    From the looks of things, none of the reputable individuals were involved except for the young man who was Master Bolks'' disciple and Vergil Mertens. From the way the crowd arranged themselves, those two seemed to be the centre of attention. No, not the centre, rather they were close to it. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Reading the room more carefully, their attention was drawn towards a black haired young man who had a calm appearance on his face. As they studied him, their spiritual senses went off. This usually happened when the target of focus was one who lacked enough mDNA to create a synergy, and was defined as a human.


    Hyumankin differed from human beings in more than just physical differences like a different eye or hair colour. There was also a spiritual difference. It couldn''t be explained with words, but hyumans could resonate with one another at a mere glance. They could feel that the other was one of them.


    It was theorized that this was an effect of the mDNA reaching a significant concentration in one''s body. In other words, hyumans with an mDNA concentration of less than this value, which happened to be 10%, could not generate this resonance with a hyuman with a higher concentration. This was why hyumans with an mDNA concentration of 10% or less were typically not considered as hyumans but humans.


    "A human? Interesting." Giselle licked her lips.


    "What could have happened with a human at the centre of it all?" One of the eight muttered.


    At the same time, the man in the lab coat arrived from a different entrance.


    "Who is the little brat causing a scene?"


    When the man arrived, he glanced at Lucas. He already knew who the ''troublesome'' fellow was.


    "What''s the problem?" Red Beard man suddenly asked.


    The man in white lab coats glanced at the group and understood that they seemed interested in the matter. Albeit irritated by this, he kept his composure.


    "Someone''s questioning the results despite not being aware of his own limitations."


    Once they heard this, the group finally understood the situation. The human probably failed the exam but refused to accept the results.


    "Haha." Red Beard laughed.


    "Kid, do you think you''re a miracle worker? Stop raising a fuss and go whine about things at home."


    Compared to Lucas'' physical age which was twenty three years old, Red Beard was in his early 30s, so addressing Lucas as a kid wasn''t wrong.


    "He might have a point though." The older of the Oder brothers suddenly said.


    "Hmm?"


    "Let''s ignore his for a second and even look elsewhere. It''s very weird for an exam to end in a tie. When was the last time such has happened? Im fact, has it ever happened before? We''ve had previous generations of geniuses appear at once, but never has it ended in a tie. Why today then?


    Of course, this is just my mere speculation."


    When phrased like that, those words began to shake some. Indeed. The scoring system of the exams were so precise and rigid that it was almost impossible for two individuals to get the exact same scores at the end. It might be possible to do so for the theoretical exam, but the practical exam''s grading sequence made it impossible for such to happen.


    What''s more, Maximillus had taken the lead in the theory, so saying that he had lost out in the practical to tie with Vergil was scarcely credible. This would mean that Vergil''s vestige-smithing skill was much better than his, but this was an outlandish thing to say out loud. One was from a family of merchants while the other from a generational line of vestige-smiths.


    When looked from this perspective, the exam would show signs of possible meddling.


    ''What the heck is wrong with you guys? I admit there''s meddling, but it is in your favour.'' The man cursed silently.


    It was absurd to think that the people he wanted to help save their faces were now accusing him of manipulation.


    "This can easily be solved by showing you the scoring sequence, and their performance in the virtual world and in the theoretical exam." The man said.


    Seeing how confident he looked, the doubts lessened as the group decided to forget about it.


    "No worries. I was just merely considering things from his point of view. I have never doubted the league''s judgement." The older of the Oders said with a faint smile on his face.


    Lucas couldn''t stomach watching these people play intellectual games as it had nothing to do with him, so he interrupted them.


    "Chief examiner, I would like to see the scoring sequence for my exam. Since you can offer to present it to those who aren''t related to the exam, there should be no problem for an examinee to go through it."


    The man froze, and the eight individuals who had arrived were similarly stunned. Even the other examinees were surprised at Lucas'' guts. The statement might have seemed simple, but it put the man in a tight spot. Unless he wanted to pass on the idea that the EVL has something to hide or was unfair in its conduct, he would have to let Lucas view the grading scheme.


    However, if Lucas did so, he would see that there were signs of meddling in the results, and that would affect the man''s reputation greatly as well as the integrity of the test. Past examinees and even the present ones could sue, and the reparations would be costly.


    "Normally, I wouldn''t mind, but for your case, there''s no need. It''s merely a waste of time and energy, so leave now while I''m still being nice." The man not only flat out denied but also pursued Lucas away.

 Chapter 124 - 124: Chased Out

    "Normally, I wouldn''t mind, but for your case, there''s no need. It''s merely a waste of time and energy, so leave now while I''m still being nice." The man not only flat out denied but also pursued Lucas away.


    "He''s right, young man. It''s about time to call this a day." Giselle said.


    Lucas was incensed, but he was trying to think of what to do. He couldn''t prove them wrong by making a vestige on the scene as that would then raise suspicions of him being a spy from Digress.


    Although all thirteen city-states of Eretre were under the rule of the Oklo Dynasty, they were semi-autonomous states and were free to compete against each other. Naturally, apart from the thirteenth state, Oklo, the other eleven city-states had pushed Digress city-state to the side.


    The reason for this was a mix of bias birth out of their contempt for humans, alien species and mixed races, especially those who didn''t appeal to the standard aesthetics. At the same time, it was due to a certain suspicion of theirs.


    Most of the terrorist groups in the galaxy were usually one of the three or even a combination of two or more. The Digress city-state, which acted as a safe-house for these three groups, goes without saying became a suspect of harbouring terrorists. If it weren''t for the protection of a certain faction in the Oklo Dynasty, they might have been invaded by the other eleven city-states.


    Being associated with such a force would no doubt bring bad public opinion to Lucas, even if he was a legal citizen and not a spy. However, there was no information on his registration documents that indicated that Lucas was from Digress city-state, so be would most likely be treated as a spy if some sort of connection surfaced up.


    In this case, that connection would be his vestige-smithing techniques.


    One might wonder why Lucas participated in this exam if a human who could vestige-smith can be suspected to be related to Digress city-state, the reason was simple: not all humans were suspects. Although it was supposedly impossible for human beings to be vestige-smiths, human blacksmiths with enough experience and skill could create a Grade 1 vestige. However, this was their limit.


    Coincidentally, the requirement to pass the exam was just that. So, as long as Lucas passed it, he wouldn''t be suspected of having a mysterious technique with relation to Digress city-state, and would just be taken as a genius blacksmith who had reached the limit of his potential.


    ''It looks like I won''t be getting registered.'' Lucas thought. ''Or so I would say. If a regular blacksmith can do it, why can''t I?''


    Lucas stared at the man without moving an inch.


    "You said I failed and the others ahead of me passed, am I right?"


    "Excluding the twenty first and twenty second places, you are right." The chief examiner said while being slightly confused by Lucas'' actions. However for some reason, he became anxious.


    "That means as long as I can beat any one of them in a vestige duel, that proves you wrong, right?"


    The crowd was speechless at the question. A vestige duel was a traditional rite of challenge used to determine the better of two or more vestige-smiths in a face-off. Due to the traditional meaning attached to it, the result of a vestige duel was held as the ''truth''.


    If Lucas wanted to prove the chief examiner wrong, what better way to do that than using the ''truth''? S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It seems you didn''t understand me before. I will no longer tolerate your childish acts. Leave now." The man said.


    The virtual world surveillance system had failed to identify how Lucas had done it, but there was no doubt that the vestige he made was a Median Orange class reading. If he pulled it off here, the exam results would be laced with suspicion, and the man would have his dignity and reputation affected negatively. There was no way he would let that happen.


    "Security, please escort the young man out."


    A robot on the side received the command and walked towards Lucas.


    No one spoke on Lucas'' behalf although some of them were interested in seeing what he wanted to do. Offending the EVL for a human was not worth it.


    Seeing the robot beside him, Lucas frowned for second and stared at the chief examiner. In the end, he left the building calmly. It was clear that the chief examiner had purposely set him up and trying to force his way would cost Lucas more than he would gain.


    Lucas wasn''t like those webnovel main characters who would make a stupid decision for the sake of their pride and then be on the run for years; it wasn''t worth it.


    Ten years isn''t too late for a gentleman''s revenge.


    This was one of Lucas'' motto is his past life and to would be coming into effect again in this life.


    Outside the building, Lucas was the only one there. A congratulations ceremony was usually organised for the successful examinees, and it was open even for the candidates who failed to spectate. The majority of them would all be gathered there at this moment, so Lucas was the only one out.


    "So this is how society in this world feels like? Logic doesn''t have a place in the system when pit against prejudice and disdain. I''m really pissed right now."


    "A suggestion to the host would be to find a stress releasing mechanism or exercise." The system''s voice sounded.


    It was quite rare to find the system being so considerate.


    "Hmm, I think I know just how to do that. But first, I need to lose a little weight." Lucas said as he departed from the building.


    In a cafe opposite the EVL building, two men sat quietly and with a cup of coffee opposite the other.


    "He''s left the building." One of them said.


    "Check out what happened in there. I''ll follow him." The other man said.


    "Alright."


    The two then calmly stood up, left the bill for the drinks on the table and exited the building.

 Chapter 125 - 125: Meeting Kalvin Petri of Vinis Pawnshop

    The notification message inviting Lucas for the exceptional basis exam had granted him a three day pass in the Central Prefecture district. As this was the first time he was here -not counting his arrest- Lucas decided to make the most out of the time and visited a bunch of places.


    Finally on the third day, Lucas departed the district.


    ''The difference between the Central Prefecture district and the West Wing district is really large. Not even considering the difference in air quality, the technological advancements and prices alone are quite scary.''


    Lucas sighed at the situation as he stepped into the light-rail train departing the district.


    ''Still on me, huh?''


    A few steps behind Lucas, one man approached the same train. He wasn''t the only one as there were a few others doing the same, but Lucas could clearly sense something different from him.


    Firstly, most of those leaving the Central Prefecture district were visitors, as the denizens rarely had any reason to do so. It was like comparing a first and third world country. Citizens of the latter would often migrate to the former, but you barely spot a situation where the opposite occurs.


    Second, the majority of visitors who arrived into the Central Prefecture district recently and were departing exactly at this time were those who participated in the exceptional basis exam. In other words, they were all either vestige-smiths or vestige-smiths in training. Being one himself, Lucas could easily differentiate people like him from normal folks in a single glance.


    The third was that the man''s stellar energy level was much higher and stronger than the others. It was like the difference between a layman and an expert.


    Apart from the man directly behind Lucas, there was also someone else with a similar build by the side.


    ''Two, huh?'' Lucas thought.


    He could easily guess where they were from.


    After the incident with Ramirez''s gang and the terrorist attack on the students, the Red Fangs had hunted down the underground gangs, but Ramirez managed to escape with his group. The Red Fangs then placed Lucas under their secret surveillance in hopes that Ramirez would target Lucas. If that happened, they would now be able to track him down.


    However, Lucas didn''t like being bait for someone else''s plan. Most of all, he knew that Ramirez wouldn''t easily fall for this. At the very least, there had to be no one monitoring him for that plan to work. But if that happened, the Red Fangs wouldn''t be able to track Ramirez down.


    Nonetheless, Lucas had his own plans.


    The ride back to the West Wing district was smooth and without trouble. When it was time to depart, Lucas came down from the train but didn''t head back to his store. Instead, he decided to visit an old ''friend''; the manager at the Vinis pawnshop.


    The two agents carefully followed after him, but unbeknownst to them, Lucas was already aware of this. In fact, he intended to make use of their presence to aid his plans.


    . . .


    "Welcome to the Vinis pawnshop." The clerk greeted Lucas as she saw him arrive. Unlike most stores, the Vinis pawnshop still hired hyumans.


    The clerk stared at Lucas, not finding him familiar which was understandable as she wasn''t the one who attended to Lucas at his first visit. Regardless, she managed to notice something different about him.


    ''A human?'' She thought as she recalled an instruction from her boss when she was recently hired.


    "Jenny, if a human with black hair, black eyes and a somewhat handsome yet cold face comes around, let us know. Take a look at his image and keep it memorised in your head."


    ''I think he fits the description.'' Jenny the clerk thought as she compared Lucas'' appearance to the image she was shown then.


    "How can I help you today?"


    She sneakily clicked a button hidden under the desk.


    "I need to speak with the manager. I think his name is Kalvin Petri." Lucas said.


    "Do you have a reservation?" Jenny asked.


    "You should already know who I am so let''s cut to the chase. Call the manager for me." Lucas stared at her.


    Jenny froze and was filled with fear. For some reason, she felt that the eyes of Lucas was like that of a beast.


    "O, ok." She nodded and prepared to leave.


    But just then, footsteps were heard from the staircase close by as a middle-aged man descended from them.


    "What''s the rush, dear customer?"


    A man with a silver hair appeared and smiled at Lucas.


    Although he had never met him before, Lucas could guess that the middle-aged man was Kalvin Petri, his target for this visit.


    "Let''s have a conversation in my office, shall we?" Kalvin invited Lucas.


    "Sure."


    The duo left and walked towards the staircase. Staircases were almost nonexistent, being entirely replaced by escalators and elevators, but the Vinis pawnshop seemed to not be interested in that. In fact, the entire interior decor of the store was somewhat antique compared to the standards of other stores.


    "The owner is a man whose tastes are, unique." Kalvin said as he noticed Lucas'' curious looks.


    In a short time, the duo reached the office and both took a seat.


    "I''m surprised you came over." Kalvin smiled as he began to make tea.


    "Lies like this don''t work on me. You should have seen this coming."


    Kalvin chuckled, "That''s right."


    "So, what is it you wanted to see me for?"


    Lucas didn''t answer right away, picking a cup of tea that had been poured out by Kalvin and take a whiff of its steaming scent.


    "Haven''t you wondered how the assassin you sent after me had died?"


    The atmosphere suddenly went quiet.


    "Haha. I don''t know what you mean." Kalvin laughed.


    "I told you, such lies don''t work on me." Lucas calmly sipped from the cup.


    "...indeed. I''ve been wondering how he went down." Kalvin said. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You drank from the cup; weren''t you scared of being poisoned to death?" Kalvin suddenly asked.


    "You wouldn''t dare." Lucas replied without any emotion as he took another sip.


    "And why''s that?" Kalvin curiously asked.


    Glancing at him, Lucas replied, "Unless you want to die as well."


    "Haha. That''s the first time I''ve had anyone threaten me like this before." Kalvin chuckled before switching up abruptly.


    "Hey kid, do you know who you''re talking to?"


    "I do actually. Kalvin Petri, originally I didn''t know much about you, but I found out something in recent times. The Petri family, it''s a pretty influential family based in the Central Prefecture district,right? Not that I care either way."


    Kalvin froze.


    The Petri family might not be big or powerful like the Oder or the Mertens, but from the fact that they were based in the Central Prefecture district, it was obvious that they were wealthy and not your average family. However, despite knowing this, Lucas was unbothered by this fact. It could only mean one thing.


    "What do you want?"

 Chapter 126 - 126: Employee Hire Function

    After an hour, Lucas departed the Vinis pawnshop building without any expression. The two Red Fangs'' agents didn''t go in with him to prevent suspicion, so they didn''t know what had happened back there. Their mission was simply to keep an eye on Lucas just in case he got attacked again, and not to play the role of bodyguards who followed him into every nook and cranny.


    However, staying inside a pawnshop with a somewhat sketchy history, based on their logs, was something worth looking into. As such, one of them walked into the store two minutes later, while the other one remained following after Lucas.


    Lucas left the pawnshop''s vicinity and returned to his store. This time around, he wanted to take a look at the other rewards he had received from the system two days ago.


    Apart from the physical items that followed up, there were changes to the system after its level up. These changes weren''t regarding the appearance of the system interface, but the functionality of the system.


    The first was the fact that Lucas could now earn system coins from missions, and those coins could be exchanged for valuable items in the system shop.


    The second was the new system ability Lucas had gained. The Host Protection Mechanism and the Host Retaliation Function were two system abilities he currently possessed, and both were very convenient in ensuring his safety within the store. On multiple occasions, they had saved his life and proved incredibly useful to him, and this made Lucas anticipate the new ability he had gained.


    The third new function Lucas was looking forward to wasn''t exactly a new one. It was the system shop, and had been available for a while. But lacking the currency used there -which was system coins- Lucas had ignored it. Now however, he had some coins in hand and also had a way to earn more, so Lucas was looking forward to it.


    "So system, what''s the new ability?"


    Lucas asked after he walked into the store and settled on the seat opposite the checkout counter.


    "Introducing the Employee Hire Function. Host can now hire employees to oversee the business, giving the host more free time while still having the store in operation."


    "...did you decide on this because I haven''t been running the store properly?" Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    "Being aware of your sins is a good first step towards success. Host has shown signs of being more responsible."


    "..."


    Lucas didn''t argue back because in truth, the system was right. The store, according to it, was an important aspect towards his growth as the Crafts-God, even if Lucas didn''t understand how so. For this reason, the system had constantly reminded him about it and distributed missions centred around the store''s operations.


    "Worry not, host. All system abilities have been programmed and can''t be influenced by the system. They exist to benefit, and not hold back the host." The cold voice said, somewhat reassuring.


    "Then what''sthe benefit of this new function?" Lucas retorted.


    "Employees can receive the same status effect as the host within the store''s area. At the same time, the host can reflect the abilities of the employees onto himself. Also, employees can function as external body parts of the host as you deem fit."


    "Hold up, then that means..."


    "Yes." The system confirmed Lucas'' thoughts.


    Lucas suddenly stared ahead into empty space, before smiling abruptly.


    The features stated by the system might not seem like a big deal, but they were very important; as valuable as they could ever be.


    The employees being able to use the system abilities in the store was a means of protection, and in some sense, added more security to Lucas'' store. After all, what could be better than one immortal individual with the ability to utilise a portion of the enemy''s strength? Naturally it was more of such individuals.


    However, this wasn''t what got Lucas'' attention. It was the line ''host can reflect the abilities of the employees onto himself ''. What ability did hyumans have that Lucas desired the most?


    Stellar refinement.


    Using this new system function, Lucas could copy the stellar refinement level of his employees and reflect it onto himself, enabling him to be able to use stellar energy in his vestige-smithing. There would no longer be a need for forbidden techniques, which had caused harm to Lucas, both physically and fiscally.


    Holding back the urge to laugh out loud, Lucas checked decided to check out the system store.


    [[ Warning: 100 federal coins required for entry.]]


    The system interface popped up in front of Lucas. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hey, system. This warning wasn''t here the last time." Lucas couldn''t help but be astonished.


    "The system had experienced a recent level up, as such some of the facilities of functions of the system has been upgraded. For instance, the -as the host calls it- ''tax'' has been dropped from 75% to 60%. The system shop also experienced a new upgrade which the host might find interesting." The system said.


    "But one hundred federal coins for entry alone, this is robbery."


    "Would the host prefer to pay with system coins?"


    Lucas turned quiet.


    Pay with system coins? It might as well ask for his blood instead.


    Even though the system had informed him that he could now earn system coins from missions, based on the fact he was rewarded a mere ten coins and also from what he knew about the system, Lucas could guess that the earning rate was abysmally low. It was no understatement to say that system coins were even more valuable to Lucas than one hundred federal coins.


    "Whatever. Take the payment." Lucas snorted.


    Thanks to his winnings riot at the Silver Fig Trade Convention, Lucas had earned a ton of cash. He also struck deals with some freelancers and agents, and even received repair deals. Federal coins were something Lucas was now abundant in, albeit he spent a few of them during his stay in the Central Prefecture district.


    ''That reminds me, it''s almost time for these guys to come collect their vestiges. I''ll wrap up the work after this.'' Lucas thought.


    After paying the fee, a beep sounded from the communicator on his wrist but Lucas ignored it. He already knew it was a transaction notification from his bank.


    "Please head into the work-station." The system''s voice sounded in his ears.


    "The work-station?" Lucas was confused, but did as he was told.


    Once there, he noticed something different. As the work-station was his go-to spot in the store, even more so than his room upstairs, Lucas was familiar with every single detail about it. He could even identify the spots with a speck of dust on them, and could even differentiate areas that were recently stepped on the most.


    The strange detail Lucas spotted this time around was a door by the side. Atop the door was a name plate that read "System Store".

 Chapter 127 - 127: The System Shop

    Seeing the door, Lucas was completely nonplussed. He never expected for the system to bring the system shop into reality. It wasn''t that he believed this was impossible; the system had already done greater feats. Rather, Lucas never considered that it would do such, and never saw a reason to do so.


    Lucas opened the door and could only see white. It was as if a white film had covered the view.


    ''Well, I''ve already paid so I might as well check it out.''


    Walking through the door, Lucas felt a strange sensation over him as if he was moving at high speed and crossing dimensions. It was a strange sensation that made Lucas feel like a spaghetti being stirred in a pot; a strange analogy, but that was just what Lucas could think of at the moment.


    After a second, the feeling disappeared and Lucas appeared in a brightly lit room. In the room were two display shelves with some items on them. Counting only twelve items in total, Lucas was a bit disappointed but didn''t think much about it. Instead, he went straight over to browse them.


    ''Costly.'' Lucas thought as he checked out the first item.


    It was an orb the size of a Longan fruit with red runes inscribed all over it. It exuded an eerie yet mysterious feeling. What''s more, the orb gave off a medicinal scent and an enticing feeling which got stronger the longer one stared at it.


    Seeing the price tag on it, Lucas couldn''t help but swallow a mouthful of cold air.


    The item was five hundred system coins.


    Lucas only had ten.


    ''I knew it.'' Lucas'' lips twitched. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite its value, earning federal coins wasn''t difficult for Lucas. Even after the system took its charges, Lucas would still have a lot of money on hand after selling two or three vestiges. However, the system coin was a new currency that seemed to even have a higher purchasing power and value.


    At first, Lucas wanted to check out the other items, but he decided to find out what exactly this orb was for it to cost so much.


    "System, how do I find out the descriptions?"


    "Tap on the price tag, and the description would be transmitted to the host."


    Lucas glanced at the silver coloured price tag and touched it. Immediately, a bunch of information flowed into his head in an orderly format without causing harm or confusion to Lucas.


    "This...!"


    Lucas abruptly glanced at the orb as he went speechless. Although he had already imagined it to be some kind of impressive miracle drug, Lucas had underestimated its function.


    The orb was called a Red Dragon Heaven Pill, which sounded like something straight out of a wuxia novel. However, the name wasn''t the most noteworthy characteristic of the pill, but its ability. Ingesting the pill could cure all and every ailment whatsoever, whether they be a terminal disease or chronic or hereditary illness; they would all be cleared at once.


    But most of all, it could help one form a peak quality body capable of conducting and storing mystical energy.


    This was exactly the kind of drug Lucas needed.


    "System, is this intentional?" Lucas asked.


    First was Icarus'' Tears as a reward, next was the feature of the employee function, and now was this Red Dragon Heaven Pill. No matter how one looked at it, it was strange that within the span of just two days, Lucas had come in contact with various options to help fix his problem, but they were either out of his reach or a temporary solution.


    It felt weird and seemed as if someone was controlling things from behind the scene to create a desire within Lucas. It was like having a very fragrant pie in the sky; just based on its scent alone, one would have their mouth watering, yet they couldn''t even have the smallest of bites. Such a feeling was irritating and would make one want to do their best to attain it, no matter the cost.


    "Host has developed a misunderstanding. The system is merely operating based on pre-designed programming." The system replied.


    Whether it was lying or not, Lucas couldn''t say so he let go of the topic. Nonetheless, it was working.


    Currently, Lucas had two permanent solutions before him. The first was to reach level 5 and gather the complete ingredients for making the miracle medicine to heal him. The second was to complete as many missions as possible and earn the required five hundred system coins to purchase the Red Dragon Heaven Pill.


    "System, the medicine made with Icarus'' Tears wouldn''t happen to be this? If it isn''t, which is a better option?" Lucas questioned.


    "Answering the host, both medicines are different. As for the more efficient and effective choice, that is a tricky question as both medicines have different effects and only just one common point. However, in terms of quantity of effects, it would be the medicine created from the combination of Icarus'' Tears and all the other precious ingredients.


    But if the host''s focus is on crafting a perfect body, then the Red Dragon Heaven Pill is the most optimal pick."


    Lucas paused and began to consider his options, but eventually gave up. As it stood, both items were still out of his reach, so there was no reason to think too much about them.


    ''Let''s see the other items.''


    With the first of the twelve items he checked out being so amazing, Lucas was looking forward to the other eleven. But at the same time, he was slightly worried. If they were all as expensive as the Red Dragon Heaven Pill, then there would be almost no meaning to his coming here. On the contrary, it would make Lucas feel pressured and desire to earn more system coins.


    ''Not like that desire hasn''t taken root already.'' Lucas sighed as he checked out the next item.


    "...as expected."


    Lucas'' lips twitched before he moved to the next, then the next, and the next, and the next.


    Of the six items on this shelf, the cheapest cost at least one hundred system coins. There was even one item that exceeded the price of the Red Dragon Heaven Pill, reaching a staggering eight hundred and forty system coins!


    When he browsed the information contained in the price tag, Lucas couldn''t help but be surprised. This was because he couldn''t access the information. That was when the system informed him that he was too poor to do so.


    ''Then why have it displayed in the first place?!'' Lucas almost cursed at the system.


    Moving onto the second shelf, Lucas said a silent prayer before checking out the items on it.

 Chapter 128 - 128: Tomans Financial Crisis

    Toman''s Workshop was a previously popular workshop for vestige dealerships and freelancers to get custom-made products. However in recent times, the management found it difficult to keep the business afloat.


    Vestige-smithing was a popular career just as freelancing was. Just like the latter, it required incredible dedication, hard work and talent to succeed. However, there was one more factor that came into play, and that was business acumen.


    As there were a lot of vestige-smiths in the Baylands City, becoming successful as an independent manufacturer was exceedingly difficult. The majority of them worked for other manufacturers, rather than starting up a company of their own. If one wanted to succeed independently, they needed to be well versed in business, as just skills alone weren''t enough.


    Unlike the freelancer industry that was difficult to be saturated, the vestige-smith industry could easily be saturated. Most freelancers and organisations valued quality more, while some found a balance between quality and pricing. This in turn meant that only a few select vestige-smith companies would receive the bulk of orders from freelancers compared to the others.


    Toman''s Workshop was founded by a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith named Toman. The store wasn''t grand or rated in the top ten, but it made quality products that garnered the attention of some freelancers and vestige dealerships. The deals from these parties managed to keep the workshop afloat and develop a name in the community.


    In their first two attendances in the Silver Fig Trade Convention, they had managed to appear in the top fifteen spots for West Wing district. This performance gave the business a lot of exposure and made Toman a lot more confident. He began to vigorously expand the business.


    During the third year, they failed to make it to the top fifteen, but weren''t downtrodden, regarding it as a slight setback to success. However, when they failed to do so the following year, the workshop became worried.


    Having failed to secure a spot in the top fifteen twice in a row, despite previously appearing in the rankings twice in a row, the fame of the company took a hit. Although they still made quality vestiges, the drop in ranking affected their sales, especially in their premium models.


    There were now better options available at a reasonable price for freelancers. At the same time, those options had made it to the top fifteen ranks, proving that their ability to forge premium model vestiges was better than that of Toman''s Workshop.


    What''s more, newer companies popped up and the top ones began a rapid expansion project, acquiring other companies and releasing more powerful but affordable vestiges.


    Losing a share in the premium model market, Toman had to try and compensate that by putting in more effort in the lower end market. However, that section of the vestige market was occupied by the smaller vestige-smith companies who sold at a more affordable price.


    For Toman, who had to cover the bills of his workshop, new materials, employees and family, he couldn''t sell his vestiges below a certain margin as it would affect his livelihood greatly. Instead, he took loans and invested them into the workshop and the new vestige he made for the following year''s Silver Fig Trade Convention.


    In the fifth year of their appearance at the Silver Fig Trade Convention, Aquilo''s Sword was presented to the public. It was a vestige with an intense energy and looked very powerful. However, such a vestige, just like its predecessors, had similarly failed to make it to the top fifteen, clinching the eighteenth spot instead.


    Once again, Toman''s Workshop was facing a financial crisis, but an even more deeper one as Aquilo''s Sword was made after taking loans.


    Toman had intended to pay off those loans after selling the vestige in the auction, but since it failed to qualify, paying off the loans became difficult. Even if he sold it off on his own, the revenue would only be enough to pay for the principal amount of the loans, but not the interests. Rather than doing that, Toman held on to the sword as a reminder of his failure.


    After scrapping back and forth and expending a lot of personal contacts and savings, he managed to repay most of the loans and gain an extension clause on the others. With the remaining funds, he put it into making the last masterpiece for this year''s Trade Convention. It was termed as the final masterpiece because if it failed to qualify, the workshop would soon declare bankruptcy.


    Even if they didn''t, they wouldn''t have enough money to make a new masterpiece any time soon.


    For Lucas, he had no one to care for except himself. The store didn''t need any staff and had an automatic cleaning feature. His materials were also provided by the system most times. There was still the bulk of materials and metals that came with the work-station after the system had renovated the building.


    Unlike with Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge store, other vestige-smiths had to cater for their staff, their family and the store''s operation fees. They also had to purchase materials at costly prices or hire freelancers to acquire those for them.


    As such, after they sold a vestige, they made less profit compared to Lucas; after all, Lucas'' items sold for more than seventy percent market price and in some cases up to two hundred percent, so even after the system''s levy was taken out, he still had a considerable sum as profit.


    "Kelvin, come with me." Toman, the founder and owner of the store glanced at his son.


    Kelvin was Toman''s oldest child and first son, as well as the young man who had overseen their stall during the Silver Fig Trade Convention. In other words, he was the one who represented the workshop to face off against Lucas back then.


    Inside a study in the building, the old man sat that with his son sitting opposite him.


    "You should know the situation of our store," Toman sighed.


    Kelvin tightened his fist as he paid attention.


    "This year makes it the sixth year of our participation in the Silver Fig Trade Convention. However, it is now our fourth consecutive year, failing to make it into the top fifteen."


    "Father, I''m sorry." Kelvin bowed his head and cried.


    "It''s not your fault." Toman waved.


    "On the contrary, it''s mine. I shouldn''t have been overconfident in those years and expanded without regard. Who would have thought that that decision would come back to bite us one day?"


    Although their failure to qualify as a top fifteen company affected their sales, it wasn''t the only cause of the store''s downfall.


    In their second consecutive year appearing in the top fifteen, which was four years ago, Toman had capitalised on that popularity to expand the workshop''s reaches, acquiring more stores and properties. Albeit costly, this wasn''t a bad move and had many advantages for the store.


    However, two years later, the top five companies began an aggressive expansion. They began acquiring multiple formerly renowned vestige-smith companies and hired popular vestige-smiths. With their deep funding, expert staff and astonishing reputation, it was very easy for them to take over the market.


    That period was so turbulent for the vestige-smith market that one of the previous top five had ended up declaring bankruptcy after a terrible decision had cost them. For a top five company to have fallen from grace, one could imagine how much harder the smaller and medium-sized businesses had it.


    Toman''s Workshop was eventually targeted by a big company which was speeding its way to the top. Having acquired multiple businesses and staff before, but facing troubles in sales after failing for two consecutive years to qualify in the top fifteen, they became a meaty target to other vestige-smith companies. S§×ar?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although Toman''s Workshop had survived, the company had lost many of its business arms and even skilled staff to other companies. The losses had severely impacted their business, so much so that they had yet to recuperate even until now, and this became the start of their downfall.


    If Toman had not expanded his business back then, but focused on making a stronger foundation, the company might have survived the incident much better then they did now. There was even a chance that with the stronger foundation and excess funds, they would have been able to make a better masterpiece than they had all those years back, and qualified for one of the respective top fifteen spots.


    A decision that looked brilliant, but had cost them so much; this became Toman''s greatest regret.


    Toman sighed recalling that incident, but he regained his focus right away.


    "In time, we would soon have no option than to declare bankruptcy. Before then, I''d like for you tof leave the company and find a new place to work at. Build a foundation for yourself and stand out from the others. That way, even if the company falls apart, you''d still be able to support your brothers."


    Kelvin froze. A mixture of emotions welled up within him. There was pain, sadness, regret, frustration, refusal, but in the end, a feeling of resignation, gloom, and anger.


    Even if he didn''t want to give up, even if he wanted to keep working until the end, Kelvin knew that his father was right. They had a family to feed, and once the store went bankrupt, life would be difficult for them.


    As it stood, Toman didn''t have much in his savings after spending the majority of it paying off the loans and making new masterpieces. Someone would need to take care of the family soon after the company went bankrupt, as there were too many expenses to cover. Those masterpieces would be sold to clear their debts, so it was out of the equation.


    The only option was to look for a job, and the only one capable of doing so was Kelvin.


    As for Toman, his heart was broken and Kelvin knew that his father was slowly losing his skills because of that. Aquilo''s Sword was Toman''s last work, and its failure had hurt him deeply. The masterpiece they fielded this year was more of a collaborative work between father and son, because Toman couldn''t work on it alone.


    Seeing his son in a mix of emotions, Toman felt hurt and tried to comfort him.


    "Don''t worry to much. The store can keep running for seven more months. Until then, just focus on yourself and let your father handle the rest. I''m still quite strong you know."


    Kelvin nodded, but deep down, he was unwilling and in pain.


    He hated how they had failed to qualify every year. He hated himself for losing to Lucas. He hated how things turned out. He hated those who targeted them. But he never blamed his father for his decision or any of this. Kelvin simply blamed fate.


    ''Yes, fate. We were just unlucky.''

 Chapter 129 - 129: Alleva District

    [[System Shop has been closed]]


    Lucas watched as the mysterious door, that had made its appearance in his work-station, disappeared from the spot replaced with the grey wall that was previously there. In his hand was a tome, which was the item Lucas had got from the store.


    In the store, there were two shelves with six items each, making a total of twelve goods. The first shelf had expensive items, with the most affordable costing one hundred system coins and the most expensive going for eight hundred and forty system coins. Lucas only had ten coins, so the items on this shelf were out of the options.


    The second shelf was considerably better, but it was still costly for him. In the end, there were only two items Lucas could afford.


    The first was a carving pen that cost only five system coins. It could be used for inscription and didn''t require the user to be able to utilise mystical energy. It achieved this thanks to a special matrix drawn on it which passively absorbed mystical energy in the atmosphere and targeted it at the pen''s tip. The item was really helpful to Lucas but he didn''t go for it.


    Instead, he went for the second item. It was the tome in his hand.


    The book was called ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' and it cost Lucas his entire ten system coins. From his experience with books from the system, Lucas knew that they held more information than the title pointed at. They were as valuable as a detailed encyclopaedia, and for Lucas, knowledge was more valuable than any equipment or wealth. Since he could afford it, he didn''t hesitate to do so.


    "Absorb." Lucas said with the book in hand, right after he took a seat.


    The tome immediately turned into starlight which flowed directly into Lucas'' head. As it did so, Lucas could feel a wave of new information appear in his head. It was all technical and related to topics like engineering, material science, blacksmithing, stellar energy and so on.


    Lucas might have learnt blacksmithing in his first life and a bit of engineering in his second life on Earth, but none of that could compare to what the tome had just delivered into his memory.


    ''Sure enough, the system''s version is always better.'' Lucas thought.


    Compared to the previous time he absorbed a system tome, this time was much better. Lucas only felt a bit drowsy and tired, but nothing intense. A simple rest and he would be back to normal. However, Lucas'' thoughts weren''t on recovering, but adapting to the new knowledge he just gained.


    Prior to using the tome, Lucas had underestimated the information contained within it. It was called an introduction, but the details didn''t seem like what a beginner''s guide should have. There was information on not just making swords, but guns, canons and even fighter jets, all stellar-powered. This meant that they were all vestiges.


    But it didn''t stop there; there were also production blueprints and manuals for stellar processors, communicators and more electronics.


    ''Is this what the system meant by being a Crafts-God?'' Lucas thought.


    When he first transmigrated and interacted with the system, it informed Lucas that its only purpose was to grow the new Crafts-God. At first, Lucas thought a Crafts-God was simply the same as a Forger God or the greatest existence in blacksmithing. When he adapted to the society here, he realised he was wrong, but not entirely as vestige-smithing shared many traits with blacksmithing.


    However, it was only until now did Lucas understand that he had always been wrong.


    The system''s intention wasn''t to grow him into someone good at making just weapons; it was to turn Lucas into an omnipotent and omniscient craftsman.


    Whether they be home-use appliances or weapons capable of world destruction, Lucas would be able to make it. At this rate, Lucas wouldn''t be surprised if one day he could make something like a Destroyer or an artificial star all on his own [1].


    "System, I apologize for looking down on you." Lucas said.


    However, the system didn''t give any respond. Regardless, Lucas wasn''t bothered. He simply decided to take a nap first. Later on, he would have to finish his work on all the deals and vestiges he got for maintenance during the convention. The pickup date was a week from then, and it was already two days since the end of the convention. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With five days left to finish work on sixty vestiges, Lucas would have to do a lot for overtimes.


    . . .


    Baylands city-state comprised of twenty districts, but the five major ones made up the central area of the city-state, Baylands City. As for the other fifteen, they were significantly large and had wide borders, many were even larger than the five major districts.


    Each of the fifteen districts formed a type of miniature state, with the districts themselves being the centre while around them were much smaller cities and towns. Eretre was a planet larger than Earth by 1.5 times, and with only thirteen city-states to accommodate the 7 billion population, one could imagine how large the territory of each city-state was.


    The West Wing district alone was already as large as more than 400km2 or 154.4 square miles. There was still the East and South district which were much larger.


    The five major districts, compared to the majority of the fifteen outer districts, were much smaller. After all, the five major districts formed a city and were the centre of the city-state, whereas the other fifteen districts were focused not on quality but quantity¡ªin this case, fitting more people over ensuring a high standard of living.


    However, compared to Baylands City that was close to the Wastelands, the other districts were much farther away, making them safer in comparison, or so it was supposed to be.


    One of the fifteen districts, Alleva, was situated in a region called the grey zone. The grey zone was a border line that existed in the past, during the founding of Baylands City about six hundred years ago. On one side of the grey zone was the risk-filled area which, at the time, was considered a border of the Wastelands.


    On the other side was the safe region where there were almost no desolate beasts at the time.


    In modern times, although the border of the Wastelands has been pushed back to the point it was still some distance away from the West Wing district, the grey zone still kept its name. To the average citizens, it now symbolised the boundary point of desolate beasts'' existence.


    On the side that once counted as the Wastelands'' border were now the location of Baylands City, two other districts, and a couple of desolate beasts habitat like the Bayena Plain. As for the other side, it was the safest region in Baylands city-state, where there was literally no sightings of desolate beasts. The last recorded sighting of a wild live-desolate beast was over three hundred years ago.


    Alleva district sat in between both regions and was nicknamed the grey district. Part of the origin of this nickname was due to its location which was called the grey zone, but another reason for this was because of the existence of a thriving black market here.


    Where there was light, there would always be shadows, and Alleva was the home of the shadows of Baylands city-state.


    "Ramirez, I never thought I''d see you back here."


    In an underground cellar, a man in his early fifties glanced ahead where in front of him stood a middle-aged man.


    "If I had a choice, I wouldn''t be here either." The middle-aged man spoke.


    He was Ramirez, currently the most wanted criminal on the Red Fangs'' database, as well as the man whose gang had a few clashes with Lucas.

 Chapter 130 - 130: The Plot Thickens

    "Ramirez, I never thought I''d see you back here."


    The old man who sat comfortably on a throne grinned as he stared at the middle-aged man in front of him.


    "If I had a choice, I wouldn''t be here either." Ramirez responded as he stared at the man.


    "Haha. Feisty as ever." The old man laughed.


    "So, what brings you to my city?"


    Ramirez stared at the old man, not answering right away.


    The man''s words might have sounded absurd, but he wasn''t wrong. Their current location was a city within Alleva, known as High Brunswick. It was one of the more populated cities within Alleva, but at the same time, had a lot of shady ongoings within it.


    Things were so bad, that even the mayor of High Brunswick was said to be in cohorts with some of the top underworld gangs in Alleva, making High Brunswick their base of operations.


    The old man before Ramirez wasn''t the leader of any underworld gangs as one would expect. On the contrary, he was the mayor.


    That''s right. While many suspected the mayor to be working together with the cartels and underground syndicates, with some even suspecting that he was a pawn they had installed, the mayor was actually the ring leader of them all.


    What pawn? What partnership or cooperation? Rather, the old man controlled them all.


    No gang, mafia, syndicate, cartel or any underground organisation could exist within Alleva, and most especially High Brunswick, without his permission. By occupying the seat of mayor, he could better cover up for his syndicate and those associated with him, while also providing them benefits under the table.


    Another boon that came with being the mayor and the simultaneous ringleader was that he had access to every information in the city of High Brunswick. Whether it be information about the new visitors to the city, or even the names of the newborn babies delivered today, he could find out about them all. Information was power, and the old man valued it well, which was why he seated himself as mayor.


    "I''m on the run." Ramirez finally answered, knowing that any lie of his would be figured out in a mere couple of hours. It might even be possible that the old man already knew everything.


    "Oh? Although the capital is quite strict and secure, it shouldn''t be a big deal for you to survive out there. What kind of crime did you commit?" The man narrowed his eyes.


    "I''m being framed for having an association with some terrorists that attacked a few weeks ago." Ramirez answered.


    During the Bayena Plain incident, Ramirez''s gang members had coincidentally attacked Lucas at the same time. When they did so, they confidently hinted to Lucas that there were ways to draw the Red Fangs'' eyes away from him. At that point, this statement sounded unimportant to Lucas and for the gang members, they saw him as a dead man and had no issues saying this.


    However, not only did Lucas survive and kill them, but he also captured and interrogated one of them before finishing the man off. Later on, he met with some Red Fangs agents who told him about the incident at Bayena, which was why they didn''t make it to him in time.


    When Lucas mentioned what he heard from the gang members as well as the details of his interrogation¡ªwhich he also claimed they told him about¡ª to the agents, they easily pieced the two pieces of information together. Doing so, they realised that Ramirez''s gang had inside information about the attack in Bayena Plain.


    There were two possibilities with the first being a spy in the Red Fangs, but they wiped out that possibility. Not only was it difficult to place a spy in the Red Fangs, but it wasn''t something the likes of one such as Ramirez could do. The second and only option was that Ramirez was related to the attackers some way. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With that in mind, a manhunt was launched and they used the opportunity to also clear the underground gangs residing in the West Wing district.


    The old man stared at Ramirez, as if trying to decipher whether or not he was lying. He wasn''t scared of offending Ramirez as he was a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner just like the latter. However, the old man had more fighting experience as well as a small unit of men under his control.


    What''s more, being the mayor, he was in charge of every security personnel and this was his home ground.


    "So you seek asylum?"


    "You could say so." Ramirez replied.


    "Alright. Fine by me." The old man nodded his head, granting Ramirez his permission.


    This simple act didn''t just mean that Ramirez could stay, but that he could also form a gang of his own if he wished.


    Ramirez left the place right afterwards. He wasn''t exactly close with the old man, and there was no reason to overstay his visit.


    "Sir," A figure walked out from the shadow behind the old man.


    "Are you sure about letting him stay?"


    Very few people would dare question the old man''s decision, but the dark figure was one of them. Not only was his a close aide of the old man, but he was also special. Just like Nafir of the Red Fangs who could read minds to some extent, the dark figure had unlocked a hint of his superpower. It was related to shadows and he gained the nickname ''Shadow Dweller'' due to it.


    He was the old man''s number one hitman and most trusted companion.


    "Why not?" The old man smiled.


    "Something about this is all fishy." Shadow Dweller said.


    "Indeed." The old man nodded.


    "Then why?" Shadow Dweller was confused.


    The old man smiled and stared at the door Ramirez exited through.


    "It''s because it''s fishy that I have to keep him close. Depending on what it is he has, that little fellow could be of value to me. I could either use him for my own gains, or just hand him over to the Red Fangs. The bounty on his head is quite hefty, you know."


    Shadow Dweller widened his eyes, but the calmed down.


    "Looks like I''m still too far from grasping your methods."


    "Don''t think too much about it." The old man smiled and shook his head.


    "Then should we, should I follow him?" Shadow Dweller suggested.


    "No, not yet. He just arrived, so he would still be on guard. Give him some space for a while before you do so." The old man said.


    Meanwhile, after leaving the underground cellar through a secret path, Ramirez appeared in what looked it be a supermarket. The supermarket looked ordinary, but no one would have expected this to be the base of the kingpin of all illegal activities in Alleva.


    Leaving the area, Ramirez returned to his hotel room he had rented earlier on, then shut the door and the windows tight. He even drew the curtains and activated a special device to cancel out any outgoing signals that could be generated from spy cameras and devices.


    After waiting for five minutes, Ramirez then pulled out a communicator that looked a lot like a tablet and connected to a hidden network. The connection wasn''t jammed by his signal interruption device as Ramirez had ensured it wouldn''t be targeted.


    Thirty seconds later, a connection was established between Ramirez''s device and another one through the network. A face then appeared on the screen; it was the face of a mixed breed creature with four eyes¡ªupper pair brown and lower pair purple in the shape of narrow slits¡ª, maroon skin, and thin vertical ears like an elf.


    The mixed breed was surprisingly the terrorist who had attacked the freelancers and Red Fangs'' agents at Bayena Plain.


    "Arrived yet?" The mixed breed asked.


    "Yes." Ramirez coldly answered.

 Chapter 131 - 131: Stellar Circuits

    One week later...


    The past week had gone by with Lucas focusing his efforts on the open deals and commissions he had. Thanks to the tome, ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'', Lucas had an abundance of knowledge to try out. Compared to his previous self, his skills had increased by at least one step.


    Using the new knowledge, Lucas incorporated it, together with his techniques, into the vestiges he was either commissioned to make or repair, creating an entire new brand and ideology that belonged to him. Once he was done with any crafted vestige, Lucas would carve an insignia on it¡ªa hammer surrounded by seven stars.


    A logo was very important in building a brand, even in the vestige-smithing industry. Every renowned vestige-smith had one, and a vestige with their crest on it was usually treated as a high quality artefact. Although Lucas wasn''t exactly renowned, the "vestige-smith behind him" was.


    As the one behind the brown shield that appeared in the top 20 vestiges for the year rankings in Baylands City, it was only right for such a vestige-smith to be termed as renowned and highly skilled.


    During this past week, many people had come to check out the store that belonged to this mysterious vestige-smith. However, when some of them found out the one running it was a human, they were turned off and left. A few of them did remain behind, but after seeing the prices, their disgust was raised to another level and they stormed off.


    Nonetheless, Lucas was unbothered. This was because there were still some who remained, squeezed their purses, gritted their teeth and paid for the items, hoping they would luck out and the rumours worth something. When they compared the vestiges with the seven star hammer insignia to other vestiges, they were pleasantly surprised and relieved.


    News began to spread about a vestige-smith store that made high quality goods, much better than the others and Lucas was getting more customers daily. However, there was still a limit to this.


    In the end, prejudice came out on top. Many of those who heard the news were skeptical about it. The fact that a human ran the store and the identity of the vestige-smith was mysterious, made them all the more inclined not to even bother. So even after all the publicity Lucas had gained, he only had an average of twenty to fifty customers a week; most of whom were there for the maintenance services.


    Business was slow, and could even be called bad, but it didn''t dampen Lucas'' mood. Unlike the other vestige-smith stores, Lucas didn''t take on any losses. Although he had to give the system a cut, and settle taxes with the city¡ªsomething he discovered recently and almost got arrested for¡ª Lucas still made a lot of money.


    Today, he was working on a vestige which he intended to release in the market through the Novanio Tech. He had already agreed on an MOU with the company through Lucy, but Lucas didn''t want to release typical vestiges into the market. To make a name, he needed to stand out.


    As for why Lucas wanted to make a name for the business, he found out that missions were related to that in some way. The majority of missions he got from the system were all related to a hallmark achievement with the store.


    Whether it was his first customisation order which brought about the mission to go to the Wastelands, the mission regarding gaining one hundred customers, or even the vestige duels, they were all in some way related to the store. Lucas figured out that the bigger and more popular the store got, the more missions he would receive. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The more missions he received, the faster the system would level up, aiding Lucas to achieve his goal of stellar refinement.


    The vestige currently on the work bench was shaped like a spear, but it was different. The shaft was slightly thicker than regular spears, but the difference wasn''t so much as to be recognisable at a glance. There were more cryptic runes on the vestige and some of them even appeared to be stellar matrices. This was the very first vestige of Lucas that had a stellar matrix on it.


    However, that wasn''t all.


    Inscriptions, as they were generally called, were carvings and scribbles that possessed the bizarre ability to act as a conduit for mysterious energy, utilising it in such a way that they would generate a desired effect. A Strengthening rune or matrix would make whatever it was inscribed upon stronger once stellar energy was imbued into the rune or matrix.


    ''The major inscriptions commonly are runes and matrices, and every vestige-smith knows one or two about them.''


    Stellar matrices are the products of the hyumankin and humankind''s utmost efforts and struggles. As for runes, they were techniques from archaic or conquered civilisations. The magic runes Lucas used could similarly classified as runes, although they have never appeared in this world.


    ''However, from the tome, it seems like there''s an additional type of inscription known as circuits.''


    Based on the tome, Circuits were inscription methods quite similar to the hyumankin''s stellar matrix but with its differences and innovations.


    A stellar matrix could be considered to be an amalgamation of humanity''s electrical circuit theory and ideas with the runic technology of alien species. This didn''t make it superior to the runic methods, but introduced a whole bunch of new concepts and ideas, while simplifying runes for humans, enabling them to use it even with their lack of stellar energy manipulation.


    Circuits appeared to be similar, having an almost identical conception and foundation with stellar matrices, but it was more complex.


    To understand better, it was like the difference between high school mathematics and engineering mathematics. Both were indeed mathematics, but the latter was much more complex, and advanced than the former. This was the same with stellar matrices and circuits.


    Compared to stellar matrices that were a version of runic technology made simple for humans and hyumans, circuits were a much more complex inscription system that focused on performing more intense calculations and activities.


    In other words, the effect a circuit could generate with a limited amount of stellar energy was more than a rune or a stellar matrix could do with the same amount of stellar energy.


    Naturally, with this massive difference in effect, there was also an intense difficulty in learning. But, who was Lucas?


    A genius blacksmith and forger as well as the youngest grandmaster of his world, a three-time Renobel prize winner in both physics and chemistry and could have been more if he didn''t spend his time working for his country or meet his untimely death at the age of 37. In summary, Lucas was a heaven-defying genius when it came to material science and runic technology.


    If it would take others thirty years to figure out, it would take him only three months of dedication.


    What''s more, the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' tome had smoothly transferred all the required knowledge into his head, so Lucas had no trouble understanding it.


    In this past week, Lucas had already gotten used to inscribing stellar circuits, which were circuits made to support stellar energy activation and usage. For the advanced repair jobs he got, he wiped off the runes and stellar matrices on the vestiges and replaced them with magic runes and stellar circuits.


    One raason for this was that the latter were more efficient, but another reason was that only he had this knowledge. In other words, if a problem crops up, or the owner wanted an upgrade, they would would have to come back to him.


    "Capitalism at its finest."


    The system had commented after it read his mind and understood his thought process.


    However, Lucas couldn''t really be blamed for this. It wasn''t his fault that no one knew about stellar circuits or the magic runes from his world. Although he could share the knowledge with others, was there any reason to do so? Ignoring that part, doing so might bring trouble for him, and trouble was the last thing Lucas wanted right now.


    "Let''s get to work."


    Lucas took a deep breath and stared at the vestige. He was yet to hire an employee, so Lucas still depended on the forbidden techniques for stellar energy. This time around, he used the Materialization Technique which extracted mystical energy from unique materials.


    The reason for choosing this technique was that unlike blood energy, the mystical energy contained in Eretre''s unique material was stellar energy. In the future, Lucas would be able to use stellar energy, so it was best to have his presentation item appear as close as how it would be in the future.


    Stellar circuit doubled as a conduit system for stellar energy while also using said stellar energy to generate an effect just like runes and stellar matrices. However, it required more calculations to pull off than the other two, and there was no margin for errors when inscribing one.


    Staring at the vestige before him, Lucas activated the Materialization Technique and began to draw stellar energy from an ingot of Purple Iridium metal, which was more than capable of serving his needs. He achieved this through a use of formations and runes he drew, which required no mystical energy to pull off.


    After all, the Materialization Technique was made with the idea that the user couldn''t harness mystical energy.


    The formation and runes combined together, appeared like a magic circle from a fantasy novel as they began to glow green. Lucas took out a carving pen, which was a vestige he made to help carve inscriptions better and accurately on vestiges. The vestige also had a similar formation as with the ingot, but it was slightly different.


    At the same time, it also released a glow, but the time with the colour blue.


    The stellar energy that was drawn out from the metal was attracted onto the carving pen through the formation inscribed on it. The energy then flowed into the pen, which let out a hum as this happened.


    Lucas took a deep breath, focused his mind and leaned closely to the vestige. He had already determined the appearance and function of the stellar circuit, had made the right calculations to ensure that the designs were perfect, and had simulated its effectiveness as well as the inscription procedure. All that was left was to carry out the task.


    Carving an inscription was just like carrying out a surgery. It required utmost concentration and steadiness, as even a slight inappropriate shift¡ªeven down to a millimetre¡ª during the process could potentially influence the effectiveness of the inscription. As such, one needed an incredibly stable hand.


    It was said that a grandmaster could carve an inscription so precise that it wasn''t even a picometre [1] off.


    One might wonder why this process wasn''t done by machines and it was simply because, it wasn''t advised. The simulation and calculations could be, but the carving process was needed to be done by hand. Using a machine would greatly lower the effectiveness of the inscription. No one could explain why, but it had been proven countless of times.


    But that didn''t bother Lucas because he was never a fan of using machines.


    Holding his focus, Lucas began to carefully carve the simulated inscription on the vestige.


    Since the material of the vestige-smith usually had good strength and hardness, not just any item could be used to carve on it. At the same time, to ensure the inscription remains and was not damaged even during battle, special items methods could be utilised. Some used a unique ink while others instilled more mystical energy to create a protective layer. In Lucas'' case, it was a special ink.


    The ink was one of the special items provided by the system after the store was renovated.


    As the carving pen made a mark on the vestige, thanks to its durable and powerful tip, the stellar-energy infused ink submerged into the vestige, leaving behind a mark on the surface.


    *ssss*


    A sound similar to that of acid acting on an object could be heard, but Lucas ignored it as he kept his attention on his job.


    As the carving went on, a mark could be noticed on the vestige which was the rudimentary form of the stellar circuit. It took Lucas a full two hours before he had etched the entire circuit on the vestige, but the work wasn''t done yet. This was merely the first step, while the second step involved repeating the process but with a different ink.


    There was also a third step, but not many knee about it. However, Lucas just happened to be one of them. It was still the same focus as the other two steps, but involved a bit more processes. Due to how strenuous it was, Lucas only used the third step for premium model items like the brown shield he made. As for this vestige, it wouldn''t be so lucky as to experience that third step.

 Chapter 132 - 132: Stunning The Group

    "Welcome to the Seven Sparks Forge." Lucas glanced at the guests who had just arrived.


    Indeed, they were guests and not customers. The group that had just arrived consisted of Lucy and a few executives from Novanio Tech. The executives weren''t from the same factions, but similar in nature.


    With Novanio Tech planning to enter the weapons vestige space, there were three factions at the helm. The first aimed for reputed and established vestige-smiths, while the other two aimed for upcoming vestige-smiths to partner with. Lucy''s faction was one of the latter two and had gone further than their counterpart when looking for vestige-smiths, and that was how she met Lucas.


    Two of the five who had walked in with Lucy were part of the third faction.


    As for the first faction, they had no one in attendance here, as their ideals greatly differed from the others.


    "It''s nice meeting you again, Mr. Saunters." Lucy smiled as she greeted.


    Previously, the two had reached some conclusions on their cooperation and signed an MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) to that event. They had also scheduled a meeting where Lucy would come along with some other executives of Novanio Tech to inspect the vestiges Lucas would sell to them. The decided date was exactly today.


    "Hmm."


    Lucas nodded his head, not bothering with the formalities. To him, those were all just excess words and not necessary at the moment. However, some frowned at his behaviour.


    It should be noted that although the discrimination against humans wasn''t to the point of burning them alive in the middle of the street, the hate still existed. On one hand, it was because of the fact that many hyumans thought of humans as lesser versions.


    On the other hand, it was a sense of fear and hatred brought about by the actions of terrorist organisations, some of which consisted of humans among other species.


    Lucas glanced at the five executives and took notes of their expressions.


    Of the five executives that showed up with Lucy, two of them gave him a weird look, which made Lucas believe that they had disgust for humans. As for the other three, they were somewhat neutral with their expressions, which was a good sign.


    "Let''s take a look at the vestige." Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas said as he directed the group towards the simulation room. He wasn''t one for unnecessary chats and usually got straight to the point especially on formal occasions.


    The seven of them arrived in the pristine white room devoid of any furniture or design. The size of the room which nearly rivalled that of the store shocked them as they guessed it was a spatial feature. Although such a technology was really rare and expensive, it did exist. It was a unique and bizarre technology that could widen the space within a room.


    However, only certain top factions into the city with connections to the Bernin continent might have something like this, but even theirs probably couldn''t compare to the Seven Sparks Forge''s. This made them begin to question who exactly was the store''s backer, but that thought would be left for another day.


    Looking around, they finally managed to spot some items in the white room; there was a table at the centre with two vestiges displayed on it.


    One of them was the spear Lucas had been working on the previous day, and another was a dagger. The form and structure of the dagger appeared to be a lot like the one he had made during his exceptional basis exam in the EVL branch at the Central Prefecture district.


    The seven individuals walked towards the table and stopped at it. The five men who came alongside Lucy glanced at the vestiges with not much of an expression on their face.


    Although the vestiges appeared to be well made, what mattered most wasn''t appearance but functionality.


    "These are the vestiges my master prepared for our deal."


    Lucas introduced the items.


    The vestiges didn''t have any names so he randomly went with ''Blue spear'' for the spear, and ''Dark dagger'' for the black dagger. Such a lackadaisical name naturally attracted a mix of contempt and surprise from the group, but Lucas didn''t care. What mattered most was a vestige''s ability and not its name. If it was good, then even with such a silly name, it would sell.


    If it wasn''t, then even calling it the Namsung Galaxy X24 blade wouldn''t save it.


    "Any special effects? Something unique or worth taking note of?" One of the men who had a pair of glasses asked.


    Of the five men, two were vestige-smiths, albeit not of the weapons branch. They came with the others to inspect the items as even though they weren''t experts in the area of weapons, being vestige-smiths, they could still identify a thing or two about the vestiges.


    The man in glasses could see that the spear was not only larger, but also heavier than typical spears which made him begin to doubt Lucas'' skill. However, he held back any harsh words and decided to put forth the question.


    "Naturally there is one." Lucas said as he lifted up the spear before aiming it ahead of him.


    The simulation room generated a strange particle wave that gathered in front to make a humanoid target about one hundred metres away. The group watched this, amazed and were astonished, but they held back their shock, waiting to see what Lucas wanted to show them.


    Suddenly, the spear''s tip split into four, creating a fixed centimetres (~2 inches) gap as a barrel was revealed behind the gap. The barrel abruptly lit up with a purple light as a beam shot out from the spear and struck the target.


    *Boom*


    A 0.1m hole (six inches) formed on the target, letting out smoke as the spectators took in the sight.


    Lucy was horrified while the rest felt their blood run cold. A spear armed with long range capabilities was something they didn''t expect to see. Although there were some vestiges like this on the market, the destructive power and range of the spear was astonishing and greater than those ones. This could revolutionalise the vestige-smith market and freelancer warfare as they all knew.


    However, before they could remain shocked for long, Lucas'' voice sounded in their ears.


    "That''s one."

 Chapter 133 - 133: The Ideal Possibility

    "That''s one."


    Lucas said as the target struck by the spear''s laser beam began to crumble.


    "What was that?" One of the executives couldn''t help but ask. From how he stood and after throughout, Lucas identified him to be the leader of the group. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s a feature of the Blue spear. It''s a vestige that combines the philosophy of the Forger and Multiplex factions in the most ideal way possible." Lucas answered straightforwardly.


    "In the most ideal way possible? Don''t joke with me." One of the men said.


    Be had black hair, which was rare among hyumans, and was the second vestige-smith in the group. He also happened to be one of the two who had shown irritation when they first met with Lucas; a speciesist who looked down on humans.


    "What''s the matter?" The leader asked.


    "The most ideal way of combination of the Multiplex and Forger philosophies is one that combines both capabilities perfectly into one. Why I do admit that the Blue Spear is impressive and powerful, it''s not worth calling ''the most ideal way''. It''s merely the same as some of the vestiges in the market, albeit more powerful." The man snorted.


    He wasn''t a member of Lucy''s faction, but rather came from the allied faction. He was also incensed that not only did his faction''s upper heads ally with Lucy''s faction, but the vestige-smith they all placed their hopes in was a mysterious individual who could only be contacted through a human. As such, he couldn''t help but disparage Lucas'' vestige a bit.


    Although it might sound like a dumb idea, pointing out faults would aid them in getting an upper hand in negotiations later on. This was why the leader didn''t stop him, and the black-haired man knew this as well and used it to his advantage.


    Lucas glanced at them, not surprised by the act. He wasn''t a business genius and so couldn''t see the underlying plot, but he did expect to receive some chiding once he presented his work.


    The idea of combining the two major philosophies wasn''t something new, and many vestige-smiths had tried it in the past. Sadly, they all failed. Although some did succeed in making a vestige with both properties, it would usually align towards one side.


    For instance, there was a similar vestige in the market as with the Blue Spear. The vestige had the ability to fire laser beams and appeared to be a staff weapon. However, its weight was ridiculous and its size was larger than most staff weapons, as it had to fit in a whole bunch of different technology.


    This made it difficult to use the staff as a cold weapon, since the strength requirement of the user was now raised to a new threshold.


    At the same time, to lessen the recoil, the power of the laser beam was made weak. While this was a rational decision, it had affected the vestige''s ability to function as a hot weapon. The laser beam was so weak that its range was limited when compared to other hot weapons. It also got weaker the further it went, approaching the point of nil damage at around eighty metres.


    For a hot weapon to only have an effective range of less than eighty metres in this era was a huge disappointment, and such a vestige would unequivocally be termed as a failure.


    There was also the fact that reloading the vestige was complicated due to its structure; maintenance was also complex, heating problems, stability problems, and so on. Most of all, issues arose when the staff was used as a blunt weapon to collide with a solid target. The impact was found out to cause damage to the internal system of the vestige, affecting its ability to function as a hot weapon.


    In the worst case scenario, the staff could even explode due to a malfunction.


    Despite the fact that in later versions, the severe problems and a majority of challenges faced were fixed, some of them still remained. Most notably being the weak laser beam power, weight and size challenges.


    If the Blue Spear''s only speciality was firing laser beams, then it couldn''t really be called a hot weapon due to these existing problems. Even if they were fixed in the Blue Spear, it would still be used majorly as a spear with the shooting feature as an auxiliary service.


    "That''s why I called it, the first feature." Lucas answered.


    "You don''t need to worry about the drawbacks and complications in similar models in the market as those are nonexistent here. For instance, you can see that while the size and shape of the Blue Spear is a bit larger than standard spears, it isn''t by much. In fact, the difference is so little that it''s still less thicker than a heavy spear, while the weight is only 1.5 that of a standard spear.


    "But as I was saying, that''s just the first feature."


    Saying so, Lucas glanced at Lucy and signalled at her.


    Lucy was surprised and confused, but she came towards him.


    "Pump in a bit of stellar energy into it through this matrix."


    Lucas then handed the vestige to her and pointed at a stellar circuit. He called it a matrix as that was what they were most familiar with.


    Lucy did as told, controlling her stellar energy to enter the vestige through the matrix. Being a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, this wasn''t a challenge, and most of all, she worked with a vestige company, so she was familiar with such acts. However, what happened next left her agape with incredulity.


    Within a second, just as the stellar energy flowed into the matrix, the Blue Spear abruptly transformed into a sniper rifle. The process was so swift and smooth that Lucy didn''t sense any uncomfortable sensation on the hand wielding the vestige. She still firmly held onto it, but the form and shape had changed into something distinguishable from what she previously held a few moments ago.


    "!!!"


    Everyone¡ªwhether it was the human-hater, the team leader or even Lucy who held the vestige in her hands¡ªhad their eyes opened wide at the scene. If someone had told them earlier that they would be witnessing a vestige with two forms; hot and cold, they would have laughed at the speaker and maybe even mocked them a bit. However, they were now seeing such a marvel in front of their eyes.


    "When I called it the most ideal way possible to combine both philosophies, I meant it." Lucas uttered calmly, amidst the dumbfounded looks and open mouths.

 Chapter 134 - 134: Talks

    The group were speechless at the sight of the transformation and their heads immediately began to spin. It should be recalled that all six of them were individuals with a business acumen. They could see the potential Lucas'' product had. They could already visualise the disruption it would bring about in the market.


    Amongst freelancers, there were some who used both hot and cold weapons. However, there was a glaring issue with this; it was the effect of the combined weight on the user. For a pistol, there wasn''t much to speak of, but for more powerful weapons like a rifle, the additional weight would impede the freelancer. There was also the fact that it was difficult to use both weapons at the same time.


    However, the Blue Spear, though heavier than a regular spear, was much lighter than the combination of the two vestiges. The logic was the same as with the principle of two perpendicular points. In a right-angled triangle, the diagonal line, or hypotenuse, might be the longest by length, but it was shorter than the sum of the other two lines.


    This was the theory of perpendicular points: the shortest distance between two perpendicular points is a diagonal line.


    The same logic applied here as with the right angled triangle; the Blue Spear, which combined two types of vestiges, was much lighter than the sum of the two vestiges'' weight.


    At the same time, it was much easier to use the Blue Spear than carrying two vestiges at once, after all, the Blue Spear¡ªeven in its spear form¡ªcould shoot out lasers.


    Seeing that he had their attention, Lucas went ok to introduce the other features of the vestige. Similar to the spear he made for Wally, the Blue Spear was also fitted with a spell that would activate upon a said keyword. The spell was the same with Wally''s, and could boost the user''s strength and speed for an attack.


    It could also be powered by the same stellar energy capsule used by the vestige in its gun form. Doing so would greatly increase the boost effect of the skill, albeit at the cost of the capsule''s energy.


    After introducing all the other features, Lucas also projected the test results of the vestige. The test was pretty much the same as those in a vestige duel, but it was more comprehensive and detailed. With this data, the executives could better realise the value of the vestige.


    As for the Dark dagger, it was the same as the vestige Lucas had made during his exceptional basis exam and it functioned just like the Blue Spear. The only exception, apart from the obvious drop in power, was that its second form was a pistol and not a rifle.


    Once Lucas was done describing the abilities and features of the two vestiges, it was now time for negotiations. For this, the two vestige-smiths stepped up and inspected the vestiges themselves, after receiving Lucas'' permission.


    The leader had asked for two vestige-smiths to accompany him on this inspection, so as to check the viability of the deal. There was also another reason he had asked for their presence. It was to find some faults in the vestiges, no matter how small. By pointing out those faults, they could target the negotiator and help his confidence, which would then help him gain advantages in the deal.


    Despite this sounding unscrupulous, it was a common tactic in business.


    "I noticed that the transformation time of the vestiges is roughly above half a second, correct?"


    The vestige-smith with black hair suddenly asked.


    "Indeed." Lucas nodded.


    "I don''t know whether it''s because you lack battle experience, but you should know that half a second is too long in a fight with experts." The man said with a slight smile.


    For an average person, a second might seem too short or quick, but for experts, especially in professions that depend heavily on reflexes, a second was long. While half a second was indeed shorter than a complete second, it was still enough time for an expert to react or even attack.


    If a freelancer spent that long waiting for his vestige to transform, he would probably be dead by the time it was all over, even if his opponent was a desolate beast.


    "You''re right," Lucas didn''t refute the man, shocking the others.


    He ignored their glances and continued.


    "But you made a little mistake. The transformation time isn''t above half a second; it''s roughly 0.3 seconds." Lucas raised three fingers.


    "The actual demonstrated time was 0.7 seconds, but this was to let you all witness the process easily. The market-fit product however, would have a transformation time of no more than 0.3 seconds. In the future, this would be shortened to 0.1 seconds."


    When Lucas was done, the group didn''t know what to say. The vestige had already impressed them and the talk about transformation time was simply to lower Lucas'' confidence and get a better deal for themselves. However, by revealing the truth about the demonstration, Lucas had dropped their confidence.


    What''s more, the added plans for future upgrades already made them unsure of how to go about the negotiations.


    ''At this rate, we won''t be gaining much.'' The leader of the executives thought as he stared at Lucas.


    He was beginning to wonder whether the latter was a business guru who had figured out their plan, and made preparations by revealing a slower transformation time. That way, he would create a shock effect during negotiations, just as had occurred.


    "Oh, okay." The black-haired vestige-smith stuttered with a flushed face as he focused back on the vestige.


    The other vestige-smith, the one with a pair of glasses, was glued to the inscriptions on the Blue Spear.


    "I might not be an expert in weapons-type vestiges, but I do know a lot about stellar matrices as it is our area of focus. If I''m correct, this isn''t a stellar matrix, unless it''s something novel. In fact, I believe it is more likely to be something entirely different as I see no principle or theory relating to stellar matrices in them."


    Vestige-smithing was similar to manufacturing occupations on Earth. In fact, it could be termed as Earth manufacturing occupations combined with stellar energy. Due to that, there were many branches in vestige-smithing. As there were monsters, which were very valuable for their body parts, weapons became popular and the weapons branch of vestige-smithing naturally came to light and stood out.


    However, in the end, the majority of hyumans were common folks who relied on everyday technology. Engineers could handle those issues, but some pieces of equipment or technology required important components that could boost their productivity and capabilities. As such, the branch that dealt with making this component was one of the most popular branches in vestige-smithing.


    They were known as the School of Analytical Reasoning and they focused on making one very important component called stellar processor.


    Unlike weapons, that had a lot of emphasis on form, stellar processors were more efficiency- and accuracy-focused, giving zero care for aesthetics. As such, vestige-smiths of the School of Analytical Reasoning didn''t learn forging or much about material science, albeit they dabbled a bit in the latter. Their major focus rather, was on calculations and inscriptions.


    This led to them becoming the most knowledgeable when it came to stellar matrices, and the vestige-smith was from this branch.


    Lucas turned to the man and nodded.


    "You''re right. They aren''t the typical stellar matrices. It''s something my master uses as a sort of branding. He calls them stellar circuits."


    The vestige-smith nodded.


    It wasn''t uncommon for vestige-smiths to be familiar with a certain style or technique of inscription and keep it to themselves. This helped them in building their brand, or even a school, as they were, typically, the only ones aware of such methods.


    It was the same with how restaurants had their secret sauce, or how food and cosmetics companies kept the measurements used in production a secret, even if they printed out the ingredients on the back of their product packaging. With the ingredients alone, it would still be difficult, if not impossible, to perfectly replicate the product.


    The fact that one could see the inscriptions used on a vestige, but that doesn''t mean they could copy it, as they lack the formula for it. An inscription wasn''t simply just a scribble or a carving on a vestige. It was a combination of geometrical and mathematical calculations as well as stellar energy complications.


    Due to the intricacies involved, vestige-smiths would use it as a sort of branding for their products.


    "For these stellar circuits, can anyone work on them?" The man asked. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was a very important question. Usually, even if a vestige-smith used a unique stellar matrix in a vestige, other vestige-smiths could still work on the vestige to some extent. They might not be able to clone the matrix, but repairing parts of it or making adjustments wasn''t an issue, for the experienced ones that is.


    If the stellar circuit was a new technology, it would mean that the difficulty of repair was high, if not impossible for anyone except the original vestige-smith. In that case, it would bring more business to the vestige-smith, but it might also attract some concerns.


    "As it is an entirely new inscription system, for now, no one except the original vestige-smith, or someone knowledgeable about stellar circuits, could do so. However, my master is working on a solution for that. Within six months to a year, there should be a solution for that."


    Lucas estimated that six months to a year should be enough time for him to get the system up to level five or at least make, five hundred system coins. There was still the fact that he could hire a strong employee and borrow their power within the store.


    "Alright then." The four-eyed man [1] nodded.


    The leader of the executives could see that none of the vestige-smiths accompanying him could find much of a fault in the vestiges, so he sighed secretly. Regardless of that, he was determined to make a deal with Lucas to be the sole distributor for these vestiges, even if he had to sacrifice an arm or a leg.

 Chapter 135 - 135: Fallen City

    After the vestige-smiths'' queries were met with apt responses from Lucas, they had gone on to discuss the financial aspects of the deal and set out the terms. The deal was that the Novanio Tech company would form a dealership business to handle their weapons vestige business.


    The dealership would buy a fixed number of vestiges from Lucas every month for the next year, which couldn''t be increased nor decreased, unless both sides came to an agreement. Also, the dealership would be made the sole distributor of Lucas, or rather his master''s vestiges in the surroindg regions of Baylands city-state. As for the city itself, Lucas would naturally be the sole distributor.


    There was no reason for Novanio Tech''s dealership to compete with Lucas as not only was it pointless, but their vestiges would be higher priced compared to the source. But in other regions, Lucas'' influence and reach was limited, so they could truly embody the title of sole distributor.


    The arrangements were done to protect the interests of the two sides in the deal.


    Lucas didn''t find any issue with it, but the problem came down to the price and quantity.


    Regardless of what happened afterwards, as long as the vestige was to be bought from the store, it had to be sold at the system''s set value. Which meant that the vestiges would cost almost twice the market price. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he was told the price, the leader of the executives was shocked and tried to bargain. However, try as he may, Lucas refused to budge. Although the truth wasn''t that he refused but had to abide by the system''s rules, it made no sense to the executive lesder.


    In the end, Lucas had performed a live test and made them understand that the vestige was on par with some Grade 4 vestiges. This managed to convince the crowd and they accepted the price.


    As for the quantity, Lucas fixed it at ten per month. Naturally, this raised some concerns from the executives. But once again, by referring to the vestige''s quality and comparing with the number of Grade 4 vestiges the top companies sell per month, the complaints were quelled.


    An average top company with the capability of making a Grade 4 vestige, usually sold between four to seven a month. The reason for this was that Grade 4 vestiges required expensive and rare materials, while the level of focus and skill needed was high, making the task intense even for a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith.


    Combined with the fact that most of the Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths either ran the company or spent the majority of their time on research, it was unavoidable that there wouldn''t be many Grade 4 vestiges being produced in a month.


    Another reason was that scarcity generates demand and creates value. So, when Lucas had explained his thoughts, the executives didn''t have anything to say about it.


    In the end, the negotiations were concluded and a deal was struck between the two sides. As such, it was time for the group to leave.


    "Thank you, Mr. Saunters for the warm treatment. We will contact you later on and finalise the details through Lucy." The leader of the five executives said as they approached the entrance of the store.


    Novanio Tech was to hold a conference in a few weeks during which they would announce to the world their plans to open a dealership as well as unveil some of the vestiges that would be sold through it. The leader of this group of executives told Lucas that he would try to file for a slot for the Blue Spear and Dark dagger during that event.


    As it was closely approaching, there was no certainty on whether he would succeed or not, which was why they would give Lucas a feedback soon after this.


    When the group left, Lucas sighed with relief as it meant that he could.keeo working. He closed the store early today to attend to the guests, and now that they were gone, Lucas didn''t plan on reopening today. Instead, he decided to spend the time working on more vestiges.


    Meanwhile, as Lucas was working in the work-station, in one of the cities in Alleva district, a calamity had unfolded. The city was in Alleva district and closer towards the less safer side of the grey line; where Baylands City was, as well as a few monster habitat regions.


    A sudden beast tide had assaulted the city; an event that hadn''t occurred in over sixty years. Not only had the beast tide appeared out of nowhere, but it was too powerful for the city''s security forces to hold down the fort. Though they had tried to contact neighbouring towns and cities for help, there was a malfunctioning with their emergency communications network.


    Within only a few hours, the entire city was laid to waste by the beast tide.


    Thousands of people were dead and the financial losses were in the billions. There was no doubt that once the news became public, thousands of citizens would be stunned by it.


    As for the beast tide, they resided in the ruins of the city, with some of them wandering outside or heading towards other areas.


    A few hundred metres away from the city, three individuals stood by and watched as the city was being terrorised by the monsters. Of the three men, one was someone very familiar; Ramirez.


    "Today''s experiment doesn''t look bad. The results are also great. I can say I was quite entertained by then." One of the men said.


    "The machine is indeed working, but it''s still expensive and needs more adjustments." Another voice sounded.


    "The range has been increased and duration as well. What other adjustments are there and what could they be needs for?" Ramirez asked, staring at the two.


    One of them had a horn on his head and he was the one who spoke first. As for the other one, he looked like a hyuman with no noticeable differences. This was because he was one, however, with an mDNA count lower than 10%, he was called human.


    The human answered, "That''s a secret for now."

 Chapter 136 - 136: Info On Ramirez

    While Lucas waited for the feedback from the Novanio Tech executives, he continued running the store peacefully. There were also a few other agents from businesses who had contacted him during the Silver Fig Trade Convention, however, some of them eventually didn''t reach back at all. For the ones who did, Lucas found out that they weren''t straightforward and simply wanted to dupe him.


    In the end, those conversations crashed and Lucas prioritised only the Novanio Tech company.


    At this time, someone walked into the store. Lucas stared ahead and saw that it was a familiar face; the young teen Wally. Behind him though, there was someone else who came in.


    "Good day, Mr. Lucas." Wally smiled as he greeted.


    "It''s you, kid. What brings you here today?"


    Seating at his signature spot behind the counter, Lucas stared at Wally, before shifting his glance to the person by his side.


    "Good day, Mr. Lucas." The young lady greeted him.


    Similar to Wally, she had a brown hair and looked alike. It was easy for Lucas to surmise that they were related, and by roughly estimating her age, which was quite close to that of his physical body, he guessed that she was his older sister.


    "Same." Lucas nodded without any expression on his face.


    Feeling awkward, the young lady tried to clear the atmosphere.


    "I''m here to give my thanks to you for helping my younger brother. I know it''s a bit overdue, but please, accept my gratitude." She bowed her head while stretching her hands forward. Locked in between them was a card.


    "What''s this?" Lucas asked.


    "It''s payment for the vestige. There is about four hundred federal coins. I know it''s not much, but please accept it." She replied as she handed the debit card to Lucas.


    "I don''t need it. He won it in a contest fair and square, so no point in doing this."


    Despite being a money-grubber at times, Lucas had his principles.


    Previously, when he had just opened the store, Lucas had a spin-the-wheel contest set up in front of the store, where for a low amount, one would get the chance to spin the wheel for prizes. The intent was to attract customers to the store with the top price being a custom vestige. Wally, as luck would have it, was the first and only winner of the game.


    This was because after Lucas came back from the Wastelands, he took it down.


    "If that''s all you''re here for, the door is open."Lucas said, before turning his attention to the tablet in his hand.


    ''What the heck is wrong with him?'' The lady couldn''t help but wonder.


    As someone who had worked as a clerk in some top stores in the city, this was the first time she had witnessed a store-owner pursuing away customers. Sure, they might not be here to buy something, but they could. Since the possibility existed, it was only natural to treat them with some courtesy.


    Despite what she thought though, Lucas didn''t care. Right now, his attention was on a mail he had just received from the Kalvin Petri.


    When Lucas had visited the deputy owner of the Vinis Pawnshop, who also acted as its front-end manager, he managed to strike a deal with him.


    Kalvin, being a member of the Petri family, was aware that Lucas was now under the sight of the Red Fangs and had made contact with them. If the latter were to go to the Red Fangs and present evidence of an attempted murder on his life by the pawnshop, not only would they be shut down, but Kalvin might also have to serve jail term.


    Although he didn''t know how much evidence Lucas had, based on the fact the latter took down the assassin sent after him and had also managed to identify Kalvin as the perpetrator, it was safe to say that Lucas had solid evidence against them. To prevent what could be a catastrophe, both sides struck a deal.


    Using the Petri family''s connections as well as the pawnshop''s, Kalvin would aid Lucas in finding out about Ramirez''s whereabouts. In exchange, Lucas wouldn''t hand the evidence he has over to the Red Fangs or any security agency.


    Kalvin could have asked for the evidence to be destroyed, but there was no saying how many copies Lucas had. Rather, an agreement to not divulge the information was better. That way, even if Lucas did so, Kalvin could sue him for breaking the contract. As long as he won the case, the evidence in the Red Fangs'' hands would become null, as it would be termed as ''illegally obtained'' by the court.


    To Kalvin, winning the court case wouldn''t be a problem, so he wasn''t at a loss.


    As for Lucas, compared to Kalvin Petri, Ramirez had ordered several attempts for his head. Lucas didn''t mind setting aside his grievance with Kalvin, as long as it would help him get his hands on Ramirez. For some reason, Lucas didn''t feel comfortable knowing the latter still walked around safely; it was simply an instinctive feeling, and it troubled him a lot. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mail Lucas was going through stated that there were sightings of Ramirez in a district outside of the city. There were a couple of them and based on the direction and timeline of each sighting, Ramirez was clearly headed to the east. Eastwards happened to be towards the safer regions and if one kept on going forward, they would approach a sea.


    Crossing that sea would lead them to the next city-state.


    The last known sighting of Ramirez was in the Alleva district, which was in a region called the grey zone. Lucas couldn''t determine whether the latter was planning to hide there or relocate to the next city-state, so he didn''t decide right away whether to go find him.


    "Uhm, Mr Lucas." A voice called out.


    Lucas raised his head to see that it was the young lady who happened to still be around.


    "Since you don''t want to accept the payment, how about dinner this evening?" She shyly asked.

 Chapter 137 - 137: Chaos In The Exchange Market

    Evening came around and Lucas...was still in the work-station.


    Earlier in the day, Wally had arrived with his elder sister to offer their appreciation for Lucas'' help as well as the vestige he gave Wally, however, the latter refused the monetary gift. In the end, Wally''s sister had invited him over for dinner with the family as a way of saying thanks, but Lucas had also rejected that.


    There was a reason why he was single despite living two lifetimes, and that was because Lucas prioritised his work more than anything. To Lucas, nothing was better than studying metals and working with them. Everything else came secondary.


    "It''s about time I closed the store." Lucas murmured as he paused his work and left the room.


    One might wonder why he would leave the store open while staying elsewhere, questioning whether Lucas wasn''t afraid of being robbed. The truth was, he wasn''t. There was no better security than the system, and within the store, the system was an all-seeing existence.


    Just as he walked towards the door and prepared to close it, Lucas glanced ahead and saw a drone flying towards him.


    Drone delivery services were very common in this world and had almost entirely replaced the need of a deliveryman. Only a few companies who did so for aesthetic reasons had a deliveryman, while the majority of companies used drones as they were much cheaper.


    ''Did I order anything?'' Lucas thought as he stated at the drone hovering in front of him.


    A hologram displayed out of it with a rough message.


    Reading it, Lucas finally understood what was going on. The drone was sent by Lucy from Novanio Tech, and it contained an invitation for the convention. The invitation was an embroidered card, so it could only be delivered physically.


    ''Seems like they agreed.''


    Lucas wasn''t surprised by this as he felt it was inevitable. He had seen the level of vestige-smithing in this city and had a good understanding of it. Although the vestiges, Blue Spear and Dark dagger, were still classified as Grade 3, they exceeded all the current Grade 3 vestiges in the market, and could even compare to some Grade 4 vestiges.


    But what made Lucas glad about this news was the future profit he would make.


    Custom Grade 3s sold for around ten thousand (10000) federal coins. As Lucas'' prices were set by the system, adding onto the fact that the vestiges were still Grade 3, each spear cost at least twenty thousand (18000) federal coins, while the Dark dagger went cheaper for seventeen thousand (15000) federal coins. If they were custom-made variations however, the price would be even greater.


    Unlike standard vestiges which had replicas and many created units, custom vestiges were rarer and built based on the customer''s request. The Blue Spear and Dark dagger were considered standard items, since they followed a standard built design and would be mass-produced.


    ''That solves my money issue. But I haven''t gotten a mission in a while now.'' Lucas thought.


    It seemed like the process of earning system coins or even levelling up the system was much more difficult than he thought.


    Lucas walked back into the store and went to the computer on the checkout counter. He wanted to look up details of the event as well as its location.


    Logging into the Eretrean network on the Kellan Solar System Intranet, Lucas spotted a headline news on the Baylands city-state section, which was his target. The caption was "Two towns found rampaged by a beast swarm in Alleva district. No survivors found."


    ''Alleva district? Isn''t that the place where Ramirez was last sighted?'' Lucas thought before clicking on the news.


    As he did so, he found out that there were other similar topics being reported by various media channels. It seemed like Alleva district was experiencing a mysterious desolate beasts tide that caused multiple casualties.


    The reason why the beasts tide was reported as mysterious was because there was no prior information to it. It was almost as if the beasts had appeared out of nowhere. If they had followed a route, security agencies and freelancers who worked on the outskirts would have spotted them. Also, Alleva district was at the grey zone, and in today''s grey zone, there were no desolate beasts'' hotspot.


    This made the presence of a massive horde of desolate beasts even more concerning and eerie.


    After a short while, Lucas left the news section as it had nothing to do with him. Not only was Alleva district really far, but Lucas wouldn''t be going there any time soon. He has only taken a look at the news out of curiosity.


    . . .


    A few moments ago outside the store, just as Lucas received the package from the drone, a shadowy figure stared at him from the distance.


    ''So that''s the guy that''s given Ramirez so much trouble lately and got him into this situation? Interesting. I never thought it would be him. I guess this is what they call fate.''


    As the figure wore a very dark hoodie and hid in the dark corners of the alley, it was difficult to ascertain who their identity, their gender or even presence.


    The figure deemed to smile while staring at Lucas before disappearing into the darkness.


    . . .


    A couple more days passed by and soon a week went by, which eventually became two weeks.


    The day of the conference approached and Lucas attended the event, accompanied by Lucy. The event was held at the Central Prefecture district, and was filled with incredible personages from the vestige-smith industry, electronics industry and so on.


    The conference felt more like an extravagant dinner party as all the guests appeared in formal attires, with attendants shuffling to and fro with trays filled with drinks and finger foods.


    Being a special guest, Lucas didn''t have anything to do, apart from appearing on stage when Novanio Tech would announce their partnership together. The night of the event went by somewhat smoothly following which Lucas returned home.


    However, while the event was peaceful, the chaos it caused on the stock market was drastic.


    A vestige with the capability of transforming into either a hot or cold weapon in under half a second was something no one had ever seen before. Not even the Tier 1 Grandmasters at the Bernin continent had pulled it off, and these were people who could create Grade 5 vestiges. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    What''s more, the power of the vestige was unaffected during each transformation, and the weight wasn''t so much as to affect a freelancer''s abilities. Overall, the new vestige had a ton of advantages with almost no disadvantages.


    The stock prices of the other vestige-smith companies began to drop after the announcement, and Novanio Tech''s stock price rose on the Baylands Stock Exchange (BSE). The dealership that would be selling the vestiges was a subsidiary of Novanio Tech and wasn''t made public on the exchange, but its speculated price range had increased.


    Many began considering investing in the dealership as they could all see the potential it had. As for existing rivals, they began contemplating how to find the vestige-smith or at least, get their hands on the vestige for sale.


    Meanwhile, the vestige-smith companies and individuals were shocked at such a marvelous creation that they couldn''t wait to order theirs and attempt to reverse-engineer it. Although they would most likely not succeed as most vestige-smiths usually added an anti-reverse matrix for that, these companies still wanted to give it a try.


    They could all see that this technology would become a trend, and if they were yet to hitch onto the ride, they would be left behind and possibly even go bankrupt. That was a regret none of them were willing to experience.


    It was like the event from two years ago which had caused the decline of multiple companies and businesses¡ªlike Toman''s Workshop¡ªand had even managed to take down a top five company at the time. The events of that year had caused a financial catastrophe in the market, which took two years for the industries involved to recover from, with some even failing to do so.


    Except this time around, the event was started off not by any of the top five companies in the weapons vestige-smith market, but a company that came from producing electronics and hardware.


    It sounded crazy that such a company had decided to delve into the weapons industry as a dealership, and on the day they announced that, they also dropped a figurative bomb that shook the entire stock market.


    While all of these took place, the man behind it all, Lucas, had long returned to take a break. As it was late at night, he couldn''t head back to the West Wing district and had instead stayed at a hotel in the Central Prefecture district. It was paid for by Novanio Tech, so Lucas had no concerns about it, and had instead decide to enjoy himself.


    This was because, not just the hotel fees, but his entire travel and stay in the Central Prefecture district this time around was funded by the company.


    For the first time since he has transmigrated into this world, Lucas felt at peace and happy. However, this tranquility wouldn''t last long.

 Chapter 138 - 138: New Mission

    "Toman, have you decided yet?"


    On a table in the lobby of the building, Toman''s Workshop, the old owner and another friend of his sat opposite the other with a board in between them. It was a game called Ruler''s Chess. It was a more complicated version of the ancient human civilisation''s chess. The game was filled with new rules and pieces, with the board now one column and row bigger.


    There were so many complications added into the old chess, which made Ruler''s Chess more difficult to play. However, it was a favourite pastime for vestige-smiths.


    As an occupation that dealt not just with forging, but also calculations, vestige-smiths had to explore different methods to train their responses and mental processing speed. Ruler''s Chess was one such method, and due to its challenging and competitive nature, it became a favourite hobby for most experienced vestige-smiths. This was even more so for those of the School of Analytical Reasoning.


    Toman remained staring at the board in silence, not giving a response yet. It wasn''t until he made his move that he let out a sigh. He then glanced towards his opponent, as well as his close friend.


    "What other choice do I have? You don''t really think I would give up my hard work and sweat to someone else, now?"


    "Haha. As expected of you my friend." The man laughed.


    He then moved a piece on the board before asking,


    "But what about your family?"


    "I''ll have Kelvin find a job elsewhere. Since the company is already going to go bankrupt, there''s no use having him hang around." Toman responded while making his move on the board.


    "Have any company in mind?"


    Toman shook his head.


    "In that case, why don''t you have him go work for that new company? The one in a deal with Novanio Tech. Their future seems quite bright." The man adviced.


    "The dealership? Are you insulting my heritage?" Toman frowned.


    To some vestige-smiths, working under a vestige-smith dealer was insulting. Usually, those who worked for such companies were vestige-smiths with little future or technicians. The more experienced and ambitious ones would either start a workshop of their own, or work under a vestige-smith company; in summary, they targeted places where they could shine, and their innovative ideas were supported.


    "No no. I never insinuated that." The man hurriedly explained himself with a chuckle.


    "I''m talking about the store in a contract with them, Seven Sparks Forge."


    Toman, who was about to make his move, froze for a while.


    "The one with a mysterious vestige-smith and a human running it from the front?"


    The Seven Sparks Forge was a rising store that gained its popularity from the Silver Fig Trade Convention. But it only made headlines and became a name known by many vestige-smiths after the conference by Novanio Tech. It had already been three days since then and every interested party already had all the information they could get about the store.


    This wasn''t difficult as not only was the Seven Sparks Forge recently formed, but it also didn''t have any data protection.


    "Yeah, that one. It''s exactly cause it''s currently run by a human that I think you should seriously consider it."


    "Why?" Toman asked, confused.


    "You''re losing your edge, Toman." The man sighed.


    "It''s being run by a human, so that would mean many would refuse to work for him. However, the store has a bright future, especially with this recent deal with Novanio Tech. It''s pretty much a unicorn [1] at this point. It would be best to hitch this ride just before it takes off; the earlier the better. Otherwise, you might regret it."


    Toman frowned and began contemplating as he placed his piece on the board. His friend could see that his attention wasn''t in the game, but he didn''t care as he moved his own piece.


    "Checkmate."


    Toman finally turned his attention to the board and realised that he had lost, yet his mind wasn''t there.


    "Good game." Toman said.


    . . .


    Lucas was currently in the store attending to customers. After the entire conference, his customerbase had once again increased.


    The following day after the conference, many were interested in checking out the store that had invented the transforming vestige. Even if it was run by a human, they held back their disgust just to see the store.


    The insane prices caught the customers'' eyes first, but after one of them both the vestige and tried it out, they realised that it was worth the price. Just like the Blue Spear and Dark dagger albeit not as much, the vestiges in the store were stronger than the ones found elsewhere.


    With such an attractive feature, the visitors turned customers and soon became regulars. Lucas, in turn, now had his hands full with work.


    ''I should really find an employee for this.'' Lucas thought.


    His intention wasn''t really to find an assistant, but to borrow their stellar energy and boost his work speed.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for aiding five hundred customers. An achievement has been unlocked.


    Congratulations on completing the hidden achievement: Rising-Star.


    Reward: Five system coins ]]


    ''Oh, there''s an achievement for this? That reminds me. System, why haven''t I gotten a mission in a while now?''


    Lucas turned his attention away from the notification.


    Five system coins were good, but what Lucas wanted was to know why he had yet to receive any mission in over a month now.


    "Missions are given depending on the host''s growth rate. Host should recall that the system is operating by a programme." The system''s emotionless voice sounded in his head.


    "Then what about you? If I recall correctly, you can give out missions limited to a certain quota. Use that instead." Lucas said.


    This time around, the system couldn''t answer him. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [[ Mission Overview: You have completed five hundred orders, while becoming a popular rising-star in the area, but that isn''t enough. Your journey has only just begun. There is more to being the Crafts-God than being a professional at metal works.


    Mission Description: Using the hide of a Jaburian desolate beast freshly acquired by the host, create an exquisite leather armour at Grade 4, within one month.


    Reward: Bronze Card x1, Special Ability Card x1


    Penalty: Possible death or system downgrade ]]


    "Speak of the devil." Lucas grinned.


    "Excuse me?" The customer in front was confused.


    Lucas glanced at him, then shook his head before turning to leave.


    "Give me a second."


    "So, what changed?" Lucas asked the system once he was in the work-station.


    "There was no change. Host has fulfilled the condition for the next mission." The system responded.


    Lucas didn''t say anything else instead studying the details of the mission. He first noted the penalty, which came with an "or". After asking the system, Lucas knew that the reason for that was due to the possible choice that he would encounter.


    If he refused to do the mission and a month went by, the system would downgrade a level and Lucas would lose all the abilities and rewards he got from the last level up. The same applied if he accepted the mission yet failed to complete it within a month. As for the possible death clause, it was due to the risk attached to hunting a Jaburian desolate beast.


    Opening his communicator, Lucas began to look up all he could about a Jaburian desolate beast. Something about this mission reminded him of the one that had Lucas go to the Wastelands, so he wanted to confirm it.


    Based on the search inquiry, a Jaburian desolate beast was a kind of desolate beast that looked like a jaguar, except it was two metres tall. The beast also had great strength, rivalling that of four polar bears. At the same time, it was incredibly fast; even a cheetah could only bite its dust. Luckily, it wasn''t as fast as a Peregrine Falcon, otherwise Lucas would refuse the mission.


    Facing something like that as he is, was no different from suicide.


    Apart from its absurd strength and speed, the Jaburian also had a remarkable defence. Its hide was so tough that a regular Grade 2 vestige couldn''t pierce through it. Even one''s arm strength had to be astounding to be able to to cause a significant amount of damage.


    With all these factors considered, the overall strength of a Jaburian was definitely not ordinary. It was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.


    "Oi, system, be honest with me. You want me dead, right?"


    The fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage was the basic requirement for the rank of lieutenant in the Red Fangs. It was also the mid-range or average power level of the Autumn''s Gate guild main members. The fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage was at the entry point to being an upper echelon of society in Baylands City. It was by no means weak, especially in a desolate beast.


    An average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could not take on a desolate beast of the same level solely relying on their own strength. They would need to aid of a vestige to be able to solo one, otherwise the chances of death was very high.


    As such, it was not strange for Lucas to be questioning the system at this point.

 Chapter 139 - 139: Lucas Tears || Baylands City Patrol Corps Responds

    "Hey, owner, it''s been a while. A voice called out to Lucas just as he was attending to the customers in the store.


    Lucas turned to the direction of the voice and saw a familiar face. It was Harry, the freelancer who has been a regular customer. He was also one of the very first people to patronise Lucas'' store and had been a loyal customer for a long time now.


    He had even convinced his teammates to patronise Lucas'' store, and after the first experience, the Seven Sparks Forge had became the group''s unofficial vestige-smith store.


    "It''s been a while." Lucas nodded at him.


    "Such an unenthusiastic welcome despite my disappearance." Harry sighed.


    As a freelancer team leader, Harry spent most of his time in the Wastelands. Thanks to the existence of the Wastelands Base station, to provide support for freelancer, Harry hardly made it into the city. That was unless he needed a new vestige or had to carry intense maintenance on his current ones.


    "Playing victim wouldn''t get you any discounts." Lucas replied.


    "...that''s about right." Harry smiled as he glanced around.


    "Business doing great?"


    Although he had expected it, seeing that there were more people in the store than usual surprised him. It had been over six weeks since he was last at the store, and never did Harry expect it to be popular within that short time frame.


    "Well, better than it used to be, but not quite."


    At the moment, there were twelve people in the store, excluding Lucas and Harry. Four of them were queued in front of Lucas, while the other eight were on the other side of the lobby, checking out the vestiges on display. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The main lobby of the store was divided into two with one side, which was the largest, being the checkout and service area, as well as the waiting spot for customers. As for the other area, it was a display section for vestiges. Some of the custom-made vestiges and standard types Lucas had made in his spare time were kept on display there.


    The vestiges were inside a special glass casing given to Lucas by the system. As a system product, it was incredibly sturdy and theft-proof, so Lucas didn''t worry about the items.


    With the system upgrade, the store also experienced some changes. In the display area, as long as one was close enough and had their hand against the glass casing, they could feel the aura of the vestige within it. This would help customers in determining which vestige they felt suited them the most.


    Harry left Lucas to attend to the customers on the queue while he headed towards the display section. It wasn''t until half an hour later that the store get empty.


    "So, what''s the matter today?" Lucas stared at Harry.


    "It''s my son''s birthday in a bit. I need to get him a present." Harry said.


    From what Lucas knew, Harry was 53 years old and had two children; a son and a daughter, twenty four and eighteen years respectively. Due to the nature of his work, Harry didn''t spend much time at home, but luckily, his wife was still alive to watch over the children.


    When his son turned twenty however, he moved out of the house and now resides in the East Crown district. The East Crown district was the district located in the eastern part of Baylands City. Unlike the West Wing district, it was a residential area. Geographically, it was also the safest region in Baylands City as it was the furthest away from the Wastelands.


    "A vestige for a gift? Are you sure?" Lucas asked carefully as he added,


    "I make weapons. Not those fancy ones you know."


    "Just a trinket. I would like it to be shaped like a sword. I want him to know that his father would always protect him, no matter where he is." Harry smiled.


    Lucas felt quiet, feeling a strange emotion well up within him. Lucas didn''t really experience much when it came to familial ties.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had a family up until the age of eleven. He then lost his family at a tender age during a unique incident. A rogue mage¡ªa deserter¡ª had appeared in their village and captured everyone for an experiment. His parents were victims of the mage''s experiment and had died a horrific death.


    It wasn''t until a passer-by saved them did Lucas gain his freedom. But by that time, he was the only survivor of his village. The passer-by had no intentions of taking care of anyone and had left them to be. Knowing no one, Lucas had ended up having to survive all on his own in a forbidden forest that housed all sorts of monsters and criminals.


    For three years, he had struggled all on his own until Lucas met his master who took him in after admiring the little boy''s willpower and talent. His master has taught him how to survive in the magical society, how to cook, how to practice magic, and most especially, how to create magic items. It was all thanks to his master that the little Yohan had grown up to be a successful man.


    As for his master, the man eventually did; unlike Yohan at his prime, the man was just a regular blacksmith. He couldn''t stand out among his group, much less stand atop all other blacksmiths. On his death bed, he has stated that his greatest act was raising Lucas.


    Although not related by blood, Yohan looked up the man as a father.


    In his second life as Lucas Saunters, Lucas was born into a family; an average one with no special feature. However, with the soul and awareness of a five hundred years old being, it was quite difficult for Lucas to relate with his new family.


    While he wasn''t rebellious or cold, Lucas couldn''t feel that sense of love and connection as he did with his master. At the same time, his parents didn''t pay much attention to him as they were occupied with their jobs and their last child, a daughter who got all their attention.


    Despite knowing this, Lucas didn''t care. This was because he found it difficult to see them as his parents, albeit he treated them as such on the surface.


    This was his third life, and Lucas pretty much started it as an orphan.


    Seeing Harry look emotional when talking about his son reminded Lucas of his master and his dad, the father he had in his first life. Both men had cared for him sincerely and did their best to ensure he grew up well. They were the masons who laid the foundation for the existence that became the third grandmaster of that world, and one who was a Crafts-God candidate.


    "A trinket, huh. Okay." Lucas nodded and turned to leave.


    "If you have any special requests on it, send them to my mail. I''ll be off to work now."


    Harry was surprised, watching as Lucas left. He called out to the latter, but was ignored, which made him even more confused. Regardless, since Lucas had agreed to the request, Harry didn''t stress himself and left the store soon afterwards.


    In the work-station, Lucas faced the work-bench located at the centre of the room with his eyes closed. Memories flashed by and emotions welled up within him. A tear drop leaked from his eyes, but Lucas was unaware of it.


    ''I hope you''re in a better place.''


    Despite having not believed in the existence of God, at this moment, Lucas silently prayed.


    . . .


    The Red Fangs building was currently in a state of distress. The employees could all feel the ambience which was intensely serious and worrisome. It was clear that they were experiencing a dire situation that needed all hands on deck.


    Deep in the building was the office of the director of the Red Fangs Unit. The Red Fangs were the only unit under the City Patrol Corps that had a different director due to their independent nature.


    Usually, a director of the City Patrol Corps was stationed at every district in Baylands city-state, with the Chief of Police, an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner who stayed at the Central Prefecture district, being the supreme authority over them.


    In turn, the Chief of Police was under the direct order of the commissioner, who wasn''t necessarily a uniformed individual [1] and was usually voted into place by the board of officials of the city.


    Twenty districts implied twenty directors, but with the Red Fangs having an independent director, there were twenty-one directors in total. Every director of police was at the very least a sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, albeit some were at the seventh level.


    The director of the Red Fangs, for instance, was part of that exception, and he was currently holding a briefing in his office.


    "The beast tide in Alleva district is getting worse, and the district''s security unit can''t handle it on their own anymore. It''s been raised to a Class B situation, and there are still calls to make it into a Class A case."


    To understand the threats they were facing as well as make appropriate responses to them, a scale system was put in place for the possible dangers the city-state could face. This system was used not just by the Red Fangs, but the other units in the City Patrol Corps as well as the City Defence Force.


    By having a general system, it could help in the transmission and interpretation of information better.


    The various ranks were as such:


    Class D, which was the lowest threat level, was for situations that could only threaten an entire street or borough.


    Class C was for threats that were aimed at a town, a city or a borough, which were common divisions in the other fifteen districts.


    Class B was for threats that could affect an entire district. Such threats had to be apprehended and reported right away to the command centre at Baylands City once they were discovered. Backup could also be requested from the command centre in such a scenario, albeit most times, the local forces tried to take care of it on their own.


    Class A was for threats to multiple districts at once. In such a situation, the affected districts'' security units were to work together, and at the same time, a petition for support would be sent to the command centre. Usually, the City Defence Force or the Red Fangs would then be dispatched to aid in defusing the threat.


    Class S were for threats that the entire city-state was encountering, or at the very least, a danger faced by four or more districts at once. During times like these, everyone was dispatched the quell the problem, and even the city lord, a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner expert, could get involved.


    There were other classes of threat, such as the Class X, which was higher and pertained to threats encountered by two or more city-states, and also the planetary threats. However, such situations were incredibly rare and had yet to be encountered in the last one hundred years. Also, regarding planetary threats, only the Oklo Dynasty could make such calls.


    After the previous meeting with the director at Alleva, it was agreed that the issue was a Class B danger, but there were findings that it could expand into a Class A situation if not stopped quickly. Because of that, the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps at the Alleva district had requested for backup from the command centre.


    Since it was an "external matter", the Red Fangs, who were first responders, were handed the case.


    "For this matter, I''ll be having your team handle the issue. Understand the situation first before dealing with the desolate beast tide, do I make myself clear?"


    "Yes."


    The group in the office replied.


    "Good. Now, depart."

 Chapter 140 - 140: Making A Decision

    "A Jaburian? No, never heard of it."


    "Jaburian? Is that a pantherian desolate beast? Those are quite rare. I''ve never seen one in my life."


    "Jaburian? Nah."


    "You won''t find a Jaburian around. They''re fourth level beasts, so they don''t live on the outskirts of the Wasteland, but deep within. Only those top guilds and teams dare go so far into the Wastelands."


    Lucas sighed at the various responses he got from his customers, as none could give him any lead. Since the system had given him a mission, Lucas intended to complete it and get the rewards. With ten system coins on the line, and the fact he didn''t know when next he would get a mission, there was no reason to miss this.


    However, regardless of whom he asked in the store ¡ªfreelancer or not¡ª no one had any information on the Jaburian. Many didn''t even know what type of desolate beast it was, and for the few who did, they confirmed to him that they had never seen it before; all, except for one


    "I think you should check on the news or so. There was a similar looking beast in one of those broadcasts on the beast tide in Alleva district. You might as well go through the intranet and search for some clues."


    Taking the advice, Lucas opened his communicator browser and began searching for information regarding the Jaburian, thanks to the lead of the man. He focused his efforts on news regarding Alleva district, but even that was difficult.


    The beast tide was a large horde, it consisted of different species of desolate beasts, which was a unique occurrence.


    The desolate beast biological kingdom was much different from the animal kingdom as on Earth. They were more than just an entirely new species, however, they did possess similarities with typical beasts on Earth.


    For instance, some lived in colonies while others are independent; there were also some classes of desolate beasts of different species, who could still live in a particular niche in peaceful unison. However, there were also desolate beasts that preyed on the other.


    A desolate beast tide, also called a desolate beasts wave or swarm, was a massive throng of desolate beasts of different species and habitats. What stood out from this was that such beasts might be natural enemies, but in a tide, they moved without wreaking havoc. Such an eerie detail had been noted by zoologists, who now also studied desolate beasts as well, long ago.


    Since there was a beast tide in Alleva district, there was a significant chance that Lucas might find a Jaburian there. No reason other than the fact that the mission was well-timed and a desolate beast tide could have up to twenty three different species of desolate beasts.


    After spending half an hour checking through the various databases and public investigation details on different platforms, Lucas finally found something.


    On one certain website, there was a report about a pantherian beast sighted in the desolate beasts swarm. Further confirmation by the experts had suspected it to be a Jaburian. The reason why this was a suspicion was because the image wasn''t clear as the creature was moving too fast and blended amidst the horde of monsters.


    While the image was restructured using AI, there was no certainty regarding the final result. Nonetheless, it was supposedly accurate, at least an 80% likelihood.


    ''I figured.'' Lucas sighed.


    Just as with last time where the system had him go to the Wastelands, Lucas was suspicious that this mission would also send him somewhere dangerous.


    As it stood, the only known sighting of a Jaburian was in the Alleva district, but that was a place at risk of a desolate beasts tide, and it was also the last known location of Ramirez.


    ''Oh, they''re gone.'' Lucas glanced at a certain direction. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Since the murder of the assassin a couple of weeks back, the Red Fangs had kept an eye on him just in case Ramirez retaliated. They used Lucas as an open bait to fish in Ramirez. However, the latter didn''t bite. As such, it was only a matter of time before the Red Fangs gave up the plan.


    Lucas had always sensed two individuals watching him from the dark. They would occasionally leave, but be replaced by another two right away. However, today, Lucas noticed that there were no replacements. It seemed like the Red Fangs had finally given up the plan, and with the situation at Alleva district, there was all the more reason to do so.


    ''The situation has to be more dire than it seems, considering they''re calling back their agents.''


    Thinking of this, Lucas narrowed his eyes. He had already made his decision.


    . . .


    The next day came about and the new customers were surprised to find out that the store was closed for the day. The old regulars however, weren''t too stunned by this and just smiled.


    One of the recent regulars couldn''t help but stop one of them.


    "The store''s closed. Do you know where the owner went or what happened to him?"


    "Oh, nothing. The owner does this sometimes. He leaves closes the store for a while and goes on a trip." The man replied.


    "But why would he do such? His business just started off well. Isn''t it a bad idea to suddenly take a break?" The young man, who was interested in the situation, pestered on.


    "How would I know what goes through his head?, But if I''m correct, it''s probably because he''s going to meet his master."


    "His master?"


    "Yeah. You know the store owner is a human, so there''s no way he''s the vestige-smith behind all these products. I''m guessing he went out to find his master and restock." The man said after some thought.


    If Lucas were to hear this, one could only imagine the kind of expression he would have on his face. No one knew who had started up this explanation, but many went with it as it made sense. All points were logical, and there was never any sign of vestige shipments to the store.


    It was only natural for many to seek a possible explanation as to how Lucas gets his vestige, and many believed that he did the shipping himself.


    "I see." The young man narrowed his eyes.


    "Thanks for the help."


    The young man then left the area, but not entirely. He snuck into a corner and opened up his communicator.


    "The target has left the scene. I repeat, the target has left the scene."

 Chapter 141 - 141: Alleva District, The Abode Of Crime

    "Welcome to Alleva district. Please ensure that you depart with your luggage, and kindly enjoy your stay in our district."


    "Welcome to Alleva district. Please ensure that you depart with your luggage, and kindly enjoy your stay in our district."


    "Welcome to ..."


    In the light-rail train station, the announcer''s soft yet pleasing voice sounded over and over again, and despite how many times it repeated the same words, there was no sense of irritation from the listeners whatsoever.


    Lucas stepped out of the light-rail train and glanced around the place.


    ''Sure enough, it can''t compare.''


    This was the very first time Lucas had left Baylands City for a different district, with the trip to the Wasteland Base station not counting.


    Compared to the districts of Baylands City, Alleva district was of a lower standard. The air was less pure, and the stellar energy concentration was lower. Even if he couldn''t use it yet, Lucas could sense the differences in concentration levels. He could also sense the life energies of the people around, as long as they were weaker than he was, thanks to his sensitive soul.


    Lucas could see that compared to their counterparts, they were less healthier.


    This was understandable as an old research paper had found out that stellar energy could affect one''s health. However, this didn''t mean that more stellar energy in the air was good, as the health-improvement effect was only limited to a certain concentration level for average hyumans.


    Although Alleva district sounded like a backwater, it was much more advanced than any place Lucas had been on Earth. To be exact, the city Lucas currently was.


    "Sunrise City, the capital of Alleva district." A voice interrupted Lucas'' thoughts. sea??h th§× NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He glanced to the side and saw a man with a blue moustache, which would have been strange on Earth, but was common here.


    "Don''t mind me. I couldn''t help myself seeing a fellow human." The man smiled. His smile seemed to carry some sort of relief and comfort, with a hint of sadness.


    Lucas was slightly surprised and then paid more attention to the man. He felt something different about him. Although the latter wasn''t a true human as he was, the man was different from the hyumans Lucas had met and seen.


    ''So this is a human.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the man.


    In this world, pure humans were extinct. There was no such thing as a true human, and Lucas was the only one in existence. Everyone was a hyuman. However, hyumankin inherited certain traits from humanity, and one of them was the deadly sin of pride; or to be more apt, the disgusting desire for superiority complex.


    In the human era, skin colour differentiation was a situation more or less brought about due to the environment one lived in. Dark skinned people came about due to living in a region where they were exposed to too much sunlight and UV rays ¡ªparticularly regions closer to the equator. Although vital to the production of Vitamin D, UV rays were dangerous in excess amounts.


    And so, the body had increased their melanin concentration to protect them, to be specific, eumelanin.


    When humans moved to regions with lesser UV concentration, the body adapted in an attempt to effectively absorb more UV rays, and dropped its eumelanin production but not pheomelanin. Eumelanin was the melanin that resulted in a dark skin tone whereas pheomelanin was for lighter skin tones. The drop in one with the increase in the other, resulted in a different skin shade or colour.


    In summary, the difference in skin colour was a result of the human body reacting to various environments, but humanity had thought differently. Even after the truth was found out, it didn''t matter.


    Why? Because of the innate nature to be better, to hold pride over another; the desire to stand above themselves. No one wanted to be equal, and so the concept of races came about.


    The same situation repeated itself with hyumankin, but it wasn''t due to skin colour. Rather, they found a more ''solid'' basis for segregation, and that was the mDNA concentration. The segregation was no longer on skin colour, but who was of the advanced species and who was of the lesser.


    Stellar energy was everything in modern society, and not being able to use it was termed as a defect, a deficiency or even a terminal illness. Of the hyumans who had this ''sickness'', they became tagged ''humans'', as they were seen to be no different from the preceding, archaic and incompetent species.


    "We humans should stick together, don''t you think so?" The man said with a smile on his face.


    "Here''s my contact info. If you need any help, just let me know." The man smiled and handed Lucas a card.


    At first, Lucas wanted to reject the card as he knew nothing about the stranger, except that he was a ''human''. But when recalled that he was new here and knew nothing about the city or district, Lucas decided to accept the card.


    Business cards weren''t as common in this world since everything could be done and projected through a communicator. But that didn''t mean that it was out of use.


    "Do you know any good spots in town? I''m new here." Lucas asked the man.


    "Oh, sure. That''s easy." The man smiled.


    "Check out, Virginia''s Motel on Gale block. It''s a nice and comfy spot with a cheap price tag for a night. You don''t need to worry about yourself as well since the owner treats us humans just as well. For your meals, I would suggest Don''s Cafeteria. They make the best burgers, meatballs, stuffed cabbages, you name it. Rumour has it, his recipe is based on dishes from the Human race''s era."


    However, Lucas wasn''t paying attention to the latter part of his words, but focused on just one.


    "I don''t need to worry about myself...?"


    Lucas was confused about that line.


    "You don''t know?" The man was shocked. He then face-palmed as he let out a sigh.


    "Oh wait, I forgot you''re new here. But still, it''s insane that you came to the district without knowing.


    "Alleva district is a district full of vim and vigour. You could find anything you want and get it done here, so long as you can afford it. There are many things to do and places to see, like the old Grey zone line, so it''s a tourist spot as well. However, it also has another side to it; one easily recognised by Alleva''s other name."


    The man carefully glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then he leaned in and whispered to Lucas.


    "The Abode Of Crime."

 Chapter 142 - 142: Abode Of Crime

    After their short introduction, the human male with a blue mustache left the light-rail train station for his destination, while Lucas made his way over to the Gale block, where the motel that was recommended to him by the man, Virginia''s Motel, was situated.


    Before doing so, however, Lucas had made an agreement with the man to meet up once again later in the day, at the second recommended location, Don''s Cafeteria.


    This meeting was brought up by Lucas, and it was to learn more about the city and the district. Being a newcomer, Lucas barely knew much about Alleva district. Although he could look up some information on the intranet, that couldn''t compare to a local''s knowledge.


    For instance, the man had claimed that Alleva district had the nickname of the Abode of Crime, but there was no mention of this on any site.


    When evening came, Lucas made his way to the meeting point. It wasn''t difficult to locate despite being a newcomer, thanks to the aid of a GPS.


    "Yo."


    Just as Lucas stepped into the building and looked around, he heard a voice calling out to him. Lucas was sure the voice was speaking to him because it was a familiar one¡ªthat of the man he had met earlier during the day.


    "You''re early." Lucas said as he took a seat opposite the man.


    "Well, I had nothing going on for me today, plus someone''s taking me out for a treat, so why won''t I be?" The man chuckled before ordering some items through the virtual display on the table.


    "So, what is it you want to know?"


    "Everything. I''m pretty much new here, and I don''t know how the district works. Heck, I''ve spent all my life elsewhere, so I don''t even know how districts work." Lucas responded.


    His behaviour at the moment was different from his usual self. He was more free and expressive.


    Growing up alone and having to move from one place to another with his foster father, Lucas had learnt to blend into society, adapt, and relate with others. The only reason why he always kept a cold and unperturbed face in his store was because that was how Lucas wanted to be perceived¡ªsomeone who was serious and couldn''t be joked around with.


    Since he was in a different place and needed to fish out information, Lucas decided to act appropriately.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve got you." The man laughed as he received his order from the robot that approached them.


    "Hmm, let''s see. I''ll start with Alleva district. Unlike how it supposedly works with the five districts of the capital city, the fifteen districts are different. Each district is like a small state of its own and has a bunch of cities, with one of them functioning as the capital. In Alleva''s case, that''s where we are now, Sunrise City.


    While each city might have a city lord, the district has no head ruler. There''s no central authority or standout leader, as with Baylands City''s five districts that have the city lord in charge. Instead, each district is governed by a council."


    Lucas was amazed by the system of government.


    Overall, there was Baylands city-state and the centre of the city-state was Baylands City which was ruled by the Baylands City''s city lord, and made up of five districts. At the same time, the city lord of Baylands City was the head of Baylands city-state.


    However, the other fifteen districts didn''t pair up to form cities as with the five districts of Baylands City. Instead, they expanded their reach and independently created cities of their own, which they lorded over. Alleva district for instance, had over five cities under its rule, excluding the central city, Sunrise City.


    Each of the cities had a city lord, but the city lord''s jurisdiction only applied to the city. As for the district, it was governed by a council.


    "Each district council might have a different number of members, but it has to be a multiple of three, and the minimum is twelve members. For Alleva, we have twenty-one. Large right? Well, it''s due to the fact that many interests are involved, so everyone has to be a part."


    "Interests? What interests? And who''s everyone?" Lucas probed.


    "Interests are those stuff that we can''t talk about in public. As for the latter part of your question, haven''t you ever wondered why, despite being called the Abode of Crime, the central government at Baylands City has done nothing to stop the organised crime activities in Alleva district?" The man smiled mysteriously.


    Lucas nodded. He had in fact conceived such a thought in his head before arriving here.


    "Well, that''s simple. They don''t do anything to stop it because they silently approve of it. The best way to stop evil isn''t to challenge it or attack it, but to have it under one''s control. This is a philosophy the city lord of Baylands City and the head of Baylands city-state abides by, and it has been this way for generations of city lords.


    As long as the crimes aren''t ''overboard'' and done in Alleva district, it is looked over by the government."


    Lucas was surprised by this. He felt that such a decision by the city lord was extreme. There were too many dangers and problems associated with it. But regardless, he had to admit that the ideology wasn''t entirely wrong.


    "Since it''s approved to some extent, it is only natural for various parties to want a share of the underground businesses here. After all, dirty money grows faster than clean money. There''s a district in Baylands City called the Central Prefecture district, right? I heard it''s the place for the fancy and rich guys in the city. But do you know that some of them make their money here? Heh.


    Like I said, dirty money grows faster." The man chuckled.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow and although he was surprised by this information, it wasn''t to the extent of being shocked speechless. Even back on Earth, there were some countries that had secret departments which generated money for them illegally. It was either through drug trafficking or scams. Finding out the same happened here, wasn''t much of a shocker.


    "Back to what I was saying, ah yes, the council. Alleva''s council is made of twenty-one members, and some of them are either voted in by the people, or installed by various influential powers. In fact, the majority of them are as the so-called votes are usually rigged to favour. But don''t say that out loud or say you heard it from me. Hehe." The man took a swig out of the large cup of beer.


    "Ah~ Beer here hits perfectly."


    Lucas didn''t rush the man but instead took a sip for the beer as well. On the table in front of them was their meal, which had been brought a while ago by a robot.


    The beer tasted nice and it was much better than anything Lucas had on Earth. He tried out the food as well and it was great. Some of them reminded him of some local cuisine from Earth, and Lucas couldn''t help but feel nostalgic.


    "Great, right? Like I said, Don''s recipes are based from human civilisation''s era. You can''t find them elsewhere but similar stores." The man laughed.


    "That''s right, I don''t even know your name and I haven''t introduced myself. You can call me Ardeen." Ardeen said.


    "Yohn." Lucas responded.


    Since he was in a dangerous place that was risky to trust everyone, it was only natural that Lucas would use a fake name. who was to say that the man before him was truly called ''Ardeen'', or that he wasn''t a member of some underground mafia that could be connected to Ramirez?


    Ardeen didn''t suspect a thing and nodded before continuing.


    "Back to what I was saying. Alleva district is a pretty dirty place. Since the council is made up of people whose focus is the interests of their backers, the government here is awful. I guess that''s why they couldn''t handle the beasts tide situation properly and it swelled up."


    Lucas'' eyes flashed, but he didn''t ask about that just yet. So far, he only knew about Alleva district as a whole, or to be particular, the situation of the government. He had yet to truly understand the district itself.


    "If that''s the case, the cities should be the same, no?"


    "You''re smart, bro." Ardeen gave him a thumbs up.


    "That''s right, the cities are no different. The city lords aren''t installed by democracy or what shit. The council decides the city lord for each city. Naturally, every one of those corrupt members would try to fight for a position of city lord and install their puppet up there. Having a city under their control makes it easier for them to go around their illegal activities without any worries."


    "Why would they be worried? Isn''t Alleva open to crime?" S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s underground, but on the surface, it still has to maintain some level of civility. The security officials also have to squash crime as well. And finally, every member of the council is an opponent to the other.


    "Let''s say you and I are in the council. I would want to make more than you, cause why not? Without a doubt, you would want to do the same as well. This could create a clash of interests, and we would inevitably become enemies. Once that happens, I will be on the lookout for whatever means I can use to ruin you.


    Say, I happen to notice your men trying to pull a stunt in a city under my control; I''ll interfere and try to profit from it. Let''s say your men are trying to smuggle some nasty drugs or something through my city. I''ll have the security agencies seize it, then have you pay a fee or give me an advantage in some other situation in exchange for your shipment to be let off.


    "This is what most members are worried about, so they try to control as many cities as possible, while some even make alliances where their interests align."


    Lucas couldn''t help but finally be stunned by the complexities that hid underneath the city. A web of lies and corruption, one could call it so.

 Chapter 143 - 143: Suspicions

    "That''s roughly the politics in this place, and I guess explains what goes on here." Ardeen drank from his glass.


    "Then, why are you here?" Lucas asked him.


    The question might seem simple, but there was an underlying meaning.


    Humans were second-class citizens. In some areas, they were even treated as prey. They were occasionally kidnapped as sold as slaves, or even lab rats for biological research purposes. With Alleva district being the centre of crime, human trafficking should be mainstream here, which would make it dangerous for a human to stay in.


    "It might sound strange, but Alleva district is actually the safest place in Baylands city-state for humans. Trafficking of intelligent species is the one crime collectively frowned upon, even by the council. The situation with humans here is quite strange to be honest.


    "The main reason why human trafficking is illegal is because the various underground organisations need foot soldiers. Most hyumans either pursue a career in freelancing or some other lucrative job. Unlike hyumans however, we humans don''t have the luxury of such options. We can only take on menial low-paying jobs, that''s if we''re lucky to find some. I mean, we have robots doing everything nowadays.


    However, in Alleva, it''s different." Ardeen said as he glanced at the robot attending to the customers in the building.


    "Since most hyumans aren''t taking on dirty jobs, and robots aren''t, how do you put it, efficient? Yeah, let''s go with that. The only option now left for these organisations are humans, and the few hyumans with a low mDNA concentration and no opportunity to turn their life around."


    Lucas now understood the situation properly. Thanks to Ardeen''s explanations, he could picture how the city worked, which would help Lucas a lot. He then went on to ask for more details, especially about the organisations that ran the district and those who were backed by the council members. Ardeen answered them all as there was no harm in doing so.


    Although this information wasn''t common knowledge, it wasn''t exactly confidential either. People just barely spoke about it in public, but from how he acted, Lucas felt that Ardeen was different. Maybe he just didn''t care, or he was a member of one such organisation, but Lucas didn''t care.


    After getting a rough idea of the district, Lucas then asked for information on the beast tide.


    "The beast tide? Why the heck would you want to know about that? Take this advice from me; steer clear of that death wave." Ardeen said as he took a bite from his food.


    "The death toll on paper is around five hundred thousand or so, but it''s much worse in reality. At least two towns or cities have been wiped out. Considering Alleva district isn''t really a place anyone wants to be, a city averages around three to five hundred thousand folks. A town might be the same or a bit less, but two got wiped out.


    Sure, emergency measures were in place and many were evacuated from the second town during the raid, but the first¡ªa city¡ª had at least six hundred thousand folks. The second, based on inside reports, were around two hundred thousand casualties, that''s a total of eight hundred thousand.


    But the news drops this number down to five hundred thousand, which is the population of a single town and 63% of the original number."


    "Why would they do that?" Lucas was confused.


    It just made no sense.


    Five hundred thousand was already a very large casualty count, and in the grand view of things, it as almost no different from eight hundred thousand. A few deaths were a sorrowful event, but large numbers were simply statistics. There was no reason to hide the numbers as the margin wasn''t so wide as to matter.


    Ardeen didn''t respond right away, instead he stared outside the window.


    After a short while, he sighed,


    "Because those ''excess'' casualties are humans."


    Lucas went silent at the statement. It was an answer he never expected to receive. He had experienced some prejudice over his species, but over the weeks, Lucas realised it wasn''t that bad. The people around eventually warmed up to him and not many treated him as bad.


    Even the bad treatment wasn''t so terrible, except for the time he was almost kidnapped or the time he was mistreated at the EVL head branch office.


    But hearing this, Lucas understood the situation other humans, who weren''t as lucky as he was, faced. Lucas had the system to help him when he almost got kidnapped; the same when he was close to death after an assassination attempt, but the other humans didn''t. They were also weaker than him, and weren''t lucky enough to be a reincarnated genius.


    "I need to know more about the beast tides." Lucas seriously said.


    The injustice committed against humans wasn''t something he could fix as he was. Even if Lucas wanted to do so, he first of all had to get stronger. And to do that, Lucas had to complete all the missions from the system that came his way.


    "Still stubborn huh? Well, no problem." Ardeen refilled his cup and drank from it. He then projected a map onto the table


    "The first city destroyed was here, Rosewood city." Ardeen pointed at a mark on the map.


    "It''s towards the south from here. The next was Garena town, northeast of Rosewood city, so roughly southeast of here." Ardeen traced his finger from Rosewood city on the map, to another mark, which was Garena town. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The security agencies suspect that the desolate beasts are moving eastwards due to this, albeit rising towards the north, so the next possible target would be between these two locations, but this one is more likely."


    Lucas glanced at the mark Ardeen''s finger currently rested beside.


    "Amer city.


    . . .


    Knock. Knock.


    "Come in."


    The door opened and a middle-aged man walked in. He glanced at the old man ahead who was going through some documents. Seeing the aged figure, the middle-aged man bowed to him.


    "What''s the matter?" The old man asked without raising his head, his attention still on the papers in front of him.


    "Our men have sent news from the capital. Apparently, they''ve spotted the young fellow who got Ramirez into this mess." The man said.


    "Hmm? They found the kid?" The old man finally lifted his head, revealing his identity.


    He was the city lord of High Brunswick city, as well as the man Ramirez had met with shortly after arriving into the city.


    "Interesting. What''s that kid doing out here?" The old man asked.


    "We haven''t ascertained that yet, but I decided to inform you of his presence right away, just in case something might crop up." The middle-aged man replied, his head still bent low.


    "You made the right decision. Keep monitoring him for now, and make sure he doesn''t notice. Meanwhile, what has Ramirez been up to these days?"


    "We can''t keep watch on him much as he seems to be on guard almost 24/7. However, we found out that he spends most of his time outside the city with some mysterious figures. While we couldn''t track his entire movement, we did notice that one of his recent spots was Rosewood city."


    The old man suddenly narrowed his eyes.


    "Rosewood city? Before or after?" He asked.


    The middle-aged man clearly understood what was meant by the question as he answered without hesitation.


    "Before."


    "What about Garena?" The old man asked.


    "We can''t say as we have no men there."


    Tap. Tap.


    The old man rapped his fingers on the table.


    "Get some men to Amer city and Lurdwick town. Have them survey the area to the best they can and to keep a lookout for Ramirez." The old man stopped, then added after a bit of hesitation.


    "And that kid too. I have a feeling that we''re about to stumble upon something interesting here."


    "Yes, sir."


    "What about the men Ramirez met with? Anything on them?"


    "... nothing." The middle-aged man hesitated before answering.


    The old man stared at him, his fingers still tapping the table.


    "You know how much I hate hearing those words."


    "I, I apologize." The middle-aged man immediately fell to his knees.


    The old man then picked up a paper, on it were the details of a certain shipment of drugs.


    Even though Alleva district allowed crime to some extent, and he was the city lord of High Brunswick, the old man preferred to record all information related to illegal activities using a paper. This made it possible for him to easily destroy copies and make them irrecoverable.


    "The Red Fangs are coming as well, correct?"


    "Yes, sir." The middle-aged, who still remained on his knees, responded.


    "Have our shipments cleared as quickly as possible. Although their destination isn''t here, they would still have to pass by on their way over to Amer city. We can''t let them sniffing out our trails. Those fellows don''t agree with the rules of the city, and we can''t stop them even if we want to. Don''t mess this up, otherwise your head alone won''t be enough to appease me.


    Also, find out the identity of those men Ramirez met with."

 Chapter 144 - 144: An Uncanny Meeting

    After Garena town was destroyed a couple of days back, the desolate beasts horde didn''t make any major moves again. Instead, they roamed around the region, ensuring to not go further than a limited distance away from the town. The situation was exactly the same as when they had invaded Rosewood city.


    Back then, the loitering behaviour of the desolate beasts made many think that they were simply planning on having Rosewood city as their next location for a habitat. Such an act wasn''t uncommon as it has been previously recorded that desolate beasts would migrate from a certain location to another, for various reasons such as shortage in food supply.


    Many had in fact, believed this to be the reason behind such a massive number of beasts.


    However, that wasn''t what had happened. After roaming the area around Rosewood city, the desolate beasts made their move once again and struck Garena town, taking only two days to reach the destination and wipe the entire town out. Luckily for the citizens of the town, they were properly informed and the security agencies were prepared.


    Evacuation measures were carried out and many lives were saved, albeit some were still lost.


    This was a few days back. As of now, the desolate beasts had not made any moves yet, but the security agencies were on high alert.


    There were frequent campaigns carried out to cull down the number of desolate beasts, but that didn''t do much. Modern weapons, unless single-target, didn''t do much to the horde. Some of them had already developed a tolerance to radiation, had tough skins, and were immune to high heat, so nuclear explosions weren''t used.


    Also, using nukes was dangerous and would adversely affect the environment, so the government didn''t consider them. The same went with other WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction).


    Without such equipment, it became difficult to take down the horde quickly, so their only option was to slowly exhaust the horde with different tactics.


    To monitor the beast wave, there was a security perimeter set around the area; specifically the surrounding couple of kilometres close to Garena town. Without proper clearance or an identity permit, it was impossible for anyone to enter within this region. However, leaving wasn''t difficult as there was an ongoing evacuation procedure.


    "We''ve arrived."


    A red-haired man stated as the sare approached a blockade only a few metres in front.


    Inside the sare were seven other individuals, two of whom were familiar faces to Lucas. The team of eight formed a platoon, which compared to other security outfits, was much smaller.


    The director of the Red Fangs had ordered a captain to lead a company to investigate the situation regarding the desolate beasts before they make a final decision. In the Red Fangs, a company consisted of four platoons and was led by a captain, who was at the very least a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    In other words, apart from the captain, there were four other powerful individuals at the rank of lieutenant, and one of them was the ever-familiar Lily Mayer.


    This time around, lieutenant Lily came with her entire platoon of eight men¡ªherself included.


    "Lots of people are being displaced due to this event." The sneaky brown-haired member of the team, Barry, commented as he stared at the screen showing the situation below.


    Garena town was a major town the size of a city, but there were much smaller settlements around it. It was just as the slums was neighbouring West Wing district but wasn''t classified as a part of the district. Due to the risk of the desolate beasts tide, those neighbouring settlements were being evacuated.


    Even the nearby Amer city was slowly being evacuated, although there was no official announcement for such by the city lord''s government. Nonetheless, fear permeated the citizens, which led to them leaving.


    "It can''t be helped. This is the reality of things." A member of the platoon by the side sighed


    "But it''s still weird. Even if Alleva district is in the grey zone, there shouldn''t be a desolate beasts niche capable of housing this many beasts close by. That now begs the question, where did they come from?" Nafir frowned.


    "Make contact with the guard unit and request passage access." Lily said, interrupting the conversation. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The company''s mission was to investige just that, so there was no reason to be dwelling on the question before they had done their search. There were also other platoons involved in this investigation mission, so the group didn''t need to carry the entire matter on their shoulders.


    At the same time, now wasn''t the time to be discussing that. If they were to enter the security perimeter without clearance, their vessel would be shot down from the sky by the defence system set up. If they were killed, especially in such a laughable manner, then they could forget about investigating the situation.


    "Hold on, that figure looks familiar." Barry suddenly said.


    "Isn''t that..."


    . . .


    After getting as much information about Alleva district, the situation with the desolate beasts tide, and Amer city, Lucas had returned back to his motel room that evening. The next day, he packed his bags and left for Amer city.


    However, upon reaching the city, Lucas was stunned to find out that it was under strict surveillance and security. Entering the city wasn''t difficult and one simply needed a method of identification. However, going beyond that was next to impossible. A simple ID card wasn''t enough as one needed a permit to do so.


    About two kilometres away from the city, the local Defence Force had set up a barricade consisting of not just physical structures but an invisible force field as well. The force field didn''t stop objects from entering or leaving, but it sensed them and notified the control centre about such movements.


    The control centre, using the received signal, would now attempt to identify and communicate with the Unknown Flying Object (UFO). Based on the results of the identification and communication, they would then decide to either detain the object or shoot it down. However, there was never a situation where such an object was permitted entry, even if it were a bird.


    That was just how strict the surveillance here was.


    Rumour had it that this was because some illegal traders might want to sneak in and capture a few desolate beasts, while another story was that the beast tide was man-made, which was quite ludicrous. Regardless of which, it didn''t matter to Lucas. All he cared about was to get there.


    There was no way Lucas would be able to take down a Jaburian from the safety of the city walls. Forget taking one down, Lucas would definitely not be seeing any within the city. If he wanted to complete the system''s mission, he had to get to the region behind the barricade. The problem was how to do so.


    While he queued up behind the erected border gates that served as an exit and entrance, Lucas silently began thinking of what logical reason he could use to get through.


    Just when it was his turn, a sare floated down closeby. The hatch of the sare was open and a figure stood within with a smile plastered on his face as he stared at Lucas.


    ''You''ve got to be kidding me.'' Lucas couldn''t help but turn speechless, as he stared at a figure he so desperately wished to never meet again.


    Although he knew that the Red Fangs would be making their way here, Lucas never thought that he would encounter them so soon. He had even left as quickly as possible, but somehow, arrived just exactly the same time as they did. Such an uncanny coincidence naturally left Lucas stunned.


    Nafir, the sergeant in Lieutenant Lily Mayer''s platoon, as well as the man with the superpower equivalent to mind-reading, smiled as he waved at Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at him, considering whether to ignore the latter, but he suddenly realised that he couldn''t.


    Unlike himself, there was a high chance that the Red Fangs'' platoon had clearance to make it past the gate. As long as he hitched a ride with them, Lucas could easily get through the security. However on second thought, he had this feeling that they thought the same way. There was a very high chance that they could guess his intentions and so, approached him.


    This made Lucas cautious, but he still felt that he needed to accept the hand they stretched out.


    All these thoughts crossed Lucas'' head within just a second, following which he waved back at the latter.


    The sare approached at a safe height before Nafir dropped down from it.


    "Who would have thought we would be meeting once again in this situation?" Nafir smiled as he stretched his hand.


    "Trust me, I wish it wasn''t so." Lucas replied as he shook hands with him.


    "So, what brings you here?" Nafir queried.


    Lucas went on guard. He still had knowledge of the special power Nafir possessed; the ability to ascertain the truth in a statement. Without the protection of the HPM or the system, Lucas had to deceive his way through.


    "I''m looking for something. Something very important to me." Lucas replied.


    His statement was grammatically true. As the Jaburian was a beast, describing the creature as ''it'' was appropriate. Furthermore, what Lucas wanted from it was its skin. Hence, the word "something" was valid.


    "A family heirloom?" Nafir asked.


    Lucas cursed inwardly about how nosy he was but he answered right away.


    "Not quite. It''s still as important either way."


    That wasn''t a lie. Since the hide was related to the mission, and to Lucas, the mission was as imporyas a life-or-death scenario, then the hide was equally very important to him.


    "What about you guys?" Lucas quickly switched the topic.


    Nafir smiled.


    "She''s waiting for us. Let''s go."


    He then turned around and walked towards the sare that had landed a short distance away.


    Lucas'' lips twitched a bit, but he followed right after him.


    There was still another challenge waiting for him.

 Chapter 145 - 145: Trouble

    "We''re back."


    Nafir said right after he stepped into the sare with Lucas following close behind.


    The sare wasn''t designed like a private vessel, so there were only two areas: the cockpit and the bay area, which was the area where the others stayed. The separation between the cockpit and the other area wasn''t significant, so one could even speak to the pilot from the bay area.


    As they walked in, the group glanced at Lucas, and those who were meeting him for the first time couldn''t help but take a longer glance at Lucas.


    Just as they had heard, Lucas was a human, but it was still surprising that their lieutenant paid attention to this human. Although he had the rare black hair, there were still others with a similar hair colour. Appearance-wise, Lucas couldn''t even be compared to the models on tv or those second- and third-generations in the Central Prefecture district [1].


    "What are you doing here?" Lily stared at Lucas.


    ''Ohhh, it''s starting.'' Barry grinned as if he were watching a soap opera.


    "Is there any rule that says I can''t be?"


    Oblivious to the thoughts of the Red Fangs crew members, Lucas was getting irritated with the incesaant questions.


    Nafir''s presence made it difficult for him to lie, but telling the truth might raise unnecessary suspicions.


    If he were to say he was after a desolate beast, they would think Lucas was either being delusional or suicidal. If it turned out that he came back alive, misgivings would arise about Lucas'' identity, as after all, it was impossible for a human to win against a desolate beast. The only exceptions were with a powerful cold-type vestige or they were from Digress city-state.


    Supposing they went with the second scenario, Lucas would be arrested and put under surveillance while they try to contact Digress. Once the city-state denies knowing about his identity, Lucas would be killed.


    If it were the first situation, misgivings would still be brought to his identity. The notion that he was a spy could be speculated by the others.


    "This place isn''t safe. You should have just stayed at your store." Lily said.


    "Don''t worry about it."


    After Lucas''reply, she said nothing else and gave the order for their shuttle to depart. As they were on an official job, the platoon had their permits with them as well as clearance.


    The border gate wasn''t anything majestic or the sort. It was just a simple barricade gate. The true security was the invisible forcefield that detected any movement in the air or below. It was a foolproof technology that couldn''t easily be bypassed even by anti-radar vehicles.


    A couple of minutes after passing the gate and heading into the region, the shuttle receiver a signal.


    "Lieutenant, we just received an emergency signal." One of the men, the pilot at the cockpit, said.


    "Connect."


    Following Lieutenant Lily''s command, the pilot picked up the signal and connected it to the shuttle''s speakers.


    "Mayday, mayday. Re-sshdhs. Requesting-shshhshshh-kup. Request-shhh-re. Shhhhhts sstshhh backup- shshshhh."


    The speakers suddenly went silent.


    "What''s going on?" Nafir couldn''t help but frown. It wasn''t that he didn''t understand the sound, but he found the contents to be unbelievable.


    Requesting backup.


    What could have happened for a unit to request backup? The desolate beasts wave was being monitored. If there was any movement, the outpost station should have already found out by now and notified everyone else.


    "Pinpoint the source of the signal and move towards it. Norman, connect to HQ and inform them of this. Then reach out to the outpost and ask them for details on any forces stationed out here and their current status. Everyone else, prepare for battle." Lily hurriedly gave out commands.


    Although the signal was jammed, they could still hear bits of it and understand the situation somewhat. The frequency the signal came through was a coded frequency, used only by security operatives of Baylands city-state. Based on the contents, It looked like a squad had encountered trouble and were requesting for help. However, there was something eerie about all this.


    After the region around Garena town was isolated, an outpost was built by the security forces to serve as a rapid-response base. The base organized the forces here and communicated with them, while also handling logistics. It also monitored the desolate beasts wave from a close point.


    Logically, they should be able to reach out to anyone within the region through their communication network, no matter how far the receiver was from the base.


    Despite that, there was no sign or notification from the outpost about this matter, which meant that they weren''t aware of the situation with the squad that sent the signal.


    Unless the squad was a fake, there could only be one answer. Something was preventing the signal from getting far out, and this could be seen from the fact that it was jammed.


    But then came another problem.


    There was no record of any desolate beast with the ability to interfere with signals in Baylands city-state. Also, the frequency the security personnel communicated with was one known to be least affected by desolate beasts with such abilities. Despite all of this, the signal was jammed and its range limited. This could only mean one thing; the jamming was artificial and done by someone, but who.


    Lily narrowed her eyes as her team members followed her commands.


    Lucas was surprised that he would be in such a situation, but he wasn''t worried about it. If anything, staying with the Red Fangs was much safer than moving on his own, although he would have preferred the latter option more.


    Lucas wasn''t privy to how the military worked, but he knew that Baylands city-state didn''t have a desolate beast that could interfere with signal transmission. This was all thanks to one of his first rewards from the system, "An Adventurer''s Manual", which gave him a lot of information about desolate beasts.


    Since this wasn''t the work of a desolate beast, it could only mean two things from Lucas'' perspective. The first was that the equipment was damaged, but he was unaware of the fact that the military''s equipment was high tech and couldn''t easily be damaged.


    The second conclusion Lucas thought up came from a previous known fact. During the incident with Greendale Highschool students, it was said that the terrorist attack was connected to some underground gangs in the city, with Ramirez''s group being one of them. That incident had also led to a weird behaviour among the desolate beasts in the area, while the abominations were left unaffected.


    Ramirez is currently in Alleva district. There is a desolate beasts tide in Alleva district.


    Although there wasn''t substantial evidence to connect the two facts, and there was also the part where the beasts appeared out of nowhere, Lucas felt that if someone could have an answer, it would be Ramirez. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Also, this signal jamming was done by an individual and based on the previous conjecture, it was possibly related to Ramirez, or at least his terrorist buddies.


    "Full speed ahead." Lily suddenly said, her face with a strange expression.


    As Lucas stared at her for some reason, he felt that she had reached the same conclusion as he was. No. It was possible that she had even been suspecting it long before.


    Lucas was aware of Ramirez''s location thanks to the underground network of Kalvin Petri. From what Ardeen told him about the top families in the Central Prefecture district, Lucas believed Kalvin found out about Ramirez thanks to the Petri family''s connections in Alleva district. Regardless, he refused to believe that the Red Fangs similarly couldn''t find out about this information.


    This wasn''t 1960 or the 1100s, but a futuristic world way ahead of Earth.


    It was very likely that the Red Fangs knew, but couldn''t do anything to Ramirez due to the nature of Alleva district. Yes, he was a suspect of cooperation with terrorists, but there was no hard evidence, except the confession statement Lucas tortured out of one of his men.


    Without concrete evidence, it would be difficult to make such an arrest in Alleva district, especially if the local forces were to protect him. Hence, they still monitored Lucas, hoping to use the latter as bait to get to Ramirez. However, that didn''t work out.


    Nonetheless, that was all a thing of the past. The current focus now was to get to the source of the signal and understand the situation. For some reason, both Lucas and Lily felt that they would get the answers they were looking for once they got there.


    While the sare was speeding towards the destination of the source, which as tracked down by the shuttle''s artificial intelligence, Lucas suddenly had a weird thought. It was a new conjecture that could explain the situation better.


    Although he didn''t know much about the military''s arrangement, from how things usually worked on Earth, there would be an outpost closeby to help with command, logistics and communication. But from Lily''s reaction and commands, the outpost didn''t seem to be aware. This made Lucas'' blood suddenly run cold with a thought.


    What if the problem wasn''t that the signal was jammed or limited? What if there was a spy in the outpost?

 Chapter 146 - 146: The Mother Who Fought Till Her Last Breath

    While Baylands city-state could be described as a large nation, the districts within ¡ªapart from the five districts of Baylands City¡ª were somewhat of states within this nation. Alleva district was a ''state'' with many cities and large towns within it. In turn, these cities and large towns had little towns or villages surrounding them.


    Garena town, for instance, was surrounded by a few small towns and villages. Some of them were caught in the attack, while the others were emptied of their citizens, who managed to flee before the process.


    Southvale Village was an example of the former.


    Being slightly far away from Garena town, Southvale village was one of the lowest-ranked villages in the area. Its population wasn''t large, and the only way the village held onto its economy was that it was a large producer of a specific type of grain.


    The grain, when dried, could be processed into a special mixture that was used in the process of making an alcoholic beverage much like beer. However, it wasn''t until a couple of years ago that the grain was used for producing a new strain of hallucinogens¡ªillegal substances with hallucinatory effects.


    Due to the fertile land in the area that was suitable for growing this grain, the underground force that ruled close by took control of the village. However, they didn''t treat the inhabitants poorly, as one would expect from an underground gang.


    The villagers were recruited as farmers and duly compensated for their hard work. Many of the villagers were either mixed-breeds or humans, and such treatment was very well appreciated by them, who had been abandoned by society. Life in the village might not have been the best it could be, but it was okay for the people.


    That was until the beast tide approached.


    When Rosewood City was first struck three weeks ago, while there was fear, no one had evacuated from their residence. Although the prices of items had skyrocketed due to the attack, everyone was still somewhat calm. They believed that the security forces would be able to handle the situation, and even then, it was unlikely that the desolate beasts would head in their direction. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    There was no reason for them to have been targeted, and so, the people in Garena town remained calm. This same feeling spread around, and soon, even the villagers in Southvale village were not worried about the desolate beasts wave.


    Things proceeded on like so, until about a week later, when the desolate beasts tide was discovered to be approaching Garena town.


    Emergency measures were put in place, and an evacuation order was given out. Similarly, the news reached the surrounding smaller towns and villages, who were requested to leave as soon as possible.


    Being located right in the grey zone yet far from any desolate beasts habitat, Alleva district wasn''t properly equipped to handle a desolate beast wave of such calibre. Added to the fact that it was created to be a grey zone for illegal dealings, the security, as regards to handling desolate beasts, was inadequate. An evacuation was the only move they could make at that point.


    Southvale village was at the outer edge of Garena town''s vast territory, and even after receiving the news, many didn''t want to leave. To abandon their heaven for a place where life could be much worse? Why would they? They''d rather pray to any God for a miracle, or hope that the desolate beasts wouldn''t move in their direction.


    As fate would have it, they were quite lucky, and the wave only affected Garena town and the villages closest to it. Southvale village was safe, but some of the villagers knew that it was only for a moment. However, the new reaction by the district''s military gave them more faith and confidence to remain.


    After the destruction of Garena town, the district''s military was more aggressive in their actions and managed to force the wave to remain in the surroundings of Garena town, preventing them from expanding their influence. Everything finally looked like it was coming to an end, and the villagers sighed with relief.


    Until yesterday.


    Yesterday, a small group of desolate beasts had escaped the perimeter set up by the military around Garena town [1]. The group consisted mostly of avian desolate beasts, which made it difficult to track down, and by the time the military had done so, they had already attacked Southvale village.


    "...run, run as fast as you can. As long as you can still breathe, keep running, my daughter." An alien lady stared at the young girl before her.


    The woman had pale blue skin and a pair of antennas on her head, making it quite obvious that she wasn''t hyuman, but an alien species known as Nysa.


    The girl before the woman was her daughter; a crossbreed between a Nysa mother and a hyuman father. However, she inherited more of her father''s DNA, appearing exactly like hyuman. Despite being so young, she already had the making of a beauty, but that was all washed aside by the clear signs of malnutrition.


    After the destruction of Garena town, the people of Southvale village went for more than a week with little food and inventory to survive on. Prior to Garena''s destruction, the prices of food had already increased after Rosewood city''s fall. With Garena town following suit, it made life even more difficult for the people.


    Many experienced dramatic changes in the span of those three weeks or so, and for those whose financial situation wasn''t the best from the start, their changes were even more pronounced.


    The little girl and her family were somewhat ostracised in the village. While the treatment wasn''t severe, it was still pronounced. This was a unique situation but not entirely. The majority of villagers were mixed breed and humans, whereas her parents were a hyuman and an alien species.


    Even though they tried to adapt and live in harmony, some in the village would sideline them due to their hatred of "pure bloods".


    Another factor was that her mother, despite being an alien, appealed to the tastes of many men in the village and they envied her father for that. Many wanted her, but the risk of offending a hyuman with stellar cultivation strength was a problem to them. While they held themselves back from extreme actions, they mistreated the family of three with whatever chance they could get.


    For instance, some might overcharge them during a transaction or deny them the right to purchase an item, and so on.


    Alleva district was an abode of crime. It was a place where one would find it difficult to find someone truly good and compassionate. Even the poor and less privileged had dirty hearts, so such behaviours weren''t unheard of.


    Having already lived a difficult life, one could only imagine how worse it became after food prices rose. But they held on. That was until the village got attacked.


    As one of the few stellar practitioners in the village, the little girl''s father was supposed to join forces with the other men to defend the village, but he didn''t. Instead, he did his best to protect his family and tried to evacuate them. As a matter of fact, he wasn''t the only one who acted selfishly, as all the other practitioners made the same decision.


    Defend the village? Against such powerful beasts? That was simply suicide.


    However, compared to avian desolate beasts whose home was the skies, there was no way anyone could escape far. Many of the villagers were killed, and even the little girl''s father died protecting his family. And now her mother has followed suit.


    "Please. Please, don''t look back, and keep running. Survive! Run!" The woman yelled at her daughter as she stood behind her.


    With her meagre strength of second level Apertures Opening stage, she had decided to sacrifice herself and seize the attention of a fourth level desolate beast, so as to offer her daughter a chance at survival.


    Her husband was already gone, and all she had left was their daughter. To the woman, having lost the man she loved most, she was already heartbroken and beyond fixing. To her, losing her daughter was much worse than dying at this point. As such, she had no fear in her eyes as she faced the desolate beast two levels stronger than her.


    Rather, deep in her eyes were emotions of anxiety, desperation, and vigour.


    Even amongst alien species, the deep meaning of motherhood existed. Just as humans and hyumans had emotions and empathy, they did as well. They could cry, they could laugh, they could smile, and they could love.


    At this moment, the greatest act of love was being demonstrated, but there was no one to witness it.


    Afraid, yet abiding by her mother''s instructions, the little girl ran away. Tears streamed down her eyes, her body hurt in multiple places, her lungs hurt from the intense breathing and speeding. But no matter what, she kept running and never stared back.


    With her eyes glaring cold blue light, the woman stared at the avian desolate beast, bursting out with strength beyond her level and engaged with it in combat. She was prepared to die, but wanted to make sure her death was worth it. A minute, half a minute or even a second longer, she wanted to delay the desolate beast as much as she could.


    Regardless of how dire and hard she fought, after a few minutes, the light in her eyes darkened as the embers of life within her dissipated. Her last thoughts weren''t sadness, relief or the such, instead it was regret; regret that she couldn''t hold back the monster even a second longer for her daughter to escape.

 Chapter 147 - 147: Warning

    "We''ve reached out to the outpost and gotten a response." A young man among the crew shouted.


    His name was Norman, and he was assigned by Lieutenant Lily to inform HQ of the situation and contact the outpost for details on any active units close by.


    "What did they say?" Lily asked.


    "A military unit the size of a company was dispatched two days ago. They were to investigate the surrounding region. However, news came in last night that a group of avian desolate beasts had escaped the black box perimeter. As for the unit, outpost has been unable to reach them ever since." Norman said.


    The black box perimeter was the name given to the security perimeter set around Garena town about two kilometres away. It differed from the border perimeter the team had just passed.


    "A company? Most likely they encountered the beasts." Nafir analysed.


    Unlike the Red Fangs, the size of units in the military and other agencies was much larger. A platoon in the Red Fangs had eight men including the lead lieutenant. But in the military, there were at least sixteen. It could be more depending on the size of the military, but district militaries used the 16-count.


    A company consisted of four platoons in district military, but five in the city-state''s military. In the Red Fangs, the company captain wasn''t included in the official count, but there were in the military.


    For instance, in the case of the company sent over by the Red Fangs'' director, there were four platoons, bringing the total to thirty-two (32) agents, but this count excluded the company captain. In the Red Fangs, a captain could operate on their own, so they weren''t given a platoon to lead. Including them would bring the total to thirty-three (33) men in the company.


    For the company the group was discussing, the unit numbered sixty-four (64) men, including the company captain who led a single platoon when split apart. This was a sharp contrast to the Red Fangs'' company captain who operated alone when split apart.


    "How far are we from the target?" Lily asked.


    "Closing in on them in a few seconds. About three kilometres."


    The team had been heading towards Garena town from the north, but the source of the signal came from the west. Furthermore, the distance was quite lengthy. Southvale village was far from Garena town, being located close to the edge of sphere of influence. With the team having moved a few kilometres into the region, they were quite far from the village.


    However, moving at full speed enabled the shuttle to close the gap quickly.


    Just as the reply had mentioned, it only took a couple of seconds for the group to see a settlement that was currently dilapidated. The settlement was littered with wreckage and signs of intense battle. There were flames at some locations, coloured blood, corpses and even metal wreckage.


    There were also footprints belonging to desolate beasts all around, and if one looked carefully, they could spot smaller ones.


    Despite all that, the group had ignored it with their attention glued ahead. In front of them, a few dozen desolate beasts of different kinds hovered in midair. There were a couple of them on the ground terrorising the area. The desolate beasts, whether on the ground or in the air, reached heights of at least two metres tall, with a wingspan of over three metres.


    They were humongous and terrifying, with sharp claws and bloodthirsty eyes, all staring in one direction.


    Before the desolate beasts was a blue forcefield that blocked them out. Within the forcefield were a few individuals attacking the monsters from the safety of the barrier. Occasionally, a few of them would exit the barrier and attack the monsters, before retreating back in when they felt exhausted. Through this rotation-based system, the group was able to fend off the monsters and hold on for long. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "That should be them." Barry said with a strange tone.


    The company was supposed to be made up of sixty-four men, but the numbers below were barely up to twenty.


    "Prepare for drop off." Lily ordered before turning around and moving towards the hatch.


    When they heard the words, the members of the team, excluding the pilot, immediately approached the hatch with their armour on. Some of them didn''t have it on earlier, but when they fixed their badge on their clothing and pressed firmly on it, a change occurred. Nanobots, with a replicative characteristic, exited from the badge and covered them, forming the Red Fangs standard armour.


    Lucas marvelled at the scene, impressed by how far technology has come. Although he could make a lot of weapons and even some equipment, certain technology was still foreign, or rather difficult, for Lucas to comprehend. The nanotechnology was one such technology. Not many companies used it, since spatial expansion and compression technology was more advanced and a clearly better option.


    However, Lucas found nanotechnology to be cool and fascinating.


    The artificial intelligence that controlled the sare shuttle interrupted Lucas'' thoughts at that moment.


    "Unlocking hatch in 3, 2,1, drop."


    The door opened and the team of seven immediately jumped off the shuttle, after which it closed back up. Only Lucas and the pilot were left on board.


    Although the artificial intelligence could be left in charge, it was standard practice to have a pilot active on the shuttle, just in case a situation out of the ordinary, like an EMP bomb being set off, occurred. With a pilot present, they could control the shuttle and ensure that it doesn''t get destroyed during such events.


    Watching as the team descended, Lucas suddenly had a thought. What if he were to use this opportunity to leave?


    While he wasn''t in custody or anything, Lucas knew that they wouldn''t just let him go wherever or whenever he wanted. There was also the fact that the longer the stayed with them, the greater the possibility that Nafir would spot a lie. Since that was the case, leaving during this commotion seemed like the best thing to do.


    Lucas had already gone past the border security, and he was within Garena town''s area of influence. Although it might take a day or two before he made it to the town itself, that was no problem.


    Once that thought took root, it became difficult for Lucas to get rid of it. However, just before Lucas could even work on the idea, the system interface popped up on front of him.


    Don''t do it.

 Chapter 148 - 148: Valiant Men

    Just as Lucas was about to carry out his escape plan, the system interface popped up in front of him with a few words written on it.


    Dear hOst, Negligence of your duTy woulD nOt be Ignored or Tolerated.


    The words didn''t seem to carry any meaning and seemed impromptu, but Lucas noticed that some letters were of a darker shade than the others [1]. Taking out the unique letters, Lucas managed to spell out a sentence.


    Dontdoit, which would roughly translate to ''don''t do it''.


    This sentence, which was more like a warning, caught Lucas offguard. It wasn''t like this was the first time the system had ever warned him about something, but this was the first time it did so through a secret text.


    Usually, whenever the system had anything to say, it would inform Lucas through their mental connection. This time around however, it didn''t do such, but had instead called up the interface with some words written on it, then darkened specific letters to pass on a message. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The cautious nature of this system gave Lucas a bit of chill as it implied a certain fact; there was someone, or even something, that the all-powerful system was afraid of. But what could it be?


    Despite being curious, Lucas knew now wasn''t the time for questions. He killed his idea of leaving, and didn''t even bother to respond to the system while acting as if he never even noticed the interface. Rather, Lucas glanced at the display screen that hung at the centre of the bay area. It was currently streaming the situation below, and through it, Lucas could monitor how the battle was going.


    He behaved so naturally that one would find it difficult to notice anything suspicious.


    . . .


    Below the sare, there was a blue transparent barrier with a group of people hurdled inside of it. Some of them were treating their wounds while the others were recuperating.


    Outside of the barrier was another group that had formed a circle around the barrier. They defended it and aggressively attacked the desolate beasts that came close.


    Despite being outnumbered three to one, the group fought valiantly with their lives on the line. Blood splattered on the floor, a mixture of theirs and the desolate beasts. Limbs of different shapes and sizes alongside body parts and corpses were sprawled all around the floor, be they monsters or hyumans.


    The battlefield was a ferocious ground with no space or time for remorse. Taking a second to mourn a fallen comrade could cost one their lives, so even as they witnessed their friends, loved ones or even brothers fall lifeless to the ground, the soldiers gritted their teeth and fought harder. They fought not just for themselves, but for the people that were kept safe behind the barrier.


    To many, the Alleva district was a world of corruption and crime. It wasn''t a rare thing to spot an office-holder accepting bribes from a gang leader. As such, the authorities who were in charge of security had to pretend they saw nothing. As long as things didn''t go overboard, they didn''t have a choice than to do so. But this did not mean that everyone in the system was corrupt.


    There were still people who sought to do the right thing, those who fought for justice and those who preached good.


    The Alleva district military, the Grey Zone Defence Force, was an organisation of individuals trained to prioritise the safety of the district and its people. While they didn''t have a say in how things ran, leaving some dissatisfied with the situation in the district, when push comes to shove they would lay down their lives for the safety of the people.


    The desolate beasts tide was a first for many, but thanks to their previous joint exercises with the Baylands City Defence Force, they had some experience facing off against desolate beasts. It was all thanks to those experiences that the team was able to hold on for over an hour against a desolate beasts assault that numbered four times theirs at the start.


    "Holler, any news yet?" One of the men inside of the barrier asked the man behind him without turning around.


    The man behind held a complicated equipment that was linked to a backpack hanging behind him. It was the emergency relay system and was provided to every company each time they went out on missions.


    In a scenario where the communication capabilities of a communicator was not responding or functioning as it should, the emergency relay system would be used to send signals to the nearest station or unit.


    An emergency relay system could reach up to four hundred (400) kilometres. Although this sounded small compared to what communicators and mobile phones on Earth could do, one should understand that emergency relay systems could function even after an EMP bomb, a signal distorter or similar equipment was in effect. In such situations, a mobile phone or a communicator was as good as useless.


    "A strange signal is interfering, limiting the range of the emergency relay system. Although I managed to send out a message, the signal is also interfering with the reception function so I don''t know whether it would reach anyone. We can only have hope and hold out for as long as possible." Holler sighed.


    The man who asked the question didn''t say anything, simply staring ahead with his hands tightened on his sword.


    The military typically used hot-weapon-type vestiges, but as they had been fighting for so long, their ammunition was out. They could only fire the vestiges using their stellar energy, but that was wasteful. Hence, the team had immediately switched to their cold-weapon-type vestiges.


    "If the heavens so wish that we die today, let it be. But the ones we rescued can''t just go out like this." The man said.


    "Get ready. We''ll have to storm out and create a path for them to run. If we are to die, at least, even if just one of them, let them be saved."


    The atmosphere turned solemn, but there was no sign of fear, regret or anxiety on the soldiers'' faces. They were all prepared to die, but just as their captain had said, they couldn''t die without ensuring at least one of the civilians survived.


    Just as they were about to make their last ditch effort, Holler''s face lit up.


    "Captain, I just received a signal!"


    "A signal? Where?" The captain was shocked, but hurried to ask the important details.


    Holler began tracking down its source, but it only took three seconds for him to become stupefied.


    "Holler, what''s the matter? Where''s the signal?" The captain, confused, asked his lieutenant.


    "Above us. They''re, they''re already here."

 Chapter 149 - 149: The Culprits

    As the captain and Holler turn their gazes toward the sky, they made out a few silhouettes dropping from the sky; Lieutenant Lily and the rest of the Red Fangs had already begun their descent.


    "Listen up!" The captain yelled.


    "Those outside, hold the line. Everyone else, prepare for combat."


    "Captain..." Holler was confused.


    With the appearance of a combat unit, it meant that their message had been passed. Logically, the next command should be to hold on until more reinforcements showed up. From what they could see, there were only seven men descending from above. Unless those seven were really strong, it would be pointless to carry out an all-out attack.


    "A team of seven with a sare shuttle pilot, there should be eight of them. Only one division has a unit of eight men that would dare move around in this area on their own." The captain explained.


    "The Red Fangs." Holler widened his eyes as he now understood his captain''s orders.


    A unit of eight men in the military only formed a squad with a staff sergeant leading. However, due to the severity of the desolate beasts wave, squads weren''t allowed to operate alone. The lowest unit allowed to operate alone was a platoon, which had sixteen men.


    The Red Fangs were the only exception, as their platoon consisted of eight men, and just happened to be the lowest unit allowed to operate in this situation.


    A single Red Fang member was at least equal to two or three men in the military. The soldiers were outnumbered three to one by the desolate beasts. However, if the Red Fangs were added to the equation, they should be able to win the battle.


    Lily and her team descended on the ground in the next few seconds, and they immediately lunged at the monsters. They had already begun attacking while in midair, but proceeded to up the ante of their assault once on land.


    With the fervour and skill displayed by the Red Fangs, the soldiers were gingered up for battle. They burst out with renewed vigour and managed to force the desolate beasts back slowly. With elites like the fourth level Lily Mayer and the Holler, together with the fifth level captain of the squad, the alliance was able to hold their own and slowly win back some ground against the monsters.


    In the end, it only took less than half an hour for the entire battle to have been rounded up.


    . . .


    At the same time the fight was ongoing, a trio stood by a couple hundred metres out and monitored the situation. They used special googles to be able to see clearly that far out, and considering there was no sign of providing help, it was obvious that they weren''t security personnel.


    "Are you sure he''s here? You said he''s with them, but I don''t see any sign of him here." One of them asked.


    "I''ve seen the image, I''ve crossed check the database to be sure. It''s him."


    The individual who responded had a horn with a dark red skin tone. Although he looked to be humanoid, that was only in terms of his overall appearance. He had a pair of brown wings on his back and two holes on his face that acted as his nostrils. His ears were also pointed, like the elves in mythology, with his height reaching close to two metres.


    It was obvious that he was a mixed breed, but not of hyuman blood. The individual was a cross breed between a Kerman and a Vara, two alien species that existed in the Blue Mist star regions.


    Kermans were originally from the Eva solar system, while Varas were from the Kellan solar system. The latter had no similarities with hyumans, but Varas were different. They had more in common with hyumans, especially their physique, which was the anthropoid physique.


    However, they were quite tall ¡ªat least 1.9m (6''2 feet)¡ª which was a direct contrast to Kermans that were usually short ¡ªnot more than 1.5 metres (4''9 feet).


    The first person who spoke kept silent as he monitored the situation. But he still failed to find his target. After a short while, he then took off the googles, revealing his face completely, and it was a familiar one.


    "He''s not there." Ramirez said.


    "Maybe he dropped off elsewhere before they came over here." The Kerman-Vara crossbreed spoke.


    "Or he could be lurking in the shuttle."


    The third person among them said. He was family with the standard code of conduct for military forces, so he surmised that the target was possibly still in the shuttle with the pilot.


    The man was one of the men Ramirez had met ever since arriving at Alleva district. He was a human, and despite that, no one dared to mess with him because he was an underground street boss. He also had a couple of connections in the Sunrise city, as well as backing from a Central Prefecture district influence.


    All three men were spectating the battle scene up ahead, but this wasn''t the first time they had done such. They had once gathered together like this before, and the previous time they did so was when the desolate beasts tide appeared in Rosewood city, which led to the fall of the city [1]. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It doesn''t matter anyways. Since he''s in the district, you can get to him. Just don''t forget what our mission is." The Kerman-Vara crossbreed said.


    "I know, Gandra." Ramirez replied before turning around to leave.


    The three men had been ordered by the higher-ups to test a new equipment in the area as well as to monitor the response speed, and military force of the city-state. Of what value these data was to the higher-ups, they couldn''t figure it out, but they gave no questions as to what or why it was needed. They were foot soldiers, and all they had to do was simply as they were told.


    "I don''t get his obsession." Gandra, the crossbreed, said.


    "Of course you wouldn''t. Ramirez was a fellow who ran a gang in the main city. That''s not something just anyone could do, and the profits from there is way more than I could scrap here with my entire forces. Having lost all of that because of a brat, he would definitely be pissed beyond measure.


    It''s already a good thing he can still keep his cool and doesn''t go around cursing at anyone who irks him." The human laughed.


    "If he tried that with me, I wouldn''t mind plucking off his head." Gandra said.


    "Sure, sure. Only someone like you can say something like that. As for me, I''m too weak." The man sighed.


    Gandra stared at him and snorted before walking away.


    "Only a fool would take you as weak, just because you hide under the description of human."


    The man didn''t say anything but simply smiled as he departed from a different direction.


    The meeting between these three wasn''t caught by the radar system on the Red Fangs'' sare shuttle, and not even the satellites in the sky would have caught a hint of their presence.


    Unbeknownst to anyone, the culprits of the desolate beasts tide walked the district with them.

 Chapter 150 - 150: Lilys Suspicions

    "Thank you for the help." The captain said to Lily.


    "Don''t mention it. We are here to help." Lily responded as she glanced around.


    "I''m sorry we didn''t make it on time." Lily said with a heavy voice.


    She could easily make out the fact that the company has lost a lot of men. A unit of sixty-four soldiers now remained only twenty two. One could imagine how gruesome the earlier battle must have been.


    "Don''t worry about it. It wasn''t your fault. Let''s leave this sad matter for later. The main task at hand is to get these people to a safe place."


    The captain pointed at the civilians that were rescued. There were initially about fifty of them, but more than half had died in the course of retreating, leaving behind just twenty-four.


    "Our shuttle is down so I hope you can help them."


    "Don''t worry. We have a mechanic with us. As long as the shuttle isn''t turned to scrap, he should be able to get it running." Lily comforted.


    "Okay. In that case, I''ll relinquish the command of my unit to you. I need to take a break for now."


    While Lily was weaker than the captain and of lower rank, she was a member of the Red Fangs so it was possible for her to take command of the company, especially considering it was much weaker than it should be.


    Lily nodded and didn''t debate the motion. The captain clearly needed his rest. At the same time, it didn''t matter whether or not she was in command of the surviving soldiers, as her team was all she needed to handle any threat.


    "How did this happen? Can you brief me on it?" Lily asked Holler, who was the lieutenant and second-in-command of the company.


    "The name of this village is Southvale village. We are on patrol and the region around Southvale village and two others are under our jurisdiction. During the late hour dog yesterday, we discovered signs of desolate beasts on our radar system which we found strange, but not entirely out of the ordinary.


    As you know, the desolate beasts wave is at Garena town right now, but even with the barrier set up around the town, some of the beasts manage to escape, which is why we carry out patrols of the surrounding regions.


    "At first, there were only just a few avian desolate beasts so we fought them off with our sare shuttle. However, more started gathering at our location almost as if they were attracted here by something. In the end, the force grew to a size three times our company."


    "Wait."


    Lily was surprised by the statement, and hurried to stop Holler.


    Three times a company was one hundred and ninety-two (192). There was no way that many desolate beasts would be wandering outside the black box perimeter and not be noticed by the outpost.


    It was either there was a negligence of duty from the outpost, or the desolate beasts appeared out of nowhere. As for equipment malfunctioning? In this situation, that would be impossible. Every equipment used in the outpost was of high grade and properly maintained, because any failure resulting from it could potentially cause the loss of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives.


    Suddenly, Lily narrowed her eyes as one more possibility crossed her mind; one she refused to believe but had to admit was likely to be true. The existence of a spy.


    Coming into Alleva district, the entire idea that a large wave of desolate beasts appeared out of nowhere and destroyed a city and a large town was entirely surreal. It was unbelievable, and so, many theorists, biologists, military tacticians and so on tried to figure out how such had happened.


    Some claimed that the monsters came from underground why others suggested that there might have been a desolate beast habitat hidden away from public notice that had expanded over the years. This idea was plausible as it had been a long time since a proper sweep of the district had been carried out.


    Regardless of which conjecture was thought up, there was not enough evidence to reach a conclusion on it. However, one military tactician had thought up an alternative occurrence. He believed that this was the work of the terrorists, and he has his reasons.


    During the last assault, terrorists had displayed that they could facilitate spatial movement. The Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed, Ginon, and the Saurian, Mikolos, [1] had escaped the scene using a space-bomb. Space-bombs were high-grade weapons that could create a distortion in space-time.


    If created with destruction in mind, it would be a devastating weapon as it could create a black hole after detonation. Due to such destructive prowess, space-bombs were banned on a solar system level and made illegal by the Federation Assembly.


    However, space-bombs could also be used for other functions apart from violence. A space-bomb could create a wormhole if the space within the distortion is stabilised to some extent, although the destination of the wormhole would be random within a certain radius. If one found a way to set coordinates, it could then be used to transport something over.


    The military tactician who claimed that this was a terrorist act believed that they had managed to figure out how to set coordinates for space-bombs and had transported the desolate beasts tide over there Alleva district. This man was the Red Fangs director, and he based this knowledge from Lieutenant Lily''s report after her battle with Ginon.


    Despite the possibility of this suspicion being valid, it was rejected by the majority as they believed that the terrorists in Eretre were incapable of possessing such technology. Forget about rh terrorists, even the Oklo Dynasty''s military ¡ªthe number one military force on the planet¡ª didn''t have such space-bombs. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    From this, one could infer that it was impossible, if not outrageous, to think that some rag-tag terrorists had access to space-bombs with fixed coordinates.


    Truth be told, Lily also found the idea unreasonable despite it being brought up by her boss. However, after hearing what Holler had to say, she was beginning to suspect that the idea might not be impossible again.


    If the terrorists could have a spy in the military, it wasn''t impossible to think that they found some way to smuggle in space-bombs into the planet. What''s more, that terrorist, Ginon, was an Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed. Evonikas weren''t native to Eretre or even the Kellan solar system. Unlike other alien species Evonikas didn''t wander outside of their solar system as much.


    Also, the Saurian, Mikolos, was the same.


    It was clear that the duo weren''t from Eretre, and there was a very high chance that they weren''t even from the Kellan solar system either.


    Lily took in a deep breath, held back her thoughts, then had Holler continue. No matter whether they were true or not, her thoughts were merely suspicions, and until there was enough evidence to clarify them, it was best not to speak about it just yet.

 Chapter 151 - 151: Target Found, But Who Else Is Here?

    The group eventually made their way to the outpost with the survivors. The outpost was located further in, but since there weren''t enough shuttles, the civilian survivors had to be carried out with them as well. Once there, they could then be assigned to the appropriate transportation vehicles which would ship them out of the area. Naturally, Lucas tagged along.


    The outpost was much like the Wastelands base station, but on a smaller scale. There were a couple of buildings, with some serving as residential areas for the military or training facilities. There were also places where they could go and relax or stock up on resources. The streets of the outpost were filled with individuals who were at least at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Due to the fact that the outpost was only recently completed, it had even less facilities than the base station. But it still has just enough to serve its purpose.


    Thanks to the efforts of modern day technology, building houses could be completed quickly. One could either utilise nanotechnology or robots for the construction of a building. They could also buy a moveable one and erect it on the designated foundation. This was the typical method used by the military.


    With the large amount of annual funding, the military had bought a lot of moveable buildings which they used for setting up outpost stations. These moveable buildings had impressive defence, so much so that they could survive a direct missile shot. This was all thanks to the fact that the building was properly made with durable materials, all thanks to experienced vestige-smiths.


    That''s right; the moveable buildings used by the military were all vestiges. Although they weren''t as useful as other vestiges, and were only limited to Grade 1, these buildings were made with defence in mind. As such, they were capable of withstanding a desolate beast''s assault for a long while.


    The outpost consisted of these buildings, especially the core buildings that served as the operating centre for the army. The majority of buildings were either two floors or less [1], but there were about three that towered more than three floors.


    One of them stood out the most and was located right at the centre of the outpost, reaching an impressive height of about seven storeys, or at least 23 metres.


    ''That''s probably the control centre.'' Lucas thought.


    Later on, the group''s sare shuttle landed on the helipad at the landing strip. The civilians were escorted to a new site for their departure. Many of them profusely thanked the team before leaving.


    "So where are you going from here on?" Nafir asked Lucas.


    "To find what I came looking for." Lucas answered before walking away.


    Nafir smiled but didn''t stop him. Instead, he left with Lily for a briefing with the outpost''s head.


    . . .


    A few days passed by, the majority of which Lucas spent moving around the area in search of traces of the Jaburian desolate beast. If he were still at the outpost, Lucas might have been able to ask for help, but he didn''t want the Red Fangs to have any idea of his purpose here.


    Luckily, Lucas had managed to find a trace of the monster, and he was currently tracking it down. Although the Jaburian was rare, the rumoured sighting of it here turned out to be true. The problem, however, was that Lucas was already deep into the area, and if he kept going on ahead, he would soon approach Garena town.


    Garena town was currently surrounded by a frontier known as the black box perimeter. The black box perimeter was about two kilometres away from Garena town and circled around the entire town. About sixty-six (66) kilometres away from black box perimeter was the boundary perimeter, which was still within the region covered by Garena town''s influence.


    The outpost was about twenty-seven (27) kilometres away from the black box perimeter.


    This meant that in the last three days, Lucas had already covered almost twenty kilometres of distance. Truth be told, he considered this quite slow, but the reason for his pace was due to the fact that Lucas still had to keep a lookout for the monster he was looking for.


    "The black box perimeter is said to keep out the majority of desolate beasts, but there''s still quite a few that got through." Lucas sighed as he stared at the footprints on the ground.


    Compared to the boundary perimeter, the black box perimeter was more thorough and secure, but there were still a ton of escapees from Garena town. The footprints, for instance, came from two different desolate beasts. One belonged to the Jaburian desolate beast Lucas was pursuing, while the other was from a different desolate beast.


    Apart from this, he had also encountered a few desolate beasts on the way, most of which he avoided, but for those that sought death, he granted it to them.


    Lucas sighed before continuing his hunt. He was cautious enough to avoid the attention of other desolate beasts, not because he was afraid, but because he wanted to avoid drawing attention from the surveillance drones that occasionally flew by.


    After tracking the footsteps for a few minutes, Lucas finally arrived at what seemed to be a cliff wall. Two desolate beasts aggressively faced off against each other in the area, damaging the terrain beyond repair.


    One of them was a huge ape-like monster with sharp fur and long arms. Under the sunlight, the fur glistened as if it were made from metal. Its red eyes gave off a demonic glare with the vertical pupils staring ferociously at its target. Two fangs dropped out from the upper jaw of the ape making it appear like a vampiric creature.


    However, the most noteworthy feature of the monster wasn''t its appearance, but its size. It was simply very large.


    In terms of height, the desolate ape easily dwarfed a three storey building. Just the size of its fist alone could compare with some of the smaller sedans on Earth. The thickness of its arm was the same as having two hyumans stand side-by-side.


    Such a ferocious beast was an opponent very few freelancers would want to face. What''s more, its energy was clearly on par with that of a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    The desolate ape''s opponent was similarly not ordinary. The creature looked like a panther but was massive, reaching up to two metres on all fours. While it was much smaller compared to the desolate ape, the desolate beast showed no signs of fear. It easily dodged the attacks of the desolate ape, twisting and turning at the right moment to dodge the attacks with minimal effort.


    Speed wasn''t its only speciality as each time it counter-attacker, the force of its attacks could create a dent on the hard ground and even force the desolate ape back. Despite being at the same power level as the desolate ape, anyone could tell that the pantherian was the stronger party of the two and would end up as the inevitable winner.


    However, Lucas surmised that this would only be true as long as the pantherian managed to keep dodging all the attacks of the desolate ape. If any blow managed to land or even graze the pantherian, it would be all over. This was because compared to its opponent, the desolate ape''s strength and power wasn''t something the pantherian could compete with.


    "Found you." Lucas smiled.


    The pantherian was exactly his target for this mission; the Jaburian desolate beast.


    [[Mission Description: Using the hide of a Jaburian desolate beast freshly acquired by the host, create an exquisite leather armour at Grade 4, within one month.]]


    According to the mission details, Lucas had to retrieve the hide of the monster with his own hands. Although it wasn''t spelt out, the mission required that Lucas freshly harvested the skin himself, which was essentially the same as killing one. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although unlikely, if Lucas waited for the desolate ape to win, he would save himself the stress of killing the Jaburian himself. However, the ape would surely have a bite out of the monster ¡ªa behaviour amongst desolate beasts¡ª and this would damage the skin. If he wanted to prevent that, Lucas would fight the ape right away.


    On the other hand, the most likely scenario was the Jaburian winning against the desolate ape, but if that happened, Lucas would be facing the stronger of the two. Even if it were a bit tired out or injured, the battle won''t be an easy one.


    ''Well, the situation is already much better than I''ve wanted, so any result is okay.'' Lucas thought.


    He then began to survey the area, understanding the terrain and environment to the best of his abilities.


    As soon as a winner was decided between the two, Lucas would have to kick-off another fight. If he wanted to win with less difficulty, Lucas had to be able to make use of the surroundings to his advantage.


    In the course of surveying the area, Lucas'' sight was suddenly attracted to a spot on the cliff, where a small shallow cave existed.


    Staring at the cave, Lucas noticed a silhouette inside which turned him speechless.


    ''Is that...!!''

 Chapter 152 - 152: A New Vestige

    On the face of the cliff, there was a tiny cave barely capable of fitting an adult. Although the cave was dark, it was quite shallow, which made it possible to see the inside of the cave.


    As Lucas stared at it, he could make out a silhouette inside the cave. There was a little figure hidden inside the cave. He surmised the figure to be a child, but as for how they got here, Lucas didn''t know.


    ''A survivor from the village raids?'' Lucas wondered.


    The desolate ape and Jaburian fought ferociously, so for the moment, the child hidden in the cave was safe. But there was no telling for how long this would be so.


    Although he didn''t call himself a hero, Lucas found it difficult to just sit still while an innocent child was at risk. He couldn''t see the figure properly, but for some reason, Lucas was reminded about his past life.


    As Yohan, Lucas had lived three years, from the age of eleven (11) years, all on his own in a forbidden forest. Back then, Lucas had to be on the lookout for magical beasts, vicious monsters and deserters who wandered in the forest away from public screening. Any one of those characters could have easily killed him and they wouldn''t take pity on him, Yohan had to be extremely careful.


    That period was a dark and lonely series of months for Lucas; a period he tried his best to forget. However, seeing the little silhouette, Lucas was reminded of the time when he was just as weak.


    Just as Lucas was lost in his memories, the desolate ape and the Jaburian ''s battle was already heated up, but still far from the end.


    "Roar!"


    The desolate ape lunged at the Jaburian, irritated by the countless attacks it had made being dodged by the latter.


    The Jaburian was aware that while it possessed immense strength, it couldn''t compare to the desolate ape. At the same time, its defence wasn''t up to the task of holding out, unlike the desolate ape. So, the monster hurried to retreat out of the path of the desolate ape. With its speed, this didn''t prove to be difficult for it.


    Once again, the desolate ape was enraged. It was aware that it was the stronger of the duo, but due to its lower agility and dexterity, it could do nothing to the Jaburian. The ape roared, stretching out its hands and grabbing a tree trunk, before uprooting the entire entity from the ground and swinging it as a weapon.


    Such attacks still did nothing to the Jaburian, but it succeeded in forcing the monster back as it found it difficult to approach.


    ''This won''t do.'' Lucas thought as he stared at the two.


    With the way things were going, the battle would only end when either of them ended up tired. But that would take far too long for Lucas. The longer he stayed here, the more at risk he was. This was because the battle of the two desolate beasts was becoming very loud, and it would soon attract attention; not just that of the military''s drones, but the other vagabond desolate beasts.


    At the same time, there was also the fact that the Jaburian looked to be the most likely winner. What''s more was that it would achieve this feat while taking little or no serious injuries. If that were to happen, even if it was tired out, it would be very difficult for Lucas to win unless he used one of the more powerful Bronze cards (he currently has three: a third, fourth and sixth level cards).


    Lucas decided to level the playing field and make the battle even and more dire.


    "Retrieve."


    The ever-familiar pair of craftsman gloves appeared on Lucas'' fists, but this was just the start.


    "Retrieve."


    The gauntlets which made their debut at the Bayena Plains appeared once again today. Made with a combination of Devil Mark stones, Purple Iridium metal, and Gretac-Titanium alloy for the framework, with Violent Sun ores and Red Iris stone for the runes.


    Compared to its previous form during the Bayena Plain event, there were slight changes to the gauntlets. This was because Lucas had acquired the knowledge of stellar circuits since then, so he added a few to the gauntlets to boost its power.


    Having the same thickness as that of an adult''s waist, the power of the gauntlets were not to be underestimated. Just its brute force was enough to make a massive dent on a vehicle. As for the grade of the vestiges, it was naturally Grade 3, the highest that Lucas could make at the moment. However, a combined effect could be generated using both gauntlets.


    The power effect created could easily compete with a Grade 4 vestige.


    But that still wasn''t enough.


    "Retrieve."


    A pole appeared in Lucas'' arm. The weight of the pole was immense and it immediately acted on Lucas'' arm right away. He hurried to support the pole with his free hand while frowning his face.


    ''Damn, this stuff is heavy.''


    The pole was a new vestige he designed, explicitly for hunting desolate beasts. It was a projectile weapon and had firepower equivalent to a Grade 4 vestige. However, the other features of the vestige were substandard, even for a Grade 3 vestige. The speed of the projectile was roughly the same as a standard Grade 3 bow. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Its recoil was immense; requiring at least a third level stellar practitioner to support it with their full strength. Finally, the durability of the vestige was low; it could only handle 10 shots before breaking down, if repairs weren''t made. Even with consistent repairs, the vestige could only tolerate thirty shots before the material would fail.


    The reason for this fault was the lack of an appropriate material as well as Lucas'' low skill level at the moment. Purple Iridium metal was a good option for the base metal and Lucas had a lot of it. However, he couldn''t handle much of the material without enough stellar energy. Even the gauntlets only used half an ingot, which was the max Lucas could use in a vestige with his current strength.


    Despite its flawed design, the vestige was very powerful. As was previously mentioned, it could unleash firepower equivalent to a fully activated Grade 4 vestige. That was enough force to take down a sixth or even seventh level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. It was currently Lucas'' strongest vestige in his arsenal.


    However, the slow firing speed of the vestige made it unusable against desolate beasts that strong. By the time he had fired the vestige, they could easily dodge the projectile.


    Regardless, it was just about enough to take on these fourth level desolate beasts; that was as long as Lucas didn''t go head on against them.


    ''Shooting the ape isn''t worth it and would bring the battle to a close. It would also alert the Jaburian, and it might escape. The Jaburian is quite fast, and it would be hard for me to get a clean shot after that.''


    Lucas sighed recalling that his target was a creature that could reach top speed equivalent to the fastest animal on Earth.


    ''Aiming for the Jaburian is also a difficult task.''


    The recoil of the vestige was too powerful for him to handle even with the gauntlets on. He might be able to get a shot in with the right circumstances, but its accuracy would be about seventy percent even then.


    ''I still have to try.''


    Lucas switched positions just in case the desolate beasts might have sensed him but pretended not to. Although they were called beasts, they couldn''t be compared to the same creatures on Earth that operated based on instincts. From the third level and above, desolate beasts got smarter and could scheme.


    Even animals on Earth were quite smart, so one could imagine the intellectual capacity of a fourth level desolate beast.


    After relocating to a new spot, Lucas hid himself and aimed the weapon at the battle zone. His plan was to try and get both monsters with one shot, but if he couldn''t, it would then be to injure the Jaburian just enough to weaken it greatly.


    The reason for this pick was that the Jaburian had been dodging the attacks aimed at it while dishing out attacks on the desolate ape, resulting in the latter being riddled with injuries. Although none of them were serious, the desolate ape was constantly losing blood from the wounds and would soon be tired out.


    From this, it was clear that the Jaburian was aware of the strategy of tiring out an opponent, but this wasn''t strange; even lions used this tactics while hunting a larger and stronger prey.


    Since the desolate ape was injured and would soon be on its last legs, added to the fact that it was never Lucas'' target to begin with, it was only right for him to have the vestige aimed at the Jaburian.


    Lucas adjusted the attack power of the weapon in order to boost its attack speed. This was a feature he had designed with smaller opponents in mind. There was a setting to decrease the power and increase, within the range of power for a fully activated Grade 2 vestige and a fully activated Grade 4 vestige.


    Lucas adjusted the output to match a fully activated Grade 3 vestige, which in turn resulted in the rest of the excess power being channeled into the firing chamber. This meant that the attack speed was now boosted from a standard Grade 3 bow, to a high quality Grade 3 bow. In comparison, a Peregrine Falcon at top speed would easily be shot down.

 Chapter 153 - 153: The Little Girl

    ''Now.''


    After monitoring the battle for a while, Lucas attacked at the very first opportunity he had when the Jaburian had just dodged an attack from the desolate ape, leaving behind an opening.


    *Boom*


    The vestige released a loud noise, but by the time the sound had reverberated, the projectile was already before its target. It was too late for the Jaburian to dodge, and it only barely managed to flinch its body before the projectile ¡ªan energy bullet¡ª penetrated right through its flesh and gouged out a large wound.


    The wound was so large that it almost severed the Jaburian into two. Its body was barely intact as it lay on the floor, inhaling and exhaling heavily through each motion.


    After the first shot, Lucas didn''t stop and reloaded right away, this time aiming for the desolate ape.


    The latter was stunned by both the noise and the attack, and barely responded in time for the next shot.


    *Boom*


    The second projectile was shot out of the cannon of the vestige, but as it was a rushed shot, both its power and speed couldn''t compare to the previous one. This resulted in the desolate ape having enough time to react at just the last second, tilting its body to the side.


    The projectile grazed the monster, but it took with it a significant portion of flesh which caused the desolate ape to cry out loudly. However, compared to the Jaburian, one could say it was let off easily. The latter laid flat on the ground, incapable of propping itself up, whereas the desolate ape could still stand.


    "Hmm, letting you go like this would be such a waste."


    Lucas, who had already stored the vestige back into his inventory, walked out of his hideout.


    "With that injury and the previous wounds, you should be around what? The third level? Maybe the second? That''s just your strength though. I can''t say much about your reflexes and movement. Regardless, you should be the perfect sparring partner."


    Lucas was planning on taking it on alone without using the Bronze cards.


    Thanks to his physical training and intense vestige-smithing, Lucas was at the peak of the Bodey Strengthening stage long ago. During this period, he had managed to forcefully surpass that level in terms of raw physicality. This was all thanks to a secret technique he knew off, but said secret technique could only enable him reach the second level of the Apertures Opening stage in terms of physicality at most.


    At the moment, Lucas'' body could compare to that of a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, this was merely limited to muscle strength. Without stellar energy, he couldn''t display the boost in strength nor could he truly take on a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner without using his vestiges.


    But for this battle, Lucas wasn''t felt he didn''t need stellar energy. The desolate ape was already much weaker than its basd form, which shouldn''t be a problem for him.


    . . .


    A few minutes later, the brawny large figure of the desolate ape fell to the ground with a resounding boon, sending dust into the air.


    Lucas stood opposite it, panting lightly as he flexed his arms. The battle was over, but despite his calm composure, it wasn''t an easy one. Even with the severe injuries it bore, the desolate ape was a thorny opponent that had almost got to Lucas a couple of times. In the end, he focused on worsening its injuries rather than making new ones, which resulted in Lucas coming out on top.


    Turning his attention to the Jaburian that he had left unattended, Lucas realised that it had died due to blood loss, which wasn''t a surprise.


    With the two monsters now dead, Lucas walked towards the cave in the face of the cliff. He could still see the small figure shivering within.


    "Oi, come out." Lucas stood before the cliff and called out.


    A whimper sounded from the cave and the silhouette appeared to have moved backwards. However, the cave was shallow and the figure had already occupied whatever space was left.


    "If you keep remaining there, more monsters will come and you''ll die. Come with me, I''ll find somewhere safe for you."


    Seeing no reaction still, Lucas sighed.


    ''Why do I have to be a nice guy?''


    He then jumped and grabbed onto the cliff, before climbing towards the cliff. The cave was around ten metres off the ground ¡ªroughly the same height as a three storey building¡ª so it didn''t take Lucas long to get to.


    He stared inside the cave and finally got a good look at the silhouette. It was a little girl with silver hair, who looked to be around seven years old based on her height. However, Lucas couldn''t confirm that as she showed clear signs of malnutrition.


    "Hey, little girl. What are you doing here?"


    The girl didn''t answer him, instead staring frightfully at Lucas.


    The latter sighed before extending his arm and seizing her.


    "Ahh, ah!!!"


    The little girl was shocked and screamed, but Lucas ignored her as he jumped down from the cave and landed on the floor.


    "Don''t, don''t hurt me."


    "I wouldn''t hurt you kid, so stop making a fuss." Lucas said as he brought the girl down.


    "Who are you? Where are you from? And your parents, where are they?"


    The girl froze after the bombardment, but suddenly bent her head low and shivered.


    "My parents... they''re gone." Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas went silent. Although he had somewhat guessed this, he also had some other ideas in mind. However, reality turned out to be the worst possible option. The little girl was an orphan, and most likely a victim of a desolate beast attack, just like the people Lucas had encountered a couple days back.


    "A little kid like yourself shouldn''t be out this far. There are a lot of dangerous monsters like the ones you just saw. If you remain on your own for any longer, you might end up dead. So tell me, which settlement did you come from and what''s your name?"


    "Name, settlement?" The girl was confused.


    "I, I don''t know."

 Chapter 154 - 154: Break Out; The Wave Moves Out

    With the Jaburian taken down and stored in his inventory, Lucas made his way back to the outpost. While Garena town was closer to Lucas and there was a landing strip there with a small outstation, going over there was quite risky. Apart from the risk involved, Lucas would have to answer a bunch of questions from what he was doing there, how he made it over despite being a human, and why he was with a little girl. He might end up holed inside the outstation while being grilled by the men on duty.


    As such, heading back to the outpost, even though it was farther away, became the best option for Lucas. The outpost was already familiar with him and had him on their record, so even if Lucas were to return after quite a few days, he would merely be subjected to some standard checks before being let off. From there, Lucas could charter a ride back to the boundary perimeter.


    Staring at the little girl who walked half a step behind, Lucas sighed.


    After a bit of questioning, Lucas had surmised that the girl had acute amnesia. All she knew of was that her parents had died. As for her name, their name, or even the settlement they came from, Lucas had no idea. There was also no hint or clue on her that could help Lucas figure out her identity. Even a scan with his communicator revealed that she wasn''t registered in the city-state''s database.


    At first, he presumed that she was from Southvale village or the surrounding villages that had recently gotten attacked when he just arrived in the region, but he quickly cancelled the thought. Southvale village was over twenty-two (22) kilometres away from where he found her. It was illogical to believe that a girl this little had walked so far without any food or water all the while.


    What''s more, while there weren''t so many desolate beasts on the run, there were still a few that had escaped the black box perimeter. For the little girl to not have encountered any during a more than twenty kilometres journey was nothing short of a miraculous and unbelievable amount of luck; something which Lucas fathomed to be impossible.


    As such, Lucas instead deduced that she was probably a survivor of some close by village or settlement that got destroyed by a wandering desolate beast.


    Something about the girl struck him, which was why Lucas cared for her. Just like his little self in his first life, Lucas was in a similar situation. With no parents or guardians, his eleven year old self had to survive in a forbidden forest filled with magic creatures and ferocious entities for three years before his master found him. During that time, it was no exaggeration to say that Lucas had experienced far too many life-and-death crises that stuck with him.


    In the end, he had developed a soft spot for orphans as Lucas felt that they were the only ones to truly be able to understand what he has been.


    During his time on Earth, despite having made millions from his research, Lucas was known to be frugal with his spending unless it came to research. He had instead spent most of his earnings sponsoring a few orphanages and supporting broken homes. This had caused him to have a new nickname apart from "Father of Material Science", which was "Father of the Fatherless". It was a title he didn''t boast about nor felt proud of, but Lucas had taken it upon himself to act as a father for the orphans he took care of.


    Seeing the little game reminded him of the oath he swore as well as his past self, so there was no way Lucas would just let her be.


    ''Best to find an orphanage to keep her safe.'' Lucas thought.


    As for adopting the little girl, he didn''t consider it. Lucas felt he was too busy to be raising kids.


    "Something''s wrong."


    Lucas said before suddenly picking the little girl up and giving her a piggyback ride.


    "Ah." The little girl let out a soft shout. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I can''t let a little kid like yourself walk the way back. That would make me look irresponsible."


    "System never expected host to have a soft spot." The system''s voice, which had been quiet since the incident at the rescue mission, sounded.


    "Oh shut up." Lucas responded.


    The little girl was confused seeing him speak out loud and almost mistook Lucas for a mad man.


    The duo, appearing like an elder brother and a little sister, made their way to the outpost, but unbeknownst to them, trouble was brewing close by.


    . . .


    Garena town, black box perimeter.


    Garena town was a very large town, comparable to a city. Most of the large towns were the same as cities, but the lack of official recognition made them unable to take on the title of ''city''. The reason for this was due to a lot of political struggles by the ruling powers of Alleva district and Baylands City''s Central Prefecture district.


    More cities would mean more city lords, which would then bring about another struggle for power and dilute the influence of the current city lords. To prevent that, all sides had agreed on a fixed number of existing cities, unless otherwise simultaneously decided upon. This led to most of the developing towns which had experienced population and economical boom to still remain classified as a town.


    Although called a town, Garena town was very well developed. In its heyday, it was a city filled with hovercars, neon screens, holographic displays and many more. The economy was very healthy, and since it was located in the grey zone known as Alleva district, there was a lot of money-exchange going on. Gambling dens existed everywhere, racing tracks for hovercar races were located in one area, and so on. But gambling wasn''t the only speciality of the town.


    Due to its unique geographical location, being right at the centre of Alleva district, it was a good channel for commerce and trading. Some companies had even set up shop here, selling hover cars, communicators, electronics and more. There were even security companies here who would provide guaranteed safety to their clients. Also, being in the grey zone, there were naturally outlets to hire underground assassins here.


    One could say that Garena town was a thriving town in every sense of the word. However, that was all in the past. The current Garena town couldn''t even be described as a shell of its old self. The skyscrapers that once stood side by side with the clouds were nothing more than rubble. The hover cars and technological devices that gave the city its vine were littered all across the streets as scrap metal.


    Garena town had become an unrecognisable location with the only inhabitants being a large number of desolate beasts of various shapes and sizes. Some of these monsters appeared like dragons while others like basilisks, rhinos, apes and so on. They rampaged around the area and caused damage all over again. There would be occasional fights amongst themselves, but it was sorted out quickly. This was a mystery of desolate beast waves; one which zoologists had yet to figure out.


    Most desolate beasts were apex predators or even archenemies on the food chain. When they sight each other on the wild, they would clash in a heated battle until one was dead. However, when they were in a wave, the monsters'' instincts would strangely be toned down greatly. So much so that they wouldn''t engage in life-or-death fights anymore, at best having a small scuffle. No one knew why this was so and no one could explain it, but it was believed to be a strange deviation in their genetic makeup.


    At the moment, the desolate beasts that formed the tide, which numbered up to a five thousand or more, suddenly stopped wherever they were. Whether roaming the streets, playing with the broken buildings and metal scraps, facing off against the other, or even having some alone time, they all froze on the spot for a second.


    In the very next moment, all the desolate beasts unanimously turned towards one direction and began to advance.


    The desolate beasts tide that had kept silent for over a week now, had begun to make their move again.

 Chapter 155 - 155: The Higher-ups Meeting

    The desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was something the district had never experienced before. Due to the unavailability of local freelancers and the weakness of the security operatives, they were forced to hire from outside the region.


    Baylands City was one of the most experienced regions when it came to dealing with desolate beasts. They had various forces, split between weak and strong, which could only hold their own against different levels of desolate beasts. Naturally, they were the ones who responded the most after the recruitment message was sent out by Alleva district.


    Many freelancer guilds, associations, teams and even private militia, had journeyed to Alleva district. Apart from the reward from the district''s council, there was also the fact that they could keep the loot from the battles for themselves.


    Based on sightings, some of the desolate beasts in the wave were quite rare and uncommon in the area, for instance, the Jaburian Lucas has hunted. With such valuable attractions around, it was difficult for these freelancer parties to resist participating in the raid.


    "Welcome."


    An officer in military clothing smiled at the group that had just exited the sare shuttle in front of him.


    "It''s our pleasure to be here." Crimson Fang smiled.


    Just like other freelancer guilds, the Autumn''s Gate guild had also made an appearance here.


    "The Colonel is waiting." The officer said. He was a Major and at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    The military system in Eretre was standard in the same level, but different at different levels.


    The basic unit ¡ªwhich was a team¡ª was the same at all levels, consisting of 4 soldiers, with the leader, a Sergeant, included in the headcount. Even the next basic unit, a squad, was standardised at all levels and made of two teams which were eight soldiers. However, other units in the military differ when it comes to a district''s military, city-state''s official military, and even the planetary military.


    The reason for this difference in numbers was because the jurisdiction and area of operation for each military were in contrast, hence it was unreasonable to use a fixed number.


    For the next basic level ¡ªa platoon¡ª the numbers varied quite obviously. As was previously mentioned [1], a platoon in a district military consisted of sixteen soldiers which was two squads. But in the city-state''s official military, it was a bit complicated. A platoon led by a second lieutenant maintained the same number of two teams, sixteen soldiers. But for a platoon led by a first lieutenant, there were four squads, adding up to a total of thirty-two soldiers.


    A company had four platoons in a district''s military reaching sixty-four soldiers. However, in the city-state''s official military, there were five platoons (first lieutenant standard) which resulted in there being one hundred and sixty (160) soldiers.


    Due to the difference in platoon size and unit numbers, a city-state''s official military ended up being much larger than that of a single district. This was why whenever a district encountered a serious issue, they would request help from Baylands City.


    Crimson Fang, under the lead of the major, went into a meeting room escorted by Nathan Von Klaus, the second vice guild leader. As for Lisa, she was charged with organising the team and keeping them in check.


    For this raid, the Autumn''s Gate guild didn''t just come with only the seven main members, but around twenty more fighters. This was a desolate beasts wave, so it was much more difficult. Also, in order to reap more rewards at the end of everything, they had to have more men in battle. Crimson Fang would have ordered the whole guild over, but he had his concerns and the guild had also accepted missions from other parties.


    "Any news on the situation?" Crimson Fang asked the major.


    "Not yet. Based on the last info we got from the team stationed at the black box perimeter, there''s been no major movements from the monsters." The officer responded.


    "So I guess the battlefield would be Garena town then." Crimson Fang sighed. He had once been to the town long ago, and marvelled at the economy and prosperity, despite it being located in Alleva district.


    Garena town was one of the few large towns that could truly be compared to a city. Even the nearby Amer city couldn''t compare to the previous Garena town. It was even almost as prosperous as the capital city, Sunrise City. Pi


    The officer sighed and nodded, "With the way things are, most likely. The town is already in rubble, so it doesn''t matter anymore. The damage has already been done."


    At the same time, he sneaked a glance behind.


    The purple haired man beside Crimson Fang, Nathan Von Klaus, had remained quiet all this while. From what the major knew, the young man was from the Von Klaus family, which was based in Baylands City. Recently, the family had achieved the right to live in the Central Prefecture district and were currently in the process of moving in.


    The Central Prefecture district was the centre of the entire city-state and the region that played home to the top 3% of Baylands city-state. Everyone who owned a property there was a multi-millionaire at the very least. To be a multi-millionaire in terms of federal coins was a challenge that not many could pull off, after all, the currency was very valuable.


    Usually, only those who dealt in vestige-smithing business could pull it off, but it was difficult to do so thanks to the various restrictions and difficulties in the business.


    The Von Klaus family, however, didn''t focus on vestige-smithing, but rather, vestige dealerships. They did what others didn''t which was to sell vestiges to regions with little or no vestige-smith presence. Alleva district was one of their main markets, and they had a store exactly in Garena town.


    Seeing the young master of the family without a reaction to the discussion, the major couldn''t help but be slightly impressed.


    It showed that Nathan had proper control of his emotions, which was a good sign of a leader. It could also mean that the Von Klaus family was unbothered by the loss, but that was unlikely.


    The trio finally made it to the central building in the outpost, where the meeting was to be held. A bunch of figures were already present, many of which were guild leaders like Crimson Fang. Some were leaders of private military services run by either top families, businesses in the desolate beasts industry, or even vestige-smith companies.


    As vestige-smithing companies required a large supply of materials, it was only natural that some would have their own freelancer guild, although the usual means was to sponsor one. The same went for businesses in the desolate beasts industry, like the Mertens family''s company.


    In the meeting were also senior managers of establishments, vestige-smith businesses, and many more. All parties that were related to desolate beasts and vestige industries in one way or the other were gathered at the moment.


    After Crimson Fang''s group settled down, they had to wait a while before the meeting kicked off.


    "Good day, everyone." The man who sat at the head seat spoke.


    Based on the uniform he wore, he was the official in-charge of the Alleva District Defence Force. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The highest military officer in a district was the Lieutenant Colonel, who was in charge of five companies in the area, which made up for three hundred and twenty men (320). A lieutenant colonel in a district was a much weaker contrast to a lieutenant colonel in the city-state''s official military, who led the same number of companies but for a total of eight hundred (800) men.


    The numbers might seem small, but one should understand that below a planetary scale, robots and unarmed drones were the mainstream fighters in battles. There might be three hundred and twenty men in a district military battalion, but the number of unarmed drones and robots could be at least double that.


    Hence, the power under the control of the lieutenant colonel before the people wasn''t to be underestimated.


    The man was also at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage, just like the majority gathered here. But apart from his rank and influence, he was also very powerful.


    Although levels and stages were the main means of determining someone''s power, it wasn''t exactly reliable. A fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner could beat a fifth of even sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner with the right conditions, even more so when vestiges were called into consideration.


    The lieutenant colonel had two Grade 4 vestiges, when people at his power level usually had either one or none. Of the Grade 4 vestiges, one of them was a custom-made version, which further boosted his power more so than the other vestige. He also had three Grade 3 vestiges, and when armed with his entire Arsenal, the lieutenant colonel had no issues holding off a seventh level desolate beast, or surviving the assault of an eighth level desolate beast.


    Although his vestiges counted for a significant portion of his power, it was due to the man''s strength, skill and abilities that he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel, so he was not to be underestimated, even by the other sixth level stellar practitioners gathered here. It was no understatement to say that he could take on at least three of them at the same time yet still win.


    "Today, we would be discussing about the raid to take down the monsters at Garena town."


    Just after the lieutenant colonel spoke, an alarm abruptly sounded.

 Chapter 156 - 156: The Higher-ups Meeting 2

    "Today, we will be discussing the raid to take down the monsters at Garena town. But apart from that, I will also brief everyone of our findings."


    The lieutenant colonel said as the meeting started off.


    "As you all know, it''s been over two weeks since the desolate beasts tide appeared in Alleva district and took down Rosewood city. Ever since, we''ve carried out investigations to understand their mysterious appearance into Alleva district, which is known for not having any monsters.


    "Our investigations showed signs of spatial passages having existed within the same dating of the wave''s appearance, which suggests that there was a spatial transmission."


    The crowd was surprised by this, but some seemed to have a look of understanding on their faces.


    A spatial transmission meant that there was teleportation involved. Teleportation wasn''t some magic in the current era, but it was still something out of reach for Eretre.


    The Kellan solar system, despite having a few planets far more advanced than Earth, was still termed as a backwater when the entire galaxy was being considered. Even within its star region, the Blue Mist star region, the Kellan solar system was ranked third out of the four active solar systems.


    Planet Eretre was similarly in a difficult situation. Of the five habitable planets out of eight in the solar system, Eretre was near the bottom, if the desolate beast-occupied planet, Jota, was excluded in the count.


    All these unfortunate circumstances resulted in the planet being well behind in technological advancements, such that even the teleportation was a problem for them despite the existence of star engines used for long distance space travel.


    "Does that mean that the space-bomb theory is true?" Someone in the gathering asked. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The individual was an influential person and privy to confidential information, like the meeting held by the security agency heads in Baylands City. That was how he knew about the space-bomb theory brought up by the director of the Red Fangs.


    "Plausible, but there''s no sufficient evidence to suffice." The lieutenant colonel rebuked the statement with a nonchalant expression.


    He then added, "There''s similarly a likelihood that a void-type desolate beast was involved, or even a Void beast. I''m more inclined to believe this as the cause since it''s occurred once before."


    Apart from hyumankin and the animals that previously existed in the Human era, a new biological kingdom of creatures was discovered, under which aliens were classified. There was also a new kingdom which was reserved for desolate beasts known as the Desolatum. However, desolate beasts were just one class of creatures in this biological kingdom.


    Desolatum was used to refer to Astral Monsters; a unique breed of organisms that possessed stellar energy innately, and could live in different environments. Under this taxonomical classification, there were other classes of Astral Monsters, with desolate beasts being the most common in Eretre.


    The other classes, Stellar creatures and Void beasts mostly wandered in space or higher regions. Compared to desolate beasts, they were more powerful and possessed unique abilities. It was no underestimation so say that a horde of Void beasts could wipe out the entire planet, while only a single Stellar creature could pull off the same.


    Stellar creatures were very rare, which made sense otherwise planets like Eretre would be living in constant fear. However, Void beasts weren''t as rare, albeit a horde of them together was.


    It was due to the unique abilities of Void beasts which made the lieutenant colonel suggest that the appearance of the desolate beasts were related to it. Chances were that a Void beast with spatial powers might have been wandering in Jota, the planet of desolate beasts, and created a spatial passage in the process. Said spatial passage''s destination coincidentally led to Alleva district in Eretre which resulted in an army of desolate beasts, some of which were rarely seen or even extinct in Eretre, appearing at the moment.


    Although this theory could be described as wild, it was very plausible as a similar situation had once occurred in a different city-state. However, the main reason why many supported this idea was that it sounded more logical and ''nicer'' to believe that this was a mere coincidence and not the act of terrorists who possessed complex space-bombs. The latter theory, which meant that the terrorists possessed connections and weapons that the Oklo Dynasty couldn''t even fathom, was a lot scarier and many refused to admit to it.


    The man who spoke up remained quiet. Since the lieutenant colonel was the leader of this meeting, it was best to not argue too much with him.


    "As was mentioned in earlier disposed memoirs, the desolate beasts we''ve discovered are a mix of unique and common ones. Some haven''t even been seen in the Wastelands for over two decades, and others believed to be extinct. So, it''s safe to say that this is an incident of a Void beast. But it spells great fortune for us all so long as we can handle the issue well." The lieutenant colonel stared at everyone in the hall, one at a time.


    "Now, let''s begin discussing the raid to take down the monsters, which our defence force terms ''Operation Wild Strike''."


    Just as the lieutenant colonel was about to continue the meeting, an alarm rang out.


    Waaaa. Waaaa. Waaaa.


    "What''s going on?"


    The guests of the meeting were all confused and looked to the lieutenant colonel for an explanation.


    However, as soon as they saw the expression on his face, everyone had a bad feeling.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, this is THE alarm." The lieutenant colonel suddenly said with a solemn expression on his face.


    Although there didn''t seem to be much information in those few words, the people gathered here weren''t slow. There was only one type of alarm that would spark such a reaction from the lieutenant colonel. The desolate beasts tide has made its move.


    The lieutenant colonel stood up from his seat and began to walk away while saying,


    "I''ll be sending a rapid response team to ensure that the situation is kept under control as much as possible. Meanwhile, please return to your respective parties and make your preparations as quickly as possible. The details of Operation Wild Strike will be altered and sent over to you.


    "While it might look as if we would come out victorious, please take this battle seriously."

 Chapter 157 - 157: Plot

    Amer city was the city in Alleva district closest to Garena town. After the destruction of the latter, the former entered a state of high security alert with some of the citizens even relocating elsewhere. However, the city was still greatly populated as the military had released a statement, informing the civilians to not be worried by the beast tide close by.


    Just like the rest of the cities in Alleva district, Amer city was controlled by the city lord who belonged to a major faction in the district. The various gangs and organisations of said faction thrived within the city, thanks to the support of the city lord.


    One of the leaders of an underground organisation here happened to be the human Ramirez had previously met a couple of times. The man was currently overseeing a shipment of new drugs in his underground warehouse.


    Drug trafficking was one of the biggest businesses in Alleva district, but the drugs trafficked weren''t simply hallucinogens, psychedelics, or euphorics. Some of them had special effects that could boost one''s strength albeit with intense side effects. However, there was a particularly new drug that had entered the market, but it wasn''t being supplied yet. It was precisely this new drug that the man came over to inspect.


    *Ding* *Ding*


    The man''s communicator rang.


    With a laid-back attitude, the man tapped the communicator on his wrist, following which an image was projected into midair.


    A figure appeared in the projection; a human just like the man. It was Ardeen, the man with a blue moustache that met with Lucas on his arrival at Alleva district''s Sunrise City.


    "What''s the problem?" The man asked right as the call connected.


    "The desolate beasts tide has begun moving, and it would reach Amer city within six hours without intervention." Ardeen replied.


    "Also, the young man is on the move."


    The man raised an eyebrow before revealing a slight smile on his face.


    "So I''m guessing Ramirez already knows about that."


    "That''s right. I''ve made sure he did, and I also left a bug on him. His movements are within my grasp." Ardeen said.


    "Wonderful." The man clapped with a cherry expression.


    "Now, I need you to do something for me. Keep an eye on the two of them and make sure they never come back."


    The man''s eyes glistened as he gave out his orders.


    "There''s a small shipment of Xalox tubes coming this way. I''ll have them redirect over to your location and hand you a few. Those should be enough to help you display fourth level Apertures Opening stage power. Take advantage of the situation and make sure that both sides die, especially Ramirez. It would be best if you make it look like they both killed each other. The Red Fangs have no confirmation about that young human''s strength, so they might not find it unbelievable."


    Ardeen was surprised as he knew that Ramirez was a partner of his boss, but he didn''t ask any questions. As a lackey, asking questions was the last thing to do when given an order.


    As for killing his targets, Ramirez is a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner and Lucas'' strength was unidentifiable. Even though he had met the latter and sensed no trace of stellar energy from him, the past investigations had stated that Lucas had once taken care of a second level stellar practitioner. As such, his abilities would be somewhere around the third or fourth level despite being human.


    With fourth level strength, Ardeen was confident that he could defeat the two, especially since he would be attacking from the dark and taking advantage of the situation.


    "Alright." Ardeen nodded before cutting the call.


    The man smiled as he stared at his shipment. In his hand appeared a game piece which he played around with. The piece was a knight from the game, Ruler''s Chess.


    ''Ramirez, oh Ramirez. You actually believed that the higher-ups would let you leave after that foolish mistake? What a fool you are. They simply wanted to extract as much use from you as possible, and now, you have nothing to offer any longer.


    ''The Red Fangs are already on to you, and with their suspicions that the beast tide is our doing, having you close is like showing an opening, and we can''t have that. You actually thought you''d be safe in Alleva? They already know you are here, but are merely occupied with the beast tide. Once that is settled with, they would begin looking for you and your tracks, which might cause some problems for us.''


    The man crushed the chess piece into dust, but he didn''t throw away the remnants.


    ''However, as long as you die at this opportune time, everything will be done and end here. If you''re unlucky, your corpse might be taken care of by the desolate beasts, but that might actually be for the best. Hehe.


    ''Take this bullet for the cause. Your sacrifices won''t be forgotten.''


    He then glanced at his fist that held the remnant particles that were once the knight chess piece. Opening his hand, a new chess piece had appeared, formed out of the dust of the knight chess piece. It was the pawn chess piece of the Ruler''s Chess game.


    "For the cause."


    . . .


    Unbeknownst to Lucas, undercurrents were forming with him at the centre of it all.


    At the moment, Lucas carried the little girl on his back and made his way back to the outpost. He wasn''t in a rush, so as to conserve his energy, so they hadn''t gone quite far. It was at this moment Lucas'' communicator beeped with a strange rhythm; one which he found unfamiliar.


    For some reason, Lucas felt stressed out. He quickly took out his communicator to see what was up, and spotted a notification from the Alleva District Defence Force.


    The notification read:


    "Warning! All individuals within the range of this message, please evacuate to a safe place. The desolate beasts tide is on the move. All military personnel, immediately make it to your designated stations and prepare for combat.''


    The notification was a ranged message targeted at every communicator within the range of the message; in this case, that was every communicator between the border perimeter and the black box perimeter. It was used by the Alleva District Defence Force to notify everyone on duty or in the area about the approaching danger.


    Reading the notification, the first thought that crossed Lucas'' head was that he was in danger. At the moment, he was less than nine kilometres (5.59 miles) away from the black box perimeter. The black box perimeter was only two kilometres (1.24 miles) away from Garena town. This meant that Lucas was less than eleven kilometres (6.83 miles) from Garena town. For a desolate beast, this distance could easily be covered in a few minutes. The avian desolate beasts could even cover it faster, and the time dropped the stronger the desolate beast got. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Delaying even just a few seconds was the same as relinquishing the right to live.


    ''Run.''

 Chapter 158 - 158: Lucas Versus Ramirez

    Being aware that there was a pack of desolate beasts on the way, Lucas knew that he couldn''t afford to dull a second longer. It was now or never to escape.


    "The ''Retrieve'' command has been upgraded. You can now recall more than one item from the inventory without needing to repeat the key word as many times."


    Lucas recalled a notification the system had given to him a while back. He then dropped the little girl for a second as he said,


    "Retrieve."


    Immediately, Lucas became clad in a special suit of armour. On his arms were the pair of gauntlets from before, but this time around, there was a pair of vambraces on his arms as well as cuirass. There was also a pair of boots with greaves, a helmet with a visor and so on. All in all, it was a suit of armour, but didn''t appear to be the same as mediaeval ones. Rather, the armour appeared a bit more futuristic. If one were to imagine how it looked, it appeared a lot similar to a certain superhero from a superhero movie franchise on Earth.


    This suit of armour was Lucas'' self-made and designed Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, or SCB for short. It was a combination of vestiges that could either be utilised individually, or paired up like a set to form the SCB. Just as its name implies, the suit was powered by stellar energy, a feat Lucas had achieved using the stellar circuits he had learnt about.


    It worked by using a stellar energy gathering circuit, which constantly absorbed stellar energy from the atmosphere into a storage unit within the armour. The various vestiges were then powered by the stored stellar energy.


    Lucas had achieved this feat of vestige-smithing by using precious items like Red Iris stones and Violent Sun ores for the stellar energy flow-path; Gretac-Titanium alloy for the main framework of the individual vestiges, giving them high durability, hardness and strength; and other precious metals or materials. This set of vestiges was Lucas'' greatest masterpiece since coming into this world, and it was something he had been working on ever since, only recently completing it after months.


    The original design was more flawed and didn''t have a main stellar energy storage mechanism, instead relied on individual small storage containers in each vestige. However, after learning about stellar circuits, Lucas made adjustments to the design and created the main stellar energy storage, while still retaining the initial concept of the suit.


    The main stellar energy storage was a device located at the upper right side of the suit''s chest area; which was pretty much parallel to where the hyuman heart is. The device''s function was to provide supplementary energy to the various vestiges, increasing their duration and power. It could also act as a main power system, taking over the role of supplying stellar energy from the built-in storage containers in the vestiges. All this sounded complicated, but in summary, one could think of it like the main battery of the suit.


    It was a feat of engineering that had taken Lucas a month of testing and designing to complete. This might not sound like much, but this was only because Lucas was a genius. If it were anyone else, they might need at least half a year of research just to design a prototype, and another half a year of testing; which totals at least ten times the amount of time Lucas had used.


    Once the armour had fully covered him, Lucas picked up the little girl and jumped.


    The boots on his feet let out a blast of ocean-blue aura as he took to the air at high speed. That''s right; the suit was capable of flight, albeit not for long. It wouldn''t have made sense for a futuristic armour to not be capable of flight, now would it?


    While in mid air, Lucas stared through his visor and at a projected image that served as a map, navigating his way back to the outpost.


    A few minutes later, he could hear loud noises from behind. The vanguard portion of the desolate beasts tide had arrived and they were close.


    ''To be able to reach so soon, they should at least be third level desolate beasts, if not fourth level.'' Lucas frowned.


    He immediately dived down and flew at a low altitude, hoping not to catch their attention. However, it was too late as one of the avian desolate beasts made a loud noise before moving towards his direction.


    With a grim look on his face, Lucas immediately landed on the ground and began running with his two feet. The armour was designed in such a way that even with the weight of the vestiges, there was a stellar circuit that created a weightless effect on them. Although the effect wasn''t perfect and didn''t truly make the vestiges weightless, it did drop their weight by at least eighty percent, which was well enough for Lucas to move around in.


    Lucas found a dark spot behind a few trees and hid there, waiting for the desolate beast to give up and leave.


    The monster flew around and scanned the area, but as there was a forest below, it failed to find Lucas. It then dashed in a different direction, which was the route to Amer city. The outpost was in a different direction than Amer city, so as long as Lucas could keep going forward, he would eventually be safe.


    "That was close." Lucas sighed with relief.


    The little girl who hung behind him was shivering at the moment, but Lucas comforted her. He could guess that her previous experience was too traumatic for her, and the sight of the monster would trigger that trauma.


    *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*


    "Spectacular. I can see why you were able to survive all those numerous assaults."


    Lucas was shocked and hurriedly turned to the direction of the speaker. There he saw a figure that he had never met before. However, not having met the latter didn''t mean Lucas didn''t know who it was. On the contrary, he was very familiar with that face as he had burned the image into his memory.


    "Ramirez." Lucas grimaced.


    "You know my name. As expected of you." Ramirez smiled.


    The distance between the two was at least one hundred metres, but Ramirez treated it as nothing, staring calmly at Lucas despite the gap between them.


    "You see, you''ve cost me a lot of losses; so much so, I can''t even cover for them. To be honest, I''m still surprised I am alive after all of that. Maybe this is the universe giving me a second chance or hinting at something. Regardless, I will be making sure that today, you do not leave this place in one piece."


    Lucas remained kept his composure cool, bringing the little girl down and keeping her by the side.


    "Just give me a sec." Lucas said to her, before turning his attention to Ramirez.


    "You shouldn''t have come here." Lucas uttered with his gaze fixed at Ramirez.


    "And why is that so?" Ramirez mockingly smiled at him. S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Because you won''t be leaving here alive." Lucas disclosed.


    Ramirez chuckled before spreading his arms wide open,


    "I don''t know how you did it, taking care of those men I sent you, but I can tell you this; the only one who would be leaving here alive is me."


    A sword appeared in Ramirez''s two hands, one blue and the other red. They both glistened under the miniscule sunlight that made its way down through the canopy of trees. The two weapons were Grade 3 vestiges that had previously appeared in the Silver Fig Trade Convention vestige rankings for the West Wing district. In other words, they were top class vestiges.


    Together with his own strength which stood at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage, Ramirez was easily a terrifying opponent for any average freelancer. Even geniuses such as the two vice guild leaders of the Autumn''s Gate guild had to be on their toes against him, as any slight flaw could cost them their lives in combat.


    Ramirez was fully aware of his strength, hence very confident in this battle. No matter what Lucas'' unique abilities may be or the mystery behind the death of his men ¡ªone of which included a second level stellar practitioner¡ª Ramirez was unbothered. He believed that with his strength alone, Lucas would fall to him this day.


    Standing face to face with a ferocious Ramirez emitting a bloodthirsty aura, Lucas didn''t say a word, merely tightening his fists.


    What he wore was his tour de force of vestige-smithing. It was a vestige created from a set of multiple individual vestiges, each very powerful on their own. Take the peak Grade 3 gauntlets for instance, which could allow Lucas to go toe-to-toe with a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. When various vestiges of the same grade as the gauntlets were all assembled into one set, one could imagine how powerful this one set became.


    Grade 3? Peak Grade 3? No.


    That''s right; through combining multiple extremely powerful Grade 3 vestiges, some of which were very close to being Grade 4, Lucas was finally able to cross that bridge that held him back for so long. The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour in its complete form was without a doubt, a Grade 4 vestige; Lucas'' very first in this world.

 Chapter 159 - 159: Lucas Versus Ramirez 2

    *Bam*


    A loud noise burst out as the two opponents clashed against the other using their top tier vestiges.


    A wave of air flowed from the point of collision, raising with dust and particles as the two sides separated from each other unscathed.


    The first contest of strength had ended in a draw.


    Ramirez was surprised by this, but it evoked a desire within him.


    "I was thinking this would be boring, but you might be able to entertain me a bit."


    Lucas didn''t respond to him, instead tightening his fists and preparing for combat once more.


    Originally, the SCB would have been a Grade 3 vestige, even after combining so many powerful Grade 3 vestiges. However, the catalyst that brought about its upgrade was the stellar energy container device. The device, which Lucas aptly named Vis receptacle, could be said to have reached the peak of vestige-smithing when it came to what Grade 3 vestiges could offer. This triggered a dramatic change in quality when paired with the other top notch Grade 3 vestiges of the set, becoming on par with a Grade 4 vestige when combined.


    However, in the end, each individual vestige was still a Grade 3 vestige. Also, Lucas didn''t possess stellar energy, so the degree to which he could truly utilise the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was limited, even though the armour had its own energy supply.


    It was quite possible, with future improvements, to enable the armour sustain a Grade 4 capability even if the user was a human, but for the moment, it wasn''t.


    "Ice and Fire." Ramirez chanted, following which the two vestiges glowed blue and red respectively.


    In the next moment, his figure flashed as Ramirez rapidly charged at Lucas.


    *Humm*


    The gauntlets on Lucas'' arms released a low hum as stellar energy flowed in from the Vis receptacle.


    *Bang*


    Lucas'' right fist clashed with the blue sword, setting off blue sparks that gave off a cold aura that slightly froze the air up.


    Ramirez swung the red sword from below, trying to catch Lucas off guard. However, the latter had already seen that coming and blocked the sword with his free left hand.


    *Bang*


    This time around, red sparks went off from the collision, heating up the air within the region.


    ''Interesting.''


    Despite being in armour, Lucas could sense the surrounding changes quite well. He was amazed at the skill put into making the twin swords and couldn''t help but compliment the vestige-smith again.


    Ramirez didn''t know what was going through Lucas'' head, but he wasn''t bothered to find out.


    Brandishing his vestiges like a sword god that had descended, Ramirez unleashed multiple attacks at Lucas, targeting from different angles while trying to force out a flaw from Lucas. Despite all the effort, his opponent was a double-transmigrator who had experienced five hundred years in a magical world run by the law of survival of the fittest. Lucas'' battle experience was nothing to laugh about.


    After the two were caught up trading blows, Lucas managed to find an opening by dodging a swing from the red blade and thrusting his fist towards Ramirez. The latter was then forced to block the blow with his blue sword.


    However, just as it was about to connect, the gauntlet flickered with a blue glow that was appealing, yet hidden behind that aesthetic appearance was a degree of danger that tug at Ramirez''s senses. However, it was already too late as the distance between them wasn''t much.


    *Boom*


    The punch connected, letting out a small explosion as it did so.


    Ramirez, despite his impressive strength, was forced back and crashed into a tree, toppling it down as he fell back along with it. The strength of that bunch was easily on par with a peak fourth level desolate beast and very close to a fifth level desolate beast, so bringing down a tree was nothing.


    The duo were quite lucky since their location was in a different direction from the path of the desolate beasts wave; otherwise, this attack would have drawn a ton of attention.


    ''This vestige is really powerful. So, this is a Grade 4 vestige...'' Lucas couldn''t help but suck in a mouthful of cold air, impressed by the work of his hands.


    A Grade 4 vestige was a powerful vestige at the top of the rankings in Baylands city-state. Although there were still Grades 5 and 6, the former was essentially the same as a family heirloom and was reserved only for top figures in the most powerful families or the city-lord. As for the latter, in all four continents and thirteen city-states, only in one of them could a Grade 6 vestige be found.


    The reason for this was because unlike the other vestiges, a vestige-smith capable of making a Grade 6 vestige, which was a Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith, was literally nonexistent in Eretre. There was no one at that rank within the entire planet; even within the entire solar system, the numbers weren''t many.


    Apart from being insanely costly, Grade 6 vestiges were also banned in the hands of any other than the Oklo Dynasty. What''s more, the penalty for breaking the law was very severe with one having to face extermination together with their family and company, if any. As such, no one broke the law even if they could somehow afford a Grade 6 vestige.


    Grade 5s were rare as the only vestige-smiths who could make them were concentrated in the Bernin continent, under the direct supervision of the Oklo Dynasty. This led to Grade 4 vestiges being the epitome of power in individual city-states.


    With one in his possession, it was no surprise as to how Lucas was able to hold his own against a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. And this was with the fact that Lucas wasn''t even utilising the full power of the vestige.


    Typically, a Grade 4 vestige was meant to be suitable for sixth, seventh and eighth level stellar practitioners. Displaying only a fourth level Apertures Opening stage strength was a terrible showcase of a Grade 4 vestige''s quality.


    *Crack*


    Ramirez stood up from the splinters with an expression clearly fuming at his situation. Never would he have believed that the human he looked down on could beat him to this level. But at the same time, he was also astounded.


    "Fourth level? No. It''s not your energy. It''s the vestige...Grade 3? Or Grade 4?!" Ramirez gawked wide-eyed at the Lucas, or to be specific, his armour. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The only explanation for Lucas'' unreal strength which was never revealed until now had to be the vestige he has on. But even a Grade 3 vestige shouldn''t be able to cause this much of a difference especially since the user was a human. The only explanation would then be a rise in quality, which meant that the vestige was of Grade 4.


    Apart from the shock, there was also greed within Ramirez''s eyes. With a Grade 4 vestige in hand, his strength would definitely shoot up greatly.


    ''If I have that vestige with me, I can easily take on those Red Fangs bastards.'' Ramirez a thought.


    "Your strength is definitely linked to your vestige, but I still don''t get it." He asked as he stared coldly at Lucas.


    "A vestige can only boost your abilities, particularly one''s raw power. However, you are able to react to my attacks on time. Tell me, how did you do it?"


    This was what had Ramirez confused. Even with a Grade 4 vestige, Lucas shouldn''t be able to read his moves like they were nothing, and even counter-attack. Yet, that was the reality he faced.


    "How did I do what? Catch up with you? You''re just too slow." Lucas stretched his arms as he said.


    Ramirez was immediately incensed and began to laugh out loud.,


    "Hahaha. Nice one kid. You think just cause you pushed me back, it makes you some kind of powerhouse? Play time''s over. I''ll show you what it means to be a feared underground lord. I''ll show you the true strength of a fifth level stellar practitioner."


    Suddenly, Lucas appeared in front of Ramirez with his fist blocking his sight.


    "I don''t care."


    *Bam*


    The fist missed, creating a shockwave as the force of the punch was transmitted through the air. Ramirez, who had dodged at the last moment, was furious as he swung his blades at Lucas. Being this close, with Lucas having already executed an attack, it looked as if Ramirez would finally get a hit in.


    However, just as he felt so, a surge of energy blast from the soles of Lucas'' boots, propelling the latter backwards into the air.


    *Swoosh*


    The two vestiges, just like Lucas'' punch, likewise missed their target. But Ramirez didn''t give up.


    Lucas hadn''t actually taken flight but was simply launched in midair ¡ªabout seven metres away¡ª to avoid the attack. As he began his descent, Ramirez chased after him and hacked the blue sword forwards.


    A deep blue aura suddenly burst from it and darted towards Lucas, bringing with it an intense chill that immediately affected the surroundings.


    "Arctic Slash."


    Lucas, who was still descending from midair, appeared to have nowhere else to go. In fact, he truly didn''t as one of the flaws of the vestige was that it couldn''t perform consistent boosts. As for the flying function, there was too little energy left, so it looked like Lucas was doomed at the moment.

 Chapter 160 - 160: Lucas Versus Ramirez 3

    "Arctic Slash."


    A deep blue aura suddenly burst from it and darted towards Lucas, bringing with it an intense chill that immediately affected the surroundings.


    Lucas, who was still descending from midair, appeared to have nowhere else to go. In fact, he truly didn''t as one of the flaws of the vestige was that it couldn''t perform consistent boosts. As for the flying function, there was too little energy left, so it looked like Lucas was doomed at the moment.


    The blue blade aura from the sword brandished its way to Lucas, and just when it seemed like the battle was coming to an end, Lucas thrust both arms forward.


    Once again, the blue light glistened on his gauntlets, letting out a small explosion that impeded the blue blade aura. Thanks to that, Lucas was able to land safely.


    However, Ramirez wasn''t a one-stroke man. He had appeared beside Lucas just as the latter had landed on the ground, brandishing both swords at Lucas.


    At first, Lucas was able to keep up with the attacks and even respond back. But as the battle went on, he noticed that Ramirez was getting faster and faster. Lucas turned to defense and tried to hold his edge, but his opponent''s attack speed increased once again and Lucas was now on the receiving end.


    In the end, Ramirez was right. There was only so much a vestige could do for Lucas and this was in regards to raw power and not reflexes. The only reason Lucas was dominating at the start was due to his battle experience and knowledge. This allowed him to utilise the raw power effect of the vestige to increase his attack speed.


    This was the same logic as using an explosion to move faster, but Lucas did this on a smaller level with more precision. At the same time, he relied on his battle instincts to be able to predict and react to Ramirez''s attacks.


    Regardless, there was a limit to what Lucas could achieve through this method, and it was still lacking to be able to take on a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. If the opponent were a third level, Lucas would easily win. Against a fourth level, he could fight and retreat as he pleased.


    However, he still wasn''t willing to use a Bronze card just yet. It would grant him a fixed level of strength for two hours, so Lucas valued the item more than anything; except his life of course. Unless he was truly being threatened, he would rather not use it yet.


    "Is this all you got?"


    Ramirez grinned as his sword managed to slip last Lucas''s defence, sending the latter flying back a few metres.


    "Where''s all that vigour and attitude, huh? In the end, you''re just a measly ant relying on a fancy tool."


    Lucas lay flat on the ground, groaning as he held on to his side. Although he had on a Grade 3 cuirass that protected him, the force from the slash had passed through. This was still considerably better than being cut into two, but it was still painful.


    "Damn it." Lucas cursed as he stood up.


    "You still don''t know when to quit, huh? No problem, I don''t mind having you entertain me some more." Ramirez chuckled as he flexed both wrists.


    *Bam* *Bam*


    *Dum* *Dum* S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just as the two were about to resume their battle, they froze due to their senses picking up something. The stones on the ground shook while the trees vibrated. A series of low dull and thumping sounds were heard by the two, albeit it was still quite faint. The air felt eerie as the events that took place increased in intensity.


    This was the sound of death and destruction; the desolate beast tide was approaching.


    Although the desolate beasts tide was heading in the direction of Amer city ¡ªwhich was in a direction away from where the duo stood¡ª due to the expansive size of the tide, there was a chance that some of the desolate beasts might spot them. Once that happened, it would be more than just a mere one or two heading towards their location. In the best case scenario, it could even be a small unit, which wasn''t too much of a problem.


    However, in the worst case scenario, it would be a force as large and powerful as the one that wiped out Southvale village. Against such a force, the duo would have to wait for their deaths as their chances of survival would be slim.


    ''Looks like I have to end this quickly.'' Ramirez thought.


    Despite being one of the culprits for this situation, he didn''t have a guarantee to ensure his survival if he was caught in it. Hence, Ramirez needed to end the fight quickly and leave.


    "I guess you die here then." Ramirez said as his energy shot up once more.


    Compared to before, Lucas could sense that he was much stronger. This was the true strength of a fifth level stellar practitioner and not what he has seen earlier.


    It probably had to do with the fact that it had been so long since Ramirez had to fight with his full strength, which was why he was losing at the start. But having now warmed up a bit, it was getting back to him.


    "Sigh." Lucas took off the helmet that covered his face.


    Ramirez raised an eyebrow, wondering what was going on.


    "Release." Lucas said, activating the lowest ranked Bronze Grade card in his collection; one that would grant him third level Apertures Opening stage power for two hours.


    Ramirez widened his eyes in shock as he could sense the nearby stellar energy being drawn into Lucas'' body. Following this dramatic occurrence was a drastic change in Lucas as Ramirez could now sense stellar refinement effects on him. It started from the first level of the Apertures Opening stage before abruptly rising to the second level, only settling down at the third level.


    "What was that?"


    Ramirez was shook, displaying an obvious expression of both confusion and stupefaction.


    Although he had not been to Digress city-state, Ramirez was aware of the secret that allowed humans to exceed the limit of the Body Strengthening stage. However, even that secret could not hide one''s strength in plain sight, and it was clear at the start that Lucas was without stellar energy.


    This left Ramirez stunned, as he couldn''t understand who or even what exactly Lucas was.


    However, he quickly recovered after seeing Lucas'' newfound energy stabilise. It was only at the third level and shouldn''t be a threat to him.


    ''Wait-''


    Just as Ramirez realised something, it was too late; Lucas had already appeared in front of him, even faster than he had ever been before.


    ''Shit!''


    Ramirez cursed inwardly as he moved to the side, but it was as if Lucas had read this move as his leg mover in the same direction and struck Ramirez.


    *Bam*


    Ramirez widened his mouth in pain as he was shot back by the force of the kick. The blow was so intense that he had barely maintained hold over his swords.


    But Lucas wasn''t done yet.


    Lucas spread his palm open and faced it in the direction of Ramirez. In the next second, a blue beam of light burst from the gauntlet, darting over to Ramirez at a speed that he could barely react to.


    *Clang*


    Ramirez blocked with the blue sword, but it was forced out of his arms by the beam, leaving him exposed to the attack.


    *Spurt*


    A hole opened up on Ramirez''s right shoulder as he stared appalled at Lucas with lain coursing through his mind. He could feel cold air formed from the passive chill aura of the blue sword go through his wound. He couldn''t even feel his right arm again which meant that it was essentially disabled. But despite all of that, Ramirez''s thoughts weren''t on them. Instead, Ramirez was stricken with fear and agitation.


    For the third time in his life as an underground boss, Ramirez was afraid.


    The very first time was an incident that made Ramirez retire. The second was when the Evonika-Hyuman crossbreed, Ginon, had met with him and convinced Ramirez to work for them. That was about five years ago, and it was the very first time Ramirez had understood what it meant to truly face death, despite being a former freelancer and at the fifth level.


    Today happened to be the third time, but unlike in the previous times, Ramirez was very well aware that he would die today.


    Even though he still had his stellar energy, a working arm and his peak quality Grade 3 vestige, Ramirez had no confidence in retaliating. Instead, he felt that doing so would make him no different from a cockroach trying to cling to life by all means, yet dying in the end.


    "You, you can''t do this to me! You can''t! They''ll come for you. They''ll hunt you to the ends of Eretre if you do so!"


    Ramirez yelled, fear clearly visible in his eyes as he gripped the red sword tightly with his left hand.


    However, his wails did nothing to deter Lucas as the latter had made up his mind long ago.


    "Be quiet and die."

 Chapter 161 - 161: Ardeen Makes His Move

    Lucas stood in front with a headless corpse before him. The menace that had once hunted him was now dead.


    Despite that, Ramirez''s last words were still in his head. Although he didn''t mention who ''they'' were, Lucas could guess that it had something to do with the terrorists from before.


    Based on what he knew and speculated, Ramirez was a member or a lackey of the terrorist organisation related to the two attackers from the Bayena Plain incident. The desolate beasts tide was also related to that organisation, seeing as it happened roughly at the same time Ramirez was spotted in Alleva district, which was an uncanny coincidence.


    Putting two and two together, Lucas surmised that Ramirez was threatening him using the organisation. For Ramirez to have been so confident albeit desperate, it was clear that the organisation was nothing to joke about. Just based on the fact that they could raise an underground organisation in Baylands City, the centre of the city-state, it was clear that they had quite a lot of resources and connections. From that, Lucas wouldn''t be surprised if they had more arms in Alleva district, or even a liaison within the Central Prefecture district.


    Sighing, Lucas turned around, but he didn''t deactivate his vestiges just yet.


    "You can come out now. I already know you''ve been watching."


    Lucas stared in a certain direction up ahead of him. The area was blocked by trees making it dark and unwary, but he had sensed a presence there mid battle against Ramirez.


    "Oh my. And here I was thinking that my stealth was good."


    A voice which Lucas found to be familiar sounded as a figure walked out from the shadows.


    Seeing the party, Lucas frowned.


    "So it''s you."


    The newcomer was someone Lucas was slightly familiar with. It was the very first person he had met upon arriving at Alleva district; a character who had given him some tips and helped him make his way over.


    Ardeen smiled at Lucas and nodded.


    "That''s right. Surprised?"


    "Indeed. But it doesn''t change anything." Lucas responded calmly.


    Although he didn''t know why Ardeen was here, it was obvious that the latter wasn''t a friendly party. To have waited so long and even remained in hiding throughout the battle, one could only wonder what Ardeen''s goal was, but Lucas wasn''t interested in that. All he cared about was who was friend or foe, and he believed that Ardeen was the latter.


    Ardeen smiled and walked over while saying,


    "Relax. I came over to try and profit from the beast tide when I happened to sense a battle here. I decided to spectate for a bit and not interfere. You should know that Alleva isn''t a safe place; it would be best not to poke your nose inside every situation, and that was exactly what I did."


    "Makes sense." Lucas nodded his head.


    But in the next second, he raised his arm and a laser beam blasted out from it.


    At the same time, Ardeen had popped out a vestige and fired at Lucas.


    *Boom*


    Both sides happened to attack just at the same time, and they retreated while doing so. The result was that the two attacks had missed their targets, but the atmosphere had now changed.


    "What gave it away?" Ardeen asked, still maintaining his friendly smile even though he had just tried to kill Lucas.


    "You may try to hide it, but your energy is clear." Lucas said.


    "The last time I met you, you were at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. It doesn''t make sense how you''re now at the fourth level, unless there''s something you''re hiding."


    Ardeen was a human based on what Lucas knew. By human, it didn''t mean he was a pure-blooded human like Lucas, but a hyuman with an mDNA concentration of less than 10%. This made it virtually impossible for him to exceed the limits of the Body Strengthening stage and enter the Apertures Opening stage, just like Lucas.


    However, while they were talking, Lucas ¡ªthanks to his acute sensitivity¡ª could discern that Ardeen''s ability was at the fourth level, which didn''t make sense. From what he knew, there was no equipment or technique that could hide one''s stellar refinement progress, and there was no way Ardeen possessed something like the system as the odds were very low.


    Hence, the only explanation was that Ardeen was in league with an underground force that had connections to Digress city-state. They were the only force that could grant humans stellar refinement capabilities, and from what Lucas knew, such a group was likely related to the terrorists on Eretre. Since he had just killed one of them, it was only natural for Lucas to become a target.


    "Ah, that''s true." Ardeen face-palmed.


    "Well, I guess this is the part where we try to kill each other."


    Lucas didn''t respond or even make a move yet. He just couldn''t understand; since Ardeen had been watching, he should know that Lucas had a Grade 4 vestige. With a fourth level strength, it was impossible to take on the third level Lucas who wielded a Grade 4 vestige; even Ramirez despite having two Grade 3 vestiges and fifth level ability, had lost. Despite knowing this, Ardeen still stood before him. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Seal." Ardeen muttered, following which four pillars of light rose into the air around them.


    Within the four pillars of light was a 200m2 region with Lucas and Ardeen. Although the pillars simply stood there, Lucas felt an awry feeling from them.


    "A Grade 4 vestige is really impressive. I never expected that to be your reliance, but it doesn''t matter. Today would still mark your memorial date." Ardeen said.


    In the next moment, he charged at Lucas, firing the gun in his hand at the latter.


    Lucas raised his arms and created an energy shield using the gauntlets, blocking the shots being fired. However, the energy shield eventually cracked under the relentless gun shots.


    But at the time it did so, Lucas had already closed the gap and sent his fist flying towards Ardeen.


    However, as he did so, Lucas saw his fist pass right through Ardeen''s body as the latter smirked at him.


    In the next moment, the ''Ardeen'' before Lucas dissipated as another one appeared a few metres away with his vestige pointed at Lucas.


    *Bang*


    A stellar round was fired from the vestige, but unlike the previous shots, it wasn''t created out of Ardeen''s stellar energy, but was a unique round made with special materials.


    The bullet struck Lucas'' armour, leaving a mark that dug slightly into the armour, creating a dent on it.


    *Bang* *Bang*


    Ardeen released a few more shots, but Lucas rushed to get out of the way. Although the vestige might be able to handle them, there was still a threshold to its durability.


    While dodging, Lucas closed the distance between him and Ardeen, and once again, he was right in front of the latter.


    *Boom*


    Lucas released a powerful punch that split apart the air, creating a blast that went through Ardeen and struck the ground.


    However, just like before, Ardeen''s figure dissipated and he appeared elsewhere again. This time around, Lucas was prepared, so he managed to dodge the attacks. Regardless, the strange outcome was bugging him.


    ''Teleportation? No. It doesn''t seem like such. Then what exactly is it?'' Lucas thought as he switched to long ranged tactics


    The speed of the beams fired by the gauntlets could compare to bullets, so he wasn''t worried about not getting a hit even as Ardeen managed to dodge them.


    The duo began to move around the area, using the trees as obstacles while attacking the other.


    At the same time, Lucas was moving towards one of the light pillars closest to him. Although he didn''t know how Ardeen happened to be escaping his attacks at the last moment, Lucas knew that it was related to the pillars of light.


    "What happened to your vigour and aggression when facing Ramirez? Why are you simply running away?" Ardeen chuckled as he pursued after Lucas.


    Seeing Lucas heading towards the light pillar, Ardeen could easily guess his intentions.


    ''It''s about time I end this.'' Ardeen thought.


    The light pillars would definitely attract both the attention of the Alleva District Defence Force and the approaching desolate beasts wave. Ardeen estimated that he had only three minutes left before the desolate beasts would reach them as they were the closest group to the duo. If those three minutes elapsed and he was still here, then it would be difficult to kill Lucas.


    Extending his hands towards Lucas, Ardeen exposed a glove that looked like a complex amalgamation of futuristic technology and runes. As the gloves glowed with a yellow light ¡ªa similar shade with the pillars¡ª Ardeen clenched his fist.


    A strange invisible wave was released from the four pillars spreading into the two hundred metres square space. The wave moved rapidly, with the one coming from the pillar closet to the duo, taking only three seconds to reach.


    As it passed by Lucas, he suddenly felt a change take place within him; a drastic change that changed the scales of the battle.

 Chapter 162 - 162: Arken Pillars

    A strange invisible wave was released from the four pillars spreading into the two hundred metres square space. The wave moved rapidly, with the one coming from the pillar closet to the duo, taking only three seconds to reach.


    As it passed by Lucas, he suddenly felt a change take place. The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour he had one began to feel heavy.


    Originally, the set of vestiges was indeed hefty, however, thanks to a special magic rune drawn on it, the weight of the vestige felt light to the user. This allowed Lucas to be able to perform high-speed manoeuvres and attacks despite the bulky weight of the vestiges, like the gauntlets or the boots. However, the runes seemed to not be working as well even though Lucas was powering them with his stellar energy.


    ''So this is the cause.'' Lucas thought as he sensed a strange frequency permeating through the air.


    The closer he got to the pillar, the more intense the frequency was, forcing Lucas to abandon his plan of approaching it.


    The frequency was interfering with the magic runes, affecting the flow of stellar energy into them, which in turn prevented the runes from performing their functions. In this case, the magic runes were for a weight-less effect, which made the vestiges weigh less than they really were, allowing Lucas to move comfortably in them.


    To counteract this effect, Lucas had to expend more stellar energy than usual, using a part of it to block out the frequency. Nonetheless, this was only a temporary measure as it wasn''t so effective. The frequency had the strange ability to ignore his stellar energy hindrance and act on the magic runes regardless.


    Lucas'' attention was suddenly drawn to some of the inscriptions on his vestiges. They were still functioning properly despite the influence of the frequency unlike the weight-less rune.


    "I told you; you will die here today."


    Noticing that Lucas'' speed had dropped, Ardeen sneered before taking aim at Lucas once again.


    *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*


    Multiple shots were fired, but unlike the previous ones, these were without any special rounds. In other words, it was just compressed stellar energy.


    Ardeen could see that even with the frequency''s interference, Lucas'' speed had only dropped and not come to an abrupt stop. He suspected it had to do with Lucas resisting the effects, so he decided to instead deplete Lucas'' stellar energy while conserving his most powerful shots.


    Lucas dodged the shots he could and blocked off the rest using a stellar energy shield, which was just as Ardeen had predicted. However, while he did so, Lucas was also trying to understand the abilities of the light pillars.


    ''The first was some kind of spatial displacement. But I didn''t sense any signs of that, so it could either mean the technology is too high-end for my senses to capture it, or it wasn''t spatial displacement.''


    Lucas'' eyes flashed as he rapidly guessed the various possibilities that it could be, until he found one.


    ''Illusions.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    It would make sense to think that the scenario was an illusion created by the light pillars. It was either that all he saw at the moment was an illusion, or that the light pillars would structure one at a certain point in time, for instance, right when Lucas moved to attack Ardeen.


    ''It could either be passive or active. If it is the latter, then I just need to time my attacks properly. However, if the illusion is passive and already being played out, then I have to find a way to discern the real from the false.''


    As his thoughts whirred into motion, Lucas detected that the frequency had increased in intensity. It was becoming difficult to impede it, costing Lucas more energy to do so.


    Frowning, he delved into the matter, hoping to identify what exactly it was. In the course of doing so, however, Lucas had taken a lot of shots from Ardeen and his energy was depleting rapidly. The cuirass vestige of the SCB was visibly damaged at this point. If it wasn''t due to the qualitative change brought about by the Vis receptacle ¡ªelevating the cuirass'' defensive ability to Grade 4¡ª it might have turned defective.


    With his brain running at full power, it took Lucas only a few seconds to understand what exactly was going on.


    The frequency seemed to target runes and stellar matrices, inhibiting their ability to conduct stellar energy and generate a desired effect.


    The weightless rune Lucas used on the vestige was a lot similar in structure to the runes used in this world. As such, it was affected by the frequency released by the light pillars. However, the other runes carved on the vestiges were entirely different in structure and design, resulting in them not being affected. The same held true for the stellar circuits Lucas had inscribed on the vestiges, as those were even more complex than stellar matrices. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Without having studied such inscriptions before, it was inevitable that whoever made these might pillars would not be able to interfere with the inscriptions. The weightless rune just happened to be a victim of a coincidental circumstance.


    As long as Lucas could switch the rune, it would be immune to the frequency. However, forget switching the rune, he couldn''t even take off his vestige as the very second he did so, Lucas might die.


    ''There''s no time left. I guess I''ll just have to do this.'' Lucas hardened his resolve.


    ''Retrieve.''


    In the next second, the cuirass, boots and some other parts of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour disappeared, leaving behind only the pair of gauntlets.


    Ardeen was surprised by this, with the revelation of Lucas possessing a spatial vault making him question who exactly the latter was. However, he was more stunned by the fact that Lucas had taken off his armour, albeit not surprised by it. Ardeen had once tested out the Arken Pillars himself, and he knew how frustrating they were.


    For Aperture Opening stage stellar practitioners below the tenth level, who could only perform their best with a vestige, losing the ability to use one was equivalent to losing an arm and a leg. The Arken Pillars were made to target those arms and legs, interfering with a rune or stellar matrix'' ability to use stellar energy, thereby making a vestige no different from a block of metal.


    With Lucas taking off his armour, except for the gauntlets, Ardeen was confident that he could end the battle right then and there.


    ''90 seconds left.''


    Ardeen immediately switched his vestige''s cartridge to utilise specialised rounds.


    For gun-type vestiges, although they could be fired using one''s stellar energy, their most powerful form was when the rounds being used were specialised ones.


    Specialised rounds were made with unique materials and methods, enhancing the firepower of a gun-type vestige to the peak of its rank. As such, even an average Grade 3 gun-type vestiges could explode with the power of a peak Grade 3 vestige using a combination of specialised rounds and one''s stellar energy.


    Also, Ardeen''s vestige, despite its handgun appearance, wasn''t an average Grade 3 vestige, but a very powerful Grade 3 vestige, close to the peak of the rank. With a combination of specialised rounds and his fourth level energy, taking on Lucas who was with only a pair of Grade 3 gauntlets would be no problem.


    "This is the end for you." Ardeen said as he aimed his vestige at Lucas.


    *Bang*

 Chapter 163 - 163: A Name

    News report; sixth level desolate beast. Lucas finds nothing on Mel''s parents then decides to give her a name and adopt her.


    "Good evening everyone. This is Fiona Von Aurst of Baylands City News Network, or the BCNN for short. I''m your host, and I welcome you to today''s episode of the Evening News Updates. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Breaking news coming in that the desolate beasts tide has finally been routed, after two days of constant battles and raids carried out by the military and the supporting freelancer organisations and parties The military, to be exact, is an alliance of the Alleva District Defence Force and the Red Fangs, who fought on the front lines with the assistance of the freelancer community.


    "Casualties after the battle were at minimum compared to estimates, adding only up to twelve in total, with no deaths. The record victory was a result of the splendid command of the Lieutenant Colonel of the Alleva District Defence Force, who took control of the situation as soon as the wave had made its move.


    "Through a combined effort of hyuman forces and robotics, the allied military was able to not only hold off the impending disaster, but also retaliate and successfully eliminate the entire desolate beasts in the horde. Thanks to their efforts, it''s expected that there would be a rise in desolate beast parts supply at the moment, creating a fall in price. More on that would be discussed later this evening on our business broadcast."


    The host continued to talk but at this moment, Lucas was no longer laying attention. It was just as the host had said; the desolate beasts wave that had plagued Alleva district was successfully wiped out within the space of two days.


    Two days ago, Lucas was still in Alleva district and had just hunted down the Jaburian. As he prepared to leave, he was interrupted by Ramirez and the two had a battle, with the latter breathing his last there. However, Ardeen ¡ªa false human Lucas had met with on his first day in Alleva district ¡ª had appeared with the intent to eliminate him.


    After a tough battle that saw Lucas having to rely on only one vestige, he had similarly defeated Ardeen. Following that, Lucas immediately left the scene with the little orphaned girl he had encountered.


    Upon arriving at the military''s outpost within Garena town''s area of influence, Lucas was lucky to have made it in time for an evacuation ride that was preparing to depart. He boarded the ride with the little girl and made his way to Sunrise City. From there, he hurriedly purchased two light rail train tickets and left for Baylands City.


    As for why Lucas left with the little girl, he had no choice than to do so as the military was preoccupied with the desolate beasts wave and had no time to cater for a little girl. The Hyuman Care and Rehab Society ¡ªan agency that handled victims of disastrous incidents¡ª was also too busy at the time as there were too many victims of the desolate beasts for them to care for.


    If Lucas were to leave the little girl with them, he didn''t know how long it would take or whether she would be cared for well. One should recall that she was a mixed blood, and could be a victim of speciesism.


    There was no way Lucas would let such a young girl face such horrors when he could avoid it. In the end, he opted to leave with her, but not before providing his contact details and as much information about the girl as possible to the HCRS. Surprisingly, they had let him leave with the young girl in his care, which was either a testament to how busy they were or how much the people despised dealing with non-hyumans. Regardless of which it was, Lucas wasn''t bothered.


    Having provided his contact details and as much information about the girl as possible, it was left to the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society to do some digging and try to find any relatives of the young girl around. If there were none, they would then try to find a new home for the little girl, or send her to an orphanage. But in the meantime, she was under Lucas'' custody.


    "Here."


    Lucas handed the little girl a bowl of soup he had just made in his workshop.


    Although the workshop was meant for making vestiges and not meals, Lucas could utilise it as a makeshift kitchen. It had a stove ¡ªwhich was the forge; a pot ¡ªwhich was actually a vestige Lucas had made; and a kitchen table ¡ªwhich was actually his work bench.


    The little girl was still shy around him and a bit scared, but she could feel that Lucas had no violent thoughts against her. She could also feel a strange sense of warmth from him which was why she had left with Lucas, rather than the HCRS members who made her feel uncomfortable and scared.


    Slightly skeptical about the meal''s taste after seeing its appearance, the little girl hesitated to eat it.


    "It''s not poison." Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "Look."


    Taking the spoon from her hand, Lucas drank from the plate.


    "Very delicious."


    He said before freezing for a second, then puking out the soup.


    "...forget. I''ll just order something."


    Lucas took the plate away and threw it into the dustbin, before turning on his communicator and ordering enough food for two.


    While waiting for the food to arrive, Lucas decided to ask some questions that had been on his mind for long.


    "So, you don''t have a name and don''t remember anything, huh?"


    The little girl bent her head shyly and nodded.


    Lucas felt pity for her and shook his head.


    "That can''t do. Let''s settle on a name for you for now. I can''t just be calling you ''little girl''."


    The little girl muttered, "A name?"


    "That''s right. It''s something you use to identify yourself." Lucas answered, surprised she didn''t even know what a name was.


    The little girl nodded, seemingly having understood his explanation.


    "If you''re okay with it, how about Melissa?" Lucas asked.


    "Melissa..."


    The girl raised her head and looked at Lucas.


    "Is it okay?" Lucas asked.


    His expression was something unique. Lucas looked a bit scared, almost as if he was afraid she wouldn''t like it.


    When it came to naming people or objects, Lucas was horrible. This could be seen from the fact that the market-disturbing vestiges he had made were horribly named ''Blue spear'' and ''Dark dagger''. If the little girl were to reject the name ''Melissa'', Lucas felt that he would have to go through the arduous task of thinking up a new good name, and that was a suffering he didn''t want to be subjected to.


    The little girl nodded happily.


    "Hmm. I like it."

 Chapter 164 - 164: One Month Later

    A month passed by over time; a period Lucas felt to be one of the most peaceful he had ever lived in this new life. During this one month of peace and solitude, Lucas spent his time creating vestiges, taking orders, and running the store with the assistance of his new employee, Melissa.


    Melissa stayed with Lucas for two weeks before the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society reached out to him. They had informed Lucas that there was no record of Melissa or her parents on the Alleva district''s citizen database, which meant that Melissa''s parents were illegal migrants. Such situations weren''t rare, especially in the grey zone known as Alleva district. However, the result of that was problematic for Melissa.


    Being an illegal lifeform in Baylands city-state, Melissa would have to be sent back to her hometown or be taken under an orphanage. Since her memories were lost and her parents were dead, it would be almost impossible to figure out where exactly she came from. It wasn''t as simple as presuming that since she was of a certain species, then her hometown was most likely in the species habitat.


    In this interstellar era, it was common for people of a certain alien species to live elsewhere from their natural habitat. Hyumans for instance, were the best example of this practice. The hyumankin had actually originated from the Elysium solar system in the Arcadia star region. However, with their rapid expansion, many hyumans no longer lived there. As the hyumankin got stronger, the Arcadia star region became the centre of power, and only individuals of high status on a galaxy or star region scale could now live there. Now, many hyumans called other star regions and solar systems their hometown.


    Without knowing her hometown and after finding out she had no close relative, Lucas was reluctant to hand her over to an orphanage. At the same time, Melissa was unwilling to live. In the end, Lucas had decided to take care of her, and adopted her as his sister, granting the little girl the last name ''Saunters''.


    For additional protection, Lucas had also taken her as an employee of the store.


    According to the system, Employee Hire Function could grant employees similar privileges as the host. This meant that employees could gain the Host Protection Mechanism and Host Retaliation Function as long as they were within the store. With these abilities, Melissa would be able to protect herself within the store.


    Although Lucas doubted anyone would target her, he was still a possible target for different parties, with the terrorist organisation now being one of them. There was a possibility that they would go for Melissa in a bid to get to him, hence it was only right for Lucas to ensure her safety.


    One might call it wasteful, but Lucas had three slots for employees at the moment, so using one of them like this wasn''t a problem for him.


    Apart from adopting and hiring Melissa, Lucas had also found a new employee for his store in the meantime; one who just happened to fit the category he originally had in mind.


    "Yo, boss. A new order for a vestige just came in." Kelvin said.


    Kelvin was the oldest child as well as the first son of the famed Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Toman. He has studied under his father for years and was quite skilled compared to other vestige-smiths his age. Although Kelvin couldn''t be termed as a genius, his honest personality and hard work had enabled him to become a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith just like his father, albeit he was less skilled than the latter. He was at the entry level, which meant that he was also a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Although Lucas would have preferred his father ¡ªa sixth level stellar practitioner¡ª instead, that was asking for more than he could chew. The family business might have been declining, but it wasn''t at the stage where Toman would work for a new and unknown store.


    With Kelvin helping to run the store, Lucas was able to dedicate more of his time to actual hands-on work. According to the system, Lucas could also pass on some of his skills to Kelvin, to ease his workload, but Lucas still had Kelvin on probation for the moment.


    "Hmm, that''s right. Today should be the day." Lucas suddenly recalled his agreement with Novanio Tech.


    Thanks to Novanio Tech and the announcements they had previously made, Lucas had more work on his hands. There were more orders as of recent, and despite his human appearance, the prejudice against him seemed to have dropped quite noticeably. Of course, this was all thanks to the existence of the ''mysterious vestige-smith '' backing Lucas.


    According to the agreement between Lucas and Novanio Tech, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger would be launched within the week. The vestige dealership formed by Novanio Tech would handle the sales of the two vestiges outside of Baylands City while the sales within the city was left to Lucas. This agreement was made to protect the interests of both parties and help them profit on their own.


    While Lucas could sell the same vestiges in the city, the influence and reach of Novanio Tech was more powerful, so they could not only sell within the other fifteen districts, but even ship it off to some nearby city-states, where the vestiges could be sold for a much higher price.


    Based on his memory, today was supposed to be the day the dealership would be open for business. It was originally supposed to be two weeks ago, but the effects of the desolate beasts tide in Alleva district was still being felt, and the region was recovering from the damage. So, Novanio Tech had postponed the launch by half a month.


    Lucas had been invited to attend the event, but he had almost forgotten about it due to the amount of work he had on his table.


    "Dress up, guys. We''re closing the store early." Lucas said to Melissa and Kelvin.


    Since Novanio Tech was an important business partner, it was only natural for Lucas to make an appearance at the event. What''s more, the dealership also affected him as it was the grounds of partnership between the two sides.


    "Uhm, where are we going?" Kelvin couldn''t help but ask.


    He was surprised that they had to close up early and leave for somewhere else, even thought there were still a few customers in the store.


    "It''s important. Enough with the questions already." Lucas said as he left with Melissa to get ready upstairs.


    The store was a two floor building, but the second floor was the residential area for Lucas and Melissa.


    Kelvin didn''t know what to say, but as Lucas the boss ¡ªdespite being visibly much younger than he was¡ª he had to do as he was told. He closed up the store and left for his home to prepare.


    Three hours later, the trio met up again.


    "Hmm? Why is there a vehicle parked in front?" Lucas couldn''t help but ask.


    The hover car looked like a classy sedan and gave off a luxurious vibe. From what Lucas knew about hover car models, although it was a bit antique, the vehicle in front was the same as a fancy sports car on Earth. Not only was it expensive, but it was worth every single penny. Its speed was top-notch and there was a defence system installed within the vehicle. Although the defence system didn''t have retaliating capabilities, the shield was powerful enough to endure second level Apertures Opening stage assaults.


    "It''s mine. I was thinking since we''re leaving, I should get a ride ready." Kelvin said.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by his thinking and also his wealth. But then again, Toman''s Workshop used to be a big deal back in the days, so it wasn''t weird for Kelvin to still have a vehicle of this standard. However in truth, it wasn''t needed. Since it was an event by his partners, Lucas could have ringed Lucy and a ride would be sent over.


    ''Since he''s already done this much, I might as well just go along with it.'' Lucas thought. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The trio then hopped into the hover car with Kelvin driving. While he could have just turned on the auto-pilot feature, Kelvin was the kind of man that preferred being behind the wheels. There were many similar people like him, which was why hover vehicle manufacturers still installed a manual control system in their vehicles.


    The destination for the event surprisingly wasn''t in the West Wing district or even the Central Prefecture district. Instead, it was at the Eastern Crown district, the most populous district in Baylands City. This caught many by surprise as the Eastern Crown district was neither close to the Wastelands like the West Wing district, nor was it the place with the most wealth like the Central Prefecture district. However, while many questioned this act, Novanio Tech gave no response to them.

 Chapter 165 - 165: The Meeting

    The venue of the location was at the new store located in the Eastern Crown district. The store was actually a skyscraper which served as the corporate headquarters for the new vestige dealership business. The first up to the third floors made up the actual store, while the floors above were either warehouses or the administrative offices.


    "They invested a lot into this." Kelvin couldn''t help but say.


    He was dressed in a classy two-piece navy-blue dinner suit with a luxury watch on his wrist. It was an item his father had gifted him back when their business was still doing well. Despite being ''old'', it was classified as a vintage accessory and was still of significant value.


    Half a step in front of him was the sibling duo, Lucas and Melissa. The little girl wore an elegant flowery gown, which Kelvin had argued wasn''t appropriate for the event, but Lucas didn''t care about that. Since she liked it and wanted to wear it, he decided that she could


    Lucas, on the other hand, was dressed more lackadaisical than his little sister. He wore a grey sweatshirt with a black pair of trousers. When it came to formal outfits, Lucas wasn''t a fan of those and usually only wore them back on Earth after the harassment of his personal assistant. With no one to play the role, he felt liberated as he could finally dress pleased.


    Kelvin had a headache with the sibling duo, but as he was of the lowest rank amongst the trio, he could do nothing about them.


    With a confused expression, Lucas questioned Kelvin.


    "Why do you say so?"


    Although a skyscraper might seem impressive back on Earth, it wasn''t anything special here. Pretty much any company, as long as they weren''t tiny, could afford one. This was because both the cost and duration of building a skyscraper was greatly shortened when compared to Earth, so it wasn''t out of the reach of many companies. Regardless, many still opted for smaller businesses unless there was a need for so much space.


    "The location of this building isn''t ordinary. The Eastern Crown district might not be able to compete with the Central Prefecture district, but due to its nature as the most populated region, the cost of land in economical areas here is very high." Kelvin explained.


    Lucas was surprised by this. To be able to be compared to the Central Prefecture district, the cost of land here was definitely not ordinary.


    "For a land this big, it would probably cost at least the price of at least one Grade 4 vestige." Kelvin added.


    Looking at the massive space Novanio Tech had bought, Lucas couldn''t help but swallow a cold breath of air. A Grade 4 vestige had a starting price of fifty thousand (50000) federal coins. In a city where the minimum salary was at five hundred (500) federal coins, one hundred times below the price of the above vestige, one could imagine how costly this plot of land was.


    Most individuals couldn''t even fathom such amounts as their daily expenses were all carried out using federal pences, of which one hundred of those was equal to a single federal coin.


    "Welcome, Mr. Lucas."


    A young man dressed in a uniform greeted Lucas at the front door once he saw the group arrive.


    "You know me?" Lucas was surprised.


    "I''ve been charged with serving as your guide and assistant for today''s event, so it is only natural for me to know who you are."


    The young man responded. He was somewhat surprised seeing how the group dressed. Only one of them was accoutred in a fit that was duly appropriate for the event. The little girl was dressed in a floral spring gown when it was autumn and nighttime. As for the VIP, he appeared even more ridiculous, but it wasn''t the guide''s place to make a comment on that.


    "That''s nice."


    Lucas couldn''t help but add a few more points to his mental image of Novanio Tech. Unlike other companies, they valued him the most despite his nature as a human. It goes to show how they were able to survive in the electronics and vestige-smith industry as stellar processor distributors.


    Under the guide of the aide, the trio walked into the building where the event was to begin. The entire flat had been rearranged to host the party wtih some pedestals fitted with pricey vestiges stationed in strategic locations. There are also a couple of guests present already, who were either appreciating the view or chatting with each other. It looked just like what one would think of a formal dinner event. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As they walked across the hall, Lucas couldn''t help but glance at the vestiges and mentally judge them.


    ''The quality is alright for this world''s standards, but it''s still a bit tacky. It can''t really compare with the top vestige-smiths or companies. Are they planning to compete for the middle market?'' Lucas wondered.


    Usually, whenever a big or renowned company was moving into another industry, they would try to position themselves as a premium option, boasting better quality than the market standards. But from what Lucas could see here, it seemed like Novanio Tech was planning to do so. They were instead targeting the middle level of the weapons market, which was mostly Grade 2 vestiges and the weaker Grade 3s.


    This strategy seemed to be reasonable as this market was the one with the largest sales. However, it was hotly contested by the top companies and middle-level businesses. It would be very difficult for Novanio Tech to interfere in the market.


    ''Actually, it would be difficult irrespective of which level of the market they aim for. But the middle level is better since no one really holds a monopoly here.'' Lucas thought.


    "This way." The guide directed them until they arrived at the other end of the hall.


    At this end, there was a door that led to another hall. Passing through it, the group arrived at a location filled with a different group of individuals. Compared to those in the previous hall, the crowd present here were of a different class. Just from how they carried themselves ¡ªtheir gestures, gait, and body language¡ª along with their attire, Lucas surmised that they were the true upper-class of the city. Everyone of them probably had assets in the hundreds of thousands or even millions.


    "Mr Lucas, welcome. I''ve been waiting for you." Lucy walked over with a smile.


    Lucy was a senior staff of Novanio Tech who had helped bridged together Lucas and the company, playing a vital role in the partnership.


    "Long time no see." Lucas smiled.


    Since it was a joyful event, there was no reason to be walking around with the usual cold face he carried around in the store.


    "You never cease to surprise me." Lucy said as she glanced at his ''unique'' dressing.


    "I''m glad to be of some use." Lucas joked.


    "It''s nothing serious. Anyways, I''d like to introduce you to a few people. They might be of help to you." Lucy said with a mysterious smile.


    The guide was permitted to leave while Lucy took over. She led the group to an area in the hall where Lucas saw a few familiar faces. One of them was the manager who had met up with him to finalise the deals for the negotiation. The other two Lucas was slightly familiar with were a white-haired man and a man with a red beard. He had met the two during his exceptional basis exam at the Eretrean Vestige-smith League headquarters in Baylands City. They were part of the prestigious group of eight individuals who had attended the exam to spectate the examinees.


    After Lucas greeted the manager he was familiar with, the red beard man chuckled and extended his hands,


    "We meet again."


    To be honest, Lucas has no good feelings or opinions to any of the eight he met that day. When he was being pushed aside by the chief examiner and had called the results to question, none of them came to support him. Lucas didn''t blame them for this as it was understandable since they were strangers and he was human. However, when Lucas tried to prove himself through a vestige duel and was forced out of the building after that, he was still ignored.


    This might not be enough to generate hate, but it was enough for Lucas to not have any special positive feelings towards them.


    "Sure." Lucas said as he shook hands with the man.


    If he were on his own, Lucas would have ignored him. But if he did so right now, the one who would get caught in the crossfire would be his partner, Novanio Tech; to be specific, it would be Lucy who had brought him over. Lucas didn''t want to put her in an uncomfortable position just because of himself; at least this wasn''t worth it.


    The white-haired man also greeted Lucas, but unlike the red beard, he was polite and even complimented him.


    "I have to apologise for the previous event on that day. It seems like we underestimated you." The man said with a smile.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow and asked, "I don''t think so. All this is the work of my master and not myself. So, it''s a bit too much to say that.*


    "Don''t be like that. The fact that an accomplished man such as your master had decided to choose you as a disciple says a lot about you. He probably sees something in you that we failed to see." The man replied.


    Lucas couldn''t help but feel surprised, but that was all he felt. He wasn''t someone that would easily be swayed by sweet words.


    "Since everyone''s introduced themselves, let''s move over to the main stage. It''s about time to kick-start the event." The manager said.

 Chapter 166 - 166: A Familiar Face

    The CEO of Novanio Tech company came onto the stage and gave the opening speech. It was a simple and standard speech, relaying the journey of the company, its achievements, main goals, and objectives for opening the new vestige dealership. He also spoke about the focus of the business and their long term goals, before finally going to the topic people were interested in¡ªthe new business'' name and focus.


    "This new company will be a beacon of development and quality products. We aim to become a reputable business in this industry, and will provide all our customers with suitable vestiges at an affordable price. Without any further delay, I would like to declare the official opening of our store, Legacy Crafts."


    A logo was suddenly projected above the CEOs head, and it was the logo of the new dealership, Legacy Crafts.


    "A vestige dealership owning a vestige dealership. I don''t think that''s something you see every day." Lucas sipped from a glass of champagne he had taken off the server''s tray.


    "True. But it''s not exactly rare. In this case, the two dealerships focus on two different sectors, although they''re still of the vestige-smith industry. Novanio Tech is more into the distribution and sale of electronics and stellar processors, while Legacy Crafts is into weapons." Kelvin explained. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "True that." Lucas nodded.


    Apart from the guests present, there was also a press crew that was invited for this occasion. Right after the speech, it was time for the press conference.


    "Sir, will the new vestiges, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, be sold here?" The first reporter asked the question on everybody''s minds.


    The reason why this opening event had attracted so many reputable guests wasn''t because it was hosted by Novanio Tech, but rather, the two vestiges that had been announced over a month ago. Many of the guests were interested in this vestige and wanted to know whether the benchmarks were really true, and how Novanio Tech would handle them."


    "The CEO smiled as hre before responding,


    "It''s just as you have said. First off, the benchmarks for the vestiges are as they were advertised. However, due to the limited amount we can acquire every month, there would be a limit to how much we sell; reaching up to seven per month."


    The press conference continued while some of the guests socialised with each other, but Lucas was bored. Although that was true, he had noticed that some of the guests shot strange gazes at him, which made Lucas irritated which was why he left.


    Lucas headed over to the buffet table along with Melissa. Following that, the two siblings began to try out the different food options.


    "Oh, I never thought I''d see you here."


    While he was serving himself, Lucas heard a voice call out to him. He turned around just to see a black-haired young man walk towards him. Lucas focused a bit before recalling where he had seen the latter and who he was.


    The young man was Vergil Mertens of the Mertens family, as well as a fellow examinee from the Exceptional basis exam back then.


    Vergil was from the famous Mertens family, one of the big four families in Baylands city-state. The Mertens family''s main business wasn''t in vestige-smithing but food production and the desolate beasts industry. Through the ingenious command of their previous family heads, the Mertens had managed to become a billionaire family two generations ago; Vergil''s grandfather''s generation. Their current net worth was said to be around 2.1 billion federal coins, which was a massive amount of wealth that few could imagine. When converted to federal pences, which was the standard currency for most daily and even weekly expenses, that was 210 billion federal pences.


    Being of such acclaim, it was only natural for the Mertens family to attend this classy event. With Vergil being the second genius of the family and a family head candidate, his attendance wasn''t surprising despite his young age.


    "Do we know each other?" Lucas asked.


    "Come on. Don''t be like that after I helped you back then." Vergil said.


    "Your performance back then was bold and courageous; amazing I might even add. Who would have thought that the guy from back then would be a prized partner of a billion FeC company." Vergil laughed.


    FeC was an acronym used for the currency Federal coins while FeP was for Federal Pences. It was mostly used by the younger generation however, which was why it wasn''t common.


    "Why don''t we get to know each other a bit more?" Vergil smiled.


    "Your little sister or cousin? She''s so cute."


    Vergil bent and faced Melissa.


    "Hello there."


    The little girl hid behind Lucas and avoided Vergil, making the latter feel awkward.


    Lucas could sense that Vergil didn''t have any bad thoughts about him. Unlike the others who looked down on Lucas and avoided holding conversations with him, Vergil didn''t seem to care about that. This was just like that time at the exceptional basis exam, where despite having beaten up a teen with a background, Vergil had stepped in for Lucas.


    "She looks cute, unlike mine that keeps a harassing me all day." Vergil said.


    Lucas was then reminded of the other genius of the Mertens family, Laura Mertens. She was Vergil''s older sister and was a prodigy in stellar refinement. Rumour has it that she was already, at least, at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage despite being only twenty five years of age. The only woman who could come close to comparison was Lisa of the Autumn''s Gate guild.


    "Are you interested in meeting her? She might be a bit stubborn, but she''s a hottie. All I want is a Blue Spear and you can have a beauty in your arms." Vergil gave Lucas a knowing look.


    Lucas couldn''t help but be disgusted for a second. Vergil was truly a dandy, and it was even crazier that he was trying to pimp his sister.


    "I''ll pass."


    "Come on. You won''t regret it, I promise. Everyone says she''s worth dying for, so why don''t you just say yes? Alright, forget the spear. Just give me early access or a pre-order spot, okay?" Vergil pleaded like a little child who wanted a lollipop.


    Lucas couldn''t believe that this was the genius of a billionaire family, but he held back the urge to curse out loud because of the venue.


    Just as he was getting fed up with Vergil''s actions, a voice called out.


    "There you are."

 Chapter 167 - 167: A Bossy Prodigy

    "There you are."


    A young lady dressed in an elegant gown walked towards the group. She had stunning blue hair with a mesmerising pair of blue eyes and gave off a noble aura, like a pristine goddess that had descended from the heavens. Her gait was perfect rivaling those of professional models, with a unique grace to it. Her physique was like an elaborate work of art that could please all souls. She had a seductive charm to her, yet appeared dignified and pure; a beauty that could reach out to all hearts and appeal to all eyes.


    ''He definitely didn''t lie about her looks.'' Lucas thought as he felt the young lady was belle in the truest sense. Nonetheless, he was simply appreciating her looks and not falling for her. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For Lucas, he believed that only the love between a man and metal was the purest form of love. The love of the flesh was temporary and would eventually come to an end, but metals lasted for eternity.


    The newcomer, Laura Mertens, glared at Vergil who responded with a sly smile. She then glanced at Lucas and Melissa who stood by the side. Kelvin was busy socialising, so he wasn''t with the duo at this time.


    "I''m sorry for whatever troubles my younger brother might have caused you." Laura said.


    "Don''t worry about it." Lucas calmly responded, surprising Laura a bit.


    The latter then turned to Vergil, suddenly grabbing his ear.


    "Ow ow ow. It hurts." Vergil cried out.


    "It''s going to hurt a lot more if you keep fooling around." Laura said, shocking Lucas who already had a graceful image of her in his head.


    After giving her little brother a beating, Laura then turned to Lucas with a bit of interest.


    "You''re the young man who owns the store, Seven Sparks Forge, correct?"


    Lucas nodded, wondering what else she wanted to say.


    "Will your store be selling the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger vestiges as well?"


    Lucas now understood where she was going. It seemed like the vestiges had attracted even young scions and geniuses, but this was natural. Not only was the power of the vestige close to that of a Grade 4, but the unique ability to transform was something that could come handy in various situations.


    "Yes, I will. But with a limited supply."


    Lucas answered as he turned back to the buffet table. The two siblings had kept him away from the food long enough, and he was starting to get hungry once again.


    Laura couldn''t help but widen her eyes a bit seeing Lucas ignore her right after. It wasn''t like this was the first time she had met a man acting nonchalant in her presence in a bid to attract her attention. However, she could truly feel that Lucas just didn''t give a damn about her.


    Even Vergil, who had recovered from the beating, couldn''t help but make an O with his mouth.


    ''Nice.'' Vergil mentally rated Lucas as a ten star entity.


    "Is it possible to make an order now? Even if it is a pre-order, I don''t mind. So long as I am among the first group, then it''s alright."


    "Not yet. My master is still a bit busy with other projects, so that would be later." Lucas responded as he filled his mouth with the delicacies from the table.


    There were rare and unique seafood species he had never seen back on Earth. The sumptuous meat was also gotten from an exotic desolate beast, so the taste was no doubt foreign to Lucas'' tongue. Despite that, it was still intoxicating and exceedingly delicious.


    With the different meals in front of him, he could barely pay attention to Laura any longer. In fact, Lucas had failed to hear the next question she threw at him, which made the damsel irritated.


    ''Here it comes.'' Vergil took a deep breath.


    He knew that despite the image his sister kept, she was a stubborn and proud lady. Maybe it had to do with her talent, her background, or her nature as a genius, but Laura wasn''t one who liked to be ignored.


    "Excuse me, shouldn''t you pay a bit more attention here?" Laura frowned at Lucas. However, the latter didn''t even flinch at the statement, much less respond. He was already lost in the taste of the food here.


    ''Gosh~ I should really ask them what type of meat this is and the preparation method.'' Lucas thought.


    Suddenly, Lucas felt a cold sensation brewing behind him. He froze for a bit as he felt it was strange.


    ''This aura...'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    It wasn''t a mere figurative drop in temperature, but there was actually a cold energy creeping from behind. When he glanced at Melissa and noticed her shivering, Lucas grimaced.


    Turning around, Lucas glanced at Laura who was glaring at him.


    ''A hint?'' Lucas thought with a frown on his face.


    It was common knowledge that only at the tenth level would one be able to use their superpower, but some talented individuals were able to display a hint of it. Regardless, that hint was barely useful and only showed that one had potential or was simply lucky, like Nafir of the Red Fangs.


    Seeing Laura''s blue hair and eyes, Lucas had a feeling that the cold sensation was coming from ; or to be specific, she was displaying a hint of her superpower.


    ''As expected of a prodigy.''


    Vergil, who was already aware of the situation, began to laugh awkwardly as he came in front of his sister.


    "Sis, calm down a bit. We''re at the party, okay? No need to get so worked up."


    Laura scowled before storming away from the scene before Lucas could even say a word. Vergil laughed awkwardly before following after her. Luckily, most of the guests were in the first hall where everyone was as the CEO was still addressing the press agents. As such, the matter didn''t attract much attention nor blow up.


    Meanwhile Lucas, his attention wasn''t on the entire event that had just happened, but instead on Laura.


    "Rich kids sure are hard to deal with. I''m sorry for the treatment." Lucas bent and comforted Melissa a bit.


    In the end, he had to leave the event early because Melissa wasn''t feeling well.

 Chapter 168 - 168: Amassing Wealth

    "Have you heard? The Blue Spear and Dark Dagger are already on pre-order? I plan on placing an order today."


    "You''ve only just found out? Haha. I already made a pre-order yesterday and got into the list barely in time."


    "Heh. Step aside, peasants. While you guys make pre-orders, I''ve already gotten mine."


    "No way."


    "Yes way."


    "Show us."


    The speaker pulled out a black dagger and after channeling stellar energy into it, it transformed into a handgun.


    "Oh my god. It''s the real deal."


    "Of course. I had to depend on my family''s connections just to get this."


    With the launch of the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, as well as the grand opening of the Legacy Crafts dealership, many freelancers and vestige enthusiasts all rushed to get theirs. However, Legacy Crafts had announced that there was a limited supply of the vestiges and as such, people would need to apply on a waiting list.


    For the launch, there were twenty pieces of each vestige, adding up to forty, but the number of people who wanted to get a hand on the products greatly exceeded this number. As such, even getting on the waiting list was a hassle and one would need a certain level of influence or wealth to do so at the moment. But then again, the vestiges cost so much that only such individuals could even afford it.


    Those with deep connections to Novanio Tech made use of those connections to get early access to the vestige, but they had to pay an even higher price than the official price just to do so. Through this method, the Legacy Crafts dealership was able to make an incredible amount of money following their opening.


    Lucas also had his own share of the profits as the vestiges had to be purchased from him at the system price, but he was unable to make more than that due to the system regulations. Naturally, this irked him considerably, but Lucas wasn''t one to be greedy. The pricing of the system was already exaggerated compared to market prices, so Lucas'' profit was hefty.


    Only a week had passed since the opening of Legacy Crafts dealership, but after selling the forty vestiges to the dealership, Lucas was now loaded.


    Previously, his Grade 3 vestiges sold for between sixteen thousand (16000) to twenty thousand (20000) federal coins. However, Lucas'' vestige-smithing skill had constantly been on the rise, and with the acquisition of stellar circuits theory, the quality of his vestiges had soared even higher, thereby increasing the base price. At the moment, a Blue Spear sold for twenty-four thousand (24000) federal coins in the Seven Sparks Forge while the Black Dagger sold for twenty-two thousand (22000) federal coins. The market price at Legacy Crafts dealership however, cost even more and was at twenty-seven thousand (27000) for a Blue Spear, and twenty-five thousand (25000) for a Black Dagger. This was the base price, and it could go higher if one cut through corners and went behind the waiting list to get the vestiges.


    One of the reasons why the Legacy Crafts dealership sold at a higher price ¡ªapart from desiring profit¡ª was that they did so in other districts, which added to their cost of operation.


    In summary, the profit being made was satisfactory to both sides of the deal. Even Lucas, despite having to pay ''taxes'' to the system, was making a ton; the rates had dropped from seventy five percent to sixty percent, which expanded his potential earnings.


    The reception of the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger in the vestige-smith market was incredible as many wanted to get their hands on it. Those who couldn''t wait to do so went to the original store to order, which added to Lucas'' profits, albeit he couldn''t sell much; after all, scarcity breeds demand.


    The agreement between Lucas and Novanio Tech was that the Legacy Crafts dealership would only sell his vestiges in their branches located in the other fifteen districts, while Lucas would also put a cap on the amount he sold. However, there was nothing stopping those in Baylands City from ordering the vestiges from the other Legacy Crafts dealership branches, although there was the added delivery cost. This made the Legacy Crafts dealership capable of still profiting from Baylands City without breaking the agreement.


    Logically, they shouldn''t have been able to compete with Lucas, but some individuals would rather order from the dealer than the store. However, Lucas didn''t bother himself about that because in the end, he was still making a profit.


    From the twenty pieces of each of the two vestiges, Lucas had already made nine hundred and twenty thousand (920000) federal coins in revenue, a sum that made his brain fry. If it were some other vestige-smith, they would have to subtract production cost from the amount, but Lucas had no worries about that since he was still depending on materials provided by the system. However, after the system''s taxing, he was left with only three hundred and sixty-eight thousand (368,000) federal coins. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    If it were in the past, Lucas would have cursed at the system. But he recently noticed that his stock of materials was constantly being replenished by the system, as such, he consider the deductions as a production cost.


    After settling Kelvin for the month and covering some other important bills, Lucas had around three hundred and sixty thousand left. He was planning to go material shopping since he couldn''t be limited to only working with the materials the system provided as that would limit his creativity.


    Apart from the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, the Legacy Crafts dealership was also open to making more deals with Lucas, after the Novanio Tech higher-ups realised that the quality of vestiges Lucas had created was of a higher level than the majority in the market. They were planning to have the Legacy Crafts dealership target both the mid and higher-end levels of the vestige-smith market using quality. Some of the higher-ups ¡ªspecifically those in Lucy''s faction¡ª were hoping Lucas could help them with this.


    As such, Lucas decided to take the day off an go shopping. But unbeknownst to him, the performance of the two vestiges had set up a storm that would soon bring him troubles and challenges.

 Chapter 169 - 169: SS Vestige Craze

    Throughout the entire SS vestige craze, the biggest winner in this event wasn''t actually Lucas, but Legacy Crafts dealership.


    The SS vestiges ¡ªas they became called due to the branding on them as well as the fact the vestiges originally came from the Seven Sparks Forge store¡ª were rare pieces of equipment that could potentially define a whole new era of vestige-smithing. As such, the technology behind it became desired by various vestige-smithing companies.


    There were only forty SS vestiges released by the Legacy Crafts dealership which made it very difficult for people to get one. The main method was to apply on the waitlist, but even doing so didn''t mean that one would get a vestige right away. In the most case, they might only get one after a month or two, when Lucas had resupplied the dealership with a new stock.


    Due to this, the only way to be able to truly get one was through backdoor access, where one would have to pay an inflated amount for this. This was thought up by the hierarchy at Legacy Crafts dealership, which was mostly those from Lucy''s faction.


    The executives knew that many vestige-smiths would want to research on the SS vestiges and would do whatever they could to get their hands on one for this reason. So, they decided to profit from this desperation by charging those who went through the backdoor with sky-high prices for the SS vestiges.


    Naturally, this would delay those on the waitlist from getting their hands on the vestiges. But the executives countered this by putting a limit on how many SS vestiges could be sold through a backdoor. This in turn raised the value of the vestiges even more, as once someone got it from the backdoor, they could sell for an even higher price on the black market.


    The reason why this was possible was because of the fact that the Legacy Crafts dealership sold the SS vestiges in limited quantities, and what''s more, they hadn''t officially sold any yet. They were still in the pre-order phase where people would have to first make a pre-order, get on the waiting list, and then, wait. However, there were now some who could skip this process with their connections as well as an incredible amount of wealth.


    All this in turn, generated so much fanfare and attention to the vestiges, which was good for business. Those who got theirs through the backdoor would have a sense of value-for-money, since they had the SS vestiges earlier than others. They would then find it difficult not to show off the vestiges, after all, who wouldn''t want to?


    Through the attention they received from showing off the vestiges, the Legacy Crafts dealership would become even more popular. In a sense, this was like a free advertisement for them, but it also worked in Lucas'' favour as well. Through all this, whether it be profits or advertisement, the Legacy Crafts dealership became the biggest winner. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, Lucas didn''t care much about that. He now had way too much money and decided to lessen the ''load''.


    While there was chaos in the vestige-smith society, Lucas went material shopping. Be was planning to take on the challenge and become a supplier for the Legacy Crafts dealership. But to do that, Lucas would have to depend less on the materials provided by the system as that would limit his works. For instance, elemental materials and metals, like Igrum Steel or Violent Sun ores, were not provided by the system. This made it impossible for Lucas to make vestiges with elemental affinities, unless he sourced for those materials himself.


    . . .


    In a research facility located somewhere in the South Mountains district, a group of scientists, vestige-smiths and engineers were working on a Blue Spear.


    "Have you reverse-engineered it yet?" A man in a luxurious outfit walked into the laboratory, glancing at the led researcher who was a vestige-smith.


    "N-no, not yet. It''s just too cryptic and complicated. The technological base might seem common, but the matrices and runes are unique; unlike anything we''ve ever seen before." The vestige-smith replied.


    "What do you mean? Do you know how difficult it was to get a hold of this thing? Find out the secret. Unwrap this shit and tell me how it works!" The man growled before storming out of the laboratory.


    Similar to others who got their hands on the SS vestiges before they officially came out, he had pulled on his connections and spent an outrageous amount of money just to get one for this research. Despite that, the research team had failed to find a clue as to how the vestiges worked. Inevitably, he would become pissed by this.


    "Team head, what do we do now?" One of the vestige-smiths on standby asked.


    "What else can we do? We have to break the secret of these inscriptions, otherwise, we won''t be able to understand this technology." The project head said.


    When a vestige-smith created a new design, apart from applying for a patent to protect their work, they also installed certain measures to prevent it from easily being copied. Plagiarism was quite common in the vestige-smith industry, and due to the nature of the industry, it was very easy for one to be creative about it.


    Such situations were quite common in fact, and as a result, vestige-smiths tried to install protective mechanisms in their creations. One such protective mechanism happened to be the hiding of stellar matrices and runes knowledge.


    To vestige-smiths, their inscriptions and techniques were their life and what made them stand out. Inscriptions were the main difference between a vestige and a piece of modern technology. Although there were other factors required, this was one of the necessary ones.


    Due to the importance of inscriptions, vestige-smiths rarely taught any unique knowledge or self-discovered principle to outsiders. Only their direct students or family members in the craft could know about it. Hence, there existed differences in each vestige.


    Another method was to create a ''safelock'' mechanism on the vestige, which prevented people from studying the nature of the runes or stellar matrices. In his case, Lucas had done so, and with the added fact that stellar circuits were rare, it was impossible for anyone to be able to figure out how they worked.


    While this went on, the man in luxury clothing who had visited the research team, connected online to a secretive meeting.


    The research facility he owned wasn''t the only one performing experiments and reverse-engineering analysis on the SS vestige. There were a few others, most of which belonged to the top corporations in the industry. Similar to it, the others had all failed to make much progress on their individual research.


    "Since we are stuck like this, there''s only one thing we have to do to avoid being pushed away from the market." One of the attendees of the meeting said.


    "And what''s that?"


    "We have to go to the source and get the technique." The man said.


    "Oh wow. Why didn''t I think of that?" Someone said sarcastically.


    "You don''t really think he would just hand it to us cause we asked nicely? And I doubt he''s stupid enough to even sell the concept, otherwise, Novanio Tech would have beaten us to it." Another person challenged the suggestion.


    "Naturally I didn''t mean something as simple as pleading or compensation." The man who gave the suggestion said.


    "Since we can''t do things nicely, let''s go ahead with the old ways. It''s time we show these newborns how the industry works."

 Chapter 170 - 170: Attack From All Sides

    "That should do it."


    After a round of shopping, Lucas returned back to the store with a satisfied expression. Of the over three hundred and sixty thousand (360000) federal coins he made, Lucas spent one hundred and sixty thousand on materials, metals and other products. He had also purchased some desolate beasts to work with.


    Although with the recent hire, Kelvin, Lucas wouldn''t need to worry about his stellar energy issue within the store, he decided to experiment on desolate beasts. There were a bunch of various different techniques he could use with them, and the blood energy from these monsters could be used to forge talismans. Lucas wanted to use the talismans as insurance for his protection, rather than depending on Bronze Grade cards.


    Considering how much purchasing power federal coins had, the items Lucas could get with one hundred and sixty thousand of them was surely significant, but the reality was contrary to this. There was a reason why there weren''t so many billion FeC businesses even though vestiges cost a lot.


    When buying low, one hundred and sixty thousand federal coins could purchase mountains of items. However, the rarer and more exceptional the item was, the steeper its price would get. This was why some of the biggest winners in the economy were businesses who dealt with desolate beasts and resources, rather than creating vestiges. For instance, the Mertens family which was wealthier than the Oder family, despite the latter being older [1]. There were a couple more reasons involved, but this was a major factor at work.


    With a large sum of money in his pockets, it would be almost impossible for Lucas to not purchase some of the higher-end products on the market, whether they be desolate beasts or materials. Although they were still costly, it was around the price of nine to eleven thousand (9000-11000) federal coins per ingot or unit, for the more costlier ones ¡ªwhich were on par with the Purple Iridium metal; Lucas'' most valuable metal in his collection. Meanwhile, the ''cheaper'' ones went for two to four thousand (2000-4000) federal coins per unit.


    ''Ah~ With this number, I can lock myself up for another month.'' Lucas drooled as he imagined himself stuck vestige-smithing and carrying out his research all by himself.


    Just as he arrived at the store, he was surprised to see that it was empty.


    Although there were still people who avoided coming to his place due to their prejudice against humans, they were now in the minority. No one wanted to be left behind as they noticed that Lucas'' vestiges were more powerful and durable than others. While the prices for vestiges in the store were still something to think twice about, many came for the maintenance services which were cheaper and boasted better quality than other stores.


    There was even the few who wanted to order an SS vestige from Lucas, since by contract, the Legacy Crafts dealership in Baylands City couldn''t sell them and it still wasn''t being officially sold. These fellows had neither the connections to go around the back, nor the patience to remain on the waitlist for their turn. As such, the store behind the vestige was the best choice for them.


    Regardless of which side or reason they had, none of those customers were present today.


    "Hey, what''s going on?" Lucas glanced at Kelvin who was rushing towards him.


    "Boss, we have a huge problem."


    Kelvin, who had been celebrating the previous day over his big paycheck and the future of the store, happened to be frightened at the moment.


    Seeing as Kelvin, who had been through ups and downs and worked for a big atelier, was acting all worried, Lucas couldn''t help but frown.


    "What is the problem?" Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We''re being targeted." Kelvin immediately took out his communicator and projected an image to Lucas.


    It was a document, or to be precise, a notice. The notice was from the Baylands City-state Commission for Technology. It stated that the Seven Sparks Forge was an unregistered business in the city-state, and would soon be closed down.


    Lucas barely had time to let the information settle when Kelvin swiped to another image. It was also a notice, but it came from the Baylands City Tax Commission, and stated that the Seven Sparks Forge was guilty of tax avoidance. It then mentioned that any trade or business carried out by the store should be shut down, until the owner arrives at the commission''s office to clear the situation. Failure to do so would lead to his arrest.


    Just as Lucas was about to curse, Kelvin swiped to another notice. This time around, it was from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League branch in Baylands city-state. It stated that the vestige-smith behind the Seven Sparks Forge was an unrecognised personnel, and not in their numbers nor records. Although this didn''t prohibit the store''s business or anything like that, unlike the other two notices, the damage it did was more devastating.


    One should know that the EVL, although not official per se, was the recognised organisation that protected, and to some extent, supervised vestige-smiths on the planet. Membership wasn''t compulsory, but it served as a guide to certify one of their occupation and skill. This was because to become a member of the league, one had to pass some tests to confirm their abilities. As such, the average citizen saw the EVL as the official organisation for vestige-smiths, even though it truly wasn''t.


    With such an organisation coming out to make a comment denouncing the existence of a vestige-smith, it would no doubt harm the image and business of said vestige-smith. Lucas could handle the two commissions some way, but the EVL''s statement was difficult to take care of.


    For an average vestige-smith, all they had to do was apply and get their membership, but not Lucas. He was human and the only way to do so was through the Exceptional Basis Examination. However, Lucas had tried that and not only did he fail, he had also gotten on the chief examiner''s bad side. What''s more, the exceptional basis exam could only be taken once in a lifetime, unless special rights were granted. There was no doubt that Lucas would be unable to gain such special rights, after how the last exam had ended.


    As for the suppose vestige-smith backing him to come and take the membership exam, that was all a lie. There was no backer or anything, unless the system could be called one. But the system couldn''t take a physical form.


    From the looks of things, the Seven Sparks Forge was deemed to be taken out just as it was starting to rise.

 Chapter 171 - 171: Three-Pronged Assault

    Lucas had in fact failed to register the store under the Baylands City-state Commission for Technology, and he had also not been paying taxes. The reason? Lucas was bad at running businesses.


    Back in his first life, there was no such thing as an elaborate tax commission that went after businesses. Taxes, or rather tariffs, were paid on imported goods. Taxes were also paid on land properties and buildings. However, not all kingdoms charged businesses to pay taxes


    What''s more, Yohan was a wanderer and not a man with a fixed shop. At times he could be spotted in Kingdom A, then on the next month at Kingdom B. As such, he didn''t really have to follow the rules of paying monthly taxes from his business to a kingdom or nation since he was a nomad.


    On Earth, it was even more straightforward. At the start, the only taxes Lucas paid was income tax, but as soon as he got his ''National Treasure'' status, he was excused from that as well. Lucas had no knowledge or experience running a business on Earth, so it was inevitable that he would have failed to realise how modern trade and businesses worked.


    After sighing at the concurrent series of bad news, Lucas calmed down and faced Kelvin.


    "Why did you say we''re being targeted?"


    From the looks of things, apart from the EVL''s notice which could easily be blamed as Lucas'' relationship with them, the other two seemed natural.


    "This is a typical strategy used by some popular companies in the industry. If they can''t get to you, they get to your business. Also, there''s this." Kelvin projected a final piece of information. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was a document much like the other ones, although most notably not from a public body. It was also a bit more detailed with the information it was passing out.


    The whole gist of the document was related to a statement made by an alliance of top vestige-smith companies. The alliance had stated that since the SS vestiges were pushing in a new era for vestige-smithing, the designer of the vestiges was expected to make the information about the vestiges open to other local vestige-smiths for the greater good. This way, other local manufacturers would be able to produce similar vestiges, and in turn, boost the strength of Baylands city-state and also its revenue due to exports.


    The alliance had also argued that having only one vestige-smith possess this secret would limit the advancement of Baylands city-state''s technology as well as the proliferation of the vestiges into the market. In a situation where at least four other vestige-smiths knew the secret of the SS vestiges, more freelancers and individuals would be able to get access to the vestiges, than in a situation with only one vestige-smith possessing the knowledge.


    They would also be able to export completed vestiges to other city-states, increasing the exports being generated by Baylands city-state.


    The more Lucas read, the more he couldn''t hold back his thoughts about how bogus this entire write-up was. However, the problem lay in the reality that some would agree with this crap. To be specific, those who wanted to get their hands on the SS vestiges but could neither afford to do so, or didn''t want to be on a waitlist.


    If there were more manufacturers of SS vestige rip-offs, they could just order those without having to apply for a waitlist or go through a backdoor. Also, more manufacturers meant that the price would inevitably drop, making the vestiges much cheaper than they are now.


    "What are we going to do about this?" Kelvin worriedly asked.


    While he knew that the SS vestiges would bring about great change in the vestige industry, even threatening existing companies, he never expected them to reply like this. This alliance had utilised their connections to the government, the EVL and even made an official public statement; it was a three-pronged attack.


    "What are we going to do? We can only handle each problem one at a time. That''s all I can say." Lucas calmly gave an answer before walking towards his workstation.


    Kelvin was surprised at Lucas'' tranquil mindset, and it rubbed off on him a bit as he began to regain his composure. Since Lucas wasn''t worried, it probably meant that the latter had a solution thought up.


    ''As expected of the boss.'' Kelvin couldn''t help but praise.


    The truth however, was far from that.


    The reason why Lucas could maintain a serene mind in all of this was because there would be one party more worried than him.


    Novanio Tech, or to be specific, Legacy Crafts dealership was Lucas'' major and sole trading partner. Although they had other vestiges being sold, the SS vestiges were their flagship products and their best sellers.


    The idea of having the knowledge about these vestiges publicised, while it might sound beneficial, harmed the interests of the Legacy Crafts dealership. Publicising the knowledge meant more manufacturers of the vestiges. More manufacturers of the vestiges, meant more competition, and more competition would inevitably affect the prices and sales of the SS vestiges. This was something the executives of the Legacy Crafts dealership would definitely not want to see happen. As such, Lucas believed that they would be more worried than him about this matter.


    One might ask how could that be, but as long as you were to recall that Lucas never had any interest in running a store and was forced to do so by the system, it would all make sense.


    Being unaware of how to properly run a business or the most suitable course of action to take from this point on, Lucas decided to wait for his partners to reach out to him. Once they did, the two sides would then discuss their next move.


    ''But it''s not the way of a Grandmaster to just sit back and wait for help. Since they dared to mess with me, I have to pay them back with interest.''


    Lucas grinned as he approached the work bench and unfurled a blueprint on it.


    Being a creative genius like himself, Lucas had tons of ideas stuck within his head, but wasn''t willing to bring them all out. He didn''t want to upset the balance in the vestige industry by doing so, as such, Lucas had only made two types of unique vestiges: the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger.


    Since the stakeholders of the industry came for his head first, Lucas firmly believed that there was no reason to play nice again. He might not know how to run a business, but it didn''t mean that Lucas didn''t know how to put one out of business.


    Unfortunately for the alliance, they had believed that their plan was foolproof and would profit them greatly; unbeknownst to the group, they had forced the hand of a devil. A couple of companies would fall at the end of this, and the event would become a memorable one in history. When the fallen CEOs would be asked whether they would back out of their plan if they could go back in time, they would unanimously give the same reply: yes.

 Chapter 172 - 172: Finding A Solution

    *Ding*


    The entrance door of the Seven Sparks Forge opened as a silhouette walked in.


    Kelvin lifted his head and glanced at the direction of the door, taking a look at the newcomer. Slight signs of surprise appeared on his face as he said,


    "Oh, it''s you. I''ll call him now."


    "Is he busy?" The newcomer asked.


    "...well, he is. But the matter is too important. I think he will be able to free up sometime." Kelvin said, unsure of his statement.


    "Okay then."


    Kelvin walked towards the door of the workstation and pressed on a switch that was fitted by the frame. Lucas had installed it to be used to alert him in case of any emergencies.


    Inside the workstation, Lucas was still studying the blueprint he had laid out on the work-bench. Since he was planning to cooperate with the Legacy Crafts dealership and seize control of the vestige market, he could only do so with top class vestiges. As such, Lucas had to put quite a bit of effort into the design and development of the new set of vestiges.


    *Ping*


    The sound of a unique system notification theme buzzed in his ears, calling Lucas'' attention.


    Lucas frowned slightly at the sound. The tone was different from the typical system notification sound, and it was used to alert him regarding emergencies in the real world. The only way this could be done was within the store, and the most likely person to do so was Kelvin.


    Previously, Lucas had cautioned him not to use the bell unless deemed necessary, otherwise, Kelvin would lose his job. While this might sound harsh, it was to prevent Kelvin from abusing it and to avoid accidents. Although he made it look easy, vestige-smithing required a lot of focus and care, with any small lapse in concentration affecting the final quality of the vestige, or even resulting in a failure.


    Due to the severe warning from Lucas, Kelvin had never used it before until today.


    ''Since he dared to do so, it could only mean it''s very important. I''m guessing some government agent came over to visit or it''s her.'' Lucas thought.


    ''If it''s the former, there''s no issue in keeping them waiting, but if it''s the latter, I need to show some sincerity.''


    Lucas sighed before turning to leave the workstation.


    "It''s been a while." The newcomer greeted Lucas with a smile.


    "It''s not really been that long though, Lucy." Lucas said.


    Lucy smiled at him as she brushed her hair.


    "True, but the situation calls for it."


    The two then sat down in the lounge area and began the main conversation.


    "How did you go about for so long without even registering?" Lucy couldn''t help but ask.


    "I forgot." Lucas calmly answered as he took a sip from the cup of tea made by Kelvin.


    ''How does one even forget something like that??'' Lucy''s lips twitched.


    "Forget about it. It''s nothing serious, to be honest." Lucy sighed.


    "Really?" Lucas was surprised and confused at the same time.


    "If I''m correct, your store hasn''t been open for half a year, correct?"


    "Indeed." Lucas responded.


    Counting from the time he transmigrated into this world, it had been roughly four and a half months or so. What''s more, Lucas didn''t open the store right as soon as he was transmigrated, so it definitely hasn''t been up to six months.


    "The regulations give a six-month pardon period for businesses. However, you would still have to pay the incurred fines for the six months duration. If after six months and you still fail to register, you would be sent to prison. In summary, the notice from the Baylands City-state Commission for Technology isn''t a problem since we can just solve that with money." Lucy explained as she stared at Lucas.


    "The notice from the Baylands City Tax Commission is also the same. Six months is the maximum limit before the culprit would be penalised with an arrest. During this period, you can''t leave Baylands city-state, otherwise, an arrest warrant would be issued. But you''re safe."


    Lucas couldn''t help but feel relieved, but also curse inwardly. He had dealt with the city lord''s office and the city-state government a couple of times, but there was no such notification given to him about this. Despite the current era being one of advanced technology, the government didn''t give him a monthly warning or something.


    If they had done so, Lucas would have realised that he had broken a rule and tried to take care of it. That would have made his current enemies unable to use the government agencies to their advantage. It was almost as if the government agencies wanted someone to default past the six months period, so they could not only arrest the individual but also seize their assets.


    "I know what you''re thinking and it''s as you suspect." Lucy sighed.


    "The agencies don''t give out a monthly notice on this for those exact reasons."


    Lucas frowned. He couldn''t believe that there was such a practice here.


    It was a sly way for the government to be able to seize assets and enrich themselves.


    "Has no one complained about this?"


    "A few have, but nothing has been done about it." Lucy said.


    She then glanced around carefully before leaning over the table and whispering to Lucas.


    "The reason this is most likely is because of the greed of the top families in the government, especially the top two, but don''t say I told you anything."


    After the exceptional basis exam, where he had encountered multiple individuals from significant backgrounds, Lucas had done some digging on the top families and powers in Baylands City.


    The most powerful were four families known as the top four, and they were the Ross family, the Mertens family, the Dufour family and the Bergs family. The top two ¡ªDufour and Bergs¡ª were said to have ties to the Oklo Dynasty, and the number one power, the Bergs, was actually the family of the current city lord. In fact, the last three generations of city lords had come from precisely this family, hence, they had the nickname, City Lord family.


    ''If it''s a matter with the Dufour family and the Bergs at the helm, then I understand why nothing has been done about it.'' Lucas shook his head. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    No matter which world it was, greed was always a common factor in powerful factions.


    "Back to the issue at hand. The main problem is the EVL''s statement and the Allied factions message. We can simply ignore the latter, no matter how much they try to force our hands, but for the EVL''s notice, we would have to invite your master." Lucy said, studying every single one of Lucas'' body expressions.


    Nonetheless, she was unable to find any sign of worry or anxiety on Lucas. Lucas was master at hiding his emotions and keeping a blank expression even with a knife on his neck.


    "My master isn''t one who likes to be pressured. I doubt he would make a statement even at this point, so it''s best we figure out a way to solve it ourselves." Lucas replied.


    Lucy sighed.


    "Then what do you suggest? I don''t want to say this, but this matter affects you the most. You should try to think up something."


    "Of course I know. And in fact, I already have a perfect plan."

 Chapter 173 - 173: Retaliation

    Following Lucy''s suggestions, Lucas paid a visit to the two commissions and cleared out his debts. To pull this off, Lucas had spent almost fifty thousand federal coins alone. Luckily, he had made a windfall amount and could do so.


    After the matter with the two commissions were settled, the next wasn''t the EVL but the alliance. Lucas had decided to ignore the EVL''s statement.


    It was already a verified fact that the EVL had no real authority over every vestige-smith, and membership wasn''t compulsory. Although the statement would affect the opinions of the public on the Seven Sparks Forge, it was merely just that. In the end, the world was run by real benefits. As long as Lucas could ensure the quality of his vestiges, he would still have an abundant supply of customers. The EVL couldn''t threaten them or force these people not to patronise Lucas, as that was the same as ruining their business and image.


    ''When I get the chance, I might as well apply in a different city-state.'' Lucas thought as he returned back to his store.


    He had done his part for now, and it was time for the Legacy Crafts dealership to play their role as well.


    . . .


    "Mr President, Mr president, you need to look at this."


    At the thirty-first floor of a skyscraper, a personal assistant rushed through the doors of the office with an anxious expression. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Didn''t I tell you not to make a scene in my office? Do you want to lose your job? Don''t you know I can easily have you replaced with a robot? Even if I were to look for a human replacement, wouldn''t that be easy?" A man in a black suit who looked to be in his late forties, barked at the young man.


    "I-I''m sorry, Mr president." The young man apologised profusely.


    The man before him was the president of a large corporation in the vestige industry, Thebes Corporation. Within Baylands City, the company, Thebes Corporation, could easily rank among the top fifteen, so one could imagine how much wealth and power he controlled.


    "What''s the matter? If it isn''t satisfactory, then prepare to hand in your resignation letter." The president said as he banged his desk.


    The young man shivered a bit as he hesitated, but he steeled himself to speak. If he didn''t, someone else would, and that someone else would be his replacement.


    "The news. Please, check the news. It''s bad."


    The president frowned and was about to curse at the young man, but he held back his tongue and decided to check things out.


    On the desk, there were a few buttons. The president clicked one of them and a screen was projected in front of him. After logging in and going to the right section on the KSSI, the president finally arrived at Baylands City news section. At the same time, he also found the reason why the young man was so antsy.


    "Th, this... How? How is this possible? This can''t be happening?" The president was shook.


    Just as he was about to say something, a call came in on the display.


    The president froze upon seeing the caller ID, and after a bit of hesitation, he finally picked it.


    "M, Mr Chairman." The president stuttered.


    "What is this I''m seeing? What the fuck is this I''m reading?!" The chairman roared.


    "Do you know how much damage you''ve caused to this company? Are you insane? What''s more, you''re been embezzling contract funds?!"


    "Mr chairman, I can explain." The president rushed to speak.


    "I don''t give a damn about your explanation. You''re fired. Leave that office this instant." The chairman immediately cut the call right after.


    The president turned despondent after the call, the light in his eyes gone. He couldn''t believe what had just happened and struggled to accept the reality of the situation. However, reality was harsh.


    "Mr president, please vacate the premises." The personal assistant suddenly said.


    "...what?" The former president stared wide-eyed at him.


    "You heard me. I just received instructions from the CEO that you should be sent out immediately. Please don''t make this hard for the both of us and do the needful." The young man smiled.


    "You, you bastard! How dare you!"


    *Bang*


    The door to the office was abruptly opened as a group of security men came in.


    Two of them walked forward and came before the president''s desk.


    "Jeovan Pierrot, please vacate the building''s premises." One of them said while staring ferociously at the former president, Jeovan.


    "Are you all insane? How can you do this to me? Who gave you the right to do so?!" Jeovan bellowed.


    "You know that just as well as I do. Now, please leave. Otherwise, we would have to resort to force." The other guard said.


    Jeovan froze a bit, and suddenly began to laugh. His laughs were filled with both disbelief, sorrow and defeat. The two guards didn''t waste any time, giving a command to the other guards who then approached Jeovan and arrested him.


    Thebes Corporation wasn''t the only one experiencing such a situation. In fact, there were a few other companies occupied with such events. It was an unexpected event, but it would go down in history as a memorable one. Over twenty-one senior executives of the top fifteen vestige-smith companies in Baylands City had all lost their jobs.


    At first, everything was natural until a few media and news companies dropped a bombshell. It was a report about the various underground and illicit activities carried out by the senior executives affected.


    If it were just those done in Alleva district, it wouldn''t be worth talking about as everyone knew that Alleva was a "free zone". However, the crimes had all been committed in either Baylands City or one of the other fifteen districts bar Alleva district [2]. As such, there was enough grounds to charge them to court. What''s more, each crime committed by the executives was one that would cost them at least five years in prison.


    The series of reports caught everyone by surprise, and to was so damaging that the stocks of the affected companies had all dropped by at least ten percent. With such an event taking place, the higher-ups had to respond quickly and dish out damage-control measures, otherwise, the situation might become worse for them.


    Sacking the key personnel involved was one example of such damage-control measures, and it was applied by all the companies. But even that had brought about a fresh wave of news for the gossip-hungry media channels.


    Despite how much those top companies wanted to offer as payment to have the news forced down, many of the media channels refused it for various reasons. It was as if they were a pack of wolves that had smelled blood, and would stop at nothing until they tore their prey into pieces.


    Part of the reason for this was because of the complex ownership of the media channels. Some of them were owned by holding companies or individuals who either ran companies in the vestige-smith industry, directly competing with the affected companies in the top fifteen, or were close to someone who did. Seeing an opportunity to strike down their foe, they seized it without fail.


    "Well, how did you like our work?" Lucy said as she stared at Lucas'' projection on her communicator.


    "How did you guys do it?" Lucas was astonished.


    It was just as she had said. The reports that came in, leading to the drop in stock price and sacking of high executives, was all as a result of Novanio Tech.


    "It''s something the company has been planning for a while now and was prepared to make our entry into the vestige-smith industry a whole lot easier." Lucy smiled.


    "We''ve been digging up dirt on every executive we could find. As long as their hands were stained, we would find something on them. Nonetheless, this move cost us a lot and it can only be used once. You owe us for this."


    Lucas nodded, but deep down, he was occupied with his thoughts.


    Novanio Tech was known to be a supplier of stellar processors. In fact, they were the biggest suppliers in Baylands city-state. Although they couldn''t make stellar processors, they hired and trained a group of vestige-smiths capable of offering after-sales services. These vestige-smiths, despite lacking the ability to make one, could easily fix or make adjustments to a stellar processor.


    Moving along that line of thought, it was easy to guess that Novanio Tech might have tweaked some, if not all, of the stellar processors they imported and distributed, in a discrete fashion. With stellar processors being so commonly used, from simple daily items such as communicators and laundry machines, to even more complex machines like sares and spaceships, one could imagine how much information Novanio Tech handled through their modified stellar processors on a daily basis.


    Although this was just a suspicion of his, and it had been proven by various independent researchers that such had never happened, Lucas had a feeling that he was right. Novanio Tech might not have modified every stellar processor that came their way, but they should have done so with a few. What''s more, they must have pulled it off using a complex technique that made Thier actions undetectable even to independent researchers and vestige-smiths.


    ''I should be careful with how much tech I use these days. It would be much better if everything I use is handmade by me.'' Lucas thought.

 Chapter 174 - 174: New Announcement

    "But that''s not all. It''s about time we took advantage of this opportunity to strengthen ourselves." Lucy said.


    Lucas nodded, believing she was right.


    Since they had managed to kick the opponent down, just letting them go wasn''t enough. If care wasn''t taken, it would be no different from releasing a tiger back into the wild. As such, the duo had to launch an attack that would get stuck with the companies.


    What Lucy had in mind was to secretly acquire the companies involved. This was a normal response in corporate warfare and was very common. If one couldn''t easily put the other out of business, why not just acquire them? It was a good thing that the companies affected by the entire event were public companies, which meant that their shares could be acquired through the stock market.


    Opening the stock market, Lucas browsed through some of the top stocks, but kept his attention on the fellows who had gone after him under the alliance. The majority of them were victims of Novanio Tech''s hidden move, but there happened to be just a few who got away either entirely, or lightly.


    Speaking about Novanio Tech''s ploy, with a shield like Lucas'' Seven Sparks Forge seizing all the attention, very few would consider the possibility that Novanio Tech had modified their stellar processors. This would allow the company to be able to reuse this plot somewhere else.


    With his newfound wealth, Lucas could place bid for the stocks and began to buy them in bulk, taking advantage of the drop in stock price. However, he didn''t.


    Lucas currently had around one hundred fifty thousand (150000) federal coins with him. Compared to the multimillion FeC value of these companies, Lucas'' wallet was like a drop in the ocean. Although this plan was a slow and long term one, which would bore fruition in time, it wasn''t worth doing so at the moment.


    Instead of purchasing the stocks, Lucas beg against them. This was something Lucy had taught him. Lucas placed a prediction that the stocks would drop even more and bet one hundred thousand federal coins on his prediction. After that, he returned to the peace and quiet of his workstation.


    . . .


    Three days later...


    The financial world was just recovering from the damage caused by a series of announcements a few days ago. Vestige-smith companies were some of the most valuable companies in Baylands city-state, so when the top fifteen experienced a drop in stock price, it affected the entire city-state economy.


    One should understand that the reported crimes of the executives weren''t just limited to acts like contract theft and so on. There were embezzlement cases, bribery, and even more heinous crimes like rape, sexual assaults, human trafficking ring association, and even three executives were found to be associated with terrorist activities. The crimes were so heavy that the companies got dragged in for harbouring such individuals.


    Luckily, the actions were only limited to the individuals themselves, so, some of the companies managed to salvage the entire situation.


    Just as everyone was preparing to look past it, the Legacy Crafts dealership came out with an announcement. The store, Seven Sparks Forge, was announcing a new line of vestiges and the Legacy Crafts dealership had gotten a sole distributor contract with them. All the details were to be made in a conference scheduled for the next day.


    Naturally, this news set off a storm as one of the involved parties had already trended a few days back.


    Seven Sparks Forge was involved in a controversy a few days back, detailing how the store had somehow come into existence without being registered with any official agency. There was also the fact that an alliance of vestige-smith companies called them out for creating a twisted monopoly which would supposedly harm the economy of Baylands city-state.


    Coincidentally, some of the companies in the alliance were affected by the event from three days ago. Many people naturally drew conclusions from this significant fact, but with no strong evidence, they could only have their suspicions remain as such.


    "Seven Sparks Forge?I thought they were closed down?"


    "Yeah, but the owner has cleared all the issues so they reopened two days ago. Well, not all of them."


    After the incident where the store was given notice after notice, the Seven Sparks Forge had done the needful and registered with the required commissions of Baylands city-state. However, they had snubbed the EVL and the alliance, which raised some eyebrows. The latter wasn''t exactly surprising, but to have ignored the EVL made many feel that whoever ran the store was either proud or very confident in himself.


    The EVL might not be an official organisation for vestige-smiths, but it was a recognised contender for the role. As such, many did their best not to offend this organisation.


    "Are you going to check it out?"


    "Sure, why not?"


    Many people were interested in what the Seven Sparks Forge was preparing to bring out during the conference. Apart from the fact that this was most likely the Seven Sparks Forge making a comeback and retaliating against the alliance of companies against them, it was already a well-known fact that the store''s standards and quality was a lot higher than other vestige-smiths. Just the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, which despite being Grade 3 vestiges, were revolutionary and had power rivaling some of the weaker Grade 4 vestiges were enough to display the quality of Seven Sparks Forge products.


    Although they were quite pricey, they were known to be worth every single coin.


    "Boss, we received a few messages from some other companies. I''ve already made sure to filter out those from the alliance." Kelvin said to Lucas.


    "What do they want?" Lucas asked while feeding Melissa some porridge.


    The little girl now looked considerably better and healthier than when Lucas found her. Back then, even though she was already eleven years of age, Melissa appeared like a seven year old due to malnutrition. However, with Lucas now taking care of her and giving her all that she could eat, she was now looking a lot healthier compared to over a month ago. She had even grown a bit in height, which made sense as she was hitting puberty.


    "Some of them are interested to know what we have planned for release tomorrow, and are hoping to sign an exclusive distribution contract or even a nonexclusive agreement." Kelvin said.


    Having worked in Toman''s Workshop with his father during the peak of its popularity, Kelvin was familiar with how corporations went about with their businesses. However, this was the first time he had seen those behemoths of the industry all flooding the mailbox of a small store. What''s more, they were all pleading for a contract, offering the most lucrative and beneficial options to the store, just to become a verified supplier.


    "Are they dumb? Don''t they know we already have Legacy Crafts dealership for that?" Lucas was surprised.


    ''It can''t be that they''re damaged their brains or something?''


    It was already a well-known information that the Legacy Crafts dealership was the exclusive and sole official distributor of Seven Sparks Forge products, which were now known as SS vestiges.


    While other companies could try to purchase the vestiges directly from the store, Lucas didn''t sell in bulk to customers and it would cost these companies a lot to have different individuals frequent the store and buy the vestiges. When the costs were finally factored in, it would be impossible for them to resale the vestiges at a price more affordable than the Legacy Crafts dealership.


    What''s more, if they tried to resell these vestiges in their stores, it would attract a lawsuit from the Legacy Crafts dealership which was the only official distributor for the SS vestiges in Baylands city-state.


    "That''s the thing, boss. They don''t want distribution rights for Baylands city-state, but for other city-states." Kelvin explained.


    "Interesting." Lucas smirked.


    The distribution rights to other city-states was indeed available for bidding. Novanio Tech had only recently launched the Legacy Crafts dealership and it was a semi-independent company from Novanio Tech. The dealership was to start out in Baylands city-state before slowly expanding using the profits it generated. As such, it couldn''t export vestiges to other city-states at the moment.


    However, the allure of the SS vestiges was sure to surpass just Baylands city-state. With Legacy Crafts dealership not being able to carry out export activities, it would only be logical to consider other companies for the role.


    ''These foxes are really good at thinking ahead.''


    Lucas smiled.


    "Don''t respond to them yet. Or better yet, let them know that we would be considering the prospect." Lucas said.


    It would be best to let Legacy Crafts dealership know about this and see their reaction first. After all, the two sides were now closer partners, so there had to be a significant level of mutual trust and respect.


    "Melissa, how about we go shopping for new clothes tomorrow, just before the conference, okay?" Lucas smiled at her. S~ea??h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hmm." Melissa nodded with sparkling eyes.


    Just then, Lucas received a message on his communicator.

 Chapter 175 - 175: Level Up

    The next day came around quickly, but for some, it was slow, due to the intense anticipation for the day''s event. Even as the first light of the day broke, many had already visited the official website of Legacy Crafts dealership and Novanio Tech, for information about the upcoming conference.


    The SS vestige craze had first begun with freelancers, vestige-smiths, and vestige enthusiasts, but as the craze got wilder, the students of freelancer academies got wrapped up in it. In the end, at least one out of ten people in Baylands City had heard about them. And this was all within two weeks.


    With a new product coming to the market soon, it was inevitable that victims of the craze would rush to find out whatever information they could.


    The two websites were the only source for any information, as the Seven Sparks Forge store has no website on the Kellan Solar System Intranet (KSSI). For this, Lucas was to be blamed as his inadequate knowledge on running a business, despite having lived in the 21st century, was responsible. Luckily, after this event, Lucas was updating himself on common business knowledge and activities.


    Back to reality...


    Due to the incessant massive visits flooding the two websites, they ended up being shut down. The two companies announced on their social media platforms that an upgrade would be ongoing, but Novanio Tech was the only one that would be recovering quicker, taking at least three hours for the upgrade.


    This was understandable as between the two companies Novanio Tech was wealthier and much bigger in scale. Due to the degree of businesses they held, their website had to be brought online as quickly as possible.


    One might wonder why their website wasn''t stronger than Legacy Crafts dealership, and the answer was simply because the company has never predicted to experience such an incident before. Novanio Tech catered to companies by supplying them with stellar processors. They had little to do with the end-user, so there was no reason to have a website powerful enough to sustain dozens of millions of visitors in one instance.


    After the downfall of the websites, the curious crowd began questioning the social media accounts of the two companies, hoping to get some sort of information about the new type of vestiges to be released. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although vestiges were strongly regulated, it didn''t prevent the common man from having some interest in them. This was especially so since the focus of the topic was the creator of a vestige that had the entire industry in its grasp.


    In the end, the Novanio Tech social media account announced that they wouldn''t be related to information or activity concerning the SS vestige or Legacy Crafts dealership. This wasn''t Novanio Tech cutting off relations entirely, but this was the company''s higher-ups'' way of maintaining their business'' line of focus. Novanio Tech was a stellar processor supplier and not a vestige-smith company or a vestige dealership; the integrity had to be maintained.


    With Novanio Tech shifting the focus to Legacy Crafts dealership, the executives of the latter company had to give the crowd a reply, or at least, something to keep them a little occupied.


    In the end, the social media account of Legacy Crafts dealership made an announcement on Kikao [1], the number one social media platform in Baylands city-state. The announcement wasn''t anything special or anticipatory, instead, it was just a simple question:


    "What defines a vestige?"


    Right after the question was the time for the conference as well as the location. In order to reach out to more people, the conference was an online one instead of a physical event, and it was open to everyone through a link.


    While the decision of making the conference an online event did attract attention and appeal to many, the question put up by the account still has the bulk of attention.


    What defines a vestige?


    This seemed like a simple question, but it also gave off the feeling of a riddle. Many of those who read the statement were confused by it and began to overcomplicate what was supposed to be an easy question.


    "Hey, what do you think they mean by this?"


    "I don''t know. Probably trying to sound sophisticated or something."


    "No, no. I don''t think so. It''s probably a hidden mean. Common guys, think."


    Various conversations took place both in reality and under the comment section of the post, as many discussed what the question could mean.


    "These guys are good." Kelvin commented as he stared at the checkout counter''s display screen.


    "Indeed. They''re well experienced with this."


    Lucas was fascinated by the actions of the Legacy Crafts dealership.


    Just one question was enough to trigger the entire Kikao social platform and become the number one trending topic.


    One should recall that in the past two weeks of the Legacy Crafts dealership''s existence, they had spent zero fees on advertisements, but had already generated a revenue of more than a million federal coins.


    Lucas had made nine hundred and twenty thousand (920000) federal coins from the forty SS vestiges, and with the Legacy Crafts dealership selling at a higher rate, they had surely generated over a million. This was even without considering the other regular vestiges they sold in the course of doing business. And they achieved all of this without spending on advertisements. Even though some of the vestiges were yet to be sold, the existence of the waitlist pretty much made no difference.


    It was all thanks to their bizarre marketing strategy that utilised public desire and interests to make themselves known. Now once again, their strategy was in effect.


    "I have a feeling those alliance guys would be pissed. After all, they provided us with the opportunity to be able to do this." Kelvin smiled.


    It was true that this was all the result of the alliance''s actions. If they had remained quiet and minded their business, or even competed fairly, Lucas wouldn''t have decided to release a new product. The Blue Spear and Dark Dagger were already enough to earn him a ton of wealth and keep his business doing well. Lucas wasn''t the type to be obsessed over money or being rich, so until the two vestiges weren''t doing well, it was unlikely that he would have released a new product, especially so soon.


    "Let''s get ready." Lucas said.


    "Huh? We''re going? Isn''t it an online conference?" Kelvin was confused.


    Since it was online, there was less reason for them to attend the conference at its physical location.


    "We aren''t going to the conference. There''s no point in doing so. I''ve already handed the vestiges over and explained to them how it works." Lucas responded as he stood up to walk away.


    Even with the explanation, Kelvin still remained confused.


    "Then...?"


    "It''s time to open the store, bird brain. What ''then''? Have you forgotten already?" Lucas stared at Kelvin as if he were looking at a fool.


    "..."


    Kelvin immediately scurried to get the store ready for business. Lucas had earlier told him that they would open late which was why the store was empty. But with the owner now informing him to do so, Kelvin rushed to act.


    Meanwhile, Lucas glanced at the system notification on his interface. It was one that had him in a good while for over a day now, but Lucas had forgotten to check it out.


    [[ Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: Not just weapons.


    Mission Description: Create a unique vestige that isn''t a weapon.


    Rewards: Special Ability Card]]


    [[ Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system (now level 3). One new system ability granted.


    Rewarding ten system coins, One leaf from the Tree of Gehenna.]]


    [[ Leaf from the Tree of Gehenna: a unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug, or a potion to change one''s physical condition. Consuming it in its raw form can bring the dead back to life with the right conditions. It could also be used to gain death-related abilities. ]]


    From the conversation Lucas had with the system the last time he levelled it up, he had learned that with each level up, he would gain a unique material. According to the system, the unique materials up until level five would be key ingredients to making a potion that would modify his human physique and enable Lucas to be able to use stellar energy.


    Although there was an item with a similar effect in the system store ¡ªthe Red Dragon Heaven Pill¡ª it cost at least five hundred system coins. What''s more, the Red Dragon Heaven Pill was only capable of healing all sorts of diseases by making a perfect body that was capable of storing and manipulating stellar energy. With such a physique, one''s stellar refinement would be moving at a speed at least three times faster than the hyuman with the highest mDNA concentration.


    However, the elixir to be produced with the unique items would do more than just give Lucas the ability to use and store stellar energy. While the physique produced with it would be weaker than that made using the Red Dragon Heaven Pill, the added effect of special bonuses was more attractive to Lucas.


    Also, it was easier to level up the system than it was to make five hundred system coins. Until now, Lucas had only seventeen coins, and this was with the extra ten he had just gained with the recent level up.


    "Two more levels to go."

 Chapter 176 - 176: New Vestiges

    The evening arrived soon and the conference kicked off. It began with the host from the Legacy Crafts dealership addressing some of the issues faced by the store as regards to its customers. This included when the current SS vestiges would officially be on sale for those on the waitlist ¡ªwhich was decided to be two days from then¡ª and also when the next order would come in.


    Surprisingly, the host had advised those who couldn''t afford to wait to head to the Seven Sparks Forge to get theirs. This action caught Lucas off-guard, and it made him quite impressed by the Legacy Crafts dealership executives.


    While to an outsider, it may seem as if the dealership was sending off its customers, but this wasn''t so. According to the original deal, the dealership would handle transactions and trades outside of Baylands City. Recently, they had bypassed this by offering delivery services for their products into Baylands City. Although Lucas had not said anything, they felt that it was somewhat betraying on their side. S§×arch* The N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Initially, the executives planned to do nothing about it. But after Lucas showed them the new vestige models, they decided to cut off this profit route in exchange for a stronger connection with Lucas. It was obvious that they were the ones who needed him, and not the other way around.


    The current Lucas wasn''t the same young man they had met months ago, who was unknown to the public. With just a simple statement, he could have other dealerships and companies rushing to partner up with him while offering more lucrative deals. As such, the executives woke up to reality and realised that it was better to remain on Lucas'' good side, especially with his ability to create new market disruptive innovations.


    In truth though, their action of advertising Lucas'' store wouldn''t do much. It wasn''t like those who patronised the Legacy Crafts dealership didn''t know that the SS vestiges were sourced from Seven Sparks Forge. They had simply chosen to purchase from the Legacy Crafts dealership even though there was an added cost together with a delivery fee, as it was shipped from out of the city.


    As such, even with the announcement made by the Legacy Crafts dealership, much might not change afterwards. The only way things would turn around was if the dealership was to ban the delivery of the SS vestiges into Baylands city, but they weren''t willing to go that far.


    Apart from the previously stated announcements, the host addressed a couple other issues and made a few announcements on their other products.


    Just as people were about to begin cursing on the channel, the host finally went to the main focus of the event; the new vestiges.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, it''s my utmost honour to present to you all, our new products from the exceptional hands of the Seven Sparks Forge vestige-smith."


    "Did he say products? As in, more than one?"


    Some immediately caught on to the grammar and began to spam the live comment section with questions.


    "Haha. It''s just as you all suspect. There will in fact be more than just one vestige being released.


    "When we asked the question, ''what is a vestige?'' This was a question with an obvious answer, but it was a product that relied on the same elements as other vestiges; in other words, runes and matrices.


    "With that well said, the new products on our roster." The host presented a large barrel-type gun.


    "The Adjudicator."


    The Adjudicator was an anti-desolate beast weapon and it was more suitable against large desolate beasts. Lucas was inspired to make this after the battle of the desolate beasts tide at Alleva district. He had noticed that the military''s method of fighting was more close combat and relied on their Sare shuttles offensive system for more firepower. Although the shuttles were fitted with high-power laser weapons and missiles, all of these were attached to the shuttle.


    The Adjudicator however, was a hands-on device. Through relying on stellar circuits, Lucas was able to offset its weight, making the weapon easier for an individual to handle alone. What''s more, through his transformative technology, the weapon could be changed into a two-piece detachable box that was easier to carry.


    The firepower of the Adjudicator was on par with a full powered Grade 3 vestige. At full strength, it was even higher. It was designed based on the pole vestige Lucas had used against the Jaburian and desolate ape, except it was nerfed considerably. He didn''t want anyone to have access to that kind of powerful weapon just yet, so Lucas had increased the weight during production. Nonetheless, it was still manageable for an individual to wield alone.


    The Adjudicator had a built-in stellar processor, which gave the weapon a lot of special features like increased accuracy, heat-tracking capability, and artificial intelligence aiming. It was also made with special attachments, allowing one to be able to hook it onto a sare shuttle right away. Thanks to the stellar processor, one could be able to link the control mechanism directly to the sare shuttle''s control cabin network.


    The vestige was meant to bolster the hyumans attack options against desolate beasts, but relatively speaking, it wasn''t as revolutionary as the first two SS vestiges; the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger.


    Just as people were wondering whether the Seven Sparks Forge had lost its flair, the other vestiges were announced, with none of them failing to generate glitters in the eyes of the stream watchers.


    The second vestige wasn''t actually a weapon, but a wrist-type communicator. It was fitted with many technologies, and a software called ''Beginner''s Guide for Freelancers''. The guide contained information on various desolate beasts including their appearances, strengths, weaknesses, and even behaviours. It was a detailed encyclopaedia on these monsters.


    It wasn''t as if there weren''t similar softwares already, but what made the Guide standout was that it was much more detailed and had a whole ton of information on many more desolate beasts than others.


    The software was just one feature that the communicator possessed.


    The processing speed of its stellar processor was astonishing, enabling the communicator to perform more tasks than standard grade ones. It was also fitted with more technology like internal and external sensors, and more. However, the most notable aspect of the stellar processor was its unique ability to manipulate stellar energy, unlike modern processors.


    The stellar processor was able to absorb and contain stellar energy, through a peculiar type of inscription which was known to Lucas as stellar circuits. Through his advanced stellar circuit knowledge and his genius brain, Lucas had found a way to be able to use it and modify stellar processors provided by Novanio Tech. He also made ''cores'' on the processors, allowing the attracted stellar energy to be stored within the processors.


    Finally, was the twist. Similar to a product from the Seven Sparks Forge, the communicator could also transform, but this time, into a dagger type vestige with a stellar processor within its hilt. Through the stellar processor, the dagger vestige was able to absorb stellar energy and use that to charge its blade, giving it a more sharper edge than without the energy.


    This cool new technology stunned many, and even though it wasn''t exactly necessary, it still got everyone''s attention. After all, who would think that a wrist communicator with the ability to be turned into a dagger, was not cool?


    However, that wasn''t all. The wrist-type communicator came in different models, with some, rather than transforming into a dagger, turning into a vambrace with defensive abilities.


    There was also a third model that had no ability to transform, but could still absorb stellar energy thanks to its novel processor. The absorbed energy would then be sent into the wielder''s body, helping them to either recover their stellar energy or cultivate it passively. There was no doubt that this was going to become a very useful vestige that everyone would find handy.


    Finally, was the third vestige being announced. It wasn''t a weapon-type vestige, but it was a supportive class like the third model of communicator vestiges announced. It was a pair of boots which looked stylish. The design was said to have been inspired from the Human era''s Hodiernal epoch, and it had the feature of boosting the user''s speed.


    Once again, there were already vestiges like this on the market, but the one produced by the Seven Sparks Forge could deploy a stellar shield all over the user''s feet with defensive capabilities. The shield could be used to increase one''s leg attacks, so long as they wished, or it could be swapped for the shoes'' actual offensive features; stellar blades.


    The stellar blades were compressed energy beams formed after absorbing a large amount of stellar energy and compressing it into blades that could be launched at targets. Due to the requirement of a large amount of energy, the stellar blades consumed energy and could only be used three times per foot after which the stored energy would be depleted.


    But regardless of such a low firing rate, the fact that the shoes were fitted with both offensive and defensive abilities stunned the audience, and made many speechless.


    Once again, this was something revolutionary that had not been seen in the market yet.


    In fact, aside from the Adjudicator ¡ªwhich was the first vestige being announced, the others were all remarkable pieces of technology that had made many forget that the atelier behind it was targeted by the EVL.


    What EVL? What alliance of vestige-smith companies?


    Compared to all those parties, the Seven Sparks Forge was currently like a sun in peak period.

 Chapter 177 - 177: The Baylands City-State EVLs Gathering

    In a conference room, a meeting was currently ongoing with seven men present in the room, of which six of them were seated while the last stood in the middle.


    "Hugo, explain yourself this moment." An aged man stared at the man who stood before him.


    The man standing was the chief examiner for the EVL, who had a confrontation with Lucas right after the results of the exceptional basis exam was released.


    Hugo was a man who lusted power and praises, as such, he didn''t like it when he was looked down upon by people whom he felt were inferior. When Lucas had challenged the results, albeit rightfully, this incensed Hugo especially since Lucas was just a human. Ever since then, Hugo saw Lucas as nothing more than a stain that displeased him, but he had left Lucas to be after the event, thinking nothing of him. sea??h th§× Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, as Lucas began to rise in popularity, this irked Hugo even more. It felt as if Lucas was jeering at him while retaliating against his decision. As a consequence of his suspicions and twisted logic, Hugo accepted the suggestion made by the alliance of the top fifteen vestige-smith companies to release an official statement against Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge.


    This wasn''t difficult as the head of the Eretrean Vestige-smith League branch in Baylands city-state was currently out of the region. As for the vice-head, Hugo was confident that the latter wouldn''t have an issue with this, after all, there was no lie on the notice; the vestige-smith behind the Seven Sparks Forge had indeed not registered with the league. The notice was simply stating a fact, and why the timing might seem obvious as a targeted decision, so what about it?


    With the way the vice-head saw things, the store owner was a human, so, there was even less reason to be bothered about their opinion.


    Hugo understood exactly how the vice-head thought, which was why he was confident that he could get an official statement. So, after accepting the bribe from the alliance, he gave the suggestion to the vice-head. Upon receiving approval, he then proceeded to publish the notice denouncing the Seven Sparks Forge store.


    However, the Seven Sparks Forge, in just seven days, had turned the entire momentum against them. The public''s support for them was at an all-time high. Many other vestige-smith companies that were previously on the fence in this matter, were now scrambling towards their side for a slice of the pie.


    The EVL, which stood on the opposite side, was now looking like a joke.


    "I, I''m sorry." Hugo kneeled and pleaded.


    But deep inside, he was cursing at the vice-head. The latter was the one who had approved the notice otherwise it wouldn''t have been publicised. It was obvious that he was trying to push all the blame towards him at the moment.


    "Tch. Damn it. This matter is now getting out of hand."


    One of the present figures, a senior executive of the organisation, grunted.


    "It can''t be helped. It was a miscalculation on our part. Rather than blaming Hugo, we should try and find a way to solve this." Another man said.


    From the contents of his speech, it was clear that he was close with Hugo and wanted to relieve the blame on the latter.


    "While that is true, the manager of the store is someone we should focus more on." Someone suddenly said.


    "Huh? Why?"


    "Haven''t you guys noticed it yet?" The man said as he glanced at the other executives present.


    "That young human had given a response to everyone else. For the two commissions, he paid a visit and settled the complaints easily. This was simple thanks to the amount of wealth he had accrued as well as Novanio Tech''s influence. For the alliance, he responded by releasing a new set of vestiges targeting them even harder than the previous two. But for us, he''s done nothing.


    "Isn''t it clear to you yet? He''s looking down at us." The man said with a cold voice.


    All six of the others present, Hugo included, widened their eyes in shock. At first, they were astounded by this deduction, but they realised that it was true. The Seven Sparks Forge, or rather Lucas, had given a response to three of the four organisations that had targeted him with public notices. Yet the EVL, which was supposed to be the most troublesome of the four, was left on read [1].


    "That can''t be right, maybe he''s leaving us for last?" One of them said.


    This was the thinking of the majority. It was a well-known tactic to leave the best or the most difficult task for last. As such, the executives had not thought much about the fact that Lucas hadn''t given a response to them yet.


    "Maybe, but some part of me suggests that it could be otherwise." The man who brought up the idea said.


    "Just think about it. Based on his actions, we can determine a lot. The young human kid might be a bit lacking when it comes to running a business properly, but his responses have been apt. He bowed his head to the government and cleared his debts, even though it cost him a lot. Rather than falling for the alliance''s tricks, he worsened the situation and even targeted their various businesses directly this time around.


    "You don''t think that the fact he created an accessory and clothing type vestige was just a random thought? It''s obvious the message he was trying to pass across. He was informing the alliance that his master''s skills weren''t just limited to weapons. Some in the alliance weren''t weapon manufacturers, yet they still targeted him. With this move of his now, they would be on their toes and the alliance might even break apart due to fear.


    "This shows that whether it be the young man of the vestige-smith behind him, either of them or even the both, are cunning individuals. They know how to pass a message without even making a sound.


    "But isn''t it weird that all this time has gone by and there''s still no moves from them? It can''t be clearer than this; they simply do not take us to be anything."


    *Bang*


    The vice-head of the league''s branch pounded his fist on the arm of his chair, breaking it apart.


    "Hehe. A measly human and an unknown vestige-smith dare to be this arrogant? Even if they were a peak Tier 1 Master, such rude behaviour can not be tolerated by the league. This is an insult to the league''s honour and status!" The vice-head roared.


    "Since they dared to mock us like this, then we have to show them the true power of the EVL."

 Chapter 178 - 178: The Uniqueness Of The EVL

    The previous day...


    Lucas and Kelvin were on their break period as they discussed in the lobby about the recent events. Having worked in the Seven Sparks Forge for some time now, Kelvin was glad he had applied for the job. However, the entire SS vestige saga raised some eyebrows, and Lucas'' action in one segment was particularly glaring.


    "Boss, why haven''t you responded to the EVL?" Kelvin curiously asked.


    Six days had gone by and Lucas had made responses to each of the agencies that targeted him, except the EVL. This baffled Kelvin, who had previously thought that the EVL''s notice would be dealt with last as it was supposed to be the most difficult case. But from the looks of things, Lucas had no interest on it.


    "EVL? Those guys? Why would I respond to them?" Lucas stared confusedly at Kelvin.


    "But they are the symbol and authority of vestige-smiths, you know?" Kelvin retorted, while shocked at Lucas'' words.


    "The symbol? Are you sure about that?" Lucas questioned.


    Kelvin froze as he didn''t have a suitable answer. While the EVL was the public image of vestige-smiths, it was true that they weren''t the organisation that held real power over vestige-smiths.


    Lucas continued,


    "I think I should remind you. There''s a big difference between being an officially approved part and someone who just got recognised. Say for instance, there is a king with two sons. The older of the two was appointed to be the crown prince, but be had a fiery personality. The second prince dedicated himself to appealing to the public. At the end of everything, who do you think would become king?"


    "The elder brother, who is the crown prince." Kelvin answered right away.


    "Exactly. It doesn''t matter whatever stunts the junior proves. The one who would become king is,


    the crown prince. The EVL is just like that, but even worse. They simply parade around with titles like ''verified agency for vestige-smiths'' and so on. But in truth, they have no real power. For such an organisation, it''s best to just ignore them since their responses don''t mean much." Lucas explained.


    Kelvin was stunned speechless, and for a second, he didn''t know how to counter.


    "Do you know why the EVL is able to maintain its unique status?" Lucas suddenly asked.


    Once again confused, Kelvin stared at Lucas as he asked.


    "Why?"


    "It''s because the top powers tolerate them. From what I know, the EVL was formed by a Tier 1 Grandmaster after many companies and industries have already settled down. Naturally, it would be difficult for the EVL to reign over these companies even with a Tier 1 Grandmaster backing it.


    "But you see, unlike a company or all the other businesses in existence, the EVL doesn''t carry out any market transactions. It was also focused more on supporting vestige-smiths in their growth. In summary, it was of no threat to the big companies and so, they let it be, respecting the organisation for its goals. However, if the EVL were to ever try to transition to a profit-making company or expand their power, they would be ganged up on by all the other major powers in the city. But since the EVL has no real power and isn''t a threat to the companies, they tolerate it.


    "What''s more, the EVL''s resources are open to every vestige-smith and it could be used in training one''s vestige-smith or discovering new talents, for instance, with the exceptional basis exam. With so many benefits being offered, it was only natural for these top figures and companies in the vestige-smith industry to give the EVL some leeway.


    "However, over time, this leeway was abused and exploited by the EVL to gain more advantages for themselves. This created the common misconception that the EVL is an organisation that lords over vestige-smiths, when in reality, it doesn''t. It''s simply a rip-off of the official Galactic Vestige League."


    Lucas had learned about this a few days ago, while doing research on the EVL. After all, a great general once said, know thine enemies and the battle is half won.


    "But how does that justify ignoring the EVL?" Kelvin asked.


    "It doesn''t." Lucas smirked.


    "In fact, whether it does or not wouldn''t even matter. In the end, there would be some people who would want to force a confrontation between me and the EVL. So in the end, I just decided not to be bothered."


    "Wait, who would do such?" Kelvin abruptly asked with a surprised expression.


    "The ones who got battered the most." Lucas smiled mysteriously.


    "It''s just about time for them to take action. They will probably try to generate slanderous discussions and activities, which would be enough grounds for the EVL to step in. Well, this is all I can say."


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    The present...


    Lucas and Kelvin were preoccupied running the store due to the large number of customers present.


    Ever since the popularity of the Seven Sparks Forge store had been on the rise, the number of visits they had was more than it had ever been before. Even Kelvin was finding it hard to attend to them all. As such, Lucas had to come out of the workstation and provide assistance whenever he was available to do so.


    Although there were a couple of them that asked for new vestiges, the majority of the customer requests were still maintenance, with some of them asking for the advanced feature.


    There were two kinds of maintenance [1], the basic maintenance and the advanced maintenance. Basic maintenance entailed simply fixing up the vestige and bringing it back to its original state. As for the advanced maintenance, it was to not only restore the vestige, but to make changes to it to either increase its durability or power.


    Advanced maintenance was much harder to carry out because in most cases, the original stellar matrices and runes on the vestige would have to be cleaned off and replaced with new ones.


    The stellar circuits and magic runes Lucas used on the SS vestiges had already been talked about by many. He has commonly used them for advanced maintenance as well, so it was inevitable that other freelancers would notice the difference. As such, many of them had come over to subscribe to the advanced maintenance.


    Just as the duo were attending to the customers, a commotion broke out outside the store.

 Chapter 179 - 179: A Setup

    "Is the owner around? Please, is the owner around?"


    "Can the owner come out? We just want a quick interview."


    A group of individuals crowded the entrance of the Seven Sparks Forge store but didn''t go in. Based on their attire and equipment, it was clear that they were members of the press. The press agents had arrived at the store to interview Lucas, but since they came for reasons not related to the store''s services, they stood outside. If they were to invade the store, it was possible for Lucas to sue them for disrupting his business.


    "What are those guys doing here?" Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Some of the customers inside the store glanced outside through the see-through french windows.


    "I''m guessing they''re here for an interview."


    "No shit, Einstein. But isn''t it quite late for that? Or did something new happen?"


    "Well, you can never tell to be honest."


    The customers discussed the reason for the press team arriving today, even though the announcement of the new SS vestiges -the Adjudicator, the SS communicator, and the SS boots¡ª had been made about a week ago. To most, it didn''t make sense for the press to have taken this long before covering the incident.


    Meanwhile, Kelvin glanced at the display monitor on the counter and narrowed his eyes on the uniform of one of the journalists.


    "Any problem?" Lucas looked at him, noting that the latter''s reaction was off.


    "See that guy over there." Kelvin pointed at one of them on the monitor.


    "He''s from Sicalien Central Media. The media company reportedly shares the same owners as Thebes Corporation, a top fifteen vestige-smith company and one of the members of the alliance."


    Although Kelvin didn''t say anymore after that, Lucas got the message. There was a chance that this gathering was orchestrated by the alliance. As for the reason for it, Lucas couldn''t really be so sure, but he had a suspicion.


    "I''m guessing they''re about to make their move. Let''s go."


    Lucas walked towards the door and left the building. Kelvin reacted a bit slowly, but he also left his task and went outside together with Lucas. The two were now in contact with the press agents. Seeing this, the other customers in the store turned their attention towards the commotion, with some even leaving the store to get a closer look.


    "Mr. Lucas."


    "Mr. Lucas, over here."


    "Mr. Lucas."


    Lucas yawned as he asked, "what''s it today?"


    One of them, who seemed to be respected even by the other agents from different media corporations, took the lead and spoke up.


    "It''s nothing too much, Mr. Lucas. We just want to meet with the creator of the era-defining SS vestiges and ask a few questions."


    "Shouldn''t you have done that long ago? Also, if you want to ask questions, that''s what press conferences are for? If the press harasses businessmen like myself just as you have done, it would affect our business, you know." Lucas coldly said.


    "Let''s get this over with then. Only five questions." Lucas raised a hand.


    "Think carefully because I won''t answer more than that."


    Lucas knew that the journalists had all arrived today with an intention in mind. However, even though he wanted to fish out what it was, Lucas didn''t plan to do so while moving to their rhythm. By stating the fact that he would only answer five questions, they had to consider those questions properly and would more or less, go straight to the point.


    After a short while, one of the journalists asked.


    "Mr. Lucas, from what we know, the release of the three new SS vestiges has a lot to do with the restrictions you got over a week ago. As such, we want to know, what is your opinion about that?"


    ''As expected.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes. He could more or less figure out the intentions of this group, but that didn''t mean he would walk away.


    "What opinions could I have other than it was somewhat unexpected. My regards to the two commissions for looking out for me and informing me about the duly process. They were equally helpful when I went to clear my errors. As some of you may already know after doing a background search on me, I''m a nobody. I don''t know how to run a business either. It was only thanks to those notices from the commissions that I realised my inadequate knowledge and worked on myself right after. As such, I have to thank them for looking out for small-time vestige-smiths like myself." Lucas answered with a smile on his face.


    The answer was unexpected, but from a neutral point of view, it was almost perfect.


    Lucas focused on the two commissions, the Baylands City Tax Commission and the Baylands City-state Commission for Technology, placing them on a higher stand point and moral ground. To others it might have seemed that the two commissions had timely targeted Lucas alongside the EVL and the alliance, but Lucas made it look like they were just doing their job and even looking out for him. He even made them appear to be nice agencies that had assisted him all the way.


    This might have sounded surprising, but once one considers that the notice was handed to Lucas before the six months period elapsed, it did sound like the two commissions were being nice.


    Through this response, Lucas effectively turned around the public opinion on the two commissions which were already moving to the negative side. As for why he did so, it was obvious.


    48 Laws of Power, Law 1: Never outshine the master.


    No matter which world one was in, it was best to not offend the government or any government agencies, especially as a business. Rather than be on their bad side, it was best if one could get closer to them.


    With this response from him, Lucas had seemingly erased any negativity that may have existed between them, and also created an opportunity to work together.


    "Then, what about the alliance and the EVL? What are your opinions on them?" Another journalist asked.


    Lucas switched his smile into a nonchalant expression.


    This was the second question and it was even more direct.


    In his previous response, Lucas had purposely dodged the EVL and the alliance for a reason. With the journalist now calling that into place, it was obvious why they were here. He had just talked about it with Kelvin the previous day, so it was somewhat surprising that his suspicions took place the next day.


    "While I understand the concerns of the alliance,I find it funny that they seem to forget that we are both competitors in the same space. They also seem to underestimate the production capabilities of the Seven Sparks Forge. First and foremost, this is a business and not a philanthropic movement. There is no way we can give our technology out for free. If that were so, the alliance members should publicise their inscription methods and logic to other vestige-smiths. Wouldn''t that also help with the advancement of Baylands city-state''s technology? Wouldn''t that strengthen Baylands city-state and also increase its revenue derived from exports?


    "But since they haven''t, it is obvious why, and we can''t do the same as well.


    "As for the EVL, I have nothing much to say, since their notice wasn''t done with the intention to cause harm, nor could it even do so. They simply pointed out a fact. However, the EVL seems to forget that they are not an official organisation to control or supervise vestige-smiths; they simply exist to offer benefits to vestige-smiths. As such, membership under their umbrella is neither important nor mandatory. The EVL''s board should remember why it exists, and not deviate from that motto."

 Chapter 180 - 180: Giving Up

    "That bastard!"


    *Bam*


    A hole was torn on the roundtable as splinters flew all over the place. The man who was the cause of this was fuming as he stared at the screen in front.


    The location was the conference room of Baylands city-state''s Eretrean Vestige-smith League branch. Once again, the vice-branch-head, chief examiner Hugo, as well as the other five executives had gathered for the meeting.


    "This isn''t how things should go." One of the men sighed.


    Lucas'' interview had already made headlines, but it was a headache to the EVL. The situation was going out of control and not as they had expected, even though they had yet to make a move after Lucas had ignored them.


    "I told you guys yesterday, he''s been looking down on us." One of the men chuckled harshly.


    "Now''s not the time to determine who is right or wrong. Instead, we should discuss how to fix this issue at hand." A man with green hair and a grey suit said.


    "What do you even suggest? How exactly can we fix this? Nothing he said was wrong, and retaliating would make us seem petty. It might even cause a drop in trust from our members." said a man with yellow hair.


    "Are you joking with me?" The man who had chuckled earlier glared at the yellow-haired middle-aged man.


    "What? Do you have a better solution? The EVL was founded to support vestige-smiths. Whether we intend to use it for our own benefits or whatever, we can''t outright deny its purpose. Don''t forget; this is just a branch. All it would take is a word to the head office and every single one of us would be switched out!" The yellow-haired middle-aged man roared.


    Hugo took a look at the faces of everyone and couldn''t help but sweat even more. The entire incident could be attributed to his fault, and the board could even cut him off as a scapegoat for the incident.


    ''No, actually, they would do so.'' Hugo was very much sure of this.


    What he had to do now was to be of use to them so even if he was let off, it wouldn''t be entirely. Rather than being sacked, losing his licence and being banned from the industry, a suspension alongside a fine was what Hugo was targeting now. Even a demotion didn''t look bad to him at the moment.


    "H, how about..."


    Everyone turned to stare at Hugo.


    "How about, we kill him?"


    "..."


    Seeing no one say anything yet, Hugo continued.


    "Think about it. He''s a human, so his death wouldn''t matter much. Also, once his dead, we just need to remain silent for a while or even follow and mourn him, naming him the ''Pioneer of Modern Technology'' or something. With him dead, everyone would eventually forget about the entire issue, and he wouldn''t stand to become a threat to us in the future."


    *Siithh*


    Suddenly, Hugo felt a slight breeze sweep past his cheek. He froze for a second, then extended a finger to rub his cheek. That was when he noticed a wet sensation on it; he was bleeding.


    ''Stellar energy.'' Hugo thought.


    After the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, it became possible for stellar practitioners to control stellar energy externally. However, this wasn''t common since everyone depended on vestiges, which were more powerful.


    "Are you stupid?" The vice-branch-head''s voice sounded.


    "Have you not caused us enough harm already? Kill him and then everything would be all over? Do you take everyone to be an idiot like yourself?!" The man roared.


    Hugo immediately went mute and bowed his head low.


    The vice-branch-head sighed, then glanced at everyone in the room.


    "No one does anything. On this matter, we remain silent, at least until the head is back. This is our loss."


    Admitting a loss in this battle came as a surprise to the other six, but the majority of them felt it was the best course of action. There was no move they could make on Lucas at the moment, and it was best not to do so. The latter had done no wrong despite their well-timed notice which was obvious to the majority as a targeted attack.


    If the EVL were still to act out, it would ruin their image and go contrary to their motto, which was something they had to avoid no matter the cost.


    As for the branch-head, he was a mysterious figure that was barely around, leaving the vice-branch-head to be in-charge most of the time. Despite that, everyone on the board had immense respect from him, deriving both from the latter''s authority and also his strength.


    The branch-head was a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, which meant that he was at the ninth level of the Apertures Opening stage. One more level and he would be able to unlock his superpower. As such, the man was highly respected, even by family heads of the top families in Baylands city-state; which was understandable since these individuals were also at a similar level in strength. Also, being a Tier 1 Grandmaster meant that he could make Grade 5 vestiges, which was something these family heads lusted after. The reason mostly being that the branch-head was the only one on Baylands city-state capable of doing such.


    . . .


    While the EVL were having a headache thanks to Lucas'' speech the previous day, the latter decided to close early for the day. Recently, he had received quite a lot of vestige orders, so much so that even the ones previously on display on the other side of the store were all sold out. As such, all new orders had to be crafted.


    The orders weren''t just limited to weapons again, but they also included the communicator and boots he had made. As such, Lucas had to reduce the hours he had the store open, and he also put a hold on vestige orders so as to meet up.


    "Aigoo~ My back hurts from working so long. I really need a break." Kelvin said as he stretched.


    "Uncle~"


    Melissa ran down the stairs and jumped into Lucas'' arms.


    "Aww. Did you miss me?" Lucas smiled warmly at her.


    "Hmm." Melissa nodded.


    "Staying up alone is boring."


    Lucas chuckled as he patted the head of the little girl.


    Due to the fact that she was still very young ¡ªonly eleven years of age based on her appearance¡ª Lucas decided to have her stay upstairs while he ran the store. Although she was registered as an employee in the system records and was safe from any harassment, Lucas felt it was wrong to actually put an eleven year old girl to work.


    When he saved her, it wasn''t for child labour purposes after all.


    *Knock* *Knock*


    Just then, the sound of a knock came from the door which surprised the trio. There was already a "closed" sign hung on the door, so for someone to still knock despite that, would either mean they were close ¡ªwhich Lucas thought to be impossible¡ª, or it was something or even someone important.


    sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 181 - 181: The Visitor

    [[ If you''re seeing this, I will be posting a redeem code that can be used by ten readers for 10 fps/reader. It will be uploaded in this chapter once it is open to everyone (outside privilege) for fairness. So, once this chapter is open to all, reload it to find the code in the author section. ]]


    [[Edit 22/09/2024: The chapter is now open and I''ve posted the code]]


    "I didn''t expect you to open the door for me." A middle-aged man who sat opposite Lucas smiled as he stared at the latter.


    "Neither did I." Lucas calmly responded.


    Although he said that, the only reason Lucas had let him in despite the store being closed was because the man was a human. Having a human pay him a visit was very rare, even more so, as urgently as the man behaved.


    The man awkwardly laughed a bit before clearing his throat.


    "I''m here for a business proposal."


    "Oh wow, I almost thought you came here for charity purposes."


    Kelvin, who was on the side, choked on his drink at Lucas'' comment. Even Melissa couldn''t help but cover her mouth and hold back her stifled laughter.


    Once again, the man felt embarrassed, but he held back his anger.


    "Let''s get straight to the point." He leaned forward and said.


    "Supply us with vestiges, and we would offer you protection, a hideout, and resources."


    "Why would we need protection or a hideout?" Kelvin couldn''t help but interject.


    However, Lucas didn''t say anything, choosing to instead stare at the latter in the eyes.


    "Who is ''we''?"


    The man smiled at the question before explaining, S§×arch* The n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "You''re pretty smart. We are an organisation dedicated to ensuring that everyone lives an equal life with equal rights and treatment. We are after the erasure of the current status quo which is the social hierarchy that exists amongst us, just because of our species or race. In summary, we desire to destroy the caste system that exists in our society today."


    "Terrorists." Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    "No, not terrorists." The man hurried to explain.


    "While our goals might seem the same, our means are different. The average terrorist utilises forceful means and chaos to make their voices heard, whereas we try to do so within the bindings of the law."


    "Then why do you need vestiges?" Lucas questioned, clearly not believing the man''s words.


    "For self-protection." The man said, before placing a badge on the table.


    Lucas glanced at the badge for a moment, then picked it up to study it. It wasn''t anything special and was shaped like a square. However, upon further scrutiny, he noticed that the craftsmanship was impressive. The badge wasn''t a vestige, but it was so close to being one. It was obvious that whoever made this was right at the doorsteps of becoming a vestige-smith, but was still lacking the most important component; stellar energy and rune technology.


    Apart from that, it was pretty much a quasi-vestige.


    Ignoring the sigil on the badge, Lucas flipped it over and saw a few words that caught his attention; Digress city-state.


    "We are the resistance, or better yet, the fighters for Human and Crossbreed rights; an official organisation recognised by the city-state government of Digress city-state. We are very much legal and not terrorists." The man smiled.


    Lucas didn''t say anything as he was recalling what he knew about Digress city-state. Compared to his previous thoughts on it, Lucas had learnt more about this unique city-state later on.


    Digress city-state was located in the Beast continent, which was quite far from Baylands city-state''s Groeten continent. It was also the only city-state that truly treated humans and crossbreeds equal with hyumans. This was because it was formed majorly of those two species.


    Being so unique, it was inevitable that Digress city-state would attract the attention, and perhaps, disgust, of the other city-states. With the existence of terrorist organisations, which happened to be formed of similar members as the city-state, it made all the other eleven city-states [1] suspicious of Digress city-state. They believed that it supported and even hid the terrorist organisations in its environment, and so, desired its downfall.


    With humans being innately weaker and the population of crossbreeds being nothing compared to that of hyumans, conquering the Digress city-state didn''t seem like a difficult task. However, it had managed to survive for this long.


    This was because, apart from its meagre strength, Digress city-state had received official recognition from the Oklo Dynasty. Hence, it became a true city-state, despite actually being made of just one city, whereas the other eleven had other districts outside the main city.


    Digress city-state was the weakest of the twelve city-states [1], but it had the protection of the Oklo Dynasty which had kept it existing for so long. Nonetheless, the other eleven city-states found ways to bypass this protection and make the city-state suffer.


    They placed sanctions on trade with Digress city-state, forcing it to be self-sufficient. They also limited the rights and freedom of citizens of Digress city-state whenever they came into their states. Also, the treatment wasn''t the best for a Digress city-state citizen, and this was something Lucas had already experienced despite not being one. He always had to make sure that he wasn''t mistaken for a citizen of Digress city-state, otherwise, those around might make life difficult for him.


    A citizen of Digress city-state would always be suspected of being a ''spy'' even if they were a mere tourist.


    "So, then what do you need the vestiges for? You said to protect yourself, but from who? It''s not like you''re asking for a few, but a bulk order." Lucas asked, not yet convinced.


    Who was to say that some of the citizens of Digress city-state weren''t actually terrorists as well.


    "As you may know, Digress city-state is seen as an alien among the twelve city-states. We occasionally have skirmishes with one of them who are located in the same continent as us. Also, we''re making preparations for a war that might break out in the future." The man seriously said.


    "A war? But who would dare to wage a war this era?" Kelvin couldn''t believe what he was hearing.


    After the Oklo Dynasty took charge over hundreds of years ago, the only wars hyumankin has faced were wars against desolate beasts. A hyuman war had never been waged as the Oklo Dynasty forbade it. Once a city-state attempts to wage a war against another, the Oklo Dynasty would step in and dissolve the authority within the city-state, before installing a new one that follows their regulations.


    "You seem to be forgetting something. Back then, there were no terrorists." The man said.


    Kelvin froze. Lucas, however, already figured this part out.


    "Seems you guessed it already." The man said, seeing Lucas'' calm look.


    "This is exactly why we need to prepare. We don''t have vestige-smiths in our numbers and we lack the knowledge to train them, so our only option is to outsource our weapons. But as you already know, the various city-stated have imposed sanctions on us, so we can only approach independent vestige-smiths like yourselves. But even then, not everyone would want to work with us."


    "So you figured that I would, since I am a human, right? Sorry to disappoint you, but my answer is no."

 Chapter 182 - 182: Stygian Abyss

    Lucas, a middle-aged man and Kelvin arranged themselves on a table in the Seven Sparks Forge. While the former two sat opposite the other, Kelvin stood on his two feet a few steps away behind Lucas.


    "Since there would be a war quite soon, we decided to stock up on our supplies, including vestiges."


    The middle-aged narrated his own ordeal and reasons.


    "Truthfully, it would be more helpful to have you in Digress city-state, but I doubt you would even agree to that setup. But at the very least, please help our cause."


    So you figured that I would, since I am a human, right? Sorry to disappoint you, but my answer is no." Lucas calmly responded.


    "...may I ask why?"


    Lucas stared at the man for a while, then sighed.


    "For starters, working with you guys comes with an unnecessary amount of risk. I''m already doing quite well and there''s no reason for me to put myself in a dangerous position.


    "Secondly, there''s not enough information for me to work with here, to be able to trust you.


    "And finally, the compensation package isn''t even worth considering. Resources? I have never lacked those. Even if there''s something I need that I don''t have, I can afford it. Protection? Baylands City is the most secured place in the entire city-state. A hideout? My store is more than suitable for that. There''s no reason I should be tempted by your offer, even without considering the risks."


    The man was speechless for a while before he smiled.


    "That would be true, if it were true."


    "??"


    "You see, the hyumans are right in something. Since Digress city-state is made of the same lineup as the terrorists group, it is quite possible for some of the latter to be hiding within our midst. It is also possible for us to sneak in spies into these organisations." The man mysteriously smiled.


    "There are currently two terrorist organisations operating in Eretre, with each being a force to take seriously even for a city-state."


    ''Two? Let me guess. One or maybe even the both of them have names like the Liberation army or the Dark Abyss.'' Lucas joked inwardly as he listened to the man.


    There was already the HCRO, or the Human and Crossbreed Rights Organisation, so he felt that the remaining ones would have more ''cliche'' name. Naturally, Lucas was joking about it, and didn''t believe that they would do such.


    "Although there were a lot more in the past, the local organisations and groups gathered up to form one of the current terrorist organisations; the Western Front Liberation Army."


    ''...you gotta be kidding me.'' Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "The Western Front Liberation Army is the local terrorist group supposedly fighting for the rights of humans, and mixed breeds. Unlike us, they prefer to take the more extreme route to be heard."


    "Hold on," Kelvin interrupted. "you said that there are two groups. How is that so, if the Western Front Liberation Army is made up of all the previous existing terrorist groups?"


    The man stared at him and sighed while shaking his head.


    "See why I was against having this conversation with you? Your boss hasn''t said a word, yet you have. If it weren''t for him, I wouldn''t even have spoken with you here."


    Kelvin widened his eyes and glared at the man, but didn''t make a move yet.


    "As for the second group, it isn''t local. Instead, they come from outside the planet. To be specific, outside the solar system."


    Lucas and Kelvin froze.


    There was a big difference between the planet, outside the planet and outside the solar system. With each stage, the level of technology available was more advanced. There was a reason why the Kellan solar system was called a backwater, and Eretre was the backwater of a backwater. A terrorist organisation that came from outside the system could possibly destroy the entire planet without any issue.


    "You don''t need to worry. It''s not their full force. It can''t even be called a branch as it is made of only a few original members of the real organisation. They migrated over to Eretre with the intention to spread throughout the Kellan solar system." The man explained.


    "As for their name, I can''t say for certain whether it''s the same with their mother organisation, but they call themselves the ''Stygian Abyss'' [1] or the Stygians for short."


    "..."


    Once again, Lucas was dumbstruck.


    ''It can''t be. Are their founders chuunibyous [2]?''.


    "So what exactly is the difference? Since they have the same goal, why not just unite?" Lucas asked.


    "It''s because they have their differences. To the Stygians, they see things in a larger level, and their focus isn''t solely on Eretre alone. As a result, they''re more violent and carry out their actions without consideration for the environment. The Liberation Army however, understands that Eretre is their home, so even though they utilise extreme methods, they do so within the constraints of what the planet can handle. They also tend to avoid things like wide scale massacres and so on, targeting government and government agencies instead."


    "So that means that the incident in Alleva was a work of the Stygians?" Lucas probed.


    The man smiled instead, choosing not to answer. However, that in itself was an answer to Lucas.


    "Which incident? The desolate beast tide? Wasn''t that caused by a spatial tear from a void beast?" Kelvin was surprised. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The official statement by the Baylands city-state government and military was that the desolate beast tide was caused by spatial tear on Jota, Eretre''s neighbour which was a host to a wide variety of desolate beasts.


    According to the statement, a void beast ¡ªessentially a higher lifeform of a desolate beast¡ª had created a spatial tear on Jota which coincidentally led to Alleva district. In the short while that the spatial tear existed, a large horde of desolate beasts for caught in it or wandered into it of their own volition, and ended up in Baylands city-state''s Alleva district.


    The explanation was logical and with it coming from an official source, many took it to be the truth and didn''t question it. After all, what other explanation could be offered for a wave of desolate beasts appearing in a location extremely far from the nearest desolate beast habitat without any sign?


    However, from the conversation of the duo, Kelvin realised that it was much more complicated than he thought.


    "As for why I made this introduction, it''s quite simple. We have spies in both organisations and we recently discovered a plot from the Stygian Abyss. You, Lucas Saunters, will be in trouble soon; a trouble that no one can save you from and could possibly be the end of you."


    Saying this, the man stood up to leave.


    "Since you don''t want to help us, I''ll leave you with one last piece of advice. Run away from here, as fast as you can before it''s too late."

 Chapter 183 - 183: Chaos In The Central Prefecture

    Four days later...


    The Central Prefecture district was the capital of Baylands City, and in accordance, the centre of Baylands city-state. The name Central Prefecture was gotten from the fact that the district was located precisely at the centre of Baylands City. But it also has another background.


    In the past, before the district system came to be, the original Baylands City was divided into prefectures. Later on, as the city began expanding its reach and influence, the district division system was used and the twenty districts were created. While the fifteen districts were made from the newly acquired land during Baylands City''s expansion phase, the prefectures of the city were all restructured into the five major districts.


    The Central Prefecture, however, was the only untouched prefecture that was directly converted into a district. The reason for this was none other than the existence of the headquarters of the various bureaus and agencies being located here, as well as the fact that the prefecture was seen as an ''upper district'' [1]. As such, it became known as the Central Prefecture district.


    The Central Prefecture of today wasn''t the same as in the past. With the expansion of the original Baylands City''s influence to now become a city-state, the Central Prefecture district -being the capital of the city- was the centre of power and authority of the city-state. The city-state''s wealthiest and most powerful individuals and families either lived here or had a building here. Even those who were based in other districts either relocated here, or constructed a massive building here to serve as their regional headquarters.


    Unlike the other districts, the Central Prefecture district didn''t have any companies or industries based here. Although there were stores and the likes, no company was allowed to construct an administrative office on these grounds. This was done to preserve the mature of the district; the concentration of power and wealth.


    With all these in mind, the security of the Central Prefecture district was top notch. For instance, the only way to enter the district was through the light-train stations, with each station only having two pathways on opposite ends; one which was used by the light-rail trains to get in or out of the station and the other was used by civilians to exit the station and step into the district. Meanwhile, the entire district was veiled in an invisible barrier to defend against invaders or spies.


    There was also the fact that every security agency in the city-state was headquartered here with a garrison present at all times.


    Finally, entry into the Central Prefecture district was only possible through a pass that not just anyone could get. All these layers of security not only ensured that the district was the safest place possible, but also created a sort of caste system that differentiated the people in the city.


    "But it will all change, starting today."


    A literal four-eyed humanoid creature spoke.


    The speaker had two legs and two arms just like a hyuman, but with four eyes; the upper horizontal pair appeared like a regular hyuman''s pair of eyes, while the lower pair were narrow slits. Each pair was coloured differently, with the irises of the upper pair being brown, while the lower pair were purple.


    The creature''s ears were vertical, just like an elf, but they were much thinner and closer to the head. On each arm, there were a pair of blades sticking out: one from the forearm and another from the upper arm of each arm.


    The creature also had a maroon (brownish-red) skin tone, which was very rare in Eretre.


    If lieutenant Lily of the Red Fangs, or anyone else from the security agencies were present here, they would be able to identify the creature as the hyuman-evonika hybrid terrorist who was one of the culprits of the Bayena Plain incident. The terrorist known as Ginon.


    "Men, let us grant these bastards of the universe a glimpse of their future." Ginon chuckled.


    Behind him were a group of five individuals who were dressed in strange clothing. All six of them stood atop a six storey building away from the public''s eye. But it was only a matter of time until the security spotted them. Regardless of that, it didn''t matter to Ginon as that was more than enough time for them to begin. In fact, they had already started the purge.


    *Boom*


    An explosion reverberated as a building a few dozen metres away exploded, injuring the passers-by and killing the residents of the building.


    However, this was just the start.


    *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*


    Explosions sounded one after the other with some drowning out the other like a cacophony of tones. Smoke and dust polluted the air as screams broke out in the entire region. Body parts, blood, and rubble were the theme of the scene as the crowd scurried away from the area. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Let them know who we are. Let them fear us even in their nightmares. Men, attack!"


    Ginon roared, giving the order to his men.


    The five behind him jumped from the building with strange objects in their hands. As they fell down, they tossed these objects far away.


    The objects abruptly imploded after a few seconds, creating spatial tears in midair. Without a doubt, those objects were space-bombs; a technology that not even the Oklo Dynasty could use as much they wanted.


    After the space-bombs detonated, they created spatial tears hat existed in midair. The spatial tears took only two seconds to stabilise, turning into wormholes with a fixed destination. A second later, silhouettes forced their way out of the wormholes and began rampaging around the district.


    The new arrivals weren''t just terrorists but also robots developed precisely for battle. They wasted no time to begin wreaking havoc and taking lives wherever they went. Within just two minutes, the entire street was unrecognisable, and the number of corpses formed from the attacks were already in the dozens.


    The attacks were so abrupt that not even the security agencies could save everyone. In just five minutes, the death toll was already up to one hundred lives and it was still increasing.


    "Let''s go. We have our targets." Ginon smiled before departing from the scene.

 Chapter 184 - 184: Chaos In The Central Prefecture 2

    At the moment, the Central Prefecture district was riddled with chaos. With every second that went by, properties were destroyed with lives lost, as the terrorist waged war against the district.


    Due to the fact that it preserved its original state as a prefecture, the Central Prefecture district was smaller than the other four districts of Baylands City. This made it possible for one to easily travel within the city as long as they had a ride to do so.


    "Men, move out. Prioritise rescuing the civilians and ensure that nobody else dies. After that, focus on defeating the invaders. Once again, the main objective is civilian rescue. Back up would soon arrive, so be careful until then."


    Even though the attack came as a shock and prevented the security agencies from reacting timely, they were still professional and organised. It only took a short while for orders to be given and units dispatched to make amends.


    The Baylands City Patrol Corps, the Red Fangs, the Baylands City Defence Force, and even the other paramilitary groups and private forces of the top families, all spurred into action seeing the havoc that was taking place.


    The Central Prefecture district was the concentration of the main camps of the three security organisations. This meant that there were quite a few elite figures present, and under their command, the security agencies managed to take down a significant number of terrorists while saving many lives.


    Even the director of the Red Fangs ¡ªa seventh level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner¡ª as well as a few captains (fifth level) and lieutenants (fourth level) were forced into action. With such powerful individuals taking on rescue and counter-strike actions, it was inevitable that the district''s calm was slowly returning back to place.


    "Captain, look!"


    One of the CDF (City Defence Force) soldiers signalled at his team leader.


    "Oh God!" The sergeant stared wide-eyed at the spatial tears that hung in midair.


    The small unit, which could only classify as a team by military standards, was made up of four men including the sergeant; as was normally done in the Baylands city-state military.


    The team was one of the first units to respond to the danger and they were closer to the centre of the event. This was because they were coincidentally on their day-off and had visited a store together to relax.


    "Contact the bureau or something." The sergeant said to his teammates.


    Spatial tears were unique existences, and in some cases, they couldn''t even be sensed by the modern technology available to Baylands city-state. As such, it was a military protocol to inform the centre of commands about such anomalies upon sighting them.


    Very soon, the entire personnel who were working to defend the district had all received fresh information from the Baylands City Defence Force, which assumed command over them by directive. Whether they be Red Fangs, Patrol Corps members, the military (Defence Force), security teams of top families or even independent freelancers and groups, they were all given an update on the situation.


    First, the event was categorised as a Class B danger, which meant that it was a threat to an entire district.


    Second, they were informed about the breaches in space and requested to aim their efforts towards moving towards the spatial tears and stopping the outflow of enemy units from them. This was meant for the public agencies skilled at handling threats; which to be precise, were the Red Fangs and the Baylands City Defence Force.


    Third, the priority remained in securing the safety of the citizens, and aiding evacuation efforts. This task was meant for the Baylands City Patrol Corps, the private forces of families and companies, as well as independent freelancers and groups.


    Having received commands, everyone began to work properly with a goal in mind. Evacuation measures were carried out, and with the support of an effective freelancer force, the measures were sped up and carried out safely. Equipment made for stopping spatial breaches were also being deployed from the Defence Force barracks in the district. It was looking as if the situation was about to come to an end. However, unknown to everyone else, the real danger laid elsewhere. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Y, you, what are you doing? Who are you?" A man stared at a silhouette that walked towards him.


    "Secu-"


    "Die." The shadow grinned and struck at the man.


    Similar situations took place in five other places where individuals of influence and wealth, whether they be man or woman, were assassinated.


    The culprits were none other than Ginon and his five lackeys.


    With the chaos in the Central Prefecture district, all the security agencies were occupied with stopping the attacks of the terrorists escaping the breach in space. Many thought this to be an invasion of theirs to seize the district, so all attention was placed on the battlefield. However, the truth could not be any more different than that.


    While everyone was caught up in the chaos, Ginon and his five lackeys who had started it all, hid within the confusion and destruction. Their intention was to take down the actual targets of the mission: powerful, wealthy, and influential people of Baylands city-state.


    This had been their goal from the start, and it was one they aimed to achieve even at the cost of sacrificing hundreds of their men. Every single one of their targets wasn''t a simple rich man or a random person. They were all pre-ordinated targets and people who held true power in the city-state. Furthermore, some of them were even members of the Cabinet; a legislative chair of government that was just below the city-lord [1].


    It was clear that once the dust of the chaos settled and news got out, confusion and pandemonium would break out, with a power struggle following suit. What the terrorists, or rather, the Stygian Abyss aimed was for this to happen. With a power struggle taking place along with the existing confusion and disarray, it would become easier for them to operate within the city-state.


    Not more than an hour had gone by since the start of the entire ''parade'', but there were already fifteen individuals of recognisable influence and power who had been assassinated amidst the mayhem; seven of them were members of the cabinet as well.


    However, luck was no longer on their side as one of them was caught, and with the security agencies already holding back the attack as they prepared to close the breaches.


    "Who are you?!"


    A young man who had just stepped into the study roared as he saw Ginon standing beside the desk. On the chair that faced the entrance, an old man sat quietly.


    Upon closer inspection, the young man realised that it was his father who was now dead.


    "Security!" The young man yelled with a mix of fear, anxiety, and anger.


    "Hmm, guess it''s time for me to leave." Ginon chuckled.


    "But before that, it wouldn''t be nice of me to not reunite you with your father. Hehe."

 Chapter 185 - 185: Briefing

    Two hours later, the situation had already calmed down. The district was now undergoing search and rescue efforts with the media on their way to report the incident. However, due to the severity of the event, the Baylands City Patrol Corps was informed to prevent the media teams from reaching the scene of the event under the guise of investigations being carried out.


    Meanwhile, the city-lord had called for a meeting with all the high-ranking officials in the security department.


    Present in the meeting were all the Lieutenant Colonels from the fifteen districts, who were at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage. The highest commander in the Baylands City Defence Force, the Lieutenant Colonel General [1]¡ªa ninth level stellar practitioner¡ª was also in attendance [. There were also the twenty directors of the Baylands City Patrol Corps who were a mix of sixth and seventh level stellar practitioners, with the Red Fangs director present to make it twenty-one.


    The Chief of Police, an eighth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, was also present.


    The commissioner of police, a seventh level stellar practitioner and also a member of the Bergs family, the number one most powerful family in Baylands city-state, was also there.


    Every top level management in the security department was all present, either physically or through a virtual transmission. The latter was for the directors and lieutenant colonels who were stationed in the other districts and had to remain present just in case of an attack.


    The city-lord, a tenth level stellar practitioner ¡ªan existence who had unlocked his latent talent and superpower¡ª chaired the meeting at the host seat.


    "Brief me." The city-lord, Noah Bergs, said.


    The chief of police, who was present in person, stood up and gave a report.


    The death count was at least three hundred hyumans and counting. The number of heavy injuries was at least five hundred, while light injuries neared a thousand. There were no definite figures for any of the victims because search and rescue efforts were still ongoing. But the numbers alone made the atmosphere turn cold and quiet.


    "How did they get in?" Noah asked.


    No one could identify whether he was angry and unbothered by the situation, but no one intended on finding out. There was both a mix of fear and respect for the city-lord.


    "We, we don''t know to be exact." The chief of police stuttered.


    It was incredible to find an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner being anxious in the presence of another hyuman, but there was no one in the meeting who found this strange.


    Not much was known about the city-lord, but everyone knew that he was a firm man. He was so dedicated to his task that he didn''t even mind offending the top four families, including the Bergs family which he came from.


    For such an individual, the last thing one would want to do was to offend him.


    The chief of police took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing, S§×arch* The Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We have footage of their actions and it seems that they utilised space-bombs."


    A video was immediately projected in the midst of the individuals present. The most unique thing about the projection was that irrespective of which direction or angle one viewed it, it would appear as if they were directly facing the clip.


    "From the figures we calibrated, the spatial tears formed from the bombs weren''t random but stabilised. In other words, these are space-bombs that birth wormholes with fixed coordinates."


    The Red Fangs'' director smirked at this comment.


    Previously, during the Alleva district desolate beast tide incident, he had raised up the theory that the beasts came about due to a wormhole with set coordinates. He surmised that this was an act by a terrorist organisation, and they had teleported desolate beasts purposely to Alleva district.


    His theory was brushed off as many doubted that a local terrorist group could gain access to a technology that not even the Oklo Dynasty had. The Oklo Dynasty had space-bombs, but their bombs created wormholes with a random destination; much like the one used by Ginon and his Saurian colleague, Mikolos, to escape back in the Bayena Plain incident. We for space-bombs with fixed wormhole coordinates, those could only be found in the main planet of the solar system.


    However, now there was solid evidence to prove that his theory, which was chalked as a delusional conjecture, was very much real.


    The others in attendance were all powerful figures and they heard the muffled snicker from the director, but no one said a thing. Even the Lieutenant Colonel General of the Defence Force and the Commissioner of Police, who were both higher ranked, had no comments.


    "We were unable to figure out the primary coordinates of the wormhole, so we don''t have much information on hand."


    "Didn''t you manage to capture any of them?" The city-lord finally frowned.


    "... We did, but once they were caught, they yelled out a sentence and blew up." The chief of police said after a bit of hesitation.


    "What did they say?" The Red Fangs'' director suddenly sat up.


    "Know your place." The commissioner finally spoke up, rebuking the director for speaking out of place.


    He was incensed partly because of the behaviour of the director, and also because their original guess was wrong and the director was right.


    During the Alleva district desolate beasts tide case, a meeting was held to discuss the issue. The commissioner was one of those who was against the Red Fangs'' director''s hypothesis and felt it to be ludicrous. In his opinion then, it was impossible for a group of terrorists to possess technology that even the Oklo Dynasty couldn''t research. Now that he was proven wrong and the latter turned out to be right, he couldn''t help but burn with shame.


    If they had agreed to the director''s suggestion, there would have been a lookout for the terrorists using the technology to infiltrate the city. Security would have been boosted and this event prevented. However, that had never happened and they became victims to a dastardly catastrophe.


    As the commissioner of police, he couldn''t help but feel that he was to be at fault for this. Hence, when he saw the director speak out of line, he couldn''t help but want to get one back at him and so, rebuked the latter.


    However, the city-lord waved at him to calm down.


    Seeing that all was well, the chief of police continued,


    "From the reports of my men, they said a unique line: ''At the end of the abyss lies the light. From the abyss, the light shall pour forth. As the messengers of the dark, we shall bring forth the light''."

 Chapter 186 - 186: Briefing 2

    "The Stygian Abyss."


    The Red Fangs director widened his eyes in shock.


    "The what?" The rest were a bit confused, even the commissioner.


    The director turned to the city-lord who nodded at him.


    "The Stygian Abyss is a terrorist organisation that operates on a galactic scale. In other words, they aren''t originally from here."


    "Galactic terrorists?" Everyone was shocked.


    Galactic terrorist organisations weren''t people they could deal with. Since they normally had bases in multiple star regions and solar systems, these groups had access to large manpower, funds, and even advanced technology. It would then make sense why they had such space-bombs in their possession, but this didn''t calm them at all; on the contrary, it made them even more afraid.


    For Galactic terrorist organisations, wiping out a city-state such as Baylands was as easy as making coffee.


    "Yes, but they''re most likely just some remnant scum that made their way over to the Kellan solar system. If they were a major branch, we wouldn''t have lasted this long." The director said.


    Everyone suddenly froze at those words. There was a mix of shame, denial, and awkwardness, but they all knew that what he said was the truth.


    "How can you be so sure?" A lieutenant colonel from one of the fifteen districts asked with a curious look on his face.


    "You can look up that line on the Blue Mist Star net." The director calmly answered.


    Whereas the Kellan Solar System Intranet covered only the solar system, the Blue Mist Star Net was a much larger intranet that covered all the solar systems in the Blue Mist star region, including the Kellan solar system. The KSSI could be described as a miniature branch network of the Blue Mist Star Net.


    No one said anything, while some of them actually went on to check. The city-lord knew this and didn''t continue the meeting, choosing to give them enough time to confirm their search.


    In less than a minute, a strange look flashed in the eyes of a few while some of them sighed.


    "Since you have all confirmed the veracity of the report, let us continue." The city-lord said with a placid tone.


    It was obvious that he knew about the Stygian Abyss and had identified them as well from the phrase, just like the Red Fangs director did.


    "If they''re galactic terrorists, isn''t this out of our ability?" A director from the Baylands City Patrol Corps said. He was the director from Alleva district.


    "In a way." The Lieutenant Colonel General spoke up.


    "We have reports coming in that the same situation occurred in two other city-states apart from us. And like those city-states, important personnel were assassinated in the dark, albeit this part is yet to be confirmed."


    "So what? Are they trying to cause mayhem or something?" The commissioner of police frowned.


    "Not quite." The Red Fangs director spoke up again.


    At this point, the two were used to him doing this and no one bothered to rebuke him for it.


    "The last time, we made the previous mistake of brushing the matter off. This time around, we are taking it for granted; as an act of rebellion or a move to make a statement. However, what if there''s actually a hidden plot within all of this?"


    Everyone suddenly went quiet and creased their brows in thought.


    "And what would that be?" A lieutenant colonel from one of the fifteen districts asked.


    "A distraction. What if all of this is a distraction of theirs. Or what if this is a step to a more complicated goal?" The Red Fangs director said.


    "So many what ifs, but we can''t be sure of anything. At this point, what difference does it make?" A Patrol Corps director was at the seventh level interrupted. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Red Fangs director didn''t say anything, choosing to ignore the latter.


    "No matter what it may be, we have to figure it out." The city-lord finally spoke up.


    Everyone immediately turned serious and they realised that he was about to give his orders.


    "Sweep through the entire city-state and look for traces of the Stygian Abyss; most especially Alleva district and Baylands City. They have carried out massive attacks in these regions, proving that they have the ability to go in and out. This implies that they have connections rooted within these locations. I want those connections found and uprooted. The other districts should also take note to ensure that they don''t become victims.


    "Security should be tightened in Baylands City, and the city remains under lockdown for the next forty-eight hours. Compensation packages should be offered to the family of the deceased, and I want border security tightened. All efforts should be put into making sure that this incident never repeats itself again


    "Since this is a matter of galactic terrorists, I will contact the other city-lords and inform them. After that, I will make a report to the Oklo Dynasty about the matter, informing them of the presence of complex space-bombs in the area.


    "Even if they''re galactic terrorists, I want everyone to know that we have to do our best to stop them and protect the city we love. That will be all."


    "What about the press? What should we tell them?" The commissioner of police asked.


    It was impossible to keep the truth hidden from the public, however, being honest would cause problems. If the people were to find out that a terrorist organisation had managed to carry out a large scale assault in the most secure place in the entire city-state, one could imagine the unrest and pandemonium the information would cause. Hence, it was necessary for a proper explanation to be given.


    "Draft a statement to be released to the press in the next hour. Tell them the truth, but omit the Stygian Abyss. Place the blame on the Western Front Liberation Army" The city-lord said.


    The Western Front Liberation Army was a popular terrorist organisation in Eretre that had started all the way from the west of the Groeten continent, hence the name ''Western Front''. They had grown to such a powerful level by absorbing the other terrorist groups on the continent, and forming a merger with another powerful organisation from a different continent, the Liberation Army.


    The current Western Front Liberation Army was now a force almost on par with a city-state, and it was taken as a serious opponent by the eleven city-states. Digress city-state was not a target of the Western Front Liberation Army, so they didn''t engage in fights with them either. As for the Oklo Dynasty''s city-state, it was suicidal for the Western Front Liberation Army to even attack them. The Oklo Dynasty also wasn''t a fan of bullying the weak, so they didn''t bother with the terrorist organisation that they saw as harmless.


    The commissioner, the chief of police, and even the lieutenant colonel general all widened their eyes in surprise to the city-lord''s statement. To let the people know the truth of the matter was going to be problematic, and would have severe consequences.


    "But-"


    The city-lord waved his hand and cut the commissioner off.


    "That is my command."


    With the city-lord saying this, the commissioner and all the others went silent.


    "The Patrol Corps should be on the lookout. If this is indeed the work of the Stygian Abyss, they would want to make a difference in this time. Take note of any suspicious individuals during this period."


    With that, the city-lord ended the briefing.

 Chapter 187 - 187: Framed

    Before the evening of the same day, the commissioner of police ¡ªMunroe Bergs of the Bergs family¡ª had already drafted a statement for the press conference in accordance with the city lord, Noah Bergs'' wish.


    Once it was evening, Baylands City Patrol Corps (BCPC) public relations department, held a press conference where they finally released an official statement. The speaker in the conference, who just happened to be the director of the BCPC for the Central Prefecture district, explained the situation just as it had happened. He only omitted the fact that the terrorist organisation behind the attack was the Stygian Abyss, as this was the order of the city lord.


    Naturally, once this conference was over, the public was stunned. Many media channels had already been reporting about the incident ever since it was over. So, when the press conference was announced, they chose to broadcast it live.


    The viewer ratings were sky-high for every media channel, with the most popular ones like the Baylands City News Network (BCNN), having the highest viewer ratings. The evening programme, Evening News Updates, broke previous records for the most viewed programme on the channel.


    Compared to the report after the Alleva district desolate beast tide was taken care of, the programme of the day had even more viewers. This was because the incident today occurred, not in any of the fifteen districts, but Baylands City which was the capital of the city-state. Furthermore, it took place at the centre of the city; the centre of wealth, power, and authority. As such, it was bound to happen that the incident would attract more attention than past events.


    "The death count currently stands at, at least, three hundred and seventy-two hyumans. The number of heavy injuries is at least five hundred and thirty-six, while light injuries come close to one thousand. All emergency networks, hospitals, and agencies have been working for over seven hours already. Search and rescue efforts have been ongoing for the past couple of hours, and it is possible for changes to be made to these numbers. Fiona Von Aurst, the famed presenter on the BCNN, spoke.


    The news was like a prelude to chaos and confusion, but the only good thing was that it was currently dark. The Patrol Corps had also been dispatched to ensure that no riots sparked. However, to many, this simply felt like the calm before the storm.


    "This is terrible." Kelvin frowned as he watched the news broadcast.


    Even Melissa, who happened to be downstairs at the moment since the store was now closed, shivered a bit. There was fear in her eyes as she watched the scenes of destruction and terror.


    Lucas didn''t say anything, but the look on his face wasn''t a pleasant one. For some reason, Lucas could feel a sense of foreboding as he watched the broadcast. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Is this what he meant?''


    Lucas recalled the visit four days ago by the man from Digress city-state.


    The visitor had hinted to him that drastic changes would soon take place in the city following a monumental event that would occur. According to the man, Lucas would get caught up in the event and would be a victim of it, even if he did nothing but sit back.


    The man had even suggested that Lucas leave Baylands city-state for his own safety, but he had refused. It wasn''t such an easy thing to just pack and go, and since he knew nothing about the man, Lucas couldn''t simply trust him because of some scary words.


    ''But, how does this affect?'' Lucas frowned as his brain whirred into action.


    He began thinking of various possibilities that would have him involved, but nothing solid came to mind. The best Lucas could think of was that the event would cause a massive shift in perspective for the hyumans in the city. They would begin to treat humans and hybrids more terribly than they had ever done before. However, that wasn''t enough to be called a threat worth relocating.


    ''Then what? The best I could think of is linking me with the terrorists, but how is that possible? Everyone has seen me present in the store for the majority of the time I''ve been here. Even the major companies have sent their spies to monitor me, so they can also serve as my alibi. There''s no solid evidence to hold me responsible for anything.'' Lucas thought.


    Despite that, the feeling of apprehension was still on the rise.


    Lucas sighed and prepared to walk into the work-station. In times like this where he was filled with worry, Lucas would retreat to his safe zone which was the work-station. There, he would carry out his therapy session to calm his mind. Naturally, this therapy session was simply Lucas creating a vestige.


    It was then that he noticed Melissa who was slowly beginning to spasm. Worry immediately flashed through his eyes as Lucas yelled at Kelvin.


    "Turn it off."


    He threw away his stress and anxiety, rushing forward to hold the little girl in his arms.


    "It''s alright. It''s alright. You''re safe." Lucas whispered in her eyes and he hugged her tightly.


    Lucas guessed that she was reacting like this due to the trauma she had experienced in Alleva district. Melissa might have lost her memory, but she occasionally had nightmares about the destruction of her village. The event had left a scar in her memory and heart, but it had only shown itself through nightmares. Today was the first time that Melissa had reacted so violently.


    After a few minutes of comforting her, Lucas realised that Melissa was now better. He then gave up his plan of visiting his safe zone and decided to stay with her through the night.


    "You can leave early today." Lucas said as he carried Melissa upstairs.


    . . .


    The next day came about soon. The sun rose in the air, brightening the city with the scent of the morning dew faintly noticeable. It seemed like just another busy day, but the air in the famous Baylands City was different from the usual energetic feeling it always had. There was a feeling of apprehension, worry, and anxiety even as people went about their daily lives. It was clear that the event of yesterday was still fresh in their minds, and it was beginning to have an effect on the citizens.


    Meanwhile, Lucas woke up early and came downstairs to prepare for the new day. The work-station doubled as his kitchen, so Lucas usually made his way there early in the morning to make breakfast. But before he could open the door to the workshop, Lucas'' actions were interrupted with a loud bang on the door.


    *Bam* *Bam* *Bam*


    "Boss open up, quickly! There''s trouble!"

 Chapter 188 - 188: The Conspiracy From The Shadows

    "Boss open up, quickly! There''s trouble!" Kelvin banged on the door.


    Lucas froze for a second before walking towards the door. For some reason, he could feel his heart beating with unease and agitation, but he did well to mask that.


    "What''s the matter that couldn''t wait until later in the day?" Lucas said as soon as he opened the door.


    "It''s bad, boss. Bad, big time bad." Kelvin said as he stepped into the store.


    "Have you seen the news? Or the media? What about Kikao?"


    "I just woke up. What do you take me for? Some internet addict?" Lucas'' lips twitched.


    "Take a look at this."


    Kelvin ignored the question before projecting a few articles from his communicator.


    {{ Shocking: Seven Sparks Forge in secret alliance with terrorists? }}


    {{ Limited SS vestige spotted in the hands of the terrorists? Do they have a secret supply line or is the store a secret supplier? }}


    {{ Terrorist spy uncovered: The tale of how a vestige-smith business worked undercover as a supplier for terrorists }}


    "...what is the meaning of this?" Lucas grimaced as he stared at the projections.


    There were at least seven projections, but their topic was roughly the same. Some of them had the image and logo of the store, while others had Lucas'' face on it as he was the face of the store. Regardless of whichever it was, the articles all shared the same contents; Lucas was a terrorist and the Seven Sparks Forge was secretly supplying terrorists with vestiges.


    "This is absurd. Since when did the media make such insane comments without confirming their sources." Lucas almost flared at the spot.


    What terrorist spy? What secret supporter? What supplier?


    It was understandable that there were secret suppliers for terrorists, after all, vestiges were strictly regulated. It might seem like there were a lot, but this was because of Lucas'' area of work.


    For one to get a vestige, they either had to be: a registered freelancer with a licence; a registered security agent, especially a public security agent like a member of the Patrol Corps or Defence Force; or they had to have a permit from the official regulation agency. To get a permit, one would need a recommendation from a strong freelancer or a high ranking security agent.


    With these regulations in place, it was difficult for the average fellow to own a vestige. Vestige-smiths, as well as businesses, were banned from selling vestiges to anyone who failed to fulfill one of those conditions.


    It was impossible for a terrorist to fulfill those conditions as they were either human or hybrid.


    For a human, it was impossible to be a freelancer or work in a public security agency because they were innately weak. As for getting a recommendation to apply for a permit, that was even more difficult for them for both the previous reason as well as the stigma attached to humans; a combination of the disgust hyumans had for them as well as the suspicion that all humans were potential terrorists.


    For the hybrids, the suspicion that they could be a terrorist played a part in making it difficult for them to get a permit. While they could apply to be a freelancer, life wouldn''t necessarily get better. Also, Baylands City had almost no hybrids.


    Based on all of this, the only way for terrorist organisations to get access to vestiges ¡ªof which the bulk was produced in Baylands City¡ª was to make covert deals with vestige-smith businesses and dealerships [1]. As such, it was natural to suspect them for supporting terrorists.


    However, Lucas didn''t understand how he got caught up in this. He had been doing his best to keep a distance away from such topics, and even from the Digress city-state. Regardless, Lucas was still somehow caught up in a crazy web of lies.


    "Hold on, play that video for me."


    Lucas pointed at the second projection.


    It wasn''t just an image as there was a clip attached to the post.


    Kelvin immediately played the video clip and Lucas finally understood what had happened.


    In the video, the scene was that of the Central Prefecture district that got attacked just the previous day. However, one of the terrorists that attacked was in possession of a unique vestige. It appeared to be a spear, but in the course of the battle, the spear transformed into a sniper rifle which he used to kill a few agents.


    At first, Lucas was shocked and thought it was his Blue Spear, but the design was slightly different and even the colour wasn''t the same.


    One of the reasons the Blue Spear went by that name was because it was blue in colour. So far, Lucas didn''t take custom orders for the spear no matter how much people wanted to offer. As such, he was confident that the vestige the terrorist used had nothing to do with him.


    "It''s not mine." Lucas said.


    "I know." Kelvin replied. "I never doubted you, boss."


    Lucas glanced at the latter, a bit surprised by his behaviour. Although they were employer and employee, Kelvin hadn''t even worked in the store for up to three months. There was no reason for him to trust Lucas with such conviction.


    "Why so?" Lucas asked, a little bit curious. S§×arch* The N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Because you aren''t so stupid to make such a mistake, if you were a spy." Kelvin smiled.


    ''Fucking brat.'' Lucas cursed as he erased all his positive feelings about Kelvin.


    ''But he''s right. This is such a flawed attempt at framing me. The question is, this should be so obvious, but why is the media reporting it like it''s the truth?'' Lucas began contemplating with a frown on his face.


    It only took him two seconds to figure out why.


    ''It can''t be...''


    Lucas froze.


    There was only one reason that such a flawed plot would be preached by the media as if it were the new gospel. There was someone fanning the flames behind all of this. However, the party behind was definitely not one person, neither were they weak. What''s more, there had to be a reason why they were so bold as to carry on with this complot.


    One should know that if it didn''t work out, Lucas could sue for defamation, harassment, emotional and psychological abuse, unfair business practice, and many more offences. By the time he was done, even if the parties involved didn''t go bankrupt, their businesses and reputation would take such a huge hit, that it would be very difficult for them to recover.


    Despite the very high risks involved, the plotting side still went on with this scheme. Therefore, the only explanation was that they were confident; very confident. For that to be true, it meant that they had a very powerful backer supporting them as well.


    For some reason, Lucas'' unease began to grow even worse. It was clear that there was a conspiracy ongoing, and it was targeted at him.

 Chapter 189 - 189: Caught In A Web

    Lucas calmly sat down and began arranging his thoughts.


    First, the Stygian Abyss had clearly planned this scene. They had arranged for their members to use a modified SS vestige during the attack, and planned to purposely get caught by the security camera and satellites active at the time. After browsing through the forums and news networks, Lucas found at least four similar videos, so it wasn''t a fluke.


    This was probably the Stygian Abyss'' retaliation against Lucas for killing Ramirez and interrupting their plans.


    Secondly, a malicious party made use of this video evidence to begin attacking Lucas and the store. They didn''t care whether it was false or real, and controlled many media networks to report on it, ensuring that all posts made Lucas appear to be a spy.


    The most likely suspect was the alliance, but Lucas doubted that. During the short war he had with the alliance, he realised that they didn''t have a strong hold on the media, and only controlled a couple of channels. The Legacy Crafts dealership had even managed to get some others to report against them.


    However, this incident was reported by over eighty percent (80%) of all media channels, so it was clear that this wasn''t the work of the alliance. There was a possibility that they might still be involved, but they weren''t the orchestrator of this conspiracy.


    Third, the main orchestrator was either of significant influence and power, or was backed by someone or some force that fulfilled those conditions. In other words, Lucas'' opponent was more or less one or even more of the top powers of Baylands City. The most likely candidates for this were the top four families.


    The top four families didn''t just wield massive wealth or a strong hold on the economy. They also possessed real power.


    From what Lucas knew, the city lord was decided by the Cabinet, which was a legislative assembly that had some executive powers. However, they were below the city-lord in terms of true power and authority. Despite that, the Cabinet had the authority to impeach the city-lord, although such has never happened in the past.


    The Cabinet was made of sixty (60) representatives, of which twenty (20) of them were voted in to represent the twenty districts. As for the remaining forty (40), they were unequally split amongst the top factions in Baylands city-state. The top four families, in particular, had the largest slots for cabinet seats. The combined number shared by the four families was twenty (20) seats, which was evenly split into five seats for each family. Meanwhile, the remaining twenty (20) slots were hotly contested by more than fifteen factions.


    From this, one could see how much influence and power the top four families had; and this was already aside from the insane amount of wealth they possessed.


    If it were these families, it wasn''t impossible for one of them to influence the majority of the media channels as long as they were willing to bear the cost.


    But the issue was, Lucas had never crossed paths with them, asides from the Mertens family''s younger generation, Vergil and Laura Mertens. But that was only a greeting, and there wasn''t much interaction for hatred to form.


    ''Greed.'' Lucas sighed.


    He wasn''t dumb, and he could already figure out why one of the top four families was after him. What other reason could it be than the fact that Lucas was in control of a technology that could redefine the vestige-smith industry?


    The amount of wealth that could be generated in a year would be astounding.


    Just from the twenty pieces each of the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger vestiges ¡ªtotalling forty vestige¡ª Lucas had sold to the Legacy Crafts dealership, he made almost one million federal coins in revenue. He still had a four-year long contract to supply them ten of each vestige, totalling twenty.


    That would mean that in a month, Lucas would make almost half a million federal coins in revenue. In a year, he was making five million, five hundred and twenty thousand (5520000) [1] in revenue. By the end of the four-year contract, Lucas would have made a bit over twenty-two million federal coins in revenue. Even with the system reduction rate of sixty-five percent (65%), Lucas would still have earned more than seven million and seven hundred thousand (7700000) federal coins.


    Such a staggering amount could get him into the list of top one hundred richest in some districts, and the top five thousand in Baylands City; and this was without considering the profits he made from selling the two vestiges on his own, or even the three new vestiges Lucas had released recently.


    It was only natural that even a top four family would lust after the cash cow that was Lucas'' store.


    However, if it were one of the top four families, that erased the possibility that they were working with the Stygian Abyss. Doing so was tantamount to damnation, and no family head would be so stupid. It was more likely that they decided to take advantage of the situation, and the Stygian Abyss had predicted such would happen.


    ''But I''m not such an easy target.'' Lucas'' eyes flashed as he tapped the table as he began considering how to respond to the three points.


    ''Even though the vestige appears to be a Blue Spear, everyone knows that the store only produces blue coloured ones. The fact it appears to be modified could vindicate me. However, they should have figured that out. I''m guessing they would use the fact that each vestige could easily be tracked, then investigate the owners. As long a they can''t find the exact ones that appeared on the videos, the suspicion would come back to me, and it would seem as if I sold some vestiges through a secret backdoor.''


    Lucas sighed.


    Suddenly, his eyes flashed.


    ''Is that actually one of mine?''


    Lucas had originally been thinking that the vestiges used in the videos were bought by the Stygian Abyss through a proxy. If that were the case, an investigation into all the customers who got one would eventually lead to something and Lucas would be found innocent. But if it were that simple, the orchestrator of this incident wouldn''t have been so confident as to attack right away.


    The event occurred yesterday and it might seem like there wasn''t much time, but over twelve hours had gone by. Due to the gravity of the situation, all security agencies were working overtime and diligently. As such, twelve hours was enough for the Baylands City Patrol Corps to do a background search on all the customers that got an SS vestige, and even go through their activities from the previous month until now.


    A top four family would be able to get their hands on that information, especially since it was mentioned in the news that some of their seating representatives were murdered yesterday. That would give them more justification to be privy to confidential information.


    This meant that the customers were clean. By logic, it would mean that the terrorists got their hands on the vestiges from the Seven Sparks Forge. However, Lucas was confident that such had never happened. There was no transaction carried out in his store discretely.


    So, the only explanation was that the SS vestiges used in those videos were all fakes. But then came another question, did the orchestrator of this plot know about this? What if they knew, but didn''t care?


    For some reason, Lucas believed that they knew, but didn''t care. It was his words against theirs, and it was quite obvious who the public would believe. S§×ar?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 190 - 190: Harassment

    Lucas spent the rest of the early hours of the morning, figuring out the entirety of the conspiracy to the best he could. There was a saying, know your enemy better than yourself. Since the opponent was hidden in the dark, all Lucas could do at the moment was to try and guess what their plans could be and who they were.


    After three hours of deep reflection, Lucas had a rough idea of the complot and felt that he could predict the future situations.


    ''Since they''ve isolated me, their next step would be to contact me.'' Lucas thought as he stood up from the chair.


    Since the target aimed for the technology he had, or to be specific, the vestige-smith backing Lucas, they would do everything in their power to force the character out. By the time that no one steps out, the mastermind would approach Lucas instead. There was also the possibility that they wouldn''t even wait so long before doing so.


    The reason was because there existed the possibility that the vestige-smith behind Lucas was a Tier 1 Master. Offending such a character was a very dumb move as not only were they strong, but they were also few and had a ton of connections. If the city pushed such a character too much, the other side might retaliate vehemently. It might even turn from a false accusation to the vestige-smith truly supplying the terrorists with vestiges on the condition that they destroy the mastermind. As such, this entire conspiracy might not last beyond a month.


    However, Lucas knew the truth, which was that there was no vestige-smith backing him. He was the one who had made those vestiges, but no one else knew this fact. Actually, Lucas had told the store''s first customers during the early days, but none of them believed him, and even if he repeated the same now, no one would still believe him.


    This was natural after all, the SS vestiges were as powerful as Grade 4 vestiges without actually being at that rank. The level and expertise needed to achieve this was something far out of the reach of a human.


    With nothing else to do, Lucas opened the store and went into the work-station to begin his day.


    . . .


    Time passed by and even after two hours from the usual opening time, there was no customer in the store. This was strange, after all, the Seven Sparks Forge was the hottest vestige-smith store in the city, despite its secluded location. Everyone knew the opening time of the store, and within the first two to three hours, there would have been at least twenty customers already. But today, there was none.


    While Lucas didn''t say anything about this, Kelvin ¡ªwho ran the store¡ª began to feel anxious. He knew that the reason for the lack of customers was definitely related to the news from earlier.


    Just as he was wondering whether to go outside and understand the situation better, the door opened.


    "Welcome." Kelvin reflexively said with a bit of relief as he turned towards the entrance.


    However, he was shocked once his eyes glimpsed at the door''s direction.


    A group of men who appeared to be together walked into the store with heavy countenances. Like the average hyuman, they had different hair colour, but the vibe they gave off was cold and aggressive. Some of them even held objects in their hands as they walked into the store.


    Kelvin narrowed his eyes as he stared at the five young men. He was beginning to have a bad feeling about the group.


    "Where''s the owner?" One of them, who had white hair and stood at the front, said with a cold look on his face.


    From his position amongst the five and their body language, it was clear that he was the leader of the group.


    "What do you want?" Kelvin asked, choosing not to answer him.


    He wanted to figure out their goal as well as their intentions, before deciding on how to react. It was quite clear to him that their intention wasn''t as simple as coming to request a vestige.


    "Don''t ask us stupid questions, and bring out your owner!"


    One of the men who stood beside their leader roared. His violent behaviour suited him perfectly as he sported red hair with a pair of red eyes. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Troublesome.'' Kelvin frowned while scrutinising them once more.


    Being an entry Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Kelvin was at the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage. This might sound low, but a fourth level stellar practitioner was already an elite of society in everyday life.


    With his strength, Kelvin was able to see a lot more than the average hyuman could. He discovered that the group of five men were all low levelled practitioners. They couldn''t even be called freelancers as the strongest of them was barely at the peak of the first level. It was most likely that they were average individuals.


    However, this confused Kelvin. The Seven Sparks Forge was a store that catered to freelancers and similar occupations, and not the average hyuman. As such, a question remained stuck in his head; why were they here?


    "I''m sorry, but you can''t meet with the boss. He''s busy and since you have no business here, please leave. Otherwise, I would have to press charges for obstructing the business and invasion of private property."


    "Don''t shit with me now! Call that human scum out here, now!" The violent member of the group shouted.


    Kelvin''s face immediately turned dark. He finally understood what they were here for; this group was here to cause trouble and not for business purposes.


    Despite knowing this however, Kelvin had to remain professional even when addressing them, as they were weaker than him.


    "Kindly refrain from such cursing and leave the store this very moment, otherwise I would have to use force." Kelvin uttered a warning to the group.


    "Go ahead you, bastard." Another one of the five said who had brown hair.


    "I can''t believe you call yourself a hyuman, yet you work your ass off for a terrorist scum like a mutt." cursed the fourth member of the group.


    "This is your last chance." Kelvin''s gaze turned cold.


    "Come on. Attack us, slave scum. I bet all you''re good at is kissing human ass. You''re a disgrace to the hyumankin." The brown-haired young man said.


    The red-haired fellow with violent tendencies behaved even more outrageous as he spat at Kelvin.


    He then sneered as he spoke up,


    "Heh. Garbage such as you should go kill yourself."

 Chapter 191 - 191: Contract Termination

    "Heh. Garbage such as you should go kill yourself."


    Kelvin''s countenance changed after those words, but he still refused to address the situation with force. The Seven Sparks Forge was already in a bad situation and it would only get worse if he attacked these regular folks. If the other side were freelancers, there wouldn''t be much of an issue attacking them, but they were regular people.


    While Kelvin was hesitating on how to deal with them, the red-haired thug had already lost his patience. He abruptly made his move, swinging at Kelvin the bat he walked into the store with.


    ''Shit.'' Kelvin cursed, yet hesitated as he couldn''t figure out the best course of action.


    Suddenly, a silhouette flew past Kelvin.


    *Bam*


    The red-haired thug was sent flying until he collided into the wall.


    The rest of the crew were stunned, before turning towards the culprit.


    "I don''t recall my store tolerating scum such as yourself. You should have left after the warning." Lucas glared at the four young men who remained standing.


    "You bastard. You finally show yourself." One of them shouted.


    "Noisy."


    Lucas turned to him and abruptly made his move. Within just a second, Lucas had arrived in front of him and grabbed the latter in the face with his palm.


    "Yo-"


    The young man didn''t even have the opportunity to complete a word as Lucas lifted him up and swung him towards the exit.


    *Bang*


    "Attack this asshole." The leader of the gang roared as the trio charged at Lucas.


    Lucas stared calmly at the incoming trio as if he was facing a bunch of kids.


    Just as the closest was only a metre away, Lucas made his move and darted at the group.


    The weapons and fists sent his way were easily dodged as Lucas began his counterattack. A punch to the brown-haired young man and a kick to the white-haired gang leader. He grabbed the arm of the last man from behind and threw him towards the brown-haired fellow.


    Just as the leader had recovered from the heavy kick Lucas gave him, his vision was clouded with the sight of a fist that landed squarely on his face. Lucas didn''t give him any breathing space as he unleashed a flurry of attacks that knocked the young man out. He then proceeded to do the same to the other two.


    "Clean the place up." Lucas said to Kelvin after he was done.


    There wasn''t even the sound of groaning from the young men as they were all knocked out by Lucas. Only the two from earlier were still somewhat conscious, albeit groaning in pain.


    "I''m sorry." Kelvin apologized.


    He felt that as the front-desk staff, it was his job to handle the group. Despite that, he had hesitated to use force, which had resulted in Lucas having to step in.


    Lucas had only displayed a peak Body Strengthening stage strength ¡ªwhich was his real power level¡ª yet he had taken down two first level stellar practitioners with one at the peak, and three peak Body Strengthening stage practitioners. Although it appeared easy, Kelvin felt that Lucas had worked himself out and it made him feel bad.


    "Don''t worry about it." Lucas replied.


    In truth, he wasn''t bothered, but was a bit relieved. If Kelvin had utilised force on the group, he would get dragged into this incident once it came to light. With the burden of his father''s store already approaching bankruptcy, an extra burden would do a lot of damage. It was with that consideration in mind that Lucas had made his move before Kelvin got caught up in the situation.


    "Once you''re done, you can leave early today."


    "But-"


    "No buts." Lucas cut him off.


    "I doubt we would be having any customers today, so there''s no need for you to spend your time here. It''s an order." S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "...alright." Kelvin sighed.


    After dragging the group outside, he left the store.


    Meanwhile, Lucas sat down and sighed. He could foresee the situation getting worse, but there was nothing to do about it yet.


    The day continued with the store having no customers. There were a few terrorist haters, just like the gang of five, who showed up to the store. Some of them were victims of past terrorist attacks, losing their family members or friends in those attacks. Others had either lost their job, wealth, or simply hated terrorists. They all gathered at the home of a suspected terrorist sympathiser all in a bid to teach him a lesson or force him to confess.


    Naturally, Lucas gave them no opportunity to do such. He closed up the store and stayed indoors. With the system''s protection, unless it was permitted by Lucas, no one could enter the store. What''s more, the building was difficult to damage. Even the glass windows were resistant to the strikes of the mob who tried to force their way in.


    In the end, some of them went back to their homes while the others decided to camp out for Lucas.


    "This is getting out of hand." Lucas frowned.


    The time was 4pm, yet there were still at least twelve individuals outside the store. Lucas had always lived an independent nature, so he didn''t need to leave the store for anything. His supplies were still enough for both him and Melissa to last a month. But that didn''t mean that Lucas wanted to hole himself up for a month.


    Just as he was considering what to do next, Lucas received an email from Lucy.


    Lucy was the agent from Novanio Tech, who had convinced Lucas to partner with the company. She was transferred to the Legacy Crafts dealership and had taken on a high position thanks to her achievement. Apart from that, she also acted as an intermediary to Lucas on behalf of the company.


    Reading the contents of the message, Lucas'' composure suddenly shook. This was the first time Lucas was heavily affected by a situation. Even when he saw the posts from the various media channels, Lucas had only frowned at them. He was even more concerned about Melissa''s state of mind than the news. However, the fact that his facial expression significantly changed after reading the email, said a lot about how it affected him.


    The details of the email weren''t much. It first started off with a short greeting before Lucy got to the point. The higher-ups of Novanio Tech had sent down an order to the Legacy Crafts dealership. They were to hold a board meeting and figure out a way to terminate their contract with Lucas without taking a significant loss.


    Since the order came from the higher-ups in Novanio Tech, not even Lucy could help Lucas. It was decided by the board of directors of Novanio Tech, and those in favour of it even included Lucy''s superiors in her faction. From this, it was clear that Novanio Tech was determined to cut off all relationships with Lucas, despite the massive amount of profit they stood to gain, or the loss they would take from terminating the contract.


    "Is this how it ends, huh?" Lucas sighed.

 Chapter 192 - 192: Melissas Fascination

    Five days went by, most of which Lucas had in the store. This couldn''t be helped as the store was being stalked by some extremists. The good thing was that it didn''t matter to Lucas as he was a fan of seclusion.


    With no commissions, Lucas had a lot of free time on his hand. At the same time, most of his previous acquaintances and business had begun to cut off contact with him. The Legacy Crafts dealership wasn''t the only one who acted this way. Some of the stores Lucas had frequented in the past, especially when sourcing for materials, had sent him an email with an official notice banning him from their buildings.


    Businesses weren''t the only ones giving Lucas the cold treatment. Harry Reid, the first customer Lucas happened to have had, had even cut off contact with Lucas. Previously, he had been occasionally interacting with Lucas both on- and offline. But ever since the incident started four days ago, Harry had failed to check up on him.


    Once again, Lucas wasn''t surprised nor bothered by this. Having lived two lives, with one of them adding up to more than five hundred years alone, it was assured that Lucas would learn a lot about the human mind and behaviour. Although hyumans were another species, they descended directly from humans, and had taken a kit from them.


    With no one checking up on him, Lucas spent the majority of his time in the work-station or with Melissa. The little girl had no one to call family, and with the situation being as it was, it became difficult to consider getting Melissa enrolled in an academy. In the end, Lucas decided to homeschool her.


    As for Kelvin, Lucas had given him a temporary leave until further notice. Since the business wouldn''t be getting any customers, there was no need to have Kelvin come to the store. Even without him being physically present in the store, Lucas could still utilise the benefits of the Employee Hire Function.


    "Big brother look, I drew a sword."


    The eleven year old Melissa smiled as she showed Lucas her drawing.


    Being raised by him, it was inevitable that Melissa would take some interest in what Lucas did. Since she barely left the store, she spent the most of her time looking at the vestiges on display and eventually got fascinated by them. Lucas had yet to test her talent for vestige-smithing as he didn''t plan to force it on her. But in the end, it seemed like the little girl was showing signs of attraction to the occupation, so it would eventually have to happen.


    Apart from teaching her basic knowledge about society, language, and culture, Lucas took Melissa with him to the work-station after she pleaded him to do so four days ago. Since then, she would try to come up with her own designs and show them to Lucas.


    The drawing was surprisingly detailed, showing that Melissa had talent in this aspect. Although she had a bit of guidance from Lucas, it had only been four days since then, yet her skills were that of an entry-level artist.


    "Hmm. It looks okay, but the design is a bit tacky. You also have to consider the spacing for the runes and also the thickness of the metal." Lucas made some corrections for her.


    When it came to vestige-smithing, Lucas always took on a serious face. Even if the student was a five year old, Lucas didn''t care and would criticise their work as he sees fit. S~ea??h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Surprisingly, Melissa wasn''t the type of child to begin crying upon facing criticism. She would nod when she understood or keep a blank face at Lucas, signalling that she was confused. This would make him try to explain it in a much simpler term for her.


    Despite being only eleven years of age and having lived in a settlement where she was treated like a second-class citizen, Melissa was a smart kid who was talented in many aspects.


    Whenever Lucas spent time teaching her, he always felt as if he was back in his first life.


    Back then, when Yohan was three hundred years old, he had met a little girl who was orphaned. The girl reminded him of himself and one thing led to another, Yohan decided to raise the girl as his daughter as well as his last student. Two hundred years later, she became a Two star Master blacksmith [1]. To be able to reach this rank without the support of a powerful mage guild, a sect or even an empire, was a testament to her skills and also Yohan''s teaching ability.


    Lucas was confident that if she had one hundred years more of his guidance, it was possible for her to become a five star Master blacksmith; an existence at the cusp of being a Grandmaster. However, that was all in the past now. Although Melissa reminded him of his last student, there was no certainty that Melissa would be as talented as she was.


    ''It''s been five days now. They should be showing up any time soon.'' Lucas thought after making some corrections to Melissa''s drawing.


    From his previous conjectures, Lucas had surmised that the mastermind of this entire conspiracy did so to get their hands on the technology of the store. To do that, they had to bait the vestige-smith behind the store, but without offending the latter.


    The reason for this condition was that the vestige-smith was possibly a high ranking Tier 1 Master, and offending such a character was a dumb move. There was also a slight possibility that the backer was a Tier 1 Grandmaster, after all, there had been many Tier 1 Masters, but none had been able to achieve what the Seven Sparks Forge did.


    If it were this slim possiblity, it would be the dumbest move for the mastermind to offend them too much. So far, the Seven Sparks Forge couldn''t really be said to have suffered much, from the viewpoint of those at the top. Even if the vestige-smith backing the store came out and turned out to be someone they couldn''t afford to offend, the mastermind could easily make amends for the losses incurred.


    However, five days had gone by and the vestige-smith had yet to show up. Naturally, this would make the mastermind worried.


    There could only be a few logical reasons, with one of them being that the vestige-smith simply didn''t care much about the store. Based on the fact that he had a human run it and never bothered to make much vestiges or invest much into the store, this seemed like a logical possibility. If that were the case, it would then mean that the SS vestiges would no longer appear in Baylands city-state. That was a loss not even the city-lord could tolerate, and the mastermind would suffer a lot due to it.


    Who knows, the next time an SS vestige appears would be in some other city-state, and the city-state would learn from Baylands city-state''s mistake and treat the store even better. This would turn both the Baylands city-state and the city-lord into a laughing stock.


    With such a possibility in view, the mastermind would have to step out soon enough and reach out to Lucas to make a deal.


    Just as Lucas was thinking this, he heard a knock on the door.

 Chapter 193 - 193: The Mastermind...?

    *Dum* *Dum*


    "Mr Lucas Saunters? Are you up?"


    Lucas stared at the direction of the store.


    The store had been closed with a sign hung up in front, so it was impossible for anyone to get inside without Lucas'' permission. There was no doorbell installed either as Lucas didn''t want to be disturbed after opening time. Hence, the only option for the person on the other side was to knock on the door.


    "Come in." Lucas calmly said, granting the person permission to step in.


    After a second, the visitor pushed the door and this time, it opened. He wasn''t surprised by this as a similar locking technology was in place in almost every household.


    "Sorry for coming to your place at such a time." The newcomer smiled. sea??h th§× ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although he said that, the sun was still up so it wasn''t an inconvenient time. However, as Lucas had locked the door and gone on a break from work, it could be said to be an unsuitable time for visits.


    Lucas glanced at the newcomer and scanned them.


    It was a middle-aged man with a grey beard. He wore a black suit with a watch on his wrist. With his experienced eyes, Lucas could tell that they were all vestiges. The suit was a defensive piece of clothing that could take on attacks up to the fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage. In other words, it was a Grade 2 vestige. The watch on his hand probably doubled as a communicator as well. But the most astonishing fact about the wrist watch was that it was actually made using one of Lucas'' modified stellar processors.


    After the two main SS vestiges, the Blue Spear and Dark Dagger, Lucas produced three new sets of vestiges as a response to the harassment he got from the alliance of vestige-smith companies who stood against him. Two of the three vestiges relied on a special type of stellar processor that only Lucas could make.


    In truth, the stellar processor was just a modified version of an existing stellar processor provided to Lucas by Novanio Tech. However, it was far more powerful than regular stellar processors and had exceeded many of them in benchmark tests.


    Getting access to this new processor wasn''t something just anyone could do since Lucas was the only one capable of producing the modified processors. The only way one could get them was by buying the wrist-type communicator he had made, then disassembling the product and extracting the stellar processor from it. That was the only explanation as to how the man had a wristwatch made with the stellar processor.


    ''That''s not all.''


    Lucas stared at the watch a bit more.


    At first, he had thought that it was a simple wristwatch made using his modified stellar processor, but he turned out to be wrong. It was actually a customised version of his wrist-type communicator''s third model.


    The wrist-type communicator was called Claudia 9, and there were three models to it, all powered using the modified stellar processors nicknamed SS processors.


    All Claudia 9, irrespective of the model, has a special software called ''Beginner''s Guide for Freelancers''. It contained part of Lucas'' knowledge on desolate beasts and their behaviours, strengths, weaknesses and appearances as well as information on some special materials; all of which were knowledge he got from the system.


    The SS processors were fitted with ''cores'' which helped store stellar energy absorbed passively by the processors. This stellar energy could then be used for multiple functions such as powering the magic runes or stellar circuits on the communicator, or speeding up the processor''s processing ability.


    The Claudia 9 mainstream model could transform into a dagger. The Claudia 9 Devon 2 model could transform into a vambrace with defensive capabilities.


    Finally was the third model, Claudia 9 S, which unlike the other two, couldn''t transform into anything. But what it could do was to use the stored up stellar energy to recover the wearer''s stellar energy, or help in their stellar refinement. Because of this ability, the S model became the hottest product amongst all three models.


    As he studied the man''s wristwatch, Lucas realised that it was actually a customised version of the Claudia 9 S model, and this surprised him. Lucas never made customised editions for his products, so the only explanation was that the man had gotten it from elsewhere.


    Although the changes made weren''t much, it wasn''t easy to make custom changes to the Claudia 9 model without a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in vestige-smithing. Even then, one could only make small changes. One would then need to be familiar with the Claudia 9 vestige.


    Being familiar didn''t mean knowing how to make one as that was impossible for anyone except Lucas. They only needed to understand the logic of how it worked and the common components within it. But even this was a difficult task, even for experts.


    ''The terrorists who used those vestiges also seemed to have gotten them from someone who could copy my products really well.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes before staring at the man.


    "Oh, this?" The man smiled as he glanced at his watch. It was obvious that he knew that it had caught Lucas'' attention.


    "It''s nothing special. I got it over a week ago from Legacy Crafts dealership. It took a bit of effort on my side to have them sell it to me through the back." The man chuckled.


    "To what do I owe this visit, and who are you?" Lucas calmly asked.


    Whether the man had his product or not didn''t matter; Lucas had already been paid for it by the Legacy Crafts dealership. What mattered was his purpose of coming here.


    "I am Calhner Bergs, of the Bergs family. I work as the family''s aide for external affairs." Calhner smiled before handing Lucas a card.


    Lucas accepted the card and glanced at it. The material of the card was of high quality. It wasn''t paper, but a gemstone. Yes; an entire business card carved out from a single gemstone. What''s more, the gemstone was one of high-quality and could easily reach the monthly salary of an average worker in one of the fifteen districts.


    "Business hasn''t been doing well lately, huh?" Calhner said as he took a look at the place.


    "A bit, yeah. But I don''t mind. It''s been such a long time since I''ve had a break." Lucas responded.


    Calhner chuckled before facing Lucas again.


    "I''ll get straight to the point since you seem like a man who''s straightforward. The Bergs family is interested in a collaboration with you. In exchange, we would use our influence to get rid of the rumours and ensure you take your place back in the industry."

 Chapter 194 - 194: An Insane Proposition

    (( Check Auxiliary chapter for a special announcement))


    "I''ll get straight to the point since you seem like a man who''s straightforward. The Bergs family is interested in collaborating with you. In exchange, we would use our influence to dismiss the rumours and ensure you take your place back in the industry."


    Calhner Bergs extended the Bergs family''s offer to Lucas.


    Lucas didn''t answer right away, as his mind was elsewhere.


    ''The Bergs family seems like the most likely suspect for the role of the mastermind.''


    Lucas had done some digging on the top four families after the Exceptional Basis Examination at the EVL branch headquarters, and he also did so again some days ago, to understand his potential opponents.


    The Bergs family is the number one family in Baylands city-state and has a sobriquet known to every household; the City Lord family. The moniker didn''t come about due to the fact that the current city lord was from the Bergs family. Rather, it was because of the fact that the Bergs family had raised three successive generations of city lords.


    To appreciate and understand how incredible this feat was needed to know how a city-lord came to be.


    The Cabinet¡ªwhich was a sixty-man legislative assembly made of representatives of the most powerful factions and the twenty districts¡ªhad the right to decide the city lord through a voting process. After the result was sent over to the Oklo Dynasty for certification by the royal family, the city lord would then be sworn in. Every city lord ruled for a tenure of ten years with no limit. However, every three years, a referendum to pass a vote of confidence or no-confidence would be carried out by the Cabinet. This was where the Cabinet''s ability to impeach the city-lord came about, but so far, no city-lord has ever suffered from an impeachment according to the records.


    After the ten-year tenure, the city-lord could still run again. Usually, a city lord would rule for three to five successive tenures, which was the equivalent of thirty to fifty years.


    Although Baylands City came about some six hundred years ago, this voting system only came to be when the city-state was founded, which was about five hundred years ago. In those five hundred years, there had been fifteen different city lords. To have three city lords come from a single family was without a doubt something to boast about.


    Apart from being the family of three city lords, the Bergs family also had a different identity.


    The Bergs family had started out as a merchant family before diving into the military and politics. At the moment, they were known for their military prowess and political influence, thanks to holding the position of city lord for three consecutive years. The fact that the commissioner of police was a Bergs, was a good example of this. However, this made people forget that the Bergs family had a knack for making money. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Using the perks they got from being a city-lord family, the Bergs acquired a ton of properties and built quite a few businesses, enriching their pockets and strengthening the family even more. Who knew just how many companies secretly had the Bergs controlling them?


    From all of this, they seemed to be the most likely suspect to be the mastermind. Whether it was political power, wealth or influence, they had it all. However, Lucas lacked evidence to accuse them.


    "Like you said before, I''m a straightforward man. So, what exactly can the Bergs offer me that would interest me?" Lucas asked.


    Calhner was surprised a bit, but he still maintained a calm demeanour with a smile on his face.


    "You should already have figured out that this entire event has a hand behind it."


    Lucas nodded his head,


    "Indeed, but I don''t know who that is."


    "I''m sorry, but I can''t say that." Calhner replied. He then continued.


    "However, what I can say is that if you work with us, you wouldn''t need to worry about that. We will offer you protection to the best of our ability. We will also give you access to tons of rare resources, financial support for expansion, and more."


    Although it sounded like Calhner was talking to Lucas, it was more of him relaying the Bergs family''s conditions to the vestige-smith behind the store. The Bergs family believed that there was at least a high-ranking Tier 1 Master vestige-smith backing the store, but for this negotiations, they saw no reason to call the fellow out. Instead, they had decided to present their terms to Lucas, believing that he would be smart enough to know what they implied.


    Lucas stared at him for a short while before he asked again.


    "In exchange for what?"


    Seeing as he wasn''t outrightly rejected, Calhner smiled at him.


    "Nothing in this world is free. To gain something, you have to lose or offer something else.


    "The Bergs family simply wants a fixed set of vestiges sent to us at cost price. Apart from that, we would send a few of our talented vestige-smiths to help your master in vestige-smithing. I''m pretty sure that making so many vestiges would be strenuous for him, so he would appreciate some helping hands.


    "Finally, we would want to have exclusive distribution rights, whether within Baylands city-state or as regards exports. Rest assured that the vestiges would be bought at standard price." Calhner said.


    "That will be all. You don''t need to give me a response now. But the family would be pleased if we get one within a week. There''s probably going to be more like me, but it would be in your best interests to partner with the city-lord family."


    Following that, he stood up and left the store.


    The terms weren''t for Lucas to agree on as no one believed he was the real owner of the store. Instead, it was for the vestige-smith backing the store. Calhner informed Lucas of the terms so he could discuss it with his ''master''. Since he was done with that, there was no reason to spend any more time with a nauseating existence.


    Lucas watched the latter depart but made no effort to send him off. Instead, he simply chuckled deep down.


    The terms Calhner stated were all absurd and there was no way he would agree to anything like that.


    The first condition was to sell some of the vestiges at cost price to the Bergs family. Cost price didn''t mean the system''s price, but rather, the price based on the materials used and little consideration for labour. Ignoring the fact that the system wouldn''t allow that, there was no way Lucas would let himself be taken advantage of like that. Just this condition alone made Lucas wipe away the thought of partnering with the Bergs family.


    The second condition was even wilder. It was to allow some of the Bergs family''s vestige-smiths work with Lucas'' master. Ignoring the fact that such a master didn''t exist, the Bergs family''s intention was clearly to learn the secret of the SS vestiges. This was because it was next to impossible for any vestige-smith to aid Lucas in producing these vestiges without understanding the fundamental workings of them.


    What made the SS vestiges special was the stellar circuit technology, but Lucas'' forging and inscription techniques also played a significant role in making the SS vestiges unique and impossible to replicate. If the vestige-smiths from the Bergs family were to help, they would need to be taught some of these techniques. However, there was no way Lucas would pass such knowledge to anyone that wasn''t his disciple.


    Hence, this second demand was impossible to satisfy.


    The third stipulation was that the Bergs family handled all internal and external trades regarding the SS vestiges. Although it wasn''t as impossible to fulfill as the other two requirements, it was still out of consideration. Even the Legacy Crafts dealership had only asked for exclusive distribution rights in Baylands city-state whilst excluding Baylands City from their area of operation. However, the Bergs family''s appetite was even larger as they asked for exclusive distribution rights everywhere.


    This would essentially mean that Lucas could only sell his vestiges to the Bergs family, and no one else.


    Calhner Bergs had presented to Lucas three demands for cooperation raised up by the Bergs family. However, all three were impossible for Lucas to accept. In other words, it was impossible for Lucas to ally with the Bergs family.


    Lucas tossed the idea of cooperation behind his head and began pondering on Calhner''s last sentence. He mentioned how there would be more people coming to offer Lucas a hand in the days to come. This made Lucas a bit confused.


    From how Calhner spoke and responded to his questions, it was difficult to ascertain whether the Bergs family was the main culprit of this incident. To be specific, it was difficult to determine whether they were the only ones.


    Lucas believed that the Bergs family definitely had a hand in this, but he wasn''t sure whether they were the only party involved.


    The Bergs family alone was enough to pull off the conspiracy, but if there were more involved, it made the situation even more complicated for Lucas. If all top four families were involved, it would mean that there was no place for Lucas in Baylands city-state. This would imply that the advice he got from the man from Digress city-state was correct; the only solution would be to escape.


    ''Well, he did say that the others would show up, so I''ll find out then.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.

 Chapter 195 - 195: Pressure From All Angles

    Three days later...


    After the Bergs family''s aide for external matters, Calhner Bergs, showed up at the store, it irked Lucas just a bit. When the meeting came to an end, the former had informed Lucas that there would be more individuals like himself coming to see Lucas. During these three days, the words of Calhner Bergs turned out to be true.


    The next day, it had been the butler of the Dufour family that came to Lucas'' doorsteps.


    Similar to the Bergs family, the Dufour family was a top four family that had previously produced a city lord once. However, that wasn''t where the family''s power and influence came from.


    The Dufour family dealt in the business of unique minerals and ores ¡ªa contrast to the Mertens family that sold desolate beast parts and materials. The Dufours also have a large share of the serum market. Serums were drugs with unique properties similar to the magic potions from Lucas'' past life.


    The Dufour family is known to sell various serums with different effects, except for the Synno serum. But in the past, it was different.


    The Synno serum is the serum used by hyumans to increase their mDNA concentration. While hyumans were born with a fixed m(o)DNA (Metamorphosed DNA) count in their genes, which was the naturally occurring form, the Synno serum was an artificial version of the mDNA, known as m(z)DNA (Metarmorphized DNA). When injected into the hyuman body, it would attach itself to hyuman''s genes and work in tandem with the m(o)DNA in increasing the body''s stellar affinity. Hence, one''s overall mDNA concentration would experience an increase [1].


    Due to the special effects of the Synno serum, not just anyone could sell it, with only official governments having the right to do so. However, the Dufour family had once engaged in the trade of the Synno serum, especially when they held the city lord''s position.


    The family forged connections with serum providers and creators in the Oklo Dynasty and ventured into the business. As a result, even after they lost the right to sell Synno serums, they were still able to make another business venture and remain in the serum market.


    The Dufour family''s connections in the Oklo Dynasty was what made them a fearful opponent for the other top families. With them almost running a monopoly in the serum market, the amount of money the Dufours made on a daily basis could make many eyes go green with envy.


    To further solidify their control and influence in the market, the Dufour family had gone into an alliance with the Bergs family, becoming their number one supporter. It was said that one of the reasons the Bergs family was able to produce three consecutive city lords was thanks to the support of the Dufour family in the Cabinet.


    Of the sixty cabinet seats, ten were already on the side of the Bergs family, therefore requiring only twenty one more for a majority vote. With the combined influence of the Bergs and Dufour family, one could see how the former had held power for so long.


    A combination of connections, influence, history, and wealth, easily made the Dufour family rank second in the entire Baylands city-state; only behind the undisputed city lord family.


    On the second day, another of the top four visited Lucas.


    The Ross family was the last member of the top four and also the weakest. They were the most recent arrival into the top four after the fall of the Oder family from the rankings.


    Unlike their predecessor, the family was into technology and electronics business. They ran a company that imported stellar processors just like Novanio Tech, with a net worth close to one billion federal coins. When the representative of the family met with Lucas, he presented roughly the same conditions to Lucas as Novanio Tech did.


    There were some discrepancies in the contract, like the demand to have some of the vestige-smiths work with Lucas'' ''master'', and a fixed number of vestiges to be sold to them at cost price. However, they also offered to provide Lucas with stellar processors at a cheaper price than market rate, which would be more economical than Lucas'' chip deal with Novanio Tech before.


    They also didn''t ask for exclusive distribution rights in the entirety of Baylands city-state; they excluded Baylands City just as Novanio Tech did. For exporting rights, the Ross family only asked for exclusive distribution rights in the Groeten continent. This gave Lucas the opportunity to be able to partner up with either local or foreign companies for distribution in other continents, albeit that would be difficult.


    The Ross family also, offered to aid in the design and development of new vestiges, especially in the consumer sector. While this would profit them more, since they ran an electronics and consumer tech company, it would also increase the Seven Sparks Forge market influence.


    Compared to the other two top four families that arrived earlier ¡ªthe Bergs and the Dufour families ¡ª the Ross family''s, proposals were much better. However, Lucas couldn''t let them meet with his ''master'' as there was no such individual. He also wouldn''t want them to learn his techniques unless the vestige-smiths agreed to be his disciples, which meant leaving the Ross family. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, the stipulation to sell a fixed number of SS vestiges at cost price was similarly impossible to fulfil.


    Apart from these two top families, there were also a couple other influential parties that showed up. Some of them were alliances of different groups who held some degree of power in the city-state and the Cabinet, while some were factions that had once sat at the top, and were confident about themselves, like the Oder family.


    Regardless of which they were, Lucas didn''t give them a response and none of them hampered him for one. It seemed like they had all agreed to give Lucas a one week period to consider their proposals. From this, Lucas understood that the entire conspiracy and complex was much larger than he had expected.


    It wasn''t just one party or a group, but the entire top factions that had agreed to take advantage of him. If Lucas wanted to keep running the store in Baylands city-state, or even survive, he had to pick a side.


    Just as he was having this thought, someone knocked on the door.


    ''So they''re finally here.''

 Chapter 196 - 196: The Mertens Invitation

    Upon opening the door, Lucas was confronted by a young teen with black hair. Although the newcomer wasn''t quite who he had expected, Lucas had correctly guessed his identity.


    "Yo, boss man. Been a while." The famous playboy of the Central Prefecture district, Vergil Mertens, walked into the store with a wide grin on his face.


    "You''re the one you''re family sent?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised by his presence.


    The Mertens was the only member of the top four families that had yet to pay Lucas a visit. Seeing as each of the top four visited him once a day, Lucas guessed that the Mertens family''s representative would arrive today; and he was right, just that it turned out to be the playboy.


    On one hand, Vergil''s presence seemed like a disrespectful move, since the other families had sent someone of the older generation with an appropriate position to meet with him.


    For instance, the Bergs family had sent their advisor and aide for external affairs, Calhner Bergs. The Dufour family had sent the family head''s youngest step-brother, who was the sixth in-line to the title in that generation. The Ross family had also sent someone of an appropriate identity to meet with Lucas.


    However, while the Mertens family''s decision might seem disrespectful, it actually wasn''t. Although Vergil was known to have a bad track record and name on the streets, he was also the family''s second-most talented figure of the younger generation. At the same time, he was placed on a pedestal and identified as the one to help the family step into the vestige-smith industry.


    Finally, he was the next in-line for the title of family head, since his father was the current family head.


    All this added together made Vergil to be of a higher rank than the previous visitors Lucas had met with.


    "Hey, don''t be like that. The young master is here, and this is how you greet me?" Vergil smirked.


    He was an easygoing person who didn''t have the same inherent pride as Maximillus Oder. To Vergil, everyone was the same, whether human or hyuman. In their two encounters, even as strangers, Vergil had treated Lucas better than the others.


    "So, what''s the special visit for? Here to relay your proposals?" Lucas glanced at Vergil with a questioning look.


    "Nah. Pressuring innocent people isn''t my thing." Vergil waved him off.


    "I''m here to send you an invitation. It''s from my father. He wishes to meet with you at the family house this evening."


    Vergil immediately took out an envelope and handed it to Lucas.


    Lucas was immediately stunned. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It seemed like the Mertens family worked differently from others. If it was a simple invitation, they could have sent it to him through his contact details; for the Mertens family, it shouldn''t be difficult to get that. Even if they wanted to hand Lucas a physical invite as a form of respect, they could simply have someone else do so rather than Vergil. To use the family''s successor as a deliveryman, it could only mean that the Mertens family wanted to display their sincerity in cooperating.


    But then again, why invite Lucas to the family house for that?


    The question couldn''t help but make Lucas wonder.


    "What makes you guys think I would show up?" Lucas stared at Vergil as he released a bit of his aura.


    Although Vergil was at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, he was still quite young and didn''t have as much battle experience as Lucas did. All he had to do was release an appropriate amount of ferocity and bloodlust, and Lucas could mess with Vergil''s psyche.


    "You said previously that you don''t like pressuring the innocent. Then you should know my situation, as well as the truth. Now I wonder, does your family have a hand in this? If they do, doesn''t that contradict your earlier statement?"


    Each question struck Vergil directly, making him hesitate how to answer. Together with the aura Lucas released, he began shuddering.


    "...I understand your concerns." Vergil said as he gritted his teeth, while withstanding the aura.


    "But believe me when I say this; my family has no hand in this."


    Lucas stared at him for a second more, before recalling his aura and accepting the envelope.


    "Evening, huh? I guess I''ll try to make it."


    Vergil, who was recovering from the shock he had just received, smiled bitterly at Lucas'' words.


    Lucas was the only one he knew who would respond in such a way to an invitation from the Mertens family head. Even the current city lord, Noah Bergs, would treat the invitation seriously.


    This wasn''t to say that the city lord was scared of the Mertens family head, but an invitation from such a figure could only be for a serious matter.


    "Alright." Vergil sighed before leaving the store.


    Why would he want to remain after that horrendous experience that almost made him wet his pants?


    One should know that the Mertens family ran a company in the desolate beasts parts industry. At the same time, they also controlled their own private force; a freelancer guild that was very popular in Baylands city-state.


    Due to the nature of the Mertens family''s business, family members ¡ªespecially of the direct line¡ª would participate in a one year service at the freelancer guild once they turned seventeen (17). During the service, they didn''t just do physical exercises and sit back in the freelancer base; rather, they also participated in desolate beast hunts. They were even made to take down a desolate beast in groups with other seventeen year olds from the family.


    This helped the Mertens family build a sense of cooperation as well as survival and battle skills from a suitable age.


    Despite having completed his service a few months ago, and still fresh out of the Wastelands, Vergil had been suppressed by Lucas'' aura. Naturally, this evoked a sense of fear and respect towards Lucas, whom he previously once thought to be a weak human talented in blacksmithing.


    ''That guy is one scary hell of a being.'' Vergil breathed out and calmed himself after he had left the store.


    ''Those guys might one day regret what they did.''

 Chapter 197 - 197: The Power Of Money

    When evening came around, Lucas prepared to leave for the Mertens family. Just as he was about to step out, he sensed a presence behind him.


    "Are you leaving?" Melissa asked Lucas as she stared at him with a dejected expression.


    "Please don''t leave me alone."


    Lucas felt a prickle in his heart as he heard those words.


    Since he was going to meet the Mertens family head, who could possibly be one of the people against him, Lucas had felt it was unwise to bring Melissa along. However, he had forgotten that the little girl had lost all her memories and she saw him to be her only family.


    Although Melissa was used to staying alone during the day, back when the store was in a better state, it didn''t mean that she liked it. For a child this young to be left alone for eight hours of time, was unhealthy for their growth.


    "Alright. You can come with me." Lucas smiled.


    He surmised that there shouldn''t be much of a threat meeting the Mertens family head this evening. Since it was an invitation taken seriously by them, it was unlikely for the host to play some games with him, so Lucas felt there should be no problem bringing Melissa along with him.


    . . .


    The sun had already set and the nightlife of Baylands City was just about to kick in. Many were already getting off work and the skies were crowded with hover vehicles and shuttles. However, the Central Prefecture district was a little bit different.


    Although it had the same towering skyscrapers and floating vehicles, the Central Prefecture district had its own appeal, even at this time of the day.


    West Wing district was known as the city''s economic centre, specifically for vestige-related items, as well as the home of all freelancers. The Eastern Crown district was a residential location. It was also another economic centre of the city, except it was one that catered to the average hyuman.


    The South Mountain district was a residential district and was one in the truest sense.


    As for the Northwave district, it was the production location of many of the city''s local goods. Apart from the absence of vestige-smiths and vestiges, the Northwave district produced all other types of daily equipment and technology.


    On the contrary, the Central Prefecture district was simply the home of vanity, wealth, and riches. It was said that in every three persons spotted in the city, at least one had a net worth of three hundred thousand federal coins.


    This might not sound like much, but it was a lot. Back on Earth, they would be the equivalent of a multi-millionaire.


    This made Lucas recall a certain city-state back on Earth. It was called Manaco, and it was said that everyone in the city was a millionaire at the very least. Just the standard items and experience cost more than they would anywhere else on Earth, and there were lots of opulent spots for the rich as well. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas didn''t know much about the city-state of Manaco as he spent the majority of his time in the lab. He also didn''t have enough money to bother to go there. Despite his fame and title as a national treasure, Lucas was poor, or rather, average in terms of income. This was mostly because the country of Rhodia funded all of Lucas'' expenses, from living expenses, to travel, leisure, and food expenses. As such, he had no savings or investments he could call his own.


    But even with his lack of experience regarding the class city-state of Manaco, Lucas was sure that the Central Prefecture district thrived way more than it did.


    With the night life soon to kick off, the Central Prefecture district was preparing to show another side to the world.


    Floating ''islands'' rose into the sky with fancy decorations all over them and buildings erected on them. Some of the buildings flashed with neon lights while the others had an ancient design.


    From what Lucas knew, these islands were gambling dens and every building on them was either a hotel, or a spot for gambling. Being located in the sky, it was difficult to track what took place there. Even when one tries to view into the buildings through a satellite, it was impossible to do so.


    Apart from the floating islands, there were a bunch of other unique sights in this upscale district. Even the hover cars and skyscrapers were different from those in the other districts, appearing to be more grand and stylish.


    "Mr Saunters. Please this way."


    A middle-aged man approached Lucas once he exited the light-rail train station, and directed him towards a fancy hover car that looked just like a limousine on Earth.


    It seemed like the Mertens family had taken proper steps to ensure that Lucas'' visit was as smooth and comfortable as possible.


    After a short while, the vehicle had arrived at the Mertens family''s complex.


    Being a top four family, the amount of land and number of buildings the Mertens family owned was a lot. The family''s main house was an area the size of at least six world class stadiums [1] which made it really vast. There were a bunch of buildings in the area, housing either the family''s members or staff. There was also a few skyscrapers that served as administrative buildings to the family''s businesses. All of the Mertens family''s companies were headquartered in the Central Prefecture district.


    Typically, the Central Prefecture district prevented companies from opening corporate headquarters in the area, as it tried to persevere its nature as a luxurious area, but the top families were an exception.


    There was also a mini park with a lot of attractions in the Mertens family estate, a grand palace that would put a lot of monarchies on Earth to shame, a few artificial mountains, and a lot more. The Mertens family even had a floating island which was a sort of resort for the family members.


    So large was the estate that Lucas and Melissa needed to get into designated shuttles right from the main gate. If they were to take their time walking, it would take them at least two hours to get to their destination as the path wasn''t straight.


    The entire estate was clearly designed by a world class architect, as despite having a ton of buildings, there was no sense of disorder. Instead, it felt like everything was in sync with the other and placed in the best position they could be.


    Despite that, what attracted Lucas'' attention wasn''t simply the vastness of the estate or the magnitude of the buildings. Rather, it was the increased stellar energy concentration.


    ''The entire estate is covered with a stellar matrix.'' Lucas couldn''t help but be amazed.


    This was the first compound that Lucas had discovered to be covered with an inscription. It wasn''t like such was rare in his past life, but he has never noticed any here. Not even the EVL''s branch office had such a thing. The main reason for this was the cost of setting up such a rune.


    The number of talented and experienced vestige-smiths required, the materials needed for the inscriptions, as well as the equipment that would be needed to adjust the land''s terrian to the most suitable state. All of these required money, and the EVL won''t be spending such on a branch office.


    However, it seemed like for a top four family, making such arrangements in their main house was nothing. Although it would take an exorbitant fee, the benefits were worth it. Regardless, the cost was still something not just anyone could handle, especially for an estate this big.


    In summary, the Mertens family estate screamed of wealth, and it made Lucas understand the power of money.


    "Please come in."

 Chapter 198 - 198: The Middle-aged Man

    "Please come in."


    A voice said to Lucas once the shuttle he was in approached the main house.


    Stepping down from it, Lucas walked into the building that was so tall and large that it could be called a small stadium-sized hill.


    The main house of the Mertens family was where all the wealth was properly displayed.


    Just the automatic door alone gave off a strange sensation to Lucas. Upon a closer look, he realised that it was actually a Grade 1 vestige. The massive door was a vestige. It might be low in standards, but to be able to make a vestige this large, the fee was insane.


    With it being a Grade 1 vestige, the door could easily tank typical damages and attacks from common weapons. Even if the attacker wielded a Grade 2 vestige, they wouldn''t easily take down the door due to its thickness. This meant that it could handle attacks from even a second level desolate beast for a while.


    Going further in, under the guide of a robot, Lucas was able to see the standards of a top four family. The lobby was styled with an appealing mix of blue and white colours, which served as the theme of the building. There were also expensive paintings hung on the sides of the walls. Some of them were of individuals who have blue eyes ¡ªa trait of the Mertens family members ¡ª while the others were of scenery or abstract depictions.


    Although he wasn''t a man of art, Lucas could tell that the latter set of art was probably very costly, otherwise it won''t be hung at the entrance.


    Even though where he walked was the lobby, the width of the lobby was so large that it could easily fit two excavators with some space left for a car. But upon recalling the size of the mansion from the outside, Lucas didn''t dwell too much in this.


    The group came into a room filled with a few mobile vehicles. Unlike the usual ones in this era, the vehicles were ground-type vehicles and had wheels on them. Seeing these vehicles, Lucas recalled something similar back on Earth; an electric scooter.


    With the help of the robot, Lucas and Melissa got on separate scooters left the room, heading deeper into the mansion. While Lucas was nonchalant with the experience ¡ªas he had been through more ¡ª Melissa appeared to be having a lot of fun. This made Lucas glad, but he once again focused on the task at hand.


    After a five minute ride, the group finally arrived at a simple wooden door [1].


    "Please." The robot bowed and directed them towards the door.


    Once he approached, the door automatically opened, but Lucas was already used to this here. Inside, there was a set of comfy chairs and couches with a large coffee table set in the middle.


    "Welcome." A middle-aged man who had blue hair smiled at Lucas.


    The man appeared to be just like your average adult in his forties, except for the blue hair on his head. The top part of his hair was azure, but the burns and the beards were of a lighter shade.


    It was a sign that the man was getting old. For humans, their black or even blonde hair would turn white as they got older. However, it wasn''t always the same for hyumans. While a lot of hyumans would have their coloured hair turn white, some would have their coloured hair become of a lighter shade. It was clear that the middle-aged man was one of them.


    "Good evening." Lucas greeted the man right after he was at a close distance.


    The middle-aged man nodded at him, then glanced at Melissa who hid behind Lucas, with a smile.


    "Your little sister I''d take it? She''s pretty." The man smiled with a bit of reminiscence in his eyes as he stated at Melissa.


    Lucas judged the man, not knowing how to react just yet. The man appeared just like a friendly middle-aged man rather than an individual who controlled a few multi-million companies and led one of the strongest factions in Baylands city-state.


    "No need to get so worked up. Take a seat and have a drink. Although it''s late, it''s never late for tea. This is Samborjan Tea. You can''t get this anywhere on this planet and have to import it from outside. It''s made from tea leaves from exclusive to Jota and processed by the Mara race on Doma. Quality stuff." The middle-aged said.


    Jota was one of Eretre''s neighbours except it was home to desolate beasts and inhabitable for hyumans. The planet would require technological reconstruction on a planetary level for hyumans to be able to reside there, but this was banned by the Kellan solar system as a means to preserve the ecosystem of Jota. The planet had a lot of unique species that could only thrive well there, so there was a need for preservation efforts. The Samborjan Tea plant for instance, was one such unique species. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As for Doma, it was also one of Eretre''s neighbours, just as Earth had Venus and Mars as neighbours. Doma was one of the Kellan solar system''s eight planets, and one of the three populated by hyumans. Despite that, the hyumankin wasn''t the sole race in Doma. Only about sixty percent of the population on Doma consisted of hyumans. The remaining forty percent was split, with twenty percent to the winged anthropoid species, ten percent for hybrids, and another ten percent for other races.


    The winged anthropoid species was a common term for two alien races, the Mara and Vara. They both looked alike, having a slight semblance with hyumankin. However, they differed in the fact that they had long sharp noses, pointer ears, and feet with talons growing out from them. Also, the winged anthropoids were very tall on average, with the shortest being at least 1.9m, or 6''2" feet.


    Without a doubt, the two species had wings on their backs, which was why they were called winged anthropoids. The Mara having lighter coloured wings, but majorly white, while the Vara had darker coloured wings, but majorly black.


    "I know you have a lot of questions, but I can only answer a few of them." The middle-aged man said as he sipped some tea.


    "For starters, I''ll introduce myself. My name is Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family in the current generation. You can call me Mr Russell" Russell said as he released a bit of his aura.


    The entire room abruptly turned cold as if they had abruptly appeared in the Arctic. Lucas'' instinct began screaming at him as his blood began to cuddle. It yelled that what stood before him wasn''t a hyuman, but a monster; a ferocious and powerful monster.


    Lucas got a feel of the aura, and with his knowledge and experience, he tried to estimate what level it was. The answer he got naturally startled him, although he has somewhat expected it.


    Ninth level, Apertures Opening stage.

 Chapter 199 - 199: The Truth Of The Conspiracy

    Ninth level, Apertures Opening stage.


    Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The middle-aged man before him was right at the door step to becoming a superhyuman. He was just a step away from transcending his hyuman nature and leaving behind the last attachments to his human ancestry.


    Being at the ninth level, it was no exaggeration to say that Russell Mertens is among the strongest group of people in Baylands city-state. After all, the current city lord was only at the tenth level.


    Apart from the slight shock that came about due to Russell unveiling his aura, there was no other reaction from Lucas. He had instead glanced at Melissa.


    At the conference event held by Novanio Tech, that doubled as the grand opening for the Legacy Crafts dealership, Lucas had came across Laura Mertens. Despite being rumoured to be at the fifth level, Laura was able to release a hint of her superpower and this affected Melissa''s health that day. Compared to the previous occasion, the aura Russell released was more than ten times stronger and harsher, which made Lucas worried about Melissa''s wellbeing.


    Upon noticing that Melissa didn''t have any strange reactions, Lucas let out a sigh of relief before facing the Mertens family head, Russell Mertens.


    ''He''s indeed a powerful figure. Even his control of aura was so fine and exquisite, I almost had no problem with it.'' Lucas mentally praised.


    At the same time, Russell had withdrawn his aura. He was a bit surprised that Lucas made not much of a response towards it, but this further strengthened his resolve.


    "So, what is it you''d like to know before we get over to the topic at hand?"


    "Who is involved?" Lucas asked right away.


    He didn''t know what games Russell intended on playing, but Lucas wanted to take advantage of this moment and learn all that he could.


    "Straight to the point, huh." Russell smiled before taking a sip from the cup.


    "Everyone." Russell answered calmly.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" Lucas frowned.


    Although he had his suspicions, Lucas believed that he wasn''t a target of everyone despite the visits. If anything, the majority of those who came to visit Lucas were probably trying to take advantage of him to build a relationship with the vestige-smith backer behind the store.


    "it''s quite complicated." Russell replied him.


    "We have time." Lucas countered.


    "Indeed." Russell chuckled before taking another sip of tea.


    "You should have already known about the system of government in place in Baylands city-state. The city lord rules all, but below him are the deputy city lords and the cabinet. There are three deputy city lords, but they do not wield much power."


    Lucas nodded, but he still didn''t understand well.


    The three positions of deputy city lords was a unique role in the city-state. It was more like a false role, than one with actual power. In peaceful times, despite being deputies to the city lord, the three deputy city lords were actually below the cabinet. As long as the city lord held his position, they did not possess much power. Instead, the three deputy city lords were only allowed to participate in meetings, and perform some other activities on behalf of the city lord.


    However, whenever the seat of the city lord was vacated, the three deputies would take charge. At the same time, it was more likely that the next city lord would be one of the three, unless a new candidate with better abilities appeared.


    In summary, the deputy city lord position was more of a title than an actual powerhouse, since the majority of control and power were in the hands of the city lord and the cabinet. Nonetheless, that didn''t mean that they were entirely figureheads.


    "To the main point. You should already be able to understand why everyone is after you, right?" Russell asked, to which Lucas nodded.


    "During the previous cabinet meeting with the city lord, someone raised up a motion for discussion; it was about you. They stated how you, a human as well as a non-indigene of the city-state, was in possession of technology that could redefine the vestige-smith era. The technology in your hands was said to not only be the future, but also an immense source of wealth that could potentially rival a top family.


    "You should know that the current top families of today are what they are thanks to the efforts of past leaders and members. To reach this stage isn''t easy, which was why the idea that a technology could enable one to do so, caused a commotion in the cabinet." Russell sighed as he picked up the teapot and filled his teacup to the brim.


    "Naturally, this generated some concerns from those at the top, including the city lord. The city lord wanted Baylands city-state to retain the technology in your hands, as it would be for the benefit of the city-state. He wasn''t fussy about the details or who would be in control of the technology. All the city lord cared about was having it remain in Baylands city-state. However, while everyone else agreed with this, there still remained differences in their opinions."


    Russell then swept his hand over the coffee table and two projections appeared. They were both the same and were images of vague individuals gathered together to form a group. With there being two projections, there were two groups.


    Pointing at one of them, Russell said,


    "Some were in favour of retaining you and your workshop here by offering benefits to you. Their logic was based on the idea that the presence of you and your store would ease the entry of these vestiges into the city-state. At the same time, the sales made through exports or internal transactions would generate revenue in the city-state. The city-state could profit from this through the usual taxation.


    "Some of them had even suggested that as they offered you benefits, they might as well have you ensure that all forms of trade regarding the vestiges would be done through local agencies, including exports. Through this method, Baylands city-state and its locals would be the biggest winner in all of this; alongside you of course."


    He then moved his hand to the second projection.


    "However, there were those who preferred to take the technology from the hands of your store, or at least, control it. They believed that it was wrong to have a human run a store with access to such world-changing technology. It was safer for it to be under the control of a member of the cabinet, and most especially, a human.


    "This brought about a disagreement in the cabinet. Although it''s said that you''re an intermediary with your master, no one cared much about that. To ensure that everything works out well, the second group had the idea to make it seem like they''re working with your store, while in actuality, they control the entire situation. In their opinions, they were confident that they could settle things with your master, and even if they somehow failed, they could retain you."


    Russell pointed at Lucas. He then added.


    "There''s still another group which had the idea of giving you freedom to operate just like the first group, but with the clause that your master hands over the secret of the technology. But this group was too small, to make much of an impact in the situation."


    "What happened next?" Lucas leaned in and asked.


    "The city lord made a decision."

 Chapter 200 - 200: The Truth Behind Noah Bergs

    "The city lord made a decision; a somewhat simple decision to be honest but unexpected." Russell said with a solemn expression.


    He placed the teacup in his hands down and stared at Lucas.


    "The two oppositions had both good and bad points. The advantage of the first was that we would gain your trust and have a smooth and sailing relationship. However, the disadvantage was quite obvious. We would lack control and access to the technology. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The second side however, gave us this control and access. But in exchange, we would lose your trust and potentially offend the vestige-smith backing you. We might even not gain anything out of it since we don''t know who the vestige-smith is or his personality, and so, can''t really predict his reactions. Hence, the city lord had to step in."


    RusselI then paused for a moment, but this caused anticipation to well up within Lucas. Nonetheless, he didn''t say a word and waited for Russell to continue.


    As expected, Russell continued a few seconds later.


    "The city lord didn''t go for any of the options, but went for the third one that no one had taken seriously. He had decided to invest in your store, but in exchange, he would request for the secrets of the SS vestiges. If that didn''t work out, he would then hope to bridge an alliance with the vestige-smith behind you, and ensure that Baylands city-state becomes the sole distributor on the entire Groeten continent and even the whole of Eretre, no matter the cost."


    Lucas was stunned yet also confused by this answer. If the city lord didn''t have any negative thoughts and ideas, then why did things turn out like this?


    "Confused, right? I understand, after all, the current situation is far different from that." Russell smirked.


    "To know why, you would have to understand the true nature of the relationship between the current city lord, Noah Bergs, and the Bergs family."


    Lucas narrowed his eyes and he perked his ears.


    "The Bergs family is known to be the City Lord family after having raised three successive generations of city lords. However, the current generation, which is the third, is a bit... unique." Russell smiled.


    He didn''t continue talking but snapped his fingers after which Lucas felt a strange wave cover the area. Surprisingly, Melissa, who was preoccupied with the snacks on the table, had noticed something different and glanced up. But after a second, she dived back into the luxurious delicacies on the table.


    "Whatever is said in this room needs not leave this room." Russell mysteriously smiled.


    "I understand." Lucas replied.


    "As I was saying," Russell Mertens continued,


    "The situation is unique. You see, the current city lord is the stepbrother to the head of the Bergs family, Fredor Bergs. According to the will of the Bergs family''s elders, Fredor was supposed to be the new city lord and he was trained since birth to accept the position.


    "The city lord''s position isn''t hereditary, but requires one of both great with and strength to prove themselves and be voted in by the cabinet. However, the Bergs family has a massive degree of influence in the cabinet. Twenty of the sixty seats go to the top four families, and the Dufour family is a very close ally to the Bergs. That makes it ten seats under the influence of the Bergs family. All they need is twenty one more and they could win each election after fielding a good candidate.


    "Making some concessions here and there, they can get ten of the twenty elected district seats. When added with their other allies and after striking deals with some others to others, the vote for eleven seats can be obtained.


    "Fredor was the candidate the Bergs family prepared to field. But along the line, Noah appeared and began growing at such an astonishing rate that it amazed everyone. By the time the elections were close at hand, Noah was already as strong and qualified as Fredor. Due to this, he had also decided to participate in the elections and made his own faction to achieve his goals." Russell said.


    Lucas widened his eyebrows, shocked by the courage of the current city lord.


    One should know that Fredor was the candidate the family had raised with all their resources. For Noah to come into the picture at the last minute, not as a supporting character but as a competition to Fredor, it would inevitably cause some dissatisfaction amongst the elders. And Russell''s next words confirmed that.


    "Without a doubt, this created dissatisfaction amongst the elders, but also confusion. Many remained with Fredor and believed that he was the most suitable candidate, while others in the family sided with Noah. The city lord''s position wasn''t a Bergs family property, and they would lose it if they couldn''t find a suitable candidate.


    "Supposing Fredor were to lose in the battle, it would be the same as them giving up their right to fight for the position. On the other hand, Noah was looking to be a more powerful candidate, and a better option.


    "In the end, the elders had decided to have them compete against each other in a battle, with the winner becoming the city lord candidate. However, Noah didn''t do as they wanted. As I previously mentioned, he had created his own faction to achieve his goals, and he relied on his faction to compete in the elections.


    "It was rumoured then that his relationship with the Bergs family wasn''t exactly the best, so it was understandable why he didn''t move with them. As such, there were two Bergs on the day of the elections, Noah and Fredor.


    "During the contest on election day, Noah beat Fredor as well as the other candidates and became the winner of the election, shocking everyone else. It was later discovered that the other side of politics had teamed up with Noah in a bid to reduce the Bergs family''s influence. Although he was still a Berg, it was obvious that Noah''s relationship with his family was strained. At the same time, he was a very powerful contender and looked poised to win with enough support. And so, the Ross family, my Mertens family, the Oder family, and a few others colluded together and managed to push Noah to victory." Russell smiled.


    The meaning behind his smile was obvious, after all, he was the family head during that time. He was the one who had spearheaded the other families to support Noah. On Earth, he would be termed as Noah''s political godfather.


    "Back to today. You can guess why the situation is different from what the city lord had ordered." Russell stared at Lucas.


    "Although he wanted to support you, the parties that had granted him this position wanted your knowledge for themselves. It was the first time they had ever been so serious and desperate for something, so even Noah couldn''t deny them especially after they had helped him a lot. It was one human, a store and a mysterious vestige-smith, in exchange for the support of the other half of political power in the city-state. It''s quite obvious what his choice would be.


    "However, the actions of the factions had created a hole in their relationship with the city lord. They had pretty much ignored his orders for their own motives, and even though the city lord had pardoned them, the damage had already been dealt. Most likely, they won''t be able to request anything else from Noah, after all, a man who could go against his family was in no way weak of a pushover."


    Russell paused and then took a sip from the teacup once again, to wey his throat. After he had emptied half of it, he continued,


    "Seeing the weak link in the situation, the Bergs and Dufour families also joined the party, and so, we have the current situation. A situation where the city lord had given a command, but reality played out in the opposite direction."


    Lucas didn''t say anything after Russell had concluded his explanation for a short while. The explanation further complicated the situation for him.


    Based on the fact that the factions had colluded together and went against the city lord, one could see their desire and desperation for the secret of the SS vestiges. It was as Russell had said earlier; this was a technology that could birth another top family. With such a fat piece of meat in front of them, it would be hard for anyone to curb their greed. Even the top families would want to get their hands on it and go one step further.


    Negotiations? All for that was but a lie to have Lucas drop his guard down. In the end, all they wanted was to swallow him and the store up. With the nonexistence of the supposed master vestige-smith, it would further complicate the issue for Lucas.


    "I want to ask you a question."


    "Go ahead." Russell responded while staring at Melissa.


    Lucas looked at Russell Mertens in the eyes as he spoke.


    "Does the Mertens family have a hand in this? And also, why are you telling me all of this?"

 Chapter 201 - 201: A Fathers Love

    The conspiracy that came about due to the terrorist attack on the Central Prefecture district was something that had caused a lot of damage to Lucas, both financially and mentally.


    From an attack by terrorists aimed at disrupting the city while targeting influential figures of politics, to a vestige-smith store being drawn into the mix, it was a rollercoaster of events that no one had seen coming. What''s more, there was a subtle yet unofficial agreement by both the terrorists and the city''s top figures to go against the store. The terrorists wanted Lucas to be taken down, while the higher-ups only cared about the vestige-smith backing the store.


    In the end, Lucas simply became a figure of collateral damage, with both sides poised to get what they wanted.


    Throughout the last four days, Lucas had been paid a visit by three of the top four families. The other top factions of the city had also come his way, either individually or in groups. Whether through temptations or threats, both sides had tried to pressure Lucas into having an agreement with them, and based on the designated date, Lucas had only three days to decide.


    However, none of that was his concern. He was never going to work with them from the start. It might seem like they showed some respect towards Lucas by sending in influential figures to negotiate, but it was all a ploy. To these parties, he was but a pawn in the game; one that many of them would toss away once the deal was closed. As such, rather than working with any of these hypocrites, Lucas planned to go against what seemed to be his fate.


    But when he realised that his opponents weren''t just simple folks or on par with the alliance of companies from before, Lucas understood that he wouldn''t be able to do it alone. Whether it was a trustworthy ally, or a tool he would use for his own needs, Lucas required someone to fill the gap.


    When Vergil arrived and extended the invitation from his father to the Mertens family house, Lucas got a bit interested and wanted to see whether the Mertens were worth considering.


    The old man, Russell Mertens, proved to be suitable for an ally from how he had described the entire situation clearly to Lucas. Although what he had said could either be the truth or a lie, Lucas decided to go along with it. But there was still a final question to be asked.


    "Does the Mertens family have a hand in this? And also, why are you telling me all of this?"


    Lucas stared at Russell Mertens.


    Despite the latter being stronger than him and technically older, there was not a single shred of fear in Lucas'' strong gaze. Whether it was his first life or his second on Earth, Lucas had met people who were more powerful than Russell; whether it be in terms of magical abilities or forces under their control.


    ''This kid. He has no fear.'' Russell was amazed, but he didn''t show any signs of that.


    ''Hehe. Interesting. If it''s someone like this kid, he will do just fine.''


    "You don''t need to worry." Russell smirked. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "I understand your concerns, but I can''t force you to trust us either. What I will say is that you can trust us."


    Lucas frowned, and just as he was about to say something, Russell continued.


    "As for the answers to your questions, I''ll start with the first. Yes and no. As I mentioned before, the decision to force you under control is something that came about from the other political coalition which stands against the Bergs family. My Mertens family happens to be a part of this coalition, which is why I answered yes. Despite that, we aren''t interested in forcing you under control. Rather, I''m of the same mind as the city lord, which is to invest in your store."


    Russell spread his hands as his continued.


    "But if I said just that without asking for anything, it would be suspicious, right? The city lord''s stance could be explained as he has to consider the entirety of Baylands city-state before coming to a conclusion, but I myself need to only prioritise my family and profits. Honestly, I''m interested in the secret behind the SS vestiges, but it''s not something I''m desperate to get. If your master wishes to share, I would appreciate. If he doesn''t, then so be it. Regardless, it''s not something on my bucket list."


    Lucas narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Then what is on your bucket list?"


    Russell smiled as his eyes silently praised Lucas.


    "Truth be told, I also have some conditions of mine. You should know that my Mertens family is into the desolate beasts industry. For a while now, we''ve tried to enter the vestige-smith industry, but it is quite difficult. There are factions like the Oder family and the rest keeping us away for the sake of maintaining their balance and control. But without an arm in that industry, my family would have to forever rely on them. And so, I''ve always wanted to change this during my rule.


    "As luck would have it, my son, Vergil, was blessed with the talent for vestige-smithing. However, because of that, the other families are even more wary of us. They believe that Vergil would be the key to our entry into the industry, and truthfully, I believe so too. However, my family lacks the proper resources to be able to raise Vergil in this path. The EVL is also limited in its teaching capabilities. But as a family head, I can''t just give up here. As a father, I want the best for my son."


    Lucas could already see where he was going with this, but he didn''t interrupt the man.


    "So, my condition for helping you is that you request your master to train my son. Like I said before, I don''t have an intense craving for the SS vestige technology. All I just want is to give my son the best possible environment and resources for his growth. As long as you can promise me this, I don''t mind offending my allies for this." Russell said with a confident expression on his face.


    It looked as if he saw the plot Lucas was caught in as nothing. Even for a top four family, facing off against the combined forces of the other top factions in the city was still very difficult. Maybe the Bergs family might be able to pull it off, but the Mertens was only ranked third. What''s more, they didn''t have a solid heritage and history like the Bergs and Dufour families; even the Oder family was much older than the Mertens.


    From this, Lucas had more reason to believe that Russell was doing all this, not to ensure that his family profits by having a vestige-smith, but to give the best resources to his son, just as he had said.


    If the matter was simply about having a vestige-smith or a vestige-smith company, Russell could have simply joined the rest in competing for the store. He could have also spent a lot more money to hire vestige-smiths from outside the city-state. With the influence, power and resources in his control, there were many other possible options Russell could have taken to enable the Mertens family to finally step into the vestige-smith industry. Instead, he wanted his son to be the pioneer for that.


    The reason was clear; Russell thought dearly about his child, Vergil, and he wanted to provide the best that he could for him. Just as he had done with his daughter, Laura, raising her into the number one genius of Baylands City. Similarly, Russell wanted to lift Vergil to the same status.


    It might be called the pride of a father, the greed of a family leader, or some other title, but one thing was for sure; Russell was a man and a father, who loved his children dearly and wanted the best for them.

 Chapter 202 - 202: Returning...?

    "There''s also another benefit to working with me." Russell said, seeing as Lucas had yet to respond.


    "And what''s that?"


    "My family is in an alliance with the Ross family, just as the Bergs and Dufour are. As long as you are in an alliance with me, they would surely change their stances towards you. You will also gain the city lord''s recognition and support." Russell stared at Lucas.


    "As I said before, the city lord''s original order was to have the city and its forces support your store to the reasonably best he could. However, the other factions were against this and let their greed get in the way, displeasing the city lord. However, as long as I do as he wishes and you agree to work with me, the city lord would side with you and even offer his protection."


    ''I see.'' Lucas thought.


    He was wondering why Russell was so calm and confident in defending Lucas from the other factions. The answer was now clear; the city lord would step in.


    While it might have seemed like the city lord was a weak man, seeing as how the other top factions had disobeyed him, the truth was far from that. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The position of city lord was absolute, as this was a title approved and granted by the Oklo Dynasty. While the cabinet''s vote was important in determining who would take the position, the Oklo Dynasty''s approval was even more important. If the Dynasty didn''t recognise the winner of the elections, then the cabinet would have to organise another elections with the former winner being disqualified from participating.


    The fact that Noah Bergs had won the elections as well as the Oklo Dynasty''s approval, showed that he was anything but weak. After all, the city lord was one who had to be both loyal to the Dynasty''s commands, yet strong enough to be able to keep the local forces in the city-state in check.


    One could say that the only reason the city lord let the factions go scot-free wasn''t because of a silly thing such as weakness, but because he owed them a favour. However, now that they had all cashed in on that favour, the city lord owed them nothing. As long as there was an opportunity to interfere, he would step right in.


    What Russell Mertens wanted to do was to create such an opportunity. Once that was done, the city lord would be able to step in and solve the issue smoothly. All that was needed was for Lucas to nod his head and agree to the cooperation. He would then have the Mertens family and the city lord backing him, and don''t forget the possibility that the Ross family would switch sides, which was very likely.


    With such a lineup, even if the Bergs, Dufour, and Oder families, as well as all the other top factions gathered, they would be unable to do anything. This was because the city lord''s power was absolute. Unless these factions wanted to start a war, they would have to stand down. However, starting a war was a very stupid thing to do.


    The city lord was the representation of the Oklo Dynasty''s authority in the land. Going against him was the same as going against the Oklo Dynasty, and that was a crime punishable by death. It was because of the great power and influence of the city lord, that the Bergs family had no issues sacrificing their best descendant at the time, Fredor, to take the position of the city lord.


    ''The Mertens family, the Ross family, and the city lord. What a very tempting offer.'' Lucas thought.


    To be honest, Lucas had considered working with the Ross family if he had no other options. They had given the best conditions, and it felt more like a cooperation than a threatening get greedy proposition.


    The Ross family didn''t ask for exclusive distribution in Baylands City, although they did ask for such with regards to Baylands city-state, which was just like his previous contract with Novanio Tech. The reach of the exclusive distribution rights in exports was limited only to the Groeten continent, giving Lucas space to develop outside of their control. They also offered stellar processors at a cheaper price than the market rates and even what Novanio Tech had offered him. What''s more, the Ross family had agreed to aid in the design and development of new vestiges in the consumer sector.


    Just from all of this, it was clear how advantageous the partnership would be for Lucas.


    Regardless, there were two major problems which were the condition to have vestige-smiths work with his ''master'', and to sell a fixed number of SS vestiges to the family at cost price. Lucas might be able to negotiate better for the second condition, but definitely not the first since everyone was interested in the technology behind the SS vestiges.


    In the end, Lucas had thought that if he had no better offer, he would work with the Ross family. However, it would be with the intention of using them as a tool, and not a real partner.


    Now though, that seemed like it wasn''t needed. The Mertens family appeared to be a much better option, and he would probably get the help of the Ross family as well. All he had to do was train Vergil in the art of vestige-smithing. Although no one knew that there was no master behind him, Lucas was confident that he could work something out and fool Vergil throughout the learning period.


    Nonetheless, he didn''t agree to the deal right away.


    "I would need sometime to think about it." Lucas said.


    "I understand. I already expected it, and so did everyone else. There should still be at least three more days before you have to respond to any of us, right? No need to rush it." Russell sipped on his tea.


    "If that''s all, then I would be taking my leave." Lucas stood up.


    "There''s an escort on the way to lead you out. I''m still a bit busy with work." Russell said as he signalled behind him.


    A tablet flew from behind and into his hands as Russell began browsing through it.


    Lucas wasn''t offended that the family head didn''t guide him off. The prior expression of respect and even the conversation they had was enough for Lucas to understand how the man saw him. Rather, being overly modest might make Lucas suspicious, after all, the latter was the head of a powerful family.


    When Lucas left the room with Melissa in tow, he saw the robot that had brought him over as well as a familiar young lady. When she saw the lady, Melissa quickly hid behind Lucas.


    The two sides glanced at each other but didn''t say anything. Laura was still pissed over the incident from before, while Lucas saw no reason to hold a conversation with her. However, when she saw Melissa''s reaction, Laura was a bit hurt. Who wouldn''t be when they see a cute eleven year old hiding away from them?


    "How are you?" Laura smiled at her as she tried to strike a conversation, but Melissa remained quiet and hid behind Lucas.


    Eventually, the group arrived outside the mansion and Lucas prepared to leave.


    But just then, a commotion broke out in front.


    "Lucas Saunters, remain still and take no further action. You are under arrest."

 Chapter 203 - 203: Arrest

    As Lucas left the study with a happy Melissa beside him, he met Laura outside.


    The princess of the Mertens family gave him a cold look before proceeding to ignore him. However, when she noticed how Melissa seemed scared of her, she was a bit shook.


    "How are you?"


    Laura smiled at her as she tried to strike a conversation. But Melissa remained quiet and hid behind Lucas.


    "I''m sorry for the other day. I really am. It''s not my fault." Laura hurriedly apologized, but Melissa was still fearful of her.


    Laura sighed and just as she was about to attempt something else, Lucas had already walked past her with Melissa by his side.


    "You..."


    Laura gritted her teeth but Lucas still ignored her. Regardless of her feelings though, she still followed suit without causing a scene since her father had ordered her to do so.


    A few minutes later, Lucas was finally out of the mansion using the scooters from before. From here on, Lucas and Melissa would have to take the special shuttles for movement in the estate, then arrive at the main gate. There, the hover car that brought them over from the light-rail train station waited.


    Just as Lucas and Melissa walked towards the shuttle, he abruptly lifted his head to the sky. The robot as well as Laura turned their attention in the same direction, both with a frown on their faces.


    A few hover cars flew over and came towards the group. There were at least four of them, with the one in front being a box more luxurious compared to the other two. Even without being a member of the family, Lucas had a feeling that something strange was about to occur.


    "Who dares to be so disrespectful on Mertens grounds?!" Laura shouted while giving off an arrogant air.


    The Mertens family has a special rule in the estate. First, only the private vehicles of the clan members could be operated in the estate. If a member had three vehicles, only one would be granted this right. Apart from that, the only exception was the designated movement shuttles. For this reason, Laura was incensed at the new arrivals. This was the home of a top four family; even the other three top families would abide by their rules on this ground.


    As the hover cars landed, the group could easily identify the features on them. There was a sigil by the side of each vehicle. Apart from Melissa, the others found it to be very familiar. The vehicles were from the Baylands City Patrol Corps.


    ''What is the Patrol Corps doing here?'' Both Lucas and Lucas thought.


    Lucas began to have a bad feeling about things, but it wasn''t like he could dip and run. As such, he remained calm and wanted to understand the situation properly.


    Once the hover cars landed, a few agents in the Baylands City Patrol Corps uniform stepped out of the vehicles. From each vehicle, at least five men came down, totalling twenty agents from the four hover cars. Ten of the agents immediately pointed their guns at Lucas right after they had settled down, while eight of them were on alert.


    "Lucas Saunters, remain still and take no further action. You are under arrest."


    The man in the lead, who appeared to be in his fifties, gave off an aura of power and confidence as he stared at Lucas in the eyes and gave out the proclamation. Beside him was the last member of the group, a young man who seemed to be the old man''s assistant.


    "Under arrest? For what?" Laura said right before Lucas could even respond.


    Although she didn''t like him, Lucas was a guest of their family. Apart from that, the Baylands City Patrol Corps had disobeyed the rules of the Mertens family and barged right in. Even if they wanted to arrest Lucas and ensure he didn''t escape, they could have surrounded the estate instead. While that would have still been perceived as rude, it was less offensive than forcing their way in.


    "Little miss, please stay out of this." The old man said.


    "What do you mean ''stay out of this''? This is the Mertens family estate. How can I stay out of this?" Laura yelled.


    The old man ignored her and signalled for his men to seize Lucas instead.


    Laura moved to block them, which forced the old man to finally speak.


    "Anyone who interferes with the matters of internal security would be treated as an aide to the suspect, and trialled for obstructing justice."


    Seeing how serious the man was, Laura froze and hesitated.


    That short moment of hesitation was enough for the agents to get past her and arrive beside Lucas and Melissa.


    "May I ask what my crime is?" Lucas finally spoke up.


    "You know it better than we do." The old man nonchalantly answered him.


    If it were before, Lucas wouldn''t understand why the Patrol Corps got involved. But after his conversation with Russell Mertens, he could roughly guess the reason why.


    "At least let her go. She''s a little girl and shouldn''t get caught up in this."


    The old man didn''t reply to Lucas. On the contrary, his focus wasn''t even on him as he stared at the gate of the Mertens family main house with furrowed brows.


    In the next second, the old man made his way towards the building. Laura wanted to stop him but paused and let him go.


    Meanwhile, Lucas was beginning to get incensed because his question had yet to be answered. Just as he was about to ask again, the old man turned back and said.


    "What are you guys doing?"


    He was talking to the agents that had arrived alongside him. After Lucas'' question, they had paused their actions as they too were unsure as to whether they had to arrest the little girl as well.


    "She''s a hybrid and related to the suspect as well. Chances are that she''s a valuable connection to the terrorist, or she may even be knowledgeable about a few details. Arrest her as well." The old man said coldly before turning his back on the group.


    Lucas widened his eyes in shock and even Laura couldn''t believe what she had heard. The duo couldn''t even get a word out as the old man ignored them and stepped into the building.


    With the command given, the ten agents immediately moved to arrest both Lucas and Melissa.


    "You have to be shitting me!" Lucas roared.


    There was no way he would sit back and let Melissa get dragged into this nonsense. To Lucas, Melissa was almost like a daughter. Not only was this because she reminded him of his last disciple, but the experiences they had shared together had made Lucas attached to her. In Melissa, he could see a bit of his younger self, which made Lucas care for her very dearly.


    "Stay down and don''t make a move!" One of the agents barked as he aimed his gun at Lucas.


    "Stop delaying and hurry." The young man who has stood beside the old man earlier said.


    He was aware that their actions would attract the ire of the Mertens family, which was why they had brought a lot of men for this operation. But even then, it was best to avoid any sort of confrontation by all means, which meant to carry out the arrest as quickly as possible.


    Although the young man didn''t understand why his superior had gone into the building, he wasn''t worried about the man. Whether it was in terms of skill or authoritative power, it would be difficult for the Mertens family to do anything to him. Rather, they who were carrying out the operation faced the greatest risk


    The Mertens family would not attack them, after all, they were members of a public security agency carrying out official matters. However, this didn''t mean that the Mertens couldn''t delay them or interfere with the operation.


    "Take them both and leave right away." The young man gave an order.


    The ten agents who surrounded Lucas and Melissa suddenly turned fierce as they grabbed the two forcefully.


    "You dare!" Lucas'' eyes bulged as he grabbed the closest agent to him and tossed him away.


    The man was only at the first level, and to Lucas, that was no different from an average citizen.


    "He''s resisting arrest." One of them shouted.


    The young man frowned and prepared to step in. He was a captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch. Being a captain rank agent, his stellar refinement was at the fifth level of the Apertures Opening stage. Not many individuals could compare to him, especially at this time where the Baylands City Patrol Corps had made an unexpected move.


    "Where do you think you''re going?" Laura blocked off the captain.


    "Stay out of this." The captain frowned.


    "You guys still haven''t offered an explanation to my Mertens family over this incident. There''s no way I can sit back and watch us being bullied." Laura coldly replied as she shook her hands a bit.


    The twin bracelets Laura wore on both wrists suddenly flashed as an armour expanded out from them and covered her.


    "Are you really going to interfere with the operations of the Patrol Corps? You can be charged for obstructing justice?" The captain threatened her.


    No matter what, the person before him was the precious daughter of the family head of a too four family. Even his identity as a captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps won''t be enough to save him if she got hurt. As such, he was unwilling to face her in battle. However, if he didn''t, no one else here could hold her back. Sear?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Obstructing justice? Do you think I don''t know what''s going on here?" Laura scoffed.


    "I''ve been meaning to see for myself just how strong the famous captain of the Central Prefecture district is."


    Seeing that she wasn''t going to give up, the captain sighed.


    "Coincidentally, I''ve been wanting to know how far you''ve gotten."


    A vestige immediately appeared in the captain''s hand as his energy began to rise, until it paused at the peak of the fifth level.


    Today was destined to not be a peaceful day in the Mertens family estate.

 Chapter 204 - 204: Meeting

    The outside got heated as multiple exchanges between the two sides broke out. On one side was the precious princess of the Mertens family, Laura, facing off against the captain of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch, Jonathan Oakval. While on the other side was Lucas against the ten City Patrol Corps agents.


    "Even though you''re a reputed genius, you''re still a young girl." Jonathan said as he stared at Laura with his body showcasing the full aura of a peak fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Despite his appearance Jonathan Oakval was already in his late 30s and had served in the Baylands City Patrol Corps for over a decade. He had managed to climb his way from the rank of sergeant, a rank for second level stellar practitioners, up until the rank of captain. He was also touted to be the closest existence to a director in the Baylands City Patrol Corps. What this meant was that Jonathan was next in-line to become a director, so long as he broke through to the six level and a slot was made available.


    Another way to describe the achievements of Jonathan Oakval was from the fact that he was compared to Laura Mertens. The latter was seen as the greatest genius of the younger generation populace, while Jonathan was seen as one of the greatest geniuses of the Baylands City Patrol Corps and the previous generation before Laura.


    The two might seem the same, but there was a clear difference. Whereas Laura was undeniably the greatest genius of her generation, Jonathan was one of the greatest geniuses in his generation. The main reason for this was that he was a late-bloomer, and once he began to soar, the top geniuses ¡ªwho had started out early¡ª were already ahead. As such, it was impossible for Jonathan to hold the title of number one.


    The comparison with Laura made him frustrated, and it was further enhanced by the fact that she was rumoured to be at the fifth level. On one hand, there was frustration, while on the other hand, there was jealousy.


    "Don''t blame me if you suffer any injuries." Jonathan said as he drew the sword out of the scabbard.


    This was a high level Grade 3 vestige he had gotten from Prestige Star Ltd, the vestige-smith company run by the Oder family. Jonathan had pulled in a few connections to get this, and he had spent a lot to ensure that the product satisfied his taste.


    Although it was only a Grade 3 vestige, just as with the SS vestiges, it could almost compare to a Grade 4 vestige.


    Laura saw how seriously Jonathan took the match, but she wasn''t scared by this. The armour she had on was a Grade 3 vestige made using nano-technology. Due to both the complexities and the power of the vestige, it was crazily expensive. Only people from top families could afford it, and not just any regular member. She had gotten it as a birthday gift from her father, otherwise even by relying on her allowance, Laura would have been unable to afford it.


    The armour could adjust itself to the user''s physique, and apart from its defensive abilities, it also provided a boost in strength to the user. It was the best Battle-Armour vestige available on the market. It could only be found in Paros city-state, a city-state on the Groeten continent just like Baylands city-state.


    *Whoosh*


    Jonathan''s silhouette suddenly vanished from the spot, but Laura reacted almost immediately and struck her fist to the space by her left side.


    *Clang* S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A sword appeared in midair, forced back by Laura''s fist.


    At the other end of the sword was Jonathan, who tightened his grasp on the vestige and drew it back before brandishing the blade once again.


    This time around, Laura moved to grab the sword, but it was as slippery as an eel as it dodged her attempts. Despite that, she seemed unbothered. This was because it was never her plan to catch the sword, but to close the gap between her and Jonathan.


    Jonathan noticed this as he abruptly retreated backwards. Laura then switched from capturing the sword to hand combat as she unleashed one devastating blow after another at Jonathan.


    Before long, the duo were caught up in a deadly battle as they had no time to face off against others. Even Lucas'' stage was filled with a ton of risks, it wasn''t yet at the level he couldn''t handle.


    Meanwhile, the inside of the Mertens family main house, the air was different.


    "To what do I owe this visit?" Russell Mertens said to the old man that had walked into his study.


    "You should know better, Mr Russell. You broke the code." The old man said with a calm disposition.


    "Code? What code? Who made it up and who decided on it?" Russell scoffed at the remark.


    He knew what the old man was talking about, but Russell didn''t care one bit. The supposed code was a rule where any one interested in Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge ¡ªas well as the vestige-smith behind it¡ª was to hold all discussions in the open and not allowed to drag him off. Threats using those related to Lucas were also not allowed. Everyone was expected to play fair and square, that way, they could handle the final decision easier.


    However, Lucas'' presence in the Mertens family estate raised the eyebrows of the other families and factions. They couldn''t help but want to interfere in the situation right away. Which was why the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch was sent in.


    That''s right; the old man was a director in the Baylands City Patrol Corps, and not just any, but the one in charge of the Central Prefecture district branch. The degree of power and influence he controlled could make the eyes of many green with envy.


    However, seeing as the old man was reduced into nothing but a tool in this conflict, Russell couldn''t help but look down on him. In terms of authority alone, a director was close to that of a family head or the second in-command.

 Chapter 205 - 205: Meeting 2

    Inside the study of the Mertens family head, Russell Mertens sat behind his study desk as he faced the guest who stood opposite him. It was the director of the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch.


    "There''s no need to make this difficult for me." The director said.


    "The code was decided by ninety percent of major factions on the cabinet, so it is as good as the law."


    "Hehe. As good as the law? Is that something someone of your status should be saying?" Russell chuckled.


    "Where does your loyalty lie? The city or the major factions?!"


    "No need to get worked up about the situation. Just don''t interfere and let my men do their job. Regardless of whatever you may think, please understand that interfering with this operation can get you on the wrong side of the law. Even the glory and title of a top family would not be able to save you."


    The director remained staunch even with the reproach from Russell. It was quite impressive of him to be able to stand his ground even when facing Russell Mertens, who was both the leader of the Mertens family as well as a ninth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    "You said not to make this difficult for you, but you force your way into my estate and do as you please. Everyone knows about the unwritten rule and right of the top families, that even the city lord consented to. I wonder how you plan to explain yourself later." Russell said.


    The director didn''t say anything, but deep down, he let out a sigh of relief. Russell pushing the matter for later meant that he would permit them to carry out the operation.


    One should know that even though the director was on the side of the government agency, Russell was more than capable of interfering with the operation. This wasn''t just because he was stronger and the leader of a top four family, but it was just as he had said; the director was trespassing. He had defied an unofficial right granted to the top four families by the city lord manor; the faction that served each generation of city lords.


    The right gave the acknowledged top four families a semi-autonomous authority within their estates. Unless it was an individual of higher authority like the chief or the commissioner of police, an individual on the level of director and below couldn''t just waltz into a top four family''s residence as they pleased, even if it were for official matters. This was why the agents had wanted to be done with the operation as quickly as possible.


    If they had chosen to wait for Lucas outside instead, Russell would have sensed something fishy and sent Lucas through a secured route. He might have even retained the target within his estate for a while.


    Luckily, it seemed like the situation no longer had the risk of being blown out of proportion.


    "Thank you for your understanding." The director nodded before turning to leave.


    "I want you to understand something. Let this be the first and last time you pull such a trick on my plot. Otherwise, not even that goblin, Fredor, can save you."


    Russell abruptly released his aura and assaulted the director.


    Although the old man remained standing, a line of blood escaped his lips as he grunted. He then left the room silently, leaving behind the Mertens family head who was frowning in thought.


    To Russell, killing a sixth level stellar practitioner like the director was not a difficult thing, but the latter''s identity was sensitive. He could at best injure him, using the act of trespassing as an excuse to justify his actions but that was all.


    As for why Russell had granted the old man permission, it was a somewhat obvious reason. He couldn''t easily interfere because that might create a weakness for the other powerful factions to exploit. After all, even if his actions could be justified, it was no doubt true that Russell would have been guilty of interfering in a security operation.


    To the outside world, the top four families were peak organisations that held a ton of wealth, power and influence. However, they had a lot of enemies, as well as envious eyes who lusted after their position. The title of ''top four'' was not permanent or immutable.


    A clear example of this was the Oder family. Despite being one of the oldest families in Baylands City, they lost out to the rising Ross family and fell from the top four rankings.


    As a family head, Russell had to make proper decisions to ensure that his family didn''t end up as another Oder family.


    ''However, something is wrong.'' Russell frowned.


    . . .


    Right after the director had gone into the building, a fight broke out with those outside participating, leaving only eight agents on standby.


    The ten agents who were charged with arresting Lucas and Melissa, didn''t go all at once at the pair. The group had been hand-chosen by the director to come with him on this operation. So, they had to be quite strong, so as to be able to fend off any possible retaliation from the Mertens family. So, they were all of different strengths, with some being at the third level.


    They felt it was shameful for all ten of them to go after one human, who was merely at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage. As such, excluding the agent Lucas had already thrown away, only four of the remaining nine men approached him. The strongest of the four was at the second level ¡ªtwo of them¡ª, which the group felt was enough to take on Lucas.


    Meanwhile, another two ¡ªboth at the first level¡ª went towards Melissa.


    "Stay away from her!" Lucas yelled as he stood before Melissa. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The six men glanced at each other before coming to the decision to attack together. They first surrounded Lucas, then immediately charged at him.


    At first, Lucas froze, but in the next second, didn''t hesitate to respond.

 Chapter 206 - 206: Trapped

    Lucas took on the six men that attacked him, and although he wasn''t quickly defeated, the presence of the two second level stellar practitioners made the battle more difficult than it should have been.


    Since they were ordered to arrest Lucas, the agents couldn''t use their guns and had resorted to hand-to-hand combat.


    One of the four first level stellar practitioners was the quickest to arrive with range. He threw a punch at Lucas, expecting to force the latter into a retreat. However, Lucas could see that the very second he did so, he would be one step closer to defeat.


    The group had already understood that Lucas couldn''t be underestimated seeing as he had taken down one of them quickly earlier on. Despite that, one of them had charged on his own. It might seem like a foolish move, but the first combatant was to play the role of the foreman. He was to force Lucas to retreat or dodge a few steps away. By doing so, he would inadvertently create an opening in his defence. In that space of time, the other three would attack Lucas, aiming at his openings.


    Lucas had already figured this out thanks to his incredible battle experience and awareness that had taken into consideration the entire battlefield. As such, his response to the attacker''s vigorous attack was not to retreat or withdraw, but to tilt his body towards the side while responding with a fist of his own.


    *Bam*


    It was a direct hit as Lucas'' fist sent the man staggering backwards. He didn''t relent as he charged in once again and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the agent, effectively knocking him out.


    "Bastard!"


    The other three first level agents arrived and attacked from three different angles and directions. Their first glowed ¡ªa sign that they were utilising stellar energy¡ª as the trio charged in his solemn expressions. It was a three-pronged assault that had considered Lucas'' possible escape routes. Unless he could instantaneously teleport, it looked impossible for Lucas to get out of the assault unharmed.


    However, Lucas wasn''t an ordinary human. Even if he was a level weaker than his opponents, to Lucas, such a gap was nonexistent. In that case, numbers didn''t really matter.


    With a deep yet slow breath, Lucas'' brain rushed into action as everything he perceived seemed to move in slow motion.


    ''Retrieve.'' [1]


    A pair of gloves suddenly appeared on Lucas'' hands. They were the Craftsman Gloves Lucas had gotten from the system as a welcome gift after transmigration. Although they weren''t vestiges, their effects were just as good as vestiges.


    Apart from the heat, burn, and elemental resistance, the gloves were penetration-proof and even had shock absorption capabilities. It also increased the strength of the user by a fixed percentage, which was currently thirty percent, while increasing the hit-rate and chance of attacks.


    The whole idea behind these effects was to help Lucas in the work-station, especially when he was working with a hammer or the forge. However, the Craftsman Gloves could also be used for battles.


    Even though he was incensed, Lucas still retained a part of his rationality and knew that it was best to not show his full capabilities, lest it draws even more suspicion onto him. At the moment, the top factions were merely lusting after the secret of the transformative abilities of SS vestiges, which was something no vestige-smith on the planet had yet to figure out.


    However, once Lucas exposed a set of vestiges that constituted the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, the situation would become even more dire. The vestiges that constituted the armour were all at the peak of Grade 3 and could resonate with each other to produce an effect of a true Grade 4 vestige. Just like the SS vestige''s transformative effect, this was a new technology that was nonexistent in Eretre. As such, Lucas refrained from using any of the vestiges that belonged to the set. Hence, his best option at the moment was the pair of Craftsman Gloves.


    As the three attackers closed in on him, Lucas immediately made his move. He dodged the first by sidestepping to his right, but was brought closer to the second. Even so, he didn''t fret as he moved his left hand and caught the attack.


    The third assailant had already appeared behind Lucas and it was too late for him to dodge. However, Lucas never had any plans of dodging. Instead, he dragged the second agent and threw him into the trajectory of the third agent''s attack.


    *Bam*


    "Puah!"


    The attack struck the back of the second agent, who got shocked from it, spewing out blood as he fell to the ground.


    "You...!"


    The two agents were stunned and proceeded to glare angrily at Lucas.


    Meanwhile, Lucas wasn''t one to waste advantages. Right after he had performed the manoeuvre, he threw a punch right at the face of the third agent.


    The man reacted by moving his hands to block, but it turned out to be a feint. Lucas'' true attack was a kick right at the man''s prize located at his pelvic region.


    "Ahhh!"


    The agent let out a horrifying scream, but Lucas had no remorse for him as he punched out once again. This time though, the fist was the real deal and it knocked the man out.


    "You-"


    Not just the first agent, but the other two second level agents as well as the three agents who had avoided the fight, were all speechless. Such a move was ruthless and very few would even use it in battle, due to the degree of injury it could cause. A man could be beaten, battered, tortured and messed up all over, but that region was a sacred zone that not even the most heinous of criminals would wreak havoc upon.


    "Break his legs." One of the three agents who stood back ordered with a cold voice.


    Of the three agents who stood back, two were at the third level while the one who gave the command was at the fourth. With him giving the order, not even the third level agents could sit back.


    This time around, one of the third level agents came forward, and together with the others, there were now four people facing Lucas. However, compared to the previous four he has taken down, only one of them was at the first level; two were at the second level while the last one was at the third level.


    From the perspective of a neutral party who knew nothing about the fighters, it was clear that Lucas would lose this round. So, unless Lucas used the vestiges, he would lose this battle and get arrested. However, he was unwilling to do that. It wasn''t just because it would complicate the issue, but that the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour alone would not be enough.


    Against Ramirez, Lucas was able to utilise the Grade 4 vestige to display a fourth level Apertures Opening stage power. However, that alone wasn''t enough and he had almost lost his life to Ramirez.


    There was only one other solution, which was the key to his victory against both Ramirez and Ardeen in Alleva district. It was to use the Bronze cards from the system.


    Lucas currently has one with a sixth level stellar practitioner ability and another with a fourth level. Pairing the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour with the fourth level Bronze Grade card would be enough to kill everyone here, so escaping wasn''t even a problem.


    "Release."


    Lucas gave the command right after mentally summoning the fourth level Bronze Grade card. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, something unexpected had happened; something Lucas had never considered was possible.


    "Access denied."


    The system''s cold voice reverberated in his head.

 Chapter 207 - 207: Abandoned

    "Access denied."


    Lucas widened his eyes in surprise.


    In the past, he had been using the Bronze Grade cards without experiencing any side effects or having to deal with the system. The Bronze Grade card was an item that took effect so long as Lucas said the activation chant. There was no need for an intermediary like the system, which was why Lucas was surprised that it had spoken.


    Nonetheless, the system talking to him at this moment was the least of Lucas'' concerns.


    "System, what do you mean?" Lucas questioned the system as he never expected such a response.


    The words of the system was something he had never expected to hear especially at this moment, and it left Lucas dumbfounded.


    "The system has judged that the host''s situation is dire and could be worsened by the concocted plans of the host. As such, the system has found it necessary to interfere with the host''s ideas in order to protect the host."


    "You have to be fucking kidding me."


    Lucas'' eyes suddenly turned red [1].


    When facing a situation that could potentially determine his life or death, the system had interfered under the guise of ''protecting the host''. It would be a lie to say that Lucas wasn''t pissed.


    "Why?!"


    Despite yelling at the system, he got no response. In fact, Lucas had no time to consider a response as the attackers had already arrived before him.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas thought.


    Without further hesitation, he summoned the gauntlets from the system inventory. Although Lucas couldn''t use the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, he could still utilise the individual components in battle.


    ''As suspected, he has a spatial vault.'' The fourth level stellar practitioner who was watching the battle narrowed his eyes as he felt the situation become more complicated.


    The captain, Jonathan Oakval, had called for him for a secretive operation. A lieutenant in the Baylands City Patrol Corps led a platoon of sixteen men ¡ªthe lieutenant included- which was a stark contrast to the eight-man platoon in the Red Fangs. This meant that, excluding some of the pilots, all the other men for this mission were from his platoon. So, whatever occurred, whether good or bad, his platoon would be involved with it


    The revelation that Lucas possessed a spatial vault struck some fear into the lieutenant.


    Spatial vaults were rare vestiges that not anyone could get even if they could afford it. The vestiges could almost compare to a Grade 4 vestige due to its rarity. The fact that Lucas had one with him implied that his backer was not an ordinary figure.


    Naturally, this had the lieutenant becoming nervous about the operation.


    Meanwhile, Lucas barely held his own against the group of four. However, whenever the third level stellar practitioner made his move, he became unstable and was forced back a few steps away.


    ''Damn it.'' Lucas cursed.


    If the battle had taken place within the store, he was confident of handling his own and fending off everyone, including the old man that had appeared earlier. However, the location was disadvantageous to him, and the system was also preventing Lucas from using his trump cards.


    Even if he could somehow defeat the four men before him, there were still the fourth level Lieutenant and the third level agent who stood beside him. There was also the fifth level agent that Laura had managed to hold back for a while, and even the old man who had went into the Mertens family main house.


    Lucas doubted that the Mertens family would give their all to help him, after all, it came with much difficulty and Lucas had yet to agree to the family head''s suggestion. In such an event, the Mertens family wouldn''t want to offend the Baylands City Patrol Corps for him.


    To summarise, Lucas was on his own.


    "Give up already and stop resisting arrest." The third level stellar practitioner agent said.


    The group has resorted to a tiring out strategy since Lucas was defending so well. But the problem with that remained that they were short on time. The longer the battle went, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.


    "Brother..." Melissa worriedly stared at Lucas'' back. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    No matter how aggressive or how disastrous the situation was, Lucas had made sure that none of the attackers went past him. He had always ensured that regardless of which point it was, Melissa''s silhouette would always be protected by him. Undoubtedly, this put a toll on Lucas'' body and made the battle even more difficult for him, but he didn''t care. However, the same couldn''t be said about Melissa who felt guilty about the situation.


    "Don''t worry, Mel. Big brother won''t let anything happen to you." Lucas glanced at her and smiled.


    Just then, the door to the Mertens family main house opened. The two major battles paused for a moment as the old man who had gone in earlier walked out. He glanced around and seeing that his men were still engaged in battle, he frowned.


    "It''s so difficult to just capture a human male and a young hybrid girl?"


    He then turned towards Jonathan and saw Laura facing opposite him.


    Grimacing, the old man said, "Little girl, do not interfere any longer. Your father has already given us permission."


    Laura froze while Lucas let out a sigh. He had already expected it, yet he still held on some kind of hope. Now though, there was no reason for that.


    On the other hand, Laura was wondering why her father had stepped back so easily. This was especially so with how cocky the Baylands City Patrol Corps agents had been by waltzing into their estate.


    "I don''t believe it." Laura shook her head.


    However, the robot from earlier moved closer to her and projected an image. It was that of her father, Russell Mertens.


    "Laura, step back." Russell said.


    "But father..."


    "No buts." Russell cut her off.


    While everyone was distracted by the image, Jonathan abruptly made his move. At a speed that seemed to rival teleportation, he dashed towards Lucas. The latter had failed to react in time; no, rather, it was that he couldn''t even react in time as Jonathan was too quick. The last thing Lucas saw was Jonathan''s fist which loomed in front of him until it struck him right away, knocking Lucas out.


    "You...!"


    By the time she noticed something was off, it was too late and all Laura could do was glare at Jonathan.


    "Take him away." Jonathan ignored her and gave the orders to his men.

 Chapter 208 - 208: Father-Daughter Argument

    Baylands City welcomed a new day with the sun rising high into the sky. The chill of the winter breeze swept through the city, but due to the unique climate of the region, there was no snow to accompany the breeze. However, the temperature was still low enough to be harsh.


    This was the unique situation in Baylands City.


    Whereas all the other fifteen districts would be welcoming the winter season with pristine white snow, Baylands City would be bitterly cold, yet no sign of any snow. Researchers had once argued that it was due to the close proximity to the Wastelands, which possibly harboured a special phenomena that created this event. This was because the situation in the Wastelands was the same as Baylands City; where the weather would be cold enough to freeze water, yet no snowfalls.


    Apart from the numbing chill and frost-bites that came with the weather, the winter season also marked the end of many activities in Baylands City. Whether it was the high-school session or the college semester, these were all standard events that occurred within this season.


    There were also the holidays, which were famous all over the planet. Eretre didn''t have a Christmas or any other holidays with religious descents, but they did have an end-of-the-year holiday which lasted for a week. It was known as the Verglas Beano [1] since the last week of the year happened to be the coldest period of winter.


    While the start of winter kicked off the countdown to a lot of events and culminations, elsewhere, it was the opposite.


    "Director!"


    The door to an office was forced open as a silhouette walked in furiously.


    "What''s the meaning of this?!" Lieutenant Lily Mayer glared at the man in front of her with a mixture of shock, confusion and anger.


    The man before her was the director of the Red Fangs; a special department under the Baylands City Patrol Corps yet possessed some degree of autonomy and only answered to the commissioner of police. In other words, apart from the commissioner of police and the City Lord, the director was the only one who could order the Red Fangs. But at the same time, he also had another identity, Lily''s father.


    "Oi, what with barging into my office so early? If it were anyone else, don''t you know that you ¡ªa mere lieutenant¡ª could get sanctioned for this?" The man frowned at his daughter. Deep down however, he was bemoaning the fact that he has spoiled her a little too much.


    "I apologize, but you can reproach me another day, director. That''s not what I''m here for." Lily replied.


    Seeing as his daughter still spoke to him using standard protocol, Director Mayer sighed and waved at her.


    "Fine. What is it?"


    "Last night, the director for the BCPC for Central Prefecture district has conducted an operation at the Mertens family estate." Lily said with a grave expression.


    "That white fogey is so ballsy? Since when?" Director Mayer looked surprised.


    His relaxed and playful manner was a sharp contrast to his bold and confident self from the meeting with the city lord. Only his daughter was allowed to see this side of him.


    "That''s not the issue. The issue is the target of the operation." Lily slammed her hands on the table.


    Immediately, a projection popped right up in between her and the director.


    "It was the human, Lucas Saunters. They arrested him on account of terrorism, but we all know that video was a shitty attempt to accuse an innocent man. So why did they do it?!"


    Director Mayer sighed. Sometimes, he wondered where his daughter got her strict sense of justice from, but then he remembered her mother. The two could be passed as the same, which was why the man cherished her more than anything in the world.


    "Regardless, it''s outside our jurisdiction so let it be. The matter also occurred in the Central Prefecture district and was handled by the BCPC branch. It would be hard for us to interfere." Director Mayer waved off the matter, clearly having no interest in it.


    "But that''s wrong. If we can''t protect innocent civilians, then what can we do? If we can''t uphold the justice and fairness of the law, then why preach it?" Lily refused to stand down.


    "Get to the point, Lily. I''ve heard rumours that you''ve been involved with the victim. Don''t tell me you have feelings for him?" Director Mayer stared at her.


    "Wh, what?" Lily faltered a bit.


    "Oh?"


    Director Mayer seemed turned to a father who had sensed a threat as his eyes flashed with a strange light.


    "No, that''s not it. Hold on, you''ve already investigated him? That means you knew about this?"


    Seeing his daughter successfully change the topic, old Mayer knew he wouldn''t be getting anywhere today so he just went along with her.


    "And what about it?"


    "Then why did you let it happen?" Lily was confused.


    "You''re a lieutenant, smart and my daughter. You should be able to figure out the situation he''s in. This isn''t something for us to put our noses into. The Red Fangs have a simple role, and that is to defend the city and the city-state. We might be a part of the BCPC, but that''s only on paper. You should already know the other departments treat us as some sort of outcast. Butting into this matter would only make things worse for us." The director explained.


    Of all high-level security organisations in Baylands city-state, the Red Fangs was the youngest. It had only existed for close to one hundred years, whereas Baylands city-state was already five hundred years old and the corresponding security organisations were of a similar age.


    What''s more, the nature of the Red Fangs founding was somewhat unique. It was said that the founder of the Red Fangs had started the organisation out as some sort of vigilante group a hundred years or so back to protect the city from terrorists. After making great achievements and defending the city with their blood and sweat, the group was finally recognised for their efforts and turned into an official organisation. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the original Red Fangs weren''t incorporated into the Baylands City Defence Force, which at the time was supposed to be the most logical decision. Instead, they were brought to the city and attached to the Baylands City Patrol Corps. Even then, they were turned into an entirely separate department and given a significant degree of independence. So much so that even the highest uniformed individual in the Baylands City Patrol Corps, the Chief of Police, could not order them. They only answered to the commissioner of police, who stood above the Chief. But even the commissioner rarely interfered in their business, making the Red Fangs a special organisation that answered only to their director.


    With this arrangement being backed by the then city lord, there was nothing anyone could say about it.


    Naturally, this generated discontent amongst the other departments of Baylands City Patrol Corps. They all wondered why the Red Fangs, a group of vigilantes, had to be treated so special. And so, they began sidelining the Red Fangs in many activities and operations.


    One hundred years down the line and the treatment was still the same, especially since a new city lord was in power. Even though most of the department directors from back then were either dead or retired, their successors bore the hate and had even tried to push for the dissolution of the Red Fangs. One of those at the forefront of the movement is the director of the BCPC department branch in the Central Prefecture district. This was why director Mayer wanted to avoid an issue with the former.


    "So we should just stay out of it? We both know that this action of theirs would lead to more cons than pros for the city, so why tolerate it?" Lily still didn''t understand.


    "Because it is outside our jurisdiction." Director Mayer said once again, but this time around, with a serious face.


    "This discussion is over. If you have nothing else, leave. If you overstay your welcome, I''ll see to it that you get a two weeks suspension and have your salary cut down by thirty percent."


    Lily froze right away. She tightened her fists and gritted her teeth, but in the end, walked out of the office. Being the director''s daughter, she already knew about her father''s personality well. Once he got serious, it didn''t matter whether the person before him was a top four family head or even the city lord. He would follow through with his statement.


    After she departed, the director sighed before taking a look at a document he was reading prior to his daughter''s invasion. Surprisingly, it was actually a report on the case with Lucas.


    ''This entire case is strange. Even if they are so greedy, this is going out of control. A top four family was even caught up in this? Why hasn''t the city lord done anything yet?''


    Director Mayer frowned.


    For some reason, he felt that the conspiracy was bigger than what anyone thought.


    A struggle between the top factions for the mysterious transformative technology? That was what everyone in the know believed, however, director Mayer felt the truth was far more complicated.


    Suddenly, he widened his eyes abruptly.


    ''Don''t tell me...!''

 Chapter 209 - 209: The Mysterious World

    In a dark space devoid of life, where time seemed to not exist nor the reality, Lucas felt himself floating within this universe, like a plank in the middle of the ocean. A strange sensation swept across him as Lucas felt he existed yet didn''t. He had no limbs nor body to call his own. He couldn''t feel [1], neither could he smell, hear or speak, much less taste. It was debatable whether Lucas could see as all within his reach was an empty void of darkness.


    In this state, Lucas felt as if he had wandered for years and years without end, but at the same time, it was as if only a second had passed, and then another, and another, just as how time flowed in reality. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although he was unable to sense his physical form, Lucas'' consciousness was ''alive'' in this strange dimension, but it was blank like a piece of paper. Its thoughts were jumbled and over-flooded, but at the same time, empty. This led to a situation where the consciousness was stuck between oversaturation and emptiness; a state where differing contrasts existed at the same time which caused his consciousness to be frozen. It was unreal and couldn''t be explained by words or science, but Lucas was existing in such a realm.


    His subconsciousness, albeit frozen due to its unique state, was somewhat able to perceive its environment, but at the same time, couldn''t. This was because of the unique state of his consciousness, which prevented Lucas from being able to understand the situation.


    To describe this in an analogy, it was like having one''s sensory nerves shut down and then accidentally touching a hot object. The body would experience the pain and the side effects of coming into contact with high heat, which was being burned. However, due to the lack of a pathway for this sensation to flow to the brain, the individual would be unable to notice anything strange unless they glanced at their hand. In fact, without the pathway, which is the sensory nerves, the individual wouldn''t even realise that their hand is in contact with an object.


    This was exactly Lucas'' current situation. His subconscious could perceive the environment, yet he could not comprehend it nor did he realise that he was in such an environment. All he could ''see'' was darkness, yet his subconscious grabbed onto something.


    Just when it seemed like he would be forever stuck in here, a miracle occurred. A voice sounded in this deep dark space, breaking the balance of the environment while mysteriously reaching out to Lucas, despite his lack of senses [2].


    "Wake up, Lucas. Wake up."


    Lucas heard a voice sound so close to his ''ears''. It was a feminine voice that felt familiar, yet not. As the voice constantly called out to him, Lucas felt himself dragged out of that world into yet another dark space. However, compared to the former, this space felt different. Here, he could feel his body, his limbs, and his five physical senses.


    Struggling a bit, Lucas managed to open his eyes and realised that he was in a strange space.


    "Ugh, where am I?" Lucas groaned as he took a look around.


    He appeared to be on a bed in a room with some simple furniture. There was a desk by the side of the bed, and in front was a sofa and an arm chair, both facing a display screen.


    Lucas frowned a bit as he tried to recall how he got here. He also checked his communicator to find out the date. It was then Lucas remembered the events which took place two days ago.


    Under the invitation of the head of the Mertens family, Russell Mertens, Lucas had made his way with Melissa to the Central Prefecture district for a meeting. After the discussion between the two, Lucas left with Melissa. However, they were interrupted within the estate by a convoy of hover cars that arrived from the Baylands City Patrol Corps'' Central Prefecture district branch. After a short battle, Lucas was then knocked out and taken away.


    Lucas surmised that he had been isolated and kept in some secretive location. As for why? He didn''t have an answer. The only thing on Lucas'' mind at the moment was Melissa. Lucas was worried about her, but with no one coming in to ask about the situation, it was difficult to find out her current status.


    ''I need to recover first and try to fish out more information, somehow.'' Lucas balled his fist.


    It seemed like the battle two days ago had taken a toll on him, which was understandable after all, he was only a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner utilising powers far above his level.


    After a bit of meditation to get himself back to stability, Lucas tried connecting to the KSSI. Interestingly, it actually worked out. It seemed like whoever locked Lucas away had no intention of preventing him from going online.


    Lucas began to search for related news about his arrest but found nothing online. It was clear that the operation was a hidden one and there was no intention to make news about it.


    So far, while the terrorist clips had been broadcast through social media and even the traditional media, the official security agencies had refrained from making a comment. To the outside world, it would seem as if they were investigating the matter. However, Lucas had initially guessed that they didn''t plan on doing so since it was bogus. Anyone with some level of meticulousness and detective work could figure that part out.


    However, with his arrest, Lucas was unsure of the police''s stance. One thing he knew however, was that they didn''t want the news to go online.


    Just as Lucas was thinking this, a wall in the room broke off to form a door and a figure walked in.


    Lucas found the newcomer to be familiar especially since he was one of the more recognisable figures present that night. It was the captain who came from the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district and the famed genius of the BCPC, Jonathan Oakval.


    "Let''s talk."

 Chapter 210 - 210: Is This The Justice You Serve?

    "What is there to talk about?"


    Lucas glanced at Jonathan Oakval with a calm demeanour from the bed.


    "Nothing much. I just want to know what you and the master of the Mertens family discussed."


    Jonathan walked towards the arm chair in the room and took a seat.


    "The same as everyone else did." Lucas responded.


    Although he didn''t know exactly why Jonathan was interested, Lucas knew that he could not trust the former. He could also guess a bit of what was going on.


    From what Russell had said before, Lucas surmised that the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch probably had the backing of one or more of the top four families, and could be influenced by them. And to Lucas, these factions were his enemies. They wanted one thing from Lucas, which was for him to work under them and hand control of his research and technology.


    Originally, this wouldn''t be clear to an average individual since the factions presented themselves to be scheming, yet sincere for a partnership. For instance, the Ross family had offered tons of good benefits in exchange for cooperation. Even those who were more greedy, like the Bergs and Dufour families, still gave some good terms and compensation. This way, even if the vestige-smith backing Lucas was to be pissed about the conspiracy to harm the store, it wasn''t as if there was no chance for cooperation.


    Being forced that had existed for decades, the top factions were professionals at offending others without burning the bridge [1].


    However, if the reality was revealed to be that they were secretly plotting to take control of everything later on, there would definitely be no room for a talk. This was why each faction made sure not to spread any strange rumours, or badmouth the other even if it could increase their chances.


    To ensure this, they had agreed that any discussions with Lucas would take place in a public spot or in his store, where they could be monitored by others. However, Russell had broken this rule and invited Lucas to his place late at night. In the Mertens family estate, especially Russell''s study room, it was impossible to figure out what exactly was being said there.


    Once they got the news, these forces had probably made the BCPC move, as that was the only organisation under their control that could barge into the Mertens family estate without suffering any or much repercussions. That led to the current situation.


    "If it were truly the same, there would be no need to call you over." Jonathan was not buying the excuse.


    "Be honest with me, and you can go home."


    "Where''s Melissa?" Lucas asked.


    Seeing Lucas ignore him, Jonathan was ticked off, but he remained calm.


    "The little hybrid? She''s in a safe place. What? Do you want to see her?"


    Jonathan stared at Lucas.


    "That can be arranged. As long as you tell me the truth."


    Lucas ignored him and shut his eyes. He had just woken up and wasn''t in the best state of mind. It was probably why Jonathan had arrived right away to question him. Knowing that, Lucas was less inclined to hold a conversation with him.


    "Associating with a suspected terrorist, unregistered birth certificates and documents, a child of illegal immigrants, probable involvement in the Alleva district desolate beasts tide which is now confirmed to have terrorist trails, and also, obstruction of justice and public arrest." Jonathan calmly listed out a few crimes with his hand.


    "All these crimes alone are enough for the court to arbitrate a seven years sentence at least. Even if judged innocent of most, the unregistered documents issue is worth at least two to three years. Toss in the fact that she''s a hybrid and with a little background meddling, the court might not be lenient even if she''s still eleven years old. What do you think?" He turned and smirked at Lucas.


    Lucas abruptly opened his eyes and glared at Jonathan. He could not believe that the latter was threatening him using an eleven year old girl.


    "Don''t look at me like that. This will only be a reality if you still refuse to cooperate. A human such as yourself, being so stubborn is really frustrating. What''s more, you even have a hybrid with you. Bottom feeders such as yourself should know when to bow your heads and not make such a fuss, you know."


    Lucas suddenly charged at Jonathan, but the flung his hand, sending a wave of stellar energy at him.


    *Bam*


    Lucas was forcefully flung back to the bed. If it weren''t for the soft cushions, he would have been severely injured.


    "A mere peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner charges at me?" Jonathan found the situation to be funny.


    He then stood up to leave, seemingly tired of the situation.


    "You have only a few hours to make your decision. The Mertens or the girl."


    "Is this the justice you uphold?" Lucas'' voice sounded, surprising Jonathan.


    "What?" Jonathan asked.


    "I refuse to believe that you don''t know the truth of the situation. Anyone with even half an eye could see the truth and know that all of this is a setup, but yet, you do this. Threatening innocent lives and slaving around as a dog for the upper class. So I ask, is this the justice you swore to protect?" Lucas propped himself up and stared at Jonathan.


    "What does it have to do with you? A human, speaking to me about justice when you should be extinct. If it weren''t for the fact that you still have some use, I would have killed you off here and now. Justice should only be granted to those who have something to offer to society. In my eyes, your existence barely offers a semblance of gain to society. Dead or alive, you do not matter." sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Jonathan left the room through the same entrance he came through.


    Lucas fell to the bed face first, seemingly exhausted. It was as if he had been using the last breath of energy within him to question Jonathan. The hidden security camera showed the situation in the room to those outside and they thought nothing of it.


    Unbeknownst to them however, Lucas had a wide grin on his face.

 Chapter 211 - 211: Russell Meets The City Lord

    No matter how one looked at it, barging at Jonathan with the intent to take him down was a dumb move especially for a peak Body Strengthening stage human. After all, Jonathan Oakval was a peak fifth stage stellar practitioner; forget about winning, even landing a punch was impossible for a Body Strengthening stage practitioner However, Lucas wasn''t an idiot or one who would let his emotions get the best of him.


    Although two days ago, he had retaliated against the Baylands City Patrol Corps because of Melissa, he had chosen his opponents carefully and had already made up a plan to escape. Unfortunately, the system had interfered, which Lucas had yet to find out why.


    The reason for his attack on Jonathan wasn''t to get a hit in, but rather, to leave a mark on him. While Jonathan was ahead of Lucas in terms of stellar refinement, when it came to the usage of this mystical energy, Jonathan could not compare. Lucas had confirmed it that night and was confident his plan would pull off.


    As for the details of Lucas'' plan? It was simple; to set a tracking mark on Jonathan. The tracking mark was a unique one that could help Lucas have an idea of the layout of the place. It was very sensitive to changes in direction, and by monitoring all of Jonathan''s turns and footsteps, Lucas could visualise a portion of the map of the area.


    The tracking mark was powered by mystical energy, which meant that Lucas could use either his blood energy or soul energy for it. For this, Lucas had chosen soul energy, because it would be less likely to be discovered by an inexperienced fellow such as Jonathan. Although Blood energy would be difficult for the latter to sense, chances were that Jonathan might notice something off. After all, he had experience in bloody situations. The Soul Dismantling Technique, one of the four forbidden techniques [1], was what Lucas had used to generate soul from a portion of his soul.


    While pretending to have been knocked out, Lucas sensed the movement of the tracking spell and was able to visualise the correct path in the area. This would become necessary when he needed to escape.


    At the same time he was doing so, Lucas suddenly called out to the system.


    "System, explain to me why you did what you did."


    On the night of his arrest, Lucas had resorted to using the gauntlets of the Steller Circuit Battle-Armour to resist his opponents, but that was not enough. He then decided to use a fourth level Apertures Opening stage Bronze Grade card, but the system had blocked that action without any explanation.


    "System does not understand what the host means." The system''s static voice sounded.


    "Are you playing around with me? You obstructed me when I was about to use a Bronze card two nights ago." Lucas frowned.


    "System has no intention of messing around with the host. There is no information in the system''s database matching the host''s description. Also, by the basic rules, it is impossible for the system to interfere directly with the host''s actions as that would be categorised as unfair. The only exceptions are with system-generated missions."


    Lucas became even more confused.


    For one, he knew that the system wasn''t an entity to make jokes on serious affairs. It also wouldn''t lie to him. The reply from the system sounded a lot like what the system would do, since in every occasion he had faced death, the system had just watched. At best it would comment on how it would find a replacement for the Crafts-god title once he was dead, but it had never directly intervened in Lucas'' matters.


    "Sure." Lucas decided to let the matter go.


    Although it was strange, with the system denying the incident, there was nothing Lucas could do. The only thing he could think of was to make preparations just in case the same event repeated itself.


    For the moment, Lucas'' focus was on his situation. By tracking Jonathan''s actions, he could plausibly find the exit of this building. Lucas was confident that Jonathan won''t be here all day long. The latter would eventually go far, and by tracking his movements, Lucas could estimate the right direction to leave.


    . . .


    At the centre of the Central Prefecture district was a large complex that spanned the size of two football fields [2]. The building was a unique work of architecture, seemingly consisting of three different buildings connected together to form a single complex. This was the famous City Lord''s Office, which also had the name, the City Lord Manor.


    When the original Baylands City was first founded, the then city lord operated from a two storey building that appeared like a manor and was called the City Lord Manor. Even after the original city had expanded to become a city-state and the building was renovated to become even larger, the name was still retained.


    The City Lord Manor was the administrative centre of Baylands city-state and the concentration of power, somewhat similar to the presidential houses on Earth. The building by the left side was where the cabinet gathered to hold meetings. In present day Earth, it was the same as a diet building, a parliamentary office, Congress or senate building.


    The building by the right was the city-state''s supreme court, where all the highest ranked officials of the judiciary perform their duties.


    As for the building at the centre, it was made from the original City Lord manor. The manor was expanded from a two storey building into a five storey building, and at the top floor was the city lord''s residential area. Right below was the administrative area, where the city lord performed his duties.


    The floors below serve as the administrative area of the City Lord manor. Here, citizens could file complaints about the economy or governance, meet with top government officials, file taxes, and so on.


    Today, the City Lord Manor covertly hosted a very influential and powerful figure.


    "To what do I owe this wonderful visit, Sir Russell. I hope it''s not something problematic." The city lord and most powerful man in Baylands city-state, Noah Bergs, smiled at the man who sat before him.


    The guest was a famous individual and someone Lucas had recently gotten acquainted with; the head of the Mertens family, Russell Mertens.


    "You jest, your excellency. Nothing much. I just needed to confirm something." Russell calmly said as he picked up the cup of tea before him.


    Tea was Russell''s favourite drink, and as one of his close friends, Noah knew this and made the latter comfortable.


    "And what might that be?" Noah raised an eyebrow.


    "Two nights ago, the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district department invaded my compound. I was wondering whether I''m guilty of any crime that warranted such humiliation." Russell said.


    "Oh? I''ll do well to question the director about his motive. I am very well aware of the unwritten rule and privileges granted to the top four families, and I don''t plan on breaking those rules during my tenure." Noah replied.


    There was nothing wrong with what he had said, but for some reason, Russell felt it was strange.


    Although Noah Bergs was the city lord, it didn''t mean that he would know every single activity that went on in the city. There was so much to organise, which was why every administrative department has its supervisor. The Baylands City Patrol Corps was under the commissioner of police and the chief of police. Whenever a director needed to carry out an operation, they only needed to report to any of them, and not the city lord. So it made sense that Noah was unaware of this.


    However, the operation was a high profile one and targeted a top four family. At the same time, it took place within Baylands City, what''s more, in the Central Prefecture district; the home of the city lord. It was quite difficult to believe that the city lord was unaware of this.


    Seemingly having read Russell''s thoughts, Noah added,


    "Now that I think about it, I think I heard about this incident earlier. Nolma had reported that he was about to carry out an operation to arrest a terrorist spy to Munroe, but he failed to specify when and where. It seems like he was planning this in secret." Noah frowned as his aura turned cold.


    Nolma was the name of the director of the BCPC''s branch in the Central Prefecture district, whereas Munroe Bergs was the commissioner of police. Although he was a member of the Bergs family, he operated under Noah''s faction.


    "I hope your excellency could help me get an explanation from him." Russell bowed.


    Even though he was one of the main figures that had helped install Noah as the city lord, the latter was not only stronger than him, but he held more power. As such, it was only right to be respectful towards him no matter what the relationship between them was.


    "Don''t worry about it. I can never forget what you''ve done for me. I''ll make sure to get to the bottom of this. It seems like I''ve been letting them operate too freely." Noah said with a cold voice.


    It was clear that he was incensed by the matter, after all, a subordinate had orchestrated such a high-risk operation without properly informing him or the commissioner. No ruler would tolerate such an insult.


    "Thank you, your excellency." Russell stood up and bowed with a smile.


    "Since the matter is settled, I''ll be taking my leave."


    "What''s the rush? It''s been a while since we''ve talked like this." Noah said.


    "While that is true, your excellency is surely busy with running the city, and I myself have to handle the effects of the incident. Please do understand." Russell apologetically replied.


    "No problem. You may go."


    "Thank you, your excellency."


    Russell then left the office.


    After a short while, a silhouette appeared behind Noah from his shadow. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "It seems like, he''s on to us." The shadowy silhouette said.


    "I would be disappointed if he wasn''t." Noah smiled.


    "However, it doesn''t matter. Proceed as planned."

 Chapter 212 - 212: The Truth About Everything

    Russell Mertens left the office with no strange reaction or emotion on his face. It wasn''t until he was quite far from the City Lord Manor that he sighed. S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is there a problem, sir?"


    The hover car Russell rode was quite similar to those luxurious cars on Earth, except for the fact that it was more technologically advanced and expensive.


    In the front seat sat a man who looked to be quite old. He was the butler of the Mertens family and Russell''s personal assistant for over thirty years. In a sense, one could say that he was the only person Russell could trust with his back.


    "The city lord has changed." Russell sighed as he recalled the conversation he had earlier.


    He then went on to narrate the experience to the butler.


    "Forgive me, but nothing seems to be wrong." The butler replied after listening to the narration.


    "Say what''s in your mind." Russell wasn''t buying the query.


    "...you''re right." The butler sighed.


    Initially, he didn''t want to add to the family head''s suspicions as he knew how close the latter was with the city lord. While others might have seen the relationship between the two to be that of a political godfather and a sponsored candidate, it was actually closer.


    Russell was older than the current city lord, by at least two decades, and they knew each other before Noah began his political campaign. He had treated Noah as a son and a close friend right after the two began cooperating. Their relationship became so close that when Noah brought up the idea of competing against the Bergs'' candidate, his step-brother Fredor, Russell sided with him and had even advertised him to the other families.


    It was thanks to Russell''s help that Noah was able to gain a large political force to support him, which became known as ''The Other Side''; an alliance of top factions that were against the Bergs family and their allies.


    Knowing how close Russell was to Noah, the butler didn''t want to harm his master''s feelings.


    "He actually said he wasn''t aware of what took place. The situation is currently unstable and anyone with half a brain would know that the balance could be tilted at any moment. It''s unbelievable to say the least, that the city lord wasn''t monitoring the situation." The butler sighed.


    "Indeed. But there''s something else to consider." Russell narrowed his eyes as his facial expression took on a dark turn.


    "He had told me Nolma had informed Munroe, who in turn spoke to him. Obviously, this is as good as exposing his lie, yet he did that. Noah wouldn''t make such a mistake. That could only mean one thing; he''s warning me."


    "But why would he do such?" The butler was perplexed.


    It wasn''t like Russell was purposely going against him. If anything, Russell''s plan with his proposal to Lucas was originally supposed to create an opportunity for the city lord to step in and reinforce his power. So, one could say that they were both on the same side.


    "I guess for once I miscalculated something." Russel let out a wry smile.


    "Everyone thinks that the city lord is taking a step back and granting an owed favour to The Other Side, which helped him seize power. I, for one, had even wanted to create a chance for him to step back in without burning bridges with them. But we were all wrong; we actually misjudged him. All of this isn''t the top factions taking advantage of anything; it''s a big trap set up by Noah."


    The butler froze for a second, but after a while, he widened his eyebrows as he was overcome by horror. Having been by Russell''s side for years, it was inevitable that the butler would be exposed to the various degrees and layers of schemes used in politics. With Russell having given him a hunt already, he could finally see the big picture.


    Yes, this was all a trap by the city lord, Noah Bergs.


    At first, everyone thought that the Stygian Abyss had some unsettled hatred with the Seven Sparks Forge store owner. As such, they had falsified scenes of using a vestige from the store in hopes that the Baylands City''s factions would clamp down on the store owner. This was later confirmed with evidence by the independent investigations of the various top forces, but that didn''t mean they would just brush it off.


    Instead, the top factions took this as an opportunity to do just as the Stygian Abyss wanted, but didn''t stop there. They went an extra step ahead and began a covert struggle to takeover the store and its technology. In the process of doing this, they had gotten on the bad side of the city lord, but for various reasons, the city lord could only let them be.


    Russell, being a close friend and ally of the city lord, had tried to create an opportunity for the latter to step in and reinforce his hold over power without offending his allies. However, it turned out that that was all unnecessary. The city lord never needed any help.


    In fact, just as the top factions had taken advantage of the performance of the Stygian Abyss, the city lord ¡ªNoah Bergs¡ª had done just the same. He had let the top forces face each other not due to some magnanimity or favour, but simply because he wanted them to weaken each other.


    Even though the city lord was a supreme title in Baylands city-state, the threat of the top factions still existed. Just from the fact that the Bergs family had three concurrent city lords, although Noah ¡ªthe third¡ª was rebellious, goes to show just how powerful these families were. It was even rumoured that the Dufour family also had connections with the Oklo Dynasty.


    The heritages, wealth, influence, and power of the top factions were all something no city lord could easily ignore. While some city lords closed an eye to it, for some, it would leave a terrible taste in their mouth. Noah happened to be a part of the second group. What Noah planned to do was to bring all of that back under the control of the city lord. However, this in itself was difficult, the reason being that these forces were tough nuts too tough to crack.


    The City Lord Manor did have its fair share of experts as well as the officially recognised authority from the Oklo Dynasty. But if Noah was to begin targeting the factions directly, they would all collude to impeach him. One should recall that the cabinet possessed the ability to impeach the city lord, if found guilty of threatening the city''s peace.


    Although such ruling would have to be confirmed by the Oklo Dynasty, until then, the city lord would lose his power and the three deputies would take charge. These deputies happened to be persons from the top factions however. As long as they took control, they could undo all the damage and pass regulations and rules to obstruct such actions again.


    Hence, the only way for a city lord to regain full control over them was to have them weakened before targeting these forces. And the best way to do that, was to have the top factions fight themselves.


    Even with this idea in mind, it was very difficult to realise. The problem was finding a suitable bait that could be used; one so tempting that everyone would be greedy for it. A secret, item, technology, or object so alluring that even if one side held it, the other couldn''t sit still.


    For days, weeks, months and years, Noah had tried to come up with something but failed. That was until Lucas, or rather, the Seven Sparks Forge showed up.


    The SS vestiges were unique vestiges developed with a technology that had never been seen anywhere on the planet. Even when considering the entire Kellan solar system, there was a very high chance that such technology didn''t exist. The transformative features, the upgraded stellar processors, and God knew how many more technological secrets and advancements the store still kept hidden.


    Such secrets were more than enough to create a new top faction; one so powerful that it could compare to the Lester family or even the Lin family of Paros city-state. Both families were top powers that had businesses spanning across the entire solar system. The wealth they controlled could easily overwhelm Baylands city-state''s top four families combined. The Lin family was even more outrageous. They were so powerful that not even the Oklo Dynasty, the planet''s rulers, could afford to easily offend them. This was because the Lin family in Paros city-state was merely a branch of the main Lin family. The main branch was located in Mandora, the planetary capital of the Kellan solar system, and they were a powerful family on a solar system scale.


    The fact that the secrets of the Seven Sparks Forge store could potentially create such a powerhouse was too attractive for any of Baylands city-state''s top factions. Even though some might not have dreamt that big, becoming the undisputed number one in Baylands city-state was definitely doable.


    With such a bait, Noah could not help but be more pleased. This was because no matter which family successfully convinced Lucas to work with them, the others would never sit still. The agreement of trying to convince Lucas to work with them was simply paper-talk [1]. They just hoped that he would agree so they can have the moral standpoint, but in reality, all sides were prepared to wage war against the other if they lost.


    Russell''s plan of trying to get the city lord in would have expsowd him because the city lord had no intentions of doing so. While Noah could successfully fend them off, that wasn''t his goal from the very start.


    As such, when he found out that Russell had invited Lucas to have a discussion, it was most likely that Noah had ordered Nolma to trespass on the Mertens family estate and arrest Lucas. This would prevent the possibility of the two successfully working together, which would then force Noah to act.


    Russell was convinced that this was the truth, after all, it was impossible for Nolma to be so confident enought to act against a top four faction, even with the backing of another one. This was because Nolma was a government employee and worked under the city lord. Even if the top factions could influence such agencies and personnel, Russell knew Noah''s personality and he was confident that the latter had complete control over his men; at least those at the top. What''s more Noah had hinted at this when he mentioned that Nolma had informed Munroe, Noah''s right hand man, about the operation. This was the vague warning Noah had given him.


    In other words, the only reason why Nolma had boldly trespassed on the Mertens family estate was because he had the city lord''s support; it was never the support of the other top factions. What''s more, since the other top factions never really knew much about Noah, they would still be confident that everything was in their control, meanwhile, they danced atop Noah''s palm.

 Chapter 213 - 213: Escaping

    A few hours later, Jonathan Oakval had returned to meet with Lucas, but the latter still didn''t give his a response he liked. In the end, Jonathan left, but not without giving Lucas a piece of information.


    Lucas would be set free and sent back to his store. But in three days, the top factions would send their representatives to get a response from him. At the same time, he would be under surveillance by the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch 24/7.


    The Mertens family was the last faction to have met with Lucas as everyone else had already done so. They believed that prior to visiting Russell Mertens, Lucas had already notified his master, the vestige-smith, about the proposals of the other forces which was enough. Even if he had yet to do so, the investigations of the BCPC speculated that Lucas had a means to contact his master within the store.


    After three days, the representatives of all interested parties would arrive in the store for an answer.


    Although Jonathan didn''t mention it, Lucas was aware that if he didn''t give a response the group''s found to be satisfactory, his situation would worsen.


    In Baylands city, the law was just and fair, but this was only in the hidden condition that one was hyuman.


    . . .


    After the meeting with Jonathan, Lucas was sent back to the store. He had found out that the Patrol Corps didn''t manage to arrest Melissa as well. This was because right after he was knocked out, both Laura and her father, Russell, had stepped in to ensure that Melissa wasn''t arrested alongside him.


    The director of the BCPC Central Prefecture district branch, Nolma, had to give way this time around, and some the Mertens managed to save Melissa. For this, Lucas was grateful, but it still didn''t mean he would work with them.


    The reason was quite simple; Lucas realised that the issue was out of control. There was no right choice any longer. If anything, he wasn''t even seen as a player, but a pawn.


    Suppose he was to side with the Mertens family, who was to say that the other factions wouldn''t ally together to strike them down?


    According to Russell, siding with him would gain Lucas the protection of not just the Mertens family but also the Ross and the city lord. However, Lucas felt something was off.


    The Central Prefecture district branch, which was arguably the BCPC''s most important unit, was being influenced by external forces and the city lord did nothing about it. Lucas found this to be unbelievable.


    The only logical explanations for this that either the city lord was too weak, or he had tacitly agreed to it. If it was the former, then even with the team up of the Mertens and Ross family, Lucas doubted he would be safe. If it was the latter, that was all the more reason why Lucas couldn''t work with the Mertens. It meant that this conspiracy was much more complicated than he thought, and even the city lord could be involved. In that case, even the Mertens family couldn''t exactly be trusted entirely.


    To be honest, Lucas had experienced such a situation before. In his first life as Yohan, he had felt what it was like to be a talented prodigy, yet have no backer. It was this exact plot that had cost him his life, and sent him through his first transmigration.


    As such, with the prior experience, Lucas already knew what decision he had to take. In fact, he had only one option at the moment; to leave the city.


    After leveling up before [1], Lucas had unlocked a new system function. To be precise, he hadn''t unlocked the ability yet. As of level 3, the system would begin to present Lucas with options in order for him to determine his growth path.


    Lucas was to choose one system ability from three available options, but he had postponed the selection as he couldn''t come to a conclusion. Now however, Lucas had already made up his mind.


    Opening his system interface, Lucas went to the profile section and selected a tab that was tagged ''Level Up Reward''. There were a few icons there representing level one, two and finally three. However, the first icons representing levels one and two were dull, while the third one was brilliant. The difference in contrast was due to the fact that Lucas had already accepted the rewards from the other two levels, while the third was still open.


    Selecting the icon for level three, three boxes immediately appeared on the screen. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    [[ Please choose one system skill. ]]


    At first, it looked like it was a random selection since no information regarding the boxes was displayed. However, by hovering his finger over them, a pop-up window describing part of the skills would show up.


    The first box contained a system skill called Architect. It could let Lucas take note of every single change within the store, and also enable him to change the layout of the store as he wished. While this didn''t sound impressive, if used well, it could boost Lucas'' vestige-smithing skill within the store. He would be able to sense any little change in a vestige he was working on, so long as he was inside the store. The work-station counted as the store, so Lucas could use this ability while working. It seemed like the best skill as it could aid in his vestige-smithing.


    The second box has a system skill called Branch Manager. It allowed Lucas to be able to open branches in other regions, which would also enjoy the benefits of the other system skills. He would also be able to move from one branch to another using a special teleportation skill called Branch travel, which came with the Branch Manager skill. It was a very handy ability, but when he first levelled up, Lucas didn''t see a reason to hurry to open a branch.


    The third box sealed within it a skill called Ranged Teleportation. It allowed Lucas to be able to teleport to any point within a certain radius around the store. This seemed like a handy ability which could not only get him out of the store secretly, but also bring him into the store as long as Lucas was within the active radius.


    All three skills were nifty, which made it difficult for Lucas to select one, especially the first and third skills. Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and he was caught between them. This was why Lucas had postponed the selection.


    However today, none of them caught his attention. Instead, it was the second box that had the skill, Branch Manager.


    Since he had the skill in mind, what Lucas had to now decide upon was where to go


    Eretre has four continents and thirteen city-states. Situated on one of the largest continents, the Groeten continent, were five city-states including Baylands and Paris city-states.


    On the Beast continent was Digress city-state and another city-state.


    The Bernin continent held only one city-state which was called Oklo. It was also the home of the Oklo Dynasty and the entire continent was directly under their rule.


    The last continent was equally as large as the Groeten continent and had five city-states as well.


    Relocating to one of the city-states on the Groeten continent wasn''t a smart move as Baylands city-state''s forces might still be able to reach him. Since the Oklo Dynasty was the unquestionable leader of the planet, some of the city-states had formed alliances with each other and traded together, just as like in Earth.


    If Lucas happened to end up in a city-state with close ties to Baylands city-state, his arrest could be requested by the city lord. With their alliance, the city-state would agree to it in lieu of protecting Lucas.


    Another criteria Lucas had to keep in mind was that the next city-state he would be heading to had to be less hateful of humans and mixed species. This was something that had cost him dearly and made it such that Lucas couldn''t even turn the situation around. As such, he took this requirement seriously.


    Digress city-state seemed to do well here, but due to the public opinion of the place as well as his suspicions, Lucas didn''t go for it. However, he did consider Digress city-state to be his backup choice.


    Also, the city-state had to have fair laws and be able to protect him to a certain extent. Otherwise, once the city lord dog Baylands city-state caught a whiff of him or other eyes looked his way, the same situation would repeat itself.


    Finally, the city-state had to be a bit more advanced that Baylands city-state in terms of vestige-smithing. This way, there wouldn''t be much fanfare with Lucas'' products, even if it was ahead of the market in terms of technology. The more backward the place was, the more chances that other forces would become jealous of his success and turn greedy for his technology.


    "Hmm. I think I have the perfect pick." Lucas'' eyes flashed.


    Without further ado, he logged into the KSSI and went to the section for planet Eretre. However, Lucas didn''t move towards Baylands city-state''s section. Instead, he connected to the intranet for a different city-state; one quite far away from Baylands and on an entirely different continent.


    Using his information, Lucas purchased a building here. He also did so in various other city-states in both that continent, the Groeten continent and even the Beast continent. It wasn''t until more than half of his hard-earned wealth was gone, leaving a mere fifty thousand federal coins with him, did Lucas finally stop.


    From formerly being worth a bit more than half a million federal coins, Lucas now only had less ten percent of that. However, there was no regret on his face. This move was necessary if he needed to escape.


    "Money can always be made, but you only live once. Well, I''ve lived thrice."

 Chapter 214 - 214: Kelvins Decision

    One might wonder what was the point of Lucas buying so many properties, but it was quite simple; to throw off investigators.


    The Branch Manager skill allowed Lucas to own and manage branches of the Seven Sparks Forge store. In order for a building to be classified as a store, it has to be owned by Lucas and he had to agree to this change.


    Thanks to the modern advancements in society and technology, it was easy to buy a plot for land miles away. Even on Earth, this wasn''t a challenge, but in Eretre, it was much faster and easier to do so. Typically, a transaction would not even exceed four hours.


    At the moment though, the Branch Manager system skill was still limited and Lucas could only manage two stores at the same time. So, why did he buy many?


    If Lucas simply bought one building, the Baylands City Patrol Corps, which could easily gain access to his digital footprint [1], would find out about the building he bought and eventually investigate it once he was declared missing. However, if Lucas was to purchase and rent so many buildings at the same time, it would throw them off and make investigating difficult.


    Many of the buildings Lucas had either bought or leased were located in various city-states and continents. If the Baylands City Patrol Corps or any of the top factions in the city wanted to go after him, these buildings would be suspicious points for investigation. However, with there being so many of them in various locations, such an investigation would become quite costly and time-consuming for them. There was also the possibility that Lucas would not really be in any of those buildings and might have just gotten them to throw them off.


    With quite a few conclusions, and the fact that it would be costly and time-consuming to find him, there was a chance that the BCPC and the others would give up. Even if they didn''t, Lucas would buy enough time to hide and restart his life in a safe place. Sacrificing more than half of his wealth for this was not a big deal.


    Having made the decision to leave the city, Lucas then contacted Kelvin.


    According to the system, only the host and his employees could use the Branch Travel skill that came with the Branch Manager system skill. Since Kelvin was his employee, Lucas wanted to reach out to him and find out whether the latter was interested in leaving with him.


    The first call didn''t go through and Lucas frowned. After a while, he tried again. This time, someone finally responded although it took a few seconds.


    However, even after Kelvin''s projection appeared, Lucas didn''t say a word. Kelvin also went silent as well.


    "It seems like you''ve made a decision." Lucas said after staring at Kelvin for a while.


    "... I''m sorry, but I can''t help you." Kelvin lowered his head and sighed.


    Although Lucas didn''t state his reason for calling, Kelvin suspected that the latter did so to ask for help.


    Toman''s Workshop might be declining, but the old man''s contacts still existed. Through them, they had found out that Lucas was previously arrested by the BCPC''s Central Prefecture district branch and he was currently under house arrest.


    Kelvin presumed that the call from Lucas was to ask for help from his father. However, with the current situation of their family, it would be unwise of them to take on another difficulty.


    In truth, Kelvin had been thinking about this for a while. When he made a decision, Kelvin then began to keep his distance after Lucas sent him back. He originally planned to not even respond to the latter''s call, but in the end, he decided to do it. Kelvin wanted to clear out everything and officially cut off his relationship with Lucas to prevent his family from getting dragged into the situation.


    "I understand." Lucas curtly replied before cutting the call.


    It would be a lie to say he wasn''t pissed, but Lucas truly did understand Kelvin''s worries. However, it didn''t mean that he would tolerate it. There was a huge difference between understanding and agreeing. Regardless, he didn''t let it get to him.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had already experienced even worse betrayals before, so this was nothing.


    All that was left was for Melissa to return. Until then, Lucas began making preparations and packing up.


    . . .


    Outside of the Seven Sparks Forge store, there was a vehicle that was parked a couple metres away. Inside, a small team of specialists were on standby, monitoring the situation outside and inside of the store. They utilised high-tech spy cameras, satellite imagery, and even infra-red and bio-scan systems to ensure that Lucas was always on their watch. This was to prevent the possibility of him escaping the city, which those at the top predicted could be his next move.


    Even though they were far out from the building, the screens in the vehicle showed the interior, but in a unique display. This was because they were monitoring the inside using infra-red and bio-scan cameras. As such, the concept of colours and inanimate objects weren''t properly displayed as they would in reality.


    "With the level of security we have in this guy, I don''t see how he can sneak out. Why then do we need to be here?"


    One of the five men in duty sighed. S§×ar?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apart from their small team, there was also a group of BCPC agents who were positioned in sttaygice locations around the store. Some of them occasionally approached the store, but didn''t walk in since it was closed. Nonetheless, they weren''t worried about a secret path as the entire area had already been scanned. From the positioning and number of agents, it seemed impossible for Lucas ¡ªa human¡ª to be able to escape.


    "Well, who knows. Maybe he has some secret trick hidden up his sleeves?" One of them men said.


    "As if. This is Baylands City. It might not be the Central Prefecture district, but it''s still a part of the city. Every information about every construction and infrastructure has been recorded. No such trick exists here." The first man snorted as he stared lazily at the screen.


    The entire area had already been scanned and mapped out by a different unit, even before they had arrived. Apart from the small building behind the main store building, there was no underground structure present here. The main building had no basement and only the two existing floors above. As for the small building behind, the basement was small, and examination by the special unit had proven that it was actually a storage unit and nothing else. The unit had even once sneaked in there and found nothing except a few gardening tools and random items.


    Unknown to them though, the only reason they had managed to even sneak in was because Lucas had permitted it. Otherwise, the system would have prevented them or even killed them on site.


    "He''s right." The team leader said.


    "We have records of the construction done on this place and even the blueprints. The renovation details are also available to the Commission of Infrastructure and City Layout. There''s no secret tunnel for him to escape, so our participation is just for formalities."


    The first man smirked at his teammates seeing the team leader support him.


    "However," The team leader continued, "who knows, maybe a miracle could take place. Like a teleportation station hidden inside the building."


    The inside of the vehicle went silent for a while, before they all burst out laughing.


    "Haha."


    "Haha. That''s a nice one cap."


    "A teleportation point? Might as well say he''s the Divine Protector''s secret lovechild son." One of them said.


    The Divine Protector was the undisputed leader of the Hyuman Alliance and the ruler of the Niera galaxy, where all humans lived. He was at the Paragon realm which was four stages ahead of the Apertures Opening stage, but thirty one levels away when counting from the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. From this, one could imagine how powerful he was.


    As for why everyone found the idea of a teleportation point hidden inside the store to be just as ludicrous as a human being the Divine Protector''s secret lovechild, it was simply because such a technology was too advanced even for Eretre. One should recall that space-bombs, items with the ability to shatter space and open a wormhole, could not have their endpoint fixed using the technology and minds on Eretre. There was no one with the ability to make such a device and it could only be bought from higher planets like Mandora, the solar system''s capital.


    As for teleportation points, they were even more complex of a technology. Just like how regular space bombs could be found in the Oklo Dynasty, short distance teleportation points might be found, except it would be under the direct control of the royal family. However, they only had a range of fifty to one hundred metres. Also, they couldn''t be sold to anyone, even top factions or city lord enterprises.


    As for the medium distance ones, which could teleport up to five hundred kilometres (500km) (310.69 miles) [2], it couldn''t be found on Eretre as there was no one capable of making it. Buying it was too costly, and only organisations such as The Lin family, the Lester family, and the Oklo royal family might be able to afford them.


    The long distance devices were even rarer and only top factions in the solar system or transit points for long distance travel in space used them. These devices could reach distances measured in light-years and were used for inter-solar system travel.


    Regardless of which it was, it was impossible for Lucas to have one, at least from the perspective of these men.


    "Enough laughing. Pay attention to the screen. Even if he can''t escape, we still have to do our job."


    "Yes, captain." The team responded.

 Chapter 215 - 215: Departing Baylands City-state

    After the call with Kelvin, Lucas made the decision to officially fire him and the system revoked its privileges to Kelvin. Unfortunately, the latter wouldn''t even be aware of this and Lucas had not notified him of them in the first place.


    Originally, Kelvin would have found out on his own about the system skills, as long as he got into trouble within the store. However, there was no incident that had occurred warranting that. Even the event with the extremists had ended with Lucas interfering at the last moment.


    As such, Kelvin had no knowledge of the power he held. Nonetheless, it didn''t matter at the moment.


    After removing Kelvin, there was now one free slot out of two on this employee page. Melissa was registered as an employee within the store simply for her safety. Speaking of Melissa, she was still in the Mertens family''s custody, but Lucas had made a phone call and asked for hed to be sent over the next day.


    The next day came around, and Lucas had a visitor to his store. Just as he had expected, it was the Mertens family, or to be specific, Vergil, who showed up.


    "Yo~" Vergil smiled as he stood at the front door.


    "Look what I got you."


    Melissa, who was being held by Vergil, dashed towards Lucas almost immediately.


    "Big brother!"


    Melissa hugged Lucas tightly as she wept.


    "You''re safe now. No need to be scared again." Lucas hugged her back and patted her back in an attempt to calm her down.


    "Please, don''t leave me again." Melissa muttered.


    Lucas felt his heart break from those words. Although the situation wasn''t exactly his fault, Lucas felt miserable that he wasn''t able to take care of the little girl even though he had promised to do so. Seeing her like this wrecked him, and he felt guilty for everything.


    "I won''t. I promise."


    At first, Vergil wanted to have a small conversation with Lucas, but seeing the reunion between the two, he decided against it.


    "Well, I''ll be leaving you guys now." Vergil closed the door and walked out of the store. He might be a playboy, but that didn''t mean he had a low EQ [1].


    After a short while, Lucas noticed that Melissa had fallen asleep in his arms and he couldn''t help but sigh. Although he was confident that the Mertens family wouldn''t treat her badly, it was most likely that Melissa was restless and depressed throughout her stay there. Having lost her memories after a severe traumatic experience, she still developed disorders from the event. As such, Melissa found it difficult to adapt to other places or relate with other people. She could only trust Lucas, who had been with her ever since then.


    ''I guess I''ll postpone our departure a bit.'' Lucas thought as he carried the little girl to her room.


    "System, what do you think of my idea?" Lucas asked the system.


    It was the first time he had spoken to the system since he was released.


    Truth be told, Lucas still had negative feelings towards the system for what it had done back at the Mertens family estate. Despite the fact that the system stated it was for his own good, Lucas disagreed with it.


    "Host''s idea has been judged to have a high success rate, however, the status of the main store cannot be changed."


    Lucas raised an eyebrow at the statement, but was unbothered nonetheless. If anything, this was good as it would give him a return path back to the city.


    "What if they try to force their way in once I''m gone?"


    "Host underestimates the system''s defence mechanism. Even a Sage has no way of forcing their way in, so the host needs not worry."


    A Sage was someone two stages ahead of the Apertures Opening stage. The Sage realm was also known as the Moon Walker realm because at this level, it was possible for one to survive for a very long time in space even without oxygen or food. Individuals at this level could utilise rules on a planetary level.


    What this meant was that Moon Walkers could manipulate a planet''s gravity or even exhibit gravity on a planetary scale, can create super typhoons or even super volcanic eruptions, and so on. Of course, their powers or effects would differ depending on the innate superpower they unlocked after the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    For instance, suppose one''s superpower was frost, they could easily recreate the ice age and freeze an entire planet with a wave of their hand. If they were even stronger as a Moon Walker, they could create an ice planet. However, their abilities were limited to planetary levels and physics. In other words, the Moon Walker with a frost ability would be unable to freeze time.


    Nonetheless, as long as they could break to the next stage, Star Lord, freezing time wouldn''t be a problem, but that was very difficult. A star lord was essentially the ruler of a star region, and a star region would have anywhere from at least twenty (20) solar systems to ninety (90) solar systems.


    Since the system assured Lucas that not even a Sage could break through the store''s door, he wasn''t worried about anything.


    A few hours later, Lucas, with Melissa who has already woken up, walked into the work-station. It was time for them to leave Baylands City.


    Prior to this, Lucas has already designated one of the buildings he has bought to be the new store branch using his Branch Manager system skill. Together with the current store, theg were the two branches of the Seven Sparks Forge store. However, to prevent being discovered, Lucas had it named as something else, and the system had no problem with this.


    The Branch Manager system skill had an auxiliary skill called Branch Travel, which could allow the host as well as the employees of the store to move between branches through a teleportation point.


    To the skill, distance was not a barrier as long as the destination was a branch store. However, while Lucas could open a branch on another planet, he didn''t know much about this world yet. As such, it would be quite reckless to move to a different planet. But there was also another reason for not wanting to relocate so far. It was because Lucas planned to make his comeback eventually and pay back all the forces who forced him to run.


    Lucas wasn''t a nice man, and was someone who rewarded his foes in a more vicious way. Just from how he dealt with his opponents during his fights, one could see how ruthless Lucas was to his enemies. It would be a lie to say he didn''t bear a grudge to the top factions of Baylands City. Hence, he has to stay close and plot against them.


    Inside the work-station, a new door appeared just like with the system shop. When Lucas opened the door, a mysterious black-white wormhole appeared befofe them. It looked somewhat terrifying and mystifying, yet alluring and peaceful. It was a strange feeling, but Lucas didn''t think much about it. Instead, he could vaguely spot some strange runes and inscriptions within the portal. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas tried to comprehend those runes as he felt it would be valuable to him, but he failed to even sense then clearly.


    "Where are we going?"


    Although she was young, it didn''t mean that Melissa wasn''t smart. She could faintly sense that they were going somewhere far away and might not come back soon. She wasn''t bothered about that though, as long as she was with her brother.


    "Somewhere far away. Just for a while."


    Right after that, Lucas held her by the hand and they stepped into the wormhole.

 Chapter 216 - 216: Belfargos and Trundel

    Planet Eretre had four continents and thirteen city-states. While the number might seem small, it shouldn''t be underestimated as planet Eretre was about 1.5 times the size of Earth, or fifty percent (50%) larger. Excluding Digress city-state, which was the smallest, every other city-state controlled land at least twice the size of a nation on Earth. Some of the stronger city-states controlled more land than this.


    Apart from the civilised area, there were large undeveloped plots of lands that either turned into wastelands or habitats for desolate beasts and abominations.


    Of the thirteen city-states, the most reputable ones were Java city-state, which was one of the most famous trading hubs on the planet; Paros city-state, which had the reputed Lester family and the sub-branch of the powerful Lin family from Mandora planet; and another city-state. As for Baylands city-state, it was at the upper middle level of the rankings, sixth place to be exact.


    At first place was a city-state that held the position without debate. It wasn''t Paros city-state or Java city-state. Instead, it was the only city-state that controlled any entire continent by itself; Belfargos, the city-state of the Bernin continent. Because Belfargos was the home of the ruling force of Eretre, it also had the nickname of Oklo city-state.


    Belfargos city-state was quite special. In truth, there was only a place called Belfargos City in the Bernin continent, whilst the entire region under its control didn''t really have a name. As such, some called the entire region Oklo city-state or Belfargos city-state. This was why in the official records, there were only twelve city-states and not thirteen.


    Every city-state utilised a different form of government, but what they all had in common was that the leader had to be approved by the Oklo Dynasty before they could exercise their powers.


    In Baylands city-state, the system of government was a unique version of the Parliamentary system of government. The city lord was chosen by the members of the Cabinet. In the case where there were multiple candidates, like with the last election, the two sides would duke it out in a special contest where the winner would become the city lord.


    In Paros and Java city-states, democracy was the norm. As for Digress city-state, they operated by electing the strongest amongst themselves. For Digress city-state, the city lord was more a figurehead and a protector, than a ruler.


    As for Belfargos, the city lord was someone from the royal family. In other words, it was a monarchy. Monarchies weren''t rare and even some city-states were operated under the basis of one. sea??h th§× n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The city lord of Belfargos City was said to have descended from a prince of the Oklo Dynasty. In other words, it was a branch family. Despite being from the branch, their bloodline was quite pure and they were the closest to the direct line in terms of bloodline comparison. Nonetheless, they remained subservient to the direct line. The situation was similar to the Lin family in Eretre and the Lin family in Mandora.


    Belfargos City, being the home of the Oklo Dynasty, gave off a more thriving vibe than the other city-states. It was bustling and flourishing beyond comparison yet still maintained a peculiar air of dignified splendor and magnificence. In the entire Eretre, whether it be land, water, or air, there was no city-state or city that could compare to Belfargos City''s success and prosperity.


    Belfargos City''s appeal didn''t just derive from its appearance, but also its economy and resources.


    There was a line amongst the merchants and businessmen of Eretre; if it couldn''t be found in Belfargos, it couldn''t be found in Eretre.


    With such a slogan to describe the place, it was easy to guess that the city was a place everyone wanted to be. However, as the law of demand and supply went, there might be many people who wanted to live here, but the land was limited. As such, every plot of land was gold.


    In the end, people began to erect other living quartets and cities close by. This was how the ''city-state'' was formed, but it wasn''t officially recognised as one for certain reasons.


    Although life was cheaper on the outskirts and surrounding zones of Belfargos City, they couldn''t compare to the grandeur and splendour of the city itself. There was no doubt that hundreds of millions of federal coins had been pumped into this city to make it what it was now.


    Due to the appeal of the city, many who lived in neighbouring cities would still occasionally come to Belfargos for various reasons. Whether it be to appreciate the view, to engage in pleasure, or to purchase items, Belfargos City had a lot of visitors everyday for this reason.


    Of the cities nearest to Belfargos City was Trundel City. The ruler of this city was a family that had relations with the Cardoso family. The Cardoso family was the official name of the Oklo Dynasty branch family from centuries ago, who now ruled Belfargos City.


    Being related to them, one could see how the Trundel family was able to build a city quite close to Belfargos City. Otherwise, the Cardoso family might have taken control or stopped the construction of the city.


    Trundel City might not be as impressive as Belfargos City, but it was still quite prosperous thanks to its location. Even when compared to capital cities of the more average city-states, Trundel City didn''t lose out, especially the economic district.


    Trundel''s economic district played host to a bunch of different stores, whether they were vestige stores, grocery stores, or even desolate beasts body parts. Being close to Belfargos City, some of their products came from the city while others were sourced locally.


    About a week ago, a new store had opened up in Trundel City''s economic district, but there was no fanfare or surprise about this. This was because quite a lot of stores already existed, and some merchants would try their luck to open one. However, underneath the prosperity and liveliness of the city, competition was tough. Due to this, new stores opened weekly, with many of them closing down after a while.


    For those who had noticed the new store, they didn''t pay much attention to it, as they all believed that it would end up the same as the other stores that had popped up. This was even more so after some of them had checked out the store.


    The interior of the store wasn''t luxurious or special, and the owner was a human. Although humans weren''t prejudiced here, they were still seen as nothing extraordinary. The cherry at the top was the fact that the store ''overpriced'' its items. Even if the overall GDP in Trundel City was much higher than in other city-states, it was still expensive for them.


    With all these added together, no one believed that the store would last long here.


    The name of the store: the Heavenly Demonic Shop [1].

 Chapter 217 - 217: The Stunned Security Personnel

    On the day that Lucas had disappeared from the Seven Sparks Forge store, just before the incident, the security team that had been tasked with monitoring his every move were calm and relaxed. This was understandable as the surveillance systems and measures used on Lucas were so tight and secure that they weren''t worried. Even if the target was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, he might not be able to get away safely. Just the stellar refinement levels of the BCPC agents were at the second and third level. Meanwhile, the pieces of equipment were of high-grade and could even capture the movement of a fourth level stellar practitioner at their best. On the contrary, Lucas was a human.


    From this level of setup, it was quite obvious that escaping was impossible, or so they thought. This was why, a few minutes later when nothing came up on the screens, they were stunned.


    One should recall that apart from the usual security cameras, there were surveillance equipment that utilised infra-red, x-ray and even bio-scan technology. These equipment could see through obstacles to create an imagery of the other side. Infra-red and x-ray devices achieved this using electromagnetic radiations or waves invisible to the hyuman eye. Bio-scans worked by reading a unique signature called the origin wave, which only animate beings could give off.


    Previously, every single aspect of the store was under surveillance even without the security team stepping into the building. This included the work-station that Lucas has prohibited others from entering. Using infra-red detectors, they could see the equipment in the work-station and even replicate the layout using AI image mapping and simulation technology. This way, instead of the usual red, yellow, purple and orange lights on an infrared display, the security team could see things almost as clear as if they were there.


    However, when Lucas walked into the work-station with Melissa, the screen displaying the room had turned black. At first, the group thought it to be an equipment malfunction and hurriedly adjusted a different surveillance camera to pick up signatures from there; after all, the target and another suspect were there.


    However, when the display of the second surveillance camera went black as well, the security team realised something weird was going on. That was when one of the investigators in the team of five, who was working on the first display to resolve the technical issue, discovered that it wasn''t a technical issue. The camera, the sensors, the software, the AI and even the display were all working perfectly. But they were simply picking up a black image.


    "Report to the patrol team." The unit commander of the group of five abruptly said.


    It was clear that something fishy was going on, and chances were that it was the work of the target.


    The man who had discovered that it wasn''t a technical problem, hurried to click a button on the projected keyboard. He then yelled right away,


    "Code G9. I repeat, code G9. The target has taken action."


    Outside the building were a group of BCPC agents who were monitoring the area while occasionally looking at the building. An emergency signal was promptly sent to them by the surveillance unit. When they got the message, seven of the agents immediately dashed toward the store from the different directions. Two aimed to force their way in through the window; another two went towards the door. One of them came in through the back and was heading for the backdoor which led directly to the work-station. The last two rode special vehicles and flew in from above. They were planning to force their way into the building from the second floor and secure the area.


    The speed at which the seven men moved was so fast and smooth, it was clear that they weren''t average agents, but possibly members of the special force. Despite that, they faced resistance on their way.


    *Bang*


    *Bam*


    "Arghhh."


    "Ahhh."


    Whether it was the man who tried barging in through the back, or the two who aimed for the window, they all encountered obstacles. Some of them had tried to force their way in with a kick or ram through the door with their body mass, but they all failed. In fact, they didn''t just fail, but had experienced injuries from the collision.


    Rather than a door or a window, it felt as if what they had gone against was an immovable boulder made of 20 tonnes[1] of steel. Naturally, the backlash was painful.


    "What happened?"


    Both the monitoring team and the other agents in standby were surprised.


    Even the two agents who had tried entering in from above had failed and they landed badly on the ground. Even though the duo were both at the second level, a fall that high especially after suffering a rebound, had left them with major injuries and a dislocation or two.


    "They can''t get in." The assistant to the BCPC lieutenant on standby said.


    "I can clearly see that, you moron. I want to know why!" The lieutenant barked.


    One shouldn''t blame him for his rude outburst, as the man was currently under a lot of pressure.


    Other lieutenants had taken charge with their team and monitored the area with nothing strange happening. However, just a few hours after he had taken the post with his team, the target was making a move yet they couldn''t even get inside the building. If the target were to mysteriously disappear or something, it would be very difficult for the lieutenant to be exonerated of blame.


    "I don''t care how you do it or what you''re going to do, but get in there and bring that guy out!"


    The remaining eight agents in the platoon dashed at the building. Having learnt from the previous seven, they didn''t use their body to force their way in, instead pulling out their vestiges and weapons to attack the building''s possible entrances. Since their lieutenant had given the order, the state of the building didn''t matter anymore; what mattered was fulfilling the task.


    However, even as they tried their best to force their way in, the doors and windows didn''t budge. This was even after a Grade 2 vestige was used to attack the doors and windows.


    "What the hell?"


    Whether it was the lieutenant or the surveillance team watching through the cameras, they were all stunned. This was even more so for the surveillance team.


    With their equipment, the surveillance team had already identified the windows and doors to be made of regular materials. There was also no flow of stellar energy on them, meaning that there was no active stellar matrix or runes. Despite the laid-out facts, these ordinary windows and doors remained firm and took in the full brunt of the agents'' attacks without so much as a scratch on them.


    "Get out of the way." The lieutenant growled, partly disappointed at his men.


    Although he could see that the building was now strange, he refused to believe it. Instead, he presumed that his men were either going easy or simply too weak. However, he was a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner; all lieutenants were.


    Armed with a Grade 3 vestige that he has spent his entire savings on, the lieutenant refused to believe that the door wouldn''t break down. However, just to be safe, he aimed for one of the windows in front.


    It was entirely made of glass and was a unique style of floor to ceiling window.


    The lieutenant''s vestige was a Grade 3 spear and it was made with special materials with high strength and toughness. With his fourth level stellar energy being pumped into the vestige''s stellar matrices, even a six-inch diamond would get pierced through easily and smashed into pieces.


    "Mad Scorpion Thrust!"


    The lieutenant roared. He was the kind of guy that likes to yell out his technique right before a big attack. That''s right; he was a patient diagnosed with the legendary eighth-grader syndrome [2].


    The technique he used was a martial technique practices by spear users in the Baylands City Patrol Corps. It was nothing special to be exact, and was just similar to how some police agencies mandated their members to learn basic boxing or martial arts. Nonetheless, while this technique wasn''t anything unique, in the hands of someone of the lieutenant, it became a force worth taking note of.


    *Bang* S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The spear connected as it crashed right into the window. A resounding sound burst from the point of collision, but it wasn''t the cracking sound if glass as one would expect.


    Stunned, the crowd stared at the scene only to see the lieutenant flying back before crashing terribly on the floor with a thud. He had been forced back by the rebound force from the attack.


    The members of the team, who had just recovered from the earlier blow, all took in a cold breath of air and couldn''t help but be relieved. This was because, compared to them who were simply tossed backwards, the arm of the lieutenant was currently in an unnatural position. It was clear that he had suffered a severe injury after his attempt.


    "Ahhhh!"


    The pain kicked in at the moment as the lieutenant cried out loud. However, no one felt like laughing.


    The Seven Sparks Forge, which was a store previously known for its impressive technology then regarded with pity for how it became a target of envy and greed, was now shrouded in an air of mystery.


    Meanwhile in the surveillance team''s station, the cameras went back to normal but the team weren''t relieved. On the contrary, they began to sweat heavily as their faces relayed a mix of confusion, nervous, and fright. This was because, although the cameras were now working fine, Lucas as well as Melissa, were nowhere to be seen.

 Chapter 218 - 218: Ronny

    Different from Baylands city-state and the rest, the unofficial Belfargos city-state was surrounded by a couple of desolate beasts domains. Considering it was the capital region of the planet, one would expect it to be devoid of such threats. Being so close to a desolate beast domain placed the region at a risk. It was even worse since Belfargos city-state was surrounded by them with a lot of them being classified as major domains.


    In the case of Baylands city-state, only the main city ¡ªBaylands City¡ª was neighbouring a major domain, the Wastelands and some minor ones like the Bayena Plain. This was because the original Baylands City was built to be a fortress city to prevent the desolate beasts from flooding out of the Wastelands. As for domains like Bayena Plain, they were left to exist as a means for employment and to train the younger generation.


    However, Belfargos city-state occupied a continent alone, and it was next to impossible to swallow such a large space by itself. To put this into perspective, the Bernin continent was the size of Europe while the region of Belfargos city-state was the size of France and Germany combined. While it was very big, there were still a ton of unexplored regions and land in the area. These unowned plots were then occupied by desolate beasts, who could proliferate without concern.


    Although with the power in their control, the Oklo Dynasty ¡ªa power more than three thousand years old¡ª could have wiped out all the beasts, they didn''t. The reason for this was just the same as the minor domains close to Baylands City.


    The Oklo Dynasty didn''t expand its control in the territory simply to let the desolate beasts population flourish and act as a resource spot for the city-state. In other words, the vast expanse of land was their ''farm'' and the desolate beasts were their ''farm animals''.


    Only the Oklo Dynasty could be this confident and bold to pull something like this off. If it were any other power in their position, they would have been assaulted by the desolate beasts and wiped out.


    The existence of so much unexplored regions and land controlled by desolate beasts, gave birth to a rise in occupations related to desolate beasts. As a result, Belfargos city-state became the city-state with the largest number of freelancers and pioneers.


    For other city-states, only the capital city or cities close to a desolate beast domain, had such occupations. But in Belfargos city-state, every major city was home to freelancers, vestige-smiths and pioneers. This was because there were enough resources to go around, and with every city surrounding Belfargos City, they were also exposed to the desolate beast domains.


    Ronny, a fourth level stellar practitioner in Trundel City, was a freelancer who doubled as a pioneer as well. He also had quite a good reputation in the industry.


    Unlike the job of a freelancer that simply dealt with hunting desolate beasts, searching for materials or escort services, pioneers had it harder. They usually worked in unexplored zones, relics and other dangerous sites. They were the vanguard forces, which made their job riskier, but the pay was worth it.


    While freelancers frequented regions that saw multiple visitors every day, pioneers went into the unexplored regions that barely anyone had stepped foot in over a decade. As such, they usually get their hands on treasures and rare items, since they had the ''first pick'' rights.


    In his last outing, Ronny had visited a relic that was believed to have been the home of an ancient civilisation. In this relic, he discovered a unique item. It caught his eye right away, and his instincts as a pioneer told Ronny that it was quite valuable. So, he kept the ring with him despite not knowing its function.


    After returning back to Trundel City, Ronny had visited a few vestige-smith stores and appraisal stores to try and find out the value of the ring or its function. Regardless of whichever store he went on, no one was able to give him a satisfactory reply.


    This wasn''t to say that Trundel City lacked talents in this department, but Ronny had instead gone for the third grade stores and below. As for those higher ranked, the consultation fees were too much for him. There was also a chance that the ring would just be an ordinary artefact or a piece of junk. If that were the case, Ronny would be suffering a great loss.


    Hence, Ronny went for the cheaper stores to minimise his loss. However, that decision came to bite him back and none of them were able to figure out what the ring was exactly. An assessor from an appraisal store had managed to give him a bit of information, identifying the object as an artefact. It was due to this appraisal that Ronny had not given up yet.


    Contrary to vestiges which were products of human and hyuman research, artefacts were products of other civilisations or even ancient races.


    Hyumankin didn''t originally exist in all the planets of the Niera galaxy as they did now. Instead, they had migrated from their home planet. As they became stronger, won wars and seized planets, they also migrated into these planets and expanded their bloodline.


    Some of the original habitants currently coexisted with hyumankin while some had been wiped out and forced into extinction. In some planets, the inhabitants the hyumankin had met with weren''t the original natives, as the natives had been wiped out by the new inhabitants. In a few other planets, multiple species had risen and fallen. All of these resulted in the existence of relics of ancient races. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    With hyumankin now controlling these planets, the relics were left for them to explore. Some of them became rich overnight from their exploration, while others had gained nothing with some losing so much as their lives. The occupation of a pioneer was risky, but in exchange for the risk, the rewards were great. But this wasn''t one hundred percent of the time.


    "Why don''t you just forget about it, Ronny? You''ve already spent over six hundred federal coins on appraisals alone." One of his friends advised him.


    Ronny had a very small reputation in the pioneer community because he was quite friendly with others. Today, he went out with some of his close friends, and everyone of them was aware of his predicament.


    "He''s right. Although you''ve confirmed it''s an artefact, it might be a dud. Just sell it as one." Another one said.


    Not all artefacts were of value. While most artefacts were the ancient races'' equivalent of vestiges, some of them weren''t even as powerful as a Grade 1 vestige. Some could not even be used as weapons, and were merely items of luxury or just for fancy. These artefacts were usually termed as duds by pioneers.


    Even though duds weren''t as valuable as the more useful artefacts, they were still of some value to researchers and certain vestige-smiths. The distinctive and rare runes used to make artefacts as well as the extraordinary methods and materials used in making them were of research value to these vestige-smiths.


    However, it didn''t mean that one could sell these duds at a high price; after all, their usage value was either nonexistent or very low. It was why Ronny was unwilling to do so.


    At the same time, what if the ring turned out to be an exceptional artefact? Wouldn''t he be suffering an even worse loss if he sold it at the value of a dud?


    "Na. Never. I''d rather eat my loss as it is." Ronny gulped a mouthful of beer after shaking his head to the suggestion.


    The others sighed and some shook their heads, wondering why Ronny was so stubborn.


    Even though pioneers made more than others and there was a higher cashflow in Trundel City, six hundred federal coins was still not a small amount. One should recall that in Baylands City, four hundred federal coins was the minimum salary in the West Wing district. Even for the luxurious Central Prefecture district, this value was merely raised by one hundred federal coins.


    "In that case, why don''t you try out the new stores?" suggested one of the pioneers who wore a black shirt.


    "The new stores? You might as well go to a love hotel." The first man joked.


    Generally, new stores weren''t looked up to a lot. This was because the owners were startups or foreign companies trying to break into the market. Compared to the locals who had already developed a reputation, it was difficult to ascertain the level of expertise a new store had.


    One should know that vestige-smith stores didn''t just sell vestiges. They also offered services such as repairs, maintenance, custom creation, and even appraisals.


    "I''m being serious. Or have you forgotten about Jeremy and the White Fox shop?" The black-clothed man said.


    Everyone''s eyes immediately sharpened.


    Jeremy was a freelancer, but he wasn''t famous or strong, at least not until recently. It all started over a month ago, when Jeremy patronised a new store.


    Back then, the store had only been open for three days and so no one paid attention to it. After all, every week or so, a new store opened up and would close down within three months. However, Jeremy decided to try his luck and walked into the store.


    After a bit of window-shopping, Jeremy eventually bought a random vestige at a suspiciously low price. What''s more, he wasn''t even informed of its grade. It wasn''t until he had tried it out after getting home did he realise that it was a Grade 4 vestige.


    A Grade 4 vestige was a valuable piece of equipment. In other city-states, only the strongest freelancers and personnel or those from top factions would have one. This was because Tier 1 Masters were rare.


    Although Belfargos city-state had more Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths than an average city-state, Grade 4 vestiges still didn''t sell for cheap.


    With a Grade 4 vestige in hand, a stellar practitioner''s strength would be boosted by at least one level, and maybe up to two. From this, one could see how valuable they were. To have bought one at a ridiculously low price was a miracle that occurred once in a blue moon.


    When Jeremy returned to the store to try his luck again, it was closed and the owner had disappeared.


    After that incident, Jeremy went on to use the vestige and become famous. He had even narrated his experience to others in hopes that someone would help him find the store owner to thank the man, and maybe try his luck once again.


    "Who knows, you might be as lucky."

 Chapter 219 - 219: The Ring

    While drinking with his friends, Ronny decided to go with his friend''s advice and check out some of the new stores. A few of them ¡ªthe man who suggested the idea included¡ª agreed to meet up with Ronny the next day to tag along. Who knew whether Ronny''s luck might turn up, hence why they decided to accompany him.


    Since those stores were new and had to compete with the old timers, they offered perks to customers. Most of the time, those perks were cheaper services, which was why Ronny wasn''t against the idea.


    . . .


    The next day came soon enough and Ronny stood by the east entrance of the Bilac trade centre. The trade centre was the largest market for vestiges, desolate beasts body parts, materials and all things desolate beasts in Trundel City. It was the gathering place of the majority of stores, with the only ones not here being blacksmith stores and other necessities.


    "Yo, Ronny."


    A man called out to Ronny. It was the guy with the black shirt from the previous night. He went by the name Ando, and was a close colleague of Ronny for over five years.


    "Hey, Ando. You''re earlier than I expected." Ronny smiled.


    "I can say the same about you. Seems like you''re looking forward to this huh?" Ando teased.


    Ronny immediately turned his head to the side as he rushed to switch the topic.


    "The others...?"


    "They''re on their way." Ando responded.


    It didn''t take up to three minutes before three other men showed up. They were all Ronny''s friends and were present last night for their drinking session.


    After greeting each other, Ronny then led the way with Ando.


    "Let''s go then."


    . . .


    "Big brother, I''m hungry." Melissa stared at Lucas with puppy eyes.


    There was a blueprint in front of her, featuring a unique bracelet with complex inscriptions and formulae by the side. This was a vestige that Melissa had designed all on her own, after receiving guidance from Lucas.


    "Okay, okay." Lucas smiled as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.


    Unlike the previous building they lived in, this one had more rooms. It was still a two storey building, but there was now a basement underneath. The basement had both the store and the work-station, making it isolated from the customers. Such a layout was much to Lucas'' preference and he felt a lot more comfortable working here.


    It had been over a month since the two siblings fled from Baylands City. When Lucas had used the Branch Travel skill, he landed with Melissa in a building in Belfargos city-state but not Trundel City. The city was quite far from Trundel City; to be exact, in the opposite direction.


    Similar to Alleva district, the city was a grey zone with all sorts of shady activities and organisations there. It was the best place to wipe away their traces.


    To ensure that the Baylands City Patrol Corps didn''t suspect anything, Lucas had previously bought two other buildings in similar shady locations like this but in other city-states.


    Right after that, Lucas removed the building''s designation as a store and left there with Melissa. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After getting new identity cards for both him and Melissa, Lucas then spent a month in a different city, building up a profile to work with. He started out as a blacksmith and engineer, before working as a repairman.


    Once a month was over, Lucas then left the city for his original destination, Trundel City.


    The reason why Lucas had gone through a roundabout way was to eliminate his and Melissa''s traces and build a fake profile to lessen suspicion. Even if the Baylands City Patrol Corps was to investigate every building he had purchased, they would find it impossible to track down Lucas thanks to his setup.


    In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had lived a majority of his life alone and a significant part on the run. Even while with his master, the duo had lived a nomadic life and would occasionally wipe away their traces to prevent enemies from tracking them. As such, Lucas had a knack for escaping a crime scene undetected and going ''invisible''.


    Currently, they have been living in Trundel for over a week now, but nothing has come of it. Lucas had yet to receive any job or orders.


    This was understandable since the Bilac trade centre was home to many top vestige-smiths and companies. It would be difficult for a newcomer to standout, even if they employ marketing tricks like reducing prices or offering free services for a period of time. This was why Lucas didn''t bother replicating his actions from when he had just started out in Baylands City. Instead, he just ran the store normally.


    However, this would become a problem for him because rent wasn''t cheap here. The building Lucas and Melissa stayed in cost three thousand federal coins per month. Back in Baylands City, that was roughly the price Lucas had bought the Seven Sparks Forge building for. But here, it could only cover a month''s rent in the biggest market.


    With the fifty thousand federal coins he had left, Lucas had spent a large part of it to rent the building for half a year, since he intended to stay here for at least that long. However, for that to be successful, Lucas a way had to find a way to make money.


    Just as soon as he was done making breakfast, the store''s doorbell rang.


    . . .


    Ronny and his friends had spent a few hours roaming around the Bilac trade centre. They had visited a few stores, with the majority being new ones as intended. However, every store failed to identify what exactly the ring was. Some were even unable to recognise that it was an artefact and claimed it was a simple accessory from an older civilization.


    All the responses he got made Ronny disappointed and begin to question whether this was a good idea. There was also a voice inside of Ronny that told him maybe this ring was indeed a dud. Despite that, maybe it was due to his stubbornness or his unwillingness to just stop here, Ronny didn''t give up.


    "Where to now?" One of his friends asked.


    Although Ronny hadn''t achieved his goals yet, his friends had their knowledge widened. They encountered some interesting stores which had items they piqued their attention. Some of them had bought vestiges and equipment along the way, while the others simply took note of stores they regarded nicely.


    "I don''t know." Ronny sighed.


    "How about over there?" Ando pointed at a store.


    The store''s appearance looked quite recent and fresh, implying that it has yet to exist in this place for a month. It definitely counted as a newcomer.


    "A friend of mine once went there, but the insane prices drove him out in anger."


    "If the prices are sky-high, doesn''t that mean it''s a scam?" One of them asked.


    "Impossible. No one is foolish enough to try to rip people off in Trundel City." Ando shook his head.


    Trundel City, being quite close to Belfargos City, had one of the highest security standards and levels of all neighbouring cities of Belfargos City. At the same time, the city guards ensured that all activities in the Bilac trade centre were fair and legal.


    Scamming someone here would lead to punishment as small as two years in prison with a hefty fine slapped on top, or even having one''s arms chopped off. No one was dumb enough to do tjay.


    "Then, if it''s not a scam, you mean the items are definitely worth the price?"


    Ando didn''t respond to the man because he also wasn''t sure if this.


    "There''s only one way to find out." Ronny sai as he stared at the signboard.


    Written on it with impressive calligraphy were the words ''Heavenly Demonic Shop''.

 Chapter 220 - 220: Ronnys Request

    *Ding*


    Although the new Heavenly Demonic Shop was styled differently from the Seven Sparks Forge store, it harboured some similarities with the former. A notable exam was the bell that hung behind the door. Whenever the door was pushed open, the bell would be rung, signifying that a guest had stepped in.


    Lucas, who just left the kitchen, glanced at the door just in time to see a group of five men walk into the store.


    While he was a bit surprised, Lucas didn''t feel much about it. Occasionally, there would be a customer or two, but in the end, they would all leave without buying anything.


    The reason for this was simple; the prices of the items were absurd from their perspective.


    One should know that compared to Belfargos city-state, the other city-states'' vestige-smith technology was behind. City-states like Baylands revered Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths and had very few of them. However, in Belfargos city-state, Tier 1 Masters, although not exaggeratedly plentiful, were a lot. There were even a few Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths; characters who could make Grade 5 vestiges.


    With the absence of Tier 1 Apex vestige-smiths, who made Grade 6 vestiges, the highest rank in Eretre was Tier 1 Grandmaster. And it just so happened that over ninety percent (90%) of them were all gathered in Belfargos city-state. Thanks to so many grandmasters being present, they were able to foster more vestige-smiths and even Tier 1 Masters.


    Apart from the high concentration of skilled vestige-smiths, Belfargos city-state was also rich in resources. Being the only city-state on the Bernin continent, the entire continent''s resources was theirs to use. With so much resources, vestige-smiths were able to produce even more vestiges which was why the occupation flourished here. The abundance of resources also attracted foreign vestige-smiths to relocate here, and the industry became saturated.


    All these factors made it difficult for new stores to be able to stand out and seize a portion of the market. To stand a chance, these stores would sell at low prices, offer discounts, or promo events, all just to attract customers. Although this wasn''t a sure-fire method, it still gave them a slight chance at survival.


    However, Lucas'' Heavenly Demonic Shop didn''t do any of that. There were no discounts, coupons, of special sales available, and with his vestiges costing more than other stores, it was inevitable that he would fail to attract any customer.


    As such, when Lucas saw the group of five, he only had a slight reaction to their presence.


    "W, welcome." Melissa stuttered as she glanced at the group.


    Recently, she had been helping Lucas with the store because she was bored and tired or staying upstairs all the time. But also, Melissa wanted to conquer her social anxiety. Lucas was impressed by her guts and agreed to the idea. With the system''s protection, he didn''t need to worry about her within the store.


    "Oh, hey there little lady." One of the men smiled at her.


    He was a father and seeing Melissa, he was reminded of his little daughter back at home in a different city. Unfortunately, the life of a pioneer was one filled with danger and work. They usually spent a lot of time away from home, and barely returned often. The man couldn''t help but wonder how his daughter was doing.


    "Fine." Melissa muttered shyly.


    Ronny nodded at Melissa before turning towards Lucas.


    At first, he was surprised by Lucas. It wasn''t because the latter was carrying a tray with plates of food. Instead, it was because he could sense that Lucas was a human.


    Hyumans had an innate ability to be able to feel a resonance with each other. It was a strange sensation that couldn''t exactly be put in words, but it only occurred upon seeing the other side. Whenever a hyuman glanced at an individual and didn''t get this feeling, it could only mean that the other side was either of a different species or a human.


    Humans weren''t rare in Belfargos city-state. On the contrary, there were quite a few of them. The reason was because Belfargos was more accepting of humans than any other city-state, with Digress city-state being the only exception. This was the main reason Lucas had relocated here.


    Apparently, it had to do with the fact that the major backer of humanity lived here.


    Digress city-state was a unique city-state in the sense that it was the only city-state majorly populated by humans and hybrids. However, because of its uniqueness, it became a target for other city-states. If it were left alone, it would eventually be attacked by the other city-states who suspected it to be a base of terrorists. Whether this suspicion was true or false didn''t matter to them.


    Just when everyone thought that the city-state of Digress would fall, a powerhouse from Belfargos City had relayed an order that prevented the other city-states from attacking. He also helped Digress city-state receive official recognition from the Emperor, granting them an official status and preventing the other city-states from having thoughts against them. After all, there was an imperial edict which prevented city-states officially recognised under the Oklo Dynasty from attacking one another.


    The man who had helped save Digress city-state lived in Belfargos City, and with his presence here, Belfargos city-state became a safe zone for humans.


    There was also the fact that the federal law treated all species as equal. It would be ironic for the capital of Eretre to blatantly disregard this law, even if Eretre was seen as a backwater.


    Ronny brushed off his concerns about the species of the store owner and focused on the person instead. In Belfargos city-state, there were no lack of stores with human employees.


    "I need an appraisal done on this." S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    This was the first service Ronny would request from a store. If they managed to identify the ring to be an artefact, he would then ask for more clues. Eighty after that, he would place an order request for the ring to be fixed, if possible.


    So far, Ronny had visited about seventeen stores, but only six of them made it past the first round by identifying the ring as an artefact. All six, however, gave different opinions on what the ring could be, with two of them claiming it to be duds. However, Ronny didn''t believe any of them since they couldn''t really give a solid explanation for their ''analysis''. As such, no store has reached up to the third stage.


    Although he was somewhat hopeful that the truth would eventually come to light, Ronny doubted it would be in this store.

 Chapter 221 - 221: A Relic From The Past

    "I need an appraisal done on this."


    Ronny handed the ring to Lucas.


    Typically, appraisal services were divided into two: a basic appraisal which was usually free and wouldn''t reveal much information about the item, and a detailed appraisal which was the opposite of the former.


    What Ronny wanted was a basic appraisal, so as to know whether Lucas could identify the item.


    "That will cost twenty federal coins." Lucas said.


    "..."


    Ronny glanced at Lucas, surprised by this.


    "Don''t basic appraisals go for free?"


    "We don''t offer basic appraisals in this store. So, twenty federal coins." Lucas nonchalantly replied as he sat down behind the checkout counter and took a dish from the tray.


    The food was made using somewhat common ingredients from a nearby desolate beast domain and it was garnished with desolate beast meat.


    During the launch of the Legacy Crafts dealership, the dishes for the event were cooked using special ingredients and desolate beast meat. The taste caught Lucas'' interest and ever since then, he had always wanted to try making something similar. In Belfargos city-state, there was no lack of desolate beast domains and so, many businesses depending on resources from the domains came to be. This included meat shops that sold desolate beast meat.


    After hearing his response, Ronny, as well as his colleagues, were left dumbfounded. Ronny even began to think that Lucas was a scammer.


    Since the store didn''t offer basic appraisals, customers would be left with no option than to pay for one. However, who was to say that the results of the appraisal was correct?


    One reason for the concept of basic appraisals was for vestige-smiths to showcase their ability. It could also tempt more customers to their store since no one hated free services.


    However, Lucas, or to be specific, the system didn''t care about that. The appraisal service was a new service listed by the system after Lucas had opened the branch in Trundel City. Since it was listed by the system, Lucas had to follow the price arrangement for it.


    "And what happens if you''re wrong?" Ronny frowned.


    "We don''t make errors in this store. However, if we''re unable to appraise your item, your money will be refunded." Lucas calmly replied.


    How could he make an error with an appraisal? Even though the majority of his skill and knowledge came from his previous toe lives, Lucas doubted that there was a vestige or magic weapon he could not identify its functions.


    One should recall that Lucas is a Grandmaster forger. Being able to reach the rank of Grandmaster in his first life wasn''t simply a testament to his skills, but also his knowledge and ability. Unlike the other ranks beneath it, the rank of Grandmaster implied that the holder was skilled in various types of techniques and mystical energy. After all, Lucas'' first world had more than two types of mystical energy.


    It was thanks to his skill and abilities as a Grandmaster that Lucas didn''t face significant challenges making a vestige in this world, even with the absence of mana.


    But it wasn''t like he could just tell Ronny that.


    Ronny, on the other hand, was slightly incensed by the response as he couldn''t believe there was a store confident to claim that they would never make appraisal errors.


    Although most vestige-smiths were properly trained and had an abundance of experience, none would dare to say that their appraisals were always accurate. Usually, their success rate was around ninety seven percent (97%) for vestiges, and forty to seventy percent (50%-70%) for artefacts, and this was when using modern technology. This was because the technology and techniques used for crafting artefacts were entirely different from vestiges. Some of these artefacts even utilised a different power source and inscriptions, which made it difficult for vestige-smiths to figure out how they worked or what they were used for.


    Since the ring was an artefact, the success rate for appraisals was low. This was why six of the stores he had been to had given Ronny different results. Maybe one might be accurate, but there was no saying so unless they could fix it.


    "Why don''t you give it a shot?" Ando suggested.


    Since they were already here and the appraisal only cost twenty federal coins, it wasn''t a problem. Previously, Ronny had been to seventeen stores and only six managed to identify the ring as an artefact after a basic appraisal. Right after that, Ronny had paid for a detailed appraisal which cost him six hundred federal coins.


    Compared to the total six hundred federal coins he spent across six stores ¡ªaveraging one hundred federal coins per store¡ª the Heavenly Demonic Shop''s twenty federal coins fee didn''t seem like much.


    Ronny eventually decided to go with the suggestion and handed Lucas his card.


    "Go ahead."


    Having received a request, Lucas dropped his plate to get to work. He handed the card to Melissa, who similarly abandoned her food and scurried to the desktop with the card in hand. Lucas had already taught her what she needed to do to assist him in the store, so he wasn''t worried about it.


    Meanwhile, Lucas picked up the ring and walked towards the work-station. Truth be told, he could identify the item on the spot, but no one would find it believable since he was a human. In that case, he might as well just fake a scene.


    When he got to the work-station, Lucas took out a piece of equipment from his system inventory. It was a set of glasses that had a magnification rune engraved on them. The pair of glasses was a new vestige he made back in Baylands City to help with inscriptions on stellar processors. Stellar processors were very small, with some being just the size of a fingernail. To make an inscription on one was very difficult and a magnifying equipment was necessary.


    Using the glasses, Lucas gazed at the ring to study the inscriptions on it.


    ''This...!''


    Lucas was immediately astounded by his discovery.


    At first, he couldn''t believe what he was seeing and immediately took out a block of metal from his inventory. Using the Materialization Technique, Lucas drew out the stellar energy within the block of metal and applied a bit of it to the ring. Although the ring''s inscriptions were damaged, part of it remained usable. However, those parts could be counted on one hand and wouldn''t generate an effect, which was why other vestige-smiths had failed to appraise the ring.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t interested in any of that. His goal was to see the flow of stellar energy through those functional inscriptions.


    As he sensed this, Lucas'' eyes widened even more until he finally let out a strange sigh.


    The ring wasn''t a vestige; it was an artefact just as the previous vestige-smiths had figured out. However, it wasn''t just an ordinary artefact, it was a magic artefact. That''s right; the ring was most likely a product of the world from Lucas'' first life.


    This was an incredible discovery.


    Initially, Lucas had presumed that all the worlds were different but possibly related. He had thought this way while on Earth, presuming that one of the solar systems or even the nearby Andromeda Galaxy in space was his original world. There was no way to have confirmed this as it was impossible for him to get stronger on Earth, and the technology there was lacking.


    Nonetheless, upon reaching Eretre, Lucas had his original presumption challenged.


    The hyumankin ruled an entire galaxy, which when compared to humans on Earth, the difference was clear. Their technology was also far ahead of Earth and capable of communicating light-years away and exploring new galaxies.


    Apart from the Niera galaxy, there were a few other galaxies discovered by the hyumankin but none like the Milky Way galaxy. This made Lucas begin to wonder whether Earth was even in the same universe as he was. Although a plausible explanation was that the Milky Way galaxy was too far, Lucas didn''t want to hold onto false hope.


    Lucas began to wonder whether he would ever return to his previous world or even find Earth. It was possible that the three worlds might not be in the same universe. However, seeing this ring gave him hope.


    ''No use thinking about it for now.''


    Lucas kept his ideas behind his head and focused on the ring.


    Since it was a product of the magical world, it was even easier for Lucas to analyse it and give a proper evaluation. In a short while, Lucas figured out the ring''s function, its features, and even the restoration process for the inscriptions on it. S§×ar?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, during his scrutiny, Lucas discovered that the runes used on the ring were intended for a different mystical energy than mana or even stellar energy. Although it would still work using either of the two, it wouldn''t be as a efficient as when using the intended mystical energy. This could only mean that the rising was made by someone below the Grandmaster rank.


    This in turn made Lucas question his original suspicion that the ring was from his world. Although the manufacturing technique was similar, it was quite possible that it wasn''t from his world but a mere coincidence. However, Lucas lacked the time and resources to investigate further.


    Done with the appraisal, Lucas gathered his thoughts and left the work-station to meet with his client.

 Chapter 222 - 222: Ronnys Request 2

    Lucas arrived back at the shop''s main area where he met with Ronny and his teammates. Previously, just before he left, Lucas had displayed the price rates for services and products in the Heavenly Demonic Shop for the group after one of them had requested for it. As he returned from the work-station, Lucas could clearly sense that there was a different air amongst the group members.


    "This much for a custom Grade 3 vestige? I might as well rob a bank."


    Lucas overheard the comments from the men, but he remained unbothered by them as he arrived at the counter.


    "I''m done. Here''s the evaluation."


    Lucas tapped on the screen of the display, thereby transferring data from his communicator into the display. It was a document which contained the summarised details and functions of the ring. Lucas had drafted the document on his way back up and had an AI edit and format it. All of that took a few seconds and by the time he had arrived at the counter, the document was ready.


    Ronny glanced at the display and browsed the information on it.


    At first, he had no reaction to the document. But as he kept on reading, Ronny''s expression changed from a plain face to one of interest, curiosity, confusion and finally, astonishment.


    The document was quite detailed and it explained the functions of the ring as well as the nature of the materials used. The only thing missing was the name of the materials as well as the dating of the artefact''s creation and its history. But Ronny was already quite satisfied with this, after all, no one else had given him such a detailed writeup.


    What was left was to confirm the veracity of this information.


    To do so, it wasn''t exactly complicated. All Ronny had to do was ask Lucas to restore the ring back to its original form. However, this came with a huge risk.


    Vestige-smithing was an occupation born from the combination of three independent occupations: engineering, blacksmithing and inscription techniques. Every one of these occupations required an immense level of skill, talent, experience and knowledge for one to succeed in them. With vestige-smithing being a combination of the three, the degree of difficulty was even higher.


    This was pronounced both when creating, upgrading, or even restoring a vestige or artefact.


    If the wrong inscription and restoration methods were used on a vestige or artefact, not only would it not function any longer, but the existing inscriptions on it might be destroyed. It would essentially become a spoiled product that could only be sold for scraps. One had to use the appropriate method and inscriptions when fixing a vestige, otherwise they could risk damaging it. After all, vestiges were products of complex calculations, high manufacturing precision and a high degree of skill.


    Usually, when restoring or upgrading a vestige, when it came to the inscriptions, the vestige-smith had the option to either layer new inscriptions, erase the existing ones, or fix the inscriptions.


    Layering was a technique that required the vestige-smith to add in a new set of inscriptions without interfering with the existing ones. This was immensely difficult with only Tier 1 peak Masters or Grandmasters capable of pulling it off.


    As for working on the origin inscriptions, this was the true method used for restoring artefacts, however, not anyone could do it. It was very difficult as not only did it require a high degree of skill to pull off, but also the relevant knowledge about the existing inscriptions.


    Hence, the most common option used by vestige-smiths for upgrading or restoring was to erase the previous inscriptions. Even Lucas had used the erasing method back in Baylands City whenever he wanted to upgrade a vestige, albeit because it was the only method he could use at the moment.


    With the previous vestige-smiths he had encountered, Ronny didn''t take the risk of letting them restore the ring since their appraisals were lacking. This implied that they knew too little about the artefact''s manufacturing method, so they couldn''t use the second method and would have to resort to erasing the original inscriptions.


    However, once that was erased, not only would the value of the ring drop, but there was no guarantee that the new inscriptions could perform the same function as the old ones since the vestige-smiths didn''t understand it completely.


    Because of that, even though there were six vestige-smiths that had successfully appraisee the ring to be an artefact, Ronny didn''t have them attempt to restore it.


    However, Lucas'' appraisal report tempted him to give it a try. Nonetheless, the risks were too much.


    As if sensing his hesitation, Lucas spoke up,


    "I can restore the artefact, but it would cost you."


    "You can?" Ronny was surprised.


    "Indeed. I learned from my master." Lucas responded.


    The excuse of a master was once again used, as Lucas felt he needed a believable explanation to be able to use vestige-smithing techniques in public.


    In Belfargos city-state, there was no lack of stores with human employees. Some humans had even worked under Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths and successfully breached the impassable boundary, becoming Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smiths.


    A Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith could make vestiges below the Apertures Opening stage and attempt creating a Grade 1 vestige.


    With Belfargos city-state being accepting of humans, it was inevitable that some of the stellar refinement methods used in Digress city-state had been smuggled here. Hence, humans could possess stellar energy, albeit only until the second level. Any more than that and their body would explode. The true secrets to going beyond that remained in Digress city-state.


    "How about your master, can''t he help me instead?" Ronny asked.


    Although Lucas said he could fix it, Ronny felt more confident giving the job to Lucas'' ''master''. After all, chances were that the mysterious figure was a Tier 1 Grandmaster, or at the very least a Tier 1 peak Master. Someone at that level could make Grade 5 or peak Grade 4 vestiges, and had an abundance of experience and knowledge. Chances were they could aid him.


    Previously, Ronny had avoided stores with such figures since the cost would be unimaginable, but the Heavenly Demonic Shop was new and the prices of the services were cheaper than other stores; a sharp contrast to its vestige prices.


    Since the appraisal only cost twenty federal coins, Ronny felt the artefact would not be too costly to restore.


    "I can''t. He''s away on a trip and I don''t know when he would be back." Lucas nonchalantly replied before returning to his meal.


    While it was true that he ran the store, from the very beginning, Lucas wasn''t too interested in doing this job. If it wasn''t for the system, he would have shut down long ago.


    "Ronny..." Ando glanced at him.


    He knew how desperate Ronny was over this ring. The others in their circle didn''t get it, but Ando did.


    Pioneers earned a lot, but they also spent a lot more. In Ronny''s case, he was currently in serious debt and needed to find a way to pay before the deadline. That was why he began exploring relics. Although hunting desolate beasts would pay, the difficulty and dangers involved was very high. On the contrary, exploring relics was a mix of occasional dangers and safety. The reward could even be as high, if not higher, than a level four desolate beast corpse''s value.


    Ronny had found this ring in a unique relic that was said to be from a certain era. Many valuable artefacts had come from that relic, although there were duds as well. However, this didn''t dampen Ronny''s hope that this ring was definitely valuable. sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After hesitating for a while, Ronny took a deep breath.


    "How much will it cost?"


    Lucas raised one finger as his mouth was currently munching on a piece of meat.


    "Ten federal coins?"


    Lucas gave Ronny a look of disgust and shook his head.


    "One hundred?" Ronny asked again, slightly embarrassed for his earlier guess.


    Lucas still shook his head.


    "...one thousand federal coins?" Ronny widened his eyes.


    Lucas nodded at the price.


    "Ro-" Ronny suddenly held himself back.


    The price of one thousand federal coins might seem high, but it necessarily wasn''t. At the same time, the price for restoring an artefact depended on the difficulty. Since the price was at one thousand federal coins, it was quite possible that the artefact would cost more than that. However, there were also some duds that were difficult to restore.


    Once again, Ronny was faced with a gamble.


    "Here." Ronny fished out his credit card once again.


    Lucas passed it to Melissa who was previously showing the other guests some of the vestiges on the screen. It seemed like she had gotten better with talking to people which made Lucas feel glad.


    After wiping his mouth clean, Lucas told Ronny,


    "Three hours."


    Then turned to leave with the ring.


    "Hey, hold up." Ronny called out to him.


    "What would happen if you fail?"


    One thousand federal coins was not a small money to him, as it already exceeded what he had spent on previous appraisals. As such, Ronny wouldn''t tolerate a failure in the restoration so easily.


    "Like I said before, failures and errors don''t exist here."

 Chapter 223 - 223: Restoring The Artefact

    After leaving behind Ronny and his friends, Lucas returned to the work-station once more. The task this time around was to restore an artefact; a vestige from a different era.


    Based on the channels of the inscriptions on the ring, Lucas was able to figure out exactly what it was and how it worked. He was also familiar with the structural style of the inscription.


    With all this preliminary knowledge, naturally fixing it wasn''t a huge issue. But there was his lack of stellar energy which further complicated the request. Apart from that, the materials used for the engravings were outdated and couldn''t be identified. So, Lucas would have to make appropriate substitutions as he saw fit.


    Whenever a vestige was made, so much calculations went into the design and simulation from the vestige-smith. To the outside world, they were blacksmiths who earned more, but the truth could not be any farther from this.


    For a vestige-smith, their vestige was a product of so much effort gone into calculation, simulation and construction. Whether it was the size or shape of the vestige, the type of materials used, sizes of inscriptions and so on, everything was considered before smithing. Since Lucas wanted to fix the ring the proper way, he had to find out all those necessary values.


    After that was done, the next step was to use the relevant knowledge to produce a simulation of possible solutions. This was the trial aspect which enabled vestige-smiths to be able to create a simulation and test out different plausible solutions in it. This way, they could try and fail as much as they liked.


    However for Lucas, there was no such thing as a failure. In fact, Lucas didn''t even need to use a computer for this stage as most vestige-smiths would. Instead, he was fully capable of handling everything.


    With his eyes shut, Lucas went through a recreated version of the ring in his imagination and tried different items and inscription methods with it. He spent ten minutes in silence. In those ten minutes, Lucas had simulated at least forty different processes. It wasn''t until he found a suitable one that Lucas opened his eyes and began to work.


    Firstly, Lucas put on the same pair of glasses he had used previously. Since the ring was so small, the pair of glasses was necessary especially as Lucas couldn''t use magnification spells.


    Apart from the glasses, Lucas opened a drawer that was filled with tools and took out some equipment necessary for work. One of them was an inscription pen but with a very tiny tip suitable for the ring.


    Following that, Lucas began to work on the artefact.


    The ring was crafted with a unique type of metal that was not only conducive for mystical energy conduction, but with a high hardness and durability rating. There was also an inscription added onto it to increase these two qualities. This was one of the reasons it had been able to survive centuries and still maintain its form.


    The inscriptions used on the ring weren''t the hyumankin''s stellar matrices or stellar runes. Instead, it resembled magic runes from Lucas'' first life, especially in its operational mechanism. However, after further scrutiny, Lucas had discovered that the inscriptions were different from magic runes as well, albeit very similar to them.


    Due to the fact that the unknown inscriptions were quite similar to magic runes, Lucas was confident that he could fix them without having to erase it.


    Concentrating his efforts, Lucas dived right into it and began restoring the rings.


    First, he worked on the physical form of the ring without damaging the inscriptions. Even though the materials used, as well as the inscriptions, made the artefact quite lasting, there were still some damages done to it. Even a work by a high level magic blacksmith, be could not have survived centuries without being damaged.


    Although the ring wasn''t made by a high level magic blacksmith, it was properly preserved which was why it had lasted so long. Even then, it was still rusted and had some chipped parts.


    This was an arduous task but it was still doable.


    First, Lucas got rid of the rust, but he couldn''t use a dissolving liquid to do so. If he had stellar energy, Lucas could just ''brush'' it all over the artefact and get rid of the rust. While he could achieve the same effect using blood energy, it was quite wasteful. As such, Lucas did things the old way; by filing.


    Since he had to get rid of the rust without damaging the inscriptions, this took Lucas longer than usual, but he was still faster than other vestige-smiths.


    After ten minutes, the rust was cleared. Next was to restore the ring''s original form.


    Some parts of the ring had been chipped and missing a bit. Lucas could file the entire ring and bring it to a proper form, but he would end up reducing the size of the ring and this would interfere with the inscriptions and functionality of the ring. So, what he had to do was to add in material to the ring. This meant that Lucas had to measure the size of the missing parts and recreate it, before fusing the replacement parts to the ring.


    Compared to removing the rust, this was an even more challenging task. This was because the missing parts were so tiny, with some being just a bit larger than a speck of dust. The majority of the missing parts weren''t even half the size of a baby''s finger nail. To recreate such missing parts and then attach them to the ring was incredibly difficult.


    For this, Lucas spent over forty minutes alone. Truth be told, he felt that he took more time than he should have, but Lucas'' weak state didn''t allow him to be any faster. Nonetheless, forty minutes to replicate and fuse fifteen missing pieces that were smaller than a toddler''s finger nail was already impressive.


    After he was done repairing the physical structure of the artefact, Lucas then moved onto the inscriptions.


    Since it resembled magic runes, Lucas decided to call them magi runes.


    The magi runes operated on the same theory as magic runes, which made their form and operation logic quite similar.


    To put this in a very simplistic analogy, one could say mystical energy was just like energy on Earth where we have solar, wind, hydro, heat, mechanical, electricity and other forms of energy. But in essence, they were still energy. In the same way, mystical energy had different forms like stellar energy, blood energy, soul energy, mana, true qi and so on, but they were all still mystical energy.


    However, for the mystical energy used by magi runes and magic runes, they were very similar. An equivalent Earth analogy would be just like the difference between Direct Current (DC) electricity and Alternating Current (AC) electricity. They were both different forms of electricity but still the same.


    Now since both runes used two very similar mystical energies, their structures ended up appearing to be the same.


    An appropriate analogy would be that the two inscriptions were like electric lines. Just as different civilisations used different types of inscriptions depending on their research direction, in the same way, different countries had different ratings and measurements for their electric cables.


    For instance, the standard voltage rating in the USA is 110-120v while Europe uses 220-240v. Because of this difference, American electric cables were thicker than their European counterparts. Apart from that, even the colour demarcation for the cables were also different.


    But even with all these differences and more, the cables still conducted electricity. They were still made of copper or an appropriate metal, and they still had a very similar general appearance, ignoring the size difference.


    Similarly, magi and magic runes worked the same. They both still operated using mystical energies that were almost the same just as American and European cables conducted electricity. So, even though there might be differences in the sizes, structures and forms of the runes, there were still a ton of common points.


    Although the two runes used different mystical energies, the mystical energies were quite similar to each other, which was why the runes ended up being similar.


    As such, Lucas was confident that he could work on the artefact. However, this wasn''t the only reason why. If he were just an ordinary magic blacksmith, then Lucas would have lacked the courage to try this out. However, he was a Grandmaster magic blacksmith.


    Every Grandmaster magic blacksmith had to have experience working with various mystical energies before they could be recognised as a Grandmaster. In his past life, Lucas had worked with mana, true qi, blood energy, soul energy, material energy, void energy, and many other mystical energies. This was why even without having stellar energy, he could still produce vestiges ahead of the market relying solely on blood or material energy.


    Even though the artefact before him was made using the principles of an unknown mystical energy, the fact that such mystical energy had similarities with mana as well as his abundant experience with various mystical energies, reduced the difficulty level for Lucas. S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nonetheless, without possessing an abundance of mystical energy, it would still be difficult for Lucas to restore the artefact so easily. At the same time, even if it was restored, the artefact can never be able to perform at one hundred percent. This was because it was designed with a specific type of mystical energy in mind.


    Unless one could use such energy to operate it, or obtain mana ¡ªwhich was very similar to it¡ª the artefact would perform at only eighty percent (80%) of its real strength. And this was only thanks to the fact that Lucas would make some tweaks to it. Otherwise, even if it were to be fully restored, it would only operate at around forty to sixty percent (40%-60%) while using stellar energy.

 Chapter 224 - 224: Restoring The Artefact 2

    Ronny and his friends remained in the store waiting for Lucas to be done. Three hours wasn''t a lot of time for them and the Heavenly Demonic Shop had a lot of time-killing features. For instance, the simulation room that existed in the Seven Sparks Forge was present in the new shop. Customers could go to the room and test out their vestiges in action.


    The group of five had walked into the simulation and stretched a bit. By stretching, the obvious action was to do battle.


    "Damn. It''s so realistic, I don''t think anything else could compare." A blue-haired man in the group exclaimed with amazement.


    The simulation room could create desolate beast projections and environments for the user. The strength of the projections perfectly replicated that of the desolate beast. The similarities didn''t just stop at power level, but even behaviour. This made it feel as if they were facing a real desolate beast.


    "Indeed. And the best part is that it doesn''t cost much." Ando sighed as he commented.


    The price of the simulation room only cost twenty federal coins, but it was free for customers who bought a vestige or service from the store. That meant that Ronny could use the room for free, but the other four had to pay for it.


    Originally, the group had wanted to check out other stores until the three hour mark was up, but Melissa had suggested they try out some of the facilities in the store. The man who had a daughter of Melissa''s age, got touched and decided to do as she wanted. In the end, the other four decided to stick around as well, and they didn''t regret the decision.


    Ronny didn''t say a word, but his hopes were raised even more.


    One should know that simulation rooms like this were quite popular in Belfargos city-state unlike Baylands city-state. However, the simulations weren''t as realistic as the one in the shop. For such realistic simulation rooms, the pieces of equipment needed were very costly. Even operating it consumed a ton of resources and not every store could easily afford that. Only those top stores that easily made hundreds of thousands could do so.


    Since the Heavenly Demonic Shop had such, it meant that it was on par with a top store. After all, possessing such a simulation room without being able to make a reasonable profit would become a loss. Only stores with a high ranking vestige-smith would do such a thing, because they were confident in making a profit.


    "It''s time. Let''s get going."


    Ronny glanced at his wrist and saw that it had already been twenty minutes past the agreed three hours. They were enjoying the intense realism experience and lost track of time.


    Nonetheless, there was no problem with coming even five hours late or the sort as there was no lateness fee or withholding charge.


    The group returned back to the lobby where they saw Lucas relaxed behind the counter.


    "How is it?" Ronny couldn''t resist asking right away as he glanced around the counter looking for the ring.


    He was clearly nervous and hopeful about the result. One should know that there was a fifty percent chance that the artefact would be very valuable and could be sold for hundreds of thousands. There was also the possibility of it being worth not much. However, if the restoration process was successful, then it could be sold above the average price for a dud artefact.


    Lucas opened his eyes and glanced in front to see Ronny''s anxious face.


    Although it looked like he had been resting, Lucas was stuck in the deep recesses of his mine, analysing the magi runes he had encountered in the last three hours. Lucas was a man with an obsession towards material science and magic blacksmithing. On Earth, he couldn''t learn the latter, so only his material science obsession was present. However, in Eretre, although there was no magic blacksmithing, there was vestige-smithing which was essentially the same to him.


    When he saw the magi runes, Lucas had to hold back himself from behaving out of place and focus on the job first. Once he was in the work-station, Lucas began obsessing over the runes even while he restored the artefact. In the end, a task that would have usually taken him two and a half hours, ended at three hours and fifteen minutes; fifteen minutes beyond the time he gave Ronny.


    Luckily, Ronny and his group arrived late otherwise they wouldn''t have met Lucas. When he noticed they hadn''t arrived yet, Lucas spent the remaining five minutes meditating on the runes he was exposed to and trying to decipher its secret.


    "It''s done."


    Lucas took out a plain jewellery box and passed it to Ronny. The box was something he made after fixing the ring. It wasn''t a vestige and was just a product of blacksmithing, but the craftsmanship was still very impressive.


    Ronny was surprised by the box and couldn''t help but strongly praise its appearance. But in the next second, he rushed to open the box to check its content.


    Inside was a ring that glistened with the slightest reflection of light on it. It looked like a ring that was fresh out of the smithy and had never been worn before. If it weren''t for the fact that he had stared at the ring countless times and could see some familiar parts of it, Ronny would have found it unbelievable for this to be the same artefact hundreds of years old.


    Propping the ring closer to his face, Ronny studied the inscriptions on it.


    He might not be a vestige-smith, but as a pioneer, Ronny had to learn a bit about inscriptions so as to identify trash from value in relics. Stellar matrices had a more distinct and geometrical appearance compared to other inscriptions. As for stellar runes, they looked like a mix between the Human era''s ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and latin.


    Upon scrutiny, Ronny could see that there were new inscriptions added to the ring which differed from stellar matrices and runes. However, these inscriptions perfectly fitted in with the existing ones. He couldn''t even spot a difference between the two inscriptions. The only reason Ronny was even able to point out the new inscriptions was because he had memorised the existing ones in the artefact long ago.


    Based on appearance alone, it seemed like the human shopkeeper before him had restored the artefact perfectly. This was understandable since Lucas had considered various possibilities before trying to restore the artefact.


    Even though magi runes were similar to magic runes, minute differences still existed which gave birth to slightly different effects and appearances. But to someone who had never studied the two runes, they would be unable to spot a difference. This was why Lucas confidently took on the task.


    After admiring the ring''s appearance, Ronny wasn''t done yet. There was still the stellar energy test.


    If the runes used were in restoring the artefact was inappropriate and unsuitable, the inscriptions would either be destroyed or the ring damaged, as soon as stellar energy was circulated into the inscriptions.


    "Remember what we agreed upon." Ronny glanced at Lucas with a grim look on his face. There was also a mix of apprehension, and hesitation in his eyes.


    This was the deciding test which would either reveal good news or ruin the artefact for good, turning it into a dud. Unless it was the former option, Ronny couldn''t handle the loss easily. But he had already hopped on the train, so all he could do was hope for the best. If not, Lucas would have to at least refund him.


    "I don''t like repeating myself unnecessarily." Lucas calmly replied. sea??h th§× N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Go ahead and give it a try. You should already know what the functions are based in the previous report."


    The appraisal report Lucas had given Ronny earlier contained various details about the ring, with the most important of them all being the artefact''s function.


    The ring possessed the ability to temporarily boost the user''s strength on the arm that had the ring. It could also project an energy shield which had defensive strength roughly the same as a Grade 1 vestige.


    In terms of quality, the ring was roughly on par with a weaker Grade 2 vestige.


    While this didn''t seem like much, the value of an artefact didn''t lay in its power but the technology used.


    Artefacts were just like prehistoric art prices on Earth like terracotta works and the sort. Although such art works could easily be replicated using modern technology, they wouldn''t be of the same value. The unearthed ancient relics on Earth would hold more value because of historical attachments and dating.


    In the same way, the value of an artefact was mostly due to the dating as well as the technology used, which varied from the hyumankin''s vestige-smithing techniques and inscriptions.


    With Lucas giving the go ahead, Ronny no longer continued with his words.


    As the rest of his group, and even Melissa, looked on, Ronny finally imbued his stellar energy into the ring.

 Chapter 225 - 225: Miser

    As Ronny imbued his stellar energy into the artefact, the ring lit up with a faint blue light before going dark. Just as he thought that the restoration was a failure, Ronny sensed a strange occurrence. He could feel that there was something different about the ring, but couldn''t exactly say what it was.


    "Try it out." Lucas said as he took out a metal plate and set it up.


    The metal plate was made of a unique alloy and could handle attacks from even a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, and would require a third level to be capable of penetrating it. It was the most suitable impromptu equipment to test out the ring''s effects.


    Ronny nodded and took a stance right away. He gathered raw strength into his right arm, but didn''t tap into his fourth level powers. He even went so far as to limit his physical strength to roughly the same as a first level stellar practitioner.


    Once he was ready, Ronny abruptly fired his fist and struck the metal plate.


    *Bang*


    The first struck the metal plate squarely and created a dent in it. If it weren''t for Lucas who held the metal plate from behind, it would have been flung away.


    "Incredible." The other four men who were with Lucas were stunned.


    They were all professional pioneers with the weakest of them being at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. They had clearly felt that the physical strength Ronny exhibited was at the first level. Despite that, he had managed to damage an alloy plate that would require third level strength to be destroyed.


    Although it was just a dent and the alloy couldn''t be said to have been destroyed, it was a verified fact that the ring had boosted the power of a first level Apertures Opening stage attack to be on par with a peak second level. Sear?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was clear that the artefact had been successfully restored to its original state.


    The five men couldn''t believe their eyes. An artefact that had gone through the hands of more than a dozen vestige-smiths and was deemed unfixable, was actually restored to pristine condition in an unknown store. What''s more, the price wasn''t much. It was simply unbelievable.


    Naturally, Ronny was glad about the results and could almost see the price of the artefact selling for much higher than a vestige of the same grade.


    Just as he was about to thank Lucas, the latter suddenly spoke.


    "Check out the second feature as well."


    Ronny then recalled that in the appraisal report, the ring had two abilities. The first was to boost the user''s strength by a factor of one level, but this was limited to the grade coverage of the artefact. Hence, being a peak Grade 1 artefact, this boosting effect would only be capable of working on a third level stellar practitioner, and even at that, it won''t be by an entire level; at best, it might be by thirty percent or so. But even then, thirty percent was impressive.


    The second ability was to generate a transparent shield that could take on the attacks of a third level stellar practitioner.


    With Lucas'' reminder, Ronny relayed the thought of conjuring a shield and it appeared right away.


    He was quite surprised that the artefact worked just as a vestige would, but he then focused his attention on the shield.


    It was a faint blue shield with an alluring appearance. There was nothing intimidating or impressive about it. However, Ronny proceeded to punch the shield using the strength of a third level stellar practitioner, and it only shimmered a bit.


    Ronny''s eyes shone with interest as he proceeded to pound the shield continuously. After the fiftieth strike, Ronny stopped. He noticed that the shield was wavering then, but after a while, it returned to normal. Right before it was restored, it had drawn upon a noticeable amount of stellar energy from his body. But to a fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner, that wasn''t so much.


    "The durability of the shield is impressive. Depending on the user''s stellar energy, it could hold out to at least three hundred strikes from a third level stellar practitioner before cracking." Ando analysed.


    Ronny nodded at those words as they were the same as his thoughts.


    Even when compared to other peak Grade 1 vestiges, this artefact was still incredible. As a vestige, it could sell for at least one thousand five hundred (1500) federal coins, but as an artefact, its price would definitely be worth a few tens of thousands or more.


    This was why Ronny was still speechless at the restoration fee.


    Although one thousand federal coins might seem like much, charging so ''little'' to restore an artefact with a value of at least twenty thousand federal coins was unimaginable. Most stores would charge based on the difficulty of restoration as well as the value of the artefact. Some even used a percentage pricing system, setting the cost of restoration to at least twenty percent of the value of the item.


    This was why Ronny had avoided those big stores even though he knew that they would have someone capable of fixing it. The cost was just too much for him to bear as he was already in deep debt.


    "Thank you." Ronny deactivated the shield and stared at Lucas emotionally.


    Although the artefact alone wasn''t enough to cover his debts, it would give him some breathing space. Also, the fact he had discovered a valuable artefact would become known and people would praise Ronny for his excellent vision and meticulousness. Other pioneers or even freelancers might perhaps invite him for an expedition.


    "I just did as I was paid to." Lucas calmly replied.


    Ronny shook his head but didn''t say anything else. Ando, however, was interested in the Heavenly Demonic Shop. His eyes seemed to have their own thoughts as he stared at Lucas.


    Despite its weird name that sounded like something right from the mind of a middle-grader, the store looked to be a hidden gem.


    Ando''s reason for escorting Ronny was to hopefully find such a store. Although he wasn''t hoping to experience the same faithful encounter as the freelancer named Jeremy, he wanted to see whether there would perhaps be a new reputed name in the future. The Heavenly Demonic Shop was now looking to be such a store.


    The artefact Lucas had restored would require the services of a first grade store or at least a top second grade vestige-smith store. Since Lucas was able to restore it even as a human, it meant that the vestige-smith backing the store was a qualified candidate for even a first grade store; in other words, a peak Tier 1 Master vestige-smith. What''s more, the services of the store were cheap.


    The prices of vestiges were a sharp contrast to the prices of services, but the current experience tempted Ando to check out the vestiges.


    "Shopkeeper, I would like to buy a Grade 2 vestige." Ando spoke up.


    Grade 2 vestiges would naturally cost less than a Grade 3 vestige. At the same time, the quality of a Grade 2 vestige said a lot about the tier of the vestige-smith.


    The lowest required rank to create a Grade 2 vestige was the Tier 1 vestige-smith rank. However, a Grade 2 vestige made by a Tier 1 vestige-smith, a Tier 1 Elite, a Tier 1 Master and a Tier 1 Grandmaster, would have minute differences. But as long as the one evaluating the vestiges was a professional, they would be able to tell the difference.


    However, such a difference was difficult to spot in a Grade 1 vestige, otherwise, Ando would have gone for it.


    "Oh?" Lucas'' eyes brightened up.


    Compared to store services, the vestiges cost even more. For the current Lucas, who had spent most of his money covering his tracks, he was in dire need of money. This was because not only did Lucas have to continue his research and improve his skills, but there was now the little Melissa who had joined him on this journey. Lucas'' need for money was even more dire than the first time he came into this world.


    "Go ahead and look at our catalogue. Pick whichever one you''d like. If you want a custom, let me know." Lucas smiled like a professional salesman.


    The five men suddenly turned speechless. All throughout their interaction with Lucas, he had kept a bland and emotionless face. However, as soon as the talk for purchasing a vestige came up, he became a different individual all together.


    ''Money-grubber.''


    Ronny''s face twitched.


    Ando recovered from his shock and stared at the list. After taking a deep breath, he settled on the cheapest vestige there was. Surprisingly, it was a cold-weapon type vestige that looked like an assault rifle.


    Lucas glanced at it and couldn''t help but muttering, "Go big or go home. Why be such a miser?"


    However, the five men were all stellar practitioners, and being so close to Lucas, even his whispers could not go unheard.


    Upon hearing those words, Ando almost stumbled to the floor, and this was while standing. The other four in the group couldn''t help but clutch their mouths as they held back their laughter.


    It was the first time they had encountered a shopkeeper who mocked his customers for penny-pinching behaviour.


    Regardless, after receiving the order, Lucas once again left for the basement. He returned soon after since the vestige Ando had ordered was a standard vestige. It had been mass-produced by Lucas during his spare time, which he had a lot of.


    "Here." Lucas handed the vestige to Ando.


    As soon as the vestige touched his hand, Ando''s eyes widened in shock.

 Chapter 226 - 226: New Mission: Explore The Relics

    "Well, good bye." Ronny and his group nodded towards Lucas before leaving the store.


    Meanwhile, the latter was all smiles as he watched them leave. This was because the group had brought a large sum of money his way. In total, they had bought three vestiges from him. Naturally, Lucas would be pleased.


    After Ando got the new vestige in his hands, he tried it out in the simulation room under the eyes of the other four. They discovered that the power of the vestige, despite merely being Grade 2, could already compare with some Grade 3 vestiges in the market; and this was a hot weapon. Usually, hot weapon vestiges weren''t known to be able to surpass their grade limit; only cold-weapons could pull this off, hence why the group was surprised and eventually bought two more. Sear?h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After they left, Lucas finally settled down and glanced at his stem interface. There was a new mission on the notification page.


    [[ Mission Overview: As the successor to the Crafts-god, you should broaden your knowledge in all aspects of crafting, especially with inscriptions and technology.


    Mission description: You have discovered a new rune. Investigate more about it and master this new inscription. Also, explore a few relics for clues. Please complete this within two months.


    Reward: ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' tome, ten system coins.


    Penalty: 20% decrease in experience points. ]]


    The new mission appeared right after Lucas had asked Ronny where he found the ring. Lucas was interested in magi runes, which appeared so similar to magic runes. He had wanted to find out whether there was some sort of connection between the two as this could help answer some of his questions. It also gave him hope that he could maybe one day return to his original world.


    The new mission had piqued Lucas'' interest especially since it had been so long since he had received a mission from the system. It had been stuck in level 3 for a month now, and Lucas was beginning to get concerned. He was very close to the level 5 checkpoint, so suddenly having his momentum brought to a pause made Lucas uncomfortable.


    ''Just like the old ones.'' Lucas thought after reading the description.


    It was pretty much one of the system''s exploration missions that would send him into a dangerous location as usual.


    ''However, this timeline...'' Lucas frowned.


    Compared to the previous ones, it was most likely that this mission was tougher. The reason was because of the duration given by the system.


    Usually, the longer the duration for a mission was, the more difficult it was. This difficulty didn''t always imply a life or death risk, but considered various other factors that could impede the mission''s progress. However, based on the mission description, it was obvious that Lucas would have to go to a danger zone, after all, every relic had a certain degree of risk involved.


    Since there was a degree of risk coinciding with this lengthy mission, it was quite obvious that the difficulty here wouldn''t be just limited to immense mental or physical stress. There might even be a possibility of Lucas losing his life even though it wasn''t included as a penalty.


    Nonetheless, Lucas had to accept this mission. Ignoring the penalty, the rewards were marvelous whether it was the ten system coins or the tome.


    Every single tome Lucas had gained from the system was invaluable and contained a whole bunch of information and knowledge that he previously knew nothing about.


    Take for instance, the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' Lucas bought in the system shop, which eventually taught him about stellar circuits ¡ªa high level inscription. The tome wasn''t just limited to stellar circuits, and was more like an encyclopaedia for vestige-smithing. It was thanks to it that Lucas was able to create powerful hot weapons, complete his Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. He had even learnt how to make fighter jets from the tome, albeit Lucas had yet to produce one.


    Prior to the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'', there was the ''An Adventurer''s Manual'' tome, which was equally valuable to Lucas. It provided him with knowledge about the metals, minerals and monsters in this world, enabling Lucas to assimilate easily into the world. It had even given Lucas the necessary knowledge to be able to read a star map or estimate the orbiting direction of a planet. Although Lucas didn''t know how useful this information was, it was definitely not useless.


    With two experiences with tomes from the system, Lucas treated everyone as a holy book for his career path. What''s more, the tome put up for a reward was even more exquisite than the previous two. Just its title, ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'', attracted Lucas'' attention so much that he couldn''t help staring at those words for a while longer.


    Even if the system coins weren''t put up as a reward, Lucas would have still done his best to complete this mission for both the experience points and the tome.


    ''The requirement is to learn more about magi runes, master it, and explore the relics Ronny mentioned.'' Lucas tapped his finger on the table as he went into a contemplative state.


    Learning the runes wasn''t a difficult issue. Lucas could do as other vestige-smiths did and purchase artefacts from similar relics. However, that would be costly, even for him, although he could somewhat bear the price. The major problem was in the relics.


    From Ronny''s description, the relics he went to was one of the more deadly ones. Although its danger level wasn''t exaggerated, it was a place that not just anyone could go into. Even a third level stellar practitioner had a high chance of dying, while fourth level stellar practitioners would face a huge risk in the inner regions of the relics.


    Ronny had only explored the outer regions of the relics which was why he returned with only one artefact at peak Grade 1. If he had gone into the inner section of the relics, he might have found something more valuable, or even lost his life.


    To Lucas who had zero stellar refinement capabilities, going to the same relics was a huge risk, even with the system skills and his experience. As such, he decided to put his focus elsewhere.


    . . .


    Meanwhile in Baylands City...


    The city still remained prosperous as always even after the entire fiasco with the Seven Sparks Forge store. This was understandable since the people of the city were too occupied either with their daily lives or occupations. With the existence of the large intranet that covered the entire planet, and even the solar system, there was no lack of events to attract their attention.


    With at least one month having gone by, the Seven Sparks Forge was a forgotten entity in the vestige-smith industry.


    But even if the people had forgotten all about it, the upper echelons of the city had not. To them, the Seven Sparks Forge was an opportunity to transcend their current status and potentially rise to a superpower on the planet, or if their luck was any better, the solar system. Having lost this opportunity when it was literally in the palm of their hands, one could only imagine how they felt.


    As a result of this, even after quite a significant time had gone by, they were still pained by Lucas'' disappearance.


    "What did the Baylands City Patrol Corps say?"


    In the main house of the Bergs family estate, the current head of the family, Fredor Bergs, sat on his study while going through some documents.


    In front of him stood a man with purple hair, who happened to be the target of the question. The man was the head of the Von Klaus family, a reputed family that ran a few vestige dealerships in the other fifteen districts of the city-state.


    The Von Klaus family was actually a subordinate of the Bergs family, and not many people even knew about this; at least the public wasn''t aware.


    "The West Wing district''s branch has no comments on it. Since we didn''t go through them, they didn''t bother to assist us. Initially, this wasn''t a problem, but with the target''s disappearance, we can''t exchange information with them."


    *Bang*


    Fredor slammed his fist on the desk.


    "Those bastards..."


    After two generations of city lords, the Central Prefecture district''s BCPC had some members of the Bergs family within, which made it easy for Fredor to manipulate the department. However, the West Wing district''s branch was different. It remained under the firm control of the city lord.


    When Lucas was placed under house arrest in his store, it was actually the members of the BCPC Central Prefecture district branch that had surrounded the area. Because they had overstepped their area of jurisdiction, the West Wing district''s director was incensed. Knowing he couldn''t stop them, the director decided not to cooperate and let the Central Prefecture district''s branch do as they pleased, so long as it was within the area around the Seven Sparks Forge store.


    But with Lucas suddenly disappearing, the Central Prefecture district''s branch had wanted to cooperate with the West Wing district''s branch and utilise their security firmwares and systems to track Lucas down. But the director refused to assist them.


    Naturally, this sparked an argument between the two branches, and it took the commissioner of police needing to step in for the matter to be sorted out.


    Recently however, investigation was still ongoing to track down Lucas and once again, the Central Prefecture district''s BCPC branch needed to collaborate with the West Wing district''s branch. However, the latter branch still refused to work with them.


    Due to this, Fredor became incensed as he knew that every single moment and piece of information mattered.

 Chapter 227 - 227: I Am The Sunset

    Just as Fredor was about to resume questioning Von Klaus, a knock sounded from the door.


    "What''s the matter?" Fredor frowned.


    He had previously informed the workers of the family to never interrupt him during his meetings in the study unless it was an emergency. However, at this moment, Fredor was in an irate state, so if the justification wasn''t enough, he wouldn''t mind disabling the person on the other side. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Ross family head is here."


    Fredor froze for a second, before furrowing his brows.


    The Ross family was on the opposite side of his faction ¡ªThe Other Side¡ª which made them enemies and not allies. Despite that, the said enemy had appeared on his doorstep, which caused Fredor''s thoughts to be clouded in confusion.


    "What could be his goal?" Von Klaus couldn''t help but ask.


    "That''s what I''d like to know." Fredor responded, before giving a command.


    "Let him into the meeting hall. I''ll be there in a short while."


    . . .


    While the Ross family head was meeting you with the Bergs family head, the current city lord ¡ªNoah Berg¡ª was currently dealing with a situation on his own end.


    The ever familiar figure that hid behind his shadow currently stood beside the city lord. Even as it stood just a step behind Noah, no features of the silhouette could be glimpsed. Only a dark shadow could be seen, but that didn''t seem to bother Noah.


    "The Ross family head made contact with Fredor recently. The purpose of this visit is unknown, but it might be related to our fears." The shadow said.


    The fears the shadow hinted at was an ongoing rumour in the upper class that the top factions were preparing to impeach Noah from the seat of city lord. This would be a tumultuous event if successful, as it would then make Noah the first ever city lord to have been forced to step down.


    Noah remained calm even after those words. It was almost as if he felt no threat in them, and that was the truth.


    "It seems that the dogs want to get out of their leashes by biting the hand that feeds them." Noah smiled.


    Despite being born in a top family, Noah hated the distribution of power in Baylands city-state. Most especially, he hated how the Bergs family had monopolized the role of city-lord and stretched their hands into almost every nook and cranny of power.


    As such, when he first came in, Noah carried out a large scale purge and cleared out the majority of spies hidden within the city-state government. He didn''t remove all of them as that would create a large amount of dissatisfaction from the top factions, especially of the Other Side, as they would then push for his exit. At that time, Noah had just become the city lord, so their support was necessary to him.


    However, at the moment, Noah wielded enough power and controller the city lord''s forces directly, which gave him the confidence to once again face the top factions. But this time around, he planned to do more than just regain full control of Baylands city-state.


    Using the Seven Sparks Forge, Noah had even tried to instigate the various top forces to face off against each other and whittle down their forces. Following that, he would then step in and forcefully seize control of the situation and mete out penalties and sanctions to the forves involved.


    Everything had been planned out perfectly, but Russell Mertens''s intervention and most especially, Lucas'' disappearance, all led to the plan falling apart. Now, not only had the plan failed, but the top factions decided to place the blame for Lucas'' disappearance on Noah.


    Albeit unreasonable, there was still some logic to this, after all, the highest commander of the BCPC was the city lord. Since the BCPC did a bad job at preventing Lucas from escaping, many of the top factions stepped out to blame Noah for this.


    "It''s about time we remind them who is really in charge in this city." Noah gave an eerie smile as stated out of the window.


    It was currently noon and the sun was still high up in the air. Gazing at this wonderful creation of nature, Noah suddenly had this feeling that the sun was like the top factions.


    Stretching his hand, Noah pretended to grab the sun.


    ''There would be a rising and a setting. This generation is that of a setting. It''s my job to ensure all goes well, for I am the harbinger of Sunset.''


    . . .


    Back in Trundel City, Lucas pushed the mission towards the back of his mind since he had more time to consider it. Instead, he decided to focus on his developmental path while in Belfargos city-state.


    Back in Baylands city-state, Lucas had wanted to challenge the status quo by introducing a new type of vestige. However, that didn''t work out well and had almost cost him his life. So, even though, Belfargos city-state was safer and more fair in their practices, Lucas didn''t want to repeat the same actions without having a solid background.


    In Baylands City, he had only caught the attention of the top forces, with the strongest of them being the tenth level Apertures Opening stage city lord. However, in Belfargos city-state, the upper limit was even more ridiculous. Just the city-lord of Trundel City alone could almost compare to the city lord of Baylands city-state. If the forces of Belfargos were to join the ''fun'', the strongest opponent would more or less be a twelfth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Hence, it was paramount for Lucas to explore a different branch in the vestige-smith industry.


    ''Making weapons is my speciality, but it''s not as if that''s all I can do.''


    Recalling the contents of the ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' tome, Lucas decided to branch into a different branch of vestige-smithing.


    Vestiges didn''t just refer to weapons, but a wide range of technology that worked utilising stellar matrices and stellar energy.


    At the same time, according to the system, a Crafts-god was someone who had mastered all various forms of crafts. Originally, Lucas had believed that crafting meant magic blacksmithing. But later on, after his first purchase in the system store, Lucas realised how wrong he was. It didn''t just encompass magic blacksmithing but also magic engineering; a term Lucas had come up with.


    Since that was the case, Lucas would eventually have to branch into other forms of crafting. Hence, he decided to give it a try.


    ''From that tome, my available options at the moment are vehicles, robots, and even more powerful AOE weapons and tech.''


    Lucas'' eyes suddenly brightened as he figured out his next area of focus.

 Chapter 228 - 228 : Drift Racing

    Trundel City was located just west of Belfargos City, and not so far from the city; requiring only a thirty minutes light-rail train ride to reach. It was also slightly cheaper as compared to the capital of the planet. Due to this, the city was very populated by both workers, tourists and the likes. Many would settle down in Trundel City even if they had a job in Belfargos City, simply because it costs less.


    Apart from the high population, Trundel City also benefited from Belfargos City in another way. It was a supply hub and depot for materials going in or out of Belfargos City. Trundel City was also an important economic partner with Belfargos City as the two cities had quite a few major trading collaborations and deals. This was all thanks to the fact that the Cardoso family ¡ªa branch family of the Oklo Dynasty¡ª was in charge of the city.


    However, there was another role Trundel City played, and it was one that gave it a unique nickname; the City of Leisure.


    Being the home of the Oklo Dynasty, Belfargos City gave off a sacred and dignified feeling. As a result of this, few pleasure and recreation spots were built in the city. However, Trundel City was different as it provided all these facilities and more. What''s more, its close proximity to Belfargos City made it easy for lovers of such facilities to make the trip.


    Apart from the usual gambling dens, bordellos, and so on, one of the most popular leisure activities in Trundel City was hover car racing. It was a sport primarily hosted by the younger generation of the Trundel City, Belfargos City, and the other neighbouring cities.


    In designated locations and specially constructed tracks, drivers would race using distinctive hovercars that offered no AI support. Relying only on their skills, vehicles and experience, they would try to reach the finish line first. This racing was officially termed Drift Racing [1].


    As a competitive sport, Drift racing naturally involved high stakes. There was even a special gambling category set aside for it.


    To make the racing fun and competitive, Drift racing was carried out at very high speeds. After all, with the abilities of a second or even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, driving consistently at 190km/hr (118 mph) to 380 km/hr (236.1 mph) wasn''t much of a challenge.


    To achieve even higher speeds, special hover vehicles were made, with some going so far as to turn theirs into vestiges by utilising components powered by stellar energy. As such, vestige-smiths existed and played an important role even in this space.


    While there were official drift races, the unofficial ones carried out by the youngsters in Trundel City happened to be the most popular. This was because such races had very little regulations which made it fiercer. Also, gambling wasn''t banned, so many joined up in these races to make huge profits.


    Although unofficial, these drift races weren''t illegal nor banned by Trundel City''s authority, which was one of the reasons the city was seen as a leisure centre and hotspot for rich second or third generations.


    One of the most famous underground drift races was the Exo Rally, which was very popular in the upper class community. The organisers and spectators were mostly the younger generation of the upper class from Belfargos City and Trundel City, with many of them being related to the Oklo Dynasty''s royal family. As such, the Exo Rally was a very high class event for the younger generation of the upper class.


    The Exo Rally operated on an invite only for spectating, but it was open to every drift racer so long as they passed a few criteria. One of them was winning the league in the top drift races or leagues from the nearby cities. Another was reaching a certain level of popularity and success as a drift driver. But the most common method to qualify was through the lower leagues organised in Trundel City.


    Currently, Lucas happened to attend one of these drift racing leagues. It was called K1, and in terms of the unique scaling system, was a third tier drift racing league. After it were the second tiers and the first tier was none other than the Exo Rally.


    Compared to the other drift racing leagues, the K1 didn''t have much stipulations for participating and to get a spectating ticket was quite cheap, at least when compared to the other leagues.


    Twenty five federal coins...


    That was the amount Lucas had to pay to watch attend the race. Even until now, he couldn''t help but be stunned by the price. Despite that, there were hundreds of people gathered in the spectating stands of the race track.


    Two hundred people paying twenty five federal coins was five thousand federal coins, and there were at least five hundred people present in the stands. This was the revenue generated in one day''s race, and from the lowest league.


    Five thousand federal coins might seem like nothing much, but it was the equivalent of ten months salary for an average citizen of Baylands City, city-state capital.


    Apart from the ticket fee, there was revenue generated from merchandise sales, food sales, broadcasting rights, participation fee, and the most notable part, the gambling sector. From this, it could be seen that the league made a ton of money from every race. Only vestige-smithing companies could generate more revenue than a drift racing league.


    ''Belfargos city-state is truly a whole different experience.'' Lucas sighed. S§×arch* The N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    But he didn''t become bothered by it. As a vestige-smith, Lucas could earn more than they did. Also, his purpose in coming here wasn''t to start a drift racing track. Instead, Lucas wanted to learn more about this extreme sport since his next goal for crafting was related to it.


    That''s right; Lucas'' target was to build hover cars, and there was no better place to see top class hover cars than a drift league.


    After paying for a ticket, Lucas had walked into the stadium and went for his seat.


    Since Belfargos city-state had the second largest human population after Digress city-state, no one found it strange that a human was attending the event.


    The stadium was an exaggeratedly big arena that could easily compare to four world class stadiums back on Earth. The large size was mostly because of the fact that drift racing tracks had to be very huge and complex. One should know that the vehicles participating in this race could easily reach up to four hundred kilometres per hour (400km/hr, 248.5 mph). As such, the ''simple'' tracks back on Earth couldn''t work here.


    Size wasn''t the only thing the K1 drift racing stadium had over other stadiums on Earth. The K1 drift racing stadium was highly advanced and luxurious, that one might confuse it for a high standard event centre.


    A floating projection was displayed above the track, showing the audience a clearer view of the race. At the edge of the tracks were transparent shields that could help mitigate both the noise and shockwave coming from the vehicles that moved at intense speeds. The seating section was divided into three: regular, seasonal and VIP, with the latter being an entire floating section. That''s right; an entire seating section that floated in midair.


    Apart from all these, the stadium also had a few advanced facilities like the repair shop for hover cars, and some other recreational spots for spectators who wanted to take a break from watching.


    Lucas had arrived quite early for the day''s race and it was to start in the next twenty minutes. Usually, he would have spent the time walking around and maybe buy a snack or two. But after checking out the prices of said snacks, Lucas had calmly retreated back to his seat.


    A bag of a unique snack that looked just like peanuts was priced at five federal coins. For that same amount, Lucas could get an entire table of food in a fancy restaurant.


    ''Damn.'' Lucas couldn''t help but suck in a cold breath of air.


    The organisers prevented food and drinks from being brought in from the outside, so spectators had no choice than to buy from them. Also, races could take as long as four hours, which meant that one way or the other, most spectators would end up spending more of their money here.


    ''Capitalism at its finest.''

 Chapter 229 - 229: Drift Racing 2

    After taking a seat, Lucas proceeded to wait for the first race of the day to begin. The races usually began later into the evening, when most individuals are done with their jobs so they could attend it on time.


    For Lucas, he could open and close the shop whenever he wanted, so he left a bit earlier today, leaving behind only Melissa. He wasn''t worried about her as the shop was the safest place she could be. At the same time, Lucas wanted to cultivate a sense of independence within her, which was why he left her behind.


    While waiting in his seat with his eyes closed in meditation, Lucas sensed a person walk towards him before taking a seat beside him. Guessing it was his seat neighbour, Lucas ignored the person and didn''t open his eyes. However, the individual suddenly spoke to Lucas,


    "Hmm? I guess you''re my neighbour for today. Hi, my name is Luka." The young man beside Lucas said as he extended his hand towards the latter.


    Lucas opened his eyes and glanced at him. He was a young man with yellow spiky hair and brown eyes. He appeared like one of those weird anime archetype main characters Lucas had seen on a show back on Earth.


    At a mere glance, Luka looked to be the same age as Lucas, but of course, one couldn''t be so sure. Not only was Lucas'' real age something else, hyumans didn''t necessarily look their age. Some could appear to be in their thirties but be in their fifties. However, this was when judging based on an Earthling''s point of view. To the hyumans on Eretre, they could easily guess their ages at a glance, but Lucas wasn''t good at this yet.


    Based on the young man''s outfit, he wasn''t one of those rich kids that came to spectate the race. Furthermore, if he was, he would at least attend those second tier races and not the third tier K1.


    Sensing no malice, Lucas decided to befriend the fellow. He proceeded to shake hands with the young man as he introduced himself.


    "I''m Lucas Saunters."


    That''s right. After moving from Baylands city-state to Belfargos city-state, Lucas still retained the same name. He wasn''t worried that he would get tracked all the way here as he had cleared his name. At the same time, the surname Saunters wasn''t exactly unique in Eretre, neither was the name Lucas.


    Even if by some miracle, his enemies in Baylands city-state found his location, they couldn''t do anything to Lucas in Trundel City. On the contrary, making a move on him would raise suspicions and they could even get in trouble.


    "Oh, we have similar names. Nice to meet you." Luka smiled.


    "You look kinda new here, am I right?" S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas froze, surprised that Luka had guessed that.


    "Why do you say so?"


    "Hehe. After attending so many races, I can remember the faces of the majority of spectators here." Luka puffed his chest as if he was stating a magnificent achievement.


    Lucas'' lips twitched at the response. That was something only someone with a lot of money to spend would boast about. But then again, it was still impressive. The number of attendees for every K1 race day was somewhere around five hundred to two thousand (500-2000) people since it was a third tier league. To be able to recall the appearances of every one of them, one''s memory would have to be impressive.


    "Well, you''re correct. It''s my first time attending a drift racing league to be exact." Lucas nodded.


    "Oh. Then I guess I''ll take the liberty of being your guide for today."


    Luka was clearly a chatty type, but Lucas didn''t mind. He actually did need someone to help explain the extreme sport to him.


    Seeing Lucas not refuse his offer, Luka explained,


    "Drift racing is an official racing sport performed using distinctive sare shuttles. It is recognised by official bodies as an actual sport. However, there are two types of drift racing; the official and unofficial, or as some would say, the safe and the extreme.


    "For the official race, there are a bunch of regulations and other stuff like that to make it a bit more complicated. But the one you should care the most about is the engine specification limit. Yep, the official regulatory body for drift racing set an engine specification limit for sare shuttles used in races. As a result, most shuttles don''t exceed a speed between four hundred and fifty to four hundred and seventy kilometres per hour (450-470 km/hr, 279.6-292 mph).


    "The limit is actually in place to prevent drivers from having a light-speed engine or something similar used on their shuttle as the official body called those ''unsafe for racing within a planetary environment''. This is why we call official drift races ''safe''."


    Lucas was slightly surprised by this regulation but felt it made sense.


    The whole point of drift racing was to race. However, with the current technology, racing was difficult to be able to pull off unless the track was very large. Even with a large track, some manufacturers could go crazy with their designs.


    There were technologies such as the engineers of light-rail trains that could reach insane speeds, albeit still below the speed light. There were even some that exceeded it, for instance, the space shuttles used for inter-planetary travels, the warp-drive engines used for inter-solar system travels, and so many more. If these technologies were added onto a sare shuttle, the speed it could reach would be absurd.


    Although there were issues such as design values, engineering faults and so on, that prevented most powerful engines from being used in a sare shuttle, there was no saying whether someone could pull it off. There was also the risks involved as driving at such high speeds within a planet was very dangerous and could create large incidents and accidents. All these reasons and more made it such that the official drift racing body placed regulations on engine specifications and designs for official races.


    "The unofficial races, even though they''re called that, are actually approved. They also follow drift racing regulations, but not so much otherwise how would it be fun for the young masters and people like me?" Luka chuckled.


    "The engine specification regulations are a bit lax here. And the best part? Gambling is allowed, and unique rules can be added in. Overall, it''s a bit more competitive, dangerous and also fun than the official races, which is why we call it an extreme sport."


    "Dangerous, how?" Lucas asked with interest.


    From how Luka had phrased it, it seemed like the dangers came from the unique rules added in. As such, he was interested to know what they are.


    "Well, for one, some leagues allow drivers to attack each other. They do restrict the methods and means of attacks otherwise heavy casualties would be common and no one would want to race. Some other leagues carry out races in special tracks with obstacles or bizarre terrains, like a desolate beast domain. Needless to say, those leagues are dangerous." Luka explained.


    For a second, Lucas didn''t know how to react. He had heard of risk-takers who explored ruins and danger zones, or people who took crazy bets, but not those risking their lives in a race like this.


    "Ignoring the risks, the payout in unofficial leagues can sometimes be higher. Like wayyy high." Luka spread his hands out in an exaggerated manner.


    "Base pay is roughly the same, but they get bonuses and other stuff, so their pay becomes a lot. Take for instance, the K1 offers a higher reward for drivers than third tier official leagues. It''s also quite safe as it shares similar regulations. Part of this payment is the form of bonuses from gambling results and stuff like that. But of course, they can''t fix results otherwise people would find out and be pissed. Even the city''s government would sanction them.


    "Well, from this, you can pretty much guess that the K1 is more popular than the third tier official leagues. Being popular as a third tier league, the K1 gets a lot of fresh blood and sponsorships even for a third tier league. Most of the teams participating are drivers who want to build their career, or vestige-smithing companies who want to stand out."


    Since the sare shuttles used for drift racing needed to be exceedingly powerful and fast, it was unavoidable that vestige-smiths would enter the picture. However, these vestige-smiths weren''t of the weapons branch, but other branches. Whether it was the stellar processors used on the shuttles, the engines, or the boosters, they all needed to use stellar energy to reach the limits. As such, vestige-smiths played an important role in drift races.


    Unlike vestige-smith companies in the weapons industry who would always find customers one way or the other, those in the shuttle and hover car industry had it harder and more competitive. In order to stand out, they created teams to participate in drift races and win glory for them. While victory in a race depended on the driver, the factor the quality of the vehicle used played was equally as important as the driver''s skill.


    In summary, vestige-smith companies in the hover car and sare shuttle industries could gain both game, glory, and even reward money from drift races. Naturally, they all signed up for them. Even individual vestige-smiths who wanted to become renowned would apply as a private vestige-smith for a team or a driver, aiding them in modifying their vehicles.


    This was the reason why Lucas actually came to the K1 drift racing league. He already knew of the value of the sport to vestige-smiths, and he wanted to be a part of it.

 Chapter 230 - 230: Joker

    After narrating the history of Drift racing, Luka went on to explain to Lucas the rules of the game as well as some of the top teams.


    The K1 drift racing league consisted of various races that took place at different times spread across a period of three months. This period was termed as a season. The league was hosted two seasons a year, which meant a total of six months. The top three of each season, apart from the reward money and other prizes, would gain the qualifications to participate in a second tier league anywhere in Belfargos city-state. There was only one first tier league and that was the Exo Rally, but there were multiple other second tier leagues, albeit only enough to be counted with one''s hands.


    The winner of a season was determined by the total number of points they had accrued from each race. In a season, there could be as many as thirteen races, split in a 4-4-5 arrangement across the three months. Apart from the main races, there were also qualifying and prep races, but these didn''t count much.


    After giving Lucas a rough idea of the K1 drift racing league, Luka also talked about the drivers.


    Most of them were individual drivers who were sponsored by either a vestige-smith company, while some were drivers who had a bit of skill in modifying sare shuttles.


    Twenty minutes had gone by and it was soon time for the first race of the day. The participants had begun to exit their stations and take their positions on the track.


    While they did so, Luka described some of them to Lucas.


    "That guy in the green shuttle is from Yoko-bunny. The name might sound a bit strange, but don''t underestimate them. It''s a drift racing team formed by the third generation princess of the Verantino family ¡ªthe fourth strongest family in Trundel City. They''re one of the top teams in the K1 league and got formed only last year. Even so, they''re tipped to get promoted to a second tier league this year."


    "That red shuttle is from the team Red Mouse, and the driver is nicknamed Red Devil. He''s a newcomer to the league, but he made headlines in the leagues of other cities. He arrived with his team to Trundel City just recently, and it took him only half a year to position himself as a potential promotion figure. He''s not to be underestimated."


    "The black shuttle is from Lugo Vido autos, or LVA for short. They''re a vestige-smithing company in the hover car and sare shuttle industry. They aren''t top class per say, but they do make good rides. They''ve been in the competition for five years now, but this year is their best. Part of it has to do with the black shuttle, which is one of their best creations for this league. Many of us even suspect that they will finally achieve promotion this year."


    Luka described to Lucas the top competitors for the race as the participants began to take their positions.


    "Who''s the guy in the blue-striped vehicle?"


    Lucas noticed that a certain driver happened to be getting some attention. Apart from that, he could sense that the man''s stellar energy was on another level. This level wasn''t simply in terms of power, but quality. The aura the man gave off, even from a distance, was completely different from the other drivers.


    "Oh, that guy? That''s Joker. He''s a black horse in this season''s league. He came out of nowhere, has no backers or history before this season. It''s even said that he doesn''t come from a rich family and is only a sare shuttle enthusiast. However, he''s already performed really well in previous races. In the three test circuits, he managed to get into the top ten and even the top five on two occasions." Luka said as he stared in the same direction as Lucas with praise in his eyes.


    Test circuits were the first set of races before the league officially began, and they rarely exceeded three. Usually, most drivers and teams wouldn''t do their best in these races. Many would only perform at around sixty to eighty percent (60%-80%) of their true skill, so one couldn''t exactly use these races to judge the skills of the drivers. However, performing in the top ten out of thirty drivers, was still a praiseworthy feat, especially for a new racer.


    Lucas, although he didn''t know much about the league, was impressed by the Joker. On one hand, it was because of the driver''s rankings in the yes circuits, but on another hand, it was because the Joker had come this far all on his own.


    One should know that of the thirty drivers in the league, more than half of them were sponsored by vestige-smith companies. The majority of the remaining half were supported by scions, wealthy individuals, or other companies. Even the team, Red Mouse, was an official team created and sponsored by a joint venture between a millionaire and a top company.


    Very few drivers were actually solo drivers, and in the K1 drift racing league, they didn''t exceed the number three. This was because, without having a backer, it was virtually impossible for one to achieve much.


    Although the winners got paid a lot, their expenses were also a lot. The team''s salaries, cost of equipment, cost of vehicle maintenance, cost of vehicle improvement, and so on. The prices of all these added up to hundreds of thousands and even millions in some cases. Hence, drift racing, especially in a league, wasn''t a sport for the poor or for regular individuals.


    For the Joker to have come this far while being an enthusiast and with no significant background of any kind, it was a testament to his talent.


    "But talent can only get you so far." Luka sighed as if reading Lucas'' thoughts.


    "Why do you say so?" Lucas turned to him.


    "This is drift racing. Even though it''s a third tier league, this is the best of all third tier leagues. You can''t simply win by being only a good driver or a shuttle lover. Without adequate resources, his failure is set in stone, and everyone knows that. We just want to see how far he goes." Luka replied.


    Lucas didn''t say anything as he turned his attention to the track. The race was about to begin.


    "Ladies and gentlemen," The voice of the announcer energetically sounded.


    "welcome to the twenty-third season of the K1 Drift Racing League!"


    Cheers abruptly broke out from the crowd. The fervour in the stadium was raised to a new high as the crowd was stoked.


    "This league''s races are destined to be epic. Sit tight, my dear spectators and witness as history is once again made!"


    For the second time, the crowd was electrified as many screamed or roared the names of their favourite teams. Even Lucas felt a strange vigour awaken within him, and was surprised that he was affected by such a simple speech.


    As if noticing his confusion, Luka whispered,


    "It''s a superpower; well, a half-baked one. The emcee is someone who has awakened a hint of his superpower and it seems to be related to influencing people''s emotions. It''s not so powerful, but if the target has already been aroused ¡ªeven just a bit¡ª the effect is more pronounced."


    Lucas couldn''t help but be stunned by the explanation. He already had experience with hyumans who had unlocked a hint of their superpower, but the announcer''s skill was even more handy. If it weren''t because Lucas was new to the league and didn''t think much about the teams or drivers, he might have gotten influenced just like the crowd.


    Suddenly, Lucas turned and glanced at Luka. The latter was similarly unaffected by the skill.


    "It''s nothing special if you already know the trick to it." Luka grinned upon sensing Lucas'' gaze on him.


    The conversation ended there and the duo turned their attention towards the race track.


    The drivers has already gotten into their shuttles and the countdown had already begun.


    Due to the designs and parameters of the engines of some vehicles, they needed to start ahead of time. These engines were very powerful and some could accelerate up to one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour (150 km/hr or 93.2 mph) in 0.8 seconds. However, some of them needed a ''preparation period'', which was necessary for both the driver and the vehicle to get into form. As such, the countdown was a thirty seconds countdown.


    As the displayed digital counter reached the ten seconds mark, some of the sare shuttles had already gone into turbo-drive mode. In turbo drive mode, it would take only half a second for them to reach the above speed, rather than 0.8 seconds. Depending on the make, they could even reach the same speed in 0.3 seconds. This was why vestige-smiths of the shuttle industry were very important members of racing teams. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Here. We. Go!"


    The announcer roared following which the timer hit 0 as the race officially begun.

 Chapter 231 - 231: Career Change

    The K1 drift racing league''s first of thirteen races kicked off and the crowd was high. Although he wasn''t influenced by the crowd or the announcer, Lucas did enjoy the event.


    Drift racing wasn''t as straightforward as the motorsport racing back on Earth. Maybe it was because the target of the sport was adrenaline-pumped spectators, those who desired dopamine-high and other similar characters, but there were unique elements added to the races.


    Of the K1 league''s thirteen races, only four of them were standard like those of motorsport racing competitions on Earth. The other nine had their uncommon points that made them special. Some of these races had the tracks littered with obstacles like land mines, peculiar potholes and so on. Others were held on bizarre tracks that weren''t straightforward or simple to manoeuvre.


    The whole point of these distinctive features was to test various qualities of both the drivers and the sare shuttles. For a driver, manipulating a shuttle at very high speeds wasn''t enough. While for a shuttle, rapid acceleration, an insane top speed, and maintaining operation in those scenarios wasn''t enough. S~ea??h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It was demanded of the drivers to be able to have high reflexes, good decision making, and creativity within the tracks. On the other hand, the racing shuttles were expected to be able to work on different terrains and situations, to some extent at least.


    The first race was a four hour race with the first two hours being a typical standard track. However, midway into the race, the track would begin to change, and obstacles would appear on it. Even for these top class drivers, they had to be cautious and alert, otherwise, they would fall prey to the abrupt changes on the track.


    A few hours later, the race was over and the results were then published. Unsurprisingly, the drivers Luka had mentioned to be tipped to win had appeared in the top 5. At first place was team Red Mouse''s Red Devil. Second place was Yoko-bunny''s driver, while third was the driver from Lugo Vido Autos.


    Joker, who was nicknamed the black horse, had not even gotten into the top ten. This was shocking especially since he had appeared in the top five in two of the three test circuits, while scoring seventh place in the third one. Many of the spectators were stunned by his performance in the first race, but the professionals and experienced spectators didn''t find it surprising.


    Joker was an individual who hired a few people to form a makeshift drift racing team. Compared to the other drivers who were supported by wealthy tycoons, scions, companies or vestige-smith businesses, he could not compare.


    In the end, there was only so much being an independent driver without a backer could get him. However, Joker did perform well compared to the other two solo drivers in the league.


    "Coming for the next one?" Luka glanced at Lucas as he saw the latter rise to depart.


    "Probably." Lucas replied.


    He has attended this race just to understand more about drift racing and to see the shuttles used. It wasn''t like Lucas was a fan of races, but that didn''t mean he hated then either. However, the cost was just too much. Excluding the ticket fees alone, the prices of food, drinks, and other products were absurd. Lucas even believed that is they could, they would have also charged people to use the restroom.


    With the current state of his finances, it wasn''t wise to frequent this place often.


    "Okay then. Well, next time you''re here. Let me know. Save my contact details for that."


    Luka swiped his hands in midair, generating a black and white projection of 3-d cube. The cube consisted of weird lines that looked like a mixture of batch codes and QR codes, and it looked like it would fade out of existence in a few seconds.


    Lucas nodded and extended his hand midair into the code, following which it disappeared.


    This was a method used from passing information with communicators which Lucas found out about after getting a new communicator. In other city-states, one''s contact details or other information would be projected into midair using a communicator for another to then scan. However, communicators in Belfargos city-state were more advanced than that.


    Data and information could be compacted and ''written'' into those unique data cubes. The sender would then utilise a gesture to project the cube from their communicator. The receiver would then use a gesture to copy the digital cubes into their own communicators for translation and storage.


    Unlike codes back on Earth that were two dimensional, these three dimensional cubes could contain more data and information. This was achievable due to their detailed and intricate structure made of both straight and curved lines with pictured patterns. But information and data could also be written on them through their colours.


    For ''smaller'' bits of information and data, the cube would maintain a monochrome colour, or be a mix of black and white. Said information would then be written using lines and patterns to create the three dimensional cubic form. However, the more detailed and bulky the information was, the need for a new format to write and store information, otherwise, the cube would become bigger. Hence, cubes could then take on various colours as a form of code.


    After exchanging contacts, the duo then separated. Luka planned to hang around at the stadium whereas Lucas decided to return back to the shop as Melissa was waiting.


    On his way back, Lucas replayed the scenes of the race. He now has a much better idea of the capabilities of racing shuttles, and was confident he could make on that was better, but not too much. Standing out wasn''t good especially without a backer.


    However, making racing shuttles just wasn''t enough.


    Like the other vestige-smith stores, Lucas wanted to create a team for the drift racing league to advertise his shop.


    Although crafting weapons was a lucrative business, Lucas wasn''t someone who went crazy for money. Deep down, he was just a craftsman that loved to create and explore the limitless possibilities of crafting. Having spent so long in making weapons, and over half a year in this new world, he decided to try a different industry.


    This didn''t mean that Lucas was abandoning making weapons; that was a stupid idea as it would cut off a significant means of earning for him. Instead, Lucas wanted to expand the field of operations and activities for the Heavenly Demonic Shop.


    In Baylands City, Lucas had only focused on making weapons. However, this created a problem. The first was that when he needed stellar processors for his new model of vestiges, Lucas lacked the ability to produce them and had to outsource. As such, when the deal with the Legacy Crafts dealership and Novanio Tech broke off, he was unable to continue producing those vestiges that required modified stellar processors.


    Another issue was that when he was targeted, it was by a certain branch in the vestige-smith industry. This then cut off Lucas means of earning money. If he had other means and operated in different areas, he might have been able to make some cash even if the top factions were after his store, although the chances were low.


    Even so, Lucas felt it was better to be diverse and create an entire ecosystem around his products.


    Lucas wanted to make it such that his store would cover all forms of vestige-smithing and be able to produce its own materials, eliminating the need to outsource them from others.


    In the business world, the first was called horizontal expansion while the second was vertical expansion. However, Lucas was unaware of this. After all, he never bothered to study business management back on Earth.


    While Lucas returned back to the store, Luka went to meet with one of the drivers.

 Chapter 232 - 232: Joker 2

    "Damn it."


    A young man threw his racing helmet on the floor and cursed. Frustration, anxiety and anguish could all be seen on his face as he squat down with tears in his eyes. His entire being was wrapped around in an aura of hopelessness and intense melancholy.


    If people who knew who he was saw him in this fashion, they would be shocked.


    The young man was a somewhat famous driver who had done well in the test circuits, but performed substandard today. He was the driver of the blue-stripped racing shuttles, Joker.


    Joker had been a deep lover of sare shuttles from a very young age. His father was also a vestige-smith for a big hover car company, so it was understandable why Joker had developed such a passion from early on.


    From a young age, he would play around with toy cars and even try his hand at building one himself. Later on, Joker would follow his dad to his work place and watch him at work. When he got older, his father converted their garage into a repair shop and began teaching Joker some of his skills. This helped Joker improve a lot and he began showing signs of being a genius.


    By the time Joker was seventeen years old, he was already good at fixing the common parts in sare shuttles and hover cars. He could even make a car [1] all on his own.


    It was at this age, that he then got exposed to drift racing and developed an intense passion for it. Unlike the usual sare shuttles, racing shuttles gave an entirely different feeling. Since they didn''t pursue other features like security and durability against desolate beast attacks, their development pattern focused on speed, durability and acceleration.


    To a young man who loved vehicles, speed was paramount, and it was easy to see why Joker became interested in racing shuttles and drift racing.


    When he was twenty two years old and a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, Joker had already learnt to fix the more complex parts in sare shuttles. Whether they were the stellar energy transmission systems, the turbo boost engines, or even the electronics aspect of these shuttles, he could fix them all. Joker could even make impressive modifications to them, which then gave him the confidence to consider a career in drift racing. But he didn''t rush it despite feeling confident.


    Instead, Joker took two years out and to earn a lot of money, while making modifications to a sare shuttle he had his eyes on for a while. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When he was twenty four years old, Joker''s preparations were completed and he finally decided to push forth with his plans. He formed a team with a few of his colleagues from his work place; a repair shop he had been working under for the past three years. Then, he signed up for the K1 drift racing league as an independent driver.


    Having performed well in the test circuits, Joker became confident and thought himself to be a talented genius. However, he still tried to keep himself calm and humble. It had been seven years since he started following drift racing leagues, so Joker knew that the test circuits weren''t to be taken seriously.


    It wouldn''t be until the first race began that the true capabilities of the drivers and shuttles would be seen. Regardless, Joker was still pleased by his performance. It was something to brag about as an independent driver even if it was just the test circuits.


    However, when the first race came, Joker understood how greatly he had underestimated the other drivers. Even though he didn''t look down on them after the test circuits ¡ªsince he knew that they weren''t performing at their top¡ª Joker had still misjudged them.


    Originally, he believed that he could struggle into the top ten in the first race. But even the top fifteen spot was out of his reach at the end of the race. Scoring nineteenth (19th) place out of thirty drivers, while incredible for an independent racer, was still not enough for Joker.


    Don''t give up so soon, buddy. It''s only the first race." One of the crew members sighed.


    "Yeah, he''s right. We can go back and make better preparations." One of his closest friends walked over and patted Joker behind the back.


    "That''s the problem. It''s only the first." Joker gritted his teeth.


    If after the first race, he only got nineteenth (19th) place, one could only wonder what his league ranking would be at the end of the season.


    A season spanned a period of three months, but during that time, there would only be thirteen races of four hours each, or a total of fifty two (52) hours. That''s exactly two days and four hours of driving. In the other days that consisted of the season, the other teams would be focused on making minor or even major changes to their racing shuttles. At the final month of the season, it was most likely that the racing shuttles would be on a whole different level as compared to the start of the league.


    For someone like Joker, who spent two years just to achieve this level of modification, there was not much he could improve within the next two months.


    Joker''s strategy was to perform very well in the first month, do just alright in the second month, and try his best to survive in the third month. That way, his league ranking would be somewhere in the middle; a good ranking especially for an independent driver.


    However, at this rate, he would most likely end at the bottom when the season comes to an end.


    It should be known that to pursue his career as a drift racer, Joker had quit his job and even convinced his friends who supported him to do so. They had no means of earning other than this. Joker had even taken out loans because his salary wasn''t enough to carry out his modifications. As such, if he couldn''t get a good placement at the end of the season, the reward money won''t be enough to cover the debts and settle his crew who had given up their careers to support him.


    "There''s only one thing to do."


    A voice cut in as a newcomer walked into the room. The group turned towards the entrance where they saw the speaker. It was a young man with spiky yellow hair and brown eyes, looking like an archetype of a shonen manga main character.


    "You need to find a sponsor." Luka said.


    "You again." Someone amongst Joker''s crew of six glared at him.


    This wasn''t the first time the team had met with Luka. On the contrary, it was the fourth time.


    Luka was the scion of a family who had a passion for drift racing. However, unlike the other scions who simply hung around in the VIP section while appreciating the sport or gambling on it, Luka wanted to follow in the footsteps of the the third generation princess of the Verantino family; he wanted to create his own team. But that was easier said than done.


    Not only would one need a huge sum of money, but they also had to find the necessary talents to fill in the roles. This was especially so for the role of a drift racer which wasn''t an easy spot to fill.


    It was then Luka stumbled upon Joker during the test circuits. Joker had the necessary talent and skills for a drift racer, but the issue was his vehicle. In Luka''s opinion, that was holding him back but it wasn''t unsurprising since Joker didn''t have a backer.


    If he could get him on his team, Luka was confident that he could create a team with the potential to win the league within two years. And so, he had been soliciting the latter ever since.


    "Don''t be quick to chase me away." Luka smiled.


    "You should have realised it by now. The difference between and independent driver and one with a backing. In this sport, it is impossible to go far without money and resources. You have the skills, I have the money. Why don''t you consider my offer more seriously?" Luka smiled.


    At this point, Joker began to hesitate.


    Luka was right. It was foolish of him to believe he could make a difference all in his own. At least with Luka''s support, he could go further. Apart from that, there was not much time.


    The first half of the first month was the final period for teams to make major changes to their lineups. This included changes to the driver, the crew, or even the owner of the team. After this period, the K1 drift racing league''s organisers would place a ban on such activities until the season was over. In other words, these first two weeks was the final opportunity for Joker to decide whether or not to continue as an independent driver or not.


    "So, what do you say?"

 Chapter 233 - 233: Melissas Breakthrough

    "Big brother. Look."


    The cheerful Melissa appeared in front of Lucas with a smile on her face as her body began to radiate a glowing blue light.


    Lucas, who was currently making breakfast, was surprised and couldn''t help going silent for a second.


    "Big brother...?" Melissa carefully asked as she noticed his reaction was strange.


    "It''s nothing." Lucas smiled and ruffled her hair.


    Actually, it wasn''t nothing. If anything, it was something big.


    Melissa had just broken straight into the third level of the Apertures Opening stage. That''s right. She didn''t develop step by step as a regular hyuman would. Instead, she skipped the entire Body Strengthening stage, together with the first and second levels of the Apertures Opening stage, to sit right at the third level.


    This was an incredible feat, at least by this world''s standards, which was why Lucas was speechless.


    "Hehe. Now I can help you with work." Melissa''s eyes sparkled as she stared at him.


    Due to her young age and weak physique, Lucas had only taught Melissa how to create blueprints for vestiges and the theoretical knowledge of inscriptions. She didn''t carry out any practical exercises as Lucas was worried about her. However, her passion for vestige-smithing wasn''t to be underestimated.


    To reach a balance, Lucas told her that he would consider teaching Melissa the hands-on aspect once she broke into the Apertures Opening stage.


    Lucas'' line of thinking for this had taken into consideration Melissa''s hyuman aspect, but he forgot that she was actually a hybrid. Although he didn''t know her mDNA concentration, Lucas was never of the opinion that it would be ridiculously high. This was because other hyumans had reported Melissa to be a human, because they couldn''t feel the unique wavelength they did from other hyumans. This then meant that Melissa''s father was most likely a categorised human [1].


    Also, one of the highest he has ever seen, the princess of the Mertens family who was said to be 27% with a possible expansion maximum of 35% using serums, had only reached the third level of the Apertures Opening stage at eighteen years of age. Melissa was only eleven years old and she has yet to even start her stellar refinement journey.


    Seeing how great the changes to her was, Lucas didn''t react strangely but congratulated her and gave the excuse that they would talk about he training later on.


    "Oi, system. Explain." Lucas mentally communicated with the system.


    Lucas rarely talked to it after that incident at the Central Prefecture district, but whenever he encountered something he couldn''t understand, the system was his best bet.


    "Apologies, but the system can''t help you."


    Lucas was stunned and for a second, he could imagine a female pouting at him with annoyance written all over her face.


    ''Since when did the system have a tsun side [2]?''


    Lucas ignored it and decided to just look up an explanation himself.


    After breakfast, Lucas gave Melissa some homework to do, before walking towards the checkout counter and making use of the stellar mainframe there, which was essentially a computer.


    When he had sent Melissa''s details and DNA samples to the Hyuman Care and Rehab Society after rescuing her, Lucas had found out more about her. Apparently, Melissa was a hybrid of a categorised human father and a Nysa mother. Originally, Lucas didn''t think too much about this as he had other matters on his mind, but now he decided to learn more about Melissa''s other half.


    After spending a couple of minutes on the mainframe, Lucas had a rough idea of the situation.


    A nysa was an alien race that originated in the Eva solar system, which was a solar system in the Blue Mist star region just like the Kellan solar system. They were mostly known for their hyuman resemblance and astonishing beauty that was in line with hyuman aesthetics. As such, there were quite a lot of inter-species marriage between the two sides.


    Nysas generally appeared at a height of between 1.6 to 1.8 metres (5.2 feet to 5.9 feet or 5''3 to 5''11), with the record tallest being 2.1 metres (6.9 feet or 6''10) [3]. They appeared almost exactly like hyumans, with the major difference being their place blue skin colour as well as the pair of antennas on their foreheads. But considering that some hyumans had a thing for furries, anthropomorphs with blue skin and antennas wasn''t such a big deal.


    Unlike the hyumankin or humankind, nysas were naturally born with the ability to utilise stellar energy from birth. As such, there was no need for them to undergo the Body Strengthening stage. Some of them were even born at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    Considering the potential and innate talent of the Nysa race, Lucas couldn''t help but wonder how the hyumankin had defeated them. Actually, the same could be said about the other alien species the hyumankin had defeated in war hundreds of years ago. These alien species could utilise stellar energy from birth and some of them were born at stages hyumans would have to labour for decades to achieve.


    Despite all that, they had lost to the hyumankin and become subordinate races.


    While the history books claimed that it was due to the steady accumulation of hyumankin, the talents in their numbers, as well as their grit and will, Lucas wasn''t someone who would accept such a simple explanation.


    For some of the alien species, hyumankin night be able to trump them in the reproduction department, which could add a solid reason as to why hyumankin won. However, some of these species didn''t lack in that department. Some could even reproduce faster than hyumans and they were still blessed with the ability to utilise stellar energy from birth, giving them a headstart over hyumans. S§×arch* The n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Nonetheless, they all still lost in a head-on war against the hyumans. This was strange.


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t dwell on it. He was far away from even reaching the threshold of exploring the truth.


    Bringing his attention back to reality, Lucas could now understand why Melissa had improved so much. But he then stumbled upon a certain piece of information. Even amongst the nysa, jumping straight to the third level of the Apertures Opening stage without prior exposure or experience with stellar refinement was very rare.


    Although the nysa could innately utilise stellar energy, but it didn''t imply that they were geniuses at birth or the mystical energy''s favourite.


    The only exception Lucas had managed to find out was if the person was a pure-blooded nysa of the royalty line. But looking at Melissa, she didn''t seem to appear like any of the sorts. Chances were her mother was one, but if Melissa had inherited the pure-blooded genes, she should have appeared the same as well.


    "The only way to find out more is to track her ancestory. But that would require me travelling to a different solar system." Lucas sighed.


    Forget travelling to a different solar system, he couldn''t even afford travelling to the nearest planet.


    Lucas could only toss the idea at the back of his mind. For now, he had to make sure that Melissa could hide her aura and appear ordinary to others. Otherwise, if those around found out about an eleven year old girl who was at the third level of the Apertures Opening stage, Lucas couldn''t say for sure what would happen.


    Previously, Lucas had planned to enroll Melissa in a school to get along with people her age and learn more about the world. However, it looked like that idea would be shelved for the moment.


    "System, why am I so unfortunate?" Lucas sighed once again.


    He had been labouring for over half a year now, but was still some distance away from being able to utilise stellar energy. Meanwhile the little girl he adopted some two months ago or so, was now at the third level.


    "Maybe the host had offended someone in the past." The system''s voice sounded.


    "..."


    Again, Lucas ignored the system and focused on himself instead.


    So far, the system was at level three and there were still two more levels to go before Lucas had the complete materials to create the medicine that would ''fix'' him.


    After he left Baylands City and opened a new store the first time, Lucas had unlocked a hidden achievement. When he closed the first branch, he unlocked another hidden achievement. Following that, Lucas proceeded to leave the location before opening the current branch in Trundel City, where he stayed.


    When he made his first transaction in the Heavenly Demonic Shop branch, Lucas had unlocked an achievement. After Ronny and his crew came over and bought vestiges from him, Lucas had unlocked another hidden achievement as it was the first vestige sold from the new branch.


    In total, Lucas had gained four achievements in the span of a month or so. If it were in the past, he would have levelled up by now, but it was obvious that the threshold for leveling up was much higher now. However, Lucas was confident that if he could complete the mission given to him by the system, he would be very close to doing so or even level up straight away. This was because the mission was very difficult, and based on what he knew already, the rewards were proportional to the difficulty, and this included the experience points rewards.


    The Crafts-god System operated differently from the systems Lucas had read about in his spare time from web and light novels back on Earth. Completing missions gave him rewards, while the system gained a concealed amount of experience points which it used to level itself up.


    Leveling up the system would grant Lucas more benefits and increase the reward he could gain from missions.


    From this arrangement, it felt as if the Crafts-god System was one that benefitted both sides. As for why this was so, Lucas couldn''t answer. But he wasn''t worried.

 Chapter 234 - 234: Lukas New Hire

    Three days later...


    After the meeting with Luka, Joker and his teammates had decided to cooperate with the former and create a new drift racing team. They were aware of their shortcomings and knew that without the aid of a sponsor, they wouldn''t be going far in the sport.


    Joker was the main vestige-smith in the team, but even he had no ideas on how to improve their racing shuttle. The team also lacked funds to be able to hire more experienced vestige-smiths, so it was safe to say that their racing shuttle wouldn''t see any further improvements during the season. This would then mean that their ranking would continuously drop after each race. Hence, their best bet was to work with Luka.


    Since Joker had already registered for the K1 drift racing league and registrations were closed, the only option was a merger or a takeover.


    In the case of a merger, an existing team in the league would combine with a different team from elsewhere, enabling them to utilise the foreign team''s resources and crew in the race.


    As long as this occurred before the two weeks permissible time, the K1 drift racing league would tolerate any changes to the registered team.


    As for an acquisition, this was when a third-party bought an existing team within the league. The acquisition process had to be rounded up before three days the allotted two weeks period for major changes was over. Otherwise, the acquisition won''t be recognised by the K1 drift racing league in that season.


    Once successful, due to the fact that a new owner has taken charge, the K1 drift racing league would grant the team a three day window to make changes to the team as the new owner desired. Whether it was the crew, driver, or even the racing shuttle, all could be swapped out.


    Joker wanted to still retain control over the drift racing team to protect his and his crew''s interest, so even though it was an acquisition, he still retained thirty five percent (35%) of the stocks of the team.


    The remaining sixty five percent (65%) was split into two, with fifty five percent (55%) going to Luka, while the remaining ten percent was left open. According to Luka, he planned to sell the leftovers to any interested party that would be suitable for them to cooperate with.


    Due to the tight schedule, the deal was rushed and finalised two days ago, which was two days after the first race. The next two days was then spent discussing the changes to be made to the team.


    Naturally, as the new owner, Luka was more confident in assembling an even better crew than Joker''s current team, but the latter was against it. While Joker didn''t mind new hires, he refused to abandon his friends who had quit their jobs to support him.


    Although he was the majority shareholder and could easily veto Joker''s opinion, Luka decided to respect it after much arguing. There was no reason other than the fact that they had less than three days to wrap up their changes and report to the K1 drift racing league. As such, spending time arguing was a pointless and meaningless endeavour.


    Today, Luka had stepped out with Joker, and a crew member to recruit some new members for the team and to welcome a friend of his.


    Standing at the waiting area in the Doza light-rail train station, Luka, Joker and the member of the crew waited for someone.


    "So, who is the new guy?" Joker couldn''t help but ask.


    A couple of minutes ago, Luka had contacted him and asked to meet up to settle some issues for the team. Joker had proceeded to abandon his plans for the day and meet up with Luka. He also called a member of his crew to tag along, so they''d have a stronger say against Luka, who held a larger share of the team.


    However on the way, despite how much he had asked, Luka failed to offer much of an explanation to Joker. Instead, he explained that it was a surprise.


    "He''s someone from abroad." Luka replied with a smile.


    He paused for a minute and seemed to consider something before explaining,


    "He travelled far away to explore other regions and polish his skills as a vestige-smith. His skills will be much needed if we want to do better." S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Joker and his teammate were surprised as they began to look at Luka in a new light. It had only been two days since the deal was signed yet he had already attracted such a magnificent vestige-smith to the team.


    After a short while, a new batch of newcomers had arrived and exited the train.


    "Over here." Luka smiled while staring ahead and waving his hand.


    A few seconds later, a figure made his way over.


    Joker and his teammate stared surprised at the person. For a second, they began to wonder whether Luka was playing a prank on them. This was because of the appearance of the newcomer.


    The newcomer was a young teen with brown hair and amber eyes with a smile on his face. Based on how old he looked, he could barely be called an adult.


    Although hyumans typically appeared to be younger than humans, they had already gotten used to it hundreds of years ago and could tell how old one looked based on appearance. The newcomer looked like he was just shy of eighteen years of age.


    At such a young age, Joker began to doubt Luka''s claims that this was a talented vestige-smith who had travelled abroad to polish his skills. What skills in vestige-smithing could an eighteen year old have? At that age, Joker was still handling car parts and common parts in hover vehicles.


    "Brother, it''s been a while." Luka Walker towards the figure and opened his arms wide.


    "Indeed." The brown haired young man said as he hugged him back.


    "How was your trip abroad?" Luka asked as he signalled for the driver who came with them to help with the luggage.


    "It was alright but a bit difficult since I had to do master''s assignments." The young man sighed. Recalling some of the tasks his master had handed to him, he couldn''t help but shiver at the thought.


    "Haha. To be able to return means you passed. That shows how talented you are, after all , your master''s assignments aren''t some easy tasks." Luka flattered the young man.


    The young man''s master wasn''t an ordinary vestige-smith but a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. In other words, the young man was learning under the very few people who could make Grade 5 vestiges.


    Being able to study under such a figure was a testament of one''s talents since it wasn''t an easy role to get. To be able to even be qualified to do so, one had to be very talented and fulfil a whole bunch of criteria before passing specific tests set by the Grandmaster.


    However, facing all those difficulties, the road ahead was one destined for success.


    "That''s true, but you don''t need to compliment me like this." The young man smiled.


    Seeing the young man glance at Joker and his teammate, Luka introduced them,


    "These are my co-workers. They''re part of the reason why I called you over. We will be discussing that in detail later. In the meantime, he''s Joker."


    "Nice to meet you, I''m Havos." The young man smiled and stretched out his hand.


    The name didn''t generate any reaction from Joker or his colleague, but if Lucas were here, he would have found the young man familiar.


    Havos was one of the examinees during the Exceptional Basis Examination at the Baylands city-state''s EVL regional headquarters. He had befriended Lucas during the exam, and managed to take twelfth place.


    Such a score seemed lacking when compared to the other geniuses back then like Vergil Mertens or Maximillus Oder, but Havos had achieved this score with a handicap. That''s right; he had purposely held back his skills and made it more difficult for him while undergoing the exam. This was one of the tasks his master had given him to carry out, otherwise with his true skills, Havos would have easily taken first place.


    This was because when compared to Vergil and Maximillus, Havos had already began creating vestiges way before he took the exam. He was also learning under a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith which was a testament of his innate talent and potential. With such a teacher, it would be a disappointment if he couldn''t surpass the talents in a city-state without a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    Although Joker was confused about the latter''s identity and how he could help them, he still remained polite and shook the young man''s hand.


    "Nice to meet you, I''m Callus, but you can call me Joker." Joker said.


    Joker wasn''t his real name, but a nickname he was more known by. His real name was Callus, but he preferred to answer Joker.


    "We will do better introductions later. For now, let''s go have a meal." Luka said before leading the way.


    Joker was a bit irritated that the special guest was a young man even younger than himself. In his opinion, he couldn''t think of the value Havos was to the team. But seeing as how Luka treated the other party like a saviour, he remained quiet and tagged along. He wanted to know who exactly the newcomer was and how he could help them.

 Chapter 235 - 235: Test

    The group left the station and relocated to an uptown hotel which also doubled as a popular restaurant.


    After lodging arrangements were made for Havos, they gathered at the dining area to discuss their plans.


    While all these took place, Callus and his colleague were fuming inside as they felt that they were wasting so much time here. But they kept their cool and waited to see what would become of everything.


    For most of the meal, Luka chatted with Havos and asked him about his experiences outside Belfargos city-state with the latter responding and describing some of the events he had been through. Baylands city-state wasn''t the only place Havos went to, as to complete his master''s trial, he had to challenge himself in a total of five city-states.


    The trial was for Havos to participate in the Exceptional Basis Examination with the other candidates and get into the top ten. Since he was long qualified to be a vestige-smith, having him compete with ''newborns'' was unfair. So, Havos was restricted to using only ten percent of his real abilities.


    Havos began the trial over five months ago and Baylands city-state was his first start, which was why he had performed ''poorly''. However, later on, he got the hang of the trial and was able to work on his mistakes and improve his skills.


    In the following four city-states, Havos easily entered the top ten and even made an appearance in the top four in his last two exams. And this was while utilising only ten percent of his true abilities.


    Despite that, he didn''t mention this part of Luka and the others, but simply spoke a bit about his experiences.


    Finally, Luka brought up the main topic at hand.


    "Recently, I''ve formed a drift racing team for the K1 league, but I''m lacking someone to take on the head designer and vestige-smith role. How about it?"


    Havos didn''t reply right away as he first took a bite from the desolate beast meat he had sliced apart. He then glanced at Luka with a mysterious smile on his face.


    "Be straight with me. You aren''t aiming for my skill, but my master."


    "You jest. Even if your master is interested, I can''t afford his services." Luka conveyed his thoughts with a chuckle.


    He was being honest with his words. Although it sounded like a good thing to have a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith work for him, it was too good to be true. The cost of a grandmaster''s services wasn''t something Luka could take on.


    Luka wasn''t like the third generation princess of the Verantino family ¡ªthe fourth strongest family in Trundel City¡ª who started Yoko-bunny. He was from a more ''common'' family line and couldn''t afford such expenses.


    Luka''s grandfather had once worked in the City Lord Manor in Trundel City and built a lot of connections from there. Using those connections, he managed to own a few stocks in some top companies right before they became reputed. As for his father, he was currently the CEO of an Olympus 1000 company. This was the source of Luka''s confidence to relate in the upper class circle of the younger generation, but he still knew his place.


    Olympus 1000 was a list of the top one thousand companies on Eretre, which each had a net worth of at least two hundred million federal coins.


    "I''m sincerely just aiming for yourself. State your terms and we can negotiate something that works for us both." Luka spread his hands out.


    Just as Havos was considering the offer, Callus became tired of waiting. Hiring Havos as a new staff wouldn''t have caused him to lose his patience, but Luka planned to have the youngster become their head designer. There was no way Callus would sit down and slide with the decision. So, he decided to test the other party.


    "Oh, you didn''t discuss that with me." Callus suddenly said.


    As the second largest shareholder of the team, he has the right to have an opinion on such a major decision so it was appropriate for Luka to have brought it up with him earlier. But the latter failed to do so since he thought Callus wouldn''t have a problem with it.


    Luka suddenly frowned as he could guess what the latter was doing. Before he could say anything however, Callus continued.


    "Since he''s to be the head, we should offer him some sort of test to confirm his skills, right? He should also report his skill level as well." Callus said.


    There was nothing wrong with his words, but the timing of them had a subtle meaning. He was clearly trying to embarrass Havos.


    Havos smiled as he watched this happen, but he didn''t take it to heart. Even though he was quite young, he had matured mentally after his training with his master.


    "How do you intend to do so?" Havos asked, ignoring the last statement about his skill level.


    "Simple. You could make something for us to see, or answer a few simple questions."


    Callus didn''t want to make things unnecessarily difficult for Havos as he simply wanted to test the latter''s abilities. Even if they were subpar to take the role of head of design and development, as long as he was talented enough, Callus wouldn''t mind letting Havos come onboard.


    "I''ll take the second option since the situation isn''t suitable for the first." Havos replied.


    They were in a restaurant and it was basically impossible to display his skills here. Hence, the best option was to answer Callus'' questions.


    Seeing Havos agree to it, Luka didn''t say anything but inwardly shook his head at Callus.


    Callus proceeded to ask a few questions related to vestige-smithing, starting off with the basics then going deeper into the branch for hover vehicles. However, he was stunned by Havos'' responses.


    Not only did the young man answer his questions correctly, his responses were advanced and even had Callus thinking deeply or amazed. Even though Havos looked like an eighteen year old youngster, his answers made him sound like a vestige-smith in his late thirties with a boatload of experience.


    Naturally, when pitted against Callus who was only in his early twenties, there was no space for comparison.


    "My apologies." Callus bowed.


    Although he appeared like a headstrong individual at times, he wasn''t a man of bad character and knew when to take a step back. If he didn''t, then there was no way he would have agreed to Luka''s deal. S~ea??h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No problem. It''s inevitable you''ll doubt me after seeing how old I look." Havos clearly didn''t sound bothered by it.


    Callus felt embarrassed seeing as Havos had seen through him, but he was still a bit thick-skinned and he flung the feeling away.


    "Well, now that''s settled. How about it? Do you agree with my proposal?" Luka''s voice sounded once again.


    Havos nodded.


    "No problem. But before we get down to things, I need to go to the trade area and restock on materials."


    "Okay then. We leave right after this."

 Chapter 236 - 236: Visitors

    During the same time that Luka, Callus and his teammate met with Havos, Lucas was in the shop going through a list of relics to visit to complete the new mission.


    The mission didn''t specify how many relics Lucas needed to explore, but it did emphasize that for the mission to be concluded, he had to master the magi runes. It wouldn''t take an Einstein to figure out that the relics Lucas needed to explore were this pertaining to magi runes and the civilisation behind it. As such, Lucas began looking up for such relics.


    This would have been difficult since the hyumans didn''t even know much about these ruins, but luckily, Lucas knew where Ronny had found the artefact. Using the location, he mapped out the surrounding relics around it and estimated that they would similarly be related to the same civilisation behind the magi runes.


    At the same time, Lucas delved into history books to find more clues. Although hyumans couldn''t identify or comprehend much about these runes, they still had some achievements in it. They were able to spot similarities between each inscription and categorise them to create a library of information.


    The relics Ronny found the ring was called the East Braftford relics due to its location. According to the history books, the unknown civilisation behind it was termed the Sunil, although that wasn''t their true name but merely a term used by hyumans to address them. As such, all relics related to them were called Sunil relics, and they were Lucas'' target for exploration.


    So far, there were two other Sunil relics close to the East Braftford relics. Compared to the latter, the two relics weren''t as dangerous and have already been explored for the most part. As long as he was willing to pay a fee, Lucas could hire a pioneer to act as a guide or even purchase some of the discovery reports of other pioneers. However, he was urgently in need of money.


    "Well, there''s still one month and a few more weeks to go."


    Lucas sighed as he turned his attention away from the stellar mainframe and walked towards Melissa.


    As usual, the shop was devoid of customers but Lucas didn''t think too much about it. This was because when compared to the week he had started out in Trundel City, life was better.


    After Ronny and his crew came over, they would occasionally make a visit to his shop to have their vestiges fixed. Although the cost of services was cheap for the clients, which meant that Lucas made little from it, it was still something to get by with.


    ''Apart from going into the hover car business, I should also make some consumables that would sell well to freelancers.'' Lucas thought.


    Thanks to the system, Lucas found it difficult to gain customers to his shop which meant that his pockets would always be in the red. To go past this, he decided to create a new vestige that would sell well in the market. However, learning from past experiences, it wouldn''t be something ''absurd'', by this world''s standards, and it would also have to be a consumable.


    The reason behind the latter decision was to have customers frequent his shop consistently even after making a purchase.


    Lucas got this idea from a conspiracy theory back on Earth that mega-pharmaceuticals didn''t truly want to make a cure for certain terminal illnesses, but instead focused on reaping continuous benefits from patients. While the idea was heinous in the health industry, it was still recognised as a business tactic and could be applied in different avenues.


    ''It was pretty much similar to the phrase, ''don''t kill the goose that lays the golden egg''.'' The system commented.


    Lucas didn''t doubt that as that was in fact, what the concept implied.


    What he lacked was a goose to lay him golden eggs, and that was why Lucas wanted to create a consumable type vestige. However, it was easier said than done. Consumable-type vestiges had already been created and many of them were immensely powerful and effective.


    Hyuman civilization had existed for over three thousand years, and unlike humanity, hyumankin had a properly documented history of their past. As such, their technological advancements were far more impressive than what humanity had achieved in their era. Although a lot of similarities still existed between the two civilizations, the differences were immense.


    Take for instance the space-bombs which seemed similar to grenades. However, unlike the creation of humanity, space-bombs could create and set-off miniature distinct black holes, which would tear a hole within space. These devices had immense power, but the calculations and intelligence used to create them was immaculate. Despite setting off a black hole, the design was made to only cause a tear in space and not space-time. To even be able to pull that off, one had to have an impressive knowledge of Quantum physics, astrophysics, and mathematics.


    There were also simpler consumable-type vestiges which still possess an incredible amount of power. In summary, the ''Goose project'' wasn''t something Lucas could complete any time soon. However, it was still worth researching.


    Just as he was stuck in his thoughts while supervising Melissa''s training, the bell hung on the shop''s door rang signifying visitors. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas was a bit surprised by this but he still turned in the direction of the entrance to see who it was.


    Three young men walked into the store and glanced around.


    Of the three young men, one of them wore a white long sleeves shirt, with a black cardigan and black trousers. Not only was his fit stylish, but the brand was definitely not ordinary. Despite the distance, Lucas could discern that the quality of the clothing''s material were all exquisite. They were all luxury goods that cost a lot, but still had a superb resale value. Although his attire weren''t vestiges, they could still offer some form of protection to the wearer.


    The second one had forest green hair with a tattoo of a jester on his left arm. He was dressed in a more casual style when compared to the previous young man. He wore a navy blue sweatshirt and grey trouser with a metallic dog-tag dangling on his neck. Although the clothes weren''t as costly as the other young man, a close look at the accessory and one would realise that it was vestige. The abilities of the vestige was unknown, but it probably possessed defensive properties.


    The young man had a nonchalant expression on his face that seemed uninterested in the store. It was almost as if he had walked in simply because the others had done so.


    As for the last of them, he had brown hair and amber coloured eyes. Staring at him, Lucas found him to be familiar and was surprised to see the figure here.


    Actually, Lucas knew who the other two were as well since it had been just a few days ago that he saw them.

 Chapter 237 - 237: Callus Interest

    "Yo, what a surprise to see you here." Luka smiled as he greeted Lucas. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Of course it wasn''t a surprise. In fact, Luka had planned this.


    After they had met before, the two had exchanged contact details. Luka had used that information to do so digging in Lucas and found out the other ran a vestige-smith store on the Bilac trade centre. Originally, he didn''t plan to go out of his way to meet him as the two had only met once. However, after the meal with Havos, the latter had wanted to check out the trading area to restock on his materials.


    Luka didn''t see a problem with that and to show how much he valued their relationship and partnership, he decided to tag along.


    The problem however, was that neither Luka nor Callus ¡ªaka Joker¡ª who came along with the two, knew much about the Bilac trade centre. The trade centre was almost as large as a small town. Without a proper guide, it was easy to get lost within it, and that was the last thing any of them wanted.


    Luka was the son of a top CEO and barely did any shopping unless it was online. As for physical or other forms of shopping, it was mostly done by his PA (Personal Assistant).


    Callus was also similar in that he never did any physical shopping for vestige materials. For private matters, he had a personal supplier who would deliver the goods to him. When it came to the team, a member of the crew handled their logistics. As such, Callus didn''t know his way around the Bilac trade centre although he had been here once.


    Havos was even worse. It had been six months since he was in Belfargos city-state, but prior to that, he had resided in a different city. Havos wasn''t familiar with Trundel City, which was why he raised up the proposal to restock his materials right after meeting with Luka. In his opinion, Luka ¡ªwho was a local¡ª should be able to know his way around.


    Since they lacked a proper guide, Luka recalled Lucas who he had met before. Based on the results of the background check, he knew that Lucas ran a store in the Bilac trade centre. As a store owner, it was natural for him to know his way around the store, so Luka suggested they go find the latter.


    It wasn''t hard to find Lucas'' store as long as they knew the address which then brings us to this very moment.


    "So, would you help us?"


    After explaining the situation to Lucas, Luka stared at him with a pleading look on his face.


    Truth be told, this wasn''t much of a problem for Lucas. He did in fact know his way around the trade centre. Being a sucker for metals and crafting materials, it would be impossible for Lucas to not have taken a look around when he was in one of the largest trade centres for those.


    During his stay here, Lucas had occasionally taken walks along the way with Melissa, while staring at materials and metals that were out of his reach. He made notes of some of them and had even bought a few after careful deliberation. Although, that had been a while, it wasn''t so long ago but merely just a few weeks back.


    ''But why would I?''


    Lucas thought.


    He wasn''t one of those nice guys or characters who loved making friends. None of that had anything to do with him. Also, his relationship with Luka was merely that of acquaintances. The two had only met once and that was it. Even though they exchanged contact details, Lucas was simply reciprocating it after Luka did so. He never di so because he thought of Luka as a close friend or something similar.


    Just as he was prepared to reject him, Havos entered the picture.


    "It''s been a while. Why don''t you agree to it and let''s do some catching up?" Havos smiled.


    "You guys know each other?" Luka was surprised.


    It should be known that Havos was a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. Not just anyone could associate with someone like him.


    Havos nodded.


    "A little bit. We once met abroad and I got to know a bit about him. He''s an interesting guy."


    Lucas gazed at the latter, wondering whether he had a plot in mind.


    His entire fiasco with the Baylands City Patrol Corps had been kept under wraps from the public, but Lucas couldn''t say for sure that Havos wasn''t aware of it.


    This was because based on Luka''s dressing and his steady presence at the K1 drift racing league''s races, it was easy to guess that he wasn''t an ordinary individual. Joker was also another person with a certain level of fame. To be able to hang around these two individuals meant that Havos wasn''t an ordinary individual. Hence, Lucas became unsure whether he knew what took place there.


    If Havos knew, there was no saying whether he would make an anonymous report or tip those factions in Baylands city-state.


    ''Even if he does that, they can''t do anything to me here.'' Lucas thought.


    Regardless, he was unwilling to associate with them so easily.


    "Are you a vestige-smith?" Callus'' voice was suddenly heard from the other side.


    "Yes." Lucas blandly replied, his attention still on rejecting the group.


    Despite the monotonous response, Callus wasn''t offended. Instead, he was impressed.


    Unlike Havos and Luka who went to meet with Lucas, he took his time studying the shop. However, as he did so, Callus became surprised.


    A few days ago, Lucas had decided to display some of the vestiges he had made in the shop. These were the stocks he had no use for, so he decided to hang them out to attract customers. Callus'' attention happened to be drawn towards them.


    Even though there was no detailed report about them and the aura of the vestiges were locked into them, Callus ¡ªas a vestige-smith himself ¡ª was able to notice that they were different. The craftsmanship of these vestiges were exquisite and could only be done by a vestige-smith with incredible expertise and experience.


    Callus had heard about some humans who managed to defy their fates and become a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith or a regular Tier 1 vestige-smith. However, none of them had been able to possess such immaculate craftsmanship and skills.


    For a moment, Callus was interested in the human in this shop.

 Chapter 238 - 238: Debating The Design

    With Callus drawing attention towards the vestiges, Havos and Luka held back the talk and decided to go check them out as well. The duo then realised what made Callus awed, especially so for Havos who was a vestige-smith.


    Although the vestiges Lucas had made exuded no aura, just the craftsmanship alone was astonishing.


    Havos didn''t think much about the absence of aura as even if Lucas was a vestige-smith, with him being a human, the best he could do was a Grade 1 vestige. Instead, he had his attention on the details of the vestiges.


    Usually, most vestige-smiths would perform the entire process themselves as using machines could have some adverse effects. Although there were some vestige-smiths in Belfargos city-state who used machines to create the framework for vestiges, they sold those products as lower-end vestiges. Hand-crafted products were more valuable and they were slightly stronger than machine crafted ones. There was no scientific explanation for this; it was just so.


    Because of the importance of one''s forging skills, even hyuman vestige-smiths in Belfargos city-state occasionally had some talented human blacksmiths under their wings. This was because, unlike hyumans, humans almost never became vestige-smiths. But unwilling to quit, they worked hard on their blacksmithing abilities and perfected them even better than some hyuman vestige-smiths.


    When he met Lucas in Baylands city-state, Havos had presumed that Lucas was one such blacksmith. However, their chance encounter here seemed to show that Lucas had successfully crossed that bridge and his forging skills were top tier.


    "Are you interested in a deal?" Havos suddenly said as he turned towards Lucas.


    Lucas glanced at Havos and waited for the latter to continue. As expected, the latter continued.


    "Luka here is trying to run a drift racing team and he invited me to join the design team. I''d also like for you to work with me."


    While weapons vestige-smithing was different from vehicle vestige-smithing, the basic principles were the same. Also, Havos didn''t plan on having Lucas handle the complex or important parts of the vehicle. Instead, he simply needed his forging skills to be able produce precise vehicle parts.


    "The remuneration would be to your liking and we won''t need you to be busy 24/7. You can still run your store and help us with th design and development of the racing shuttle." Seeing Lucas not say a word yet, Havos added a few more perks.


    Luka stood by the side and didn''t say anything. Since Havos was to be the head of design and development, he has the right to hire the required staff. The only point Luka could make was on the number of staff, after all, he was the one paying for their wages.


    At first, Lucas wanted to reject them, but he realised that even though he knew how to make a hover car thanks to the system, he still didn''t know much about racing shuttles. Working with Havos would be the perfect opportunity to improve his knowledge and skill. He would also get into the drift racing sport.


    If he experimented on the racing shuttle with his knowledge, Lucas could have a front cover for when he finally goes into the new industry. It was just like the Legacy Crafts dealership back in Baylands city-state, but this time around, Lucas would be hidden behind the light of Havos.


    "I''ll consider it after further discussion." Lucas replied. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Great." Havos smiled brilliantly.


    Having to work with someone both skilled and familiar with him made Havos satisfied for the day. But he still didn''t forget what they came for.


    Since he had decided to work with them, Lucas closed the shop temporary and left with Melissa to escort the group.


    . . .


    Two days later in a meeting room, Lucas, Havos, and Joker were once again gathered. There were also a few other members of the Black Star, the official drift racing team. These other members were the initial crew members of the original team; in other words, Callus'' teammates and friends.


    The next race of the month, which also happened to the second of four, was to take place the following day. But prior that, the group wanted to discuss some possible changes they could make to the racing shuttle before the race. At the same time, they also wanted to have a lengthy talk on the direction of development the racing shuttle would take as well as the future improvements they would make on it.


    With a tight schedule on their hands, it was impossible to make massive changes to the vehicle, but making minor ones that could boost the performance was still doable. The reason for this confidence was because the team''s head of designs and development was Havos, a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and also a Tier 1 vestige-smith himself.


    Despite not having broken through to the rank of Elite vestige-smith under Tier 1, Havos'' skill was far ahead of a typical Tier 1 vestige-smith. He only lacked the stellar refinement of a fourth level stellar practitioner to be able to become a standard Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith. As such, his input was valuable and he was confident of being able to tweak the design of the shuttle.


    However, not everyone agreed.


    "I understand where you''re coming from and all, but there isn''t much we can do about it." One of Callus'' original teammates said.


    He didn''t agree with Havos'' opinion that modifications could be made to the shuttle in a one day window. It was the same as saying that the original team that worked on it was incapable.


    The man didn''t deny that major modifications could be made to the vehicle to improve it, but to say that alterations could be done in a one day window that would boost the shuttle''s performance, that was absurd.


    Havos might be the student of a Grandmaster, a genius and a Tier 1 vestige-smith, but the other vestige-smiths in the team were all at least Tier 1. Apart from that, there was even a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with them. The man was aware that the five of them couldn''t compare to Havos. However, whether it was in terms of ability, experience, or skill, the man refused to believe that a youngster who recently became an adult could compete against five other vestige-smiths and make improvements within a one-day window.


    That was laughable, to say the least.


    Although the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith had yet to say a word, the others in the team couldn''t sit by and watch Havos insult their work.


    "Heh. The only reason you think there''s nothing to do is simply because you''re unqualified to do more." Havos retorted indifferently.


    Being a genius and a student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, he definitely had his own pride.


    "You...!"


    Another of the crew members stood up and pointed at Havos, but the latter simply snorted at the provocation.


    In the next second, curses began flying to and fro as Havos was engaged in a heated argument with four of the men who made up Callus'' original team.


    Lucas watched the two sides argue out who was smarter for a few seconds before shifting his attention to the blueprint projected before him.


    The meeting had begun ten minutes ago and the blueprint of the ''Juggernaut'', Callus'' racing shuttle, had been displayed on separate projections for each member of the new design and development team.


    As he was called in to be the forger for the shuttle, no one on the two parties asked for Lucas'' opinion while they squabbled. This gave Lucas the ''peace of mind'' he needed as he focused on the blueprint.


    ''Not bad.'' Lucas thought as he studied the blueprint.


    The Juggernaut was a truly powerful sare shuttle made with quality materials. Although it wasn''t a first or even second-rate racing shuttle, it was still a work of art. The vehicle pursued speed, which was Callus'' forte, as he possessed impressive reflexes. Whether it was the shape, structure, dynamics or mechanics of the vehicle and its engine, the were all top-notch.


    ''However, it''s still lacking.'' Lucas sighed inwardly.


    One of the major downsides of the sare shuttle at a single glance was the materials used. When compared to the racing shuttles of other top drivers in the league like Red Devil or the racing shuttles of Lugo Vido Autos and Team Yoko-bunny, the Juggernaut was below the margin.


    There was also the fact that the vestige-smiths behind the vehicles were all average Tier 1 vestige-smiths with only one Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith. When compared to the other top teams who had at least two Tier 1 Elite vestige-smiths working on their racing shuttles, the difference became obvious.


    ''Well, it''s not my job to make major modifications and I can''t stand out too much. I''ll just change a few things here and there.''


    Lucas slowly picked up a light pen and began to make adjustments to the blueprint while the two sides argued. Although it was his first time working on a racing shuttle or any kind of shuttle, Lucas was the true definition of a genius and he had a sun-load of experience. It wasn''t difficult for Lucas to pull this off.

 Chapter 239 - 239: Debating The Design 2

    "That''s enough!"


    After fifteen minutes, Callus finally had enough and interrupted the two sides.


    "We don''t have time yet here you two are, arguing." Callus stared grimly at Havos and the irascible teammate on his side.


    "Alright." The man sighed and sat down.


    "Don''t be so harsh on them, Callus. He was simply dragged into a pointless argument." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith on their side spoke up for his colleague.


    Callus frowned slightly. He was a bit disappointed that the middle-aged man hadn''t spoken up sooner and only did so after he had reprimanded the other man.


    "Hehe." Havos suddenly chuckled.


    "You guys look down on me too much. Pointless argument? Well, it doesn''t matter. I''ve already made changes to the original blueprint."


    "What?"


    The other six men in the meeting were stunned.


    For the last fifteen minutes, they had watched as Havos was engaged in an intense battle of words with two of them. He had yet to even pick up his light pen to make adjustments to the projection. Despite that, Havos claimed that he was finished.


    "Enough boasting, brat." The short-fused team member said.


    He recognised Havos as a genius, but not as the department head, hence the form of address.


    Havos glanced at him and tilted his head.


    "Boasting? Well, I can''t blame you since you''ve never come in contact with a true genius before."


    Even Lucas couldn''t help but twitch his lips at Havos'' shamelessness. Compared to the Havos he met during the exceptional basis exam, the current Havos was the standard definition of an arrogant young genius.


    Without waiting any further, Havos picked up his light pen, enlarged the projection of the Juggernaut''s blueprint making it visible to everyone. He then proceeded to scribble all over it using the light pen.


    At first, the group was surprised, then confused by his modifications. But as Havos went on, the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith seemed to figure something out as he widened his eyes in shock. Mixed feelings of awe, praise, and defeat could be seen in his eyes.


    "What''s this?" One of the vestige-smiths on the other side asked, clearly confused by the drawings Havos added to the blueprint.


    "Heh. Guess I have to explain in the end." Havos smirked.


    "You all are vestige-smiths in the hover car branch, so you should know how a Stellar Propulsion Engine and all other stellar-powered system works, so I''ll skip the detailed part. We know that all stellar-powered engines and systems work in two major ways, which is by either converting stellar energy into electrical energy or directly using it.


    "The first method is more commonly used with hover cars and shuttles since it''s cheaper and easier to do. However, since there''s a need for a conversion, there''s a time lag, albeit very minute [1]. Although in day-to-day operations, this time lag is unnoticeable, but when it comes to drift racing, it can affect the speed of the driver and the final results."


    The process of changing energy from one form to another was a very common one as old as the universe itself. However, such a process required a factor known as time.


    In simple or basic activities, this time lag was barely felt and unnoticeable, so no one thought much about it. However, in drift racing where drivers needed to accelerate up to 180 km/hr (111.8 mph) in a second or less, the time lag would affect their efficiency in doing so.


    Drift racers weren''t the only victims though


    "The latter method is more commonly used in space shuttles, spaceships and so on." sea??h th§× nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Are you suggesting we modify the engine to utilise stellar energy directly?" One of them asked.


    "Bingo." Havos grinned as he pointed the light pen at the man.


    "That''s insane. Forgetting whether we can even do that, it''s not something we can pull off in a day." The irascible man retorted.


    To be able to make such a major revamp on the Juggernaut''s engine, the level of skill required was immense. Typically, only Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths could do so. Otherwise, at the very least, one would need a team of at least seven Tier 1 Elite vestige-smiths working on it.


    Even if the required skill level was ignored, this wasn''t as simple as making a few tweaks to the engine. Such a drastic modification to the Juggernaut''s engine was no different from dissembling it, restructuring and replacing some of the parts, then reassembling it. There would also be a need to test the engine under various conditions to ensure that no accident would occur in the future.


    Without a doubt, this was definitely not something that could be done in a day.


    "You''re right about that which is why this would be our long term plan." Havos didn''t deny the man''s points.


    Another person in the group was confused and spoke up,


    "Then-"


    "But who said we needed to complete the switch?" Havos interrupted him with a smile as he leaned forward on the table.


    Using the light pen to point at the spots he drew on, Havos continued,


    "We can make some partial adjustments here and here. Apart from that, we can utilise the heat energy from the transformation to create a layer of heat shield over the vehicle go help cut through the air."


    Usually, when energy was converted from one form to another, there would be losses in the form of heat energy. This was why light bulbs would get hot over time while turned on.


    Havos'' suggestion was to use that heat and spread it to the front of the Juggernaut to create a ''heat shield''. This ''shield'' would help heat the air as the shuttle sped forward, making the air lighter and easing air drag and resistance, which were effects of high speed [2].


    It was an ingenious idea that the vestige-smiths had not thought of yet. If successfully done, it would improve the acceleration and top speed of the Juggernaut by at least a small percentage. Even though it was small, such a difference was invaluable in drift racing.


    "Apart from that, if we make changes here, here and here, we can improve the Juggernaut''s efficiency by 7%, the top speed by 12% and acceleration by 3%."


    Overall, Havos had raised two major points which had greatly improved the capabilities of the racing shuttle. The five men who were friends with Callus couldn''t help but be speechless. Even the short-tempered fellow was conquered. He had tried to counter Havos'' points, but after considering them, he couldn''t help but admit they were accurate.


    As usual, Lucas was ignored during the discussions for the changes to the Juggernaut''s engine, but he didn''t think much about it. Instead, he focused his attention on Havos'' points.


    While they were theoretically correct and feasible, Lucas calculated that the changes wouldn''t be as precise as what Havos had stated. However, he chalked that up as being estimations. Regardless, there was no problem with it.


    The problem however, was that even after such improvements, the Juggernaut still won''t be a serious competition to the top racing teams. With Callus'' driving skills, the improvements would at best bring them to the middle of position of the thirty-man table.


    Although moving from nineteenth to fifteenth was impressive, Lucas felt they could do better. The changes he made to the blueprint was even more advanced and detailed than Havos''. If the team followed his, the improvements would be at least 12% in terms of efficiency, 18.5% to top speed and 10% to acceleration.


    Even then, Lucas felt the improvements were little, but the one-day deadline and his abilities were what limited him. There was no reason for such thoughts under than the fact that in his eyes, the Juggernaut was a below third-rate racing shuttle; there was so much room for revamping.


    Suddenly, Havos recalled Lucas and glanced at him. Seeing as the latter wasn''t too focused on the discussions, he called out to him.


    "Lucas, did you get it?"


    "Yeah." Lucas nodded.


    Although he had his head facing downwards and his attention elsewhere for the most part, he was still able to take in all that occurred here.


    Seemingly distressed at the defeat he faced at Havos'' hands, the hot-headed man turned his attention towards Lucas.


    Just like Havos, Lucas was a ''young un'' who had gotten his way into the Black Star racing team due to his connections to the major shareholder, Luka.


    In Havos'' case, he was the student of a ,Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and also a Tier 1 vestige-smith himself. He had also proven his abilities just now.


    However, Lucas was different. He was a human, which meant that the best he could achieve was the status of a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith, which was a level lower than Havos. He was without a significant background and even younger than the latter, which meant he was less talented.


    Finally, Lucas was to take on the role of developing and tweaking the chassis [3] of the Juggernaut, which was the job the man held onto before. This meant that he would have to work alongside Lucas on equal footing. Naturally, he was irritated by this, but his main focus had been on Havos'' all this while.


    Now that he was done with Havos, the man turned his attention towards Lucas.


    "Youngster, don''t you have anything to say? Or were you just dozing off all this while? Are you looking down on us or something?"

 Chapter 240 - 240: Who Said I Dont?

    "Youngster, don''t you have anything to say? Or were you just dozing off all this while? Are you looking down on us or something?" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas lifted this head and glanced at the man who had called him out. He was a bit astonished by the behaviour, but held himself back from reacting too strongly to those words.


    Seeing Lucas ignore him, the man became further enraged as he glared at Lucas.


    "I''m talking to you, kid."


    Apart from Callus, the other members of the original team were all in their late twenties and above. Callus was the youngest member but also the most talented, charismatic and sociable, which was why they had easily quit their jobs and followed him. However, this respect was only given to Callus who had earned it.


    For people like Lucas, even though he was the same age as Callus, they treated him as a member of the younger generation and not on equal footing.


    "We''ve been discussing how to make modifications to the racing shuttle, but there''s not been a single word from you. That doesn''t seem right. Are you sure you even know how to do your job well?"


    Despite clearly knowing Lucas'' role, the man had suggested him to provide his opinion on improving the Juggernaut. It was clear that the man''s intention was to see Lucas humiliate himself. But even knowing that, no one came to his help.


    Callus wasn''t close to Lucas and didn''t see it necessary to get involved. While he did see a bit of Lucas'' skill before, it wasn''t like the role of a forger for the shuttle''s chassis was irreplaceable. If anything, that was one of the easier roles to find a replacement. Also, the current forger wasn''t low skilled either.


    Havos was of a similar opinion too. While he wanted to snap back on Lucas'' behalf, he hesitated. He also wanted to see the limits of Lucas'' knowledge.


    When it came to making weapons, Havos didn''t doubt Lucas'' skill, but the same couldn''t be said in this situation. He knew Lucas had no experience with hover cars, much less racing shuttles. However, vestige-smithing still had a few general principles. Havos wanted to know how deep Lucas'' knowledge and understanding of these principles were.


    Seeing no one come to his aid, Lucas didn''t mind much, although he was a bit bugged by it. When Havos, Luka and Callus met him two days ago, they were aware that he didn''t know much about hover vehicles. Yet two days later, they expected him to be able to offer up a good idea.


    Regardless, they had underestimated him because Lucas had ''some'' idea of the mechanics of a hover vehicle.


    "Who said I don''t?"


    Glancing at his modified blueprint, Lucas memorised it before undoing the changes. He then enlarged the projection and made it visible to everyone else.


    The group was surprised that Lucas had already begun to act, and there was a mix of confusion all around. Havos and Callus, who had met Lucas before, were surprised and couldn''t help but wonder what it was he was doing. As for the other five men, they were stunned and began to wonder whether Lucas was a genius just like Havos, but more reticent.


    Lucas began to make a new set of changes to the blueprint, but he considered different factors this time around. Unlike the previous modifications, he took a different route in his thought pattern but also limited the number of changes. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how he came about them since he was supposed to be new to this.


    As Lucas drew with the light pen, the group was first stunned, then showed looks of contemplation. Some of them were confused, while some managed to figure something out from the drawings. The two strongest individuals, Havos and the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, could not help but widen their eyes in shock with gazes of astonishment and praise. Even Callus dumbfounded and he couldn''t help but see Lucas in a different light.


    "By making such changes to the fundamental operations, bypassing the arc flow and using a Triquetra-shaped chamber, he''s increased the power by so much?! Why didn''t I think of that?" Havos sucked in a cold breath of air with mixed feelings.


    The Tier 1 vestige-smith was similarly stunned and couldn''t help but calculate the chances of success as well as the improvement that would be brought about using those changes. The results showed that Lucas'' means would bring about at least a staggering 8% increase in efficiency, a 8% increase in speed, and 2% increase in acceleration.


    Although when compared to Havos'' changes, Lucas'' modifications appeared , the increase in top speed was 4% lower while the increase in acceleration was only 1% lower, increase in efficiency was up 1% when compared to the latter''s. Overall, it might seem like Lucas'' designs were poor, but they weren''t.


    Unlike Havos who pursued speed, Lucas went for stability. Whether it was the transmission or handling, the modifications Lucas made would give the Juggernaut a significant boost in these areas. What''s more, Lucas'' modifications could be done alongside those of Havos. In other words, the Juggernaut would see an incremented boost which wouldn''t be as simple as 1+1.


    "Are you sure this is your first time?" Havos couldn''t resist asking.


    Lucas had informed them the previous time that he wasn''t familiar with vestige-smithing when it came to hover vehicles. Yet, his designs seemed to tell a different story. Lucas had tackled the problems of the Juggernaut from a fundamental level, while Havos did so from a knowledgeable angle about hover vehicles. It might seem rudimentary, but it was very impressive and not something an average vestige-smith could pull off.


    "I took time out to get myself well informed about the basics and the theories." Lucas replied with a calm demeanour.


    "I heard that geniuses even exist in the human race. People who had mastered the theoretical knowledge and foundations of vestige-smithing like the back of their hands. Their knowledge bank could even rival those of Tier 1 Masters, but they simply lacked the prerequisite stellar energy to be able to reach that level. I didn''t think I would be meeting someone like that today." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith sighed.


    Although he was unwilling to admit it, the truth was laid bare. When it came to fundamentals, Lucas had demonstrated that he was way ahead of him.


    The short-fused fellow couldn''t say a word seeing the most respected member of his team even acknowledging Lucas'' skill. He grunted, but in the end apologised for causing trouble.


    With two modifications that could work side by side available, there was no reason for the meeting to keep going on. The team quickly ended it and rushed to revamp the Juggernaut.


    The drift race was the next day and the modifications had to be ready far before then. This was because after the revamping, they would have to test the shuttle and Callus would have to get used to it. In summary, they were very tight on time.


    Even Lucas had to close the Heavenly Demonic Shop for the day, but he didn''t forget to bring Melissa along with him. The little girl was happy that she would be following her brother to work. What''s more, they would be working on a racing shuttle which was essentially a movable vestige.


    At the same time that the new Black Star team got to work, Belfargos city-state welcomed a new set of tourists and visitors at its main port city, North-Wind City. Some were relocating to the city-state, while few were locals who had gone out on a trip. However, the majority of them came from different city-states to behold the region which was the centre of the planet.


    These tourists were easily discerned as they had looks of amazement and fascination on their faces. Compared to their local city-states, the Steller energy concentration and purity in Belfargos was on a different level. The technological and architectural differences were also obvious.


    Only a few city-states like Java and Paros city-states could compete with Belfargos city-state, but even they were a level behind the planet''s capital region. Belfargos city-state was simply on an entirely different level compared to the others.


    "Ah~ This is definitely peak region."


    A young hyuman male with black hair and blue eyes breathed out as a sly grin hung on his face.


    "Young master, please don''t misbehave. Remember why we are here." A middle-aged man with brown hair who stood by the side reminded him.


    "No need to be such a bummer, Alfrod. Can''t I catch a break for just a second?" The black-haired young man snorted.


    "You will catch a break once we are done here." An icy voice reverberated from behind.


    The young man immediately froze before hurriedly switching to an ingratiating expression.


    "Hehe. Elder sister is right. Definitely right."


    The two visitors were none other than Vergil and Laura Mertens of Baylands City''s top four factions, the Mertens family. The two had arrived in Belfargos city-state on the order of their family to handle a business deal with another top force here. This was the old man, Russel Mertens'' way of training his children to be able to inherit the family''s assets.


    Instead of going on the trip himself, he decided to let his children handle it.


    "So where to?" Vergil asked.


    "... didn''t you read the document?" Alfrod stared dumbfoundedly at Vergil.


    "Eh..." Vergil turned the other direction.


    Laura ignored him and walked forward with Alfrod following after her. Vergil immediately reacted and moved with the group alongside the team of six stellar practitioners who acted as their bodyguards.

 Chapter 241 - 241: Race Day

    While remodeling the Juggernaut, Lucas suddenly had an idea.


    ''System, what do you think Callus'' position would be at the end of the race?''


    Lucas suddenly asked.


    "The system has no interest in predicting such events as it isn''t related to the growth of the host."


    ''Oh? How about we include a wager? You can make it like a system mission. In a way, it''s related to my efforts as the Crafts-god successor. So, how about it, ten system coins on the line?''


    The system didn''t reply, seemingly considering Lucas'' proposal.


    Suddenly, a notification popped up in front of Lucas.


    It was a system mission but a bit different. The contents stated that the Juggernaut had to place above 15th place with a reward of ten system coins. If it placed less, then it would be a penalty of ten system coins.


    ''Heh.'' Lucas smirked.


    Logically, he shouldn''t have brought up this challenge. The system could read Lucas'' mind and it was aware of his capabilities. Together with its analytical abilities, it was sure to be able to get an accurate depiction of the Juggernaut''s prowess and Callus'' abilities. Using these information, it should be able to calculate his odds at winning and the highest of them.


    From this, it was sure that the system''s estimate was one with at least an eighty percent chance of occuring. In other words, Lucas had a mere twenty percent chance. What''s more, he had to ensure that Callus placed higher and not lower.


    ''Even though the system''s calculations are more likely, human error is a thing. Oh, it should be hyuman error.''


    Lucas smirked.


    . . .


    The next day arrived soon and so did the second drift race for the K1 drift racing league. As always, the fervour from the audience was high and there were many spectators present for this once-in-a-week event. The stands were already occupied and the host was warming up the audience for the event as the teams got ready.


    The K1 drift racing gave ten free entrance slots to teams participating in the race. Being members of the Black Star racing team, Lucas and the others were covered by this privilege.


    Since the Black Star team was only made of eight men, there were still two open slots. One of them was given to a member of the team who wanted to have his spouse come over. After much deliberation, the second slot was given to Lucas.


    One reason for this was because Lucas alongside Havos were the minds behind the astonishing changes the team had made to the Juggernaut. The second reason was that Havos didn''t need it so the free slot fell onto Lucas who had Melissa come over.


    The location of the second race of the month, and the tournament, was not in the K1 drift racing arena as with the previous race. Instead, it was at a track called the Cayern Windway. Unlike the K1 stadium''s track, the Cayern Windway was one of the few tracks with significant risk.


    This was exactly how the K1 drift racing league operated as an unofficial league. Of the four races per month, at least two involved a significant amount of risk. The race for the day happened to be one of those two.


    Unlike other tracks, Cayern Windway was filled with dangers and risks, most notably the wind, which blew at a speed of 90km/hr (56 mph). Whether it was the tough winds, outrageous bends, or narrow roads, these were the least worries on the track.


    The true danger of the Cayern Windway lay within the man-made threats within. Apart from the typical obstructions set up on the track, there were also fixed regions where the drivers would come under attack. That''s right, midway through driving, they would be attacked by fixed machines.


    Although the power of these weapons and drones can''t even be compared to a Grade 1 vestige, it could still impede the drivers. In some cases, they could cause severe danger especially since the track was already dangerous. This was one of the reasons the K1 drift racing league was an unofficial league; the dangers involved weren''t tolerated in official leagues.


    Vestige-smiths of each team would be on the weapons, setups and natural characteristics of each track for the season. Although it wasn''t a detailed report, it was still enough to help them in developing proper protection for the racing shuttles. But in the end, the driver''s skill was important.


    "Host please be remember your duty as the manager of the store." The system''s voice sounded in Lucas'' ears at this time.


    The previous day, the shop was closed and the same was so today. Hence, the system saw the need to remind Lucas of his task.


    "I haven''t forgotten. If anything, it''s always been on my mind. You can read my thoughts so you should have known that." Lucas who stood with his arms folded replied to the system as he stared out the entrance.


    He was located in a special building meant for the teams of the drivers. The building was erected along the race track, giving teammates the ability to react to emergencies on the track and aid their drivers. It was essentially the same as a pit-stop [1] back on Earth.


    As for Lucas'' plans with drift racing, he originally wanted to develop a team of his own and contest. However, after recalling his experience in Baylands city-state, Lucas decided to be more low-key. Working under a team was much better, but it would still be difficult for him to represent his store and make it standout. As a result, Lucas began to have different ideas.


    He heard that ten percent of stocks in the team was still open. Originally, Luka had reserved that for Havos, but the latter refused it saying his master wouldn''t be pleased he had his hands in the unofficial drift racing business.


    Lucas was currently aiming for those stocks as well as sponsorship rights for the team. He could see that some of the racing shuttles present had a company logo or two painted on them. These companies were the ones either backing or sponsoring the teams. But the Black Star team didn''t have any such sponsors


    Now that it was still underrated, Lucas wanted to seize the opportunity. But that would be for later on.


    "They''re about to start." One of the members of the crew said.


    There was a display screen in the room that showed the official broadcast of the race. There was also another display screen by the side, but it wasn''t the official broadcast. It only focused on the Black Star''s driver who was Callus, aka Joker. A similar display screen was in the other pit-stops, but they solely focused on the drivers of each individual team.


    On the track was an assortment of racing shuttles, numbering thirty. There were all sorts of models, colours, shapes, sizes and densities, all made according to the research of the lead designer of each team. Even though the shuttles were merely stationary, they gave off an intimidating feeling to the public.


    The half a minute countdown had already begun a while ago but there was still ten seconds left on the clock.


    ''The current top speed of the Juggernaut can reach up to 442 km/hr and maintain that for at least two hours. However, the wind speeds here are up to 90 km/hr. The Juggernaut would have to consume more power to accelerate in this area. Luckily, there''s almost no need to reach top speed because of the curves.'' Lucas thought as the count down was left with only three seconds on the clock.


    "3!"


    The crowd chanted alongside the announcer.


    "2!" Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "1!"


    "Fiewwww"


    "Vooom"


    "Whoosh"


    The variety of shuttles abruptly zoomed off, producing a cacophony of sounds as they pierced through the air.


    Although they didn''t break the sound barrier, the shuttles could still accelerate up to at least 120 km/hr (74.56 mph) in 0.8 seconds. The more powerful engines could reach 150 km/hr (93.2 mph) in the same time and achieve a top speed of 450 km/hr in six seconds.


    "The drivers are out!" The announcer declared.


    However, the shuttles had already flown far away before he had finished his sentence, a testament to the insane speed they moved at.


    The strong winds blew at the vehicles, but it wasn''t such a problem for them. They didn''t even need to activate their light shields and the wind wasn''t much of a threat to the racing shuttles.


    At the moment, there were four ranks to the racing shuttles. Those behind made up one rank, and they were the ones most likely to sit at the bottom of the table. The next rank was those about two kilometre away. They had the second largest numbers and the gap between the drivers in this rank wasn''t much.


    Right after the second rank was the third rank, which had a gap of four kilometres from the second rank. This rank had the largest number of drivers and a lot of famous ones, but they still weren''t at the lead. However, some of them did possess the ability to challenge those ahead.


    The final rank were six drivers who took the lead in the race and maintained a one kilometre gap from the seventh place, who was in the second rank. Not all the drivers here were at the top of the table, as some of them had only come this far because their racing shuttles were superior in linear acceleration and motion.


    "The first hindrance to our dear drivers would be the valley''s teeth. Let''s see how they get around it and who comes out on top." The announcer said.


    The valley''s teeth was a path on the Cayern Windway that spanned over two hundred kilometres. Just as its name suggested, it was a valley, but it had a few jugged rocks that protruded from the ground, appearing like teeth when viewed from an angle above. This was the origin of the name, valley''s teeth.


    The existence of the ''teeth'' eliminated the advantage of certain racing shuttles that pursued superiority in linear acceleration. As such, it was very likely that the current top six would be reshuffled.

 Chapter 242 - 242: The Valleys Teeth

    "Ladies and gentlemen, this is where skill trumps build." The announcer energetically said.


    Staring at the screen, Lucas began to recall the briefing session the team had earlier.


    The Cayern Windway was a popular underground drift racing track. It was made up of multiple terrains like towering rocky mountains, large lakes, undulating valleys and so on. But the most notable feature of the Cayern Windway was its tough winds that generally blew at about 90 km/hr (55.9 mph), but could reach speeds up to 224 km/hr (139.2 mph). Such speed was enough to rival a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale [1] back on Earth. The constant wind that terrorised the Cayern Windway was the reason why the region was dubbed as such.


    The Cayern Windway also had another notable feature. It consisted of seven distinct segments, each possessing a certain degree of danger that could even cost one their lives. Of the seven segments, the ''Valley''s Teeth'' was the first one.


    The Valley''s Teeth was a large valley within the area that spanned at least two hundred kilometres long and had winds reaching speeds of up to 148 km/hr (92 mph). One would need to maintain a speed of at least 200 km/hr (124.27 mph) for an hour before they would even approach the exit.


    However, this didn''t seem like much of a challenge to drift racers, who drove shuttles that could survive at such speeds and comfortably maintain a speed of at least 300 km/hr (186.4 mph). If anything, one would call it a walk in the park for them.


    Despite that, the Valley''s Teeth was recorded as a danger zone within Cayern Windway and that was for a reason.


    The true threat of the place didn''t simply lie in the winds, but also the terrain. The road of the Valley''s Teeth wasn''t necessarily large, only capable of handling six racing shuttles side by side at one instance. However, there were stalagmites protruding from the surface of the floor which hindered drivers from moving in a linear path.


    ''With the presence of these stalagmites, a road that could easily contain six racing shuttles could only manage three at a time.'' Lucas thought.


    Manoeuvring through the stalagmites while maintaining an appropriate speed that would counteract the impeding wind from in front became a challenge for most drivers. They needed to be fast to maintain the lead or overtake the person in front. But driving too fast could be too much for them to handle. However, driving too slow would lead to their shuttles being heavily affected by the wind.


    For one to conquer the terrain, they needed the right amount of skill, intuition and driving experience.


    "Here they go!"


    The announcer roared right as soon as the leading shuttle was a kilometre away.


    *Whoosh*


    The driver in front immediately drove into the valley through the passage which gave off a baleful aura. From a distance, it looked like he was driving into the maw of a beast.


    Soon after, the other drivers drove in as well.


    Counting from the front, Callus was in the second group of racers, which happened to be the closest group to the leaders in the first group. This was all thanks to the improvements made to the Juggernaut. However, because there was more focus on stability and efficiency, the Juggernaut''s linear acceleration wasn''t exactly spectacular so he could only hang on at the bottom half of the second group. Regardless, it was a result he had not anticipated as the old Juggernaut would have been in the bottom tier of the third group instead.


    In other words, the changes made within just a day was enough to raise the vehicles prowess by an entire level.


    While he was glad, Callus didn''t let it get to him as the race wasn''t over yet.


    ''If I can maintain my position in the Valley''s Teeth, that would be great. But this is the best chance to go a bit further.'' Callus thought as he stepped on the pedal. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Juggernaut were designed while considering the internal appearance of the human era''s cars. As such, it used pedals instead of buttons. However, the pedals functioned in a similar way as buttons and not like those of cars.


    While the internal design might seem retro, it had its advantages.


    Using buttons would have the driver add more burden on their arms. This would cause them to spend a bit of time whenever they wanted to utilise some functions in the shuttle. Although, with proper training, the time spent was miniscule, it was still something.


    On the other hand, relinquishing some of the functions of the shuttle to be activated via pedals, would reduce the burden on the arms, wrists and fingers. With a bit of training, one would be able to have their legs respond as quickly as if it were an arm. Then without a doubt, four arms would be better and faster than two.


    The first one kilometre into the Valley''s Teeth was safe and without any trouble. However, after that, the stalagmites made their appearance.


    The top drivers zoomed past them and easily dodged the protruding rocks while maintaining the same speed they used to enter the valley. The less experienced ones slowed down a bit before circumventing through the obstructions.


    When Callus came across them, he slowed down, but not by much. The Juggernaut''s transmission, stability and handling had all been improved thanks to Lucas. So the trial of the Valley''s Teeth that was a problem to the other races, was only a bit troublesome for Callus.


    The first ten kilometres was easily traversed by Joker and he had even successfully overtaken one driver.


    After the first ten kilometres, the difference in build in each racing shuttle began to show.


    The more stable racing shuttles slowly began to catch-up and even overtake others, while the ones that prioritised speed with little focus on stability began losing ground.


    Fifteen minutes after the drivers had entered the Valley''s Teeth, the live rankings had changed.


    Thirty minutes later, the rankings began to stabilise.


    At this point, Callus was in thirteenth place and the Black Star team was pleased, but they didn''t celebrate yet. The Valley''s Teeth was only one of seven danger zones in the Cayern Windway, so the current rankings didn''t really mean much.


    Even Lucas didn''t take on a confident look seeing that the results were in his favour.


    "Ohy my god!"


    "Watch out!"


    "Shit!"


    Exclamations sounded from the crowd as a racing shuttle crashed right into one of the stalagmites. It was unexpected, but not entirely. The Cayern Windway track was a dangerous track and already known to have taken lives in the past, so an accident wasn''t out of the equation.


    Luckily, the racing shuttle''s safety measures were deployed and the driver didn''t due. However, he was automatically disqualified.


    The audience didn''t have too strong of a reaction to this since the driver was one of the last runners. However, it seemed as if the accident had made them pumped and looking forward to the latter parts of the race.


    It took about an hour for the drivers in the lead to get out of the Valley''s Teeth. Of the original six drivers who made up the leading group, only four remained. The other two got demoted into the second group while another drive from the second group managed to close the gap and get into the first.


    Currently, there were five drivers in the lead first group, twelve in the second, ten in the third and two in the fourth. One of the thirty drivers had been eliminated.


    In truth, the eliminated driver could stage a comeback by fielding in a new vehicle, but it was technically impossible to get a position other than last, so he quit.


    "Come on. Let''s go!"


    The Black Star team cheered from the control room.


    They had a communicator linked with Callus and the Juggernaut, which allowed them to communicate with the driver and monitor the state of the racing shuttle.


    "You might need some thruster checks soon, Callus." One of the five original crew members said.


    To prevent confusion, he was in charge of communication with Callus.


    "Hold it off after the second segment." Callus responded.


    Lucas stared at a display screen projected by the side. Different from the other two display screens that showed the race and tracked the team''s drivers, this display screen showed the state of the racing shuttle as discerned by the built-in sensors in the shuttle.


    ''The next segment should be the montone lake.'' Lucas thought.


    The monotone lake was a large lake that made up a part of the Cayern Windway track. The land surrounding the lake was white while the lake itself was black.


    The risky factor regarding this segment was that there would be random geyser blasts from the lake''s underwater geysers. With the lake being black, it was obvious that there was something wrong with it, which was true. The lake possessed an incredibly powerful corrosive factor that could even melt a Grade 1 vestige.


    With there being indeterminate geyser eruptions from the lake, it made it difficult for drivers to dash through at full speed as there would be a significant chance that they would get caught up in a geyser eruption. What''s more, the radar technology within the shuttles were unable to sense the situation underneath the lake.


    As such, the drivers would have to rely on their quick reflexes and intuition to be able to traverse the lake.


    ''From here on out, the real challenge begins.'' Lucas frowned.

 Chapter 243 - 243: Monotone Lake

    ''The Monotone Lake is up ahead.'' Callus thought as he steered the Juggernaut forward.


    About three hundred and seventy three kilometres (231.7 miles) from the exit of the Valley''s Teeth was the next major checkpoint, the Monotone Lake.


    The Monotone Lake was a unique region within the Cayern Windway that was simply a huge lake. The surrounding land within ten kilometres of the lake was white in colour; a strange phenomenon that was attributed to the mineral composition of the soil. As for the lake itself, it spanned a huge area, being at least two hundred kilometres long. With such a massive length, the Monotone Lake was more aptly described as a sea, but its situation prevented it from being dubbed such [1].


    The most peculiar point about the Monotone Lake was the fact that its waters were black in colour, forming a unique contrast with the surrounding white-coloured land. This black water was actually a strange liquid which appeared just like water but was denser and also possessed a powerful corrosive ability. Even Grade 1 vestiges would melt upon contact.


    Underneath the lake were naturally geysers that occasionally blast out a force of black water, creating a jet that shoots up into the sky. Due to the fact that an official drift racing rule was for the drivers to operate within a fixed height from the ground, they became susceptible to the ''attacks'' of the geysers.


    Whether it was the black water''s dense weight, its corrosive factor, or the force of the eruption, they were all factors that could inhibit the drivers, what''s more when all these factors were added together.


    "The racers are beginning to exit the Valley''s Teeth. In this first lap, only one driver has been taken down but this isn''t surprising. Previous records showed that the Valley''s Teeth is actually the safest segment of the Cayern Windway track." The commentator said.


    "Indeed. When compared to the other segments, the Valley''s Teeth isn''t really dangerous especially in the first lap. However, the Monotone Lake up ahead is different." Another voice sounded. It was the voice of the assistant commentator.


    "That''s right. Monotone Lake has a history of taking down a few drivers in each race. Apart from that, it also acts as a challenging stumbling block for racers. Changes in position occur here a lot. At least a driver would be taken down, while others were affected by the geyser eruptions."


    The main commentator, who possessed the ability to influence emotions through his words, revealed a piece of information that made the audience anxious yet filled with anticipation.


    "Why are the eruptions deadly? Can''t they just be detected ahead of time?" Melissa, who was also in the team room with the crew, turned and asked Lucas.


    Since she began to walk the path of a vestige-smith, Melissa didn''t think like a simple eleven year old and she was now quite knowledgeable about a lot of technology. Lucas felt it would be a waste to have her just sit in the audience alone and brought her with him. It was definitely not because he missed having the little girl by his side.


    Before Lucas could even answer, the Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith replied while stroking his beard,


    "It''s a bit more complex than that. However, detecting the eruptions isn''t a challenge; it''s avoiding them. You see, in the outer regions of the lake, which is pretty much the first one hundred kilometres (62 miles), it''s not difficult to predict the eruptions. Every racing shuttle is equipped with advanced sensors and scanners, so even though the black waters have deflection properties, the geysers could still be monitored.


    "However, deeper in, the deflection properties become stronger, but it''s still not entirely secure. As long as the team''s skills are up to the challenge, they can develop sensors and scanners that can go through the waters. But like I said before, the real danger isn''t in detection.


    "In the core area of the lake, the frequency of geyser eruptions is even more abrupt than in the outer areas. Apart from that, there are far more geysers there, with some being packed very close to each other. This makes it difficult for drivers to dodge them even if they''ve spotted the geysers beforehand. On some occasions, it wouldn''t be strange to see a driver or two being forced to an abrupt stop because there''s no path through. Trying to force one''s way in is very risky, especially if their defensive measures aren''t up to the task."


    Melissa nodded, seemingly understanding what the man had said.


    The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith glanced at her and smiled, pleased with the little girl.


    Although it was their first time meeting, the members of the Black Star team had already begun to treat Melissa like a princess. The vestige-smith was very pleased with her passion for learning and vestige-smithing, which was why he had offered to give an explanation for her. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Right after the reply was given, the first group of drivers had approached the Monotone Lake.


    There were five racers in this first group and the gap between each one didn''t exceed three hundred metres (0.186 miles). This might seem like much in racing tournaments on Earth, but a gap of less than three hundred metres in a drift race was the same as a ten metres gap on Earth; a slight mishandling or loss of focus and the positions would be swapped.


    Among the drivers in the first group were the driver for the team Yoko-bunny; the driver for the Red Mouse team, Red Devil; and the driver for Lugo Vido Autos, Mason.


    The other two were popular drivers in the K1 league, but the presence of the former three dropped their popularity and made it difficult for them to stand out as favourites to win a promotion. Nonetheless, their skills had been honed over the years in the K1 drift racing league, so they weren''t to be underestimated.


    Some of the drivers in the second group were similar to these two as well. Having the upper hand in experience with the K1 drift racing league tracks, they should technically be better drivers. However, they lacked the necessary resources, support, and most of all, a powerful racing shuttle, to be able to compete with the top five.


    The first group entered ten kilometres region of white soil which counted as the Monotone Lake''s grounds. Even as they approached the danger zone, none of them slowed down as doing so would put them at the risk of falling behind.


    "Hmph."


    Yoko-bunny''s driver, who was surprisingly a young lady, snorted seeing as none of the other four slowed down.


    She pressed on a button by the side of the steering wheel following which her racing shuttle abruptly accelerated.


    "Heh. Little girls are always so impatient." Red Devil, the driver for the Red Mouse team, chuckled even though no one else could hear him speak.


    He also accelerated his shuttle, not wanting to lose out to the young lady.


    Seeing this, Mason ¡ªwho drove for the LVA team¡ª also accelerated. Those left behind were the two experienced drivers who hesitated.


    Unlike the other three, they had races in the Cayern Windway before and knew of the dangers of each segment firsthand. As such, they were hesitant to make a move.


    "Fuck it!"


    One of them said before stepping on the gas [2] and chasing after the other three.


    "These guys are crazy."


    Seeing his ''companion'' do the same, the last man shook his head, but he also sped up. However, he took note of his actions and ensured that his shuttle''s acceleration was within a safe range where he could easily react to changes.


    "They, they are speeding! All front racers are speeding without care!" The commentator roared through the mic.


    The audience and spectators at home were all astonished by this. Everyone knew that rushing right into the Monotone Lake was a very dangerous act. Usually, they would turn on their sensors ahead and try to get a good scan of the lake before rushing in. As such, it was common for racers to slow down as they approached the lake.


    However, this time around, the leaders in front didn''t care about tradition and simply rushed right in. Although doing so seemed to help them gain a headstart, it would put them at a larger risk.


    Up ahead, there were a few occasional blasts of black water into the air, forming black pillars. This was the danger every driver had to be aware of, otherwise, their qualifications would end her.


    As expected, as soon as they drove into the lake, a geyser abruptly erupted as a pillar of black water shot up in the air, but that was just the start. There were multiple jets of black air fired into the air and the five racers immediately reacted to dodge them.


    Simultaneously, they all activated their shields to protect their shuttles, but the protection could only shield them from the corrosive effects, albeit with a limit.


    For reasons such as energy conservation, speed and so on, the power of the shields wasn''t my h and it could only mitigate a part of the force of the black pillars. So, if a racing shuttle was struck by them, it would get tossed into the air right away. Continuous barrages could even see the light shield being destroyed.


    However, all five drivers seemed to have eyes everywhere as they easily dodged the black pillars that struck fear into many.


    At the same time as they had gone in, the second group ¡ªin which Callus belonged to¡ª already arrived within the white soil region.

 Chapter 244 - 244: Contest In The Core Area

    "Joker, be careful. Activate your dispersion screen as soon as you get in. If you can''t hold on, use the stellar protection cover." The man in charge of communication said.


    Because of the unique qualities of the black water pillars, there was a need for drivers to have transparent light shields that could both protect them from the corrosive effects of the black water and the force of the ascending pillars. A one-for-all shield was possible, but it would consume more energy and could also affect the speed of the shuttle.


    So, the conventional route some of the vestige-smiths in the third league thought up was to deploy two different shields for the shuttle. As there were two different protection screens, changes could be made to them to achieve energy-conservation mode without harming the functions of the shields. Also, depending on the situation, the driver could deploy only one shield at a time ¡ªtypically the protection screen that shielded them from the black water''s corrosive effect. As for the other shield, it would be on standby, consuming a negligible amount of energy.


    "Don''t worry about it. I know what to do." Callus responded.


    This was his first performance in the K1 drift racing league so it was natural for his teammates to be worried about him. However, Callus was confident in his skills; he had to be otherwise he won''t be able to persevere.


    *Whoosh*


    It didn''t take long for the second group to finally enter within the region of the black waters of Monotone Lake. The ascending black pillars immediately greeted the group while the drivers reacted to them.


    Many of the drivers in the K1 league were experienced and had driven on this track before, so they wouldn''t fall easily. Only a few were newcomers to the league, but they did make preparations and carry out tons of training routines.


    "The racers are currently showing their mettle. At this rate, it would take more than just this to take them down." The assistant commentator said.


    Many in the audience also thought the same. The spectators at home also felt that this might be true, after all, the racers seemed to not be having a hard time here. Even the first group that had gone in while accelerating, were still yet to encounter any difficulties.


    At this time, the short tempered vestige-smith, who went by the name Angus, sneered.


    "The outer region is always a piece of cake for them. Even the newcomers shouldn''t find it troublesome with enough preparations, much less the vets."


    "Indeed. After the one hundred kilometres mark (62 miles), the danger would rise substantially." Another vestige-smith in the team nodded.


    A second later, the main commentator seven said the same words, urging the spectators to keep their eyes peeled for when the situation would take a turn.


    A couple of minutes later, the first group had finally approached the core area. Even from a distance, they could see the ferocious towering pillars of black water that occasionally shot into the air. Some times, more than ten could be spotted in an instance within the same region.


    The spectators, who could finally witness this scene, were astounded and some couldn''t help but feel frightened on behalf of the racers. These were the spectators who were new to the K1 drift racing league. However, even the old-timers were excited by this after all, this was where the race became more ''interesting.''


    "Young miss, please slow down."


    The chief of communication for the Yoko-bunny team advised the driver. The man had refrained from doing so when she sped into the lake as he had judged there would be no troubles for her within the outer region. However, the core region was a different story, as even the veteran racers would be forced to take it easy here; much less the young miss who was driving in this track for the first time ever.


    "This is the best time to widen the gap since they''d be forced to slow down. I''ll be pushing the defences to one hundred percent and relying on them for the first few tens of kilometres. This should be enough."


    "But your energy would be devoured at a rapid rate if the defences are at full power while you''re driving at nigh top speed. This can''t work." The man shook his head.


    "And what about it?" The young lady asked.


    "If it''s not enough, I''ll add in my own energy."


    Most of the drift racers were stellar practitioners. One reason for this was because stellar practitioners were stronger and had better reflexes and reactions than an ordinary hyuman. Another reason was because they possess stellar energy which could be used in emergency situations to either protect their lives or improve the performance of their racing shuttles; after all, racing shuttles were vestiges and stellar practitioners were the best fit to utilise a vestige.


    "This..." The man didn''t know what to say. The young lady''s words had pretty much covered all possible angles.


    "Only one minute." The man finally relented.


    "That''s all I need." The young lady smirked.


    At the same time, the other racers were communicating with their teammates on their strategies. In drift racing, the importance of a team and the crew wasn''t to be underestimated. Even if the racer was the team captain, they still had to consider their teammates and listen to advice, since these were the people who wanted to see them succeed the most.


    "Focus on stability. Our racing shuttle was designed with this in mind. The defence is superior to most, but don''t let this trump card out at least until the second and final lap."


    The head of communication for the Lugo Vido Autos team informed the driver, Mason, about their strategy. The latter nodded and began to slow down as he approached the core area.


    The two experienced racers in the first group similarly decelerated, not wanting to take the risk.


    In the end, only the young lady from Yoko-bunny and Red Devil from team Red Mouse, held their speed. As such, a gap began to form between the two sides as the two daredevils began to pull away from the others.


    Naturally, the spectators could all see this happen.


    "Oh my god. Th, they aren''t slowing down."


    "Insane. Do they want to die?!"


    Due to the fact that the five racers were close to the core area, the camera had panned out and the spectators could see the scenery of the core area. Compared to the ''small'' outer region of about one hundred kilometres or so, the core region was much larger and reached a staggering two hundred and twenty kilometres (136.7 miles).


    With the frequency of geyser eruptions being so short, this width of area was known as the black death zone. Usually, most racers would move at a speed between 120 km/hr (74.6 mph) to 240 km/hr (149 mph). This meant that it would take them between two hours to fifty five minutes to cover the core area.


    However, if someone were to maintain a speed above 300km/hr, they would complete the course within at least forty four minutes. Saving eleven minutes of time was definitely advantageous in a race.


    Nonetheless, even though most racers knew this, it would only be possible if one had the ability. As such, many thought that the two drivers ahead were crazy, especially since they were new to the K1 league.


    Immediately they entered the core region, Red Devil and the young lady were surrounded by eruptions of the underwater geysers. However, they managed to speed past most of them with only a few clashing against their shuttles. Nonetheless, with the defence measures in place, their shuttles only rocked a bit as they tore through the pillars of black water.


    "Incredible. Even after getting hit at least four times within thirty seconds, they are still standing strong." The commentator said. S§×ar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Red Devil proved to be more skilled by withstanding only four hits while the young lady received six.


    Regardless, for a shuttle''s defence to withstand four geyser hits in thirty seconds, their protection screens had to be quite powerful and advanced. However, there was still the underlying issue of energy consumption.


    ''I have to make it.'' The young lady gritted her teeth as she switched from a display system to a direct transmission for her sensors.


    The display system would have the results of the sensors displayed on a screen, which usually floated by the side of the driver''s face, typically in front of their left eye. On the other hand, a direct transmission would send the information straight to their brain.


    Naturally, direct transmissions were much faster and better. But having so much information sent to the brain while at the same time needing to process it in the midst of a race through such a risky terrain, was a challenging task for most. Even a second level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner wouldn''t be able to handle so many intense mental tasks for a long time.


    The young lady was a third level stellar practitioner, so she could handle the overload effects brought about by using direct transmission while raving through the core area. At the very least, she could withstand it for a few minutes, but what she only needed was thirty seconds.


    Red Devil had also switched to direct transmission even though he received less hits. This was because compared to the young lady''s racing shuttle, his wasn''t as resilient.


    Another thirty seconds went by and the two only took two hits each this time around. Even though it was the same number, it was clear that the young lady performed better having brought hers down from six.


    ''He''s still hanging on?'' The young lady cursed as she could perceive Red Devil by the side.


    Her original plan was to drive at top speed for a minute within the core area, widening the gap between her and the others. However, Red Devil seemed to have the same idea and tagged along. If she were to slow down now, he would then take the lead. Being a professional driver, once Red Devil took the lead with a clear gap, it would be difficult to overtake him again.


    Although winning first place in this race didn''t imply that one would consistently do the same in the other races, the points were still valuable.


    ''Damn it.'' The young lady decided to back on her decision and retain top speed for a while longer.


    At this moment, the second group finally stepped into the core area of the Monotone Lake.

 Chapter 245 - 245: A Risky Move

    "Watch out!"


    "Oh my god!"


    Gasps sounded from the spectators a few seconds after the second group had entered the core area.


    Two shuttles were caught by the eruption of the geysers underneath the lake, becoming unstable right away. One of them barely escaped the black pillar while the other was tossed into the air with the shuttle''s protection screen showing signs of wear.


    Some of the spectators showed worry for the second racer while the others cheered on, seemingly anticipating his demise.


    Callus had things better and was able to dodge the first few geyser blasts. But this was simply because he had driven in while accelerating. Just like the female driver of team Yoko-bunny and Red Devil, Callus wanted to take advantage of the fact that most drivers would slow down to create a gap between them.


    "What is he doing?" Angus furrowed his brows at the scene.


    The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith similarly didn''t have a good look on his face. Even Lucas couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise.


    The team was speechless by the fact that Joker had driven into the core area without his shields on while driving at nigh top speed. Any one of his actions was already troublesome but the two together was tantamount to entertaining death.


    Although the Juggernaut''s body was equivalent to a Grade 2 vestige in terms of durability, it was only for the lowest rank within the grade. When faced against the black waters that could easily liquify Grade 1 vestiges, the Juggernaut could only last for a while.


    "Joker, what are you doing?" The man in charge of communications, Kiel, frowned.


    "Boost. Energy conservation." Callus replied. Just like the other drivers in front, he had activated direct transmission. However, Callus wasn''t as talented as they were and was close to suffering from a brain overload. So, he could only pass his thoughts using as few words as possible.


    Although it was just three words, Kiel understood right away.


    Th current Juggernaut could not compare to the racing shuttles of the top teams. This wasn''t just in terms of top speed and engine specifications,but also energy quantity and utilisation system. If Callus wanted to move at top speed, he had to deactivate the protection shields of the Juggernaut. This wasn''t to say that the two systems couldn''t be active at the same time, but if they were, the energy consumption would be insane.


    Hence, even though it was risky, Callus still went on with his plan and deactivated the shields. He was betting on his skills as a driver as well as the durability of the Juggernaut to get through.


    However, as Callus went deeper, the core area began to show its mettle. Even for a genius racer such as himself, he was finding it difficult to navigate through the abrupt and intense geyser eruptions.


    "Joker, deploy your shields!" Kiel lost his patience and yelled through the communicator.


    "Bit." Callus replied.


    It had only been twenty seconds since he went into the core region. Callus planned to move in at full speed for at least forty seconds, but preferably one minute. To him, twenty seconds was still not enough.


    Angus snatched the communicator and roared into it,


    "Joker, stop fucking around and deploy your shields!"


    If anything were to happen to Joker, even though he wouldn''t be disqualified since a backup racing shuttle would be sent over, he would lose his position and this would affect his final result. Whether it was his safety or the final scores, the team wasn''t willing to lose any.


    This time around, Callus didn''t reply as his entire attention was fixed on the Juggernaut.


    "He''s too stubborn." The Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith grimaced.


    The man had known Callus for a while ever since the latter had begun working in their old place, a repair station for hover vehicles. Back then, the man was in charge of a team and Callus, who happened to be hired as an intern, worked under the man. He looked after him like his son and taught Callus a lot about vestige-smithing and repairs.


    As Callus'' senior and mentor, the man knew a lot about his personality, including Callus'' stubbornness. This was a personality that was both a pro and a con.


    Lucas didn''t say anything as it wasn''t his place to make a comment. Instead, he set his sights on the display screen that focused on the team''s driver, Callus.


    ''He won''t be able to last.''


    Even though Lucas had only been to two races so far, he was still able to discern a bit about the skills of each driver, especially Callus. If the latter kept on driving at the same speed, he would eventually get caught into a mess.


    And just as Lucas had predicted, it took only five seconds.


    Callus was racing through the core area at a speed of almost 400km/hr, which meant that within 25 seconds, he had gone at least some 2.7km. compared to others moving below 300 km/hr, there was at least a one kilometre gap between Callus and the others. If he kept this speed up until 40 seconds, the gap would be at least two kilometres which was a significant advantage.


    Nonetheless, reality had a different story.


    Just as Callus was moving forward, he got caught up in a timely setup.


    Three geysers happened to have reached their tipping point at that moment, gushing out a large amount of water with immense force. The eruption displaced the black water in the lake, creating three black pillars that shot up from the lake. sea??h th§× novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At the moment the black pillars burst out from the lake, Callus happened to be within their range. It wasn''t that he didn''t notice them through his sensors, but that Callus had no option than to take that path. There were eruptions and black pillars all around, and the only chance of survival was through this path. However, even the safe route had a significant amount of risk.


    Callus could not turn to the side as there was no space to manoeuvre past them. Stopping wasn''t an option because with the speed Callus was moving and the forward mentality he rode on, it would take at least a second or two for the Juggernaut to be brought to a complete stop.


    If the situation was dire for Callus, one could only imagine how the others felt. They weren''t even able to let out their exclamations and shock in time before the Juggernaut got swallowed by two black pillars that formed too close to each other.


    "Joker!"


    Kiel shouted through the communicator.


    The other members of the team froze in shock, refusing to believe what they had just seen. They knew the capabilities of the Juggernaut and with a direct hit such as that, there was a more than seventy percent chance that the shuttle was forced out of service.


    Even if Callus wasn''t dead, his position would drop and ending the race with a position higher than the bottom half would be impossible.


    "Why are you guys overreacting like kids?" Havos'' voice suddenly sounded.


    Angus, true to his personality, lost it and turned to Havos with a glare, preparer to curse at him


    But just before he could, Havos continued speaking,


    "Since when do drift racing teams trust display screens over their sensors?"


    The crew froze before immediately shifting their attention to the third display screen; the one that showed the state of the racing shuttle relayed through its built-in sensors.


    On the screen, the Juggernaut appeared to still be active and although it had a few damages to it, the shuttle was still good enough to compete. At the same time, the protection screen was shown to be active.


    "He''s still on...?" Angus was shocked.


    "Of course he is. Would you prefer he''s dear or something?" Havos stared at him as if he was looking at a fool.


    Angus was incensed but also embarrassed at the same time. But in the end, he was relieved that the worst case scenario had yet to play out.


    "You shit head. You fucking scared us." Kiel cursed through the communicator.


    "Ah. Thanks for the compliment." Callus replied.


    Kiel''s face twitched but he gave up arguing lest he distracts Callus.


    Through the display screen for the Juggernaut''s sensors, they could surmise how Callus had escaped. He most likely activated his shields at the last moment, sacrificing a significant amount of energy to escape danger. As he was still moving at full speed, Callus was able to tear through the collision of the two black pillars without a scratch.


    On the display screen that monitored the Juggernaut, the team were unable to make head or toe of where the Juggernaut was. As there was not much of a reaction from Callus'' actions, they presumed he was swallowed by the pillars.


    Now though, the truth was easily deduced.


    Callus had already begun to decelerate to prevent the Juggernaut from losing too much energy. However, he did so in a stable and steady manner, ensuring that he was still creating a gap between him and the other racers.


    At this point, Callus'' position had progressed from thirteenth place to eleventh place. The small change was due to the fact that at some point in time, Callus had dropped from thirteenth to fifteenth. But with the stunt he just pulled, he had managed to not only cover the gap but widen it in his favour as well.


    Regardless, there were still five more dangerous regions to go through, so no one was optimistic about Callus maintaining his position. However, there was still a shot at ending in the top half.

 Chapter 246 - 246: One Month Later

    After successfully getting past the core area and the entire region known as the Monotone Lake, Callus continued onwards with the other racers. There were still five more danger zones to go through and each one could take as long as half an hour to get by even when driving at 200km/hr, which was considered slow in drift racing. What''s more, the entire race consisted of two laps around the Cayern Windway.


    Overall, it took about twelve hours before the race was over. Callus had successfully completed the course without having to switch his racing shuttle midway, but he did stop for a little maintenance at the team''s pit-stop. This didn''t affect him much as all the other racers had done the same, albeit at different points in time.


    With the conclusion of the race, the positions of each of the racers were displayed on the official broadcast as well as the points they earned.


    First place took home thirty points, whereas second and third place left with twenty five points; a difference of five points with first place.


    Fourth and fifth place scored twenty points, maintaining the same five points difference. From sixth place all the way to tenth ended with fifteen points.


    Eleventh up to twentieth got ten points while from twentieth all the way to the last place has five points.


    From this, one could see why every race was important. Although it was just a five points gap between each of the five sections on the board, it would be difficult to close this gap.


    To add meaning to the positions of each racer, extra points were also allocated according to the time gap between each driver. Time gaps were used to calculate the difference between drivers rather than a distance gap [1].


    A time gap of under five seconds gave one additional point. From five seconds to under ten seconds gave an additional two points. Each additional five seconds gave an extra point.


    Rewards were only assigned using the time gap of a racer and the closest driver behind him upon crossing the finish line. This ensured that there wouldn''t be a surplus of points, but it still motivated racers to extend the gap between them and those behind.


    For instance, initially, a driver within a segment ¡ªsay the eleventh to twentieth place¡ª wouldn''t be too invested in taking the lead if he or she was at the bottom of mid range. Since the points allocated for those in the segment were all the same ¡ªten points¡ª there was technically no difference between twentieth place and eleventh place. This would make the drivers more focused on maintaining their positions rather than trying to overtake each other.


    But with the introduction of the time gap reward system as well as other bonus points systems, racers were motivated to perform better. One could either aim to widen the time gap between themselves and their closest opponent behind for more points. They could also act to reduce the time gap between themselves and the person in front to eliminate the latter''s opportunity of gaining more points and affecting their position on the official league table.


    Whoever one it was, there was a simple solution that catered to both which was to drive faster. Whether it was for more points or to deny your opponent from gaining those, the racers were motivated to do their best.


    At the end of the race, Callus had narrowly managed to seize fourteenth place, netting ten points for his final placing. However, it was a very narrow win and he recorded a less than five seconds time gap between him and fifteenth place, gaining only one point.


    Regardless, Callus did manage to win some extra bonus points from his performance, which all added up to four. Together with that from the time gap and his placing, Callus gained fifteen points from the race.


    "Congratulations buddy!"


    "You did it!"


    The team cheered Callus tight after the race was over.


    Although his finishing was somewhat lackluster compared to the eleventh place he held a while ago at the core area of the Monotone Lake, it wasn''t disappointing. If anything, it was a pleasant surprise to the team.


    They had expected him to end between 17th to 15th, which was better compared to the 19th Callus ended the first race with. Scoring 14th was worthy of a celebration.


    "Tonight, drinks on me." Angus declared while celebrating with the rest of the team.


    "Hehe. Don''t take those words back." One of the crew members smiled.


    After a bit of cheering, they immediately left to go celebrate. As for the shuttles and their equipment, it would be sent over to the Black Star team''s location by the K1 league''s staff.


    One might wonder why there was so much fanfare over the result even though they were all in the same segment and earned equal placing points. Apart from that fact however, the bonus points for positions differentiated the two sides. Compared to 19th or even 16th place, 14th occupied a seat in the top half of the contestants so there was a bonus point for that. There was also the fact that the public would begin to perceive Joker and the Black Star team as a quality team, leading some companies and agencies to decide to sponsor them. The reason for such an abrupt change was because the Cayern Windway track was labelled a dangerous track and not a standard one, so it was a somewhat better means of judging one''s abilities.


    Overall, there were so many benefits associated with performing this well which made the team happy.


    "System, don''t forget my reward."


    Lucas smirked as he left with Melissa for the celebration.


    . . .


    It had been one month since the race at the Cayern Windway. During this one month, the Black Star team has appeared in four other races, two of which were in danger zones similar to the Cayern Windway.


    During this one month, both major and minor changes had been made to the Juggernaut, so Joker''s position began to stabilise within the top half and even occasionally performed superbly. In the last race, he had even managed to take twelfth place.


    While Callus was still far from achieving promotion by ending the season in the top three, he was confident that the team could achieve this goal within two years or four seasons.


    As for Lucas, he had made a lot of progress with the system''s mission, having explored three relics related to magi runes.


    ''It still isn''t enough.'' Lucas sighed as he stared at the progress bar for the mission which stood at seventy percent.


    When he had explored the first relics, a progress bar appeared on the mission''s profile showing how much he had progressed with learning about magi runes. He didn''t need anyone to explain to him that the bar would only fill up after he had mastered magi runes which would also be the moment that the mission would be completed.


    ''I still have a few more weeks left but there aren''t many more relics related to the Sunil close by.''


    The Sunil was the title the hyumankin had used to identify the civilisation related to magi runes. One of the relics belonging to them, which happened to be where Ronny found the ring, was the East Braftford relics. Besides it, there were two other Sunil nearby which Lucas had already explored. Compared to East Braftford relics, they weren''t so dangerous as even first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners could enter and exit them safe as sound.


    As for the third site, it was a relics that had been cleared for the most part and turned into a tourist site. It was quite far compared to other relics and Lucas had to take a leave from the Black Star team before travelling with Melissa to check it out.


    All three sites helped boost his knowledge about the magi runes, but according to the system, Lucas had only mastered a part of it, around seventy percent.


    ''The only option left is the East Braftford relics.'', Lucas sighed. S§×arch* The ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Truth be told, he was unwilling to go there which was obvious from the fact that despite it being the first Sunil relics he knew about, Lucas had avoided it. There was no other explanation except for the fact that it was dangerous.


    According to Ronny, even fourth level stellar practitioners had a significant chance of dying in the inner regions of East Braftford relics. A fourth level stellar practitioner like Ronny had only wandered along the periphery of the relics.


    ''Since the ring was found there, the outer regions should be enough for me to learn something or even complete the mission. Looks like this trip is inevitable.'' Lucas sighed.


    Playing it safe didn''t mean he was fearful of the relics. With the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, Lucas wss confident in handling fourth level Apertures Opening stage dangers and could even escape from fifth level attackers.


    However, relics were still different from living beings or attackers.


    ''I''ll need to make preparations.''


    . . .


    At the same time that Lucas had that thought, somewhere else, in a city that neighboured Trundel City, the Mertens'' siblings were currently chatting with a friend. The duo had stayed in Belfargos city-state for over a month now due to a business deal that was important to their family. They had only just wrapped it up when the host offered to show them around the city-state.


    "Relics are one aspect of Belfargos city-state that really stands out. In the surrounding area, one of the most impressive ones are those of the Sunil civilisation. Artefact excavated from them can be worth a lot and many pioneers try their luck here." The young man entertaining the two said.


    He was the son of a top government official in the city and his father was the target of the business deal for the Mertens'' siblings. After the deal was concluded, the old man had his son show them around since they were of the same generation.


    "Oh, so kinda like treasure-searching?" Vergil''s eyes sparkled.


    "You can say so, but it involves a large amount of risk and luck." The young man smiled.


    "Hey, big sis. Why don''t we go try our luck?"

 Chapter 247 - 247: A Coincidental Affair

    Different from the other city-states, the unofficial Belfargos city-state occupied an entire continent to itself. This enabled the city-state to greatly develop and widen the gap between itself and the others. Unlike other continents that had to split the desolate beast domains, mineral mines and so on, amongst themselves, all these resources were left for Belfargos city-state to devour.


    However, of the resources that the continent of Bernin had to offer, relics were the most valuable.


    Relics were remnant sites of ancient civilizations, with some having existed and fallen even before the hyumankin''s forces had made it to the Kellan solar system. Chances were that relics from civilizations as old as the human race existed on this planet. But considering how much time had gone by, most of them would have faded away. At this same time, such relics held little practical value since they were essentially technology from tens of thousands of years ago which definitely can''t compare to modern standards.


    Regardless, whether it was the historical value, aesthetic appeal or practical usage, artefacts were very valuable, and the Relics which possessed them were often frequented by pioneers, freelancers and even tourists.


    Some of the other continents in Eretre held relics, but whether it was in terms of quality, quantity, or preservation, the relics in the Bernin continent were superior. With Belfargos city-state being the sole city-state, all these resources were available to the forces and cities under it for distribution.


    Amongst the various relics controlled by the forces of Belfargos city-state, the relics of the Sunil civilization was a popular one. The Sunil civilization was an empire estimated to have existed around four to six thousand years ago. Compared to the others, they were relatively recent. Due to this, their traces were still well preserved and many of them could be spotted.


    Four thousand years ago, the Oklo Dynasty didn''t even exist much less some six thousand years ago. Around that time, the hyumankin had probably just begun expanding into the Kellan solar system yet. It was only a few hundred years later that the Oklo Dynasty began to take root here.


    Before then, Eretre was said to have suffered a global catastrophe that ended a majority of life on the planet. A while after, desolate beasts from outer space and the neighbouring planet, Jota, migrated to the planet and became the dominant species. Of the surviving locals, the majority were also beasts and only one percent were intelligent lifeforms. However, they soon went extinct under the ferocious attacks of desolate beasts.


    This was why there were no native alien species on Eretre; including the desolate beasts, all of its current inhabitants had migrated over including the hyumans and other alien species.


    Due to that global catastrophe, the records of the Sunil civilization was buried underground and when the Oklo Dynasty had just taken over, they didn''t spot any of them. It wasn''t until they had completed their expansion and urbanisation of the planet, did the Oklo Dynasty and the new inhabitants decide to begin digging deeper. That was when most of the relics were excavated.


    One of the criteria for identifying relics was there to just be a trace of a previous civilization. There also had to be a significant amount of ruins and remnant historical artifacts [1]. The site also had to be large, and usually a city or a huge town, restored to at least seventy percent of its original state to classify officially as relics. Because of this, a lone building from an ancient era couldn''t be classified as one.


    The Sunil civilization had quite a few relics sprawled across the outer area of the Bernin continent, roughly where the Oklo Dynasty had built their empire. However, only a few of them were yet to be completely explored and so, became a gathering ground for pioneers. The most notable was the East Braftford relics, which was only forty percent explored.


    "Compared to the other regions, East Braftford relics still have a lot of dangers so please do well to stick close to me." The guide stared at the group as he informed them.


    This group had quite a few individuals of significant background. There was the young master of a top family from Heavenfall City, the daughter of the CEO of a top three hundred company in Belfargos city-state, and the nephew of the chairman of a trading alliance.


    However, there were three others that stood out in this group. One of them was the son of the vice city lord of Blue Springs City, while the other two were the children of Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family from Baylands City. This entire trip was done simply to entertain these two so it could be seen how influential their background was.


    In Baylands City, one would only know of the Mertens family as a top four force in the city-state. Those with a bit more knowledge would know that they were crucial in the installation of the current city lord and ruler of Baylands city-state, Noah Bergs. However, they were more than just that.


    There was a reason why Russell was confident in protecting Lucas even at the cost of a fallout with the other forces. One was because he believed that the city lord would side with him. The other, was simply because Russell was that confident in holding them off.


    In any city-state, the top factions and forces who stood out from the rest were never to be underestimated, especially those with heritage. To be able to retain the position of a top faction for a very long time, the power they wielded was incredible, but their connections were also not to be underestimated.


    Apart from the Ross family, which was relatively new to the rankings, the other three families all hard some sort of connections to Belfargos city-state. In the case of the Bergs and the Dufours, their connections extended even to the Oklo Dynasty.


    In Belfargos city-state, while the family name ''Mertens'' didn''t necessarily strike fear into the hearts of others, the top forces knew to give some form of respect to them. This was because the Mertens family was allied with a city lord family in Belfargos city-state through marriage.


    It just so happened that Russell wanted to try his hand at a new business venture which would require the aid of his ally. Hence, he sent his children to not only seal the deal but also strengthen the Mertens'' relationship with this family.


    "Thank you for your help, Mister Duran." The young man who was the son of the deputy city lord said.


    "It''s no problem." The man smiled.


    Although he was a somewhat famous pioneer in this area, he couldn''t compare to these young ones in terms of resources, influence or power. Since they needed a professional guide to the East Braftford relics, Duran decided to take up the offer so as to build even a little bit of connection with them.


    "Please follow me." Duran said, before leading the way.


    Apart from the six young heirs, there were also a few guards tagging along. However, because of the dangers of the relics, they weren''t much and only numbered about seven.


    "Do you think we''d find any artefacts today, beauty?" Vergil smiled at the lady who followed the group.


    True to his nature as a playboy, he had already began making his advances on the girl in the team.


    "I doubt that. Most of the sections in the outer region has already been scoured by others." The girl lightly said.


    "Well, I''m something of a good luck charm myself, so I think it will be different today." Vergil winked at her.


    The girl was speechless, but so as not to seem rude, she simply smiled at him.


    Laura ignored her brother''s misbehaviour as she turned her focus towards the relics.


    Even if the outer region has been explored countless of times, it still held a certain degree of danger. Part of this was because of the traps within the relics, some of which were mechanical or magical. The other danger was the desolate beasts within these relics.


    The majority of desolate beasts in the outer region had been wiped out, but there was a certain species that could reproduce quickly. They were insect-type desolate beasts. S§×arch* The Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Compared to the hyuman-sized or larger ones, insect-type desolate beasts were greatly feared. One reason was because of their insane reproduction rate while the other was Thier attack tactics.


    Since insect-type desolate beasts were small and often couldn''t pose a threat to a prey or even predator, they learnt to move in groups and gang up on a target. The smallest of these groups could reach numbers of up to three hundred, depending on the size of the desolate beasts. The smaller ones numbered even more in groups, reaching thousands in one swarm.


    At first, hyumankin developed unique pesticides to combat against them, but unlike typical insects, these desolate beasts began to develop resistance at a much faster rate. This meant that every few years or so, hyumankin would have to develop a new brand of pesticides for each insect-type desolate beast to combat against them.


    Naturally, many found this to be stressful and resorted to the ancient ways which was to simply swat these insects to death. But in this case, they used vestiges.


    "Don''t worry. With Duran here and our guards, we''ll be safe." The son of the deputy city lord turned to Laura with a smile.

 Chapter 248 - 248: The Aura-Breaking Stele

    At the moment, Lucas currently stood within the outer region of the East Braftford relics admiring the scenery. This was the most popular Sunil relics in Belfargos city-state as well as the only one with an exploration rate below forty percent. It was also the source of the majority of artefacts and artifacts [1] related to the Sunil civilization.


    The East Braftford relics, although yet to be fully explored, had been probed into through the use of sensory and scanning equipment including satellites. Since it was quite close to Trundel City, it was only natural for the city''s ruling authority to conduct an investigation on the area. They had partnered up with an alliance of pioneers to dig into the mysteries of the East Braftford relics.


    Through these equipment and the ensuing operations, the association of pioneers and Trundel City government had managed to get a somewhat clear idea of the relics.


    The East Braftford relics was said to be formed from an ancient city of the Sunil civilization. While the city couldn''t compare to those in Belfargos city-state, the cities of the Sunil civilization were still incredibly large. Take the East Braftford relics for instance, which covered more than three hundred kilometres.


    Based on the results of the joint investigation, the East Braftford relics was divided into three regions. They were the outer region, the inner region and the core region.


    The outer region was the most explored part of the relics as well as the safest when compared to the others. It was about ninety kilometres long and was also the source of roughly thirty percent of all Sunil civilization artefacts. Even until this day, the outer region had yet to be completely explored. Its exploration rate stood at eight two percent (82%).


    The inner region followed right after the outer region and stretched at least one hundred and ten kilometres long, making it considerably longer than the outer region. However in terms of width, it was slightly lacking.


    The inner region had also been explored by pioneers, but its exploration rate stood at a mere thirty four percent (34%). And this was after hundreds of years. The mysteries of the inner region were complex and not something technology could easily conquer ¡ªwhich was quite shocking since the Sunil civilization had existed between four to six thousand years ago.


    Since the inner region had yet to be explored half way through, there were still a ton of artefacts rumoured to be hidden here, with differing levels of value. Some of the stronger pioneers occasionally took the risk to explore this region and unearth the riches within it.


    On the other hand, the final region ¡ªthe core region¡ª was the centre of the relics. Beyond the core region was a vast lake that easily dwarfed the Monotone Lake in the Cayern Windway. What''s more, the lake was a desolate beast domain, which was why there was no other way into the core region except through the outer and inner regions.


    Not much was known about the core region as it was publicly recorded as unexplored. However, rumours have it that the strongest existences in Eretre had once journeyed in there. Such existences included individuals like the Oklo Dynasty''s previous emperor, the (branch) [2] Lin family''s secretive ancestor or the Lester family''s protector. However, whether they truly went in there or not was unknown as these factions had no comments on these rumours and no information about the secrets or details of the core region was released.


    Despite that, it was said that there would be no smoke without a fire, so many believed that these rumours might hold some truth.


    Due to the unknown threat the relics posed, especially its mysterious core region that remained unexplored even after hundreds of years, some had pushed for it to be bombed out of existence. Even if they couldn''t explore it, destroying it wasn''t an issue for the Trundel City government. However, others argued that the relics was a treasure trove, leading to there being split decisions and factions on the matter.


    ''Regardless, that doesn''t concern me.'' Lucas thought.


    His goal this time around was simply the outer region. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The mission required Lucas to comprehend the magi runes and not explore the relics entirely, otherwise he would have never accepted it. Lucas never thought himself to be some shonen protagonist or a web novel MC with unlimited plot armour and luck.


    Since the mission was only for him to comprehend magi runes, the outer region was enough to fill the remaining thirty percent progress on the mission tracking bar. This was because it was said that the outer region was filled with countless mysterious scripts on its walls. Although these scripts were more of written language than mystical inscriptions used for manipulating stellar energy, there might be a relationship.


    Apart from that, it was said that within the explored parts of the outer regions, there was a huge stele made from a strange material that appeared like metal but had a structural build similar to a rock. All over the stele were carved countless magi runes which implied that the stele was an artefact. However, for some reason, the stele couldn''t be taken out.


    After some scientists and historians checked out the place, they concluded that the stele acted as an important pillar of support to the relics and had an important function. Removing the stele could cause adverse effects to the relics, so after a bit of deliberation, it was preserved by the Trundel City government and any attempts to excavate it came with severe punishments.


    The stele had also been turned into a tourist attraction because of this, and occasionally, both tourists and even researchers came to the area.


    Compared to the other parts of the outer region, the route to the stele was incredibly safe and with almost no danger. The ''almost'' was because one can never be one hundred percent sure of any thing.


    "Hey, young fellow, do you need a guide?"


    A man noticed that Lucas was staring at the relics but had yet to take a step. Such behaviour was common in first-timers and tourists, so the man saw a business opportunity.


    At first Lucas wanted to reject the man because the route was pretty safe and there were already directions posted online. However on second thought, he decided to get a guide. If any unexpected events were to crop up, having someone who was knowledgeable about the relics would be helpful.


    As for why Lucas felt that something might happen, it was just an instinctual feeling.


    ''Countless decades of safety and no threat so far. With the system giving such a mission, it can''t be this easy.'' Lucas narrowed his eyes.


    For some reason, he recalled an adage from Earth called Murphy''s law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.


    An adaptation on Earth had an extra line which read ''If it can''t go wrong, it will go wrong anyway''.


    Regardless of which it was, Lucas felt unsettled with this trip, but he couldn''t back down after having come this far.


    "Where to?"


    Seeing Lucas give him the go-ahead nod, the man became enthusiastic and approached him quicker.


    "The Aura-Breaking stele." Lucas replied.


    The Aura-Breaking stele was the name of the famous stele that was turned into a tourist attraction. It was also a valuable piece of research data.


    Compared to seeing an image, seeing the real thing was better, especially for researchers. This was because inscriptions contained certain secrets and sensations that could only be seen and felt in person.


    "Oh, that''s wonderful. I have tons of experience being there and with me, you''ll get there safe and sound without a scratch." The man patted his chest as he boasted.


    "Price." Lucas ignored all the talk and went straight to the point.


    Most guides were skilled at conning tourists. They would bring up various conversation points and distract the tourist, preventing the price from being discussed. After the trip is concluded, the guide would give a hefty bill with various fees attached. As the service has already been provided, the tourist would have no choice than to pay for it or risk causing a scene.


    As this action didn''t harm anyone and wasn''t necessarily illegal, the city''s legal forces did nothing against it. One could only blame the tourists for their inexperience.


    The man''s face changed but he quickly recovered and gave a laugh.


    "It''s nothing much, don''t worry about it. I''ll even throw in a discount. Let''s go right now, otherwise we might get stuck in a queue. Lots of tourists frequent this place, so the earlier we move, the better."


    The man gestured for Lucas to come with him.


    However, the man underestimated who he was dealing with. At the moment, Lucas was a miser who was in financial straits. If it weren''t for this mission, he would have remained back in his store.


    While his job with the Black Star team did pay well, Lucas had to cater for himself and Melissa. At the same time, he needed to still pay taxes and other fees like insurance, on a monthly basis. Then he still had to buy materials and metals for his personal hob-, eh, research.


    This made it such that Lucas'' wallet was no different from a sponge. He could only hold onto a little bit of money after pay day.


    Seeing the man not willing to discuss his rates, Lucas turned to find another guide.


    Worried, the man immediately came in front of him.


    "Alright, alright. One hundred federal coins."


    Lucas glared at him.


    "Eighty."


    Lucas still didn''t say a word but instead walked around the man.


    "Okay, fine. Fifty, that''s the best deal around here. If you don''t believe me, go ask around."


    Lucas smiled and turned towards the man.


    "Lead the way."

 Chapter 249 - 249: Aura Breaking Stele 2

    The East Braftford relics was one of the most dangerous relics in Trundel City''s surrounding area. But at the same time, it was one of the major tourist attractions of the city, because of the Aura-Breaking Stele.


    The stele was termed the Aura-breaking Stele, because according to researchers who had studied it, the stele possessed the ability to negate and suppress aura. This was quite confusing since a name like ''Aura-suppressing'' stele would have been appropriate. However, there were some archeological records and remains of the Sunil civilisation that spoke about their aura-breaking pillars, which could suppress aura, destroy barriers and even create them.


    Considering the stele functioned a role in the relics similar to those of the aura-breaking pillars mentioned in the Sunil records, it was given the name Aura-breaking Stele. S§×ar?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Because of the hidden risks that relics possessed, entry into them was free. This was to draw freelancers and pioneers to help explore them and quell the risk within.


    However, the region where the Aura-breaking stele was located was different.


    Not only did the stele possess a ton of value to the city, but it was also an important cornerstone of the relics and couldn''t be excavated. As such, there was a need to watch over it and protect it. The path towards the stele had been cleared out by the city''s military, and a patrol team was kept there to secure the stele from freelancers and pioneers who might get too greedy.


    However, doing this meant that there would be an increase in the city''s budget. Although it wasn''t something the city government couldn''t handle, they pursued a resourceful system in their practice. Together with the fact that there existed a faction in favour of destroying the relics, it wouldn''t be easy to approve a budget increase just to protect the stele.


    Hence, a brilliant idea was thought up. Anyone who wanted to go to the safe region and view the stele would have to pay an entrance fee. This fee would then be used to pay for the resources and manpower needed to protect the stele. If it wasn''t enough, it could be supplemented by the city as long as the excess was below forty percent.


    After the guide brought Lucas to the region, he left as there was security in front and he would have to pay an entrance fee to go further in.


    Fifty federal coins might have seemed like an expensive charge, but life in Belfargos city-state was costlier than other city-states. Every piece of land was valuable, and in turn, affected other prices.


    This was because Belfargos city-state didn''t occupy the entire Bernin continent but only a small part of it. The remaining land was occupied by desolate beasts. As a result, there was limited land to develop and use for agriculture.


    Although other continents had around 2-3 city-states sharing the land, due to the proximity of the city-states, they could engage in trade using their various resources; thereby solving food shortage with each other. At the same time, they didn''t have as many desolate beast domains as the Bernin continent did. In the case of the Bernin continent, the closest continent to it was an ocean away, with a distance spanning thousands of kilometres.


    Also, the Belfargos city-state was the centre of the planet and the place with the highest quantity and quality of vestige-smiths. This naturally increased the population as many factions and individuals wanted to be based here. The population increase puts a burden on the existing fixed resources, leading to a rise in price.


    After paying the guide, Lucas walked towards the entrance.


    The East Braftford relics wasn''t some underground relics on anything, but was aboveground. However, a strange barrier shielded the entire relics preventing drones from getting a good view. The region with the Aura-breaking stele refurbished by the city government.


    A small fence was built around the area with a gate in front. By the gate, a few soldiers stood guard armed with gun-type vestiges. Two of them attended to the crowd lined up with a special type of machine in their hands. The devices not only helped with payment but also recorded the data of every tourist who came to the site for security reasons.


    Due to the length of the queue, it took around an hour before Lucas'' turn came to pay for the entrance ticket. Once in front of one of the two soldiers, he scanned his palm over the device and was allowed to go in. Although he had expected it, the entrance fee was quite pricey; thirty federal coins. But since he was already here, Lucas didn''t dwell on it.


    ''I need to raise prices of services.'' Lucas thought as he walked past the security checkpoint.


    On the other side, a large stele that reached at least twenty metres (65.6 feet) in height appeared before Lucas. That was the same height as a four storey- building. The width roughly measured around seven metres (23 feet), giving such an overwhelming sight. It was unimaginable to think that the entire surface of such a large structure was hand-filled with inscriptions roughly the same size as a fingernail.


    There were hundreds of thousands of such tiny inscriptions which was why the Aura-breaking stele was a very important artefact for one to comprehend the ancient inscription of the Sunil civilisation. Even though he had yet to reach it, Lucas was confident that if he went through the entire stele, he would fulfill the requirements for the mission given to him by the system.


    The problem however, was doing just that.


    Even with the advantage of being able to partially understand magi runes, it would take Lucas at least 2-3 days to cover the entire steele. This was because both the front and back were filled with these inscriptions. The staggering height of twenty metres also presented a challenge since it would be difficult to clearly see the tiny inscriptions at the top.


    Lucas could depend on his sharp senses to do so, but it would consume a lot of his mental energy, making this a very tiring endeavour. Consuming mental energy while both trying to read the inscriptions and decipher them would result in Lucas not being able to spend much time on the job as he would tire out faster. Adding this in mind, it would extend the duration he would need to complete the stele by at least one day.


    ''I just need to learn enough to complete the mission, not the stele.'' Lucas comforted himself before looking around.


    At the entrance, there was a long queue but the inside was more packed. A rough estimate would put the number of people present to be somewhere between four to five hundred people. Such a crowd shouldn''t really be termed as a lot, but the space was small and limited. As such, they were almost packed together here.


    Some of them were tourists who posed close to the stele and took pictures, while others were historians, researchers or vestige-smiths who marveled at the stone and tried to decipher what they could. Differentiating between the two was quite easy since their gazes and treatment towards the stele differed largely.


    To the tourists, they were only somewhat impressed by it, particularly because of its size and uniqueness; especially the mysterious aura all around it.


    However, to the erudite scholars and researchers, their gaze towards the stele was one of adulation, deep interest, curiosity, and even idolization. To this group of people, even though the Aura-breaking stele was from a civilisation far behind theirs, there were some remarkable features and technology from the Sunil civilisation that even surpassed those on Eretre.


    It was undeniable that the Aura-breaking stele held more value to the second group than the first. Even the city government knew this and were aware of the value that the comprehension of the unknown runes would bring to them. Hence, they slashed the entrance fee by fifty percent for these individuals.


    If Lucas had an official identification document for being a vestige-smith, he would have gone in while paying only fifteen federal coins. However, he didn''t have a membership or licence from the Eretrean Vestige-smith League, especially since he was blacklisted back in the Baylands City branch, so Lucas could only pay the regular fee.


    Ignoring the crowd, Lucas turned his attention to the purpose of his visit; the towering stele.


    The grey Aura-breaking stele stood tall that even with the crowd ahead, Lucas could still get a good glance at it. However, the distance between him and the stele was at least thirty metres, making it somewhat difficult for Lucas to be able to study the runes. But this was only just a little bit of difficulty.


    Without wasting any time, Lucas found a spot by the side as he couldn''t waste another hour on a queue. Unbeknownst to him though, Laura and Vergil were also present within the crowd. However, because of their identities, as well as that of those in the group, they were given better treatment and managed to skip the long queue to appear within the viewing area of the stele ¡ªa space at least five metres away from the stele.

 Chapter 250 - 250: World Source

    Usually, tourists were allowed only a maximum of three minutes in the viewing area before leaving for a new group from the queue to take their place, but with the identities of those in the group, they were allowed up to ten minutes here. Even regular VIPs and esteemed figures could only stay up to five minutes, but it was different for this group. This was because in their midst was the son of the vice city lord of the neighbouring Blue Springs City, who was tipped to succeed his father.


    Every city-state utilised a different system of government with some being of form of democracy, an oligarchy, or a parliamentary. Apart from a theocracy and a dictatorship, almost every form of government could be utilised in a city-state. Most of the time, this practice extended down to the various cities within the city-state.


    In Belfargos city-state however, since the Oklo Dynasty was in charge, the rule of the cities became different. Almost all the cities were under a monarchy. This was because the Bernin continent was a dangerous place to be and the only safe area was close to Belfargos City. However, the Oklo Dynasty wouldn''t just allow anyone to set up a city close to them. Those who could do so would have to be like the Cardoso family, who had very close ties to the Oklo Dynasty''s royal family.


    Because of this requirement, the cities were all operated under a monarchy, with the families that set them up being the supreme power. Although there were exceptions ¡ªsituations where a city was set up by more than one party¡ª those were few.


    Back to the group, since the son of the vice city lord who led the group of young elites was present, the guards had to give him better treatment. Being the eldest son of the vice city lord, it was inevitable that he would succeed his father. Granting an extra five minutes for such a figure was not a problem. Sear?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Aura-breaking stele is definitely magnificent." Vergil couldn''t help but admire the rock.


    Usually, he would be in his playboy personality, but at the moment, he couldn''t help but be drawn to the stele. As a vestige-smith, albeit of the lowest level, Vergil could appreciate the stele better than the others in the group.


    It might seem like just a tall historical rock with some scribbles on it, but in the eyes of a vestige-smith, this was an incredible work of art. Even though hyumankin could make similar or even better vestiges, the unique aura the stele gave couldn''t be replicated; at least not in Eretre.


    This was like the difference between a flying carpet and a hover board. Both could help one to fly, but how they performed the same function differed greatly.


    "Hmm, I wonder how much it would go for." The young master of a top family from Heavenfall City lightly muttered.


    "Be careful of your words." The other girl in the group said.


    The Aura-breaking stele couldn''t be excavated, and even if it could, it won''t go for sale. Most likely, the Cardoso family in Trundel City would take control of it. As such, discussing about any sensitive topic that would hint at one aiming for the stele was best not said out loud, otherwise, a misunderstanding could occur. This was especially so if the person involved in the conversation was from a powerful force.


    "Haha. It''s just a joke." The young man said.


    Meanwhile, the son of Blue Springs City''s vice city lord, William Ernst, was on the other side of the steel with Laura.


    William was a refreshing young man with white hair and a dignified air around him. Not only was he exceedingly handsome, but he had an impressive bearing that made him seem reliable and friendly, yet prestigious. Without a doubt, he could easily play the role of a ''Prince charming'' in the lives of many women.


    The others could guess that he wanted to pursue Laura since he had been following right beside her ever since, so they gave the two some space. Vergil had his eyes on the other girl in the group so he didn''t bother interfering. Also, it was his sister and she was eventually going to be with a guy, so it was not his place to be nosy.


    "They say that the Sunil civilisation was a very powerful civilisation. Their reign had stretched a significant portion of the Bernin continent; an equivalent to what the unofficial Belfargos city-state covers. But they still fell a thousand years or so before hyumankin arrived here."


    "And why is that?" Laura looked interested as she asked.


    Although she was proud, she was also someone who was curious about a lot of things which was why she agreed to this trip.


    "No one can say for sure. Even though the federation has existed for a longer period, one thousand years still isn''t small. However, researchers suggest that they encountered a planetary scale calamity that affected many of the civilisations and species in Eretre. Even with their power and technology, the Sunil weren''t spared."


    Laura nodded. She had heard about this calamity back in Baylands City, when she was still younger and in school. It was a global crisis that not only changed the shape of the world''s map, but also caused a mass grade extinction. The stellar energy level of the planet had even declined after that, and was yet to recover. Many civilisations, lifeforms and organisms never saw the next day after that calamity. It was said that the incident was so abrupt that no civilisation had any time to even record it.


    However, despite how horrific it was, no one could say for sure what exactly it was. Whether it was a natural disaster, volcanic eruption, or some global civil war, no trace was left to point at such events. It was as if everything just silently disappeared.


    "Do you have any idea what that calamity might have been?" Laura suddenly asked.


    Many researchers claimed that the Bernin continent was the centre of that affair. While there was no evidence to explain what exactly had happened, through carbon-dating and other similar methods, they realised that the Bernin continent was the last place to be affected and the least, in comparison to the others. As such, it was possible to find evidence to explain the incident from over four thousand years ago.


    "I''m sorry to say this, but you''re quite funny." William chuckled. Even though he had laughed, it didn''t seem insulting. On the contrary, William looked even more attractive as he did so.


    "If I knew the secrets of that era, I would have sold that knowledge or made good use of it one way or the other."


    Laura sighed inwardly. Of course she knew this, but she just wanted to try her luck, especially seeing how William sounded like he knew a lot. But in the next second, she perked her ears.


    "However, there''s one thing I can say."


    William then leaned in and whispered into her ears, his hot breath lightly touching her skin,


    "It''s rumoured that the calamity was triggered by an abrupt drainage of the planet''s fate and world source."


    Laura widened her eyes.


    Those words might sound incomprehensible to an average individual, but being the heiress to a top family, she understood what they meant.


    Every planet had its fate. This was a mystical component that wasn''t the same as mystical energy. It couldn''t be utilised by any living being directly neither could it be calculated using machines, but it could affect one''s progress and growth in life. Usually, it would only affect the planet and its growth, having nothing to do with its inhabitants directly.


    As for a world source, it was another mysterious component within a world, but unlike a planet''s fate, it could affect the living beings in a world directly. The world source was the core component and factor in producing stellar energy, and in some sense, life on a planet. If a planet had no world source, it couldn''t produce any sort of mystical energy, and in worse cases, life. As such, world source was very valuable.


    The more world source a planet has, the more concentrated its mystical energy ¡ªin this case stellar energy¡ª would be. At the same time, the more fate a planet has, the more lush and prosperous its growth would be. There would be more minerals, resources, and so on, with less natural disasters occurring.


    Such a thing might sound like some hulabuloo or children''s fantasy tales, but it had been proven.


    The Kellan solar system has eight planets but only five could support life. This wasn''t just in terms of resources like breathable air and life support, but also stellar energy. The other three planets couldn''t produce stellar energy like the others. This was because they were unfortunate to not possess a world source. Without a supply of stellar energy, such planets were abandoned by hyumans and termed as uninhabitable.


    The fact that Eretre had almost ended up in a similar fashion was a shocking discovery to Laura, but it didn''t just stop there. A question suddenly popped up in her head; did the other three planets go through the same thing, but unfortunate enough to see it through? If so, then what was the cause and could it be prevented? Would it repeat once again?

 Chapter 251 - 251: A Change With The Stele

    Seeing her reaction, William chuckled and comforted her.


    "No use thinking about it. It''s only just a rumour and there''s not enough evidence to support it."


    "Hmm." Laura nodded.


    While Laura felt like she had learnt a mind-blowing piece of information, Lucas was far behind and wasn''t even a part of the queue. With his focus on the Aura-breaking stele, it was natural for him not to sense the siblings. Even if his focus wasn''t on the stele, he wouldn''t have noticed them after all, Lucas never expected anyone from Baylands city-state to come here. Havos was a unique exception because he was originally a citizen of Belfargos city-state.


    The siblings similarly hadn''t noticed him as their focus was on the stele as well.


    ''It''s definitely a lot like magic runes, but the difference is clear.'' Lucas marvelled at the inscriptions on the stele.


    Compared to the bits and pieces he gleaned from the other relics and some documents online, the runes on the Aura-breaking stele gave off a different feeling.


    When he first encountered them, Lucas had mistook them for magic runes but found out they were different, then dubbed it ''magi runes''. As he delved more into them, Lucas discovered more differences between the two types of runes. However, standing before the Aura-breaking stele, he could feel the true essence of magi runes. Even though they looked the same and operated by similar runes, the difference was greater than he had imagined before.


    Lucas could now understand why the system had yet to acknowledge his mastery over magi runes because it was nonexistent.


    ''Completing these runes would take me at least three days, but I don''t need that long for the mission. Four to six hours should be enough.'' Lucas thought.


    Since he wasn''t planning to approach the stele, there was no limit to how long he could stay in this region.


    . . .


    A few minutes went by with the group at the viewing area having switched at least three times. Laura, Vergil, William and the others were still there since their time limit was ten minutes. This was mainly because Vergil was absorbed in the runes and Laura too found them interesting. Since Laura was here, William decided not to leave yet. This made it awkward for the other two individuals to depart, and so they stuck around as well. Since it would only be just ten minutes, there was no harm in waiting.


    It was at this moment that something out of the ordinary happened.


    While Lucas was currently staring at the stele and everyone else was admiring the rock or taking pictures beside it, one of the individuals who was a part of the new group that had just swapped in, did something strange. At first, he was simply lost in the magnificence of the twenty metres tall stele just like everyone else. But then, he glanced at his sides suspiciously however no one noticed this. Seeing that the guards'' attentions were a bit relaxed, he abruptly dashed for the stele.


    "Hey!"


    One of the guards shouted, but the man ignored him.


    There was only a five metres gap between the viewing area and the stele so even though the security guards stood between the two sides, the man rapidly made it past them. This was mostly because the guards had their guards down. It wasn''t easy to always be on alert, and with the fact that no one had done anything out of the ordinary in years, they never expected a change to take place today.


    "Stop him!"


    The captain of the guard squad roared but it was too late. The man had already reached the stele. Regardless, they weren''t worried. There was nothing he could do to the stele.


    The stele was twenty metres tall and seven metres wide; it couldn''t be fit inside of a regular spatial vault and the ones needed for the job couldn''t be found on Eretre so easily. As for damaging the stele, that was similarly impossible. The material used to make it was incredibly dense and hard, making it difficult for any scratches to be caused on it. To damage the surface of the stele, one would need at least a Grade 2 vestige and to destroy it, a Grade 3 vestige was the bare minimum.


    Vestiges were highly regulated by every city-state and city government such that the common masses couldn''t gain access to it. As such, no one believed the man had one.


    The guards were only worried about the report they''d have to file as well as the penalty they''d receive for not controlling the crowd properly. Not a single one of them was worried about the stele nor did they believe that the man could do anything to it.


    However, that was only for a second as in the next one, all their presumptions were shattered.


    Once he was before the stele, the man didn''t hesitate to slit his hand with a pocket knife. As blood spilled from the cut, he immediately slammed the injured palm on the stele.


    "Haha. Haha. Awaken, oh ancestors!" The man guffawed as he stared at the stele with a fanatic expression on his face.


    Suddenly, the Aura-breaking stele began to glow with a strange blue light as the aura from it experienced a drastic change. If before it could be equated to the aura of a towering structure that seemed to overlook all of creation, the aura the stele gave off now was of an emperor who was rising from his throne. An unimaginable pressure began to exude from the stele, making eyes go wide at the scene.


    Meanwhile, Lucas, who was behind, had already made his move to run the very second the stele began to glow.


    Take a chance? No way in hell. sea??h th§× N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas thought as he ran. At the same time, he was cursing the system. He already suspected that something strange would happen during this trip as it was all too calm, different from his usual experience with outing missions from the system. At the same time, the description of the tourist site was just too safe which didn''t add up.


    Knowing that the system possessed some sort of all-knowing ability, Lucas guessed that something might crop up. However, what proof did he have? Even if he were to come the next day instead, who was to say that the next day wouldn''t be the day of the strange event?


    As such, Lucas bit the bullet and came. This was especially since he didn''t have much time left for the mission again. This was because there was the drift racing team and the store eating into his time. He also didn''t have any other options left as this was the last of the Sunil relics.


    However, as of now, Lucas didn''t care. He simply wanted to get away from here.


    The East Braftford relics was a relics [1] that could even threaten fourth level Apertures Opening stage practitioners. Even though he had killed one before, that was through the help of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour; Lucas wasn''t delusional enough to think that meant he was the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner. So, he decided to escape before it was too late.


    Despite his quick reaction, it was already too late.

 Chapter 252 - 252: Isolated

    Right as soon as the stele gave off the alluring blue light, it was followed up by an intimidating pressure that forced many to freeze at the spot. Only those with strong minds or at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage could move under such pressure. Not many were under the first group, but the second had a lot more which included the guards.


    The security guards were first stunned by the change, but immediately, the two closest to him apprehended the man. It was only a five metres gap which they had already covered one a tad slower than the man. As they held onto him, they tried to force him to stop this strange phenomenon. However, the man ignored them and simply grinned.


    Lucas, who was only just an arm away from the gate, suddenly had a bad feeling.


    *Whoosh*


    The blue light abruptly strengthened in intensity until it was difficult for anyone to see. The entire four to five hundred people present inside the tourist attraction were covered in the light and this included Lucas. This lasted for three seconds until the light died down.


    However, once it did, there was no one inside the tourist zone again. Whether it was the guards, the tourists on the queue or those who were in the viewing area, the researchers who stood by the side and so on, as long as they were inside the tourist zone, they had all disappeared after that brilliant burst of light.


    "What the hell happened?" The guards outside, who had just made their way in, were stunned.


    After the earlier shout, the two guards in charge of payment at the gate outside had rushed in while the others were a tad slower. As luck would have it, those who were slower were forced to halt at the gate after the burst of light, while the two guards who dashed in earlier were caught in it.


    Now that the light had disappeared and everything was back to normal, the guards dashed in but were stunned to find the place empty. Even their colleagues who were only a second faster than them were gone.


    . . .


    "Where am I?"


    After blinking a few times to restore his sight, Lucas glanced around to see that his current location wasn''t the tourist zone. He wasn''t surprised by this as he had expected this to happen after that flash of light. Although it wasn''t so noticeable, Lucas had sensed a shift in space at that moment which signalled a teleportation.


    Even though he had expected to arrive in a new place, it still left Lucas worried. In the East Braftford relics, any place beyond the tourist zone was not safe.


    ''This doesn''t look like the outer regions, and it seems like I''m the only one.'' Lucas frowned as he studied the place.


    While he had yet to explore the outer region, Lucas had done a bit of research online and seen images. That paired with his experience walking down the path to the tourist zone, he was able to get an idea of what to find in the outer regions. However, his current location didn''t seem like that. Being one in such a dangerous place was very unlucky and unsafe.


    What''s more, there was an eerie sensation in the air as well as a bone-chilling aura all over the place. This region gave off an air of death, which was something the outer region ¡ªwith an exploration rate of eighth two percent (82%)¡ª shouldn''t give.


    Lucas began to wonder whether he was in some unexplored part of the outer region, or worse, within the inner region.


    Knowing that there could be danger around the corner, Lucas immediately thought of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, however he didn''t take it out.


    The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was powered by stellar energy and passively gave off a signal, albeit minimal. In such an unknown place, that signal could cost him his life since some traps in relics were sensitive to mystical energy.


    On the other hand, as a human, he was naturally unable to store stellar energy or any other mystical energy in his body; a disadvantage which at this moment was now an advantage.


    Nonetheless, Lucas couldn''t just walk around this place unarmed.


    He proceeded to switch his clothes for a different set.


    When Lucas came to this world newly, the system provided him with a welcome package which was a gift box with items. From it, he got: two sets of blacksmith aprons; some work tools; twenty ingots of two rare metals split ten each, one of which was Purple Iridium while the other was Red Iris stone; the Craftsman Gloves and another pair of blacksmithing gloves; and finally, three sets of clothing. What he currently wore was one of those sets. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Despite the fact that the clothing and equipment provided from that gift box by the system weren''t vestiges, they possess unique abilities that could even rival vestiges. However, they did all this without even utilising any sort of mystical energy.


    The clothes Lucas currently wore provided some defensive properties and resistances suitable for a blacksmith and a workshop technician. But at the same time, it could also act as a form of protection for Lucas. For instance, the penetration-resistance property of the clothing, the impact mitigation feature, heat resistance and so on. While these seemed like ordinary features, they could be handy even in dangerous scenarios like this.


    After wearing the set of clothes, Lucas still didn''t feel safe enough. He proceeded to take out a well-crafted armour and put it on. The armour was made using the highest standards of blacksmithing, but it was lacking inscriptions and mystical energy in its manufacturing process. This happened to be an incomplete vestige Lucas was still working on, but it found its use in the current situation.


    Now that he was covered with protection, Lucas felt more confident to explore this area. He did so not only because he wanted to leave, but he wanted to find the others as well. Chances were that someone in the crowd knew more than he did.


    As he prepared to leave, Lucas didn''t forget to make use of his cheat card.


    "System, do you have any idea where I am?"

 Chapter 253 - 253: Deep Within

    "System, do you have any idea where I am?" Lucas asked as he surveyed the area while preparing to leave.


    Compared to the outer region''s flat surface, this place seemed more developed. The ground looked to be made of polished stone slabs and bricks. There were no walls but a dark ceiling was over them. Because this place was dark, it was hard to see more than five metres away, so Lucas had no idea how the structures appeared.


    "Within the depths of the East Braftford relics." The system replied to him.


    Lucas, who was about to take his first step, suddenly froze on the spot.


    The system''s words signalled a warning within his head, and be couldn''t help but want to confirm something.


    "When you say depths, how deep do you mean? Inner region or the core region?"


    "Host needs not worry. The system has ascertained that this is within the inner region, albeit not too far from the core region. This most likely has to do with the host''s position during the activation of the teleportation formation. The destination of the teleportation should be within the core region, but due to the factor of time and other events, the teleportation formation isn''t as accurate. With the host being out of the focus range, it is explainable why you ended up here."


    Lucas sighed with relief. Although being in the inner region was still too dangerous, it was much better than the core region. But in the next second, a horrifying power descended. It wasn''t targeted at Lucas but was spread all over the place. It was as if something had awakened deep inside the region.


    "Rar!"


    A loud monstrous scream reverberated from afar. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucas frowned, but didn''t think too much about it. Since the system told him he was in the inner region, but quite close to the core region, Lucas'' main focus had been on escaping this place. Without a doubt, the roar and the pressure all came from the same direction which was definitely the core region. This meant that all Lucas had to do was walk in the opposite direction.


    ''The inner region is at least one hundred and ten kilometres long. Based on the proximity of the roar, I can assume that I''m around two to ten kilometres away from the core region. That leaves at least a one hundred kilometres gap in between me and the outer region.''


    Lucas grimaced.


    This would be a long journey.


    . . .


    "Rar!"


    "What was that?"


    Elsewhere, in the inner region, a group of people came to their senses with the loud roar. Just like Lucas, they had been teleported to the inner region, except they appeared quite close to each other. Even though they were strangers, they understood that they were tied together now.


    "We need to get out of here, and fast."


    Of the five people in the group, one of them was a teen who seemed to be incredibly anxious and scared.


    "No shit, Einstein." One of the other males in the group, a middle-aged man, said. Compared to his colleague, he was a lot calmer even after that horrific roar.


    He didn''t say a word after that, instead choosing to look around him.


    "I knew I shouldn''t have come. I knew I shouldn''t have come." The anxious teen said.


    His fear seemed to be contagious as the only lady in the group ¡ªa woman in her twenties¡ª began trembling uncontrollably. She would have probably done okay but with the terrific roar and the teen who was acting as if they would get eaten the next second, she began to get consumed by fear.


    "That''s enough. Stop saying something stupid. We''ll find a way out of this." A young man said.


    Even though his arm was shivering, he tried to remain calm and prevent the group from reacting too strongly. After all, who knew what was hidden in the darkness.


    They were all ordinary hyumans who had just wanted to go on a tourist trip. With the situation having abruptly changed for the worse, it was only natural for the majority to be freaked out.


    "I don''t think this is the outer region." The middle-aged man suddenly said.


    Unlike the trio, he was a freelancer and had even explored the outer region before. This time around, he had only come to take a look at the Aura-breaking stele.


    "Then, wh, where are we?" The young man carefully asked.


    The middle-aged man stared at him then sighed.


    "The good news is that we''re still in the East Braftford relics. But then again, I don''t know whether that''s really much of a good news."


    Even though the middle-aged man didn''t say it outright, the rest were no fools. They could figure the truth from his words; after all, if they were still in the East Braftford relics but not the outer region, then there could only be two other possible locations.


    "I don''t want to die. Somebody, anybody, help me!" The young teen yelled.


    "Please, help us!" The lady finally broke down and wept out loud while screaming.


    "Shut the hell up."


    A bold voice interrupted them.


    The middle-aged man frowned at the duo and made up his mind to abandon them. This was already a dangerous place, but having such pig-headed teammates would raise the danger level at least three times.


    "We''ll try to trace our way out of here. Although it''s risky, it''s not like we have another choice. For that, I''ll need everyone''s cooperation to follow my orders. You got that?" The man said.


    The young man nodded as he felt the middle-aged man to be trustworthy. The anxious youth also finally calmed down and agreed as he was hungry.


    The middle-aged man then turned to the last member of the team, a young man who was just like the other one but with black hair. Usually, people with features resembling a human had lower mDNA concentration, but that wasn''t what crossed the middle-aged man''s mind. Instead, the middle-aged man, his focus was entirely on the black-haired young man. This was because the latter gave him a dangerous feeling. It was something only professional freelancers would have.


    "I have no problem." The black haired man nodded.


    Seeing no disagreements, the middle-aged man then went on to lead the group.


    Similar situations were happening in various parts of the relics at the moment. This was because a majority of the crowd had been teleported in groups with very few going solo just like Lucas. However, if there was one thing they all had in common, it was that the majority of figures were all regular hyumans who became anxious and afraid.

 Chapter 254 - 254: Conflict

    Only an hour had gone by but the incident at the tourist zone was already on every mainstream news in the city. Although all of the individuals inside the area had been forcefully teleported away, there was still a large number of people outside the gate. These were the ones who were made to queue outside as the tourist zone was already filled with people.


    While they didn''t know exactly what had happened, they had all realised that the crowd on the other side of the gate had disappeared mysteriously. As soon as they figured that out, they began spreading the news and contacting people in the city. This was because some of them were familiar with a few in the crowd, and they felt it important to inform the family members of the victims.


    With the crowd outside the gate making mass reports about the incident, the media eventually got a whiff of it and had rushed towards the scene. At the same time, the city government had also responded.


    Currently, the city government was split into two. One side was made of the faction that had pushed for the destruction of the East Braftford relics while the other was made of the factions against it.


    The latter believed that the relics held a lot of valuable resources and knowledge, which by destroying the relics would lead to the loss of them all. Hence, they were strongly against the destruction of the relics and instead pushed for exploration operations.


    On the other hand, the former believed that the East Braftford relics held too much of a threat to the city. Just from the fact that only thirty four percent (34%) of the inner region has been explored after hundreds of years, it was obvious that whatever was inside the relics could pose a threat to the city and its surrounding area.


    Originally, the faction in support of the preservation and exploration of the East Braftford relics had the upper hand. This was because some of the artefacts taken out from there had proven helpful to society, and the value of the archeological artifacts had even attracted the interest of some of the merchant groups outside the planet. With so much value and wealth before them, the voice of the faction in favour of destruction of the relics was feeble and muted off. Even the neutrals had stepped in and sided with the other faction, so there was no debate again.


    However, with the event that recently took place, the faction in favour of destruction raised their voices after years of suppression. They utilised their connections to some media channels and began trying to push their agenda once again.


    Suddenly, within a few hours, there were various news reports about how some officials.in the city government were greedy and left behind a latent threat instead of dealing with it. There were also talks about how the Sunil civilisation relics weren''t relics to be readily explored much less turned into a tourist attraction. Historians and researchers even made appearances on interviews, giving more information about the Sunil civilisation.


    The Sunil civilisation was a civilisation that existed four to six thousand years ago. Although such a time seemed long, the hyumankin civilisation has already existed for more than ten thousand years. The era of pure humans was even further behind. Although the Sunil civilisation seemed to have lasted longer than the human race, this wasn''t exactly true. The human race was found to be one of the oldest intelligent species according to the hyumans, whereas the Sunil civilisation could possibly be relatively younger. This meant that it was possible that the Sunil civilisation came into existence for a duration not longer than two hundred thousand years; in comparison to the pure human race that existed ¡ªfrom evolution until extinction¡ª for more than three hundred thousand years.


    According to the efforts of the researchers and historians, the Sunil civilisations technology wasn''t too advanced. It was ahead of the human race, but didn''t even come halfway to what the hyumans could achieve. This was because the human race had experienced so many wars that led to drastic loss of knowledge and information, making the entire civilisation restart multiple times. On the other hand, the Sunil civilisation didn''t experience such, so they were able to advance technologically even faster. But they lacked the foundation and resources that the hyumankins had, and so were behind.


    Of course, this was in reference to the entire hyumankin and not those on Eretre. Compared to the other planets, Eretre was a backwater. In fact, the entire solar system was actually a rural area compared to others, which was why the technology available wasn''t much; they still utilised technology such as hover vehicles and light rail trains, while the rest of the universe used short or long distance teleportation. S~ea??h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    As the researchers on camera spoke about this during their interviews, people began to realise that they had underestimated the Sunil civilisation relics. Although the entire civilisation couldn''t do much to the hyumankin as a whole, affecting a single city wasn''t impossible.


    If the entire Sunil civilisation was classified as 2 in terms of technology and strength, then Trundel City was 3.5 on the same scale. The difference wasn''t necessarily much, which meant that the relics could threaten them.


    This caused a lot of fears to rise amongst the people, and this was especially so for those related to the missing victims. Cries could be heard in the city and calls began to rise for the destruction of the relics before it was too late. It wouldn''t be difficult for the city government to level the entire relics although it would cost them a lot. However to the people, their safety was more important than any cost.


    The faction in support of maintaining the relics was suddenly now under pressure as the roles had been reversed. In order to comfort the masses and quell their anger, they hurriedly reacted to the situation.


    The official security agency of Trundel City rushed over to the East Braftford relics and began reviewing security footage, transactions and all identity registration sequences. From there, they managed to find out the information about the man who had caused the reaction from the Aura-breaking stele.


    There were a few cameras inside the tourist zone, and although they stopped functioning after the burst of light, the footage had already been transmitted and saved to the online database. It was from here that the security agency managed to understand a bit of what exactly happened as well as find a lead on the culprit.


    The culprit turned out to be an assistant researcher; which was a rank below that of a professional researcher. In some ways, one could say that he was an intern. After raiding his house and hacking his communicator, they managed to uncover some details about him.


    The man was obsessed with the relics and artefacts, which wasn''t anything strange as many researchers were obsessed with such. However, his focus was on the Sunil civilisation. This also wasn''t strange as some researchers tend to focus on one civilisation at a time. However, it was a message on his communicator that had the police suspicious.


    An unknown contact that couldn''t be traced back had texted the young man a couple of times. The last message came two days ago. At first, it wasn''t anything strange and might have even come off as geeky, but with what had happened recently, it became a suspicious point of focus.


    The text read: It''s time to bring glory to the motherland.

 Chapter 255 - 255: Mysterious Door

    Rewinding back to the event...


    It had been only a couple of minutes since the flash of blue light which brought him and the others into this place. While he had been a bit worried at the start, Lucas wasn''t nervous and was carefully exploring this area in a bid to find his way back.


    Lucas was currently inside of a building. The floors were made with blue tiles and the walls were painted white. Even though it was indoors, the ceiling of the building was inlaid with white crystals that gave off a bright glow, making the place lit. Apart from these, there were no decorations in the building''s corridors. It had been this way for the last thirteen minutes Lucas had spent walking here.


    Since his communicators were done and there was no way to tell north from south, Lucas occasionally asked the system how close he was to the core region. By using this information, he was able to figure out the direction of the core region and walked opposite to it.


    Over thirty minutes had gone by, but Lucas had yet to find any of the other four to five hundred tourists. This made him wonder whether he was the only one teleported to this region, after all, the majority of tourists back then were closer to the stele. On the other hand, since he had begun charging away from the stele, Lucas had ended up just a few metres away from the gate, making him the furthest away from the stele.


    Regardless, Lucas wasn''t really keen on meeting anybody here as it could potentially make matters more complicated for him.


    ''Hmm?''


    At this point, Lucas finally noticed a pair of doors up ahead. It was the first structure he had seen since he mysteriously ended up within this building. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The doors were seven metres tall, giving off a metallic sheen and an awe-inspiring pressure. Similar to the tiles on the floor, the doors were also blue but of a different shade; the floor tiles were azure blue, whereas the doors were cobalt blue.


    On each of the blue metallic doors, there were carvings of strange creatures facing against the other. One of these creatures was a four-legged monster with the body of a deer but a head that looked like a dragon. It also had two pairs of human-like arms extending out from its body. On the other door was the creature that faced off against this abomination. It was also another horrendous looking being with the head and wings of a bat, together with the body and legs of a spider.


    Apart from these two strange creatures, there were also carvings of some others on the two doors, with a few looking less terrifying. For instance, there was the carving of a monster that looked like pangolin but had horns and a pair of jutted fangs. There was even a large insect-type creature the size of a lion. It looked like a butterfly, but the head was that of a terrifying lemur. Some of them had appearances unfamiliar to Lucas, as he suspected that they were native species of Eretre.


    All in all, the creatures carved into the surface were terrifying to say the least.


    Lucas didn''t understand why they were carved of what value these creatures held to the Sunil civilisation. They could have been real creatures, gods or even monsters they worshipped. They could also be creatures from legends from the Sunil civilisation. Anything was possible, but at the moment, none of that was Lucas'' concern.


    Based on his calculation, this door was facing the direction opposite of the core region. Chances were that it would lead to a dead end, but at the moment, Lucas didn''t have much of an option. There was no other path here, and the closest was to go back where he was ten minutes ago. Since he was already here, Lucas has to advance forward. But he didn''t move yet.


    As it stood, Lucas had no attacking power. All he had on were defence equipment that could protect him from the attacks of a second, and maybe third, level Apertures Opening stage attack. The reason for this was because the equipment were not vestiges. If he was to use a vestige here, the stellar energy could possibly trigger off alarms. This irked Lucas, so he decided that once he got out of here, he would spend some time to produce stealthy vestiges. However, that was for later.


    Although he could take out his offensive vestiges, it would take a second or so. Under an intense attack, one second could be very risky, especially since Lucas'' current equipment only offered protection to his body and not his head.


    Lucas wanted to ask the system for help, but recalled what it had told him when he was asked for the way out a couple of minutes ago. The system didn''t plan on interfering. At best, it could inform Lucas how far he was from the core region, and using this information, Lucas had managed to move in the opposite direction of the core region.


    But as for more detailed information like the way out, the system didn''t offer any help. Chances were that it would be the same response if he asked what was behind the door.


    Sometimes, Lucas wondered what type of system he got and he would sigh at the question. It was much too different from what all those light novel main characters had. Whereas those lucky fellows had a system that offered them stats, skills and so on, the system simply provided him with basic information and missions that only aided itself and not him.


    If it wasn''t because of an instinctual feeling of his, Lucas would have suspected that the system was an old demon who was trying to use his body to resurrect itself.


    "That would have been nice, but unfortunately, the system is only just a system." The system''s voice sounded in his mind.


    The system could read Lucas'' thoughts, so it wasn''t surprising that it responded to them.


    Flinging the question of what the system really was to the back of his mind, Lucas faced the door.


    As of now, he had a plan. Even if the room behind the door held some risk, all Lucas had to do was ensure that he could survive for two seconds and not get fatally injured. To achieve this, Lucas took out the craftsman gloves from his inventory and raised his hands up towards the side of his head to offer protection.


    While this was a clearly awkward stance, Lucas wasn''t one to think about his appearance in a matter of life and death.


    Now somewhat prepared, Lucas approached the door and pushed it open.

 Chapter 256 - 256: Decision

    "Where are we?" The heiress of the CEO of a top 300 company asked.


    Compared to Lucas who had recovered thirty minutes earlier, some of the other tourists were regaining their senses at the moment.


    Some in the group of scions and young prodigies, for instance, had only awoken at this period.


    "You''re finally awake I see." Duran, the pioneer who acted as the guide for the group, said.


    Compared to some of the scions, he had awoken earlier just like Lucas. However, since he was tasked with acting as their guide, he didn''t make any moves and waited for them to wake up. There was that, and also the fact that their seven bodyguards were awake as well. So, even if he didn''t have any malicious intents and wanted to leave the group, he couldn''t; after all, he was their guide.


    Apart from Duran and the seven bodyguards, Laura and William were also awake before the others. Vergil woke up slightly after, whereas the other three including the girl, were recovering at this moment.


    When Laura and William woke up, they had originally tried to rouse the others but failed. In the end, they opted to wait a while for them, but after ten minutes, only Vergil came around. As such, they decided to explore the area. Two of the bodyguards were sent out as scouts to get a better understanding of the layout, while Laura and William discussed with Duran to understand the East Braftford relics better.


    Twenty minutes had gone by since then, but only one bodyguard had returned. This made the group worried, but they didn''t take any unnecessary moves as they felt that their current location was quite safe. Also, the others were still asleep and moving with them would inhibit the group''s reaction and strength. Now that they were awake, they could proceed with the next step.


    After informing the trio of their findings, they stood up and prepared to move in the direction scouted by the bodyguard who had survived.


    Whether it was the correct route or not, no one could say. But it was the only one with a chance of survival. As for their original location, they couldn''t stay there forever. No one knew when help would come or whether they would be found. As such, it was best to take matters into their hands for the time being.


    "So, Mr Duran surmised that our current location is either the inner or outer region. Then, how can we be so sure we aren''t walking into the pit?"


    One of the young scions, the nephew of the chairman of a trading alliance, asked. By ''pit'', he was referring to an even worse ending than the bodyguard who had died.


    The young man''s uncle was an old man who was without a family of his own. He had no kids nor a wife, leading to a vacuum of his inheritance. As such, the chairman looked towards the children of his siblings. The young man was one of the brightest amongst his nephews and nieces, and possessed a lot of talent and potential. Apart from that, the young man had lost his father at a very young age, which made him a prime candidate for a successor in the eyes of the old man. He then took the young man in and raised him, naming him his successor and turning his life around.


    Despite all of that, as someone born from a humble beginning, the young man had a cautious and meticulous nature, which was something his uncle liked about him.


    "We don''t have a choice." Vergil sighed.


    "On one hand, it''s certain death. And on the other hand, a chance at survival."


    "But how can we be so sure that it is certain death? What if he died because he was alone, while we can survive together?" The young man countered.


    His words put some doubt on the faces of the others and they seriously began to consider the issue.


    The bodyguard was a fourth level stellar practitioner. However, three of the remaining six were fifth level stellar practitioners, and the others were at the fourth level. There were also characters such as Laura and William who were at the fifth level and armed with exquisite vestiges. Duran was also a fifth level stellar practitioner.


    Against the threat that killed the bodyguard, there was a good chance that they could destroy it, and even if they couldn''t, they would at least be able to still come out alive.


    But what if they couldn''t?


    This was the question that plagued the group as they knew nothing about what had taken the bodyguard''s life. Communicators didn''t work here and the only means of communication was verbal relaying, or speech. Unless the bodyguard could somehow rise from the dead and return to then, the group could only go through the same path if they wished to find the truth. That or...


    "Should we send another scout?" The heiress suggested. The three fifth level bodyguards were sent to protect the Mertens siblings and William, so she had no authority over them and could only suggest this.


    Since a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner failed to survive, a fifth level stellar practitioner should. No matter how powerful the Sunil civilisation was, there was a limit to their technology after all, they didn''t even exceed the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage. If this was the inner region, a fifth level stellar practitioner should be able to survive the majority of threats here.


    Even though this didn''t sound like a bad idea, bodyguards were hyumans too. Their safety hinged on the possibility that this was the inner region and not the core region. If it was the latter, even a fifth level stellar practitioner would die. There was a reason why the core region had never been explored, at least publicly. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "We can''t weaken our forces like that." William rejected the idea right away.


    "We either go together or pick the other route."


    At this point, Duran, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.


    "Why don''t we go check out the safe route first? I''ve been to the inner region once and as long as I can find some familiar elements, I''ll be able to discern where we truly are. Our focus shouldn''t be on taking risks but figuring out where we are first. After that, we can decide whether or not to take such risks in our bid to escape this place."


    The idea was welcomed as not only was it logical, but it avoided what the group feared the most, danger.


    Duran''s suggestion was to safely explore the region first so as to figure out which of the two they were in. If it was the inner region, they could take some risks in their bid to escape. However, if it was the core region, they would have to be even more cautious and avoid any single trace of danger.


    It was a logical proposal and they saw nothing wrong with it. Unknown to them, Duran sighed with relief. He had brought up the proposal to avoid becoming a scout and fighter for the group. Although he had some value to the group thanks to his experience and knowledge, when push comes to shove, Duran would be thrown to the front lines. This was because he had less intrinsic value to the scions when compared to their bodyguards, who were trained to die for them.


    Even if they didn''t abandon Duran, they won''t be able to protect him during dangerous events as they would be focused on their own lives. Their bodyguards also won''t care about him as their attention would be on preserving the lives of the scions. Since that was the case, it was best to avoid danger from the start.


    ''I can only hope that we find a clue fast.'' Duran thought.

 Chapter 257 - 257: Metallic Creature

    As Lucas pushed open the cobalt blue metal doors, a gust of air rushed forth from the gap, bringing it with an aura of antiquity. For a second, Lucas felt as if he was transmigrated into the past of the Bernin continent and into the era of the Sunil civilisation.


    There were screams and yells all around the place. Faint figures dashed past him as if they couldn''t see him. When Lucas tried to catch a glimpse of their appearances, he was unable to see anything as a haze covered their faces.


    Even though Lucas couldn''t see the appearance of these shadows, he felt that they were the Sunil civilisation. Apart from that, he could sense unimaginable terror and fear from them as they ran. They weren''t running towards something, but away from something.


    As Lucas turned to see what it was that had the people of this ancient civilisation running with abandon, the illusion cut off and he returned back to the relics. The doors were now open and Lucas could see what it was they sealed.


    There was a hall behind the door. The room was designed like a sort of quarantine room. In the centre of the hall was an open space barricaded by a wall made of a special Crystal. There was only a single table set in the middle of the barricaded space and around it were some rusted old equipment.


    The crystal wall was a bit thicker than a regular glass wall, but it had low refractive and reflective indices, which made it just as transparent as a viewing glass.


    Lucas ignored the quarantined space as he surveyed the area. The region outside of the quarantined area didn''t have much furniture. There were only a few chairs positioned to face the centre with some equipment lined up by one side of the room. As he wasn''t too familiar with the Sunil civilisation, neither was he one of them, Lucas couldn''t identify the purposes of those equipment.


    Based on the design of the doors, Lucas had expected to see a mythical styled hall or something close. However, the reality was different. The hall appeared to be some kind of laboratory.


    ''What exactly is this place?'' Lucas thought as he began to recall some of the information he learnt.


    The Sunil civilisation relics numbered quite a few but only four or so had much value. Of them all, three were unimportant relics. Researchers believed that some of them were towns of the Sunil civilisation or special areas like training facilities or markets. However, the East Braftford relics was different.


    Because the East Braftford relics had yet to be completely explored, not much information was known about its original purpose. While it was very large, the style and arrangement of the building wasn''t entirely in line with what the researchers in Belfargos city-state knew about the Sunil civilisation. This meant that the relics had a different function in the past than just a housing area. This was especially so since the East Braftford relics possessed a lot of threats to people unlike the other Sunil civilisation relics.


    Lucas turned his attention towards the centre, staring at the table that lay within there.


    From how things looked, Lucas believed that this was some kind of laboratory of the Sunil civilisation. As for what they experimented on here, he didn''t know.


    Just as he was studying the place, a sound interrupted Lucas'' thoughts. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Kree*


    Alarm bells suddenly rung in his mind as Lucas retreated a few steps back before turning in the direction of the sound.


    A humanoid metallic creature about two metres tall (seven feet) appeared before him, dragging a strange looking object that was similar to a sword. The creature, despite walking on two limbs, looked nothing like a human being. Its appearance was simply a horrendous creature reminiscent of a fictional monster used to scare naughty children. It had no nose or ears, but two rectangular horizontal slits that acted like eyes, and a ''sealed mouth''. Its two arms had thirty centimetres (11.8 inches) long tentacles extending out from them, numbering at least ten per arm. It has claws for a hand and a purple glow light across its body through a fixed pattern of lines. They were like the ''veins'' of the creature with the purple glow being its ''blood''.


    With its unique pair of eyes that gave off an eerie green glow, the metallic creature stared at Lucas.


    "J¨¹...shka bra...va." The monster slurred its speech.


    It was a foreign language he had never heard of before, but Lucas wasn''t surprised.


    *Boom*


    In the next second, with a resounding boom, the monster charged at Lucas.


    Terrified, the latter hurriedly dashed away trying to escape this place. However, at that moment, the doors closed shut with a bang. Lucas was now stuck here with the metal creature.


    *Whoosh*


    The sound of an object cutting through the air was caught by Lucas'' ears and he didn''t hesitate to immediately duck and roll away.


    The weapon the metallic creature held slashed across the air diagonally, but as it missed its target, the weapon struck the ground loudly.


    *Bam*


    Even though he had just dodged the attack, Lucas didn''t feel relaxed or confident.


    Although he knew nothing about what hid within the inner region of the East Braftford relics, when he prepared for this trip, Lucas did his best to understand the relics even though the destination he was heading to was a safe zone. In fact, he had tried to learn as much about the Sunil civilisation prior to the trip.


    The Sunil civilisation was a strange species. That''s right. Even though they were addressed as a civilisation, the Sunil civilisation was actually an entirely different species.


    According to researchers, pre-hyuman intervention, Eretre was a planet that had at least seven intelligent native species. This was drastically different when compared to Earth that was ruled by the entire human race, or even the hyumans'' ancestral planet. Because of this, the situation in Eretre was quite brutal. Seven native species competed against each other for superiority. Compared to the racism on Earth, this was worse.


    On Earth, even though mankind differentiated itself through the concept of race, in the end, they were all the same species so such a system of categorisation wasn''t too solid. However, in Eretre, as they were all entirely different species, the dislike for each other was real. Whether it was a battle of interests, resources, superiority, survival, or simply because they didn''t like the other, the major species fought against each other.

 Chapter 258 - 258: Drudnid

    The Sunil civilisation was neither the strongest nor the weakest species. However, based on the fact that they were able to have a foothold on the centre of the planet, they couldn''t be underestimated, and were more or less amongst the top forces.


    According to researchers, the Sunil civilisation couldn''t be described as a science or magic civilisation to be exact; all their development seemed like a mixture of both and was aimed towards the mind rather than the body. Because of this, the Sunils had a weak body compared to the other intelligent species. To cover up for their weakness, they had created special warriors with tough bodies and impressive fighting abilities.


    These warriors were actually forged from unique metals and materials, before an artificial consciousness was inserted inside them. It was essentially the same logic as robots, but instead of an artificial intelligence created through science, they were operated by an artificial consciousness created through neuro-magic.


    Since the records of the Sunil civilisation were more or less destroyed, these creations were called Drudnids by the hyumans. Researchers theorised that the Sunil civilisation didn''t just use Drudnids for battles against the other species, but to protect some of their most important regions. They were the perfect solution that helped the Sunil civilisation gain and hold a position amongst the top forces in Eretre during the pre-hyuman intervention era.


    However, after the apocalyptic event that wiped out 99% of life on Eretre, even the drudnids were somewhat affected. The majority of them were destroyed with the surviving ones having their consciousness riddled and flawed, making it difficult for them to communicate or function properly.


    East Braftford relics was the only Sunil civilisation relics that had a large number of Drudnids. It was because of these metallic creations that the entire relics couldn''t be explored.


    The deeper one went into the relics, the stronger the Drudnids found, as well as the more complete their consciousness was. However, that wasn''t the scariest part. As drudnids were created for war, their battle aptitude and abilities were top-notch, even when compared to current hyumans within the area.


    It was rumoured that the drudnids in the core region had almost 90% of their consciousness intact, and possessed strength on par with a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. However, since no one has publicly made it there and returned alive, this rumour couldn''t be confirmed.


    Nonetheless, it was this rumour, as well as the proven existence of the fact that drudnids became stronger the deeper one went into the relics, that made the faction in Trundel City push for the destruction of the East Braftford relics. If a day were to come when the drudnids suddenly left the relics, even though the city would be able to handle the threat, it would cost them a lot. Since such losses could be avoided, then why not do so?


    At the moment, the drudnid Lucas faced was one of the flawed ones based on its previous speech from before. Although he couldn''t understand it, Lucas wasn''t surprised by it. Drudnids could speak, after all, they possessed an artificial consciousness, although it was one primed for battle.


    Even though it had a flawed consciousness, this didn''t make it an easy target. Based on the strike from before, the drudnid had the same strength on par with a third level stellar practitioner. Whether it was its movement speed or attack power, they were all ahead of Lucas. The only reason he had survived its earlier attacks was by reacting before they reached him thanks to his survival instincts. But that couldn''t keep him going for long.


    Having its attack missing, the drudnid didn''t move right away but instead stared at Lucas.


    Within that second, Lucas didn''t hesitate as he summoned out the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, starting with the gauntlets first. This was because alarm bells had rung loudly within his head even though it seemed like nothing was happening on the drudnid''s side.


    Lucas didn''t even wait for the gauntlets to manifest completely as he crossed his arms in front of him and also summoned his cuirass.


    *Bam*


    Almost immediately, Lucas felt an insurmountable force charge right at him. As his hands were crossed in front of him, the invisible force bashed into them, almost breaking Lucas arm bones into pieces if it weren''t for the gauntlets that made a timely appearance. However, it didn''t stop there as the force sent him flying backwards like a loose kite.


    *Bang*


    Lucas struck the wall of the building with such immense force that the impact was resounding and nearly shattered his spinal cord. Luckily, the cuirass had appeared just before then, absorbing a majority of the impact. Even then, the force was just so much that Lucas still got injured by it.


    Barely managing to keep himself standing, Lucas could feel a metallic taste on his lips as he stared at the drudnid. He was injured, and not lightly. If it weren''t for his reactions that made him summon the cuirass right away, Lucas might have had his bones broken, or worse, killed.


    This was the worst state Lucas had ever been in since he had transmigrated into this new world. Not even when he faced off against the fifth level Ramirez was Lucas hurt this bad.


    Although Lucas had defeated the fifth level Ramirez before, it was all thanks to the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour which was paired with a bronze grade card of the third level Apertures Opening stage.


    On the other hand, while the drudnid was on the level of a third level stellar practitioner, this was only in terms of energy output. As a creation designed explicitly for war, the drudnid''s true strength couldn''t simply be measured by its energy level.


    Thanks to the well-designed artificial consciousness that was built for war, a drudnid''s battle experience and tactics weren''t what an average freelancer could compete with. Apart from that, it was also armed with the neuro-magical techniques of the Sunil civilisation, which made it even more so of a dangerous opponent. As such, it was no problem for drudnids to take on opponents one level higher than they were.


    Overall, a third level stellar drudnid was roughly on the same threat level as an average fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 259 - 259: Lucas Versus The Drudnid

    Facing off against a third level Apertures Opening stage drudnid that was roughly the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner, it looked like Lucas was at a disadvantage. However, the reality wasn''t so. He only suffered a loss because he didn''t react in time.


    Even without stellar energy, Lucas was able to operate the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour to be able to simulate a fourth level stellar practitioner''s strength. This was quite poor considering that the SCB was a Grade 4 vestige and should be capable of simulating at least a sixth level stellar practitioner, but nothing could be done about it.


    At the moment, the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour had been summoned and Lucas was in battle mode. But due to the earlier attacks by the drudnid, he was currently injured and had to be cautious.


    Right now, both parties were at the same level of power, so the deciding factor would be their experience and skill. It was Lucas ¡ªwho had at least five hundred years of experience in a survival-of-the-fittest world¡ª versus the drudnid which was an inhuman creation made for the sole existence of war.


    Fight.


    *Whoosh*


    The drudnid abruptly charged at Lucas after seeing the latter withstand its attack. Its green eyes flashed brilliantly for a second as it appeared before Lucas in the time it took to complete one breathing cycle [1].


    Upon closing in, the drudnid swung its weapon at Lucas, bringing with it a dreadful air of death.


    Lucas reacted quickly, not wanting to take another blow again. With the boost from the battle armour, he tilted his body to the side, effectively dodging the attack. But he was met by the drudnid''s free hand that had formed a fist and struck towards him.


    ''Shield.''


    Lucas placed his left arm in front of him.


    *Bang*


    The fist crashed into a blue stellar shield that had been projected at the last second, standing in between it and Lucas arm.


    Not one to sit around and get beaten all day, Lucas immediately faced his right arm at the drudnid.


    An ocean-blue ray shot straight from a circle in the centre of his right palm, hitting the drudnid that was at point blank range.


    *Boom*


    The drudnid was sent flying twelve metres away before it crashed heavily to the floor, cracking the tiles that were highly resistant to shock. That was to show how much power was inside that beam of light.


    Even after the attack, Lucas didn''t let his guard down. From what Sunil civilisation researchers and pioneers had found out, the metals used to create drudnids were incredibly tough and hard. The degree of hardness depended on the quality of the drudnid. Even Grade 3 vestiges would have a hard time slashing through a drudnid with third level Apertures Opening stage strength. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Although the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was a Grade 4 vestige, it only achieved this through a unique method of combining various Grade 3 vestiges to create a qualitative change. In essence, it wasn''t truly a Grade 4 vestige and was lacking in some areas compared to the real deal.


    As expected, the drudnid stood up from the attack, as a purple glow flashed across its body. The glow came from the fixed mysterious patterns on its body.


    Looking closely at them, Lucas realised that those weren''t magi runes, but an entirely different system of inscription. Due to the situation at hand, he didn''t have the liberty to study these inscriptions and decided to keep it at the back of his mind.


    The purple glow lasted for three seconds while the drudnid made no moves. During this period, Lucas was tempted to attack and interfere with whatever it was doing. However, he could see that the creature had no openings. It was very likely that the second he made an attack, he might be forced into defence. What''s more, this moment of respite was equally helpful to him as he could use it to recover from the internal injuries he suggested earlier.


    Within a short while, three seconds were up and the drudnid had charged at him once again. This time however, it was noticeably faster than before. Nonetheless, Lucas was prepared.


    *Whoosh*


    The sound of air being forced to the sides was caught by Lucas'' ears and he didn''t hesitate to retreat right away. Even then, the drudnid didn''t let him rest and pushed on with its attack.


    As it brandished its ridiculous weapon, Lucas dodged when possible and blocked with the stellar energy shield. Although he found some opportunities to launch an attack, it was pointless. Unlike before, he could not even find any chance to make an effective counterattack again.


    The drudnid''s weapon looked like an exaggeratedly large broadsword, but its structure was entirely different. At the two edges of the blade, another blade was attached perpendicular to the existing one. This made the weapon appear like the letter ''H'' when viewed from the tip. A better description would be that the weapon looked just the same as the H steel beams used on Earth for construction.


    This weapon was the source of Lucas'' woes as not only could it be used as a blunt weapon, but it could also be used as a bladed weapon. Most of all, it functioned perfectly for defence or offence. There was also the fact that the drudnid''s abilities had been raised, making it stronger, faster and more efficient with both its attacks and movements.


    *Clang*


    The H sword swung at Lucas but the latter intercepted it with his gauntlets, causing sparks to light up in the air. Because his strength was now boosted to that of a fourth level stellar practitioner, Lucas was only forced back by half a step and could still respond to any possible followup attack. However, Lucas was tired of playing the role of a punching bag.


    *Humm*


    The Vis receptacle ¡ªthe key component of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour¡ª left out a low hum as stellar energy was swiftly sent into the gauntlets, giving it a red glow.


    Having blocked the swing from the drudnid, Lucas didn''t retreat as he had done previously but held on tightly to the weapon with one hand. His other hand, which currently radiated a red glimmer, formed a fist and flew at the drudnid.


    *Bang*


    The fist connected, resounding with an intense sound while generating a small blast of air. The drudnid didn''t expect this and was forced out of balance, leaning backwards as if it was about to fall to the ground.


    Nonetheless, being a weapon of war, it quickly reacted and moved it''s right leg backwards while forcing its weight towards its leg.


    Seeing this, Lucas snorted and closed the gap while pulling his right arm back again. He then smashed his fist into the drudnid''s chest once more.


    *Bang*


    If the drudnid were a living creature of flesh and blood, it would definitely have its flesh mangled and spew blood after that attack. But as a creature of metal and energy, only a dent was formed on its chest while the light in its eyes flickered slightly.


    This time around, it was unable to maintain its balance and began falling over. Yet Lucas still wasn''t satisfied.


    An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.


    "Ahhh!"


    Roaring out loud, Lucas controlled the Vis receptacle to send a huge amount of energy into his right arm.


    The gauntlet shined brightly as a ton of stellar energy was sent into it. The runes on its surface were working full time, making use of the energy to produce a maximum effect. Inside of the gauntlet, Lucas'' arm could feel a hot sensation, but he ignored it as he punched at the falling drudnid.


    *Boom*


    The drudnid was struck squarely on its chest for the third time in a row. But this time around, it didn''t just end with a simple loss of balance. The drudnid was flung nine metres away before it crashed into the ground with a heavy thud, leaving behind a crater in its wake while sending dust into the air.


    The gleam in the creature''s eyes went dark as it remained lying in the crater after that attack.


    Even though it was a creature of steel, having taken three consecutive hits from Lucas, it was impossible for the drudnid to remain unharmed. Also, it was only a third level drudnid; its fourth level rating was based on the consideration of its battle skill and neuro-magic. In terms of which was closer to the fourth level, the Steller Circuit Battle-Armour won the race.


    Lucas stared at the metallic creature that lay within the small pit and began to recall his experience in the battle.


    Even though drudnids were capable of neuro-magic, the one he faced didn''t use that often; only using the magic once. It seemed like the damage to its artificial consciousness wasn''t small, which was why it couldn''t use such complex techniques often. Otherwise, the battle wouldn''t have ended so quickly.


    In a sense, one could say that Lucas was lucky, but he was confident of winning regardless.


    Now that the battle was over, Lucas'' hobbyist mentality kicked in.


    "Hehe."


    Staring at the drudnid''s ''corpse'', Lucas couldn''t help but covet it intensely.


    The drudnid was a treasure trove even to a researcher; to a vestige-smith, its value was even more. This was essentially an artefact and it could sell for a lot. Even if he didn''t sell it, the research value was high for Lucas. Even if he didn''t use it as a research subject, just the materials used on it, when disassembled, can be used to make another top quality Grade 3 vestige, bordering Grade 4.


    Just as he was about to make a move, Lucas'' eyebrows suddenly widened in shock. He tried to move to the side, but it was too late as a pole appeared within the edge of his vision and struck him.


    ''I was too careless.''


    Was the only thing Lucas managed to think of before he was flung away.

 Chapter 260 - 260: Trapped Under

    *Thud*


    Once again, Lucas crashed into the wall of the laboratory, but this time around, he suffered less pain than the previous time. This was because Lucas now wore the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, and a faint shield had been deployed to help mitigate the impact.


    Every time Lucas made some progress in his vestige-smithing skill, he would tweak the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour and make improvements to it as it was his main source of power.


    Before Lucas could recover from this blow, three waves of mental energy locked onto him and erupted at the same time.


    *Boom*


    The wall of the room couldn''t handle the simultaneous attacks and collapsed, burying Lucas underneath it.


    Not one, or two, but three drudnids currently stood facing the rubble that buried Lucas, ready to attack again upon the slightest hint that he was alive.


    Just like the previous drudnid, all three had third level Apertures Opening stage strength, and one of them even seemed to be slightly stronger than the other two.


    Silence pervaded the area with only the occasionally whirring sound from the drudnids interrupting the calm.


    Looking at the white rocks that formed a molehill beside the wall, the drudnids suspected that Lucas had been killed by their joint assault. After all, the power of the joint attack was so immense that even one of their own would end up heavily damaged after that. They had also utilised their neuro-magic to scan the rubble and found no traces of life, which could only mean that the target had died.


    The drudnids then turned around to return to their resting spot.


    Meanwhile, underneath the rubble, Lucas held his breath and remained frozen as he listened to the low thuds coming from the drudnids'' act walking away.


    After he got hit by their combo, Lucas immediately decided that the best course of action was to play dead. He was familiar with some stealth techniques from his last life and the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour was equipped with a stealth mode; although this stealth mode couldn''t hide the flow of stellar energy, it could block his biological signals such as heat signature.


    Right after doing that, Lucas also activated power saving mode on the SCB, reducing its stellar energy consumption and usage to the minimum, occasionally flickering its flow path. This gave off the idea that the SCB was damaged. At the same time, if the drudnids identified targets by their stellar energy flow, it would make them mistake that the target was in a severe life-and-death state and would die if left alone for a few minutes. As such, the drudnids wouldn''t continue with their assault again.


    Although he wasn''t sure of this, Lucas had decided to take the bet and it paid for. Such a rapid response was simply due to his immeasurable experience surviving in the wild and against dangerous opponents.


    As the drudnids retreated, Lucas couldn''t help but sigh mentally while scrunching his face.


    Even with the armour protecting him, the attacks from the three drudnids were particularly hurtful and effective. The mental blasts from the drudnids was a pure force attack. It also possessed a certain quality that enabled a majority of it to get through obstacles and hit the target. In a sense, it was the same logic as when one punches one side of a sheet of metal with the right amount of force, the force is transmitted through the sheet and exits from the other side.


    In this case, that force was transmitted through the battle suit into Lucas'' body. Even though he was already at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage, it still wasn''t something a Body Strengthening stage practitioner could take and remain standing; even more so as there were three mental blasts.


    While he was recovering, Lucas began thinking of a plan. He couldn''t remain underneath this rubble for long, and his oxygen supply would soon be depleted. However, Lucas couldn''t charge out right away as that would be suicidal.


    Lucas did have a trump card ¡ªtwo bronze grade cards of fourth and sixth level Apertures Opening stage¡ª but he felt it was too wasteful. Over two months had gone by since he left Baylands city-state, but Lucas had not gotten even a second level bronze grade card. As such, he decided not to use the two at hand unless he truly had no other option.


    ''When I first came in, I failed to sense the first drudnid. Even after defeating it, I didn''t sense the other three either. How could that be?''


    Lucas frowned hard.


    Getting struck by the drudnids didn''t mean that Lucas'' guard was down from the start. On the contrary, he had been alert after the appearance of the first one, and even scanned the place but found nothing out of the ordinary. Having discovered nothing strange, it was inevitable that Lucas would presume that there was no other enemy here; finally dropping his guard down.


    Being masters of battle, the drudnids must have noticed this and attacked at the moment. They instinctively knew to move quickly so that Lucas would be left unable to react properly.


    The key to all this was simply one fact- Lucas was unable to sense them. Sear?h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    At first, Lucas was tempted to ask the system for help, but scratched out the idea. Relying often on external help was not a good thing.


    Just then, Lucas recalled an important fact about drudnids.


    Drudnids were the equivalent of robots for the Sunil civilisation, however, they were also very different from the latter. Whereas robots were mechanical constructs that operated thanks to a compacted assortment of data, logic and programming called an artificial intelligence, a drudnid was operated by a true consciousness, except at a lower level and with a fixed programming.


    This made drudnids closer to living beings than robots were. However, a similarity existed as both technologies were created to serve a certain goal.


    Apart from this, the artificial consciousness of drudnids were affected by the global catastrophe from thousands of years ago and the immense passage of time. It was already quite a miracle that they still functioned within the East Braftford relics, albeit with fractional performance. But this was the key point for Lucas.


    Drudnids were operated by an artificial consciousness, and the current drudnids had a fractured consciousness.


    A plan promptly formulated in his Lucas'' head.

 Chapter 261 - 261: Superior Battle Experience

    *boom*


    The rubble abruptly exploded, sending gravel into the air.


    From the site of the explosion, a silhouette dashed out and made a beeline for the centre of the room.


    The three drudnids that had retreated, had their eyes lit up in the dark as they stared at the scene. Although their consciousness was fractured, they didn''t need a complete one to figure out that the silhouette was Lucas.


    Without the slightest bit of hesitation, the three drudnids chased after him as they all made their way towards the centre of the room.


    Seeing as Lucas was approaching the quarantined area, the stronger of the three coldly exclaimed,


    "Holoris."


    At that moment, Lucas felt a cold air behind him and without even thinking, he ducked and rolled towards the side.


    *Bang*


    A mysterious blast struck the crystal glass wall, forming a few cracks on it. Lucas caught a glimpse of the damaged section and realised that it was caused by a piercing force. It seemed that apart from the monstrous force that possessed a crushing power, the drudnids could also release their mental energy to simulate a penetrative force.


    Just as soon as he had this thought, Lucas felt movement right behind him.


    While the attack from the leading drudnid didn''t get to him, it did manage to slow Lucas down a bit, allowing the other two to catch up to him. Part of the reason for this was because of his injury, which prevented Lucas from being able to run at full speed.


    *Whoosh*


    The drudnid which had delivered a devastating hit to Lucas earlier on, brandished its pole once again at him. However this time around, Lucas was prepared and aptly dodged the weapon.


    The drudnid was unperturbed by this as it reacted quickly and followed up with a counterattack. However, Lucas used the chance between the two attacks to leap away and widen the gap between him and the drudnid.


    As soon as he did so, the second drudnid came into view, punching towards Lucas. Nonetheless, Lucas dodged this with ease as well and created a gap between him and the drudnid.


    But it was at this moment that the third line appeared, targeting Lucas from a very tricky angle. It attacked from the side behind Lucas with a weapon that looked like a sword but without a hilt.


    From the angle and timing of the attack, it looked as if there was nothing Lucas could do about it. The timing of the attack was so meticulous and well thought up that Lucas'' seemingly only option was to face the attack.


    However, this drudnid was the strongest of the three and possessed an incredible force of power. If Lucas were to take this attack, he would be heavily injured. Even if he considered blocking it, he would then be dragged into the drudnid''s rhythm and forced to confront it. By that time, the other two would have arrived and Lucas would be surrounded.


    From this, it could be seen how impeccable the coordination and battle tactics of the drudnids were; and this was with the fact that their artificial consciousnesses weren''t complete. If it were, they would definitely be a force to be reckoned with.


    But even so, their opponent wasn''t a nobody.


    Although the drudnids were developed to be battle units, the degree of combat skill they possessed depended on the target of study. It was just like artificial intelligence. The level of smartness and effectiveness of an AI depended on the quantity and quality of data used to train it. In the same way, the efficiency and accuracy of an artificial consciousness depended on the consciousness copied and modified to create it.


    The consciousnesses of all drudnids were based on fighters from different species and even citizens of the Sunil civilisation. The data was then compiled to form a unique consciousness that was duplicated and inserted into every drudnid.


    However, compared to Lucas who lived more than five hundred years in a magic civilisation, the artificial battle consciousness was nothing.


    In his first life, Lucas had encountered various kinds of opponents of different power levels. At one point in life, he was capable of even blowing apart a continent with one hand. When compared to the Sunil civilisation and their counterparts on Eretre at the time, who couldn''t even exceed the Apertures Opening stage, the difference was clear.


    Because of his higher vantage point, higher peak and the fact he started from the lowest point in life, Lucas had more battle experiences that were of different standards and qualities. Whether they were unscrupulous or not, Lucas was versed in many tactics.


    The third drudnid targeted Lucas from a blind spot but he had already predicted it. In fact, Lucas had purposely left such an opening to bait the drudnid closer to him. S~ea??h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Just as the creature thought it had caught Lucas'' in a tight spot, the latter smirked and suddenly tilted his body in a way the drudnid never considered was possible.


    The act itself was ludicrous, but as a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, Lucas had nearly full control over his body.


    As the strange blade went by him, the drudnid also drew closer to Lucas due to inertia.


    Just as the two sides were within one metre of each other, the drudnid attacked with its free hand, but Lucas had reacted faster. He placed a palm on the drudnid without any malicious intent. Such action was confusing, but the drudnid didn''t think much about it as it continued with its attack.


    However, in the next second, something strange happened. The drudnid suddenly froze as the force behind its fist abruptly dispersed. Its glowing green eyes turned dark, while its grip on the weapon loosened. In the next second, it suddenly crashed forward to the ground due to its leaning posture.


    *Bang*


    The change in the situation confused the other two drudnids, but they didn''t pull their punches as they attacked Lucas.


    Facing the two attacks from different angles, Lucas wasn''t worried but had a confident smile on his face as a thought crossed his mind.


    ''It worked.''


    In the next second, he dodged the attacks of the two drudnids and placed his palms on them. Just like their leader, the two drudnids froze and went dark as well.

 Chapter 262 - 262: State Of Emergency

    "Success." Lucas breathed out as he stared at the metallic ''corpses'' sprawled on the floor. He was finally relieved and could recuperate from his injuries.


    However, someone was inclined to interrupt Lucas'' rest.


    "Host capabilities have improved, proving that the system''s judgement is accurate."


    "What judgement?" Lucas sensed something from the system''s words.


    However, the system went mute regardless of his tone or interest. Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t surprised by this; it was an attitude he was already used to. Regardless, he had an idea of what the system was implying.


    With what he knew about the system, Lucas would find it difficult to believe that the system didn''t foresee the events that took place. The system was too mysterious and destroyed his entire opinion of what systems were from the light novels he read back on Earth. At times it behaved like a conscious existence, while other times, it was simply monotonous like a machine. Regardless of which it was, the system always demonstrated a calculative quality. It was as if everything was under control.


    Typically, having such an entity living within one''s mind would trigger alarms and one would begin to think of ways to either control or get rid of it, but Lucas was different. Although he didn''t know the system''s full capabilities, Lucas was sure that he couldn''t compare to even 1%.


    Cross-world transmigration, revival, prophesy, reality manipulation, omniscience and omnipotence were just some of the abilities he had witnessed the system utilise. Even at his peak, Lucas could not compete with the system. Since that was the case, why think too much about things?


    One might call him a coward or a weakling, but Lucas was realistic. He couldn''t contend, so why let himself be plagued by fear and anxiety?


    Also, the system has never directly threatened Lucas. Even though it sent him on dangerous missions, there was always a significant chance of survival in those missions; otherwise, Lucas would have died or returned severely injured from them.


    What''s more, the system provided him with training resources which Lucas dearly needed. Was it fostering him for possession? Plausible, but Lucas doubted that. It might just truly be as the system consistently iterated; it wanted to raise him into a Crafts-god. As for why, that was a question for future him.


    With the drudnids now dead, Lucas proceeded to loot their bodies, which was essentially disassembling them for useful materials that could be recycled. At the same time, he recalled the challenges and progress he made during the battle.


    Defeating the drudnids might have looked like a simple act, but it was involved with some subtle activities.


    During the battle, Lucas had realised that he was facing off against the drudnids in the wrong way.


    Drudnids weren''t purely living beings, but more or less mental entities with a physical body. This wasn''t the same with living beings as their existences couldn''t simply be described on a mental level alone. But the same couldn''t be said about drudnids.


    Living beings could be said to be a combination of a soul, and a mind or conscious, inside of a physical body. On the other hand, a drudnid was simply a consciousness trapped inside of a physical shell. Apart from the differences in the quantity of constituents, there was also the difference in the quality of their ''containers''. One was locked within a ''body'' while the other within a ''shell''.


    This might not seem like much, but it created a weakness that was very important to the next point.


    Since drudnids, from a certain angle, were purely consciousnesses, this made them more susceptible to mental attacks. Also, since they were locked within a physical ''shell'' rather than a ''body'', their container didn''t offer much protection against mental attacks even of the weakest category.


    If the drudnids had a more complete consciousness, they would have been able to resist by relying on the programmed techniques of the Sunil civilisation within them. However, they were currently fractured existences, which further reduced their resistance to mental attacks.


    In other words, the most effective mode of attack against drudnids wasn''t physical damage, but mental damage.


    Lucas might not be able to use stellar energy on his own, but mental techniques were a slightly different story.


    Due to the fact that he had experienced two transmigrations, Lucas'' soul was much stronger than a typical living being, excluding those species blessed by the universe. In terms of raw power alone, his soul might be the same as a seventh or even eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, and it kept growing at an absurd rate.


    As his body was now the container for his soul, Lucas'' powerful soul began to have an effect on his body. To be exact, it strengthened his mental abilities to the point that it began to develop mental energy; a unique energy that wasn''t classified as a mystical energy.


    Although Lucas was unable to utilise any complex mental spells from his past life, since he could sense his mental energy, Lucas was capable of gathering it together and using it like a battering ram. That was exactly what he had done.


    Before contact, Lucas had gathered his mental energy and compressed it. Then as he laid his hands on a drudnid, the compressed mental energy would be released directly into the drudnid, disrupting its consciousness.


    Because of the force of the mental energy attack, the unstable and incomplete consciousness of the drudnid was unable to remain firm and it would promptly disperse after the attack. Without a consciousness controlling it, the drudnid essentially became an immobile pile of metal.


    Actually, this method was discovered long ago by pioneers who had ventured into the inner region. They had even created special gadgets that could give off a unique frequency capable of disrupting a drudnid''s consciousness. Theories about the soul, consciousness and so on had already been long proven, so such gadgets weren''t impossible to make; hyumans were more advanced than humans after all.


    However, such gadgets were quite costly in a place like Eretre. Not many vestige-smiths on the planet even knew how to make them. That made them costly, and in turn, slowed down the exploration rate of the inner region.


    Apart from the cost of those gadgets, the deeper one went into the East Braftford relics, the more complete the consciousness of a drudnid was. This increased the requirement for the quality and power of the gadget, and the higher that became, the more costly the gadget was. All these factors made it such that the exploration speed of the inner regions was too slow.


    In the core region, the consciousness of a drudnid was rumoured to be complete, so such gadgets wouldn''t even be useful.


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t know of this. He wasn''t a pioneer neither was he close to their circle. He was also a newcomer and didn''t relate with the upper levels of knowledge or power in Trundel City. But this didn''t stop Lucas from reaching the same conclusion. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    . . .


    While Lucas had a ''walk-in-the-park'' experience facing the drudnids, the other tourists weren''t so lucky. Between four to five hundred tourists had been teleported deep into the East Braftford relics.


    Similar to what Lucas had surmised, the distance one was teleported had to do with their distance from the stele.


    Some of the luckier ones had landed in the outskirts of the core region just like Lucas, whereas the unluckiest ones were in the core region. Regardless of which it was, they were all facing scenarios of life or death.


    The average power level of the general hyuman population in the Bernin continent was higher than the other continents, but not by much. One''s stellar refinement achievements had a lot to do with talent, or to be exact, their mDNA concentration. Typically, an average adult in the Bernin continent was between the mid to peak of the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. Compared to the other continents that had average adults still within the Body Strengthening stage, or if they''re lucky, the early point of the first level Apertures Opening stage.


    However, such achievements in stellar refinement couldn''t even grant them a 30% survival opportunity in the inner region of the East Braftford relics, much less the core region. As such, even though barely an hour or two had gone by, more than half of the five hundred tourists were already dead, and the number was still rising as time went by.


    The inner region''s greatest dangers were the fourth level Apertures Opening stage drudnids, with the third level ones being quite common there. However, the core region''s greatest threats were the rumoured tenth level drudnids with 90% of their consciousness intact. Even if those rumoured creatures didn''t exist, the core region had at least fifth level drudnids, which were equivalent to a sixth level stellar practitioner thanks to their battle-themed consciousness.


    Against such monsters, there was no way a tourist at the peak of the first level could compare. What''s more, not many of the tourists were even at this level.


    Even though the outside world couldn''t monitor them, anyone with half a brain would know that having twenty percent survivors was already a miraculous deed. Because of that, protests and complaints rose up against the city''s government and a state of emergency had to be called.


    As such, those who were still alive were either lucky enough to be in the inner region and have some strength, or were a group of experts gathered together like the Mertens siblings and their acquaintances.

 Chapter 263 - 263: The Taskforce

    A few hours after Lucas had defeated the drudnids, during the same time the news had already broken out in the city, a taskforce had been assembled to rescue the tourists. With some time having gone past, they had already made some progress in their investigation.


    The leader of the taskforce was a famous captain and detective within the Trundel City Security Force, the equivalent of the Baylands City Patrol Corps. He went by the name Tanner and was a sixth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    From this, one could see the difference in terms of power and quality between the cities close to the capital and the capital city-states in other continents. In a place like Baylands City for instance, a captain would only be at the fifth level. Above that and they would qualify to be a director. But in the cities close to Belfargos City, seventh level was the minimum requirement for the director role.


    Alongside his deputy, Tanner walked into a building that was recently set up outside the East Braftford relics. The building was filled with various complex devices and some display screens. There were also a dozen or so men seated in one corner, running various computing tasks.


    "I heard you got more leads." Tanner asked a man with grey hair.


    The grey-haired man happened to be the head of intelligence for the operation, and this building was the temporary base for the intelligence team. The other men were all members of the team and they were monitoring the relics while also trying to dig up any possible information or clues about the culprit and the event.


    "Yeah, the approval just came in. We''re filtering through the data right now." The grey-haired man responded.


    At first, the intelligence unit had hacked the culprit''s ¡ªan assistant researcher ¡ª communicator, but they only gained access to his local files and messages. As for those saved on the intranet, they couldn''t gain access to it.


    The reason was simple; the intranet was highly secure, so much so that no average planetary faction could brute-force their way into it.


    When the Federation Assembly ¡ªthe arm of government that directly ruled over the federation¡ª decided on establishing a communication channel for all hyumans, they had to consider various scenarios. One such was the possibility of hackers, especially from alien species, trying to gain access to their network and steal data from the public.


    To prevent this, the Federation Assembly decided on an intranet, rather than a typical internet [1], without only registered hyumans and citizens being able to access it.


    The federation''s intranet, officially called the Federal Intranet (FIN), is a complex system of networks that allowed communication within the Niera galaxy ruled by the hyumans. Within the intranet, there were also smaller networks that catered to each of the five star regions, known as star-nets. Within those star region-level networks, or star-nets, there were smaller subdivision networks for solar systems, and within those ones were also another set of networks for each individual planet.


    In the case of Eretre for instance, there was the Blue Mist star-net, which was a subdivision of the Federal Intranet catering towards the Blue Mist star region. Within the Blue Mist starnet was the Kellan Solar System Intranet (KSSI), which served the Kellan solar system. Furthermore, within the KSSI was the network for Eretre.


    Because of this complex subdivision system and the use of a highly secured intranet technology, it became difficult for unauthorised parties to access the network remotely, or even for authorised parties to access accounts that didn''t belong to them. This applied even for security forces that wanted to hack into a suspect''s account.


    To be able to gain access to another''s account, a request had to be sent to and approved by the administrators of the starnet. Even the security forces of a planet were unable to hack into the network due to the intense security. Their only option was to wait for approval.


    Due to the advancements of technology, sending a request to a planet hundreds of light years away was no problem. At most, it would take only a few hours to send a message and receive a response.


    With the approval now within their hands, the taskforce was able to gain access to the account of the culprit.


    "I''m done filtering. This is what we have." The man called out to Tanner.


    A couple of images popped up neatly on the display screen with various contents. Being a sixth level stellar practitioner, it wasn''t difficult for Tanner to scan through them all quickly.


    "Nothing." Tanner frowned. S~ea??h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Apart from the message that was stored locally in the culprit''s home communicator which read "It''s time to bring glory to the motherland", there were no other leads the team had found. They couldn''t even track the sender of the message.


    Tanner originally thought that once they got into the account of the man, they could find more clues, but there was nothing. All the activities on the culprit''s account were normal.


    "At this rate, we won''t know who did it." Tanner''s deputy sighed.


    "What are the odds this is a terrorist attack?" The head of intelligence asked after a second.


    "We''ve considered that, but there''s nothing in it for them. The Western Liberation Army doesn''t operate this far out while the Stygian Abyss, though psychopaths, usually carry out attacks for a reason. There doesn''t seem to be one here so far." Tanner replied.


    "Which means that there could still be one, no?" The head of intelligence glanced at him.


    "Indeed. So far, we''re keeping our options open, but chances are that this is the work of a research extremist, rather than terrorism." Tanner spread his arms out.


    "It''s been five hours now. Are you guys still going to keep waiting?" The grey-haired man changed the topic.


    Normally, the taskforce should have rushed in as soon as possible to rescue as many people as they could. However, the intelligence unit found out that the teleportation formation was linked to the core region of the relics. As such, the taskforce had to make proper preparations before going in otherwise it would be no different from suicide.


    Not only did they have to prepare equipment, but they also had to call in as many powerful forces as they could. Since it was the core region, they would need a couple of sixth and even seventh level stellar practitioners.


    However, while Trundel City might be a large city, it couldn''t really compare to a city-state. There was a limit on the number of powerful practitioners in governmental agencies. The city government would have to request other local forces for support, but some of them were on the side of the faction supporting the destruction of the relics. Another group didn''t want to take the risks, while the remaining who were willing would only do so if there was something to gain.


    All these intricacies and politics had led to the taskforce not assembling a proper team for the past five hours as negotiations were still ongoing.


    "We should be going in soon. I''ve already received information that the local forces are sending support. Oh, they''re already here." Tanner stared out of the building.


    As a combatant at the sixth level, Tanner was quite sensitive to strong individuals. It was even easier for him to notice the latter if they didn''t hide their aura.


    "Inform the squad to be ready for departure." Tanner ordered his deputy.


    The latter saluted and left the building right away.


    A few minutes later, a team of seventy men had gathered at the entrance of the East Braftford relics. All seventy men were suited up and equipped with various defensive and offensive vestiges.


    There were twelve powerful stellar practitioners in this group of which three of them were at the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. Of the remaining nine, four were at the peak of the sixth level while the other five were at the mid point of the sixth level.


    Because of the presence of a seventh level stellar practitioner, Tanner ¡ªa peak sixth level stellar practitioner¡ª was relegated to second-in-command. The leader of the new assembled taskforce team was one of the four directors of the Trundel City Security Force, a seventh level stellar practitioner. The other three seventh level stellar practitioners were from allied factions that were convinced to help them.


    With such a powerful force, although it was too much to say that they could conquer the relics, going in and out of the outer section of the core region was doable.


    "Let''s go."


    The director led the group and stepped into the relics.


    At the same time, various media outlets were broadcasting the scene. Some of them were related to the faction of the city government in support of the preservation of the relics, while the rest were on the other side. Regardless of which it was, the two sides showed interest in the movement of the assembled taskforce.

 Chapter 264 - 264: Plot

    The East Braftford relics was a unique environment that was protected by a strange energy. It was impossible to see the majority of details of the relics from above, but within the relics, the sky was as a clear as it could be anywhere else.


    Deep inside the East Braftford relics, within a building in a section of the core area, a young man in ordinary clothing stood unarmed surrounded by two imposing drudnids. Looking closer at the young man''s face, one would discover that he was actually the cause of this incident, the man who generated a reaction from the Aura-breaking stele.


    Although the typical drudnid reached a height of two metres, the two drudnids that surrounded the young man were at least five metres tall. Furthermore, their body wasn''t the usual grey metallic colour that all the other drudnids had. Instead, they were coloured green with their eyes glistening with a crimson glow rather than the usual green flash. The purple ''veins'' were still present on these drudnids, but they looked a bit more rigid and life-like, rather than simple inscriptions.


    Apart from these changes, the two drudnids looked the same like the others, with ten tentacles on each arm and a mouthless face.


    Although their appearances were an eye-catching feature of the two drudnids, another most noticeable difference between these drudnids and the ones the others faced was their strength. The two drudnids both exuded an aura which surpassed that of a fourth level stellar practitioner. In other words, they were the same as a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    But if one were to consider their battle quotient, then the two drudnids could even contend with an average sixth level stellar practitioner, or so one would think. However, these drudnids had a much clearer and intact artificial consciousness, so they could even contend with some of the stronger sixth level stellar practitioners, albeit not with those at the peak.


    Facing such monstrosities, any of the tourists teleported in here would be shivering in their boots or relinquishing themselves to death. Yet strangely, the young man remained calm. What was even stranger was the fact that the drudnids didn''t attack him, but seemed to be protecting him, which was inconceivable.


    *Clack* *Clack*


    Calm and steady footsteps sounded from behind, slowly approaching the young man and the drudnids.


    "You''re finally here." The young man spoke without turning his back.


    "I took a little bit of a detour." The new arrival said with a calm voice.


    The speaker''s voice was strange as it sounded like a woman''s and a man''s at the same time, yet neither. It was a mysterious voice that truly defined the word ''genderless''.


    "Hope you don''t mind." The newcomer added.


    Even though he was facing the mysterious young man protected by two drudnids on par with sixth level stellar practitioners, it was obvious that the newcomer wasn''t even a bit scared nor worried.


    The young man finally turned around and glanced at the newcomer. Despite the fact that the latter wore a black cloak with a hood covering their face, the young man could ''see'' that the latter was truly unafraid. However, he wasn''t surprised by this.


    "I believe you wouldn''t do anything contrary to our plans, so there''s no reason for me to be worried." The young man responded.


    "Forget about me for a moment. How is progress on your own side?"


    The cloaked figure asked while glancing at the drudnids by the young man''s side.


    The young man shifted his attention from the cloaked figure as he answered.


    "Almost. I''m still some distance away from the control area and haven''t extended my senses toward it, but it shouldn''t be a problem to do so within the next 2-3 hours."


    The cloaked figure showed no reaction to those words, or maybe he did, but with the cloak covering him, it was impossible to discern that.


    "In that case, do as we agreed; lay low for a while until needed." The cloaked figure said.


    "Must I?"


    "You can do otherwise, but I can''t say for certain whether you''d be alive or not after."


    The young man abruptly glared at the cloaked figure as he felt irritated by those words. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    However, the cloaked figure was unbothered and continued,


    "Even if you somehow make it to the nearest city with your legion, you won''t be able to get your revenge. Choose wisely."


    The young man frowned as he knew that the cloaked figure''s statement was true. He began to sound frustrated.


    "Then I should just let them go?"


    "You can, but it''s not necessary. They appeared here already. The agreed survival rate should be less than 5%, so logically, it won''t matter if you wipe out 90% of them. You can go wild with these fellas."


    The young man visibly relaxed after those words.


    "But let me know whatever you decide on. The government is already on to us and their taskforce has already begun to move. Apart from that, we need to quell public dissent, so leave behind some survivors and give them a few free stuff."


    "Letting them survive is already merciful and you want me to do a giveaway for those vermins?" The young man sneered.


    "You don''t really have a choice." The cloaked figure opened their arms out. Their arms were fair and soft making it difficult for one to identify whether those arms belonged to a man or a woman.


    "As it stands now, the public is in support of destroying the relics; whether or not there are survivors doesn''t really matter. However, if you have these survivors leave with some fancy goods, I can have my men in the council work on pushing down the complaints and convincing the top figures of the city. As long as the higher-ups see there''s a lot to gain, they would do their best to ensure the relics remain intact.


    "Don''t think you can take them on. Even if you somehow defeat Trundel City with your newfound power, there''s still the surrounding cities. Beyond that, there''s Belfargos City and the Oklo Dynasty; choose wisely."


    The young man didn''t say a word, seemingly considering the advice of the cloaked figure.


    "I''ll be leaving now. When it''s time, I''ll have someone contact you." The cloaked figure turned around and left.


    It looked like the figure was convinced that the young man would take his advice.


    After two minutes, another figure appeared from a dark spot in the room, but this time around, it was actually another drudnid.


    Different from the two drudnids beside the young man, this one was merely two metres tall ¡ªthe average height of drudnids. However, it didn''t have the same grey coloured ''skin'' or green eyes. In fact, the new drudnid looked more ''hyuman'' with a pale skin colour and a regular mouth. Its arms were also normal.


    As for its eyes, they were slits, different from the rectangular cutouts on other drudnids. Inside these slits were true eyes. Although they weren''t made of flesh and blood, the appearance of the pair of eyes looked just like a normal hyuman although with different iris, pupil and sclera[1] colours; red, grey and black respectively.


    "They''re a dangerous." The drudnid spoke.


    This was shocking because although drudnids could speak ¡ªdespite not having a mouth¡ª this drudnid spoke in the hyuman tongue and there were no inconsistencies with its speech. It was clear that this drudnid retained a majority of its consciousness, at least 90%.


    "Indeed, but we need their help if we hope to get our revenge." The young man said.


    "Even when they''re threatening us?" The drudnid stared at the young man.


    The cloaked figure''s words might have looked like a piece of advice but it was laced with a threat. When the figure mentioned about having its men in the government council help quell public dissent and convince the other higher-ups, it might have sounded like the figure was being helpful, but that was a hidden threat. The cloaked figure was implying that they could influence Trundel City''s government.


    A few freelancers and pioneers could not take down the East Braftford relics, but the same couldn''t be said about the entirety of Trundel City''s forces.


    Piecing these two information together, even someone with half a brain would understand the underlying meaning of the cloaked figure''s words.


    "This is simply an exchange of resources and labour. It''s natural that they don''t trust us, just as we don''t trust them either." The young man nonchalantly replied.


    "As for the threat, heh. Even their ancestors couldn''t find out our full capabilities. Those words are simply the yelling of a kindergartener." The young man sneered.


    "What next?" The ''living'' drudnid asked.


    "We need to awaken the others, remain low and recover our strength."


    "And the rats?"


    "We''ll clear away the majority of them and toss a few treasures to the survivors. Aim specifically for those without a significant background as it would be easy for the government to take over the items and appraise its value. Let out those from larger households as well; it will be too troublesome if they die here." The young man gave out orders calmly as if he was used to this.


    Staring into the deeper part of the relics, the young man said,


    "We can''t have any mistakes occur now. We''ve only just recovered after a few millennia; we can''t compete against the current rulers. But with their help, we should. Even then, we still have to be careful and make our own preparations."


    Having said that, the young man began to walk into the depths of the relics with the two five metres tall drudnids walking alongside him like bodyguards.

 Chapter 265 - 265: A Stranger?

    Over six hours had gone by since the mass teleportation of tourists from the Aura-breaking stele viewing area. In those six hours, Lucas had faced twelve drudnids. The number seemed quite small considering that he had encountered four drudnids within the first hour or so. In fact, Lucas was becoming worried because of this.


    Others might be happy or even grateful for having not faced many drudnids within that time, but the opposite was true for Lucas. What others hoped to avoid, he craved for. The reason for this was because of the value of the materials on the drudnids.


    After the battle against the first drudnid which was promptly followed by an assault from three drudnids, Lucas had taken a break to recover from his injuries. During that break, he inspected the ''corpses'' of the drudnids and tried to understand the materials used to make them. It was then that Lucas discovered that he had stumbled upon a treasure.


    The body of the drudnids were made using exquisite metals, some of which became rare or even extinct after the global catastrophe over four thousand years ago. These metals were all very unique and some of them could even compare with the high value ores being sold in the market today.


    Apart from their body''s constituents, the drudnids also provided value in their inscription mapping.


    As it turns out, the purple ''veins'' on the drudnids weren''t actually those but magi runes carved on the drudnids. The runes were carved in such a unique fashion that from a distance, they simply looked like a pattern of crooked lines, similar to the veins of the human circulatory system ¡ªalbeit less in number.


    While this looked like some aesthetic design, it actually had some practical implications.


    Such a unique method of engraving caught Lucas'' attention and became a research interest for him.


    With various benefits, Lucas began to covet the drudnids in the relics. But after walking towards the opposite end of the inner region for over five hours, Lucas had only encountered eight other drudnids.


    Currently, after consulting with the system via his unique approach, Lucas was now at the halfway point but he wasn''t willing to go forward anymore. The closer he got to the entrance of the inner region, the lower the odds of spotting a drudnid. But that wasn''t the worst part. It was that the drudnids became weaker as he approached the exit.


    Although this was logical, it wasn''t in Lucas'' favour, so he didn''t move towards the entrance. Instead, Lucas retreated back to the depths of the inner region, but he didn''t go too deep.


    In the history of the East Braftford relics, Lucas was probably the only one that treated the inner region as a hunting ground and the drudnids as prey. Even the top pioneers in Trundel City and the surrounding cities wouldn''t do something as silly as hunting drudnids without caution.


    While it was true that against a fourth or fifth level stellar practitioner pioneer, the second and third level drudnids weren''t much of a threat, those drudnids were able to communicate on a mental channel. Through the channel, they could request for assistance if the enemy was tough to deal with. This was why after defeating the first drudnid, Lucas was ambushed right away by three others.


    However, when he defeated the following drudnids, Lucas had done so quickly and relied on the mental energy technique of his. Because of this, the drudnids were unable to react in time and request for support. In fact, Lucas was unaware of this and was simply lucky.


    ''It would be nice if I could stock up thirty drudnids.'' Lucas sighed.


    Thirty drudnids were a lot, even for him. Disassembling them and recycling their materials would take a lot of time, energy, effort and resources, but the rewards were well worth it. Apart from that, after studying them a bit, it seemed like there were categories to these drudnids and each category had a different set of ''veins''. With thirty drudnids, there was a high chance that there would be at least three categories available for Lucas to unravel the secrets of their magi runes. That way, even without visiting the Aura-breaking stele again, Lucas could still complete the mission.


    "System, do you have any method to spot the drudnids?" Lucas asked, although he doubted the system would even offer him such.


    "I do."


    The system replied, stunning Lucas with that response.


    Before Lucas could even ask what it was, the system continued, sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The item is available for sale in the system shop."


    Hearing that, Lucas gave up the follow-up question he had. It was still the same as he had expected, even though the system''s response differed from usual.


    As for the system shop, Lucas could only access that in the store. Chances were that this could change in the future, but that was the situation at the moment.


    While he had this thought, Lucas'' ears suddenly perked.


    Despite the fact that it looked like he was nonchalant and careless, Lucas was always alert all the time. This was the East Braftford relics, a relics famous for burying even fifth level stellar practitioners. Even though Lucas possessed the weakness of the drudnids, he still didn''t underestimate them for that. These were weapons of war with a peculiar battle-driven consciousness controlling them; they shouldn''t be underestimated. What''s more, Lucas'' method worked only for those drudnids with a severely fractured consciousness ¡ªretaining only 40% of their original self. If he faced anything higher, Lucas would be at risk of danger.


    Finally, the drudnids were just one of the dangers of the East Braftford relics, although the most notorious ones. There were also rare and exotic desolate beasts that, for some reason, aren''t targeted by the drudnids. Although the majority of them were weak, they were tricky species and could cause a lot of harm to stellar practitioners of even the fourth level. All these made Lucas to be even more alert during his journey.


    Currently, Lucas overheard a strange sound coming from his left. This sound was different from those made by the drudnids or the desolate beasts and he could even hear a bit of panting.


    Only a hyuman could make such noises within this place.

 Chapter 266 - 266: To Help Or Not To

    Listening closer to the sounds coming from afar, Lucas was even more sure that it was from a hyuman. However, he became confused.


    According to his previous conjecture, the tourists were teleported based on their distance from the Aura-breaking stele. During that event, Lucas was the farthest away from the stele, which meant that he would be teleported in a relatively safer place than the others; possibly the most safest place there could be.


    Since he has essentially been walking nonstop, it made sense for Lucas to be the one closest to the exit, and by a massive gap compared to the others. However, there was now someone close by.


    ''A freelancer or pioneer?'' Lucas frowned in thought.


    Even though it was said that the inner region was unexplored and not many came here, some still did for the possible fortune hidden within.


    After a bit of hesitation, Lucas approached the sound. When it came to sound spells, Lucas was unable to use any of them, but that didn''t stop him from figuring out the rough situation.


    It took him a short while, but he finally made it towards the source of the sound. This was because as he came closer, Lucas could hear even more sounds mixed in.


    The scene in front was that of a life-or-death battle. Two men wearing comfortable vacation clothing were battling a fourth level drudnid. Behind them was a young lady who was currently shivering as she watched the scene.


    Based on their auras, these men were at the fifth level at the very least, however, they were both very heavily injured. Against a fourth level drudnid, keeping their life intact was already seemingly impossible.


    Fourth level drudnids were rare in the inner region, but there was still a small chance of them appearing within its depth. Lucas had been lucky to not have encountered one earlier on, otherwise even with the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, it would be an insanely tough battle.


    ''Was I wrong?''


    Watching the two men face off against the drudnid, Lucas began to consider whether his previous guess about the stele was correct. Based on the clothing the men wore, it was easy to surmise that they were also tourists. Yet, they had come this far.


    Tossing the question behind the back of his head for now, Lucas watched the battle unfold.


    The two men, logically, had the advantage whether it in terms of numbers or power. However, they seemed to have been severely injured at some point in time which now affected their abilities.


    Their opponent was a fourth level drudnid which was the same as an average fifth level stellar practitioner in terms of combat threat. It was also an inanimate creature and could feel no pain nor get tired. All these gave the drudnid unique advantages, and so, it was able to hold its own against the two, and even force them to be in the defence.


    What''s more, they had someone to protect behind them which made the battle even more difficult.


    Lucas guessed that at this rate, the two men would get chopped down within three minutes. This was because the longer they fought, the more severe their injuries became until it began to affect them. By the time it worsened, their attacks would be filled with slip-ups and flaws which the drudnid would be able to easily take advantage of.


    "Damn it. This monster is too freakish."


    "If only we weren''t injured."


    The two men gritted their teeth and resisted the drudnid.


    As the battle became more heated, Lucas was wondering whether to help or not. Unlike a third level drudnid, a fourth level one possessed a significant amount of threat even to Lucas with the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. What''s more, he couldn''t say for sure whether the hyumans there could be potential allies or enemies.


    The best course of action would be for both sides to grievously wound each other before he swoops in and takes all the spoils, but that wasn''t a good idea either. Lucas might not be a saint, but he would feel strange watching two people die when he could have helped them. If they were enemies, no problem, but it was clear that they weren''t.


    Also, what if the drudnid won without suffering any severe damages? Wouldn''t Lucas be the one in trouble then?


    ''Well, a fourth level drudnid should be a more valuable research specimen.'' Lucas'' eyes gleamed.


    He had already made up his mind. It was best to work with the two fifth level stellar practitioners and then take down the drudnid. Once that was done, Lucas would take the drudnid as his payment. But before that, Lucas wanted to see whether they could injure it. It was better to be safe than cocky.


    With a plan in mind, all he could do now was wait for an opportunity. Luckily, Lucas didn''t have to wait long.


    Seemingly seeing that they had no shot at living again, one of the two men roared.


    "Get the young miss out of here. I''ll take that monster down with me."


    The man proceeded to swallow a black and red capsule following which his flesh began to turn red.


    Lucas was surprised by this; he had seen similar things in his previous life, but this was the first one he had seen in this world. That capsule was most likely a special pill for stellar practitioners that could boost one''s potential and force the body past its limits.


    The second man ran towards the girl and prepared to pick her up and leave. But at that moment, the drudnid noticed this and chased after him. However, the red-skinned man intercepted it, but the drudnid brandished its weapon at him. Sear?h the N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    *Clang*


    The weapons of the two sides clashed and prevented the other from moving forward. For the first time since the battle began, the man had successfully held back the drudnid on his own, but it wouldn''t last for long.


    The drudnid''s green eyes flashed, seemingly comprehending something. Suddenly, it began to ferociously attack, so much so that the red-skinned man couldn''t do much but defend. However, that was all he wanted to achieve. By now, the other man had picked up the young lady and prepared to leave.


    Suddenly, the battle took an abrupt turn.


    Drudnids, apart from being the ultimate war machines, were capable of mental spells. The man had been aware of this before, but after taking the capsule, he was a bit more irrational. At the same time, the terrifying attacks from the drudnid forced his focus to be on it and he slowly forgot this one fact about them.


    That was why when the drudnid abruptly attacked with a mind blast, the man was caught off-guard and blasted a couple metres away till he crashed heavily on the ground. At least four of his ribs were broken.


    His partner noticed this and worry immediately flashed in his eyes. But he held himself back and took the young lady to escape.


    Yet it was too late.

 Chapter 267 - 267: Why Are You Here?

    The fourth level drudnid, after taking care of the red-skinned man, didn''t hesitate to charge at the two survivors.


    Being a fifth level stellar practitioner, the bodyguard ¡ªeven when injured¡ª should have been capable of outpacing the drudnid. However, he carried a young lady with him whose weight held him back. Normally, this wouldn''t be much of a problem and the man would still be faster than the drudnid, but the problem was that he was injured.


    At this rate, it would take only forty five seconds for the drudnid to get to him.


    Realising this, the man gritted his teeth.


    "Young miss, you''re on your own. I''ll try to hold it back."


    Not waiting for her to respond, he tossed the young lady forward, but had wrapped her in stellar energy to cushion her fall. At the same time, the man turned behind him to face the approaching drudnid.


    In his hand was a capsule similar to that of his colleague. This was the only way he could hold back the drudnid without dying.


    The young lady crashed one hundred metres away, but thanks to the stellar energy that cushioned her fall, she remained unharmed. However, worry was in her eyes as she stared behind her.


    "Uncle Marc." She yelled with a pained heart.


    The two bodyguards had been assigned to her since she was twelve, and they took care of her like their own daughter. It has been eight years since then, so it was inevitable that she would treat them like family rather than disposable employees.


    "Don''t waste any time and run. Otherwise our sacrifices would be in vain." The man roared without turning his head back.


    The young lady froze, but she knew he was right. If they were together, they would all die. However, there was a slight chance of survival if only one of them ran while the other stood behind.


    Naturally, the second role couldn''t go to the young lady as she was both weak and her identity was too important to be sacrificed. Hence, it was already set in stone for the man to be the one to do so; after all, it was his job to ensure her safety.


    Tears filled her eyes as she tightened her fists but in the end stood up and turned her back to the man. If she successfully escaped, she could still avenge the two of them.


    Just then, the sound of the drudnid became clear as it was within view.


    Originally, it would have taken forty five seconds to catch-up, but that was on the condition that the man was still escaping. But since he had stopped, the time was even shorter.


    "Run!"


    The man shouted.


    This time around, the young lady didn''t retort and dashed away. She was a peak third level stellar practitioner, so she could run faster than an average hyuman. Even the top athletes on Earth couldn''t match up to her in terms of acceleration or even top speed.


    The man looked relieved as he could hear her departing footsteps, but he frowned in the next second because the drudnid was before him.


    Interestingly enough, the drudnid didn''t rush to attack him but glanced around, seemingly looking for someone. The man understood the meaning of this action and his face turned ugly.


    Drudnids weren''t the same as robots that operated based on a fixed intelligence or an algorithm. They were operated by a consciousness that was on the same level as an adult, but with the battle skills of an experienced veteran that had been through one hundred fights. If it weren''t for the fact that their consciousness was damaged, the inner region would have been a death zone just like the core area.


    Having faced off against a drudnid with a more complete consciousness back in the core area, who happened to be the cause for his and his teammate''s injuries, the man knew the dangers of a drudnid with a more complete consciousness.


    That aside, the reaction of the drudnid just now showed that it was different from the weaker ones they encountered. It probably had a fractured rate of less than 40%. This meant that at least sixty percent of the drudnid''s consciousness was intact.


    This would explain why it was able to hold off the man and his colleague at the same time. Their injuries made up for one factor, but the skill of the drudnid was another.


    ''The average Mental Frequency disruptor would not be able to take it down. I have to destroy it.'' The man thought.


    From its reaction, it was clear that the drudnid planned to exterminate all of them and wouldn''t rest until then. In other words, the young lady was still in danger even if he held it back.


    As for Mental Frequency disruptors, those were special devices made for facing against drudnids. However, the effectiveness of the devices depended on how much of the drudnid''s consciousness was intact or fractured.


    The man promptly roared and charged at the drudnid, deciding to hold it back first while looking for an opportunity to take it down.


    Meanwhile, Lucas was still hidden in the dark and observing the situation.


    He had originally planned to team up with the two men, but decided against it. While his trip had been somewhat smooth, Lucas never lowered his guard. He always remained cautious in his attempts, and this was further heightened since the target was at the fourth level.


    Lucas decided it would be better to have the two men weaken it a bit and step in at an opportune time. However, he still had no plans on soloing the drudnid, so he would not let the man die either.


    *Bang*


    Right at that moment, the drudnid had spotted an opening in its duel against the man and landed a kick on him, sending the latter crashing into the wall of nearby a building.


    "Cough, cough."


    The man held his chest and coughed out blood, feeling an intense pain that wrecked his body. He could feel his body growing weak and even though he could still fight, the man knew that he was not the drudnid''s match.


    In the East Braftford relics, while the inside of the buildings were usually dark or with a dim coloured lighting, the outside was different. Even though the relics existed in the same world as the surrounding area, when one was outside of the building, they would see an ever-blue sky that never went dark. There was no sun, but mysteriously, the entire place would be lit.


    It was said that some kind of magical shield covered the entirety of the relics. In the outside world, this shield prevented others from seeing the details of the relics or even sensing the situation. However, within the relics, it created a ''utopia''.


    Staring at the blue sky above his head, the man hoped that the young lady had gone far away, otherwise his death would be meaningless.


    This thought only lasted a second before he hurriedly stood back up and faced drudnid. If he delayed too long, it would leave him for the young lady.


    "Hey, metal plate. Where do you think you''re going?" The man roared at the drudnid.


    The metallic creature that was about to depart, heard this and turned towards the man.


    "That''s right. This is between me and you. You didn''t think I''ll be done with after that did you? Even my grandma could hit harder than you." The man sneered.


    If those words were said to a robot, it would have no reaction. However, a drudnid was a true consciousness. Although it was rigged for war, it still had the basic intelligence of an adult.


    As expected, the vibe of the creature changed. Even though there was no facial feature on the drudnid apart from its eyes, the man could spot a hint of anger, derision and scorn.


    In the very next second, the drudnid disappeared from its position as it charged at the man.


    It moved so fast, but the man was still able to read its attack. However, that didn''t mean he could dodge.


    Forced to face the attack, the man brandished his vestige at the drudnid and clashed with it.


    *Clang*


    While he had successfully managed to block the attack, he had miscalculated the force and was destabilised by it. This created an opening which the drudnid, being a master of battles, saw and took hold of.


    A flash burst out for a second, a result of the drudnid moving its metallic weapon rapidly. The strange bladed weapon came for the man and because he was knocked out of balance, he couldn''t even stop it.


    ''I guess this is it.'' The middle-aged man thought as he closed his eyes.


    ''She should be safe by now.''


    The drudnid''s weapon closed in and it looked as if by the next second, the man would become a corpse.


    However, just as the man had thought it was all over, a sharp sound entered his ears and he felt a body crash into his.


    *Bam* sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It wasn''t an illusion.


    The man thought this as after coming in contact with the body of matter, he was flung away with it and crashed a few metres away.


    Resisting the urge to groan in pain, the man glanced in front of him and was stunned to see someone he never expected.


    "Young miss!"

 Chapter 268 - 268: Here Comes The Rescue

    Seeing the lady he had sacrificed himself for, the middle-aged man whose skin had already turned red as his colleague, had mixed feelings in his eyes. On one hand, he was angered, anxious and worried for the young lady, and on the other hand, he was happy that he meant this much to her.


    Having looked since she was twelve, the man had already thought of her as a half-daughter of his even though he knew that wasn''t possible. When he was assigned to protect the little girl eight years ago, it was a permanent job; one he did because of the pay. But at the moment, it was simply because of his fatherly feelings for her.


    "Get away now. It''s not too late." The man said.


    Although she had managed to block an attack from the drudnid, the young lady couldn''t contend with it. One was a fourth level stellar practitioner who could even compare to a fifth level stellar practitioner, while the other was a peak third level stellar practitioner. Even a five year old could tell who would win, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happened. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire


    "It''s too late." The young lady wryly smiled.


    She was right.


    The drudnid had caught sight of her and its focus was locked on her. Even if the man tried to hold it back again, he was severely injured and the fight had already taken a lot out of him. There was nothing that could be done in that regard.


    "Damn it." The middle aged man cursed. He wasn''t angry at the lady, but himself. He was angry for his weakness.


    Earlier, together with his partner, they had faced off against a fifth level drudnid in the core region. Such a monster was roughly equivalent to a sixth level stellar practitioner. What''s more, it had a fractured rate of only 30%, which meant that it has seventy percent of its programmed consciousness intact. It was too much for even the two of them to handle and they had gotten severely injured.


    The group had only managed to escape after using a lot of their trump cards and detonating two top quality Grade 3 vestiges. After that, they stumbled upon a trap and got teleported out to the inner region.


    If the man had been strong enough, there wouldn''t be a need to detonate those vestiges and it would have helped greatly against this drudnid. If he was strong enough, he would have been able to save his best friend, protect the young miss and defeat the drudnid. But in the end, he was weak.


    The drudnid wasn''t one for emotions. It ignored the melancholic vibe being exuded by the duo and charged at them.


    The middle-aged man was too weak to dodge while the young lady couldn''t even react in time.


    The drudnid''s weapon swung at them, intent on taking the lives of the two with one hit. But just as they were facing their death, a shadow appeared above the drudnid.


    *Bang*


    A loud metallic noise sounded ahead of them as the drudnid crashed to the ground. Above the metallic creature was an individual wrapped in body armour with his fist hammered down on the drudnid.


    The new arrival was Lucas who had been stalking them in the dark. Having waited for an opening from the start, Lucas finally made his move seeing the drudnid''s entire focus on the duo.


    Unlike a robot, a drudnid operated using a consciousness which made it inadvertently have the same flaws as hyumans; letting its guard down. If the drudnid was controlled by an artificial intelligence, it would have been on alert at all times. But as it was controlled by a consciousness, the flaws of one existed within it.


    The moment when the drudnid felt that it was in control and had won, happened to be the exact moment its guard was dropped. That in turn became the best opportunity for Lucas to attack and he did just that.


    The middle-aged man and the young lady stared wide-eyed at Lucas, surprised by the latter''s presence yet glad.


    However, the emotions were cut short as the drudnid exploded with an incredible mental force which shook Lucas off it and blasted the young lady and the man away.


    *Thud*


    Lucas landed on his two feet and gained his balance right away, relying on the weight of his battle armour. He glanced at the drudnid. V


    Two slight dents were visible on the back of the drudnid.


    Seeing this, Lucas couldn''t help but let out a low sigh.


    ''As I thought, it''s much tougher than the others.''


    The Apertures Opening stage consisted of twelve levels and each three levels made up a sub-stage, making a total of four sub-stages. The first to third levels made one sub-stage whilst the fourth to sixth levels made another sub-stage.


    Every sub-stage was an important phase that indicated a qualitative change, not just in an individual but also in a vestige.


    Originally, vestiges were graded by the same principle of sub-stages until newer and efficient methods were developed; which turned the initial system from four grades to the current six grades. In truth, they current systems still had traces of the previous one as Grades 2-5 were essentially the same vestiges for the four sub-stages. But Grade 1 and Grade 6 were the products of modern vestige-smithing, with Grade 1 being a simplified version of the first sub-stage vestiges (or Grade 2) while Grade 6 was an extreme version of fourth sub-stage vestiges (Grade 5).


    The drudnid ¡ªpower-wise¡ª was the same as a fourth level stellar practitioner. To be able to create such a being, vestiges, or rather, artefacts, on par with the second sub-stage had to be utilised. This made not just the raw power, but also the quality of the drudnid''s build, ahead of the third level drudnids. It was not just stronger, but also tankier.


    ''If only it wasn''t because of them.'' Lucas sighed again.


    The Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour he currently wore was dimmer and gave off weaker signals than it did before. It appeared just like a regular third level battle suit rather than a fourth level one. This wasn''t because the vestige was damaged, but because Lucas had downgraded its performance. The reason for this was because he wasn''t the only one present.


    Learning from the events in his past life and Baylands City, Lucas didn''t want anyone to find out that he knew how to generate a qualitative change in a vestige through quantitative means. If this was found out, lots of powerful individuals would be on the hunt for him as before.


    As such, Lucas had to step down the performance of the Vis receptacle ¡ªthe most important component of the SCB that created the qualitative change. By doing so, the power of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour dropped from a Grade 4 vestige to a Grade 3 vestige.


    Logically, a top tier Grade 3 battle suit should still be able to cause severe damage to the drudnid, but the user was an important factor to the performance of the battle suit. In this case, Lucas wasn''t even at the first level of the Apertures Opening stage, so he couldn''t even bring out the true power of the vestige.


    A Grade 3 vestige was the equivalent of the second sub-stage (fourth to sixth level), but in Lucas'' hands, it was already impressive that he could deal second level power and occasionally exhibit third level strength.


    Seeing the drudnid stand up, Lucas turned towards the man.


    "Cooperate with me or we die."


    The middle-aged man was initially stunned by the appearance of a battle armour and wondered who could be inside it. However, hearing the words of the other side, he glanced at the drudnid and frowned. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The other side had struck a surprise attack, yet it was far from enough to take down the drudnid. Even so, the middle-aged man didn''t look down on the hero who saved their lives. On the contrary, he wondered how they could beat the drudnid as they were lacking firepower.


    As for running away, that wasn''t an option. The newcomer seemed to be at the second or fourth level with a Grade 3 battle armour, which pointed out their weakness. If he tried to escape, it was possible for the other side to do the same and no one could say who the drudnid would chase. Even if the other side didn''t run, with their weak strength, the drudnid would end the battle in seconds before pursuing the man and the young lady.


    Hence, there was only one suitable choice at the moment; to work together and defeat the drudnid.


    Coughing a bit, the middle-aged man gave his answer immediately.


    "No problem."


    It might seem like so much time has passed from the moment Lucas and the duo were blasted away until the drudnid stood up, but only three seconds had gone by.


    Even though the man was injured and he has to battle with his suit at thirty percent, Lucas didn''t think he would lose.


    Firstly, his battle skills surpassed that of the drudnid''s after having watched a couple of them.


    Secondly, even though his attack had failed to cause much damage, Lucas never counted on his physical attack when dealing with drudnids. It was his mental power.


    When he struck at the drudnid, Lucas had dealt a bit of mental damage to it. However, because its consciousness was much more completed than the others, the drudnid didn''t ''die''. On the contrary, it had even counterattacked ferociously with its own mental energy, but that didn''t dampen Lucas'' resolve. Instead, he understood that he had to just use more mental power the next time. After all, the drudnid''s consciousness was fractured and not complete, so this weakness to mental attacks would always exist.


    If one cup of water wasn''t enough to wash off a stain on a car, then what about one bucket? Or an entire ocean? That was the same concept here.

 Chapter 269 - 269 : Narrow Clash

    "Thank you for helping us." The middle-aged man glanced at Lucas.


    Now that the battle was over, he finally had the time to study their ''saviour'', but the latter wore a helmet that covered his face. Regardless of that, the man could sense a confident and calm vibe from the latter. This had been present even throughout the harrowing battle that cost him his arm.


    "No problem." Lucas nodded.


    He then turned his attention towards the drudnid that laid on the floor.


    Using mental attacks to defeat the drudnids was not only a much easier way to do so, but it also preserved their bodies as much as possible. This was what Lucas wanted, even though he planned on disassembling them later on. But until then, he wanted to study the magi runes in their ''corpses''.


    Since he wasn''t the only one who took it on, the drudnid on the floor wasn''t as intact as the previous ones Lucas had due to a couple of reasons.


    First off, the drudnid was at the fourth level and much stronger, so it took a series of mental attacks to take it down. However, each attack needed contact to be made, but that wasn''t easy as the drudnid went on alert after that first strike. Hence, Lucas had to be more aggressive just to make contact with the drudnid.


    Also, Lucas wasn''t the only one fighting the drudnid. The middle-aged man worked together with him, but because he didn''t know much about the man, Lucas didn''t tell him about his mental technique. As a result, every attack from the man was done with the intent of smashing the drudnid to pieces, which is the standard method of fighting one.


    Although not all of the man''s attacks made it through the drudnid''s defence, some of them did, and they managed to damage it. Particularly one counter-attack the man made after sacrificing his right arm. The attack had caused a deep debt on the drudnid''s right side, which would be the area where one''s liver was located. The attack even left behind a small crack at the bottom of the dent, showing just how much power was in it.


    Looking at the damage done to the drudnid, Lucas sighed inwardly but didn''t think too much about it.


    "I''ll be taking the drudnid with me, if no one has a problem with it." Lucas suddenly said, finally declaring his intention. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The middle-aged man first froze before his brows wrinkled with a frown.


    For Lucas, a drudnid''s body had two major values: as an object of study and a source for resources. In truth, this was the same everywhere else. Even though researchers and vestige-smiths still hadn''t parsed the magi runes completely, they were making great strides to doing so. As such, drudnids had an immense value as a research object.


    At the same time, most drudnids were constructed using special metals and minerals, the majority of which had mysteriously gone extinct or fundamentally changed into something else. These metals were incredibly strong and powerful, which makes sense since they were used to create carriers for an artificial consciousness with battle capabilities. Even for the top names in the vestige-smith industry, they all wanted to get their hands on these materials. And as a result, compared to regular artefacts, drudnids sold for way much more.


    What''s more, this drudnid was a fourth level stellar practitioner and at the second sub-stage; the value of the materials used to create it was much more than the others in the market, which were all either second or third level.


    Although the man and the young lady were from a reputable household, they could still use the drudnid for themselves rather than selling it for profit.


    However, while he had this thought, the middle-aged man was of the mind to compensate Lucas for it. After all, it was only thanks to him that they not only survived, but also took it down.


    "This..." The man hesitated.


    "You can, please. After all, you helped us a lot and we owe you,.* The lady smiled.


    "But young mis-"


    The young lady cut him off with a glare. The man understood this and took a step back.


    In the end, it was just another block of metal.


    Seeing the two agree to let him off, Lucas approached the drudnid and sent it into his inventory. From the perspective of the other two, the drudnid''s body seemed to have vanished into thin air.


    ''A space vault?'' The two of them wondered.


    Only big shots and their descendants could play around with these, after all, in terms of pricing, they could even compare with Grade 4 vestige although one of the lowest quality.


    "Can you tell me your name? When we get outside, I''ll have someone properly send you a reward."


    "Thanks, but no." Lucas refused.


    On one hand, he wanted to keep his identity a secret. On the other hand. Lucas felt the young lady''s background wasn''t ordinary, so he wanted to have to do less and less with her; preferably nonexistent.


    With the battle now over, Lucas decided it was time to leave the relics. Thanks to the metallic bodies he had, Lucas didn''t need to worry about having no material to study magi runes. He could also disassemble them into their basic pieces and reforge those pieces into vestiges. No matter which it was, there would be profit to be made.


    The middle-aged man had returned to get his colleague, who albeit heavily injured, was surprisingly not dead.


    After a while, the trio left the area and Lucas did so as well. Since they were all going in the same direction, Lucas decided to tag along with them. They were also grateful since Lucas'' presence would increase their security and overall power.


    A couple of minutes went by, which eventually became two hours. The group had already gone past the mid point of the inner region by now, even though we''re quite low.


    Just as the mysterious trio were considering moving on their own, they glanced in a certain direction after hearing footsteps.


    It turned out to be members of the rescue taskforce. They were now safe.

 Chapter 270 - 270: The Wailing Of The People

    After being rescued by some members of the taskforce, Lucas, the young lady and her two protectors, were guided out of the relics to the outside. It turned out that the girl was from a powerful background, so the team they encountered had to abandon their task of searching for more survivors and lead them out safely.


    When he got out, Lucas had tried to go to the Aura-breaking stele once more. With the incident, there was no line and it would be easy for him to approach the stele and study the inscriptions on it. However, the area was now blockaded by security agencies so Lucas couldn''t get through.


    He wasn''t bummed by this as whether or not he studied the stele wouldn''t affect Lucas'' progress so much. The progress bar for the mission was at 74%; it had increased by 4% while he was within the relics and occasionally studying some of the inscriptions within the buildings. With the complete bodies of the drudnids, Lucas was confident that he could fill up the remaining 26%. His only intention of trying his luck out with the Aura-breaking stele was simply to get it over with right away.


    Since that ended in failure, Lucas left the East Braftford relics site and returned back to his store.


    . . .


    Three days went by quickly, but the entire saga of the Aura-breaking stele was yet to be completely over.


    During the past three days, the taskforce had managed to rescue more and more people, relieving the minds of some of the public. However, many others were not found with some reported to be dead by the survivors.


    Out of the maximum five hundred tourists that got teleported into the relics, only seventy four (74) survived. That''s a survival rate of only 14.8%. Furthermore, a quick look at the survivors and one would notice that forty-eight (48) of them, which accounted for roughly 65%, were those tied to people of influence. For instance, the Mertens'' group and some of their bodyguards.


    The remaining twenty six individuals, who accounted for 35% of the survivors, were all ordinary people with no influence or relationship to someone of high standing whatsoever.


    To the general public, this discrepancy was unsurprising after all, those of high influence had strong bodyguards with them and were also talented. Take for instance the group of William and the Mertens'' siblings. Excluding the bodyguard who died, they had six others with them, three of whom were at the fifth level while the other three were at the fourth level. Also, Laura and William were at the fifth level, and even their guide, Duran, was also at the fifth level. The public didn''t know much about the relics, so they felt it was understandable for this group of people to survive.


    However, the higher-ups were different. They knew the reality of the relics and even though the descendants and relatives of powerful factions had strong lineups, the fact that known of them died was mind-boggling. What''s more, the recounts of all these people were the same; they were mysteriously teleported to the inner regions either after stepping on a trap, entering a building or some other action.


    The various testimonials that all had a common point raised eyebrows and it made those in-charge suspect some hidden manipulation. However, there was no evidence to support this, and the fact that some average people even experienced this made some suspect that maybe it had to do with one''s luck.


    Also, those average folks had left the relics with unique items or artefacts that even the higher-ups were attracted to. On the other hand, the group related to powerful factions ¡ªapart from a lucky five¡ª came out empty-handed.


    However, the fact that only 14.8% of the original tourists had survived was harrowing and many of the agencies related to this incident were surrounded by protesters or relatives of the victims.


    "Where is my child? Where is my son?!"


    A mother grabbed the uniform of an officer who stood guard at the entrance of the relics and bawled out her eyes.


    "Honey, honey. Please come out! I''m begging you, please!"


    A woman whose face had aged greatly stood in front of the entrance, with the security border standing in between her and the route, as she cried pitifully.


    "My father. Please save my father. I''m begging you. He''s the only family I have left. Please." A man knelt down and cried before the line of security agents who prevented the crowd from breaking in.


    Such scenes were common just outside of the entrance of the relics, and it was even the same in the Trundel City Security Force office building inside of the city.


    Tanner, who was the original commander of the taskforce, but relegated to deputy after the seventh level stellar practitioners joined the team, stood by the side and took in the sight with mixed feelings.


    Since those who mattered survived and were brought out safely, the higher-ups of the city weren''t too invested into the rescue operation again. The seventh level stellar practitioners were withdrawn and those from allied forces of the Preservative faction (the faction in support of the preservation of the relics) called back their men. The current taskforce became unable to go into the deeper regions of the relics again. Even the inner region was too risky for them while the core region ¡ªwhich happened to be where the majority of tourists were teleported into¡ª became a death zone for them. They could not carry our rescue operations again which was why Tanner was out here.


    "This isn''t fair." A voice sounded behind Tanner.


    "But it''s our reality." Tanner sighed.


    A man walked up and appeared beside Tanner. He was the speaker as well as Tanner''s deputy in the team. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Why can''t the higher-ups do something? Aren''t they supposed to be protecting the people?"


    One could sense the thick frustration and agitation within the man''s voice. It was almost like he was victim, but Tanner knew that wasn''t the case. His deputy was just a man of the people in his heart; a protector of justice who saw everyone to be equal.


    "Even the higher-ups is currently torn apart on how to deal with the relics. To them, the people who were unlucky are simply just that; unlucky. Who is to say they aren''t even dead right now? If they are, wouldn''t it be such a waste to send in a rescue squad?"


    The man turned and stared at Tanner.


    "Are you in support of them?"


    Tanner shook his head.


    "I''m not, but I can understand their thoughts. For the higher-ups, the struggle for power and resources are more important than some four hundred lives or so."


    The deputy clenched his fist upon hearing that.


    "Let''s go." Tanner sighed and turned around to leave.


    "Where to?" The deputy asked.


    "Where to?" Tanner paused. "Apart from taking in the pitiful sight before us, there''s nothing we can do here, so tell me why should we stay?"


    The deputy froze, not knowing what to say at that moment.


    "Let''s go."

 Chapter 271 - 271: Mission Complete

    Three days after the survivors were rescued, protests still went on in different parts of the city of Trundel. The Cardaso family, who were the ruling force, were having trouble suppressing the complaints.


    Because they stayed so close to the capital of the planet ¡ªeven though the city was operated by a monarchy¡ª they still had to listen to the people and were not authoritarian with their actions. As such, the people had the freedom to complain and demand explanations from them.


    The Cardoso family was also split into two regarding how to deal with the relics and the issue. The higher-ups of both the Preservation and Destruction factions were actually members of the Cardoso family, which was why there was no conclusive decision on the matter yet. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Regardless, Lucas didn''t care about any of that. His focus was on the mission, and it took him more than three days before Lucas finally completed it.


    Staring at the fourth level Apertures Opening stage drudnid ''corpse'' on his workbench, Lucas sighed with relief after hearing the system''s notification ding.


    ''Finally.'' Lucas sighed with relief.


    At the start, Lucas was confident that he could complete the mission with the drudnids, but as he went on, he realised that his progress rate was becoming slow. Some of the magi runes in the drudnids were already familiar to him, so studying them again wouldn''t count.


    During that time, Lucas began to fret and was worried that he would need to sneak back into the East Braftford relics to view the Aura-breaking stele. Luckily, the fourth level drudnid had helped him cover the gap as it had a whole new set of ideologies and techniques for Lucas to study.


    This wasn''t strange after all, the drudnid was essentially the same as a second sub-stage vestige. It was only natural for there to be more advanced techniques used on it when compared to the third level drudnids.


    This was like the difference between a Tier 1 vestige-smith and a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith; one made Grade 2 (first sub-stage) vestiges while the other made Grade 3 (second sub-stage) vestiges. The skills and runes they used naturally differed whether in form or efficiency, as well as complicatedness. It made sense why the drudnid''s ''corpse'' was able to help Lucas cover the gap.


    "Now, the best part." Lucas grinned after accepting the rewards for the mission.


    The ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' time as well the ten system coins reward was enticing, but Lucas'' focus was on something else. Based on his calculations, with this mission now completed, the system would level up once again.


    [[ Congratulations to the host for levelling up the system (now level 4). One new system ability is granted.


    Rewarding ten system coins, one drop of impure sap from the Tree of Life mixed with Void Dust. ]]


    However, it wasn''t over.


    [[ Congratulations on completing the hidden mission: Inscription Master.


    Mission description: Learn an entirely new set of inscriptions without the aid of the system.


    Rewards: Five system coins]]


    Looking at the notification, Lucas had a wide grin on his face.


    Adding up the system coins he got from both achievements and missions in the past and the present, Lucas now had thirty five system coins in his possession. It was still a significant distance away from the five hundred system coins price tag of the Red Dragon Heaven Pill [1]. Nonetheless, it could still do a lot for him. Also, the Red Dragon Heaven Pill wasn''t Lucas'' bet to attain stellar refinement abilities; it was the mysterious potion that the system wanted him to make.


    Thinking about that, Lucas clicked on the third ingredient so far to learn about its details.


    [[ Impure sap from the Tree of Life mixed with Void Dust: A unique material that can be used to create heaven-defying items, for instance, a revival drug or a potion to change one''s physical condition. Consuming it in its raw form can bring the dead back to life with the right conditions or allow one access to the Arkana Plane. It can also be used to gain either life or void-related abilities. ]]


    With the completion of the mission, Lucas had also levelled up the system to level 4, earning him a couple of rewards. He could also pick one out of three system abilities, but Lucas was not in a hurry to do so.


    Recalling how the Branch Manager skill had proven to be important, Lucas understood the value of delayed gratification. He might choose an ability now, but it could turn out to not be useful in the future. Hence, it was best just to hold it off for a while.


    "Impure Tree of Life sap with Void Dust, huh?" Lucas absent-mindedly muttered the name.


    This was the first item that seemed more like a combination of two. Usually, the items were singular and straightforward, like Icarus'' Tears or leave from the Tree of Gehenna. However, the reward this time around sounded like a mixture of two items, but why? What''s more, it''s description was quite similar to the leaf from the Tree of Gehenna, except that it granted life and void-related powers when taken raw, while the latter gave death-related powers.


    The system didn''t give Lucas any reply so he didn''t dwell on it. Maybe it was how the ingredient was supposed to be. Regardless of the truth, it wouldn''t change the fact that it was a valuable item for Lucas.


    Even though the description showed that the sap would still offer tons of benefits when ingested raw, Lucas didn''t try to find out. There was only this one drop, and wasting it was the same as Lucas damning himself to be an average individual.


    ''One more level.'' Lucas thought as he let out a sigh.


    For over eight months, he had been living in this world as a ''normal'' individual. If it weren''t for his battle experience and skills, Lucas might have died many times. He would have died many times more if it weren''t for the system''s protection as well. However, so long as he could get to level five, that would all change.


    "Next is the drift racing team."

 Chapter 272 - 272: Sponsorship

    After the incident, having known that Lucas was heading to the relics, Havos had given him a one week break to recover from the incident. The latter believed that Lucas was probably traumatized or depressed by the incident, after all, over four hundred people had died while he was among the few survivors. Any normal individual would find it difficult to resume work the next day after such an experience, so Havos ¡ªas the team''s head¡ª gave Lucas a break.


    The next race was supposed to be in four days when Lucas decided to go to the relics. Three days had gone by since then, which meant that the next race was the following day. However just before that, Lucas wanted to strike a deal with Luka.


    "It''s been a while. I was really surprised to hear you would be seeing me today." Luka glanced at the Lucas who sat across the table.


    He was indeed telling the truth. Since Lucas was given a one-week break, logically, he would have spent the break recuperating or something else. Instead, Lucas had called to meet him in private.


    "Well, I had some things to discuss." Lucas suddenly said.


    "Oh?" S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing how serious he looked, Luka''s interest was piqued.


    "I''m interested in the Black Star team''s spare shares." Lucas said with a serious face.


    After the Black Star team was formed by merging Luka''s personal drift racing team and Callus'' original team, fifty-five percent (55%) of the stocks of the new team ¡ªwhich accounted for a majority of the stocks¡ª went to Luka. Thirty-five percent (35%) was given to Callus to secure his colleagues'' spot in the new team and protect their interests. The remaining ten percent (10%) was left under Luka''s control but didn''t belong to him, but rather, to attract investors or retain talents.


    "But I have plans for it." After a pause, Luka replied calmly.


    Luka''s original idea was to have Havos take the leftover stocks and tie him to the Black Star team through them. The value and face of a grandmaster''s student was one many wanted to get but couldn''t. Being connected to such a reputable individual could do a lot of PR for the team and raise awareness about them. At the same time, Luka could forge a connection to a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and a future top Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, who could potentially reach the grandmaster rank.


    No matter how one looked at it, there were too many benefits. However, Havos wasn''t interested in those stocks.


    Being the student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith, he was a talent many other drift racing teams craved for. Whether it was for his abilities or his connections, all of them were valuable to tons of drift racing teams even in the top leagues. In comparison, the Black Star team was only in the third league. Even if it had potential, Havos didn''t think it was worth having himself tied to it for long. He even took his current role at the team as a sort of experiential training.


    So, even though Havos was a part of the team, he could leave at any point in time without looking back.


    The ten percent stocks then remained unowned.


    Lucas had managed to hear about them one time during his conversation with the team members and he decided to set his sights on them.


    "I''m willing to offer a good price for them." Lucas said.


    "I heard you run a store in Trundel City. You''re interested in official rights, correct?" Luka smiled.


    The reason why Lucas entered the drift racing industry was to have the name of his store appear as a sponsor of one of the teams, specifically on the body of the racing shuttle. As long as the team he sponsored performed well, it would also lead to an increase in customers. It was pretty much the same logic as sponsorships in sports back on Earth, and it was even common and pronounced here. This was especially so if the sponsor was related to the industry of the sponsored.


    For instance, the Lugo Vido Autos team was not only developed by a vestige-smithing company, but the company was also the main sponsor ¡ªhaving their logo painted all over the shuttle. What''s more, LVA was a vestige-smithing company in the hover car and sare shuttles industry.


    With the team''s impressive performance in the league so far, some hover cars and racing shuttle enthusiasts visited the company''s branches to check out their goods and services. They believed that the skills of the vestige-smiths from LVA had to be top-tier considering the team they not only developed, but sponsored as well, was doing great so far.


    There was also the team Yoko-bunny, run by the princess of the Verantino family. They had a vestige-smithing company in the stellar processor market as their main sponsor. The company also saw a rise in sales after the team''s performance in the league.


    Such scenarios were common especially with the top teams as they had thousands of fans and garnered attention. The sponsors would be advertising their brands to those fans by being related with their idols.


    The Black Star team was still an upstart, but because of their recent performance, they had quite a number of fans. In fact, some of them had even reached out to the vestige-smiths in the team for their services in fine-tuning their racing shuttles and hover cars.


    These fans had noticed how Callus had improved from 19th place in the first race to 14th place in the sixth race. What''s more, the changes done to the Juggernaut racing shuttle didn''t go unseen by these people as well. As such, they also wanted similar modifications to be done on their own personal racing shuttles, which led to the increased requests to the team for private modification services.


    As it stood now, the Black Star team had no official sponsor yet, even more so one in the vestige-smithing industry. If Lucas could seize that spot, there would be more traffic to his store since some of these requests would be targeted at him.


    "Don''t you think you''re being a bit greedy?" Luka narrowed his eyes.


    Usually, Luka wouldn''t have hired Lucas as a member of the team; he was a human and there was no way a human vestige-smith would be better than a hyuman. But because Havos had requested for it, Lucas became a member of the Black Star team. Even though Lucas had made some achievements in the team, Luka brushed it off. He wasn''t too knowledgeable about vestige-smithing, so he believed that what Lucas had done could have been replicated by someone else.


    But actually, Luka was right about that.


    "I''ll remit my salary up to the necessary amount required for the purchase. I''ll also design a top-class engine for the team, capable of securing a top five spot in the following races." Lucas laid out his terms.


    He would have also added a share in the store''s profit, but the system wouldn''t allow that. Even when he cooperated in Baylands city-state, it was only possible because the Legacy Crafts dealership was purchasing the vestiges from him and reselling it. However in this situation, there was no reason for Luka to spend more money to open a dealership.


    Hence, Lucas took a step back and decided to offer a blueprint for a new engine model. He already knew the ins and outs of a racing shuttle both from the books offered by the system and online, as well as his experience with the team. Lucas was confident that the engine he would design would perform at an efficiency rate 70% higher than the current engine used by the Juggernaut.


    However, while Lucas was confident about this, the same wasn''t so for Luka.


    "Haha. That''s a funny joke." Luka chuckled.


    "Taking part of your salary to cover the cost for the stocks doesn''t offer much benefits to me at all. I''d rather sell it for cheap if there''s a profit behind the deal. But ignoring that, a top class engine? Heh. You have to be joking." Luka sneered.


    One couldn''t blame him for his attitude. The person who made the claim was a human, and as everyone knew, humans were only capable of creating ¡ªat best¡ª a Grade 1 vestige. A top tier engine for a racing shuttle would be the equivalent of a high quality Grade 2 vestige, or even a Grade 3 vestige.


    For context''s sake, apart from the top three teams in the league, the other teams used engines equivalent to a Grade 1 or an average Grade 2 vestige. This couldn''t be helped since this was a third tier league and the better skilled vestige-smiths were all swooped away by teams in higher tiered leagues. It was very difficult to find anymore talented ones even though Belfargos city-state had a lot of vestige-smiths.


    Vestige-smithing was a very broad subject, and there were multiple areas of specialisation. One''s ranking was simply a measurement of their maximum capabilities at the time, and not truly the level of skill they possessed.


    For instance, when it came to designing racing shuttle engines, although rank was important, it didn''t necessarily equate to skill. It was possible for even a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, who can easily make a Grade 4 vestige, to fail in producing an engine with a Grade 3 rating. This was especially so if the vestige-smith wasn''t one of the shuttle branch. Even if they were, they would still find the task difficult, although they would succeed.


    So, the fact that Lucas ¡ªa human¡ª claimed he was capable of designing an engine with a Grade 2 high quality rating was laughable, to say the least.


    "I''m a bit busy now, so I will be taking my leave. No need to see me off." Luka stood up and walked away.


    It was clear that the negotiations had fallen through, but above that, their relationship had also nosedived. Luka was a bit cold with his words and actions, and it showed that he thought little of Lucas at the moment.


    However, Lucas wasn''t bothered about that. He just sighed at the thought that finding a team to sponsor was much too difficult.


    To sponsor a team, he needed money, lots of it. But he wanted to sponsor a team to make money. However, without money, he couldn''t sponsor a team.


    ''Do I have to think of a different idea now?''

 Chapter 273 - 273: Visitors

    The next day came soon but Lucas didn''t do much. Since he was still on leave, he didn''t attend the race today. Instead, Lucas spent his time in the work-station and occasionally came out to play with Melissa. He also taught her some mystical energy refinement methods from his previous life, as well as training her in the art of vestige-smithing.


    With her third level Apertures Opening stage strength, Melissa could pass as a Tier 1 vestige-smith, but her skills were still lagging behind; she was almost at the level of a Tier 1 Apprentice vestige-smith, which was a rank lower. Nonetheless, Lucas didn''t think too much about it. Melissa was still very young ¡ªat eleven years old. Her future was very bright. If one were to consider the fact that when Lucas was at this age, he hadn''t even come into contact with mystical energy, then Melissa could be said to have more potential than he did. Of course, this was only in regards to her raw power and not her potential as a vestige-smith, although that wasn''t lacking either.


    The repetitive days continued like this until the fifth day of Lucas'' break, which was two days since his meeting with Luka. S~ea??h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Big brother, when will I learn how to make swords?" Melissa asked while drawing on a special blue parchment paper.


    The blue paper was provided by the system in the work-station. It was used for tracing vestige designs and making blueprints. Not only was the quality of the paper amazing, but it was also long lasting and couldn''t easily be damaged by folds. It was every architect''s dream paper, although in modern times, everything was now done digitally.


    "Wait a bit more, then I''ll teach you how to build sword moulds." Lucas ruffled her hair as he spoke.


    Ignoring her age, Melissa was indeed at the age to dive into the practical aspect of vestige-smithing. She had been watching him at work for two months now, and understood some of the basics in the practical aspect. As for the theoretical aspects, it was impossible to be mastered, but one could say that Melissa had taken a strong foot forward.


    Lucas left after making some corrections on her work and pointing out places she could improve before entering the workstation.


    Melissa was registered as an official employee by the store and was a third level stellar practitioner. Because of the system ability, the Employee Hire Function (EHF), Lucas could use Melissa''s ability almost as if it were his own, without having any effects on her.


    With a third level stellar practitioner ability and his current knowledge bank, it was possible for Lucas to try his hand at smithing a Grade 4 vestige even though the stellar energy prerequisite was the seventh level of the Apertures Opening stage. This was more than twice his current ability using the EHF. If it weren''t for the fact that Lucas'' real ability and experience was that of a Grandmaster in his previous life, which was far ahead of a Tier 1 Grandmaster, Lucas wouldn''t be trying this.


    The vestige he was building this time around wasn''t a simple cold weapon but a hot-weapon-type vestige. The reason for this was that unlike cold weapons, hot weapons had an added complexity due to the inclusion of physical sciences such as physics and mathematics in their construction. While cold weapons did take into consideration mathematics, it wasn''t as much as with a hot weapon.


    As for why Lucas decided on this, it was because he intended on producing a racing shuttle engine next. Racing shuttle engines were very much complex cold weapons, so it was better to start from hot weapons which, albeit complex, weren''t as difficult to make as a racing shuttle engine.


    One might ask what''s the relationship between a gun and a hover car, and in truth, there was none. However, this was on the condition that they weren''t vestiges. If the two creations were vestiges, a vestige-smith could draw similarities in their principles of operation when using stellar energy.


    The more knowledgeable a vestige-smith was, the more similarities they could spot. This was why a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith was revered; apart from their ability to Smith Grade 5 vestiges, they were very knowledgeable about vestige-smithing and could easily switch to any branch, albeit they won''t be as efficient or impressive as a dedicated vestige-smith. Nonetheless, the ability to smith any type of vestige-smith was amazing and made one admire and desire to have a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.


    The weapon Lucas was making wasn''t just a simple cold weapon. It also borrowed a few concepts from the operation of a hover engine and an Internal Combustion Engine back on Earth. For instance, it utilised a specially built-in piston and cylinder system which helped boost and speed the power of each shot. Due to that, there was a large component that was essentially similar to an engine block, albeit not the same appearance.


    It also copied the stellar arc flow system of a hover vehicle, which was a design system that supported the flow and transmission of stellar energy from one end to another, which minimising as much energy loss as possible.


    Because of the nature of the vestige, it would be one of, if not the largest vestige Lucas had made, excluding his battle armour. He estimated it would take him five days to complete, and this was because Lucas was still unfamiliar with the design and development. Once he got the hang of it, subsequent versions could be done within two to three days.


    One should recall that this was to be a Grade 4, and Lucas was only at the third level thanks to the EHR. Being able to complete a Grade 4 vestige in five days was incredibly, and doing so within three days would make a lot of Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths commit suicide of hide their faces in shame.


    While Lucas was busy in the work-station, a visitor, or rather, a group, had walked into the store. They were three: one female and two males.


    The men looked quite mature and wore black suits, appearing to be at least in their late 30s. However in truth, these two were actually well past their forties. One of them had brown hair while the other had dark-grey hair. There was this occasional glint in their eyes as they studied the store.


    As for the third person in the group, it was a young lady with black silky hair. She looked like a gorgeous model and a likely winner for the Miss Universe pageant.


    Her pair of red succulent lips split apart as she glanced at Melissa with a confused look on her face.


    "Where''s the owner?"

 Chapter 274 - 274: Vienna

    The Bilac trade centre in Trundel City wasn''t just a market for goods and resources, but it also had some nice recreational spots and restaurants; after all, it was common practice for store owners and employees to have a lunch break.


    One of the more popular restaurants in the region was called The Grey Whale, and not just because the building looked like a whale. The Grey Whale served a ton of delicacies, but the restaurant''s signature dish was a meal made using the flesh of a certain desolate beast from the sea. The desolate beast looked just like a whale, and was even nicknamed the Grey whale, but it was much more hideous and terrifying than a normal whale. Despite its looks though, its flesh tasted amazing and the skin could be used to make a unique whale oil that has an enticing fragrance.


    Because of the fact that the entire body of the Grey whale was very valuable ¡ªwhether it was the bones that could be used to make vestiges, the skin for oil or the flesh for meat¡ª the desolate beast was very costly in the market. To be able to serve it as their signature dish, it was no understatement to say that the Grey Whale restaurant was a high-class dining spot within the Bilac trade centre.


    Currently, Lucas, alongside Melissa, were seated in this restaurant opposite a group of three.


    "You can order whatever you want." The young lady in front smiled at Lucas.


    The young lady has a pair of black eyes and black hair, making her a unique one amongst the hyuman race that was filled with vibrant colours. However, that didn''t make her any less beautiful.


    With silky black hair almost reaching her waist, a pair of eyes that could have one lost staring at them and a smile that could topple down cities, and a luscious body that could simply be described as perfect, the lady would definitely be a killer model back on Earth. Even in this world, Lucas had yet to meet anyone prettier than her, although Laura Mertens was almost a close match.


    Even as they sat within the restaurant, there was the occasional peeking from the other diners who couldn''t help but want to look twice or even stare at her all day. If it weren''t for the two bodyguards standing behind her, some of the more bold men would have walked over to shoot their shot.


    However, Lucas was an exception in that he didn''t care.


    What flavour of city-toppling beauty had he not seen before? At the peak of his past life, Lucas was a Grandmaster magic weapon-smith who many schools, kingdoms, empires and sects scurried over to have him forge for them a magic weapon. Even when he was still a Master, a certain royal kingdom that ruled five continents had tried to offer two of their finest princesses ¡ªwho were prettier than the girl before him¡ª alongside five major cities and a dukedom thrice the size of the entire Bernin city-state just for Lucas to make them a magic weapon.


    Staring at the menu, Lucas glanced at Melissa whose eyes were stuck on the display screen.


    "You heard her. Choose whatever you want." Lucas said.


    Melissa glanced at him, seeking confirmation, and seeing Lucas nod, she rejoiced and began picking out various meals on the menu.


    "This, uhm, this. And this, oh, oh, this too."


    By the time Melissa was done, a full minute had gone by and she had ordered over thirty dishes.


    The young lady was stunned by this and even her bodyguards were speechless, but they said nothing. As for Lucas, he wasn''t surprised.


    Recently, Melissa''s appetite had increased, probably because of her rise in strength which was inconsistent, by hyuman logic, with her growth speed. As such, her body was in dire need of nutrients. Even though he fed her to satisfaction most of the time, Melissa would still crave for more. The situation was so bad that of Lucas'' expenses, 60% was for feeding Melissa alone.


    "Now, let''s focus on why we''re here, miss." Lucas stared at the young lady.


    She wasn''t a stranger to him, although they were just acquaintances. The young lady was exactly the woman he had ''saved'' a few days back in the East Braftford relics.


    Back then, Lucas was attracted to the area because of the sounds and he found a fourth level drudnid attacking a trio. Because he was lacking both resources as well as a reference material for mastering magi runes, Lucas decided to take down the drudnid. After a bit of sche-, planning, Lucas defeated the drudnid with the aid of one of her bodyguards, at the cost of an arm and the other bodyguard being knocked out unconscious.


    A few minutes later, they had encountered a squad of the taskforce and were promptly evacuated from the relics. Lucas had thought that would be the last time they would meet, so he didn''t think much about it and left the incident at the back of his mind.


    However, the woman had actually tracked Lucas down and wanted to talk with him.


    Only one of the two bodyguards at her side was a part of the duo from five days ago; the second one was recuperating and was replaced by someone else. Even though health care systems and procedures were much more advanced than before, allowing the man to recover his torn arm, there was still a need to take a break and recover mentally and psychologically from the incident. Plus he had worn himself out using the drug from then, and performing in a high intensity battle with heavy internal injuries. On the other hand, although his colleague took the same drug, he didn''t suffer as many severe injuries as the one armed man did.


    "You don''t need to have your guard up or anything." The lady smiled. It felt almost like the spring breeze but Lucas didn''t care.


    "My name is Vienna. As for why I wanted to meet you, it''s to offer my thanks for your help. If it wasn''t for you, I and my uncles would have died. So, thank you." The young lady, Vienna, bowed her head.


    The two bodyguards were surprised by this, and the one closer to her ¡ªwho also survived the incident¡ª stepped forward.


    "Young miss, you shouldn''t." S~ea??h the Nov§×l?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No, I do. I owe him this." Vienna replied with her head still bent.


    Lucas felt a little bit weird after this treatment. Not because he was overwhelmed by it, but because he knew the truth. Lucas never intended on saving the young lady and her crew. All he wanted was the fourth level drudnid''s body; it was simply a matter of related interests. If the trio had been facing a different kind of danger, Lucas would not have intervened.


    Nonetheless, even though he knew the truth, Lucas wasn''t foolish enough to say it. He simply decided to go with the flow.


    "There''s no need for this. The meal is already enough." Lucas said.


    Vienna lifted her head up with a smile, seemingly glad that Lucas had accepted her expression.


    "The meal is nothing serious; it''s not worth using as a thanks for saving my life." Vienna waved nonchalantly. It was clear that she meant it, even though there was a large number of dishes ordered.


    Lucas however, thought differently of her words.


    The waiters had already arrived with the food, and the table was already filled up. What''s more, there was a line of trolleys beside their table filled with the remaining dishes. A humble estimate would put the value of each dish on the table at about twenty federal coins, as they were all made from desolate beast meat and other special ingredients. The signature dish alone even cost up to fifty federal coins. With over thirty dishes, the entire dining experience would cost at least six hundred (600) federal coins. That''s life-changing money for some, and also the price of a custom Grade 1 vestige.


    Although a Grade 1 vestige wasn''t exactly powerful, a customised one was still incredible and one costing about six hundred federal coins would be close to the peak of what a Grade 1 vestige can achieve.


    "As a thank you gift, I decided to offer you something much better. Forgive me for taking so long, but it was mostly because I didn''t know what to get."


    "No problem. Just the fact you''re being considerate is already generous of you." Lucas commented.


    He actually meant it. Not many people would revisit the matter with their saviours, and some may want the incident entirely forgotten. On the other hand, the young lady had searched for him and even took him out for dinner as a means of relaying Lucas.


    Vienna smiled at the compliment and there was a bit of redness on her cheeks.


    Taking out a small blue gadget, which was a type of a mini independent stellar processor typically used for storing documents, she slid it across Lucas.


    "To the matter of expressing my gratitude, how would you like to own a company? To be specific, a drift racing team."

 Chapter 275 - 275: A Gift

    "How would you like to own a company? A drift racing team to be exact."


    Lucas didn''t show any reaction on his face when asked this. Instead he calmly picked a glass from the table and took a sip from it first.


    "Why do you think I''d be interested in that?" Lucas asked calmly.


    Vienna smiled at his response and bowed her head once again.


    "I have to apologize once again. This time, for spying on you the past few days."


    Lucas had already guessed that part. It was strange that just two days ago, he was trying to buy a share of the Black Star team but failed. Then now, someone decided to gift him a drift racing team as a thank you gift. It was just too coincidental that it was unbelievable. The only explanation would be that the young lady must have had her men spy on him for a while.


    Luckily, Lucas had not done anything extraordinary or stood out much.


    "I''ll brush it off if you refrain from such in the future." Lucas replied.


    "You, can''t you show a bit more respect?"


    One of the bodyguards who stood behind Vienna, a man with green hair, frowned at Lucas'' nonchalant behaviour. He wasn''t present during the East Braftford relics and didn''t know how exactly Lucas had saved Vienna and the others, but chalked it down as something meagre with a mix of luck. As such, this made him look down on Lucas a bit as the latter was profiteering off a simple act. Yet, not only had the young miss bowed her head twice to Lucas, but she also offered him am essentially free company. Despite all that, Lucas treated it calmly. In the bodyguard''s opinion, this was a sign of disrespect.


    He already knew the results of the background investigation on Lucas and knee the latter was just a regular individual, a human even. So, there was no justification as to why Lucas should act this way, even if he didn''t know Vienna''s true identity.


    Lucas glanced at the bodyguard briefly before ignoring him. Why would he squabble with a minion?


    Seeing the disdain in Lucas'' eyes, the man was angered. He, a fourth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, was being looked down by a human who couldn''t even step into the Apertures Opening stage.


    "You...!"


    "That''s enough."


    The other bodyguard who was present that day, but not for the final fight against the drudnid, stopped his partner and forced him to calm down with a glare. Not only were they at different levels, but the man was also of a higher rank than the green-haired man.


    Lucas didn''t mind their clash, instead his attention was on Vienna. To be honest, he was interested in this gift she wanted to offer him after all, it was what he had been striving for since.


    "What''s the deal?" Lucas asked. "Even for a thank you, this is quite an expensive gift."


    "You seem to not understand, Mr Lucas." Vienna said. Having investigated Lucas already, it was a given that she would know his name. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "The shares I''m giving you is just my way of saying thank you for saving me. You might think it''s costly, but the chance to be alive for another day is worth any price."


    There was also something else she left unsaid; her life was far worth more than those shares.


    "Fine. So, which drift racing team is it?" Lucas turned his focus to something else.


    "Team Versoa. It''s a drift racing team in the second tier league, the Nadire Underground League. Versoa is currently in the upper middle position of the league, which isn''t a bad. Also, I''ll be giving you majority stake in the team, so it''ll essentially become you''re to handle." Vienna explained.


    The Nadire Underground League, or the NUL for short, was a tier two unofficial drift racing league, meaning it was ranked higher than the K1 league. Apart from that, it was actually of the top second tier leagues in the city-state, spanning three cities. In other words, the NUL accepted qualified racing teams from three different cities and organised events in those cities.


    Whether it was the tier rating or the participants, the NUL was on an entirely different level when compared to the K1 league. The pay and, the number of fans and viewers were also higher.


    "Are you okay with that?"


    "I guess so." Lucas nodded.


    "Great." Vienna smiled. "I''ll have someone send you the transfer and ownership documents within a day. At the same time, they''ll meet with you tomorrow and introduce the team to you."


    And just like that, Lucas became a majority owner of as tier two drift racing team.


    While returning back to his store, Lucas used an AI to generate a resignation letter which he sent to Havos. Since he was now going to have his own drift racing team, there was no reason to remain with the Black Star team.


    Although he had spent quite some time with them, it was on a formal basis. Lucas never really felt close to the group and part of it was that they subconsciously kept him by the side.


    The current Black Star team was made mostly of those from the original team who were already a crew. Havos easily blended in because he was the new head of designs, and also the student of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. Everyone in the team wanted to get closer to him whether it was because of his master or to learn a bit from Havos himself.


    On the other hand, Lucas was just a human. Although he had displayed an impressive level of theoretical knowledge, it was only theory. Lucas didn''t show his vestige-smithing skill, so they all thought it was roughly the same as an average human. The best human blacksmith could barely enter the ranks of a vestige-smith by smithing the lowest standards of a Grade 1 vestige. With that in mind, it was understandable why they didn''t rate Lucas.


    While Lucas had departed, Vienna''s bodyguard walked over to his seat and sat down. The other bodyguard, the green-haired man, was sent outside to be on the lookout, but in truth, it was just to prevent him from listening into their conversation.


    "Do you really think he is worth it? Although he saved us, he''s only just a human." The man asked her.


    "It''s not a matter of worth it or not. I''m simply showing my appreciation for what he''s done for me." Vienna said before sipping from a cup of tea.


    "I understand." The man sighed.


    Even though he said that, the man already knew that Vienna wasn''t speaking the truth. If she wanted to thank the young man earlier, she could have just wired him a few thousand federal coins. Based on what they knew about Lucas, that would have been enough for him. Despite that, she had actually given him her stock in a drift racing team worth hundreds of thousands of federal coins.


    A thank you gift? The man might be getting old, but he wasn''t getting dumber. It was clear that the young miss thought highly of the young human.

 Chapter 276 - 276: Versoa

    "Lucas just sent me a resignation letter. Know anything about that?" Havos glanced at Luka who sat opposite him.


    Luka was surprised by this for only a second before he replied.


    "Shouldn''t you be asking him instead?"


    "Something tells me it''s related to you. Call it an instinct." Havos rapped his finger on the table.


    "Well, that instinct of yours is incredibly sharp. Too bad you can''t use it to pick up women." Luka grinned. He then proceeded to explain.


    "He approached me two days ago wanting to buy the remaining ten percent shares of the team and also official sponsorship rights as a vestige-smith store. I refused to sell because I saw no value in doing so, and it would also hurt our brand."


    "Wow, he has a huge appetite." Havos chuckled.


    One couldn''t blame him for saying that. Usually, those who could own a stock if a drift racing team offered more than just money to do so. Owning a stock in a drift racing team would tie the image of the team to the person and if would also give them controlling rights over the team. Naturally, potential candidates had to be vetted well, and one of the major requirements was to be able to offer value to the team.


    Take for instance the ten percent stocks being discussed. Supposing there were two competitors for it, Lucas and a top 100 company in Trundel City. While the two sides could afford the cash value for the shares, the criteria didn''t just stop there. One also had to be more beneficial than the other to the team.


    In this case, it was obvious that a top 100 company could benefit the team much more than Lucas could. Not only could they afford the stocks, but they could also occasionally offer investment or quarterly sponsorships depending on the team''s performance. They can also give or subsidise part of their products and services for the team members, boosting morale. They could also offer their valuable connections and aid whenever the team encountered any issues.


    Even though such a company wasn''t bidding for the stocks, Luka still decided to keep it in the reserves for a suitable candidate. In this case, Lucas didn''t meet the mark so there was no way he would have sold it to him. Havos understood this which was why he sided with Luka.


    Also, Havos wasn''t really familiar with Lucas. They had only met back in Baylands City and based on that familiarity, Havos had decided to do Lucas a ''favour'' and get him into the team. But with Lucas now resigning, Havos felt that the latter didn''t value his help, so he didn''t try to talk him out of it or ask for the reason.


    "Forget about him. We need to focus on the next series of planning for the team." Luka said.


    . . .


    The next day came quickly and just after Lucas had made breakfast ¡ªwhich was actually the takeouts they got from the restaurant the previous day¡ª he had a visitor at the door. It was the personnel sent by Vienna to help with the takeover.


    Lucas left the house but this time with Melissa in tow. He realised that leaving behind the eleven year old all on her own continuously for a significant amount of time wasn''t exactly good for her. So, unless it was a mission or a dangerous activity, Lucas decided to take Melissa along with him.


    The Versoa team''s base was surprisingly located in Trundel City, which made things easier for Lucas as he wouldn''t need to relocate. However, it was in the northern side of the city, which was pretty far. Trundel City was ridiculously huge even for a metropolis. Even using a light rail train, it would take at least 15 minutes to get from the north to the south side of the city. The average speed of a light rail train was 700km/hr, so that meant from one point to another was at least 175km. S~ea??h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Because of the size of Trundel City, the area within the city was divided into provinces. The Bilac trade centre, which was where Lucas lived, was within Cas Lego province. As for the Versoa team''s headquarters, it was in Bailin province north of Trundel City.


    Upon arriving at Bailin province after a fifteen minutes light rail train ride, a hover car arrived at the station and took Lucas over to the headquarters. There, he carried out the handover process with the staff sent over by Vienna. It wasn''t stressful and only required Lucas to fill in some of his personal details and confirm the documents with his signature.


    During this process, Lucas finally found out what percentage of the drift racing team he was taking over; 40%. Although it didn''t sound like much, it made Lucas the majority stakeholder of the team. The second largest majority stakeholder turned out to be Vienna with 30%. The remaining 30% was then split by other collaborators, some of whom were also sponsors of the team, albeit not as a vestige-smith company.


    Since Vienna had agreed to let Lucas run the team as he wished, he didn''t have to worry about anyone in the board overruling his decisions. Without Vienna''s vote, it was essentially impossible for Lucas to not have his way with the decision-making of the team.


    Unlike third tier teams that only consisted of a drift racing crew, second tier drift racing teams were much bigger in structure. Because they made a lot of money and were very well funded, most of these teams formed companies that branched out into similar markets. For instance, apart from the usual crew lineup for the race, there was a group of staff that ran stores for the team. These stores sold the team''s official merchandise or even provided revamps for racing shuttle and hover vehicles. Some teams built themed restaurants while others had a training academy for drivers.


    The whole point of this culture was for drift racing teams to be independent and be able to generate a lot of money to support themselves. Even though there were a lot of investors backing a team in the second tier, there wouldn''t always be funding for shuttle revamps and so on. Hence, the team''s decided to find a means to earn more money.


    Also, in times when they were financially buoyant, they could invest the excess funds into these business and generate more income rather than simply storing it in a bank. Thanks to such foresight in planning, most second tier teams were worth a lot of money and could afford various types of upgrades and remodelling of their racing shuttles even when the stakeholders weren''t able to fund the team.


    "Now, you own a portion of these businesses." The staff who assisted Lucas throughout the activity explained.


    With a 40% stake in the team, Lucas didn''t just own the team but also its various assets and businesses. From a pauper, he had become a wealthy man.


    However, that wasn''t what Lucas came here for.


    "Take me to see the team."

 Chapter 277 - 277: Versoa 2

    The Versoa team''s headquarters was a large plot of land spanning a few acres. Even though the Bailin province was a somewhat border province in Trundel City, as land was very costly in Trundel City, the amount needed to purchase these was unimaginable. This showed just how strong the financial prowess of the team, or its owner, is. One should recall that the current building Lucas used for the Heavenly Demonic Shop cost three thousand federal coins a month for rent. This was the same price he used to buy the land and building for the Seven Sparks Forge store in Baylands City.


    On the plot of land owned by the Versoa team, there were three main buildings and some other secondary buildings. The first was an arena-building, which was actually a ''mini'' racing track or circuit. It could easily rival some of the racing tracks on Earth in terms of complexity, but was only half the length, at around two and a half kilometres. Nonetheless, this was already very impressive.


    Around the circuit was a spectator platform about three storeys high, and had stores inside of them just like the layout of a stadium.


    In the middle of the circuit were three secondary buildings not more than two storeys tall [1]. One of them was a repair station, another was a recreational spot that had a viewing platform at the top floor. The final building was the garage for the team''s shuttles.


    Apart from training and testing, the racing circuit was also rented out to host events and live concerts, which were somewhat popular even though virtual transmission was a thing. The circuit was also used for some private races between drivers.


    The second main building, which happened to be the tallest at thirty-six storeys in height, was the residential area for the team members and the working staff whose jobs were to maintain the place. Although not all team members lived here, they each had a room in the building. The core members of the team, who numbered six, were each given a single floor in the skyscraper. The remaining thirty floors were split into two: ten floors went to the remaining members of the team with each floor having three apartments, while twenty floors was for the staff with each floor having six apartments.


    Not all apartments were occupied by their intended occupants. For instance, the ten mid-level floors meant for the members of the team had thirty apartments. However, the official team members weren''t up to that much. So, some of the leading staff in the headquarters were allowed to take residency in these apartments. For instance, the


    The final building was a six storey building which was the administrative building. It was where all the administrative work¡ªincluding the overseeing and management of the team''s asset¡ª took place.


    Vienna''s secretary, who was sent over to guide Lucas through the takeover process, led him to the Versoa team''s conference room located in the administrative building. The meeting was to take place there, but since it was an impromptu meeting, Lucas had to wait for the others to arrive.


    During this time, Lucas began going through the overview of the team.


    Despite being a second tier team in an unofficial league, the Versoa team was thick in cash with a rough net-worth of about twelve million federal coins. This net-worth included their assets and cash value. The team had been in the Nadire Underground League for three years and had garnered lots of investment and profit during these years, so it''s value was understandable. They also made around seven hundred thousand to one million federal coins per year in revenue from all their businesses, excluding sponsorships, with a profit of eighty thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand federal coins, which equates to roughly a 12% profit margin.


    Even though this was a lot, it still couldn''t compare to vestige-smith companies, especially Lucas'' business. Back in Baylands City, after unveiling the SS vestiges Black Dagger and Blue Spear, Lucas had made 920,000 federal coins after selling twenty of each vestiges (a total of forty) in revenue, with three hundred and sixty-eight thousand in profit.


    Of course, there was a logical reason: the SS vestiges were almost as powerful as Grade 4 vestiges, despite being only Grade 3. They also utilised a never-before-seen technology, and added with their rarity, the price was justified; otherwise the value of the federal coins in Eretre would have crashed.


    Also, Lucas'' profit margin was much higher than other vestige-smith companies because he didn''t spend on materials; he only had to compensate sixty percent of his revenue to the system. On the other hand, the Versoa team''s 12% profit margin was much more realistic.


    After looking through the financial documents, Lucas also took some time out to look at the designs of the team''s racing shuttle, nicknamed ''Viper''.


    According to the Hyuman encyclopaedia database, the Viper was an extinct species of venomous snakes during the human era. One of them happened to be the fastest snakes and the humans took on that name for some of their vehicles to display both speed and ferociousness attributed to the snake.


    The Verso team took on this tradition and named their racing shuttle ''Viper'', implying that it wielded an incredible speed and power.


    Truthfully, the schematics of the racing shuttle showed that it achieved just that. Even the Viper''s performance in the previous couple of races was impressive. Vienna claimed that Versoa was currently in the upper-middle position of the table, but this was actually the eleventh place; although she wasn''t wrong, that was really close to the top ranks.


    If it were placed in the K1 league, based purely on the vehicle''s performance alone, getting top three would be a breeze. The reason why Lucas said top three and not first place was because the current K1 league''s toppers had really powerful racing shuttles.


    The LVA team had a racing shuttle developed by an official vestige-smith company in the hover car industry. Team Yoko-bunny was sponsored by the third generation princess of the Verantino family, the fourth most powerful family in Trundel City. According to rumours, she was one of the two only females in her generation and the youngest, making her a spoilt princess. A famous Tier 1 Master vestige-smith had been hired to design their racing shuttle alongside two other Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths. Only the Red Mouse team was lacking in comparison, but the driver was much more skilled.


    At the same time Lucas was studying the designs, a few individuals walked into the conference room. Lucas took note of them, but after a quick headcount, he realised that not everyone was present yet. After a slight frown, Lucas paid no heed to them and returned to the drawings.


    Since the rest hadn''t shown up yet, there was no reason to start the meeting. Also, Lucas understood that it was an improptu decision, which was why he decided to be so lenient.


    A quarter of an hour had to go by before finally, the last set of people arrived in the conference room and took their seats.


    The meeting officially began.


    S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 278 - 278: Orvel Feurd

    In attendance for the meeting were the six core members of the team. Each of the six core members handled an important department in the team.


    The head of the designs and energy who handled the design and development roadmap for the racing shuttle.


    The head of material manufacturing who led the department in charge of researching and developing the required materials for the vehicle. They also handled the acquisition of such materials.


    The head of vehicle manufacturing, who was the vestige-smith in charge of manufacturing the final design for the racing shuttle.


    The head of the department of simulation and testing, who led the department charged with simulating the designs of the racing shuttle and testing the completed shuttle.


    The head of the department of public affairs and commerce which was a department that handled the commercial businesses of the team and their public appearance.


    The last core member of the Versoa team was the head of the on-site unit, which was the unit charged with handling communication with the driver, training the driver, and also carrying out repairs on the shuttle mid-race.


    The department of designs and energy was charged with developing the engine that powered the racing shuttle as well as the power source for it. The engine and power sources were the heart and soul of a racing shuttle, and all other developments related to the shuttle has to be done with them in consideration.


    Due to this, the department of designs and energy was the most important in the team and the leader, the head of designs and energy, was the defacto head of the Versoa team. His authority extended to most of the other departments except for the department of public affairs and commerce.


    He was also the last one to arrive for the meeting, probably as a show of power or influence.


    The current head of designs was Orvel Feurd, a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith who was quite famous and very talented.


    All vestige-smiths in the same tier were not exactly of the same capabilities. There were unofficial sub-ratings of low, middle, high and peak ranks. Orvel was a recently promoted high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith which meant that he was an eighth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner.


    Apart from the six core members, there were also a few other important members of the team. Most of them were the deputies of the core members and also the driver.


    There were also some of the other stakeholders of the team who had appeared via a virtual projection. As for the others, they just didn''t show up. The meeting wasn''t a stakeholders meeting and was just Lucas being introduced to the team. It was also an improptu meeting, so in truth, there was no need for any of them to show up. However, some of them were interested in this new majority stakeholder who was boosted up to this position by the previous one. While there would be an official stakeholders meeting to introduce Lucas later on, they couldn''t wait that long.


    In total, there were thirteen people in attendance for this meeting, excluding Lucas and Vienna''s secretary.


    "What''s with the abrupt meeting call today, Mr. Helnord?" Orvel glanced at the secretary who stood behind Lucas.


    The blatant disregard for Lucas who was on the main seat was clear as the Sun in the sky, however, no one seemed surprised by this but some of frowned while others snickered.


    As a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, Orvel Feurd was pursued by various different factions and parties. They tossed gifts his way in a bid to make him switch his allegiance over to their side, but due to his honour and pride, Orvel stuck with the team. Nonetheless, he was too proud because of his ability. Orvel treated most of the stakeholders with indifference, except for Vienna and another fellow. So, even though Lucas was the current majority stakeholder and essentially his boss, Orvel never thought him to be such.


    Helnord, Vienna''s secretary, frowned slightly at this behaviour but sighed inwardly. He had seen this coming and had even adviced Orvel not to act as he normally would as the new majority stakeholder was elected by Vienna, yet the latter ignored him.


    ''This might be a test by the young miss.'' Helnord suddenly had this thought.


    "It''s a meeting being called by the new majority stakeholder. He would like to relate with the team members and understand the circumstances of the team."


    Despite having being notified about this when the were called over, the core members and other team members had strange looks on their faces as they stared at Lucas. Sear?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Usually, the "bossmen", as the team called the stakeholders, didn''t care about the workers. All they cared for were financial reports and performances in the race. Only two stakeholders till date had bothered to occasionally relate with the team, with one of them being Vienna.


    "Well, now he''s seen us. Can we put an end to this farce and return back to work? There''s a lot left for us to do." Orvel snorted.


    Lucas remained nonchalant, but deep down, he was somewhat irritated. He had never been a saint, and it was even more so when someone behaved like this. But Lucas didn''t react right away because he knew that certain experts had their quirks. Even the Iron Dwarves in his first life were known for their horrible personalities, but their skills with the hammer and forge were the best.


    Nonetheless, understanding didn''t mean he agreed with this behaviour. It was alright at times, but when one didn''t properly analyse the situation and acted like a dickhead, it became irritating. Back then, Lucas had forced the famous Iron Dwarves to be respectful around him, partly due to his skills and also a ''friendly speech'' with his fists.


    Today, Lucas couldn''t do exactly the same, after all the latter was an eighth level stellar practitioner. But that didn''t mean he would allow a subordinate be blatantly disrespectful to him.


    "Mr Oraval, was it? What''s it that''s so busy that requires your attention right away?" Lucas asked.


    "It''s Orvel, little man." Orvel Feurd grimaced.


    "As for my business, it''s entirely my business. You wouldn''t even understand any of it with that head of yours."


    "You''re probably right, Mr Oval." Lucas replied.


    By this point in time, even a five year old would realise that Lucas was purposely saying the wrong name. Some of the core members were surprised while the others appeared interested. Even the two board members in attendance via virtual projection had a mysterious smile on their faces.


    "Hey, kid. Are you playing with me?" Orvel stood up and glared at Lucas.

 Chapter 279 - 279: I Can Do Better

    "The fuck is wrong with you, kid. Are you playing with me?" Orvel shouted as he stood up.


    "Mr Orvel, please remember that he''s a stakeholder elected by the young miss." Helnord tried to intervene.


    "I pay my respects to the young miss, but not to some brat like this. Stay out of the way, otherwise I''ll take this as the young miss wanting to get rid of me even after all my hard work and efforts for this team." Orvel threatened.


    Helnord froze, not knowing what to do at that moment. Orvel''s threat was indeed effective.


    Although Vienna might have valued Lucas quite well to gift him 40% equity of the team, it didn''t mean that he was more important that Orvel. Compared to latter, Lucas couldn''t offer even one tenth (or 10%) of what Orvel could do for the team. After all, part of the reason for their impressive performances in the previous and current seasons was due to the racing shuttle designed by Orvel.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, surprised at how Orvel has suddenly instigated a serious problem and driven a wedge between him and Vienna. From a simple battle of words, it had turned into a ''me or him'' controversy.


    ''What a sly fellow.''


    At this moment, Lucas realised that Orvel was quite greedy for power. He probably wasn''t satisfied with his role as the head of designs and wanted to become a stakeholder, maybe even the majority stakeholder of the team. Despite that, a stranger came out of nowhere and beat him to it. Naturally, he would be pissed. Sear?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Orvel probably wanted to use this situation to create a problem between Lucas'' relationship with Vienna. By emphasizing his efforts for the team and also revealing his irritation over a stranger appearing to take over, he had also communicated his thoughts in wanting a higher position, specifically, Lucas'' role.


    If it were an average person that said these words to another average person, none of this would be true. However, the speaker was Orvel and the listener was Vienna''s secretary, Helnord. Naturally, there were some underlying meaning in those words and the latter would definitely spot them.


    While Helnord was hesitating on what to do, Orvel decided to strike while the hammer was hot. But there was someone much faster than him.


    "You''re wrong about something, Mr Omal. Your hard work and efforts for the team has been very much appreciated and taken notice of. Mrs Vienna rewarded your diligence by paying you a monthly salary while letting things become as you wanted it to be. Take a look around you, if that wasn''t so, we wouldn''t be where we are today, now would we?" Lucas finally showed an expression; a smile.


    It was now Orvel''s turn to hesitate. His next course of action had been blocked and he had crashed right into an iron wall.


    Lucas'' statement might have seemed simple but he was implying that Vienna let Orvel run the team and expand his influence into other departments despite her being the real boss of the team. If Orvel were to challenge these words or desire more, he would paint himself as someone ungrateful to the others. If such news was to get out, it could affect his public image greatly.


    "Hmph." Orvel snorted before returning to his seat.


    It became a clear sign to others that in this first round, he had lost to Lucas.


    "As I previously mentioned, I went through the documents of the team and although it''s looking good, there are certain areas that need a few improvements and I''ll be sure to relay my thoughts on them to the necessary departments." Lucas said.


    However, he noticed that some of them seemed unconvinced. This was understandable after all the person lecturing them about their errors was a human.


    Realising this, Lucas smirked.


    "But there''s a particular error I just don''t understand so I''ll have to forward my question here."


    Lucas tapped on the table and a 3-d projection of the engine of the racing shuttle, Viper, appeared above the table.


    "My Dobal, can you shed some light on why you used a linear drive system for the energy delivery feature of the engine, L2.13o?"


    The current Viper was actually a second generation racing shuttle with the first generation appearing in the previous season. After its magnificent performance, department head Orvel decided that they would go with it for the current season, only making some minor changes to the structural design. They had also made changes to the engine to upgrade its performance to a much higher level. The new engine was then called the L2.13o.


    The nomenclature of the Versoa team''s engine was based on a unique set of rules that functioned like a secret code for the core team.


    L2 was the model number of the engine. As it was adapted from the previous generation Viper which was called the L1 engine, the following upgrade was called L2.


    The number 13 referred to how many key adjustments and upgrades had been made to it when compared to the L1 model.


    The letter ''o'' was part of a different set of codes used in the team. The set of codes signified the type of racing shuttle engine, similar to how certain cars back on Earth would have ''AWD'', ''RWD'', or ''S'' associated with them to inform others about the drivetrain system.


    Based on the Versoa team''s encryption, the ''o'' implied a balanced system but with a tilt towards speed. The idea was gotten from the fact that the letter ''o'' could be balanced on any side, and the shape together with the opening made it appear almost like an exhaust pipe.


    Orvel ignored Lucas, acting as if he wasn''t the one being spoken to. Since Lucas refused to say his name right, he saw no point in talking to him.


    Seeing this, the department head for the Vehicle manufacturing department ¡ªwho didn''t want the matter to escalate any longer¡ª sighed and answered,


    "The Linear drive system is a popular drive system for power transmission. It''s used for both light rail trains and starships because of its efficiency and power boost capabilities. So we decided to do the same."


    Truthfully, the man was confused as to why Lucas had asked such a simplistic question. He had originally thought Lucas was on to something, but the question was quite disappointing. This was something even a Tier 1 vestige-smith in the hover car industry could answer easily.


    Lucas glanced at the man who spoke and recalled his identity. He was named Lerman and was somewhat of a genius, at least by Eretre''s current standards. Although he was only a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, Lerman would rank at the peak and was a sixth level stellar practitioner, closing in on the seventh level.


    Excluding Orvel, all the other department heads were at the Elite level of Tier 1, which was why Orvel was able to have his way in the team. Even if there was a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, he or she would have to be at the high rank to be able to rival Orvel.


    "You''re right about that, but the advantage of the linear drive system lies in a straight path, hence why it''s called ''linear''. If the vehicle is one that would go through a lot of curves and bends, the efficiency of the drive system drops by at least 30%. Also, linear drive system''s requirement is heavy on the material of the engine and the energy pathway." Lucas said.


    The Linear drive system was an energy transmission system that worked just like a rocket booster. Rocket boosters were good for going in a straight path, but they weren''t efficient for insane manuevers and bends, because they were too powerful. Even the lower version ¡ªnitro boosters¡ª used in racing cars, had the same problem. They were very effective for straight line dash but not for curves or drifting.


    What''s more, a Linear drive system required a solid and durable engine to be able to handle the incredible amount of energy being pumped into it. However, if the material used for the engine was too dense, it would adversely affect the weight of the racing shuttle with a corollary of a drop in speed and even acceleration.


    "You''re right about that, but we have a materials department to sort out some of those problems."


    Lerman pointed at another man in the conference room. The man was the current head of the department of material manufacturing. This department''s duty was to acquire and test the materials needed for building the racing shuttle and its engine. They also carried out research and development, mixing various materials and metals to produce new alloys that were not only stronger and better, but suited for a goal in mind.


    Seeing Lerman hint his way, the department head, Jov?, spoke up.


    "You''re right about that, sir. However, we at the materials manufacturing department have created a unique alloy to help with this. Our new alloy was made to cater to the requirements of the linear drive system, while being as light as possible. It also effectively reduces the drop in efficiency of the engine in bends, from 30% to 27%." Jov? proudly said.


    The alloy was one of his greatest achievements as a material scientist. Unlike the others, he wasn''t even a Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith, but when it came to understanding materials and metals, not even Orvel could compete with him.


    "But it still under-performs in the weight category compared to other engines." Lucas struck at Jov?.


    The latter twitched his lips and frowned, but he couldn''t say anything. Lucas was right. Even after all they had done, the L2.13o engine was still considerably bigger than other engines. Due to this weight, it inhibited the performance of the Viper.


    "If all you''re going to do is point fingers, then shut the hell up kid." Orvel growled, seemingly having had enough.


    "Although I am indeed pointing out the flaws, that''s not all I intend to do." Lucas smiled.


    "Then what is it you plan on doing?" Lerman stared at Lucas with an inquisitive glare.


    "How long did it take to build the Viper?" Lucas asked instead.


    This time around, the head of the simulation and testing department answered him.


    "It took two months of on-and-off research and upgrades by the department of design and energy. Two weeks ofor us simulation and testing department to do our job concurrently with a month of R&D for the materials by the relevant department. Finally, after everything was fixed, the department of vehicle manufacturing spent one month with the department of designs to create both the engine and the shuttle. That''s a total of four months." The department head said.


    Raising four fingers up, Lucas made a declaration with a smile on his face.


    "Four days. That''s how long it will take me to build something much better."

 Chapter 280 - 280: Customer

    The meeting ended shortly after Lucas made his statement. Since it would not negatively affect the team''s performance in the race or the staff, the bet was made between Lucas and the Versoa team''s core members. However, changes were made to the bet.


    Orvel had originally wanted it to be as Lucas had stated, but Lerman¡ªthe head of the department of vehicle manufacturing¡ª and Helnord ¡ªVienna''s secretary¡ª thought it would be more fair to ''level'' the playing field a bit.


    They had given Lucas an extra day to the bet, making it five days. They also allowed him access to the various departments laboratories and workshops as well as their equipment, although he didn''t have priority access. Finally, the winning condition was set to be for Lucas to make a much better engine rather than vehicle. The engine would now be placed into a replicated Viper racing shuttle, but without the L2.13o engine. By better, they meant at least a twenty percent (20%) improvement in performance.


    While all the changes seemed to help Lucas, the last one was a bit controversial. Since the new engine would be used on the Viper, Lucas had to design one with the appearance and functionality of the Viper in mind. If he were to make his own racing shuttle instead, he would have more space for creativity and innovation.


    But then again, since he wouldn''t need to make a new racing shuttle from ground up and only focus on the engine, it made it easier for Lucas to be able to finish the task faster.


    Nonetheless, Lucas wasn''t bothered about this. Whether or not they introduced the new changes to the bet, it didn''t matter to him. He was confident in developing something better within four days.


    One would think that the matter of the bet would be Lucas'' first concern upon returning home, but it wasn''t. Surprisingly, it was his working situation.


    Having taken over the Versoa team in the Bailin province, Lucas was faced with a challenge. His store and home was on the other side across the city, in Cas Lego province. Although it was only a fifteen minute trip, it was still somewhat mentally stressful.


    "Big brother, you''re back." Melissa rushed up to Lucas and hugged him as soon as he came in.


    Smiling, Lucas patted her head as his worries disappeared from his mind. Having a cute younger sister was indeed the best thing in the world.


    "Did anyone look for me?" Lucas asked absentmindedly.


    This was a routine of his and he never expected the answer to be different from what it had always been. But today happened to be different.


    "Yes. Some strange man came around and asked for you." Melissa replied.


    "Oh?"


    Stunned by this, Lucas walked over to the counter and turned on the pop-up display. He immediately went to the security footage page and went through it. It didn''t take long for Lucas to find the footage of someone entering the store and speaking to Melissa.


    Even though she was young, Melissa was a third level stellar practitioner which was quite high. Apart from that, she was recorded as an employee of the system and could utilise privileges associated with the status, which included the system''s protection. Lucas had also informed her about this and taught Melissa some skills to protect herself. As such, he wasn''t too worried about leaving her alone.


    The man was a young man, probably around 25-26 years of age. He had brown hair and amber-coloured eyes. He was quite tall and wore a black leather jacket with black trousers. Based on how he dressed and walked, Lucas presumed the man to be a rich second generation.


    The security footage was equipped with audio-recording so Lucas could hear exactly what the man had asked for.


    "Is the owner here?" The visitor glanced at Melissa, a bit surprised by her presence.


    Because of the system''s protection, Melissa''s stellar refinement level couldn''t be sensed by anyone. She was also a mixed blood of a categorised human and a Nysa, so she didn''t naturally produce the same frequency wave as hyumans. Together with her appearance, this made her easily mistaken as a human.


    "My big brother went out for a business meeting, so I''m in charge." Melissa said with a proud smirk on her face.


    Thanks to Lucas, she had steadily conquered her fear of people and could calmly talk to anyone besides him.


    "Oh, alright. When the owner comes over, please let him know I came around. I''ll be coming back tomorrow." The man said before turning to leave.


    "Oh, mister, what do you want from big brother?" Melissa asked.


    She was thinking if it was a job related to vestige maintenance, she could accept the request and do it herself. Even though Lucas had warned her not to, Melissa had been itching to try out her hand at practical experience.


    Maybe it was because Melissa looked cute, the man stopped and answered her with a smile,


    "I need a revamp on my hover vehicle. I heard that the boss here is the vestige-smith who worked on the Juggernaut''s exterior. I wanted him to help me with my hover car but seeing as he''s not around, I''ll come back tomorrow."


    After that, the man left and Melissa returned to drawing vestiges.


    Lucas went through the entire footage and nothing else happened.


    A smile crept up on his face.


    This experience wasn''t exactly new, at least for others. It was one of the advantages of working for a drift racing team. As the team did well, those involved in the performance would naturally get rewarded, not just from the reward money but also the exposure.


    The one who profited the most would be the driver, the head of designs and the official vestige-smith sponsor(s), as they would be the ones the audience presumed were the important factors to the team''s glory. Right after them were the vestige-smith crew involved in the production.


    In the past, while working for the Black Star team, Lucas had heard and seen the other vestige-smiths receive personal orders for modifications from fans and enthusiasts. As these orders were made outside of the team, the profit went to the vestige-smith alone.


    Despite the others getting these contracts, Lucas didn''t receive any. Part of it definitely had to do with the fact that he was more reclusive than the other vestige-smiths in the crew. However, another reason was that it was somehow revealed to the interested parties that Lucas was a human. The tag of a human would make one underrate his abilities and consider them in good light. Many would believe that he had little to do with the Black Star team''s recent performance. As a result, it would be next to impossible for Lucas to get any personal orders unless one was either crazy or willing to take a risk.


    Despite that, just after he left the team, someone had actually come up to him for aid. Even though he wasn''t present, Lucas didn''t care. If it happened once, it would happen again. Also, the man said he would come back again.


    ''I can''t think too much about it.'' Lucas threw the matter at the back of his head and went into the work-station. Sear?h the n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    He also settled in his decision regarding his work commute. For the moment, Lucas couldn''t move out of the store. He had already paid a six month deposit at three thousand federal coins per month, which equates to eighteen thousand federal coins (18,000). Even if he wanted to relocate, he would only receive 80% of his deposit of unoccupied months, and having stayed over one month already, that would be nine thousand six hundred federal coins (9,600). Lucas couldn''t tolerate leaving behind two thousand four hundred federal coins to the leaseholder because right after that, he would still have to pay for rent at his new place.


    Hence, the best decision ¡ªat least in Lucas'' view¡ª was to stay.


    Having made that decision, he promptly went to build the new engine.


    During his stint at the Black Star team, Lucas had learnt a lot about racing shuttles and hover cars. Even though the system''s tome had granted him the needed knowledge, there were still some basics and tricks only experienced professionals would know about.


    While learning, Lucas was also making use of the knowledge to create a formidable racing shuttle engine. He could use that design for the bet, however, it would not be fair.


    According to the bet, Lucas claimed that he would design an entirely new engine that would exceed the performance of the L2.13o. Since it was to be a completely new design, Lucas didn''t plan on using an existing prototype in his inventory, even though it was technically new to the world. He truly wanted to make something from scratch.


    Spreading the system-made blue paper on his workbench, Lucas began to map out his ideas.


    As the new majority stakeholder of the Versoa team, and also one brought in by Vienna, Lucas had access to all the information of the team, including the data on their racing shuttles and modifications. Also, because of the nature of the bet, he was granted further access; although Lucas didn''t need it as the previous authority already gave him the highest access.


    From the blueprint of the L2.13o engine, Lucas had managed to spot some of its shortcomings. There were at least ten ways he could improve on the engine and raise its performance up to 50%. However, he was lacking the stellar energy for that.


    The L2.13o was designed by a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith who was an eight level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Even the man who headed the vehicle manufacturing department was a peak rank Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with a stellar refinement strength of sixth level, closing approaching the seventh level. On the other hand, Lucas ¡ªusing the Employee Hire Function¡ª could only mimic Melissa''s third level stellar refinement strength.


    Hence, even though he knew how to improve the engine by 50%, Lucas could not achieve it with his strength. He would need at least fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar refinement. Although he could make minor changes, that wasn''t enough. Also, it wouldn''t abide by his intentions.


    What Lucas wanted to do was to design a new engine and not modify the L2.13o. But since the engine would need to be fitted into a Viper, Lucas decided to take inspiration from the L2.13o. It was still a creation of an eight level stellar practitioner, so it wasn''t that bad.

 Chapter 281 - 281: A New Engine

    (Author''s Note: Quite a bit of physics would be stated in this chapter. It might be confusing for some, so please browse whichever part you find confusing or just skip. For the others, don''t take it too seriously.)


    A racing shuttle, just like a car, consisted of a lot of components grouped into a few.


    In a car, using the language suitable for a five year old, the basic grouping consists of the frame, the engine and the power transmission units, supported by tyres.


    In a less basic sense, a car consisted of two main parts: the machine portion and the carriage portion. The machine portion includes the chassis and transmission, the engine, and other electrical components like the sensors. On the other hand, the carriage portion was made up of the body, the seats and all those other ''simplistic'' parts.


    A hover car was just the same albeit with a few major changes. Rather than a typical ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) [1] or a typical electric motor engine, hover cars used a more complex electric engine. In the case of racing shuttles, they used a stellar energy which was powered by stellar energy. Most racing shuttles in lower leagues used electrical energy by converting stellar energy because the vestige-smith skill-set and engineering required for the former was immense. As racing shuttles and hover cars flew, they didn''t use electric motors.


    For racing shuttles that used stellar energy directly, they had a special type of engine meant just for that. On the other hand, those that utilised stellar energy indirectly, have a power source that was separate from the engine. The power source would then have a transmitter meant for delivering stellar energy to the engine because the two components were too big and complex to be joined together. Depending on the power transmission technique used, one could create a faster racing shuttle.


    Power transmission technique was very important to improving the speed of a racing shuttle, as the more stellar energy could be delivered to the engine in record time, the faster the engine would work. This was because it would receive an immense amount of energy at a stable rate, giving it a higher acceleration and speed. Naturally, this was on the condition that the engine was up to the task.


    The L2.13o used the famous Linear drive system for power transmission. This system was used both by light-rail trains and starships because it could achieve the fastest delivery speed for energy while simultaneously providing an incredible amount of power. To put it into perspective, it was like a straight-line pipe gushing out water with an immense pressure.


    Although this was one of the most powerful designs ever, its problem was obvious; handling. The linear drive system was just too powerful that it was very difficult for drivers to handle in a curved path. This was why it was mostly retained for use in light-rail trains and starships, as those vehicles commonly moved in a straight line with few turns. Even if they needed to do so, it wouldn''t be a sharp turn as with racing shuttles.


    While the disadvantage of the linear drive system was obvious, Orvel was a genius. By working with the other departments in the Versoa team, he was able to minimise some of the disadvantages of the linear drive system. To be exact, he actually combined two power transmission techniques on the Viper''s engine, using the linear drive system for straight paths and switching to a different power system for curvy tracks.


    Naturally, this added a bit more burden to the Viper. One power transmission technique already required certain physical parts to work, and two was all the more intensive on the vehicle. But by having the Materials manufacturing department ¡ªled by Jov?¡ª develop a suitable alloy, they managed to reduce the original tonnage of the engine.


    While there was still an increase in weight, it was 40% less than anticipated. With the combination of two power transmission techniques, compensating for straight line dashes and, drifts and sharp turns, the performance of the Viper was impressive.


    The core engine was also a spectacular creation that converted stellar energy to electrical energy at remarkable speed. The drives used were also formidable. All in all, the L2.13o was a marvellous work of engineering and vestige-smithing.


    However, in Lucas'' eyes, it was riddled with flaws. The problem was...


    "I''m too weak." Lucas sighed.


    Third level Apertures Opening stage strength wasn''t enough to make great improvements on it.


    Staring at the projected blueprint model of the L2.13o, Lucas scribbled all over it, ruining the blueprint.


    ''The only option is to redesign the engine entirely; including the power transmission system, the energy storage and the core engine.''


    Even though an engine and a power source were two different components, they were mostly treated as one. After all, the mechanics required in building a power source and the power transmission system wasn''t something just anyone could do. But a vestige-smith specialised in engine design could do so.


    Moving to the fresh piece of blueprint paper provided by the system on his workbench, Lucas began making his designs.


    For the energy storage unit, he planned on making a unit using some of the precious materials for the system. They weren''t exaggeratedly expensive and roughly of the same value as the one used on the Viper''s energy storage unit. Also, Lucas intended to incorporate a certain power transmission technique into the energy unit. That''s right, into the energy unit and not as an independent component.


    The energy unit Lucas intended to use was the Triquetra-shaped chamber, which he had used on the Juggernaut during his time at the Black Star team. It was an energy unit design that incorporated power transmission ideology using a unique shape called a triquetra [2].


    The advantage of this design was that the stellar energy would constantly be in an active state and once released into the power transmission system, it would already possess a strong characteristic to it. Using an analogy, it was like the difference between water in a swimming pool and water in motion. The water in the pool has no kinetic energy that could be taken advantage of right away, unlike water in a motion, for instance, a river. A river could push an object, but a swimming pool can''t. Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    In the same way, when the energy within the Triquetra-shaped chamber is released, it possesses a unique characteristic similar to the kinetic energy of flowing water, which helps with the flow rate of the energy from the storage unit to the engine. With the added effect for the power transmission system, there would be an even greater boost to the speed of power transmission to the core engine.


    For the power transmission system, Lucas ditched the L2.13o''s linear drive system and went for a different system; one more suitable for curves and sharp turns.


    Even though he could have done like Orvel and utilise two power transmission systems, there was no need for that. The energy unit, the Triquetra-shaped chamber, already performed a similar function to the linear drive system. Having another straight line dash transmission technique was pointless. Also, because the Triquetra-shaped chamber was an energy unit, it wouldn''t have the disadvantages of the linear drive system since it could be combined with an opposite type power transmission system.


    The power transmission system Lucas used was a V-case drive. It was a self-made power transmission system that took inspiration from Earth''s V-type engines. However, this inspiration was only in name and shape, but their functionality and features were very different.


    Finally, for the core engine, Lucas went all-out, actually, 60% effort. It was still a stellar-to-electric core engine with an electric propulsion drive system. Although he could make a direct stellar propulsion drive system, no one would believe that Lucas had done so. In that case, he decided to do as the Romans did while in Rome [3].


    The best electric propulsion drive system Lucas could design was so powerful that if it were used on a car back on Earth, as long as the exterior was durable enough, it would be a piece of cake for the car to enter space; albeit the basic definition of space [4]. However, for this, he toned it down a lot because there was no need for space travel. Even so, reaching 500km/hr wasn''t a problem.


    After that came the design for the cooling system, lubricating system, the stabilisers, controls, sensors, and more. Overall, Lucas spent roughly ten hours on this. It might sound much, but truthfully, it was the opposite.


    A regular design team took anywhere from two weeks to two months to complete researching and designing a brand new racing shuttle engine. To be able to do the same within ten hours was unbelievable. It just goes to show how much of a genius Lucas was.


    With the blueprint now completed, the next course of action was to simulate the design before the actual construction. However, Lucas was confident in his calculations, so he decided to skill the simulation process and dive right into construction.


    Even though some said that smithing an engine wasn''t as difficulty as designing it, it was still very difficult. Luckily, to Lucas, this wasn''t even a problem. He would only just be taking more time for it.

 Chapter 282 - 282: The Bet

    A repetitive life might seem boring for many, but to Lucas, it was the best thing ever, so long as he was focused on what he loved most.


    Soon enough, three days went by in what felt like a flash. Including the first day Lucas began working on the new engine, only four days had passed and it was now the fifth day. Even though the modified bet was set for five days ¡ªwhich meant that Lucas would be given five days to work with the test on the sixth¡ª Lucas still achieved his goal in the original time. He only spent four days working on it and set the date for the confirmation of the bet on the fifth day.


    In front of him, on the workbench, was a brand new racing shuttle engine, complete with all the important parts. The entire contraption was so big, that Lucas had to modify the original workbench and make it larger.


    The new engine was developed with the Viper racing shuttle in mind just like the L2.13o. It could easily be switched in to replace the latter with only a little bit of effort.


    "So cool." Melissa''s eyes glittered as she stared at the engine.


    Having been raised for a couple of months by Lucas, Melissa had gotten exposed to vestige-smithing early and she found it amazing. To her, those piles of metal that most children her age would find unattractive were better than the teddy bear cushions and princess dolls sold in children''s stores. S§×ar?h the n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Of course it''s cool. It''s made by your big brother." Lucas smirked proudly. Me too. Mm mm.,


    It was only beside Melissa he would fool around as she reminded him a lot about himself during his early life.


    "What''s the name?" Melissa asked with interest.


    "It''s a cool name. One I took quite a bit of effort thinking up." Lucas boasted.


    As it was made to put down the pride of the vestige-smiths of the Versoa team and also to win a bet, Lucas had named it ''Destroyer''. That''s right, it had a tacky name as once again, Lucas'' unique naming prowess was put to action.


    Melissa was speechless once he told her this and she couldn''t help studying Lucas.


    Despite the fact that she was only eleven years old, Melissa was quite smart and mature for her age. Even she could see that the name was really...childish.


    In the magic-smith society of Lucas'' first life, there were numerous unexplained mysteries and conundrums that could not be solved, answered or explained. As such, they were termed as the ''Twelve Great Mysteries''. Most of these mysteries were related to magic-smithing, whether they be techniques, concepts or materials; however, one mystery stood out from the rest. It was called the Mystery of Yohan.


    The Mystery of Yohan wasn''t some ecliptic question about why Yohan was so talented as a magic-smith or what his upper level would be. Instead, it was a question brought up in an attempt to understand why Lucas was so bad at names.


    Apparently, when others used cliche or childish names, Yohan behaved just like everyone else and would spot how horrible the names were. However, it was ironic that he did the same as well, but wouldn''t see a problem in it. At first, many thought that he was being a hypocrite, but after some of the magic-smiths closer to him queried Yohan or spoke to him about it, they realised that he wasn''t a hypocrite; Yohan truly saw no issue in his naming sense as he did with others.


    The concept of innate dual perception wasn''t uncommon with regular humans. It had been recorded quite a few times; situations where someone perceived the same idea or situation differently depending on who was involved. Most times, people do this purposely ¡ªwhich was then called hypocrisy¡ª but there were some recorded cases where individuals simply had their brains programmed to do so, hence the idea of innate dual perception. For instance such people, they truly saw nothing wrong with their actions. Take for instance with Lucas, where whenever someone used a bad name, he found it problematic, but ironically, he did the same but never noticed it.


    The problem however, was that occurrences of innate dual perception were common in regular individuals and not magic-smiths. In fact, it was logically impossible for a talented magic-smith to have a mental disorder as it would affect their progress. Hence, the fact that Yohan was a victim of a mental disorder, yet was an amazing magic-smith, became a mystery ¡ªthe Mystery of Yohan.


    "Go and get dressed. We''re heading outside." Lucas ruffled Melissa''s head.


    The little girl''s face immediately lit up and she ran out from the work-station to her room upstairs. While she might like vestige-smithing, Melissa was still a child and was quite adventurous. Although she didn''t complain, Melissa didn''t fancy staying indoors for a long time. She preferred going out with Lucas and taking in the sights of the city.


    After a short while, the sibling duo departed the shop. The Destroyer was naturally stored in Lucas'' system inventory. Earlier during the day, Lucas had already sent a message to Helnord, Lerman and the other vestige-smiths. He stated that the engine was completed and he wanted to be done with the bet as soon as possible.


    Fifteen minutes went by quickly and Lucas ¡ªtogether with Melissa¡ª arrived at the Versoa team''s headquarters in Bailin province.


    When they arrived, Helnord was already present and led the way to the designated test site which was the mini circuit. Gathered here were not just the core members of the Versoa team, but also three representatives of the various stakeholders ¡ªone more than during the previous meeting.


    The reason for this was simple; the existing shareholders had heard about the newcomer, most especially his bet with Orvel. As such, some of them became interested in it. No matter which side won, they would not suffer a loss. However, if by some miracle Lucas came out on top, the Versoa team would be capable of climbing up the ladder by replacing their current engine with his. This was because the condition for winning was to create a better engine at least twenty percent more efficient and powerful than the L2.13o.


    If Lucas could pull this off, there was no reason to why the Versoa team wouldn''t switch to his engine. The stakeholders themselves would even push for this.


    Even though the Verso team''s 11th place was good, anyone would want to place higher as the difference between a top ten and one not in the top ten was vast; whether it was the resources, the rewards or the glory.


    Excluding Lucas and Vienna, there were five other stakeholders of the team. With three of them alongside Lucas, there would be four stakeholders present in this event. The power wielded by Lucas alone was already the greatest in the team, and with the added voice of three other stakeholders, it would be easy to switch the Viper''s engines even if Orvel didn''t want to do so. This was on the condition that Lucas wins.


    "You know you still have an extra day left. You could have showed up tomorrow for the tests instead." Helnord stared at Lucas with a confused expression.


    From the day the bet was made, only four days had elapsed. Today was the fifth day. Logically, Lucas could still have spent this day making extra adjustments to the engine. It was currently still 9:30am; there was lots of time for that. However, he had decided to settle the bet today.


    Lucas was someone who was brought in by his boss, Vienna. This meant that the two were tied together in the eyes of the others. If Lucas performed badly, he would end up sullying Vienna''s reputation. As a result, Helnord was a hit displeased that he didn''t utilise his advantages to the fullest.


    "An extra day or less makes no difference to me." Lucas calmly replied.


    Sighing, Helnord asked,


    "How confident are you?"


    Rather than giving a proper answer, Lucas replied,


    "If I wasn''t confident, I wouldn''t have made the bet."


    He then ignored Helnord and walked away.


    The Versoa team headquarters had three main buildings, and one of them was the arena. Apart from the mini-circuit in the arena, there were also three secondary buildings located at the opening in the centre of the circuit. One of those buildings was a recreational spot with a viewing platform on the top floor.


    Not a lot of people fancied this spot since it didn''t give a comprehensive view of the track, but it gave a close up view which vestige-smiths found valuable. Hence, only the crew members of the team stayed here while the stakeholders were seated in the VIP section of the arena.


    The other two buildings were the repair station and garage respectively. Currently, there were two Vipers in these buildings, one in each. The Versoa team''s original Viper with the L2.13o engine was in the garage, while the Viper set aside for Lucas to use was in the repair station. The station was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and devices, so it wouldn''t be a problem for Lucas to install a new racing shuttle engine there.


    "Where''s your engine?" Lerman, the department head of the Vehicle manufacturing department asked with a confused expression.


    A complete racing shuttle engine, which includes the energy unit, power transmission system and the core engine¡ª was an incredibly heavy machine that weighed a few hundred kilogrammes. It was usually carried by a heavy-duty-class hover car. This wasn''t to say that stellar practitioners couldn''t lift it up, but to prevent any damage during the process, a machine was better trusted.


    Lerman didn''t see any hover car following behind Lucas, so he was wondering where the engine was.


    "I''m with it." Lucas replied.


    He didn''t say any word more before walking towards a workbench and carefully retrieving the engine from his inventory. With the constant upgrades, the system''s inventory was almost like a new limb that Lucas could control with ease. As long as he wished, he could carefully retrieve an item from it with raising even a speck of dust.


    The engine appeared abruptly on the workbench, but it didn''t even make a single sound. It was almost as if it had been there from the start. If he hadn''t seen this himself, Lerman might have believed that to be truth.


    "You..."


    Lerman was stunned.


    As a vestige-smith, he was aware of spatial storage devices known as spatial vaults. They were on par with Grade 4 vestiges but could sometimes be costlier. It all depended on the fixed space within them.


    However, for a spatial vault that could contain a complete racing shuttle engine and handle its weight without destabilising, that was very expensive. It was the kind of expensive that didn''t just depend on one''s finances but also connections. This was because such spatial vaults could only be made by Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smiths and no one else. They were essentially the same value as Grade 5 vestiges.


    ''How could this kid have access to it? Who the hell is he?''


    For a second, Lerman couldn''t help but think that things might not go as everyone else thought.


    Maybe, just maybe, Lucas would cause an upset.

 Chapter 283 - 283 : The Stakes

    The process of installing a new engine wasn''t exactly long. At most it would take three to four hours alone, but with a team working on it, the time would be shortened to two hours or even an hour.


    Because the spectators were all busy people, Lucas couldn''t spend the majority of the morning setting up the engine. He has already drafted a document showing the necessary steps for installing the Destroyer, so he handed it to Lerman.


    "What''s this for?" Lerman asked while staring at the projected images.


    "It''s the installation script for installing my new engine, the Destroyer." Lucas replied.


    Lerman was speechless.


    An installation script was the same as a manual or a guide.


    One should know that Lerman is a peak Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith with a lot of experience on hover cars and racing shuttles. What''s more, he was the department head of Vehicle manufacturing for the Versoa team. When it came to installing engines, Lerman was confident that he was even more proficient in that than Orvel, the team''s only Tier 1 Master vestige-smith. As such, he was stupefied by the fact that Lucas had handed him a manual.


    Usually, even though every engine might differ in appearance or functionality, they always maintained a few core components. Because of this, the process of inserting an engine onto a racing shuttle or hover car was roughly the same. As long as one could identify those key components, then it wasn''t a hassle to attach them to the shuttle; and as an experienced vestige-smith in this area, Lerman was confident that he could identify them.


    As if reading his thoughts, Lucas added,


    "It''s a bit special."


    Although he refused to believe it, Lerman downloaded the installation script and went through it. Thirty seconds later, he got interested. One minute later, his eyebrows were wide open.


    For the next five minutes, Lerman was glued to the script and it wasn''t until one of his department members called out to him that Lerman recovered.


    With an astonished look on his face, he glanced in front of him hoping to see Lucas and question him on the design, but the latter was already long gone.


    "Is there a problem, sir?" The vestige-smith asked Lerman.


    "No, nothing. Let''s get to work. Everyone should download the script and go through it first. If you don''t understand it, just follow the instructions written on it." Lerman said before uploading the installation script to the department''s group chat.


    The vestige-smith was confused just as Lerman was before. He couldn''t help but wonder why his department head had ordered that they all go through the script. What''s more, he even insinuated that they might not understand it.


    How could that be? Even if they weren''t as skilled as Orvel or Lerman, they were still experienced professionals.


    But as orders were orders, the vestige-smith didn''t argue with Lerman and did as he was told. It was only after he went through the script that he understood Lerman''s instructions. The person who built this engine was a genius; a fucking genius.


    With the assistance of the Vehicle manufacturing department, Lucas only spent forty-five minutes inserting the engine into the Viper doppelganger. It would have been shorter, but he spent a significant amount of time explaining some aspects to the crew lest they made any mistake. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After the installation, the Viper clone was tested for functionality and after fifteen minutes, it was ready to be on the road.


    The bet was to be settled in a race.


    While a simple engine test could be carried out, it wasn''t as entertaining as driving the vehicle around.


    The drivers were two robots called Racers. A Racer was a type of robot that was used as a training partner for drivers. They were programmed to be able to ride any kind of vehicle, but because of this, they weren''t necessarily better than drivers. Hyuman drivers were flexible and could take risks, whereas Racers were stuck to the protocols set by their programming. Because of this, they were referred to as rigid drivers.


    Even though this was a disadvantage in drift racing, it made them suitable practice partners for beginners and also test subjects.


    "The bet is simple. Five laps. The first racing shuttle to win the race takes majority points. Performance and efficiency would also be taken into account in calculating the final result. If you feel it''s not fair, an engine calibration test would be carried out."


    Helnord announced from the viewing platform after everyone took their seats. The VIPs, who consisted of the three attending stakeholders and their assistants, sat at the VIP section of the arena. The vestige-smiths, however, stayed at the viewing platform of the recreational building right at the centre of the track.


    "Any disagreement?"


    Helnord glanced at Lucas and Orvel.


    "None." The two responded.


    "Good. In that case, we can begin."


    The two Vipers, Viper original and Viper clone, were pulled out of the garage and the repair station respectively. The two Racers walked towards the racing shuttles and got in. The thirty seconds countdown to the start of the race began and the Vipers were turned on, transitioning from their warm-up phase to active phase.


    "If you kowtow now and apologize to me, I don''t mind letting you off." Orvel said with a mocking grin on his face.


    There were no bets without stakes.


    For this bet, the two sides had staked their lots. Lucas had offered half of his stocks in the company, which was equivalent to twenty percent. It would bring him down to the second largest majority shareholder and he would be sharing the spot with Orvel. On the other hand, Orvel had agreed to do whatever Lucas wanted and not go against him.


    From the onset, it looked like Lucas had more to lose, and that was true, but the latter didn''t mind because there was no way he would lose. At the same time, Orvel was also confident in winning.


    One should know that the L2.13o wasn''t solely designed by him. While he was the head vestige-smith, it was still the combined effort of him and his teammates. The production was also achieved thanks to the teamwork of the other collective departments. In essence, Lucas wasn''t just competing against Orvel, but the entire Versoa team.


    Finally, Orvel didn''t seem to be losing much even if Lucas won. At best, it would be his dignity and pride dragged to the ground. But he believed that as the best vestige-smith in the team, there was no way Lucas would humiliate him even if he lost; after all, the team needed him. At worst, Orvel would have to treat Lucas with more respect which wasn''t exactly difficult. As such, Orvel wasn''t worried about the race at all. Instead, he decided to play mind games on Lucas.


    Hearing Orvel''s words, Lucas simply glanced at him before turning back to the track without saying a single word.


    Orvel fumed, feeling humiliated by Lucas'' actions. Right then and there, he mentally swore to make life difficult for Lucas once he won, even if the latter was the majority stakeholder. The team couldn''t risk firing him as finding a replacement ¡ªespecially at this point in the tournament¡ª was difficult, if not impossible. Hence, he would make life in the team unliveable for Lucas as long as he won.


    ''Just you wait, you little bastard.'' Orvel grunted.


    In the next second, the counter reached zero and the two Racers accelerated to top speed.

 Chapter 284 - 289 : Shocking Change

    The Versoa team''s mini circuit was a plain circuit in Drift racing terminology. This was a type of track that has no danger zones and is pretty much the same as those on Earth. The Verso team had built this plain circuit to help train drivers and test vehicle performance. So, even though the circuit didn''t have any traps, dangerous terrains or the likes, it was quite complicated and windy.


    *Voom*


    *Sieuuu*


    The two Vipers sped from the starting line and flew on the track at insane speeds. Although they were still below the speed of sound, they formed aerodynamic waves that seemed to encase the vehicles as they sped forward without regard. The thirty seconds countdown period was enough for the two engines to be warmed up and transition into the active phase. As for what that is, the active phase of a racing shuttle was the stage where the shuttle could almost instantaneously reach marginal top speed.


    Usually, in standard vehicles, acceleration towards top speed is a process that takes time. However, to judge the performance of a vehicle, the time it takes to reach a certain speed is considered. This speed is known as the marginal top speed in Drift racing. For instance, on Earth, a vehicle''s speed performance was judged by the time it took to reach 100km/hr (60mph), but in drift racing, the marginal top speed was even higher, about 370km/hr (220mph).


    To reach this marginal top speed, it was inevitable that one would have to take some time to do so. Hence, vestige-smiths thought up a solution which was the phase development of racing shuttle engines. The warm-up phase was actually the basic phase of the racing shuttle. On the other hand, the active phase was the top performance mode of the shuttle, similar to Racing mode in luxury and sport cars on Earth.


    The thirty seconds countdown became the period where drivers transitioned their vehicles from the warm-up phase to the active phase. In this way, once the countdown was over, the racing shuttle would be in peak mode right from the start.


    "What an impressive active phase. It''s already capable of rivalling the L2.13o." Lerman remarked.


    Even though the racing shuttles moved extremely fast, vestige-smiths had good eye sight and judgement. The stronger they were, the better these qualities, and for the peak sixth level Apertures Opening stage Lerman, it wasn''t an issue for him to discern the vehicles clearly. The others had to use special goggles or watch the slowed down live stream of the race.


    "Indeed. The L2.13o is a joint effort of the team and the material used for the transmission system and the core engine is an alloy we recently produced. That kid didn''t even use it, yet his engine seems to be able to handle the stress even though it''s a similar technique to the Linear drive system." Jov?, the department head of the Material manufacturing department said with praising tone.


    He was the one who led the development of the new alloy that was suited for the Linear drive system used in the L2.13o. Jov? knew the difficulty involved in producing that alloy as well as its uniqueness. For that reason, it hadn''t even been released to the market yet, even though the profit would be incredible. The Versoa team had instead held back and decided to begin selling the material, or even the formula, to the material market after the season was over.


    Even though Lucas didn''t use the Linear drive system, based on the performance of the Viper clone in a straight path, it was obvious that a similar transmission technique was applied to it.


    Despite that, he had somehow acquired a different material that seemed to provide a similar structural boost for his engine. Jov? admired his skill but also felt challenged by this.


    Jov? was captivated and began to wonder between the L2.13o and the Destroyer, whose engine was more powerful and efficient in this regard.


    "That''s where you''re wrong." Lerman said.


    "Huh?" Jov? glanced at him.


    "The Destroyer doesn''t use a linear transmission technique like the Linear drive system."


    Jov? was waiting for an explanation, but seeing Lerman remain quiet, his lips twitched before he said with a slightly frustrated voice. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "What is it then, sir?"


    When it came to the engine of a racing shuttle, Jov? couldn''t compare to Lerman. Even when the focus was simply developing a racing shuttle, Lerman was well ahead of the former. He had also taken a good look at the installation script, so it was only natural that Lerman knew more about the Destroyer than anyone else.


    "His transmission system employs the Boyann?s Principle which is the direct opposite of the linear transmission technique. As for how his racing shuttle achieved a similar marginal top speed in a straight line with a Linear drive system, it''s because his energy unit applies the linear transmission technique." Lerman explained.


    Jov? was stunned for a moment before he exclaimed,


    "What?!"


    The concept of imbuing a transmission technique into an energy unit could be described as insane and generally impossible. It wasn''t unheard of, but not many vestige-smiths could pull it off. This was because there were a ton of complexities and complications involved. If a single mistake was made, even if it was as tiny as a bolt being only one micrometre wider, the engine might collapse and implode while operational. As such, one would have to be at least a peak rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith or better to be able to pull it. Even Orvel, who was only a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, couldn''t pull it off; and that was a rank he had attained just recently. In fact, the agreed upon standard was actually Tier 1 Grandmaster, but most of the vestige-smiths at that level didn''t participate in drift racing tournaments, even more so the underground leagues.


    On the other hand, Lucas was a human. There was nothing else needed to be said.


    As if reading Jov?''s thoughts, Lerman continued,


    "He utilised a unique shape known as a triquetra, and moulded his energy unit into that shape. This helps with creating an active flow of stellar energy within the unit."


    There were a couple other complexities involved, but those aren''t mentioned nor obvious in the installation script. Hence, even if Lerman could identify the shape of the energy unit, he still couldn''t produce an exact functioning replica.


    "If he actually made that with his own hands, then he''s..."


    "A genius." Lerman completed.


    Meanwhile, the racing shuttles had already exited the straight line track. It wasn''t clearly obvious at first, but the L2.13o was leading the charge, only by 10 centimetres.


    Before the two racing shuttles approached the first bend, the Racers at the helm immediately switched their driving style and abruptly turned the wheels. Because of the speed the two vehicles drove at, even a three hundred metres gap was nothing and they arrived at the bend within three seconds.


    The Viper original slightly decelerated before it made forceful yet somewhat clean turn. There was also a drop in speed during that moment, before it abruptly picked up again and sped away.


    However, the Viper clone made a clean turn, and although it has decelerated right before, it was almost unnoticeable to the general public. As such, it was able to pull ahead of the Viper original in that instance.


    This was only the first curve and a second one was before the two vehicles after just seven seconds. The same scenario took place once again and the Viper clone extended the gap again.


    The mini circuit has at least twelve shape curves and only four straight tracks, while the rest of the circuit consisted of narrow tracks. It was obvious that the track would be advantageous to engines suitable for curved terrains, however, that was not necessarily true. The linear transmission technique performed great in narrow tracks ¡ªjust as good as its adversary¡ª so long as there were no sharp turns.


    In other words, an engine that excelled in sharp curves and bends wouldn''t necessarily beat the L2.13o engine on this track because while there were more sharp curves than straight tracks, the majority of the track was averagely narrow, and the Viper original would excel at them.


    But what if the Viper original''s opponent was one who excelled at sharp curves but also did almost as good as it on straight and averagely narrow tracks?


    As the Viper clone began to pull away from the Viper original, it became obvious even to the VIPs on the other side that the Viper clone might just be a better vehicle.

 Chapter 285 - 285 : Mr Jermaine

    The first lap was quickly completed by the two vehicles and they had driven into the second lap. Although the Viper clone, which had the Destroyer under its hood, was taking the lead, there was not much reaction from the vestige-smith crowd, but the same couldn''t be said about the VIPs.


    "Your shuttle doesn''t seem to be doing too well." One of the stakeholders said to Orvel with a smile.


    The stakeholder was a middle-aged man with purple-black hair and royal azure blue eyes. He wore minimalist styled outfits, but the value of any one of them could easily afford to feed and provide for a family of six for a half a year, and this was just his dressing alone. In fact, the middle-aged man ¡ªdespite his looks¡ª was already in his seventies, but he spent a lot of money on skin rejuvenation serums to maintain a healthy appearance.


    As the two were at different locations within the arena, they communicated using virtual projections. On the seat beside the man sat a virtual projection of Orvel Feurd. The latter was actually sitting on the viewing platform in the middle of the circuit.


    "Mr Jermaine, you misunderstand something but I presume that''s because you''re not a vestige-smith. However, to judge the winner of a five lapped race by the results of just one can only be described as ridiculous." Orvel replied with a smile.


    Jermaine was the shareholder with the fourth largest stake in the team equivalent to eight percent (8%). Apart from Lucas and Vienna, no one else held a double digits stake in the Versoa team, so eight percent was actually large. Apart from that, there were inside rumours that he was apparently trying to buyout the stakes in the hands of another, finally bringing his to double digits. That would then make him the third largest shareholder of the Versoa team.


    However, none of these warranted Orvel''s behaviour. After all, Orvel was a man said to not show any sign of respect to the other stakeholders except Vienna and Jermaine.


    Vienna was explanatory as her background was something he couldn''t even compare to. Although the title of a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith seemed luxurious, as long as she was willing, it wouldn''t be impossible for Vienna to find a replacement for Orvel. Even if she couldn''t, she could definitely get two mid rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smiths which was almost good enough. As such, Orvel had to be respectful towards her.


    But Jermaine was different. Jermaine''s background wasn''t on par with Vienna, so logically, he shouldn''t be able to warrant the same respect as she did. However, the middle-aged man had an insane amount of wealth and a lot of connections. He had even done business with the Cardoso family, who were the rulers of Trundel City.


    One should know that to be able to mingle or have any sort of interaction with the Cardoso family, your worth has to be impressive, especially your financial prowess. Even having money or fame was still not enough as one needed to be able to stand out from the others, so as to approach or be approached by the Cardoso family. After all, even though it was a few generations ago, the Cardoso family was still a branch of the royal family, the Oklo Dynasty. They wouldn''t just hang around with any Tom, Dick or Harry, simply because you were rich and famous.


    It was all due to this that no matter how much of a prideful and stubborn man he was, Orvel had to tuck his tail properly around Mr. Jermaine.


    The middle-aged man, Mr Jermaine, didn''t take Orvel''s words offensively and simply smiled.


    Seeing this, Orvel continued,


    "The L2.13o is a state-of-the-art creation. Ignoring the fact that I am the one who headed its design and construction, every member of the Versoa team played a valuable role in creating it. It is the gem of the team and our masterpiece for competing in this season. Naturally, it has all our latest achievements in vestige-smithing built into it. There''s no way it would lose to the rushed work of a human." Orvel sneered.


    While the current situation might seem different from what he said, there was an explanation for it.


    The drivers of the two racing shuttles were Racers in default mode, and unlike hyumans, they needed a period of time to adjust and analyse the best strategy to win the race. Due to this, it wasn''t uncommon for the performance of a default-mode Racer to improve over time.


    The original Viper racing shuttle with the L2.13o engine, there were two transmission systems built into it. Because of this, depending on the terrain, the driver would have to manually switch the shuttle''s transmission to the most suitable system. An automatic switching mechanism was available, but it wasn''t necessarily as fast or efficient as a manual, depending on the driver''s skills. sea??h th§× Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    For the moment, the Racer''s timing with the switches wasn''t the best, which led it to being overtaken by the Viper clone at sharp curves.


    As the first lap was just completed, the details of the map and the performance of the racing shuttles had been recorded by the Racer. The stellar processor fixed within it could now calculate the best strategy to use to finish each lap faster. With the Racer having already memorised the track, it would know when to use a particular transmission system and time its switching properly. This meant that its performance for the next few laps would be considerably better than the first.


    Finally, the Linear drive system of the L2.13o was still slightly better than the linear transmission effect created by Lucas'' Triquetra-shaped chamber engine. There were only twelve or so sharp bends on the circuit, with the rest of the track consisting of narrow roads and straight paths, which was the shining area for a linear transmission system like the Linear drive system. Hence, no one on the Versoa team was worried about the current situation.


    As if to prove this point, the fifty metres gap between the two racing shuttles was soon closed down to thirty metres. The first sharp turn was closely approaching and the spectators would finally see whether the Racer had adjusted to the track yet.


    Pressure waves blasted from behind the two racing shuttles as their speed had already long surpassed 420km/hr (261 mph). In the top third tier league, the K1 league, this speed could easily allow one end in the top ten places. But in the top-class second tier league, the Nadire Underground League, this was the entry value for the top fifteen spots.


    The first bend arrived and unsurprisingly, the Viper clone made a smooth turn and conquered the bend, while only dropping just a few digits in speed.


    The original Viper was up almost immediately, and unlike before, there was no noticeable decline in speed. It moved through the bend almost as smoothly as the Viper clone. Even a mid rank Tier 1 Elite vestige-smith would have a hard time spotting any difference.


    At this point, Orvel smiled as if expecting this, which he, in fact, had.


    If the original Viper with the L2.13o engine had such an obvious flaw in bends, it wouldn''t have been able to become the team''s main engine or even help bring them to eleventh place.


    "Mr Jermaine, you''re about to witness why we are one of the best teams in the league and also the difference between a human and a hyuman." Orvel said.

 Chapter 286 - 286: The Pool, The Prisoner, And The Armoured

    The race went on but at this point, no one believed that Lucas would win. The original Viper had already closed up the gap, leaving only ten metres between it and Lucas'' build. In drift racing, a distance of ten metres could easily be covered within the blink of an eye if a slip-up occurs. At this point, no one believed that Lucas'' shuttle could keep the gap closed for the rest of the race, which was some three laps.


    Lucas however, remained calm. If the Destroyer''s only selling point was that it utilised the Triquetra-shaped chamber, Lucas would not have pitted it against the Viper. It should be noted that he had already offered this design for an energy unit to the Black Star team. Although the parameters weren''t the same as the Destroyer, the concept was. It would be foolish for Lucas to think that an idea that stood out a bit in the third league could compare with a close top ten shuttle in the second tier league.


    A racing shuttle engine was a general title that referred to the collection of an energy unit, a transmission system and the core engine. For the L2.13o, the energy unit was a Macquess energy unit, which was capable of storing thirty percent more energy than standard units thanks to its increased energy density. The transmission system was a twin transmission system combining the Linear drive system with a Klent-ion Spinner. The core engine was an in-house build that considered the need for a rapid switching mechanism and a couple other features for boosted performance and speed.


    On the other hand, the Destroyer has the Triquetra-shaped chamber as its energy unit. The transmission system utilised the Boyann?s Principle. However, all of these were merely supporting components to the core engine. Just like with the L2.13o, the key component was the core engine. Here, Lucas had brought out his talent and crafted a unique engine that could possibly cause a strong in the hover vehicle vestige-smithing community.


    "I''ve seen enough."


    After the second lap was completed, Lucas turned around and left with Melissa.


    The other vestige-smiths on the platform were confused and some began to snicker, thinking Lucas had given up. After all, at the start of the third lap, the two vehicles were now neck-at-neck with each other. However, considering the fact that Lucas'' Viper originally had a fifty metres gap between it and the original Viper, it was clear that in the long run, he would be losing. Many firmly believed that when it came to the core engine build, the L2.13o was now clearly the better party.


    Lerman was also surprised by Lucas'' actions, but unlike the others, he didn''t think Lucas was given up. He might not know much about the other, but from their short interactions, Lerman believed Lucas wasn''t one to simply quit. What''s more, his expression was calm with no sign of disappointment or sadness; that was certainly not the expression someone convinced about their loss would give.


    "Heh. Leaving so soon already?" Orvel didn''t hesitate to take a strike at Lucas during this moment.


    "Naturally. The race is already over." Lucas replied without turning back.


    Thinking about the fact that his Viper was about to win, Orvel couldn''t help but sneer at Lucas.


    "It''s a good thing you''re aware of your limits. However, the race would still go on so you won''t have any excuses. Just make sure not to run and prepare the contracts right away."


    Lucas suddenly stopped before turning around to face Orvel. With a flabbergasted expression on his face, mixed with the same look one would give to a fool after they made a stupid statement, he proceeded to ask,


    "Why would I run away?"


    Orvel didn''t say anything but gave a ''you know why'' look with a heinous grin plastered on his face.


    Lucas shook his head before walking away. In his opinion, he had seen enough. The race was already over. In fact, everyone else thought so. The difference, however, laid in who they believed was the winner.


    After leaving the viewing platform, Lucas didn''t exit the building but went to the ground floor. There was a cafeteria available for the team members although the second floor had a bit of a more luxurious experience for dining. Regardless of which it was, the meals were all by the chefs on the ground floor.


    Lucas arrived here simply because Melissa was hungry as was he. Also, since he wouldn''t be leaving just yet, the cafeteria was the perfect place to kill time.


    "Order whatever you want." Lucas smiled and told Melissa. S~ea??h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, no problem." Lucas nodded.


    As the majority stakeholder of the team, getting free food was one of the perks he got. Although there was a limit to it, Lucas didn''t mind spending his entire quota on Melissa.


    While the two enjoyed their meal, someone walked over.


    "Why did you leave?"


    Lerman stared at Lucas.


    After Lucas had left, Lerman had remained for a while on the viewing platform for the third lap, but he couldn''t understand why Lucas had left. On the contrary, things seemed to go as the rest all expected and the original Viper had already closed down the entire gap and began to pull away from the carbon copy.


    Watching that happen, Lerman became confused.


    Did Lucas truly leave because he knew he had lost?


    Even though he didn''t want to believe it, that seemed likely to be the reason why. But for some other reason, he decided to find Lucas and question him instead.


    "What do you mean? The race is already over." Lucas calmly.


    "You''re losing." Lerman frowned.


    Lucas was stunned, not by Lerman''s words, but by the meaning behind them.


    "Oh, you want me to win?" Lucas felt surprised.


    He had thought that everyone in the Versoa team was in support of Orvel, after all, the Viper was a joint effort of them all whereas Lucas was challenging. It would be strange for someone on the Versoa team to abandon their pride and joy for a human they knew almost nothing about.


    Yet, that seemed to be exactly what was playing out.


    "I don''t know, to be honest. But I would like to see Orvel lose." Lerman replied.


    Lucas raised an eyebrow, but he calmed down afterwards. He could now understand the situation in the Versoa team. Despite being a team, it seemed like there were factions without them as well. But then again, this was understandable.


    Lerman was about to reach the Tier 1 Master vestige-smith rank and he would be competing with Orvel for the team''s resources. However, Orvel was a greedy and arrogant fellow. It would be very difficult for Lerman to thrive in the team unless Orvel was taken down.


    "So tell me, why did you leave?"


    . . .


    While the race went on, in the depths of the East Braftford relics ¡ªspecifically the core region¡ª a figure fully clad in armour walked around calmly without an ounce of fear, anxiety or caution. It was almost like the armoured figure was taking a stroll through the park and not in the most dangerous region close to Trundel City. Even though the individual wore armour, they weren''t a drudnid by a hyuman stellar practitioner. They didn''t have a single ounce of aura or life energy exuding from their body, but they were clearly alive considering they could move smoothly.


    *Kreee*


    A drudnid at the fifth level appeared in front of the silhouette. But without the figure even making a move, the drudnid collapsed into three pieces. At the edges of each piece was a clean cut, showing that the drudnid had actually been sliced apart. However, there was no sign of action from the individual.


    This mysterious figure continued walking through the relics until they got to a strange location. It was a somewhat large pool surrounded by six tall obelisks. The obelisks acted like a border around the pool, but that wasn''t all. From the top, center'' and bottom of each obelisk, three chains darted out into the pool and each chain was drawn taut.


    The individual in armour stopped a few metres away from the pool and simply stared at it.


    "Explain yourself."


    The individual spoke.


    Based on the tone of their voice, the armoured figure was surprisingly a woman.


    The pool began to boil following which a deep resounding voice sounded from it.


    "Since when do I owe you an explanation? If it were your father, I''d consider it. But you, you''re one hundred years too early to be this cocky."


    The woman in armour didn''t say a word, simply lifting her right hand up to form a sword. She then swung her hand downwards like a vertical slash. A turbid flash of energy burst from her hand and dived into the pool.


    Logically, this energy blade should have been able to cut through the liquid in the pool and expose the ground underneath. However, it went through the liquid without spilling a single drop. The energy blade seemed to have struck something underneath as the pool began to boil once again before turning still.


    "Hmph." The woman snorted as she glanced at the pool and the chains. However, no response came out from the water body.


    It was only after a few more seconds that a mocking voice sounded.


    "Heh. Little lady, go back. Like I said before, unless it''s your father, I have nothing to explain to you."


    As she was wearing a helmet, it was impossible to know how the woman felt at this moment, but she didn''t let the prisoner''s words affect her.


    "For the tickle, I''ll make one point clear. I was not involved." The voice under the pool said.


    "Then who is?" The lady pushed a question back to the mysterious entity beneath the pool.


    "Hehe. Dark days are coming I tell you. Dark days." The prisoner roared with a maniacal voice.

 Chapter 287 - 287: Viennas Guest

    Bailin province was located north of Trundel City. However, heading eastward, one would arrive at Belfargos City, the centre of the Bernin continent and home to the Oklo Dynasty. Trundel City and Belfargos City were essentially neighbours.


    Because of this, even though it was quite far from the capital of Trundel City, the Bailin province wasn''t a desolate border province. Although it couldn''t compare to Cas Lego province ¡ªthe provincial capital of commerce¡ª it still had a lot of scenic places.


    In particular, there was a popular restaurant frequented by major powers in the province. Even the top merchants and businessmen could occasionally be spotted here, either taking a break from their stressful lives or holding an important business meeting. The restaurant was called ''Astero''s Palace'', and it was rumoured that the owner was connected to the Cardoso family.


    The sixteen storey building, designed ostentatiously to look like a skyscraper, was furnished with top quality decor and finishings. This was especially so for the top five floors. Excluding the tenth, and eleventh, the opulent twelfth floor was an open area just like the other nine floors below. However, the four above it¡ªthirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth floors¡ª were all closed out and consisted of private rooms, just like the tenth and eleventh. But the major difference between these four floors to the other two was the lavish interior.


    The tiles of the top four floors were all Ilken products ¡ªunique tiles with a fancy design made with desolate beast blood, which created a unique attractive force for stellar energy in the atmosphere. Even the paints used inside of the building were all expensive items, and the pieces of furniture were not exempt.


    Depending on one''s VIP rank in the province as well as in society, they would be able to access the rooms in the higher floors. Even so, the sixteenth floor was reserved for only a few select groups of people. Below it was the fifteenth floor, which was also well acclaimed with few characters being able to get into it.


    The fifteenth floor was partitioned into seven rooms, each the size of an extravagant suite in a five-star hotel, with a private kitchen and chef as well. In one of those rooms, a young lady sat on the table and set her sights to the view outside of the French window.


    In today''s society, her black pair of eyes and hair would have her mistaken for a human, but a unique natural frequency exuded from her body and could be sensed by hyumans. This meant that she was a hyuman, but a rare one considering her appearance. Even so, it seemed like the black and black style didn''t minimise her beauty in any way. The aura she passively exuded gave one the impression of a pristine yet dignified beauty.


    A face moulded to utter perfection, a voluptuous body that was neither too lean nor too big, and the graceful mannerisms of a princess all in one; it was no understatement to say that she was a world-class beauty.


    "Sister, it''s been a while."


    A man in his early 30s with grey metallic hair smiled as he walked over and took a seat on the table.


    "I wonder what brings you here today."


    Vienna stared at the man who couldn''t exactly be called her brother, but due to circumstances, could wield that title.


    "Don''t be like this." The man said while still maintaining his smile.


    "You should know that I care for you and truly consider you as my sister. Since when was checking up on my little sister a crime?"


    "...fine." Vienna sighed and didn''t say another word. Instead, she focused on the steak on her plate.


    It was a sumptuous rib gotten from a Nightcrawler desolate beast. The Nightcrawlers looked like huge lizards and were a venomous nocturnal species. They were also good at digging and hiding in the shadows, which made them a difficult opponent for many freelancers to take on. What''s more, an adult Nightcrawler was, at least, a fifth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast; not many freelancers could solo them.


    Despite the risks, the value of a Nightcrawler''s corpse was enough to make many independent freelancers and teams lust after them. Whether it was the claws, the scales or even their eyeballs, a Nightcrawler''s corpse held immense value. Also, as long as the venom was properly treated and gotten rid of, the flesh of a Nightcrawler could be used to prepare magnificent dishes. Together with its stellar refinement level, the flesh of a Nightcrawler provided many benefits especially to a stellar practitioner. The stronger the Nightcrawler was, the tastier its flesh and the more benefits one could obtain from eating it.


    However, due to the difficulty in hunting it as well as its rarity, Nightcrawler flesh was quite expensive and not many could afford it. Even Astero''s Palace could only offered this meal on the menu for the thirteenth to sixteenth floors. However, the grade of the meat differed on each level, with the top floor naturally getting the best, a sixth level Nightcrawler.


    Seeing her remain silent, the man, Damian, felt awkward and let out a cough.


    Vienna paused and sent an inquiring glance at him.


    "Father wants to see you. It''s been a while since you showed up. He misses you." Damian said.


    Vienna didn''t reply immediately. She remained quiet as she sank into her thoughts for a while.


    "When I''m done here, I''ll visit there." Vienna responded.


    "Why do you still have to keep such a distance between us? We''re family." Damian said with a slightly anxious tone.


    "I have no problems with...uncle. But you should know better than anyone else that I won''t be returning back there." Vienna stared at Damian.


    "So you decided to get yourself a boyfriend while staying here?" sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "W, what?" Vienna widened her eyes in shock and confusion.


    "The new guy you have by your side. You even gave him more than half of your stocks in your racing team. Back when I asked you for twenty percent, you snubbed me and left me on read. But you gave this new guy forty percent in a heartbeat. If he isn''t your new man, then tell me, who is he?"


    Damian gave her the look that seemed to say ''I''ve seen through it all''.


    For a second, Vienna didn''t know what to say so she hesitated with her response.


    "Oh, don''t tell me I actually nailed it?" Damian widened his eyes. This time around, it was his turn to be stupefied.


    "You''re being ridiculous. He saved me and my two uncles, so of course I have to thank him properly. Don''t tell me you think forty percent of a racing team''s stocks are worth more than our lives?" Vienna retorted.


    "Well, you''re right about that." Damon responded, but he still stared suspiciously at Vienna.


    Irritated by this, the lady in black stood up from her seat.


    "I''m done with my meal and I''ll be leaving. If you have anything else to say, relay it through the comms. As for...home, I''ll come take a look in a few weeks."


    After saying those words, Vienna left the room.


    Damian didn''t chase after her or follow suit right away. Instead, he stared at the french window that stood on the side with a ruminating expression on his face.


    "Shadow."


    Damian''s shadow wriggled a bit and a dark silhouette rose up from it. It was only half a metre tall and looked eerie at first glance, possessing no features whatsoever. It didn''t even have an aura or a breath, making one wonder whether it was alive or not.


    "Look into that kid for me. Dig out his entire background, history and even bloodline. It doesn''t matter if he''s from halfway across the planet or the neighbouring city. Find out everything you can about him and bring it to me."


    The silhouette immediately sunk right back into Damian''s shadow and the shadow became normal once again.


    Thirty seconds later, Damian stood up from his seat and left the room as well.


    On the table was still the half eaten Nightcrawler rib steak that was left behind by Vienna.

 Chapter 288 - 288: Gears

    "So tell me, why did you leave?"


    Lerman stared at Lucas, trying to read his thoughts from his expression.


    "Why did I leave? I already answered it. The race is over." Lucas nonchalantly replied.


    "But you''re¡ª"


    "Losing?" Lucas chuckled before staring at Lerman in the eyes.


    "Losing...it''s been a long time since that word has been associated with me. But unfortunately, today isn''t the day."


    Lerman was confused and prepared to dig deeper, but then, he suddenly felt his communicator vibrate. Someone had sent him a message.


    Frowning slightly, Lerman lifted his arm up and clicked on the communicator tied to his wrist. As he read through the message, his eyes widened in shock.


    There were only just a few words, but the content was shocking.


    / The clone is winning./


    Lerman couldn''t understand just what was happening. The meaning of the message was clear, yet that interpretation was supposed to have been impossible. The original Viper had already caught up; the ten metres gap was the same as nothing in drift racing.


    Despite all of that, Lucas'' vehicle had someone retained the lead. No, it didn''t just retain it; it performed so convincingly that the vestige-smith who sent this message practically believed that there was no comeback for the original Viper.


    "How..."


    Lerman murmured before glancing at Lucas. Seeing the latter''s unbothered expression, Lerman immediately left the scene as he bolted for the top floor.


    Lucas didn''t follow right after Lerman but instead focused his attention on the food being brought out by the waiter.


    Naturally, Lucas had already known that he would win the race; there was never any doubt nor debate. The reason for this confidence lies in the design of the core engine. The core engine of the Destroyer was modelled after the manual gear transmission system on Earth.


    In simple terms of a car transmission system, the switching of gear was done to improve engine efficiency, durability and power output. However, in hover cars and racing shuttles, the transmission system was different and focused mostly on moving stellar energy from the energy unit to the core engine and then dispersing power produced from the core engine to necessary parts of the vehicle.


    When Lucas designed the Destroyer''s core engine, he had stumbled upon a difficult problem. Although he knew countless ways to make a better racing shuttle that could beat the Viper ¡ªthe product of a seventh level stellar practitioner and high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith¡ª he lacked the ability to do so. As such, Lucas had to think outside-the-box and consider various methods to achieve his goal. It was during this brainstorming session that he decided to copy Earth''s transmission system.


    Of them all, Lucas implemented a system he liked very much about Earth cars; the manual transmission system. However, Lucas chose the Intelligent Manual Transmission (iMT) and excluded the clutch for practical reasons.


    In summary, the Destroyer had four ''gears'' developed within it. With each change in gear in ascending order, the engine would generate more power for the racing shuttle. However, there were two criteria for gear switching, especially upward gear switching.


    Unlike with the iMT cars on Earth that had gears easily switched in a second with a turn of the shaft, the gears within the Destroyer needed enough torque to be able to be switched. Also, there was an energy requirement as well. The majority of the energy unit''s power was spent powering up the racing shuttle, so there was very little that could be stored up for the gear switching. It would take a while for enough energy to be stored up to perform a gear shift. Lucas had calculated that ''while'' to be after two laps.


    Hence, after seeing the performance of the original Viper and not spotting anything noteworthy or attention-grabbing, Lucas left the place because he knew once the Destroyer changed gear, it would be all over. Even if the transition, from ''0'' gear to first gear, wasn''t enough, there was still the second and third gears.


    With all that in mind, Lucas was never worried that he would lose.


    . . .


    Lerman returned back to the viewing platform but what greeted him first was the dumbfounded expressions of the public. No one could believe what was happening.


    Not wanting to waste a second, Lerman refrained from asking for explanations and turned his sights to the track. That was when he finally understood why everyone had gone speechless.


    On the mini circuit, the gap between the original Viper and Lucas'' modified copy was no longer the previous ten metres. Instead, it had extended to a whopping three hundred metres and the gap was still rising. What''s more, the gap was constantly increasing. Even though there hundred metres wasn''t exactly much in drift racing, it was the manner the Viper clone had carried out its lead that shocked everyone. All this happened in one lap ¡ªthe third¡ª and there were still two more to go.


    "Impossible!" Orvel barked, refusing to understand what had just happened.


    The L2.13o was his pride and joy. Whether it was the ingenuity applied in combining two transmission systems, or the complex but powerful core engine put in place, it was a work-of-art; a masterpiece of the team. Despite that, it was now overtaken, no. It was disgraced and left behind in the dust by the creation of a human. No matter what his eyes showed him, Orvel refused to believe it.


    But the most painful lesson about reality was that it didn''t need one''s permission.


    The race went into the final lap and by this time, the gap between the two shuttles increased to one kilometre. At this point, no one believed that the original Viper could make a comeback and this was true.


    The Destroyer was built in a fashion that promoted incremental power. However, the L2.13o was a standard engine with a fixed power output. If it was fast, it was fast. If it was slow, it was slow. It wasn''t like the Destroyer that could cause an upset after a while. S§×ar?h the ¦Çov§×lFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    When the race was over, Orvel was still unrelenting and had asked that the two engines be tested for their parameters using an appropriate equipment. He argued that Lucas'' Destroyer was more unstable than the L2.13o. If this was true, it would mean that Lucas had lost the bet.


    The bet was that his engine would have to be at least twenty percent more power and efficient than the L2.13o. The power aspect had already been checked with the race, so it would be pointless to argue that. But the efficiency and stability wasn''t, which made Orvel''s argument a good one. This was even more so since the Destroyer performed too well. Many believed that it might have sacrificed stability and efficiency for power. The race wasn''t enough to point this out as it was much shorter than a typical drift race, so a professional test was indeed necessary.


    "No problem." Lucas calmly agreed when this was explained.


    His calm demeanour reminded everyone of the moment he left the viewing platform earlier, and for a second, the vestige-smiths of the Versoa team were beginning to lose hope of winning.


    The test was short and after thirty minutes, the results came out.


    Lucas had won.

 Chapter 289 - 289: Cashing Out The Stakes

    "Humph. Who can say whether you truly made it yourself or not."


    This time around, the person who caused a commotion wasn''t Orvel, but was Jov?, the head of the Material manufacturing department.


    Although the Designs and energy department headed the development of the L2.13o engine, the Material manufacturing and Vehicle manufacturing department played important roles in the project, second only to the former. The original Viper losing to Lucas wasn''t just Orvel and his department losing, but also these two departments that were heavily involved in the production. As the department head of one of them, it was only natural for Jov? to feel infuriated by this.


    "I figured you''d say that." Lucas smiled before pulling out a small device.


    It was the equivalent of a flash drive in this timeline.


    "Inside here is the recording of the entire production with me at the helm, the calculations, derivatives and the complete blueprint. You can have it and take a look if you want to."


    Silence pervaded the entire area.


    The Destroyer had clearly won and by a large margin. Considering both its performance in the race and the engine parameters test, it was better than the L2.13o by at least thirty percent. Such an engine could easily propel any team to the top ten of the Nadire Underground League and compete for a spot for promotion to the first league. Those gathered here were all vestige-smiths in the racing industry and they could all tell this.


    Typically, the blueprint, production recording and all other valuable data related to a racing shuttle project were kept confidential. Very few in a team could get access to it, and only department heads might be able to view the complete data. Despite this undeniable fact, Lucas had brought out all the data related to the engine and presented it to the vestige-smiths without any demand whatsoever. They were amazed by his foolish-, uhm, magnanimity.


    However, some of the more smart ones read something else from this little detail.


    Lucas didn''t seem to care about the data of the Destroyer, which meant that to him, it was nothing. There could only be two logical explanations.


    The first was that Lucas didn''t know the true value of this data, but that was impossible. They had already done some background digging on him and found out that he came from a third tier league team. Hence, it was unlikely that Lucas underestimated the value of the data.


    The second and most likely was that Lucas just didn''t care. As for why, it was pretty obvious. The Destroyer was most likely not his best work. In fact, this was the possibility they leaned more towards to, after all, the bet had placed constraints on Lucas'' creativity and ability. The engine he had to design was to be compatible with the Viper''s physical structure and frame, which gave him less ''space'' to work with. But if these constraints weren''t present, there was a significant likelihood that the engine they would have seen today would be more powerful than the Destroyer.


    Reaching this point, those who thought deeply into things froze and felt a shiver in their spines. They began to look at Lucas like some monster.


    How was it possible for a human to be this talented and terrifying?


    "Mr Lucas, is it? Nice to meet you." A man with a middle-aged appearance, purple-black hair and royal azure blue eyes approached Lucas.


    "You are..." Lucas stared confusedly at the man.


    Based on his attire, he wasn''t a vestige-smith. But considering the fact that he was able to attend this event, it meant that he was closely related to the team.


    Seeing this Helnord rushed over to do the introductions.


    "Mr Lucas, this is Mr Jermaine. He''s a shareholder of the team and the fourth largest one."


    Lucas nodded after that and glanced at Mr Jermaine with a nonchalant face.


    "Nice to meet you."


    The atmosphere became awkward for a second, Helnord began to fret and wonder whether Lucas had offended the man, but Mr Jermaine laughed it off.


    "You''re an interesting fellow." Mr Jermaine said.


    "Well, now that you''ve won. What are your demands?"


    The stakes of the bet were that if Lucas had lost, he''d offer half of his stocks to Orvel. However, if he won, Orvel would have to be more respectful and not go against him. At the same time, Lucas would be able to do whatever he wanted, limited to the fact that it didn''t cause harm to the team.


    "It''s nothing much. I just want to become the official vestige-smith sponsor of the team." Lucas laid his demands. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Versoa team did not have an official vestige-smith company sponsoring them as Vienna never saw a reason to do so. She was already quite wealthy and could support the entire team herself. Also, the Versoa team had a few side businesses that were doing okay for them. Together with the present stakeholders, there was no solid reason to seek sponsorship.


    This created a situation that was good for Lucas. He never forgot that his main goal for getting into drift racing was to become an official sponsor for a team. He would then use his skills to better the team''s performance. As the team did well and won tournaments, his store would become renowned as it was the official vestige-smith sponsor.


    After Lucas said what he wanted, the atmosphere in the team changed visibly. Some of the vestige-smiths frowned while others had a mysterious look on their faces. Even Helnord couldn''t help but glance strangely at Lucas.


    Everyone knew that one of the reasons the Versoa team was attractive to these vestige-smiths was because there was no official vestige-smith sponsor. This means that whatever performance the team made in the race would be attributed to their staff. These vestige-smiths occasionally took private modification deals and such from fans and customers because of this.


    However, once an official sponsor was introduced, the amount of clients and contracts they would privately gain would reduce, as the team''s performance would now be associated with the official sponsor more than it is with the staff.


    This was a serious conflict of interest. But even then, it wasn''t like they could stop Lucas.


    The leading figure of the vestige-smiths had gambled against Lucas and lost. Lucas was also the majority shareholder of the team and his words have a strong sway over Vienna according to some rumours. When all these were factored together, if wasn''t impossible for Lucas to have his way. But that didn''t mean that there won''t be consequences. Chances were that a couple of vestige-smiths would tender in their resignation the following day, if Lucas went with his plans.


    Helnord knew this, which was why he wanted to stop Lucas. But there was no justification to do so. Lucas had won the bet fair and square. The other vestige-smiths, under the lead of their department heads, had witnessed the bet. Lucas was also the largest majority shareholder.


    Since he couldn''t do anything, Helnord turned his gaze towards Mr Jermaine instead.


    If there was one person who could stop this, it would be Vienna, but no one believed she would interfere. If there were two, Mr Jermaine would be the second person.

 Chapter 290 - 290: Secretive Plot

    Everyone glanced at Mr Jermaine including Orvel and Helnord. Some of them were hoping for Mr Jermaine to stand on the opposite angle against Lucas and interfere in his plans. Although Me Jermaine was merely the fourth largest majority shareholder, he had a sway among the others, excluding Vienna and Lucas. That tallied up to thirty percent of the team''s stocks, and even though it still couldn''t rival Lucas'', it was enough to have a serious discussion over the matter and overrule Lucas'' superiority.


    Orvel faced Mr Jermaine with hopeful eyes because apart from the team''s company stocks, he has also been eyeing the official sponsorship position for a while. But because he knew that it would affect the interests of the other vestige-smiths in the team, which meant that Vienna would most likely not approve it, Orvel never let his intentions be known by others.


    Mr Jermaine was a natural businessman and could tell what the others were thinking, but that wouldn''t affect his judgement. Instead, he prioritised profits and connections.


    "The official vestige-smith sponsor of the team? You should know what that entails." Mr Jermaine narrowed his eyes.


    "I do, which is why I want to do it. I might not be able to sponsor the team financially, but I can do so with my knowledge, skills and technology. I don''t even mind having some others learn from me." Lucas said.


    This was what he was willing to offer for that position. When it came to vestige-smithing, apart from the Tier 1 Grandmasters, Lucas was confident that there was no one else better than him. Even the Tier 1 Grandmasters were lacking, but they only held the lead now because Lucas had yet to attain stellar refinement. Once he does so, he would become the number one vestige-smith in the entirety of Eretre.


    Hence, it was understandable why Lucas was confident that the skills and knowledge he could offer to the team was worth more than any amount of money a regular sponsor would offer in the same position.


    "It would be much better if we talk about this in great detail some other time." Mr Jermaine replied.


    He didn''t refuse Lucas, but he couldn''t side with him right away, at least not until he considered the future prospects. One should know that as the Versoa team performed better in the tournament, the requirement of the official sponsor would become higher and higher if the team wanted to profit.


    Lucas nodded, showing no sign of arguing his way into this. He also knew that his goal was something that would offend a few people, and while he didn''t care, it would be best to settle it amicably for the moment. Only if there was no other option would he then bare his fangs.


    The contest was officially over and everyone could return. Lucas handed the storage drive to Lerman for the rest of the vestige-smiths to peruse before he left. They were all surprised by both his magnanimity and composure. Despite beating a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith as a human, Lucas didn''t rub it in or mock Orvel because he saw no reason to. This somewhat insignificant decision had raised his status in the other vestige-smiths'' hearts.


    . . .


    In a private room located on the thirty-sixth floor of the residential building of the Versoa team, a secret meeting was underway.


    "Damn it."


    A chair was flung across the room, crashing into the wall and leaving a dent before breaking apart.


    "That fucking bastard. Who does he think he is?" Orvel cursed as he punched the table in front of him, leaving a hole on it.


    Jov?, who was also present in the room, slightly frowned but didn''t say a word.


    "No use complaining now. He already expected this and brought up the bet. You can only blame yourself for falling prey to his trap."


    Another man present in the room, the head of the Simulation and testing department, Poch, glanced at Orvel.


    "What do you mean? Are you implying this is all my fault?" Orvel grimaced at him.


    "There''s no use arguing about things." Jov? said before the matter took another turn.


    "What we should focus on is how to ensure he doesn''t succeed in getting the sponsorship rights. After that, we can think of a new way to get him out and take his shares."


    As it turns out, there was a cabal within the Versoa team. This group consisted of three department heads, two of whom held vital positions in the Versoa team.


    On the outside, it looked as if Orvel was the only one competing against Lucas, but he was actually secretly backed by these two department heads. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Orvel to hold an incredible sway over the team. Even if he was a high rank Tier 1 Master vestige-smith, he was only one man. If the other department heads gang up against him, it would be difficult for Orvel to dominate the team. But with the backing of two of five of the remaining department heads, he was able to stand his ground; especially since he held a more superior position among the department heads.


    When Orvel made the bet with Lucas, one part was due to his pride but another was that the group felt it would be beneficial to them. They could seize Lucas'' stocks and split it amongst themselves, gaining real control over the team and its businesses.


    But that all failed, and now, they risked losing a potential source of profit.


    "It''s easy to say that but difficult to figure out." Poch said.


    "Not necessarily." Jov? muttered mysteriously.


    "Huh? You have any idea?" Orvel turned towards him with an inquisitive look on his face.


    "A strike. If he decides to push for the sponsorship position, we can move our men to go on a strike. We''ll threaten him with that. No matter how talented he is, it''s impossible for one man to do the work of three different departments, especially in the middle of the league."


    Orvel and Poch hesitated after Jov?''s plan was unveiled.


    "Wouldn''t we offend Mrs Vienna this way?" Orvel said.


    Only two people could make him look differently at them, but only one could truly make Orvel hesitate and that was Vienna.


    Whether it was her mysterious background, the wealth she possessed or the little display of power she had shown, it made everyone in the Versoa team understand that Vienna was a force to be reckoned with in their power struggle. It was best that they tried not to offend her, otherwise their ending might not be the best.


    "I don''t think so. From what I''ve learnt, he only got the shares for saving her life and that''s wall. They''ve ever interacted with each other or spoken length before, so there''s no relationship between them. If he loses his shares due to mismanagement, we can''t be held responsible for that." Jov? argued.


    He then added,


    "Also, I''ve done an extensive digging in his past. He''s just a regular human with some talent. Although a bit of his past is still dark, it''s unlikely to be anything incredible. If Mrs Vienna had to choose between the two sides, it''s obvious which one she would pick. The worst case scenario would be that she''d stay neutral, but that''s already good enough for us." S§×arch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Listening to his argument, both Orvel and Poch became convinced and they agreed to the plan. As long as Lucas kept pushing for the official sponsorship rights, Jov? and Poch would have their departments threaten to go on strike. Orvel couldn''t do this because according to the bet, he had to stay away from offending Lucas or going against him. However, as long as Jov? and Poch raised the issue of a strike, he could join along under the guise of ''upholding the interest of the team and its members''.

 Chapter 291 - 291: Saint

    Deep inside the core region, where the pool surrounded by six obelisks was located, a silhouette calmly walked towards the pool. Unlike the area''s previous visitor, who had a daunting aura that could take on a fifth level drudnid, the silhouette gave off no intimidating presence nor form. However, none of the drudnids on guard attacked the silhouette. It was as if they couldn''t see the figure.


    The dark silhouette continued until it reached the pool and stood quite close to it, a distance even closer than the armoured lady from before. There were only a few steps left to take and he would be within the pool.


    "So many visitors recently. One might think there''s a garage sale down here at this rate."


    The deep resounding voice that came from beneath the pool sounded more again.


    "Hmm? This scent, this feeling...you''re different." The voice suddenly turned serious.


    The newcomer lifted the hood of their cloak, revealing an ordinary face that was unforgettable to the citizens of Trundel City.


    "It''s been, a while, Monclev."


    The young man who spoke was the culprit of the East Braftford relics'' Aura-breaking stele incident. After the incident that took hundreds of lives, his image has been circulated to the public in an attempt to find him. But as it turns out, the young man was still with the relics where no food or water could be found.


    The voice underneath the lake froze after hearing those words. It was as if it had heard a very shocking yet ridiculous discovery, like the fact that the Emperor was a lover of thighs.


    "Heh." The voice scoffed.


    Suddenly, the air around the pool changed.


    "Who are you? Speak or I will kill you."


    The already deep voice sounded deeper, and this time around, there was a hint of killing intent within it. It was insane that despite being sealed underneath the pool, the entity below sounded so confident about being able to handle the young man.


    "It''s been years and you''re still the same, Monclev." The young man remained unbothered.


    The pool went quiet as if the person underneath was surprised.


    "It''s you, isn''t it?" The deep voice slowly said.


    "Well, it seems your memory is still working just fine." The young man smirked.


    "You''re coming to see me after this long?"


    The young man shook his head.


    "You can''t blame me. If I came earlier, I would have been found out already. You should know what I''m talking about."


    The owner of the voice didn''t argue as he knew the young man was right.


    The armoured lady that came over the last time was a tenth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. This meant that she had already unlocked her superpower. It wasn''t an elemental type or any of the sorts, but any illusion-type superpower that could allow her to read one''s mind. She might have been able to enter his mind even without seeing his body. If Monclev had met with the young man, then the young man''s identity would have been reversed and his plans unfolded.


    Many believed that the East Braftford relics had yet to be completely explored, especially the core region, but this was a lie. To be exact, it wasn''t necessarily a lie, but a truth that only applies to the general public. Just as the rumour had claimed, the top powers in Belfargos City had already explored deep into the relics. This was only natural after all, there was no way the Oklo Dynasty would let a mysterious location, that could turn out to be a time-bomb, exist side-by-side with them without fully exploring it.


    Even though they couldn''t be said to have seen the entirety of the East Braftford relics, the Oklo Dynasty was aware of at least ninety percent (90%) of the structures and facilities within. This was ninety percent of the entire East Braftford relics, and not a single region.


    Every ten years, the Oklo Dynasty would send in an exploration team to confirm the situation within the relics. Apart from that, every younger generation used the relics as a smelting ground. Their talents would be ranked based on how deep they went into the relics. The most talented of them could even go beyond the pool region. That record was achieved by the previous emperor of the dynasty when he was younger.


    The most talented of this generation happened to be the armoured lady who came earlier and she was said to be the daughter of one of the emperor''s trusted and strongest generals. Reaching the tenth level at only the age of twenty eight showed just how talented she was. Many had even said that she could potentially break the boundary of the Apertures Opening stage and step into the Guardian stage; the realm of a planetary ruler.


    "Seeing as you''re here, I''m guessing it''s not to make your identity known to me." Monclev said.


    Monclev knew who the young man was although his looks were off and not the same as back then. The young man was a calculative individual and it was thanks to his efforts that the Sunil civilisation was still able to exist in some form until this day. The Sunil civilisation revered three individuals as saints.


    The first was their Divine Forefather who started the journey of evolution and led them to greatness, essentially the equivalent of the hyumans'' Divine Protector. He founded the art of mental cultivation, giving the Sunil civilisation the ability to rise from a third class civilisation and race, to begin waging wars to improve their social standing and living conditions.


    The second saint was the creator of the drudnids, who gave the Sunil civilisation the ability to resist against physical strong opponents. The Sunil civilisation was a mental civilisation and they naturally had weak bodies. This was relative to the other species living with them at the time. Regardless, due to this, they were good at ranged attacks but horrible at close range and could easily be taken down. It wasn''t until one of their brethren created the drudnids that the Sunils were able to make up for this weakness of theirs and contest for the title of number one on Eretre. As such, the creator of the drudnids was revered as a saint in the Sunil civilisation.


    The third saint was the individual who modified the drudnids and the Sunil civilisation, giving them an opportunity to be able to exist even after three thousand years since that catastrophe. That man happened to be the person standing before the pool.


    As one of the most revered individuals of the Sunil civilisation and a genius, there was no way his coming here was simply to say ''hi'' and reveal his presence.


    "By now, you should have realised the truth of that day; the event that ended us." The young man glanced at the pool. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Once again, the area went quiet, but he wasn''t affected by it.


    "I want to take back what belongs to us, and for that, I need the final resources of the civilisation." The young man said.


    Monclev didn''t say a word still, but he understood it.


    When the Sunil civilisation''s era drew to an end, they utilised the third saint''s knowledge to preserve their civilisation. But preserving a few lives wasn''t enough for them to make a comeback. So, they gathered a ton of resources and secured it in their doomsday facility. Even until now, those resources were still kept securely. The doomsday facility was what became the current East Braftford relics. The Oklo Dynasty had only explored 90% of the relics, but of the remaining ten percent, half of it was the location of the hidden treasury.


    Only one person could get in and out of the hidden treasury or let anyone do so, and that was Monclev. Not even the third saint had such authority, so he could only ask for Monclev''s help.


    "For revenge?" Monclev muttered.


    "Look around you; do you think we can win?"


    "Alone, no. But we have help." The young man''s eyes glistened.


    "Wh-"


    The young man interrupted him.


    "I can''t say much, but just trust me. All I have ever done and will ever do is for our civilisation to prosper and survive."

 Chapter 292 - 292: Viennas Guilt

    "Seeing that you''re both here, I''m guessing you won." Vienna smiled at the group of three that walked into the room.


    They were Lucas, Melissa and Mr Jermaine. As for the occasion, it could be said to be a celebratory dinner for Lucas'' victory. However, because of her earlier meeting with her cousin, Vienna didn''t hold it at Astero''s Palace, but in another high-end restaurant.


    "You made an impressive friend in Mr Lucas, Miss Vienna." Mr Jermaine complimented and took a seat opposite her.


    Vienna smiled and didn''t say a word.


    Meanwhile, Lucas brought Melissa over and sat beside Vienna. He didn''t really think much when doing this and simply took a seat, but Mr Jermaine took notice of this and smiled mysteriously.


    There was a rumour going on in the Versoa team that Lucas was Vienna''s new man. Although there was no tangible evidence to support this rumour, the fact that Vienna gave him more than half of her shares was mind-boggling and seemed to support this statement. The original explanation for this was that Lucas had saved her life and so, she gave him the stocks as a reward. But even so, there were multiple different ways she could pay him back without suffering such a loss. Naturally, this garnered some of the staff members to think too deeply into the matter.


    "Please, order whatever you want. It''s my treat." Vienna said as she pointed at the menu.


    "Then I won''t be holding back." Mr Jermaine chuckled as he picked up a paper menu.


    In some fancy dining places, especially the really high-end ones, digital displays weren''t used for the menu but a unique paper made out of desolate beast tissue. It felt more comfortable to the touch, held ink nicely, and could last for decades without any signs of damage.


    Melissa''s eyes shone as she stared at the menu with rapt attention. She was almost at the point where she would begin salivating as she perused the list and read the short descriptions of the dishes.


    Most of the time, Melissa was a matured and intelligent young girl, but when it came to food, she revealed her true nature as a glutton. Lucas suspected that it had to do with her unique nature as a hybrid. Considering how fast she progressed with her stellar refinement, her body needed to meet up with the necessary nutritional requirements to be able to keep up with her growth.


    Lucas was actually in a somewhat similar situation, but this was because his soul strength was too powerful for his body. It is a well known fact that the brain consumes more energy than any other organ in the body. With his brain being constantly enhanced by his soul strength, Lucas had to ensure that the organ had enough energy to function well, and enough nutrients to grow properly. As such, he had to consume a lot of nutrients ¡ªthe appropriate ones to be exact¡ª to quickly improve his brain and his nervous system.


    Since the meal was being sponsored by their ''boss'', there was no reason to hold back, so Lucas let Melissa handle the ordering. One reason for this was because it would be shameless of him to take advantage of a woman by ordering a lot of food. But if a child did it, then there was no problem.


    ''This isn''t taking advantage of the cuteness of a little child or being shameless. It''s called being smart.''


    Lucas justified his actions mentally.


    Soon after, the robotic waiter who stood by the side had taken down a total of twenty orders. Because she already had a meal at Astero''s Palace, Vienna only ordered two dishes, both on the light side. Mr Jermaine was the same as he didn''t intend on spending a long time here. That meant that the pair of Lucas and Melissa had ordered sixteen dishes. What''s more, apart from six light dishes, the others were on the heavy side.


    The other two on the table couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow at this development, but as the host, Vienna didn''t think much about it. The meals might be costly but it couldn''t even make a dent in her wallet.


    "That''s...a lot." Vienna lightly commented.


    "Well, our little Melissa likes to eat and I''ve been working a lot these days, spending little time on meals."


    Lucas gave a lie of an explanation which was quite convincing.


    As a top class restaurant, it didn''t take long for the freshly cooked meals to be ready. The cooking standards, whether it be taste or preparation time, were well ahead of Earth''s.


    Looking at the table filled with luxurious dishes that he could not afford, at least at the moment, Lucas couldn''t help but sneakily gulp.


    "It''s appealing, isn''t it?" asked Mr Jermaine who noticed Lucas'' slight actions.


    "I have to admit, I''ve had nothing like this before." Lucas honestly replied.


    "Well, feel free to dig in." Vienna smiled.


    Wasting no second again, Lucas tried out the first plate before him and his eyes almost sparkled right after.


    Food was the key to every man''s heart. This was an undeniable truth no matter the universe, because every man was a slave to his stomach.


    For Lucas, smithing came first, but closely on its heels was good food. Part of this had to do with the fact that growing up in his first life, he didn''t eat a lot of home-cooked meals and even lived in the wild where he survived on berries, raw vegetables, fruits and insects. Even after his foster-father took him up, they couldn''t afford quality meals. It was only in his later life and his time on Earth that Lucas got exposed to fancy dining.


    But the meals in Eretre were on a whole other level. The proteins were sourced from exquisite desolate beasts, tasting like nothing he had ever had before. The vegetables were unique to this world and unlike what he was experienced with. Lucas even had a weird green that tasted like a cross between an apple and a mushroom. It was a unique flavour he had never had before, but it wasn''t off-putting. Instead, it was really appealing to his tastebuds.


    A few minutes later, Mr Jermaine was done with his meal and took the time to leave the room. He figured to give the two ''lovers'' some space, and he was also quite busy with work.


    As such, only Lucas, Melissa and Vienna were left alone.


    Despite finishing faster, Vienna didn''t leave but ordered a bottle of wine and waited for Lucas while she drank.


    After the food, Lucas also decided to take a few glasses of wine as well. The fragrance of the wine was too enticing and he couldn''t help but want to try it.


    "Esteren 3122 De'' Marc." Vienna said with misty eyes.


    "That''s the name of the wine. It''s a vintage drink, and quite generic to be honest. But it''s warming."


    Lucas glanced at her and for a second, he could feel that the atmosphere was weird. Vienna was probably drunk.


    He was actually on point with the guess. After having met her cousin, some of Vienna''s scars were opened again. As she drank from the bottle of wine, she inadvertently began to let herself lose. With Lucas having a lot on his plate, literally, Vienna spent the majority of time drinking more wine. There were two empty bottles by her side when Lucas was done eating.


    ''Why are rich young girls always so careless?'' Lucas sighed.


    "Don''t worry. I''m not drunk. I''m not a lightweight." Vienna smiled.


    ''That''s what drunk people say.''


    Lucas didn''t believe her, but he didn''t argue either.


    "You''re probably still not trusting me, right?"


    Lucas froze, confused as to how the discussion kept moving in an unpredictable pattern. S§×arch* The N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, I can''t blame you. I know everything there is to know about you and have investigated you, but you know nothing about me. Sometimes I even wonder, who am I exactly."


    Vienna bent her head and smiled. However, there was no ounce of joy in her smile; instead there was only sadness and pity.


    "It''s not that I''m hiding it. I just don''t want you to go. Or to find out that you''re like the others."


    At this point, Lucas was confused, but he didn''t mind. Instead, he was savouring the taste of the wine. Despite looking like one, it didn''t taste like typical red wine. Lucas could even swear that the wine wasn''t made with red grapes, but a different ingredient as the base. Even so, it was still sweet and alcoholic; it wasn''t too strong, but it wasn''t weak either.


    ''Makes sense why she got drunk.''


    Lucas glanced at Vienna.


    "Lucas, was it? You remind me of him." Vienna abruptly stared at Lucas with reminiscing eyes.


    "Him?" Lucas asked.


    "When I was younger, around nine years old, I had a childhood friend. We played together, went to school together, and our parents were quite close. Whenever I got injured, he came to my aid. Whenever I was in trouble, he came to rescue me. And after each incident, we would always go back home holding hands together. However, when I was twelve, a certain incident occurred and he came to my rescue. But unlike the previous times, I was the only one who went back home alive.


    "Some might say that I like you, but in truth, I''m just being selfish. I''m just using you to repay all the help I''ve received, and wipe away my guilt."

 Chapter 293 - 293: Meeting

    One week went by after the competition and there was still no conclusion on Lucas'' demands yet. Instead, a general meeting for the shareholders of the team had been called and today happened to be the day of the meeting.


    The agendas of the meeting were split into three: first, to welcome the new stakeholder ¡ªLucas¡ª to the board; the second was to discuss the development of the team''s business wings; and the third was Lucas'' demand. Whenever a brand wanted to take up a sponsorship post, they would be investigated and judged by the board of the company.


    "These days, it feels more like I''m running a business than actually crafting." Lucas sighed.


    "System, any missions for me?"


    After over half a year, Lucas was now level four and just one level away from five. At level five, he would have the complete requirements to modify his body and become capable of using stellar energy.


    "The system finds it quite disappointing that the host asks questions with obvious answers. Permission to carry out a body scan to ensure that the host''s central nervous system is working perfectly." The system said.


    Lucas'' lips twitched as he ignored it and walked into the room.


    The meeting was being held in the administrative complex of the Versoa team, a six storey building that was located not so far from the residential apartment. The fifth floor housed a large conference room that was usually used for events such as this.


    Seated inside the room were three other individuals who happened to have arrived early. One of them was a familiar face, Mr Jermaine. As for the other two, Lucas had not met them before but he had seen one of them during his first meeting with the team. The man had attended using a virtual projection of himself.


    Lucas walked in and sat on an empty chair which was in between both Jermaine and the man. The last man sat in the opposite direction of Lucas. This position was quite clever as it was at an equal distance from the two sides, showing that Lucas had yet to associate with anyone of them.


    After ten minutes, the remaining three members of the board arrived, as well as Helnord, who was the company''s secretary.


    "I announce the start of the fourth meeting of the year." Vienna, the chairman of the board, declared a few seconds after everyone was seated.


    "Using this opportunity, I''d like to bring forth the appointment of the company''s new majority stakeholder into the board of directors. If anyone else disagrees with this, please declare your stance."


    Because of the small size of the company''s shareholders, every one of them was automatically voted into the board of directors. However, there was a formal process for this, albeit simply for the sake of regulations. Usually, no one would disagree with the appointment of a new stakeholder to the board of directors. This was even more so since the new stakeholder was a majority and also one allied with Vienna, the company''s chairwoman.


    "No statement of contention has been raised, as such, Mr Lucas Yohann Saunters will become a new board member of Versoa Team Co."


    After that, the second agenda was brought up and discussed. It was about the company''s business wings and their progress. Lucas wasn''t interested in any of these, so he didn''t pay attention throughout. Instead, he channeled his attention into the depths of his mind and began practicing inscriptions.


    After completing the previous mission from the system, Lucas was rewarded with the ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' tome. However, even though the system''s books could be directly feed into his mind, he still had rehearse them on his own.


    Soon, the second agenda was over and the main article up for discussion was raised. This was the issue of the sponsorship deal. sea??h th§× N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Even though he had beaten Orvel, Lucas couldn''t make himself the team''s sponsor even with his strong influence over the team. This was something that was against the team''s regulations. For something this serious, he had to make a formal appeal. The bet would only stop Orvel from directly interfering with the process. This was because Orvel was likely the only figure who would have an issue with this. As for the shareholders, the details of the sponsorship deal was quite interesting and beneficial, even for them. It was difficult to reject such an amazing deal.


    However, some still didn''t want to agree to it.


    "This is a matter of our tradition and the interests of our staff. We can''t easily accept to it." One of the stakeholders said.


    He was a majority stakeholder with roughly six percent of the company''s stocks. This made him the fifth largest shareholder, just behind Lucas, Vienna, Mr Jermaine and another.


    "Why not? Change is a good thing." Mr Jermaine voiced out.


    Seeing Mr Jermaine speak up, the man hesitated. He might be wealthy, but he was far from being on the same level as Mr Jermaine.


    "Then even if we desire change, we should pick a better candidate."


    The man who countered was the third majority shareholder and Mr Jermaine''s direct opponent, Guilla.


    There were factions even within the Versoa Team Co''s board. As Vienna was too high above them and didn''t interfere most of the time, only two factions existed. The first was led by Mr Jermaine and one could say it was somewhat sided towards Vienna. To gain the upper hand, the faction was used to trying various means to appease her.


    As for the second faction, it was led by Mr Jermaine''s business nemesis, Guilla. They didn''t go against Vienna, but simply tried to impede the progress of the other faction while trying to win some benefits for themselves.


    Vienna was a fair character and despite the fact that there was a faction within the board trying to suck up to her, she didn''t favour them all the time. As such, both sides had recorded both wins and losses.


    "The current candidate is clearly unfit to hold the position is sponsor. You should all know that this position is one that can affect our public appearance. It is also linked with benefits to the team. Even if we don''t need the payments, it doesn''t mean we should forego them. A reputable party with a strong foundation is clearly the better option." Guilla added.


    Guilla argued that since Lucas didn''t have a background to begin with, it would be difficult to ensure that he keeps his own end of the bargain of the deal. He also hinted at the fact that Lucas'' store was not famous, so there was no surety on him being able to generate significant profit or offer a collateral if the conditions of the deal weren''t met.


    As a sponsor, the party should be able to make seasonal or annual payments to the team, but Lucas was a newcomer struggling to make sales. He also didn''t have a backer, which made it more difficult to trust him with this position.


    The vestige-smith company sponsoring a drift racing team was essentially the official sponsor for the team in most cases. With the Versoa team not having even a single sponsor, Lucas would automatically become the official sponsor of the team if the deal succeeds. In that case, he would be aligned with the team and the team would be associated with him. Guilla believed that this was bad for them because Lucas wasn''t a renowned figure, and being associated with him might drag them down.


    Mr Jermaine didn''t continue the argument but turned his attention to the head of the table.


    "Please decide on this, Miss Vienna."

 Chapter 294 - 294: Retaliation

    In the thirty-sixth floor of the residential building, which belonged to Orvel, Jov? ¡ªhead of the Material manufacturing department¡ª, Poch ¡ªthe head of the Simulation and Testing department¡ª and Orvel ¡ªhead of the Design and Energy department, were all gathered.


    Before them was a communicator they stared at with intense gazes. They were waiting for the outcome of the board meeting as that would decide whether they went on with their plans or not.


    *Beep*


    "A message." Poch said, while Orvel moved to check it out.


    "What did he say?" Jov? asked.


    The "he" was their informant in the meeting and the one to relay the resolutions of the event.


    "...They agreed." Orvel scowled as he gripped the communicator tightly, crushing it into pieces.


    "I guess we''re going with the plan." Jov? sighed.


    They began to spread the news before they walked out of the flat and headed outside the building.


    Lucas was currently in a good mood as he had finally succeeded with the longtime plan he had in mind.


    Truth be told, from the start, the topic was never under contention. Vienna had long promised to help Lucas with getting the sponsorship rights after she knew about it. This was her way of paying Lucas back for saving her and her bodyguards'' lives back at the East Braftford relics. The stocks were just a means to achieve it, but seeing as Lucas was facing some trouble, she decided to give him a hand and override the decision using her authority. In the end, Guilla and his faction''s struggles were meaningless.


    "Congratulations, Mr Lucas." The old man, Mr Jermiane, walked over and smiled.


    Despite being over the age of seventy, Mr Jermaine''s looks could easily have him mistaken for a man in his forties.


    "I couldn''t have done it without your help." Lucas offered some pleasant words in return.


    He would normally not do this, but being in a good mood, Lucas operated slightly different from usual.


    "Oh please. I didn''t do much. If anyone is worthy of your thanks, it''s Miss Vienna. Do well to thank her a lot later on." Mr Jermiane smiled.


    For some reason, Lucas felt the smile to be strange and maybe even a bit, dirty.


    "I will." After a bit of hesitation, Lucas nodded and walked away.


    "Aiya, Guilla doesn''t know anything. In the end, love triumphs all." Mr Jermiane muttered with a smile.


    Just as the crowd, consisting of the stakeholders, their assistants and bodyguards, came out from the administrative building, they were met with a different crowd in front of them. At the head of this new group were two familiar faces, Jov? and Poch.


    "What''s going on here?" Helnord, who stood a step behind Vienna, frowned and walked over.


    "Nothing much really. We just want to know the result of the meeting. Rumour has it that we might be getting a vestige-smith sponsor." Poch briefly glanced at Lucas before turning to Helnord.


    Although it was a brief glance, no one here was ordinary. Excluding Lucas, the weakest was a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. They had taken note of that small action of his.


    This made Helnord''s expression worsen and he was almost at the point of lashing out.


    "Is there a problem with that?" Guilla inserted himself into the conversation.


    "Good day, Mr Guilla." Poch greeted with a polite expression, displaying a clear difference in treatment between him and Helnord.


    Helnord noticed this, but didn''t say a word. Meanwhile, Poch continued.


    "There''s indeed a problem. Many of us vestige-smiths working under the team have done so because of the absence of an official vestige-smith sponsor. This allowed us to not only display the fullest of our capabilities, but get rewarded for that in turn. Our efforts were clearly recognised by the public and attributed to each and everyone of us here. This allowed us to be able to earn a bit of income from third-party commissions.


    "As strange as it might sound, there''s nothing wrong with this as many other vestige-smiths in different teams do the same. Also, this isn''t against our contract to receive third-party commissions.


    "But the presence of an official vestige-smith sponsor threatens this for us. Our commissions would experience a significant decline and in the worst case scenario, we won''t even get any. Many of us have families to feed and lives to leave, and while our salaries do contribute a significant part to that, so does our third-party commissions. If we lose out on those, our lives would be affected, and some of us might find it difficult to last with the various financial burdens on us.


    "I sincerely hope that the board does reconsider their decision, if not for us, but at least for the families dependent on us." Poch bowed.


    He had worded his request eloquently, which was a drastic difference from his usual hard-headed self around Orvel and Jov?.


    Listening to Poch''s statement, Helnord frowned.


    Originally, the matter was simply the vestige-smiths being greedy for third-party commissions and not wanting to lose out on any. However, Poch had made it seem as if they depended on those commissions to feed their families.


    What bullcrap. S~ea??h the N??elFir§×.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Vestige-smith was one of the wealthiest professions in the world. Although it was very costly to practice, the profits were immense. Even without those commissions derived from being associated with the Versoa team, these vestige-smiths could still earn a significant amount on their own.


    Also, their salaries were incredible. While it wasn''t absurd, it was still a lot more than other career options. This was necessary to keep hold of these vestige-smiths and prevent the team''s design secrets from being leaked. So, even without those commissions, these vestige-smiths would still be able to maintain a somewhat lavish lifestyle.


    Poch was simply twisting facts to create a false impression.


    However, that was effective. While Helnord could raise the point that their salaries were significant, it won''t erase the fact that the commissions did consist of a significant portion of their income. After all, the Versoa team never had a vestige-smith sponsor, so every development in their performances was attributed to the team''s staff entirely. If there was an official vestige-smith sponsor, many would assume that the sponsor had a hand in designing the racing shuttle, which was true in most situations.


    ''Now, what will you do?'' Orvel, who hid behind, smirked at the scene.

 Chapter 295 - 295: Viennas Decision

    "So, you''re threatening a strike because you''re not satisfied with the decision by the board?"


    Before Helnord could challenge the duo, Vienna''s voice suddenly sounded in an inquisitive tone.


    "It''s not exactly so, Miss Vienna. What I mean is that the decision affects the livelihood of-"


    "Just give me a yes or no." Vienna cut him off.


    "...Yes." Poch nodded after a bit of hesitation.


    "I see. Do the rest of you share the same sentiments?" Vienna glanced at the ten or so vestige-smiths gathered behind the duo.


    These vestige-smiths were all part of the Material manufacturing and Simulation & Testing departments.


    They hesitated as anyone of them could see that Vienna''s mood didn''t seem right.


    It was at this moment that another group approached the two sides.


    "Orvel, what are you doing here?" Helnord''s expression turned dark.


    Even a twelve year old could tell that Orvel''s timely arrival reeked of a conspiracy, but the problem was that the latter had lost the bet. Logically, he shouldn''t be able to make matters worse. But it was clear that they had underestimated him.


    "I''m here in the interest of my fellow vestige-smiths. Anyone can tell that the matter of having an official vestige-smith sponsor affects the interest of all of us. As such, it would be problematic if I, as the head of designs, didn''t step up at this moment and show my support with my people."


    Orvel righteously said as he patted his chest. However, everyone could tell that he was just blabbering, but that didn''t change the fact that he made a solid point.


    "And what if nothing is done about it?" Vienna asked.


    "Then, I''ll have to make a tough decision." Orvel''s expression turned serious as he stared at her.


    At this point, Orvel was practically asking Vienna to choose between him and Lucas. But the stakes weren''t just that.


    From two departments, it was now three departments threatening to go on a strike if the deal wasn''t rescinded. S§×ar?h the N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Guilla, who had spoken earlier, had silently retreated behind at one point and had a smirk on his face. He was the informant during the meeting and the one that had notified Orvel and his group about the deal. However, his purpose for doing this wasn''t simply to just bring Lucas down.


    Mr Jermaine and the other members of the board all thought that Guilla formed a faction of his own to rival Mr Jermaine and bring the latter down, but that wasn''t all. In fact, Guilla''s goal was more than just that; he wanted to replace Vienna as the chairman of the board.


    The chairman of the board of directors oversaw not only the board but also the company''s executives. Although they were elected by the board, it was difficult to bring them down. Vienna was the chairwoman and having held seventh percent (70%) of the company''s shares in the past, overthrowing her was a dream since she held the most voting rights. However, her shares were recently cut down by more than half, and even though she still retained a superior position to the others, an idea was bred inside of Guilla''s mind; to replace her. But that was easier said than done.


    In order to achieve this, Guilla needed to convince the others to side with him, take down Lucas and seize his shares, then challenge Vienna for the position. This was why he decided to team up with Orvel and his group. The latter would target Lucas and if Vienna constantly came to his aid, it would create a bad image for her in the company and even affect it.


    Take this scenario for instance. If Vienna was to side with Lucas, the three departments would go on strike The Nadir Underground League was still ongoing and with three valuable department on strike, their performance would be heavily affected. They might even drop down from eleventh place, with a slight possibility of getting relegated to the third tier. To further ensure their failure, there was even a hidden trump card Guilla was prepared to activate.


    Once the team was relegated, no matter what backing Vienna had, she wouldn''t be able to save her position.


    ''Now, what will you do, little miss?'' Guilla grinned.


    "Miss..." Helnord glanced at Vienna.


    Anyone could see that there was an underlying plot here, but until the true nature of this plot was revealed, it was best to not make any decision yet. As such, Helnord wanted to advise Vienna to think carefully, and if possible, pause the deal with Lucas until they got to the bottom of things.


    However, before he even had the the chance to let out his thoughts, Vienna smiled.


    "Okay."


    "You made the right choice."


    Orvel smiled.


    "Indeed." Vienna nodded. "You can all vacate the premises. Forget about going on strike; you''re fired."


    Orvel, Poch, Jov? and all the other vestige-smiths who worked alongside them from froze at the scene. No one expected Vienna to be so ruthless. There was no hesitation, consideration or whatever in her voice when she with her decision. To the spectators, this wasn''t the Vienna that they knew.


    "Are you sure you want to do this? The season is already underway; firing us right now would greatly affect the team''s performance. Don''t you care about the team?" Orvel''s face had already gone dark, but he still wanted to receive confirmation from Vienna.


    "Did I stutter?" Vienna''s eyes turned cold.


    "The very second you let your greed take control, it was already clear to me what decision I needed to make. The team''s performance? Heh. You sound like you care about that, but here you are threatening me with mutiny if things don''t go your way. I''m starting to wonder who among the two of us doesn''t care about the team. Regardless, in my opinion, getting rid of you guys would be much better than retaining you."


    "Miss, Vienna, please calm down."


    Mr Jermaine stepped in. Even he felt that Vienna was going overboard.


    The K1 drift racing league went on for three months with a total of thirteen races. The first two months had four races while the last had five races. It was already in the latter half of the second month. On the other hand, the NUL had ten races and went on for two and a half months. There was a race every week, but two in the last two weeks.


    They were currently a month into the league with more time to go, which meant that their current position was not fixed; they could end in a better spot or worse. If Vienna was to axe out a lot of their vestige-smiths, there was a high chance that the team would end in a worse position at the end of the season. This was because finding suitable replacements so quickly would be difficult and require time. In that time, their performance might lag compared to the other top teams because repairs, modifications and so on were usually carried out on the racing shuttle before and after each race. And the department of design and energy headed this development alongside the on-site unit and the Vehicle manufacturing department.


    "I''m very much calm. My decision is final. If there''s anyone else who wishes to join them, they can do so now."

 Chapter 296 - 296: Betrayal

    This week''s NUL race was fast approaching, but before the event could even begin, a shocking news dropped in the drift racing community. A likely contender for the top ten spots in the NUL had suddenly sacked about half of its vestige-smithing staff. The key takeaway however, was that the Design and Energy department was laid off.


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    During the season, three departments were vital to the operation of a drift racing team: the Vehicle manufacturing, On-site unit and Designs and Energy department, with the latter being a very valuable force. However, the Versoa team has just sacked the entire members of that valuable force alongside those of two other departments.


    After a bit of digging, it turned out that the reason was because of a clash between the three departments and the latest shareholder of the company, who wanted to acquire the sponsorship rights. Many mocked the chairwoman, Vienna, for her decision, few felt pity, while some felt that this was their opportunity to overtake the team and end the season with a higher position. The fans were angered and some began to raise calls for Vienna to step down as she was incompetent. However, since the Versoa team was a private team, their complaints couldn''t truly do much. However, it made the atmosphere within the team grim.


    "Guilla has called for an emergency meeting, and the call was met with an agreement from two other stakeholders." Helnord reported to Vienna within her office.


    "So, he''s beginning to make his move." Vienna smiled.


    She sat behind a desk and before her was a tablet projecting the latest financial and news reports of the company. It was somewhat strange that even as the reports all indicated a decline in the Versoa Team Co''s value, Vienna could still remain calm and smile.


    At that moment, Helnord wanted to say something but hesitated. However, Vienna had already noticed this.


    "Speak your mind." Vienna glanced briefly at him.


    After a short while, Helnord asked,


    "If you had predicted this, then why did you go along with it? I just can''t understand."


    It was common practice in scheming to play along with someone''s plan then turn things around at the opportune moment, but Helnord could not see how that would happen here. If anything, he was against Vienna''s actions as it would cost the company a lot. It had only been three days since the laying off, but sales have dropped by 23%, public opinion was done drastically, and their Projected Performance Index Rating had lost five (5) points.


    The Projected Performance Index Rating (P-PIR) was an economic metric in the federation used to measure the attractiveness of a company to investors based on their financial reports, evaluation and other viral factors. It was one of two major metrics used, alongside the Performance Index Rating (PIR); however, the former looked long term and tried to predict the future using trends while the latter was focused on the present using facts and raw data. It was like the difference between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and projected GDP growth.


    The Versoa Team Co previously had a P-PIR of 22.5, so losing 5 points was a big deal. That was almost a quarter of their entire points.


    It was clear that even the financial analysts began to see the Versoa Team Co as a less attractive investment profile because of the decision of laying off three major departments. This would in turn affect their final rating and possibly have them relegated. Even if they weren''t, the drop in position would make them a less appealing company to work with.


    "It''s about time I clear this place up a bit. I''ve left them for far too long and they may become a torn in my flesh if left unchecked for a long." Vienna explained while perusing through a few of the projected files.


    "As for the reports, don''t think much about it. We''re a private company, so the P-PIR doesn''t have much of a hold on us. As for our performance in the race, it doesn''t necessarily matter. We can hold out without them for a while, especially with Lucas on board."


    "You mean...?" Helnord was surprised.


    "Indeed. So far, he''s the best fit until we can find a better replacement."


    Helnord thought about it and realised that Vienna was right. Lucas had displayed his skills already bh designing the Destroyer all on his own. The recording and data he had sent had already been checked and confirmed by the vestige-smiths and Helnord. They all had to admit that the Destroyer was indeed Lucas'' handwork, even though no one knew how he pulled it off.


    If Lucas was to take on the role of the head of the Designs and Energy department, although he would have a lot on his plate, it was possible for him to be able to perform the task all on his own. He was truly the best possible replacement for the moment.


    *Beep*


    Suddenly, Helnord''s communicator beeped and he took a lot at it. Immediately, his eyes widened as he was overcome by shock.


    "What''s the problem?"


    Noticing something was off, Vienna looked at Helnord with an inquisitive glare.


    "Reto quit." Helnord replied.


    Vienna''s expression immediately became dark and a frown appeared on her face. S§×arch* The ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Reto was the name of one of the two official drivers of the team. In consideration of emergencies and various scenarios, every drift racing team in the NUL was allowed to register two drivers before the start of the league. However, only one could appear on each race while the other acted as a backup or substitute.


    Reto was currently the Versoa team''s main and only driver due to an insane coincidence. The second driver had actually died a few weeks ago. He was one of the tourists at the East Braftford relics during the day of that horrendous incident. Unfortunately, he wasn''t lucky enough to be one of the survivors.


    The Versoa team had been looking to find a replacement but were unlucky with that as the transfer window wasn''t open yet, so it was difficult to snatch up talented drivers from other teams. They had initially planned to wait until the next transfer window to do so, and decided to rely on their second driver, Reto. In other words, they only have one driver. But with Reto now quitting, they had no driver available, which was the same as forfeiting the upcoming races.


    "How is that possible? Isn''t he aware of the penalties for breaching the contract especially at this time of the season?" Vienna questioned aggressively.


    To prevent drivers from setting up teams, there were severe consequences for breaching a contract during the active period of a drift racing season. One of them was the compensatory damage fees which were absurd and around four times the original fee. There was also a suspension by the league which would be reflected across all other unofficial drift racing leagues on the same tier and above. Finally, the driver''s reputation would take a hit after the incident. It would be difficult for other teams to trust that the driver wouldn''t abruptly depart midway through the season as they did before, so most teams would avoid such an individual unless without a choice.


    On the other hand, if they quit after the season is over, they would only face compensation fees for breaching the contract if they did so. Also, the fees would be the base value, unlike with the former scenario where it would be multiplied by four.


    Because of the various consequences involved, drift racing drivers rarely quit before the ending of the season. In fact, they rarely even quit unless their contract was over. Those who did so before the contract expired would only quit during the end of the season, for personal reasons. That way, they would only have to pay the base compensation amount.


    It was because of this that Vienna was surprised that Reto had quit. The compensation fee he would have to pay would be four times the base fee; that would be enough for one to build a house. He would also receive a one year, or two seasons, ban by the NUL and this ban would be carried out by other tier 2 leagues and above. Finally, his reputation would take a huge hit.


    No matter which direction anyone looked at it, it didn''t make sense why Reto had quit.


    "Someone''s instigating this matter and they probably have Reto on their payroll as well." Vienna thought out loud.


    Being the boss of a popular company and a descendant of a powerful family, Vienna was quite experienced with schemes and the likes. Even without a single hint, she could easily guess that Reto was working for someone, and that party was willing to cover the damages due to breach of contract and the other penalties for Reto. Otherwise, it wouldn''t make sense why the driver would quit abruptly at this stage of the season.


    "You mean," Helnord''s face displayed a twisted expression.


    "Guilla."

 Chapter 297 - 297: Heart Of Silver

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    While the Versoa team''s crisis worsened, Lucas was back at his store with his attention on his favourite occupation. During the past couple of days, he had been roleplaying as a businessman, but Lucas wasn''t a fan of that nor was he very experienced with it. Instead, the hands-on lifestyle surrounded by metals, machines, magic runes and technology was what Lucas preferred. It was also the system''s main goal for him.


    Luckily for him, after the meeting, Lucas had some time to return to his favourite hobby. Coincidentally, Lucas received a new mission during this period.


    [[ Mission Overview: A good vestige-smith deserves the best resources to make the best work. As such, resource collection is an important skill of a master craftsman, and even more so for the one meant to be the Crafts-God. Even though these can be provided by the system, this would be detrimental to your growth.


    Mission Description: A ''Heart of Silver'' is forming in a hidden mine close by, and would be completed after two weeks. Retrieve the Heart of Silver.


    Reward: Bronze grade card x1, Ten system coins.


    Penalty: None.


    ]]


    "A mission I can refuse without any penalties? System, is this a mistake?"


    Lucas stared surprised at the notification that appeared before him.


    The system had always been excessive with its penalties, and even though they lessened over time, it was still enough to hold Lucas back. But this was the very first time a mission without a penalty appeared before him.


    "Unfortunately, it is not." The system replied.


    "...what do you mean by ''unfortunately''?" Lucas questioned.


    As usual, the system didn''t answer him. Even so, Lucas wasn''t affected by its comments. He read the mission again, but this time, focusing on the key points.


    ''A heart of Silver?'' Lucas furrowed his brows.


    It was an unfamiliar material, but for some reason, he felt as if he had heard of it before. After a bit of thinking, Lucas realised why that was so. He had indeed never seen or heard of this material, but that was until Lucas got exposed to the system''s crafting tomes and manuals.


    Whether it was the ''An Adventurer''s Manual'', ''Introduction to Vestige-smithing'' or the recent ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'' tome, they had all, at least, briefly mentioned this item. But the ''An Adventurer''s Manual'' was different. Although it was only a paragraph of three sentences dedicated to it, those sentences showcased the value of the ''Heart of Silver''.


    The Heart of Silver was a legendary material that had the ability to increase the durability and strength of any item. This was a simple description, but the takeaway point was to what extent. To understand why this was a legendary material, one needed to know the degree of improvement the Heart of Silver made.


    If a bamboo sword was remade with the Heart of Silver mixed into it in the right ratio and manner, it would become as strong as a titanium alloy, yet maintaining an appropriate flexibility for a sword without losing its edge easily.


    If mixed with more suitable metals like 5160 spring steel, the product would be even more lasting, stronger and better. However in Eretre, there was no 5160 spring steel, but there were even more better metal options. When mixed with the Heart of Silver to produce an alloy, the resulting metal would be incredibly powerful even in the wrong hands. In the right hands, it could become the most powerful vestige in the world.


    ''A legendary material is taking shape here?'' Lucas sucked in a cold breath of air. He was both surprised and confused at the same time.


    Even though the Heart of Silver wasn''t one of those exceptional or universe-defying legendary materials and was more likely a ''basic grade''s legendary material, it was still one at the top of a planet''s scale. Usually, it was best used for making vestiges at the level above the Apertures Opening stage. In other words, it was a resource that powerhouses above a planet craved for. Powerhouses like the Oklo Dynasty, the Lin family and the Lester family wouldn''t mind spending lavishly just to get their hands on it. Only such forces could afford the services of a vestige-smith capable of working with the Heart of Silver.


    That''s right. The Heart of Silver was material that would be termed as a waste in the hands of a Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith. That was a rank above Tier 1 Grandmaster, and there was no one on that level in the entirety of Eretre. Even on the Kellan solar system, there were only a couple of them all situated in the solar system''s capital.


    A Tier 1 Apex vestige-smith was at the peak of the twelfth level of the Apertures Opening stage, or even the first level of the Guardian stage ¡ªthe next stage after the Apertures Opening stage. Someone at that level was allowed to own a planet, as long as they could afford it.


    Back to the point...because of the rank of the Heart of Silver, it wasn''t easy for it to form. Usually, only resource rich planets with a large amount of world source and a sizable amount of planetary fate [1] could produce such legendary materials. But from what Lucas could sense, Eretre didn''t seem like a planet fulfilling these conditions.


    "System, what exactly is going on?" Lucas asked.


    Although the system usually wouldn''t answer all his questions, as long as it wasn''t ''sensitive'', it would reply to him. Also, it was Lucas'' best shot for an explanation.


    "As long as the host finds the Heart of Silver, the answers would be revealed. But if you can''t find it, there''s no reason to know this." The system replied.


    Once again, it didn''t answer his question, but Lucas wasn''t dissatisfied either. From what the system said, it seemed like there was something strange about the formation of the Heart of Silver, and it was possibly related to a certain secret.


    "Two weeks, huh. I should wrap up everything I''m doing." Lucas glanced at his workbench that was crowded with equipment and materials.


    . . .


    If Case Lego province was an economical province and Bailin province was a border province, Neon Summer Province was the combination of both. Facing the direction of Belfargos City, Neon Summer province was the last province before one would reach Belfargos City, if departing from Trundel City. Due to this, there were a ton of trade networks here and some companies even had a regional headquarters located here.


    Also, there was still a large expanse of wilderness between the two cities, which constituted a desolate beast domain. Since the Neon Summer province faced this region, it was equipped with various security measures, including a military camp.


    Neon Summer was both wealthy and safe to live in despite how it looked. One of the most popular sites in the province was the Blue Ivory street, which was named as such because it was home to a lot of company headquarters and regionals headquarters. Blue Ivory street was sort of like the Wallstreet of Neon Summer province.


    Inside a thirty-three storey building, a secret meeting was taking place within the dark.


    "What''s the problem?"


    An individual sat on a large rotating executive chair with his back turned towards a shadowy figure that had just appeared.


    "We''ve managed to track the agglomeration of the world source but it''s under incubation at the moment." The shadow said. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It had a raspy voice that was almost like the voice of a demon from the underworld. If anyone heard this sound late in the night while walking on the street, they would no doubt run like their life depended on their speed. That was just how horrific its voice was.


    "Incubation? So it''s forming something. Interesting." The individual in the seat replied.


    Because of how they were positioned, it was impossible to see their face. Even their voice was a genderless one that belonged neither to a man or a woman, but at the same time, sounded like both.


    "How long did you estimate this incubation?"


    "Around two weeks but not more than three." The demonic voice sounded again.


    "After two weeks, head over and confirm. It''s best we get our hands on whatever takes shape before anyone else does. Since it''s associated with the world source, who knows what kind of phenomenon might occur after it has completed its incubation." The individual ordered.


    "Alright." The shadow nodded.


    "Does anyone else know about this?" The individual asked.


    "We''ve been monitoring site 92B-Delta lode for a month while trying to track the world source''s movements. During this month, no one has found or reached the lode. But we can''t say for sure whether it''s been devoid of visitors in the past."


    "Indeed. A month isn''t enough time to judge." The individual seemed to frown based on their tone.


    "Create another havoc. Cause some mayhem in the opposite direction and keep the city distracted. We already cooperated with the remnants of the Sunil civilisation, so we can be termed as allies. Ask them for assistance if you can''t do it alone. No matter what, ensure that the city is too preoccupied with the trouble you make that they fail to notice the formation of whatever is going on down there."


    "Understood."

 Chapter 298 - 298: The Genius Melissa

    The next day came around and Lucas was greeted with a message from Vienna. The message was a request from Vienna asking whether Lucas was available to take on the position of the department head of the Designs and Energy department, while also handling the roles of the Material manufacturing and, Simulation and Testing departments as well.


    In the message, Vienna stated that she was aware that Lucas ran a store of his own, as such, he wouldn''t be required to respond to the Versoa team every day and could even work from home. During this period, he would be compensated with the salary of the roles of three departments, with the latter two ¡ªwhich he took on temporarily¡ª being at sixty percent. This was because the two departments wouldn''t necessarily be functioning during this period, and Lucas was simply to take on the role as an emergency operative. And the pay was extraordinarily good. It was enough for Lucas to live a lavish lifestyle every week, after all, it was the salary from three different leading roles.


    "With this, I can buy the Visten 178 Steel." Lucas'' eyes brightened as he rubbed his hands with a lecherous grin on his face.


    That was a material Lucas had lusted after for so long, but it was too costly. The metal was an imported element from the neighbouring planet, Doma. It was produced by the Vara species of the winged anthropoid race, and it was known for its flexibility and ductility.


    Although he has more on his plate now, Lucas was unaffected by this. Apart from appearing once or twice a week at the team''s headquarters and making a few slight adjustments to the Viper, there wasn''t really much for him to do.


    "Hmm? What''s this?"


    Getting to the latter half of the message, Lucas noticed that Vienna talked a bit about the Versoa Team Co''s situation, including their current lack of a driver. The next race was in two days, and if they still couldn''t find a new driver, they would have to abandon the rally.


    Lucas glanced briefly at it but didn''t think too much. For one, he was a vestige-smith and not a racer.


    Drift racing wasn''t something just anyone could pick up simply because they wanted to.


    There was a ton of training and preparation and practice put into it. Also, every drift racer needed to be a stellar practitioner. This requirement was necessary as stellar engines required the aid of a stellar practitioner to reach their true full potential. Being a stellar practitioner also makes controlling the vehicle easier as every practitioner had better reflexes and response times than an average hyuman.


    Instead of worrying about something that was beyond his reach, Lucas set his sights on the mission he received the previous day. It was a daunting mission that could potentially be filled with risks. There was no mission given to Lucas the system, with the requirement of leaving the house, that ended peacefully. It was almost as if the system''s missions were all purposely reeked with havoc and dangers. As an experienced host, there was no way Lucas would presume that this mission was an easy ride. Hence, the need to make proper preparation for it.


    "Big brother, take a look."


    Melissa brought a sheath to Lucas who sat behind the checkout counter.


    The sheath was aquamarine blue and had a metallic sheen. While the craftsmanship of the dagger was slightly lacking, it was compensated by the adequate adornment skill of the craftsmanship. By using unique materials that gave off an impressive glow, the craftsmanship had created an excellent piece of work that was not only attractive to the eyes, but could be termed as a true work of art. At the length of thirty centimetres, it was quite obvious that this was a sheath meant for a dagger.


    "It''s nice." Lucas replied as he ruffled Melissa''s head with a smile.


    Recently, Lucas had decided to give Melissa more practical training in vestige-smithing. Even though she was only eleven years old, Melissa was very intelligent and mature for her age. What took a grown-up vestige-smith apprentice months to learn, she managed to get it down within two months.


    Even though there was still a lot in theory for her to learn, it would be difficult for Melissa to understand those concepts without a bit of hands-on experience when it came to vestige-smithing. As a result, Lucas decided it was time for her to get that experience. However, he only started out by making her craft simpler and less dangerous crafts; vestiges were out of the discussion as Melissa needed to start out with blacksmithing and leather smithing first. Even so, Melissa was very happy to be doing so. She didn''t find it tiring or stressful, but was in love with the task especially since it was taught to her by her big brother.


    At first, Lucas didn''t think much about the scabbard, but when he took a closer look at it, he was surprised. It was Melissa''s third work, but it didn''t look like something made by a total amateur. Even though he already knew Melissa was a genius, the level of skill displayed in this scabbard was just incredible. For a moment, it could almost be confused as the work of a professional blacksmith.


    ''At this rate, it would only take her a few more weeks and practice to begin vestige-smithing.'' Lucas said while staring at Melissa with his emotions all over the place. He was both happy for her but also a bit, envious.


    Even though Lucas was called a genius back in his first world, hard work played a considerable part of his life. He wasn''t a genius in the sense that he had the perfect talent, best control over mana or anything like this. Lucas just had the incredible ability to understand things easier and faster than others. On the other hand, Melissa didn''t just understand things faster, but she also had the innate ability to manipulate stellar energy better than most, could grow stronger without even consciously practicing, and also had the passion for the craft. She was much better than Lucas in many aspects. S§×arch* The n?velFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Take heart, host. I won''t leave you." The system comforted him with a seemingly sarcastic tone.


    "I wasn''t even thinking of that." Lucas snorted at the system''s words.


    He wasn''t the type to get jealous and want to ruin someone''s potential. Lucas simply just felt that life was somewhat unfair, but he didn''t let it get to him. Even in his first life, he had encountered people more talented than him, but in the end, Lucas was the only one to become a Grandmaster.


    . . .


    Two weeks might seem like a lot of time but before he knew it, the thirteen days were gone and it was time for Lucas to ''harvest'' the Heart of Silver.


    During the past thirteen days, the Versoa team managed to get a temporary driver for the team, but because he arrived relatively late, their performance took a dive and their ranking dropped from eleventh place to fifteenth place. The only reason it didn''t fall off worse was because Lucas made adjustments to the Viper.


    The Nadire Underground League''s rules were quite similar to other drift racing leagues. Unless it was an emergency, major changes couldn''t be made to a team''s staff or vehicles. The Versoa team was exempted from this as their staff was fired entirely and their driver was dead while the substitute had quit. However, they still weren''t allowed to make major changes to the Viper, for instance, switching its engine.


    The engine, L2.13o, couldn''t be swapped out for the Destroyer since that was against the rules. Hence, Lucas'' only option was making some slight adjustments to it to boost its performance. Luckily, this wasn''t a problem for Lucas and he was able to improve the Viper''s performance by ten percent. This allowed the new driver to take seventeenth place in his first race, and fifteenth in the second. As time went by and the new driver was to get experienced with the vehicle, they could potentially charge for the top ten again.


    But that wasn''t Lucas'' focus now. His goal was the mission, which would most likely be a dangerous one for him.


    "So, where am I heading to, system?"


    There was only a mission description and no map, so it was next to impossible for Lucas to find the location of the Heart of Silver.


    "The aim of the mission is resource collection. As such, the system would not be offering help to the host."


    "Huh?"

 Chapter 299 - 299: Millenia Mountain

    The system''s revelation that there was no map threw Lucas off, and for a second, he didn''t even know how to react. Luckily, with today being the thirteenth day, there were still two days left until the Heart of Silver had formed completely. Lucas had intentionally decided to start looking for it starting today as he didn''t know how far the location was. That decision of his now turned out to be very valuable.


    "So how do I find it?" Lucas frowned, feeling an itch to beat the system. Sadly, it had no physical form.


    The problem of finding the Heart of Silver was incredibly difficult. It could even be compared to the same difficulty as asking a chef to write out five hundred decimal numbers of Pi; you might as well just forget about it.


    The reason why Lucas felt that finding the Heart of Silver on his own was difficult was because even the Cardoso family didn''t seem to know that such a material existed. This was because finding a legendary material required a tremendous amount of luck. This was a material forged from the combination of a planet''s world source with an element under the influence of the planet''s fate. That being so, it wasn''t something that could be found by scanning the entire planet using machines.


    Chances were that the Cardoso family or, even a different force, might have found it but kept the information hidden ¡ªafter all, this was a legendary material. But that would spell another concern for Lucas as he would have to find a way to get through their security, steal it, and escape.


    ''I just hope none of that has occurred. But it''s a mission from the system, so the chance of it happening is more likely.'' Lucas sighed while massaging his brows with both hands. He could feel a headache brewing even before he began the mission.


    "Although the system cannot aid you directly, it has been judged that the current mission difficulty exceeds the usual. As such, a directional guide will be provided to the host for temporary usage."


    "GPS?" Lucas muttered with a contemplating look.


    Although it wasn''t a map, a directional guide was better than nothing.


    Ending the conversation there, Lucas went into the work-station to pack up a new set of items, before leaving behind a debit card with Melissa.


    "Use this and get yourself whatever you want, whenever you want. If you need some more, you can go ask Vienna for it."


    During the past thirteen days, Vienna had occasionally visited the shop and met with Melissa. At one point, Lucas'' schedule was choked and he spent three days in the work-station, remodeling the Viper for better performance. During that period, Vienna had taken Melissa shopping and looked after her. Surprisingly, from there, the two got quite close together and Melissa began to refer to her as ''older sister Vi''.


    "Okay."


    Melissa nodded with a big smile. She was no longer the little kid from three months ago who could not associate with others or stayed up worried waiting for her older brother.


    After sending a message to Vienna to notify her once more about his trip, Lucas left the shop and headed south. That was the direction the system''s direction guide ¡ªwhich was just a green arrow visible to him on the interface¡ª pointed towards.


    Eastwards was the direction of Belfargos City. The Bailin province was located in the north, or to be specific, northeast. As for the south, it was the location of a desolate beast domain. Beyond that was another large city, Blue Springs City. It was unlikely for the Heart of Silver to be born in a city, so Lucas'' destination would be the desolate beast domain. At the southeast, in an opportune region that bordered both the desolate beast domain and Belfargos City, was the Neon Summer province.


    A desolate beasts domain was a large span of area occupied by desolate beasts of different levels. In simpler terms, it was a breeding ground for desolate beasts. Domains were generally classified based on the level of the strongest desolate beast present and the average level with the largest population. This classification used a similar nomenclature with the threat categorisation system used by the military of city-states. As such, there were five classes of desolate beasts domains: classes C, B, A, S, and X. Each desolate beast domain went in hand with the equivalent threat rank.


    A class C desolate beast domain didn''t hold much threat to a city-state. Such desolate beast domains were ruled by a sixth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast with the average strength of desolate beasts being at the fourth level.


    A class B desolate beast domain, similar to a class B threat, could threaten an entire district. There was at least one seventh or even eight level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast with the weakest being at the second level. The average level hovered between fourth and fifth. S§×ar?h the N?velFire(.)net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    A class A desolate beast domain was seen as a class A threat. It was a danger on the level of affecting multiple districts in a city-state at once. This was because there were a few eighth and ninth level desolate beasts here, and a slight possibility for even a tenth level desolate beast. The weakest desolate beast here was at the third level while the average was between the fifth and sixth.


    Above were the classes S and X, both of which were used to refer to desolate beast domains and threats that could wipe out an entire city-state and multiple city-states at once respectively. When a city-state was facing such a threat, they would have to collaborate with their neighbours and even notify the Oklo Dynasty. Under such circumstances, even the city lord would participate in the city-state''s defence.


    On the other hand, in the case of a desolate beast domain, a domain classified under either of the two, would be heavily monitored by the closest city-state unless it was too far away. In some cases, a request for a crusade would be made to the Oklo Dynasty.


    In this context, a crusade was a large scale war waged against desolate beasts in a domain with the sole intention of wiping them out.


    The desolate beast domain that stood in between Trundel City and Blue Springs City was a class A domain called the Millennia Mountains. It was a large mountain range that covered a very wide area. Due to the incredible number of mountains in the range, it was given the name Millennia Mountains, meaning one thousand mountains [1]. However, in reality, there weren''t really one thousand mountains within the mountain range; but the numbers did reach up to one hundred.


    Usually, travellers or visitors going from Blue Springs City to Trundel City or vice versa, did so using light-rail trains. Road transport was next to impossible because of the massive risk associated with it. Even typical hover cars were also not an option. A class A domain had a few eight and ninth level desolate beasts with a small chance for a tenth level desolate beast. There were also a couple of avian desolate beast species that could match up to the top speed of a standard hover car. Only an idiot would want to travel through the region by land or using an average hover car.


    On the other hand, light-rail trains were very fast and blitzed through the air, avoiding most aerial desolate beasts, so it was a considerably safe mode of transportation.


    But there was a problem when Lucas thought about this. There was no stop in between Trundel City and Blue Springs City, as the entire region consisted of the Millennia Mountains. So, the light-rail train couldn''t exactly transport Lucas over. To get to the mountains, he would have to do so on his own.


    ''Luckily, I have a lot of cash on hand.'' Lucas thought as he headed towards a hover car dealership.


    Roughly two weeks at the Versoa team had seen Lucas earn two weeks'' worth of wages for three positions. Even though he wasn''t a mini tycoon yet, Lucas'' wallet was quite loaded. He could afford a hover car, although it would take a significant chunk out of his wallet.


    "Welcome."


    The receptionist at the front door greeted Lucas as he stepped through the entrance. However, after noticing that Lucas was not hyuman, the young lady''s expression changed slightly but she quickly hid it.


    Belfargos city-state wasn''t as averse to the presence of humans as with the other city-states. There were quite a lot of humans here and the city-state had the second largest population of humans, just after Digress city-state. Most of these humans worked as assistants or took on the more menial roles in the city-state that hyumans refused to take on. Those with good looks applied for hostess or receptionist positions, while those who were physically stronger handled physical tasks. The ones who were more audacious took on dangerous tasks like acting as a porter for freelancers in the wild. Not every one could afford a spatial vault but having to carry so much luggage while battling was troublesome, hence the need for a porter.


    In summary, Belfargos city-state offered a better life for humans, but it was at the cost of hard work since the cost of living was pretty high.


    "I''m interested in getting a hover car. Can you take me around your showroom?"

 Chapter 300 - 300: Arrival

    A hover car sped through the legalised air routes in Trundel City, departing straight from Cas Lego province while moving south towards Neon Summer province.


    The blue hover car was shaped like a bullet, but with jet wings. There were unique black lines drawn from one end to the other, giving the hover car an intimidating yet exotic appearance. It was almost as if a fighter jet was blazing through the skies.


    This hover car was called a Terino Grand Ghost, or TGG for short. Although it was called a hover car, it was actually a sare shuttle. A sare shuttle was a hover car alternative for freelancers and pioneers who wanted to go into the wild ¡ªwhich is the nickname for a desolate beast domain. These vehicles were built specifically for traversing desolate beast domains. Their exterior was much stronger than traditional hover cars making them resilient to attacks; their speed, performance and reliability were also well ahead of the latter. But one of the most interesting points of sare shuttles was that they could be armed with weapons to combat desolate beast attacks.


    The TGG wasn''t a high-end sare shuttle and wasn''t even suited with a lot of attacking options, having only two low-grade laser guns fitted into its hub. However, in exchange for a drop in attack power, it prioritised speed and defence power. These two were features Lucas settled on after considering the various possibilities that could take shape during this mission. If there happened to be another party aware of the existence of the Heart of Silver, the ability to outrun and survive against their retaliation was more important than the ability to return fire.


    ''Neon Summer province, the trade station of the south.''


    Lucas glanced at the display of the shuttle that showed the view underneath him. A magnificent city sprawled all over the place.


    Being the last province before Belfargos City''s territory, Neon Summer province became an important trade centre for many. Merchants from Belfargos City who wanted to sell their goods, unless they had a contractual agreement, usually did so here. The same was true for freelancers who went into the Millennia Mountains from Trundel City. Because of this, many companies in the desolate beast market set up their stations and outlets here. Some of them even went as far as constructing a regional headquarters here.


    While it might have seemed silly, setting up a regional headquarters here was a smart idea. This was because the Millenia Mountains was a class A desolate beast domain, so the variety of monsters found here ¡ªwhether in terms of quantity or quality¡ª was incredible. A simple store, most times, was unable to handle big transactions reaching up to hundreds of thousands of federal coins, which would be common in Neon Summer province. But it was a different story for a regional headquarters.


    Lucas controlled his Terino to land in a public parking space after paying for the fee online. His goal for visiting the province was to get a map of the Millennia Mountains. Due to the nature of the mission, Lucas couldn''t get a guide to lead him forward, so he had to do everything himself.


    The world was a digital society, but to have access to unique information such as a map of a desolate domain, unless one was a registered freelancer, you couldn''t get it online. Just like vestiges, such information was restricted to only the necessary parties. While it wasn''t illegal as with vestiges, average citizens couldn''t get their hands on such information easily. Luckily, there was still time for Lucas to find a place that would sell it to him.


    "Excuse me for a second."


    Lucas approached a man who had just exited a vestige-smith store. Based on his attire as well as the aura around him, the man was a freelancer.


    "A human? Get straight to the point." The man frowned as he stared at Lucas with disdain in his eyes. It was almost as if talking to Lucas was not just a waste of time, but also of his breath. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Belfargos city-state being more acceptable of humans than anywhere else, except Digress city-state, didn''t mean that every hyuman would be nice to one.


    "Nothing much. I just have a business proposal for you. It''s nothing difficult; I just need information."


    Lucas snuck out a stack of cash and flashed it at the man. The bundle of cash was made of the highest value notes of the federal coin and added up to roughly four thousand federal coins.


    The man''s eyes flashed with greed as he stared at the bundle, almost reaching out to snatch it.


    Even though freelancers made a lot, they also spent a lot. The situation was even worse for the unsuccessful freelancers who occasionally lived between debts and wealth. For an average freelancer, getting four thousand federal coins in exchange for a piece of information was a deal too good to avoid.


    The man''s demeanour abruptly changed as he put on a polite smile and shifted his gaze from the stack to Lucas'' face.


    "What do you want to know?"


    "A map. I need a map of the Millennia Mountains, with all notable hunting and resource grounds. The more detailed, the better." Lucas replied as she stared at the man in the eyes.


    Logically, this request was absurd and few freelancers would agree to it. But with the power of money, even illegal things could be done, much less requesting for a map of the Millennia Mountains.


    The man narrowed his eyes as he stared back at Lucas and the two were stuck at an impasse.


    While Lucas was waiting for an answer, the man was considering the situation more carefully. Although giving out a desolate domain map to a citizen was not illegal, it would affect his reputation if found out. Some information networks might even blacklist him for that. On the other hand, there were four thousand federal coins on the line for an ''easy'' job.


    "If you have any detailed copy and even personal notes, I don''t mind topping with one thousand more federal coins." Lucas suddenly said.


    "You win."


    The man snorted before pulling out a piece of hardware. It looked like a flash and was quite similar to it as this device also stored data and information.


    "Inside here is a map of the Millenia Mountains and the major hunting grounds. It also has the details of the types of monsters in there as well as the places one could find certain resources and minerals, but they''ve been mostly cleared out since long ago. There are also a few notes of mine on certain regions that aren''t recorded in public maps. In other words, my experience in the mountains.


    "Even though I''m giving this to you, try not to sell it to someone else or get caught doing so." The man warned him.


    "No need to remind me." Lucas nodded in return.


    He had no intention of selling the document no matter what.


    After paying the man and confirming the map, Lucas left the man and acted as if nothing had happened. The latter similarly did the same and the two went their different paths from here. Since it was getting late, Lucas decided to take a break and continue the next day.


    Coincidentally, at the same time, a group of strangers had similarly arrived within Neon Summer province.


    [1] I''d like to clarify one thing which I think many might have forgotten. A city-state in Eretre is the same as a country in terms of size (think large countries, at least the size of Brazil, but some can be bigger). Due to the Oklo Dynasty''s rule, the use of the words ''nation'' and ''country'' is prohibited, so they take on the term ''city-state''. This is also partly because most of these city-states originally evolved from one city that expanded its influence, like Baylands city-state.


    Districts are state-sized (the American ones that are really big, like Texas), while a city can be really huge (think the country of Belgium). This is especially so for capital cities, and if you can recall, Baylands City is so huge that the five major districts in it were essentially individual cities of their own that were also large. Also, mode of transportation is flight, so this isn''t really troublesome for Eretreans.


    In the unofficial Belfargos city-state, the situation is slightly different. Because Belfargos city-state is unofficial, there is no limit to the size of the cities within it. So, a city can be as large as Scotland (South Carolina) or smaller. Being that large, it''s no surprise that the provinces within are also large.


    This seemingly absurd size standard is because there are few city-states (countries) in Eretre, numbering only thirteen. Meanwhile, the planet is 1.5 times that of Earth. The majority of the planet is occupied by water, just like Earth, and also desolate beast domains. So, if you were to stuff over eight billion people into thirteen ''countries'', it''s only natural for those ''countries'' to be crazy big.

 Chapter 301 - 301: Gathering Of Three Sides

    Staring at the display screen in the control, Lucas'' face became serious even as the scene was that of a mountain range filled with vibrant and lively colours. To an average individual, the Millennia Mountains would appear like an amazing tourist spot. But the truth was far from reality. sea??h th§× N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The Millennia Mountains, a class A desolate beast domain mountain range, got its name from the staggering number of mountains in the region. While it wasn''t up to one thousand, the number of mountains recorded were at least one hundred, each with differing heights and sizes.


    On one hand, the Millennia Mountains was classified as a class A desolate beast domain because of the mainstream power level of the average population. But on the other hand, it was also because of the complexity of the region


    To some degree, every single mountain in the Millennia Mountains was a unique environment. There were mountains with snow-filled peaks, mountains with lush green forests, barren mountains, and even mountains that were entirely made of rocks. There was even a mountain that was entirely covered with a boggy terrain.


    With such a vast array of mountains, it was inevitable that the flora and fauna would be different on each mountain. This made the entire domain not only difficult, but also extremely dangerous to traverse. Usually, when freelancers came to the Millennia Mountains, they did so with the intention of hunting in only one or two mountains, which they''ve made preparations for.


    Going further into the mountain range was also another perilous move one could make. The deeper one went into the Millennia Mountains, the more complicated the mountains became and the stronger the monsters were. After a certain point, it was even possible to sight seventh and eighth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beasts. Even ninth level desolate beasts could be spotted, although with a very low chance. Unless one was in the core of the mountain range, you would need to be very unlucky to encounter them elsewhere.


    "System, activate the directional guide." Lucas suddenly said as he stared at the projected map.


    A green arrow showed up on Lucas'' interface as it pointed towards the depths of the mountain range. Seeing this, Lucas frowned slightly but he was actually not surprised by this. The outer region of the Millennia Mountains had already been entirely explored by both freelancers and pioneers over the decades. If there was a hidden mine that could birth the Heart of Silver here, it would have been found long ago.


    Nonetheless, the Heart of Silver turning out to be deeper inside of the Millennia Mountains didn''t mean that Lucas was relieved to be right. As they say, riches and dangers come hand in hand. Deeper inside of the Millennia Mountains was a zone even sixth level stellar practitioners had to be careful. After all, as a class A desolate beast domain, the Millennia Mountains would be swarming with fifth and sixth level desolate beasts. Based on his previous records, Lucas could at best handle fourth level dangers, so this place was very dangerous even for him.


    "Lower the flying altitude and activate camouflage sequence."


    "Noted." A voice sounded in the shuttle.


    It was the artificial intelligence designed to control the Terino Grand Ghost sare shuttle. This was to help freelancers control the shuttle while they were busy or in some cases, taking a nap.


    On the outside, the shuttle''s silhouette seemed to shiver a bit before it became invisible. This was achieved by producing a unique radiation that was capable of disrupting the frequency and wavelength of visible light. On Earth, this fell under two concepts known as Electromagnetic spectrum manipulation and Destructive Interference. They were both theories that had yet to be actualised due to the insane difficulty required. But in this world, it was all possible thanks to the bizarre nature of stellar energy.


    With the invisibility activated, Lucas would not need to worry about getting spotted by desolate beats from far out. Even those that could see infrared light would be unable to spot the shuttle because the interior and exterior were coated with unique materials that could mask thermal signatures. This was why Lucas didn''t mind spending a significant sum of his earnings on the shuttle, even though it lacked attack power.


    While the shuttle was on autopilot with its detection on, Lucas didn''t have much to do and could only focus his attention to study the map again. Even though he had a guide from the system, according to the same system, it would only give him a rough direction and was only temporary. Because of this, there were a few limits to the directional guide.


    The first limit was that the guide would be disabled once Lucas got within one hundred kilometres from the location.


    The second limit was that the directional guide pointed towards the region the mission location was, and not the actual location itself. This meant that if Lucas wanted to be smart and move in the same direction for one hundred kilometres, after the guide disappears, he would end up in the wrong location even though he would still be ''close''. The actual location might be ten kilometres to his left or right; it could even be further or closer.


    While this seemed pointless and maybe even evil, it was the system''s intention to train Lucas to be able to find materials on his own and be less dependent on it. According to the system, a Crafts-God shouldn''t just be good at crafting but also in identifying and recovering materials needed. If not, they would be nothing more than a hired hand. At least with the current technology and his skills as well, the system believed that Lucas should be able to find the location of the mine with the Heart of Silver.


    After purchasing the map, Lucas had spent the night analysing it and deducing possible regions the mine could be, but he wasn''t so sure. This was because there were not much records about the Heart of Silver, even in the books he got as a reward from the system. Lucas'' ranking and identity on the Kellan Solar System Intranet was low, so he wasn''t privy to certain information ¡ªespecially those related to the world source of a planet.


    Without enough information, it was basically impossible for him to be able to figure out where the Heart of Silver was, but with the directional guide, Lucas could narrow down his guesses. The most important thing was to get to the mine in time.


    This was because once the day was over, the Heart of Silver would be matured and completed. From Lucas'' experience with world-defying materials, there would most likely be a phenomenon associated with this completion. It might not be anything exaggerated, but it was possible that the Heart of Silver would become ''visible'' to senses. Chances were that the surveying satellites in space could pick up on its unique signature or a freelancer close enough might sense it. Although he wasn''t certain whether any of these was possible, Lucas was a fan of the phrase ''prevention is better than cure''. Hence, the faster he found the mine, the better. That way once its formation was completed, Lucas could seal it and depart immediately.


    . . .


    Roughly at the same time Lucas flew into the Millennia Mountains, two different groups of people also appeared but from different directions.


    One came from the direction of Trundel City just like Lucas, and they were the same party that arrived at the Neon Summer province just as Lucas had bought the map the previous day. They were clothed in all-black outfits and some even wore black masks on their faces. Their aura was entirely both suffocating and mysterious, possibly even suspicious, but this was Trundel City and no one was worried about criminals, so they walked around freely.


    Even though the incident of the East Braftford relics was just a couple of weeks ago, many termed it as a fluke and didn''t believe that terrorists or criminals would be bold enough to walk into the city. Also, the attire of the group was nothing new as some freelancer organisations even dressed like that. In fact, many suspected them to be a high-profile freelancer team from outside the city who came to the Millennia Mountains for work.


    In truth, it wasn''t like they hadn''t been investigated. The group had entered Trundel City with registered IDs, and the security had cleared them, so despite their suspicious outfit, they weren''t criminals or terrorists; at least according to the database records.


    "Any news from the team at 92B-Delta lode?" The man in the lead spoke after the group settled in a sare shuttle shaped like a van.


    "The situation is still stable, but the monitoring indices show that the item would soon be completed." A deep voice replied. The speaker was a figure in black cloak with a black mask in the appearance of a fox''s face.


    "What about the surroundings?" The leader glanced at another individual with an inquisitive look.


    The other person wore a mask that only covered the lower half of their face, together with black skintight attire. From their proportions as well as the upper half of their face, it was quite clear that the individual was a lady.


    "No signs of Trundel City making a move, but there''s news from Blue Springs City. The young vice-lord candidate has begun to move."


    . . .


    Almost at the same time, the second group was heading for the Millennia Mountains. But different from Lucas and the black-clothed group, they departed from the opposite neighbouring city, Blue Springs City. Leading this group was a familiar figure, William Ernst, the son of Blue Springs City deputy city lord.

 Chapter 302 - 302: A Mission Can Never Go Smoothly

    "My lord, it would take us thirty minutes to get to the location." A middle-aged man bowed towards a young man before him.


    The young man had stunning facial looks, and a white shoulder-length curly hair that gave him an almost ethereal look. Even on Eretre filled with so many good-looking people, very few could actually match up to him. He had an imposing bearing formulated from the dignified aura that radiated from his body. Even a blind man could tell that the young man was from a prestigious background just by the sound of his composed footsteps.


    "Noted. Stay on alert for any suspicious parties and prepare for a battle." The young man said with a calm yet serious look on his face.


    He was William Ernst, the eldest and only son of the vice city lord of Blue Springs City.


    As the eldest child and only son of the vice city lord of Blue Springs City, William managed to skip a selection trial which other descendants partook in and became the legatee of his father. This meant that from a young age, he already received all the most valuable training and resources his family could provide him. He was also with great talent, and together with the resources and training he received, it became easy for William to grow stronger ahead of his peers. At an age when others struggled to get into the third or fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage, William was already at the fifth.


    However, his personal strength was just one factor that made William a capable individual. The others were his connections and personal hands. It was thanks to one of them that William discovered the formation of the Heart of Silver.


    ''Whatever is forming there, we need to get it'' William thought as his eyes turned cold.


    Just like the mysterious group and Lucas, William Ernst ¡ªthe son of Blue Springs City''s vice city lord¡ª had discovered the formation of the Heart of Silver a while ago. However, unlike the mysterious group, he didn''t figure out the truth that long, only finding out roughly a week ago. Hence, it was impossible for him to have locked down the region right away.


    In truth, the Heart of Silver only began to show off signs of formation around two weeks ago. It was during that same time that its energy signatures could barely be sensed if one happened to be just close enough. The mysterious group had been tracking the flow of Eretre''s world source for a long while and they just happened to have stumbled upon a clue that led them to the lode which they named, 92B-Delta lode.


    Lucas had the system, whose sensory range and abilities were without comparison. As such, these two sides managed to discover the Heart of Silver right as soon as it began coming to shape.


    On the other hand, William was just lucky enough to have one of his men stumble upon the position and sense something extraordinary taking place. What''s more, the man was lucky enough to do so when the scout from the mysterious group that was on guard at the lode, had taken a potty break. He wasn''t too sure about the situation and had returned to William to report about it. Following that, William sent him back with a few helpers in tow.


    The second time the man came over to confirm the situation with the new helping hands, they were spotted by the scout on duty. A fierce fight broke out as the scout had been ordered to silence anyone who noticed the abnormality. Of the four aides the man brought with him, two of them had died, one was injured, while the scout barely escaped with his life on the line. After that battle, the two sides became aware of each other but didn''t know their identity. However, it was easier for the mysterious group as they were in the dark, while William''s team could be somewhat termed as being in the light.


    Due to various factors and reasons, William couldn''t mobilise his forces to seize control of the site especially since it would alarm his father''s rivals and his as well. So all he could do was wait until the day the creation of the Heart of Silver was completed. He would then compete for it with the mysterious organisation. This was deduced by one of the men he sent who happened to be an expert when it came to the study of energy and matter.


    According to the expert, today was the d-day. In order not to miss out on anything, William led his men into the Millennia Mountains with one goal; to destroy the other side and take whatever it was that started this all.


    . . .


    Twenty minutes of flight went by without Lucas clashing with any avian desolate beasts. It wasn''t that he had not encountered them, but the Terino Grand Ghost''s stealth mode was very effective in dodging most. As for the few desolate beasts that spotted him, depending on the situation, they were either rapidly taken down by the shuttle''s attacks or Lucas had escaped from them using its superior speed advantage.


    After the somewhat uneventful twenty minute ride, the directional guide suddenly disappeared. Lucas took control over the shuttle from the AI as he realised that he was within one hundred kilometres away from his destination. He flew on slowly for fifty more kilometres before landing the shuttle in a hidden cave atop one of the mountains.


    The shuttle could not be stored in his inventory, so Lucas'' only option was to park it somewhere safe. As for why Lucas didn''t get closer to the one hundred kilometres mark, it had to do with the second limit of the directional guide [1] and also, his suspicion that there might be another party aware of the Heart of Silver. If Lucas were to go on flying with the shuttle, not only might he not find the location of the Heart of Silver, but he could potentially alert the possibly existing other side.


    Even though there was no evidence or clue to suggest that someone else knew of the Heart of Silver, Lucas'' experience with the system''s missions was more than enough for him to know that the mission could never be rosy.


    ''The directional guide''s last hint was moving forward. That''s westward in the south. There are not many possible locations for the Heart of Silver to be found in. But then again, this map isn''t so detailed and the information on it is limited.'' Lucas perused the map while the shuttle flew towards the target mountain.


    A slight frown was on his face as he realised that this mission would be more stressful than expected. But then again, the rewards were quite worth it. Even though the system was somewhat stingy with the mission rewards, just having the Heart of Silver alone was marvellous return.


    Just as Lucas thought of this, the shuttle suddenly rocked aggressively. It was almost as if an earthquake had occurred, but this was illogical as the Terino Grand Ghost flew in midair.


    "What''s the problem?" Lucas hurriedly asked as he changed the display to show the outside.


    "We''re being attacked by a Rotter-Bear." The artificial intelligence replied.


    "I knew things could never go smoothly for long." Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 303 - 303: Enraged Rotter-Bear

    In front of the Terino Grand Ghost was a huge bear-like monster with brown fur and large sharp claws. It opened its mouth wide and let out a ferocious roar while brandishing its sharp claws at the shuttle. It was Lucas'' current enemy, a Rotter-bear.


    A Rotter-Bear was a species of desolate beast that looked just like a huge brown bear. However, comparing the two was like having a child and a grown adult stand side by side. Desolate beasts were considerably stronger, tougher, faster and more aggressive than regular creatures. As such, the difference between a brown bear and a rotter-bear didn''t just stop at size as the latter were professional diggers, more so than the former. A rotter-bear''s claw could easily cut through metal like a hot knife through butter. Their fur, bones, skin and muscles were also denser and tougher than a regular bear by far. This made them difficult opponents to deal with, especially if one didn''t have a vestige.


    To put this into perspective, a .30/06 Springfield [1], or even a .338 Lapua Magnum [2], would fail to deal much damage to a rotter-bear even though it was enough to put down a brown bear.


    But as a desolate beast, speed and strength wasn''t all they had. An average fully-grown rotter-bear would be a fifth level desolate beast. At that level, it could easily make a mess out of an armoured tank. If it had a bit more potential, it could even end up as a sixth level desolate beast.


    "What''s the stellar energy rating?"


    Lucas immediately asked the artificial intelligence. If the rotter-bear was an adult, he would have to retreat right away. A fifth level desolate beast wasn''t something he could easily take on with sacrificing one of his two bronze cards left, but it wasn''t worth it. However, leaving would mean that he would have to find a new place to hide the sare shuttle, but that was easier said than done.


    Regardless, if the rotter-bear was over his abilities, Lucas would promptly retreat.


    "Adolescent rotter-bear, fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage." The AI replied. sea??h th§× N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Just the fourth level." Lucas sighed with relief before leaving the cockpit and heading for the exit.


    "Retrieve."


    The door of the shuttle opened as a figure jumped out of it in midair and landed a few metres away from the large shadow cast by the rotter-bear''s figure.


    "Roar!"


    The monster had taken notice of this as it turned and glared at the ''little'' figure while letting out an ear-shocking roar. Luckily for Lucas, this was the Millennia Mountains and it wasn''t always quiet, so the sound wouldn''t attract any unnecessary attention.


    The ''little'' figure, who was actually Lucas, glanced up and took sight of the rotter-bear that dwarfed his figure considerably. Lucas wasn''t short and stood at a height of about 1.83 metres (6 feet), but when compared to the rotter-bear that was about six metres tall (16 feet), the difference was staggering.


    But such a height difference was pretty common for freelancers and they were all used to it. Even Lucas was used to facing creatures far much bigger than he was, so he wasn''t pressured by the difference in size.


    "Even if these mountains can be quite noisy sometimes, I''d prefer a little bit of peace and quiet here." Lucas'' black eyes stared at the beast as he began to radiate a dangerous aura.


    This was the killing intent that harboured deep inside of him; the killing intent of a soul who had lived over five hundred years in a world where the strongest fist had the loudest say.


    The rotter-bear suddenly went mute as its instincts warned of the little figure before it. Without realising it, the rotter-bear took half a step backwards. But just one second later, it flared up before an intense rage took over its mind.


    "Roar!"


    The monster was incensed by the fact that it had shrivelled up against such a ''weak'' creature and it immediately charged at Lucas, desperate to avenge itself and wash away the humiliation.


    "Beasts will always be beasts."


    Lucas, who had only a pair of gauntlets and boots, stood up to the rotter-bear. That''s right; he wasn''t going to use the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. This was because Lucas felt it was overkill and unnecessary; at the same time, he also wanted to test the capabilities of the upgraded vestiges.


    With every day, week and month that went by, Lucas'' vestige-smithing knowledge grew by a noticeable percentage. He improved atrociously at a rate that one might term as demonic. This was because Lucas was absorbing the knowledge from the tomes he got after a few missions, together with the books on the intranet. He then combined these pieces of knowledge with what he learned from his past lives. As such, it was basically normal for Lucas to be able to improve on his skills on a weekly basis.


    The fusion of all the diverse knowledge and theories went into improving the various vestiges that made up the SCB. Originally, the first version of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour could only prop Lucas'' strength to the third level while relying only on his base strength. Later improvements increased this reach to the fourth level, earning Lucas the ability to defend himself in the wild. However, he wasn''t satisfied with just that and kept working on it.


    The latest tome, ''Basic Inscription Knowledge'', broadened and deepened Lucas'' understanding about inscriptions, especially the stellar matrices, stellar circuits, and the recently acquired magi runes. Thanks to that, Lucas was able to make a third major upgrade to the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour.


    Currently, even he didn''t know the true power the vestige armour could display with his base strength. But Lucas felt that relying solely on the gauntlets and boots alone, he should be able to take on the rotter-bear. However, this was on the condition that he could react in time, as without the Vis receptacle of the SCB, it would be difficult for Lucas'' reaction speed to be upped to the same level as the rotter-bear.


    ''It''s coming.''


    Lucas'' eyes flashed as a large brown entity charged at him, leaving behind only an afterimage in its wake.


    For a creature that big, running so quickly should logically have been impossible, but desolate beasts couldn''t be judged with common sense [3].


    Lucas reacted using his hardened battle experience and managed to respond in time. The boots activated a pair of side thrusters and Lucas'' figure immediately slid to the side, dodging the rotter-bear''s ram.


    *Boom*


    The cave shook as the rotter-bear crashed into the walls of the cave. For a second, Lucas was scared that there would be a landslide and the entrance of the cave would be blocked, but those worries turned out to be for naught. The ground and walls of the cave were stronger than the average ground and rocks. Although the rotter-bear''s ram did cause a dent, it wasn''t enough to create a landslide.


    "Roar!"


    The rotter-bear let out a terrifying roar as its eyes turned red. It was greatly infuriated that the little ''pebble'' who had humiliated it, happened to have also dodged its assault.


    Without saying another word, or another roar, the rotter-bear abruptly turned around and swiped its claws at Lucas.

 Chapter 304 - 304: Special Ability Card

    *Boom*


    Once again, the rotter-bear''s attack was a miss with Lucas having dodged it just half a second before it struck his position.


    Relying on his hardened battle experience and judgement, Lucas was able to predict the angles and direction the rotter-bear would attack from. He had already clashed with fourth level Apertures Opening stage entities before, so Lucas had a rough idea of their capabilities and could make the accurate decision of when and how to dodge. The vestige boots also helped to ensure that his movements could keep up, so Lucas wasn''t in a tough situation; at least not yet.


    This was because the technique Lucas used could only work when there was enough space between him and the rotter-bear. At close range, it would be a lot harder to react to its attacks.


    "Roar!"


    The battle between Lucas and the rotter-bear suddenly became a game of tag, where the desolate beast tried to land a hit while Lucas avoided every strike with all he had. The rotter-bear was like a bulldozer, unleashing devastating blows that could end a life or turn a sedan into a pile of metal crap. On the other hand, Lucas was like a dandelion seeds navigating the wind as he smoothly dodged everyone of the desolate beast''s attacks at the last moment. For a second, it even looked as if Lucas could do the same with his eyes closed.


    Even though the rocks on this mountain were a lot tough, the terrain was slowly being reshaped as a few potholes and cracks formed all over the place.


    With the rotter-bear not getting any hit in, its fury was approaching the sky. Its attacks became more ferocious than before and the damage dealt to the area worsened. Seeing this, Lucas'' face turned gloomy. The cave was supposed to be the hideout for the Terino Grand Ghost sare shuttle, but at this rate, it would be ruined.


    "I guess it''s enough testing for now."


    Lucas glared as he retreated until there was a gap of yen metres between them. For the six metres tall rotter-bear, this was the minimum distance to be termed as safe for Lucas.


    With his arm stretched towards the monster, Lucas snapped his fingers.


    *Snap*


    Magical currents burst out from his outstretched arm in four directions, darting towards the rotter-bear before it could even react. Once they got close, the currents gathered and entwined together, stabbing at the monster with immense force.


    *Splat*


    Try as it might, the rotter-bear was only able to block two of the magical currents before it got pierced by the other two. Blood sprayed from the wounds as the currents faded, splattering all over the floor and staining it with a blackish-red colour. At the same time, the bear that stood on its two feet was forced to kneel on one leg due to the pain.


    "It''s quite powerful." Lucas muttered while glancing at the system interface that appeared just below his eyes.


    [[ One Special Ability Card has been used.


    Random ability has been generated.


    Energy Form Manipulation granted to the host for twelve hours. ]]


    The Special Ability card was a unique brand of cards, alongside Bronze Grade cards, given to Lucas by the system as a reward for completing missions or achievements. Unlike Bronze Grade cards that could boost Lucas'' power level to the level of the card for only two hours, Special Ability cards granted him a random type of power for a random time ranging between 6-24 hours.


    The randomly generated power could either be very powerful or essentially useless. Because of this, the value of the Special Ability card was lower than the Bronze Grade cards as it largely depended on one''s luck. This was why the minimum duration of the card was already three times that of a Bronze Grade card.


    Lucas has decided to use one instead of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour because the upgraded battle armour was a bit unstable. If he were to use it in a high intensity battle right away, Lucas would have to make some small repairs right after. But that would be a waste of time especially since he was still in a hurry. There was also the option of using one of the leftover Bronze Grade cards, but that wasn''t even under his consideration. As such, the Special Ability card was the best solution he could come up with.


    And what would have happened if the ability Lucas had gotten was useless? Well, Lucas never considered that.


    "Huff. Huff."


    The rotter-bear wasn''t dead yet, but its eyes were filled with a mix of fear, hatred, and anger. It wanted to tear Lucas apart more than anything, but it was already injured. Its survival at the moment was even under doubt.


    "Energy form manipulation, huh?"


    Lucas waved his right hand and an array of spears made of stellar energy formed in midair. The ''spears'' were very simplistic and looked more like long sticks with sharp tips, but their power was incomparable to those. Because they were formed entirely of stellar energy, they took on the hue of the energy from Lucas, which happened to be amethyst.


    Lucas grabbed one of the spears and tightened his grip on it to feel its strength. The spears were very solid and didn''t even crack after he did so. This made Lucas surprised, but at that moment, the rotter-bear had abruptly charged at him.


    Lucas'' attention was on the spear and it looked as if he would get hit at that moment. However, just when it seemed unlikely, he abruptly turned and swung the spear at the monster''s claw.


    *Bang*


    A miniature explosion set-off at the point of collision as an airwave shook blasted off with a resounding bang.


    The rotter-bear''s claw was stopped just one metre away from Lucas'' face. In between the two was the stellar energy spear which blocked the strike.


    ''Its durability is more powerful than I thought. Incredible.'' Lucas admired the lackluster weapon in his hands. Sear?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "As for you..."


    "Roar!"


    The rotter-bear brandished its other claw at close range, believing that it had finally held down the little bastard and could now land a hit on it. But before it could even pull off a successful attack, the desolate beast''s brain was suddenly assaulted with an intense sensation of pain. Its body was currently pierced with tens of stellar energy spears, making it look almost like a porcupine.


    The pain was so immense, that it couldn''t even cry out. What''s more, every point targeted was a vital point on its body. This was possible because Lucas had already absorbed the contents of one of the earliest tomes he got, ''An Adventurer''s Manual''. Inside it was information about not just materials and metals, but also some basic desolate beasts ¡ªby the system''s definition¡ª and their anatomy.


    Before the rotter-bear could let out a sound, it suddenly fell backwards and stopped breathing. The desolate beast was now dead.


    Lucas glanced at its corpse, tempted to dissect it and store away the useful parts. But he was running out of time for that.


    "In that case."


    Lucas created a few large blades of stellar energy and sliced the rotter-bear''s corpse into four pieces. He then stored these pieces inside his inventory. The system inventory couldn''t store large items which was why he needed to chop it down to a smaller size. Also, it could not keep living creatures, but since the rotter-bear was already dead, there was no need to be worried about that.


    Having dealt with the corpse, Lucas had the artificial intelligence settle down in the depths of the cave before exiting it.


    Without the shuttle, it would be much harder to find the mine. This was especially so since there was still fifty kilometres more to go.


    . . .


    During the time Lucas was dealing with the adolescent Rotter-bear, William''s team had almost approached the 92B-Delta lode. Just when they were only five minutes away, William''s eyes suddenly gleamed.


    "Take down the bird tagging behind us."


    Their team consisted of a small fleet of three sare shuttles each with their own design specifications. One of those shuttles had a streamlined appearance with a grey exterior. It didn''t give off an oppressive aura like another of the shuttles, but it generated a single word when one looked at it; speed. The shuttle was a scout-type sare shuttle called a Trojan War Fox, and it fitted with precise attacking options together with a powerful engine to provide an incredible speed boost.


    The shuttle rode along with the other two in a formation, but after William''s order, it suddenly deviated from the lineup and sped up to the side.


    At first, this action seemed confusing but just a second later in the same direction, a space in midair ¡ªabout five mountains away¡ª suddenly wobbled. A small sare shuttle immediately sped out from the space and flew rapidly in the opposite direction, but the Trojan War Fox was already on its tail. It pursued the small sare shuttle, and the difference in quality appeared as it rapidly caught up before unleashing a barrage of attacks on the vessel.


    *Boom*


    Try as it may, the small sare shuttle was not a worthy opponent for the Trojan War Fox and it was soon shut down within seconds. The Trojan War Fox continued firing at it until the entire shuttle blew up, with not a single piece left behind.


    "Proceed to the destination."

 Chapter 305 - 305: Decimation

    "We''ve lost contact with Nigel."


    Inside a hover shuttle that was as big as a private jet, a figure with a black fox mask and a black cloak reported to a man who sat at the command centre of the shuttle.


    This was the team of mysterious people who were all dressed in black. They had gone into the Millennium Mountains just at the same time as Lucas and William''s crew, but unlike Lucas, they knew exactly where they were headed.


    "I guess they found out." A feminine voice commented at that moment.


    A woman in a black tactical suit leaned against the shuttle''s wall, her gloved fingers drumming a combat knife against her thigh¡ªa habit she''d picked up during years of wetwork. She was the speaker, and also one of the strongest members in the group.


    "It doesn''t matter. By doing so, they''ve already informed us of their arrival. Also, they can''t take it yet until it''s fully matured so we have nothing to be worried about. Full speed ahead. We have a few pigs to slaughter."


    The leader of the crew said with burning eyes. Even without releasing his complete aura, a dreadful air surrounded him as a testament to his immense power.


    In front of him was a small projection of a countdown. It was the estimated time for the Heart of Silver to complete its growth, and there were still three hours left on the clock.


    . . .


    In the Millennium Mountains that was home to over one hundred mountains, looking like a graveyard of mountains and leaks piercing through the clouds, there was a small region of seven small mountains that not many people knew about. Although they were called small, this was relative to the other mountains in the area. Many of the mountains easily pierced through the sky and had their peaks on the cloud, but this small group weren''t even half the size of the gargantuan monuments.


    This ''valley of mountains'' was actually home to an undiscovered vein of ores, which the mysterious group called "92B-Delta lode". It was a mystic silver lode, which was very valuable.


    Mystic Silver was a unique element found in the Blue Mist star region. It wasn''t exactly rare, reducing its value, but it was still worth a bit, especially in large quantities. This was because Mystic Silver was a valuable material used in making vestiges Grade 4 and above. So while it was trash on a star region scale, on a planetary level, mystic silver had a lot of value even more so in a planet like Eretre. It could also be used in making starships and hover shuttles with the capabilities of reaching five times the speed of sound or mach 5.


    On one of these mountains, a team of eleven people had set up a hideout within a cave. The cave was filled with tons of complex technology and devices. It had also been heavily refurbished to the point that even the brown rocks couldn''t be seen as they were again.


    Static hums faintly sounded from the surrounding devices, giving off an eerie feeling in the cave. The walls were coated in nitrous silver, [1] which was non-Newtonian liquid metal alloy that was opaque. The floors were in the same situation as well. Usually, nitrous silver was used in situations where one wanted to avoid leaving behind a mark. It was mostly used by secret agents, spies and criminals to sneak into a scene, operate, and leave without a trace.


    But there was one special feature of nitrous silver which made it the ultimate alloy for use by underground forces. The silver in nitrous silver didn''t actually refer to regular silver but, ironically, Mystic Silver. When mixed together with nitrogen, the resulting compound, Nitrous Silver, could block off stellar energy signatures to some extent.


    Of the eleven men, six were monitoring the equipment in the cave, three hid outside the cave utilising the terrain as their cover. As for the last two, they were staring at a large display in the cave.


    To prevent any possibility of being spotted, the cave was dimly lit with only the pale glow of the display units and the luminous gems embedded in the ceiling. Those gems didn''t utilise electricity or even stellar energy, which made them perfect for lighting up a secret base.


    "Their E.T.A. is around three minutes. What do we do?" One of the two men asked with a frown as he stared at the map of the area on the display. He leaned forward, almost as if to zoom in closer to the map, while drumming his fingers anxiously on the table.


    There was a marking of the last point of their colleague, Nigel, had reported William and his small fleet to be. After the confirmation of Nigel''s death, they were now without eyes on William''s team and had to come to a decision quickly before it was too late


    "We can''t even find them, so what can we do?" The other man replied while furrowing his eyebrows.


    Suddenly, his eyes twitched as he sharply moved his focus towards a certain spot on the digital map.


    "What was that?"


    "What?" His partner who was leaning forward asked with confusion written all over his face. S§×arch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The man didn''t reply as his attention was still fixed on that spot on the screen. He had noticed a flicker on the screen but there was nothing there once his focus was on it. This made him confused and wonder if maybe the anticipation and anxiety had caused him to begin hallucinating.


    ''No. It''s not that. They''re here.''


    The man''s eyes suddenly widened as he turned around and faced the others. With a loud voice, he yelled,


    "Prepare for-"


    *Boom*


    An explosion rocked the mountain the cave was dug out within. But that was just the beginning. Laser beams of both red and purple colours darted from the distance towards the region and struck clearly on the mountain.


    *Boom* *Boom* *Boom*


    Explosions tainted the surface of not just the mountain with the cave, but the two beside it as well. Flames burst out as the trees on them were set on fire by the intense residual heat of the laser beams that struck from afar. The three mountains were littered with craters and landslides could occasionally be spotted due to the originally balanced topography being ''renovated'' by the air-to-surface long-ranged attacks.


    "Fuck it." The man cursed as he hurried to recover as many devices as he could from being destroyed.


    Even though the cave was lucky enough to not have been hit, the tumultuous attacks had made the cave a dangerous place. This was because the possibility of a collapse became imminent with the constantly intensive vibrations.


    "Everybody, recover as many devices as you can and run to area B." The man roared at the top of his voice.


    Area B was a passage dug out in the depths of the mountain in consideration for any possible assault from the outside. There was a hidden exit at the end of the passage that led to the outside of the mountain. The man intended for his teammates to escape through this exit.


    Meanwhile, about twenty kilometres away, three sare shuttles in camouflage mode hovered while releasing a ferocious barrage of laser beams in a certain direction. This direction just happened to be where the three mountains were.


    Each shuttle focused on one mountain, and even though their firepower wasn''t the same, it was still enough to decimate the surface of the mountains. This was because every mountain in the Millennium Mountains was incredibly tough. If one of the targets was replaced with a regular mountain from Earth, the barrage of laser beams would easily be able to cut down the height of the mountain.


    The attacks rained down on the three mountains for ten more seconds before all three shuttles stopped attacking.


    "Any signs of life spotted yet?" William, who was seated in the command area of the leading shuttle, glanced nonchalantly at one of the men who was charged with monitoring the situation.


    "Only life signs from desolate beasts so far. We still haven''t pinpointed their location yet." The man who was rapidly tapping on a keyboard nervously replied before wiping off a trail of sweat on his forehead.


    "The reports from the surviving members estimate that their hideout is in one of these three mountains. It would be to our detriment if we move in and they''re still alive. Find them, no matter the cost." William''s voice echoed, intimidating the crew in the shuttle.


    The grey-coloured Trojan War Fox once again separated from the group and sped forward, towards the site of the carnage. As a scout-type sare shuttle, it was equipped with state-of-the-art sensory and detection technology hence making it the most suitable option for reconnaissance in this situation.


    With its speed, it took only a few seconds to cover the twenty kilometres distance ¡ªa distance that would take a car moving at 100km/hr (roughly 62 mph) twelve (12) minutes to cover.


    Not even three minutes later, the Trojan War Fox had sent a reply back to the other two shuttles; a secret base had been found.


    "Gotcha." William displayed a conniving grin on his face.

 Chapter 306 - 306: Canza

    Staring at the live broadcast of the hidden cave by the Trojan War Fox sare shuttle, William immediately gave a command to his men.


    "Send some men down there and flush out those bastards. As for the others, scan the region for the exact location of the Ai¨®n source."


    Whenever the world source of a planet conglomerates at a certain point to form a physical structure, such an element would be termed as an Ai¨®n source or Ai¨®n, for short.


    Unlike Lucas, who ¡ªthanks to the system¡ª was able to identify the forming element as the Heart of Silver, the others ¡ªwhether they were the mysterious figures or William''s party¡ª didn''t know exactly what it was. However, they had a general understanding of the element.


    The Trojan War Fox lowered with a side door open. Four men stepped out the door and immediately made their way into the cave. Based on the energy signatures of all, it was clear that they were all experienced fighters and stellar practitioners.


    In total, William had arrived at the Millennium Mountains with a team of twenty five stellar practitioners, including himself, split into the three shuttles. Apart from the Trojan War Fox that had only seven men on board from the start, the other two each loaded nine men.


    With a team of twenty five stellar practitioners, of which the weakest was a third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, William was confident in seizing control of the mineral vein and taking the Ai¨®n source for himself. Sear?h the ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    . . .


    Elsewhere, the mysterious group made their way over in their sare shuttle, which was much larger than William''s crew. Although it was shaped like a van, in terms of size, it was twice the length of a fuel truck [1], but with a much broader width, around seven metres. This made it easily accommodate the eleven men and one woman on board without a problem. There were even five rooms located inside, excluding the open area, control and engine rooms.


    The leader of the group had left the control area for his personal room as the journey wasn''t a short one. In terms of proximity, 92B-Delta lode was much closer to Blue Springs City than it was to Trundel City. There was also the fact that William''s fleet was made of sare shuttles with impressive speed. This was why they were able to reach the area in thirty minutes while the mysterious group were still en route.


    "News from Sentinel, sir." The woman in black tactical suit reported to the leader of the crew.


    "They''ve been attacked and forced into Area B."


    "That little brat."


    The man grimaced before smashing his fist into the table in front of him. The furniture was smashed into pieces with the remnant energy of the strike hitting the hull of the ship before letting out a low thud.


    "How many minutes away are we?" The man asked as he stared at the woman.


    Looking into his eyes, she could feel a cold aura wrap around her body making her shiver in fear. Rather than a man, it felt like it was a monster that sat in front of her. And this was despite the fact that she was a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Even in Trundel City, skilled freelancers at her level weren''t cabbages, but even she felt that the man could kill her within a second.


    This realisation made the women hurriedly reply after that moment of hesitation.


    "T-twenty minutes. We can''t go any faster as the engines have been on full throttle all this while."


    The man''s complexion didn''t get better with that revelation. He tapped on his wristband stuck on his left wrist. A projection with a countdown immediately popped from it. There were still two and a half hours to go.


    While it didn''t seem like much time was left, it was enough for a lot of various situations to take place, with one was already happening. If they couldn''t take down William and his team within two hours, the situation would get worse.


    No one knew what exactly would happen once the Ai¨®n source had matured, but written documents stated that a phenomenon would take over the skies. The coverage of the phenomenon heavily depended on the quality of the Ai¨®n source. In other words, the better and more powerful it was, the larger the area the phenomenon covered and even the quality of the phenomenon would experience a change.


    As all they had to work with were recorded documents recovered from extinct species on other planets, there was no saying what exactly the phenomenon would be. Also, no one in the galaxy had experienced such; maybe someone had, but they kept the information to themselves, leaving others in the dark.


    "Get us there in ten minutes." The man said as he turned off the display.


    "...sorry?" The woman widened her eyes in both shock and confusion as she stared speechlessly at the man.


    She had just stated that the shuttle was moving at full speed and there was nothing else they could do. Despite that, the man had ordered for the E.T.A. (Estimated Time of Arrival) to be cut down in half.


    "Any problem?" The man said coldly as his ''dead'' eyes looked at her.


    "None." Biting her lips, the woman shook her head before exiting the room.


    She felt that the longer she stayed there, the greater the chances that she might get on his nerves. If that happened, she would have to pay with her life.


    ''Why did the higher-ups send such an individual to lead us?''


    Previously, the job of searching for the world source was left to her and her team; a group consisting of only six individuals which she led. However, when the Ai¨®n was discovered, more individuals were moved into the original team and as it got bigger, she was unable to lead them due to lacking the prerequisite authority and rank. As such, the higher-ups sent in a new captain to lead the group; the terrifying man known as Canza.


    The woman didn''t know much about him as this was their first time working together. But according to the rumours in the Pioneer and freelancer society, Canza was a ruthless figure who would do anything to ensure the completion of his mission. He was merciless to his teammates, but even more so to himself, otherwise no one would work with him. He also had a record of 98% success rate, and that 2% only accounted for one mission which ended with Canza as the only survivor. However, this had happened right when Canza was still starting out as a freelancer.


    Aside from that stain in his record, Canza was a perfect freelancer. But this was when looking at numbers. From what those who worked alongside him had said, Canza was a very cold individual with a calculative sense on a regular basis. But once he donned his armour and stepped into the battlefield, Canza would transform into a bloodthirsty maniac with more than a screw lose in his head. His fighting style was so barbaric and vicious that sometimes, he would fail to differentiate between friends and foes, leading to his teammates being injured by friendly fire. This made very few people want to work with him even with his nigh perfect record.


    If it wasn''t because the pay was massive, she wouldn''t have signed up for this mission.


    ''Whatever. After this mission, I''ll apply to leave this planet, or at least, this continent. I don''t want to work with that fellow ever again.''


    While the woman left with this in her mind, Canza had set up a video call with someone in the room.


    "What''s the problem, Canza?"


    The speaker was a dark shadow whose features could not be made out. But their horrific and raspy voice which sounded like that of a demon straight out of hell, was enough to let anyone know that the speaker couldn''t be messed with.


    "The young vice lord of Blue Springs City seems to be on our trail. He eliminated our watchman, Nigel, then went on to attack our base at the 92B-Delta lode site." Canza said.


    While he spoke, his head was bowed low, not wanting to even exchange looks with the projection before him.


    "Blue Springs City''s young vice city lord, you say? That little twerp, William. Hmph." The shadow snorted.


    Despite being a digital projection, a heavy ambience occupied the room with the projection at the centre of it all. The furniture in the room began to vibrate almost as if it was the prelude to an intense earthquake. But then, the bizarre event abruptly stopped.


    "Continue with the mission. Ensure that you get the Ai¨®n source at the end of this. It doesn''t matter whether you''re the first, second, or third to get a hold of it, as long as you retrieve it whole. Otherwise, forget about living to see the next sunrise."


    Canza immediately shivered at those words.


    Who would have thought that the ruthless and savage beast of a man who could face a hoard of desolate beasts and smile, would shiver in fear?


    "You''re free to sacrifice everyone on board this vessel if that is the cost it would take you to complete this mission. They are all pawns, and as pawns, it is their honour to be of use to us. Also, it would help cut off some loose ends for us."


    Canza''s eyes flashed with a light of understanding before he nodded.


    "Understood."

 Chapter 307 - 307: Clash

    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    Standing far away, Lucas'' vision shifted to a region within the Millennium Mountains that was constantly being bombarded by air-to-ground attacks. Based on the unique appearance of those blasts, he surmised that they were fired by sare shuttles. This revelation caused Lucas to have a frown on his face.


    ''It seems my worst nightmare is true. The Heart of Silver has been spotted.''


    Although there was no confirmation that the target of the assault had anything to do with the Heart of Silver, Lucas preferred to be pessimistic rather than optimistic. There was also the fact that his current location was ridiculously far out from Trundel City''s Neon Summer province. Furthermore, it was out of the official air route used by light-rail trains for intercity travel and most freelancers to get into the depths of the Millennium Mountains. This meant that anyone found here was probably here for a particular reason and not just to hunt desolate beasts.


    Another factor that supported Lucas'' pessimism was the fact that there were two parties in that region; the attacking side and the defending side. This realisation pointed to the fact that the two sides were clearly competing for something and what else could that be except the Heart of Silver?


    The final reason was that the direction of the attack was roughly equivalent to one hundred kilometres from where the directional guide stopped functioning. Although it wasn''t exactly one hundred kilometres, it was roughly in the same area; just only five kilometres away from the point of walking exactly one hundred kilometres in the direction the directional guide last pointed towards [1].


    These three reasons solidified Lucas'' belief that the direction of the attack was the location of the Heart of Silver, or at the very least, related to it.


    ''But going straight right there is dumb.''


    With that thought in mind, Lucas immediately retrieved the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour. The original SCB only had two gauntlets, two boots, a pair of greaves[2], a pair of vambraces[3], a cuirass, a helmet, and the key component, the Vis Receptacle which was fastened to the cuirass. However, after improving his skills, Lucas created more vestiges and added them to the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, boosting its power and also the protection it offered.


    The new parts were a pair of pauldrons [4] for his left and right shoulders, a pair of cuisses [5] for his thighs, and a pair of rerebraces [6] for his forearm. With this, Lucas became completely encased and the term battle armour became more appropriate for the SCB.


    The Vis Receptacle was also upgraded to provide more power as there were more vestiges than before. The current Vis Receptacle could be likened to a nuclear reactor due to the incredible amount of power it contained. Because of this, Lucas didn''t fancy the idea of using the complete Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour unless necessary. Even though he had strengthened the vestige to the best of his abilities, Lucas was somewhat worried about the Vis Receptacle exploding mid-battle.


    The reason this fear existed was because Lucas'' current vestige-smithing skill wasn''t at his peak; it was much too far from that. Also, lacking stellar energy, he couldn''t exceed the Grade 4 mark for vestiges. This meant that when facing anything above that level, there was a significant chance that the Vis Receptacle could shatter. If that happened, the resulting explosion would be powerful enough to devour everything within a thirty metres radius. There was no need to say what would become of Lucas in that scenario.


    After suiting up, Lucas activated the stealth mode of the SCB ¡ªthis was exactly why he summoned it out. Following this, Lucas then headed towards the site of the explosion but in a roundabout manner rather than going straight ahead.


    Suddenly, Lucas heard a rustling sound up ahead. He froze and scanned the area for the source of the sound.


    . . .


    The four men who alighted from the Trojan War Fox went into the cave and explored it. However, the majority of the pieces of equipment earlier located here had been moved away in a hurry using a spatial vault, by Sentinel and his men. But even there were so many that the group had only taken away a part of it, albeit the important ones.


    "Heat signature detections, sir." One of the men hinted to another towards a particular direction.


    All four of them wore tactical battle suits with badges, but the man who led the group was the only one with a white badge whilst the others had yellow badges on.


    The direction the yellow-badged man pointed towards was exactly where the secret entrance to Area B is.


    "Contact the command centre and have those above monitor our movements. We''ll be heading deeper now." The white-badged man, who was the leader of this unit, gave out his orders.


    A signal was sent to the Trojan War Fox and the shuttle''s operating agent immediately focused the vehicle''s monitoring systems on the team. But even with that, it was still somewhat for them to track the exact position of the team. Luckily, all four men had trackers fit inside of their clothing which made things better.


    Unlike most mountains, some of the mountains in the Millennium Mountains were immune to radar and similar scouting technology, while others had great resistance towards it. The mountain that the mysterious organisation had set up their base was one such exactly like the latter. Together with the nitrous silver coating, this was why William and his men could not find them and resorted to bombarding the region they were suspected to be in.


    Just as the group of four went into the secret escapes route, on the outside, William had just received the information they sent up.


    ''They were quite fast.'' William snorted.


    He didn''t think that the other side had a secret underground exit or that they would have survived the bombardment of laser beams earlier. But none of those mattered anymore as they were being hunted down.


    Suddenly...


    *Boom*


    A loud explosion rocked the mountain as a certain spot not far away from the cave''s entrance exploded and sunk inwards.


    "What happened?"


    Those on William''s shuttle were all stunned at the scene, confused about what had just taken place.


    Area B was a passage dug out in the depths of the mountain in consideration for any possible assault from the outside. There was a hidden exit at the end of the passage that led to the outside of the mountain. The man intended for his teammates to escape through this exit.


    Meanwhile, about twenty kilometres away, three sare shuttles in camouflage mode hovered while releasing a ferocious barrage of laser beams in a certain direction. This direction just happened to be where the three mountains were.


    Each shuttle focused on one mountain, and even though their firepower wasn''t the same, it was still enough to decimate the surface of the mountains. This was because every mountain in the Millennium Mountains was incredibly tough. If one of the targets was replaced with a regular mountain from Earth, the barrage of laser beams would easily be able to cut down the height of the mountain.


    The attacks rained down on the three mountains for ten more seconds before all three shuttles stopped attacking.


    "Any signs of life spotted yet?" William, who was seated in the command area of the leading shuttle, glanced nonchalantly at one of the men who was charged with monitoring the situation. sea??h th§× ¦ÇovelFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Only life signs from desolate beasts so far. We still haven''t pinpointed their location yet." The man who was rapidly tapping on a keyboard nervously replied before wiping off a trail of sweat on his forehead.


    The receptionist at the front door greeted Lucas as he stepped through the entrance. However, after noticing that Lucas was not hyuman, the young lady''s expression changed slightly but she quickly hid it.


    Belfargos city-state wasn''t as averse to the presence of humans as with the other city-states. There were quite a lot of humans here and the city-state had the second largest population of humans, just after Digress city-state. Most of these humans worked as assistants or took on the more menial roles in the city-state that hyumans refused to take on. Those with good looks applied for hostess or receptionist positions, while those who were physically stronger handled physical tasks. The ones who were more audacious took on dangerous tasks like acting as a porter for freelancers in the wild. Not every one could afford a spatial vault but having to carry so much luggage while battling was troublesome, hence the need for a porter.


    In here. You can go to the bar alone on your own.


    On the other hand, in the case of a desolate beast domain, a domain classified under either of the two, would be heavily monitored by the closest city-state unless it was too far away. In some cases, a request for a crusade would be made to the Oklo Dynasty.

 Chapter 308 - 308: Operation Final Line

    "Fancy seeing you here, Tanner."


    A bulky man who could easily be cast for the role of hulk, walked over to another man while grinning at him. The bulky man was ripped with muscles and reached a height of at least 2.5 metres or 8 feet and 2 inches tall. This made him appear terrifying, especially with his large and broad figure. Rather than a hyuman being, he looked more like a mass of muscles; the personification of a god of strength and muscles.


    "You make it sound like I have an option to not work." The target of the statement rolled his eyes at the comment with a smile.


    "Heh. Not really, but I heard the incident over a month ago did a number on you." The hulking mass said while staring at Tanner, trying to get a reaction out of him.


    Tanner was one of the members of the taskforce dispatched over a month ago to rescue the tourists trapped inside of the East Braftford relics during that untimely incident. During that time, he was the commander of the taskforce. But after the inclusion of seventh level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners, Tanner ¡ªa peak sixth level stellar practitioner¡ª was unsuitable to take command of the group, and so, he was relegated to second-in-command.


    "As you said, it''s been over a month. It''s enough time for me to move past it." Tanner calmly answered.


    The hulking mass who stood before him looked at the latter, seemingly finding it hard to believe that. After all, Tanner, alongside his then deputy, were the only ones who didn''t agree with the decision of the higher-ups to abandon all the other victims and quit their search activities. Unlike his deputy, Tanner was an official executive and he was the one most likely to have received the hammering of the higher-ups after his challenge.


    But since Tanner said he was okay, then there was nothing the man could do about it.


    "Holad, tell me, do you have any news about what exactly is going on here?" Tanner asked his companion as the two began making their way to the makeshift base set up at the border of the Neon Summer province.


    "Not much. There are at least one hundred thousand desolate beasts ranging from the third to fifth levels. Some leader-level beasts have also been spotted but the strongest is only at the seventh level; not exactly a threat. But their sizes make this at least a Class B threat."


    Holad, the heavily built man, explained with a frown on his face, which made him scarier than he already was.


    By Eretre''s standards, a Class B threat was a threat that could wipe out a district of a city-state. In the case of the unofficial Belfargos city-state, this was a threat that could easily take on a city or even two.


    Although the Millennium Mountains was a Class A desolate beast domain and also a Class A threat, meaning it could wipe out an entire city-state, it was an insubstantial threat. There was the city of Belfargos close by to keep the true threats from the Mountains in check; even Trundel City''s top forces weren''t to be messed around with. So, the citizens were never really worried about it.


    However, the current beast wave was different. It was a direct treat to the city and couldn''t be underestimated. Even though Trundel City''s powerful factions were technically superior to this horde, mistakes could happen. There was also the fact that the true size and power of the beast swarm was yet to be uncovered.


    "One hundred thousand beasts? That''s a lot. I''m guessing we''ll need to empty out our armoury for this. That''s a lot of paperwork." Tanner sighed as he massaged his temples.


    "That''s true." Holad chuckled.


    Since Trundel City was close to a Class A desolate beast domain, they have made preparations for the event that the desolate beasts in the Millennium Mountains would run riot and attack them. Tons of vestiges, especially cold weapon-type vestiges, were developed. Many of them were designed to handle wave attacks ¡ªin other words, they had AoE capabilities [1]. Rocket launchers, stellar-powered missiles, .5 decametres[2] stellar howitzer, were just a few of the vestiges manufactured for such events.


    With the threat of a Class B desolate beast assault, it was only natural for some of these weapons of war to be rolled out for use. But even then, a documentation is made right from when they are taken out of the armoury, to how they were used and for how long, then finally the return trip. It just so happened that as an executive official, Tanner would have to handle the report. S§×arch* The N?velFire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    By this time, the duo finally reached the location of the meeting. It was a building with only one floor but occupied quite a significant area and was surrounded by a fence. Even though it was hurriedly set up, with the resources and level of technology in Belfargos city-state, making such a building in 3 hours wasn''t a big deal as long as defensive measures weren''t considered. 3-d printing had come far here when compared to Earth.


    "ID, please." The robotic guard at the gate halted them.


    Even though it already has the information of the two agents in its database, formalities had to be carried out.


    Tanner and Holad flashed their communicator at the guard, who scanned it for their identification, then ran a facial recognition on the two before letting them in.


    "I just don''t get it. If it''s already going to run a facial check, why ask for IDs?" Holad questioned with a somewhat grumpy look on his face as he stomped away.


    "I heard it has something to do with the universe capital, Arcadia. It seems to be a common practice there to use physical or virtual IDs, so every public security bot is programmed to do the same." Tanner shrugged.


    However, Holad shook his head.


    "Still doesn''t make sense. It seems a bit archaic and redundant."


    The two got into the building where they met another robotic guard. This time around, there was no need for verification or the sort. Instead, they were led to the central hall for the meeting.


    Inside the central hall were a few other agents of similar rank as Tanner and Holad. After the duo took their seats, they waited for a while until everyone who was meant to be in the meeting had arrived. In total, there were 42 sixth level stellar practitioners and 17 seventh level stellar practitioners present. They were the highest ranking officials present for the raid. Most of them were actually leaders of freelancer organisations rather than government officials.


    There was the possibility of more agents being sent for backup, but not so much as Trundel City still had to leave behind some to handle emergency conflicts.


    "Welcome everyone." The leader of the meeting and a director from the Desolate Beast Conflict Organisation (DBCO) greeted the attendees.


    The DBCO was charged with handling desolate beasts related cases and ensuring the safety of the city in the case of a desolate beast raid. As such, they were the most suitable organisation to handle the current crisis.


    There were thirteen directors in the DBCO, two deputy heads and one bureau chief. All directors were at least at the seventh level, the two deputy heads were at the ninth level while the bureau chief is at the tenth level. From this, one could see how powerful the organisation is. Very few factions could survive under the full force of the DBCO. They would have to be a city lord family or a top-class family like the Lester family and the Lin family, whose reach extended outside of Eretre. Excluding such forces, and the obvious Oklo Dynasty, the Desolate Beasts Conflict Organisation was capable of taking down almost any force on the planet.


    The director of the DBCO who led the meeting was a peak seventh level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. Even though he wasn''t at the eighth level yet, he was very close. Also, being an agent of the DBCO meant that his strength couldn''t be compared to a regular peak seventh level stellar practitioner. With all these in mind, it wasn''t an issue for him to host a meeting with sixteen seventh level stellar practitioners present.


    "I won''t bore you with the unnecessary details. If you want any of that, you can take a look at the screen in front of you."


    On each seat in the hall, there was a screen in front of them fixed into the table. Displayed on the screen were two files: the first was titled ''Current info on the horde'', whilst the second has the title ''Information for our possible formation''.


    Tanner had already gone through the two files while waiting for the start of the meeting.


    The first document was a detailed report on the desolate beasts horde. It included the species of the beasts involved, their levels, numbers, and even danger rating. There was also the best means to combat them in a 1v1 or 1 vs multiple scenario, which would be common in the battle.


    As for the second file, it had a map of the terrain right from the gathering point of the beasts until Neon Summer province. There was also a brief report on the weapons and vestiges to be used by the DCBO, which would help the fighters be prepared and coordinated properly with them. Finally, there were a few markings on the map with rough explanations, pointing out that those markings were areas most suitable to tackle the desolate beasts horde while explaining the reason for those conclusions.


    "We are gathered here for one reason only, and that is to stop the desolate beast wave right before the borders, eliminate them, and ensure the safety of the city. Hence the name for this mission; Operation Final Line."

 Chapter 309 - 309: Mystic Silver Lode

    When William left from the Millennium Mountains, he did so with twenty four men, seven of whom were in the Trojan War Fox sare shuttle. However, two of them were now dead with two in critical conditions. There was no need to say how he felt at the moment, but William swore to kill everyone involved in this disaster even at the cost of a possible criminal offence.


    The two injured men were recovered and sent into the command shuttle, which had a top quality recovery room built inside of it.


    Knowing that it was a dangerous move, William gave up chasing after those who had escaped and instead focused his attention on finding the mine.


    Of the three sare shuttles in the fleet, the Trojan War Fox was a scout-type sare shuttle equipped with impressive stealth technology, and advanced speed engines. The second shuttle was a sturdy shuttle with stealth capabilities and a powerful attack system. It was the fleet''s main attacking and defence force. The last shuttle was the command shuttle and it was a combination of the positive factors of the other two; a state-of-the-art sare shuttle that cost millions.


    The formation of their fleet was pretty standard amongst freelancer teams and those who wanted to explore desolate beast domains. As such, when William left Blue Springs City, despite being the Sok of one of the two current vice city lords, it didn''t draw much attention from rival forces as they presumed he was simply going out to hunt or train.


    Meanwhile, on the command shuttle, William had hidden away some mining equipment which would prove valuable on his expedition. One of them was a powerful scanning tool.


    Even though the Heart of Silver had been sensed before by one of his men, the latter only knew about the rough position. Hence, there was a need for William to perform a search operation. Luckily, that wasn''t a problem especially since they knew the rough position of the Ai¨®n source.


    Hundreds of drones suddenly dropped out of the command vessel, scattering around the entire 92B-Delta lode like a swarm of bees [1]. They were light weight and barely produced a sound, forming a strange scene where hundreds of flying objects were in the air, yet the area was silent.


    The drones, which were uniquely styled, have a cylindrical body with holes on the bottom facing the surface. One end of the drone was fitted with a camera to provide visual feedback to the monitoring party. These drones were common mining equipment in Eretre used by freelancers and pioneers in the wild to search for resources in foreign regions.


    From the holes at the bottom, a unique wave is sent downwards to the ground and even deeper in. Similar to radar, this wave scans the entire area. But it wasn''t just a simple scan for objects, but one aimed at finding substances with stellar energy signatures. This was given off by rare minerals and metals. As such, the aim of these drones was to search for such items.


    With a large existing database of various stellar signatures given off by rare minerals and materials, it became possible to identify what was beneath the ground based on those stellar signatures and wavelengths. This was why using these drones was the most efficient way of looking for resources in the wild.


    "Mystic Silver signatures have been spotted all over the place. This entire region is a mystic silver lode." The man in charge of monitoring the scan results from the drones exclaimed.


    His shock was understandable after all, Mystic Silver was an important element that could be used in manufacturing Grade 4 vestiges, hover shuttles and star ships. Its value was immense.


    Even William couldn''t remain calm upon hearing such news.


    If the Ernst family could take control of this lode, they could easily rise to a much higher position than they were now; even rivalling the Blue Springs City''s city lord family would not be impossible. With proper management and leadership, the Ernst family might become another Lester family, exceeding the influence of the Oklo Dynasty.


    And as the one behind this discovery, William would be praised by his father and put in charge of the operation. He was already destined to takeover from his father as vice city lord, but with the foreseeable rise in power of his family, he could even build a brand new city of his own.


    "Focus. We need to find the Ai¨®n source first, then we can figure out how to handle the Mystic Silver. It''s not like it will be running away any time soon."


    Worthy of his potential and abilities, William was able to regain his composure and dish out the right orders to his team.


    Their target was the Ai¨®n source, which was even more valuable than the entire Mystic Silver lode. The lode could build a powerful family, but without the power to defend themselves, their family would be pressured to give it up. The Ai¨®n source could give them this power.


    The Ai¨®n source could be used to produce a Grade 6 vestige, or even a high grade synthetic drug that could directly improve a hyuman''s m(o)DNA count, raising their potential greatly. Even if the Ernst family wasn''t able to do any of that, they could hand it over to the Emperor in exchange for exclusive mining rights and control over the Mystic Silver lode, as well as protection from other forces. With the value of the Ai¨®n source, the Emperor would definitely agree to this exchange as he wouldn''t be losing out.


    No matter which choice it was, the value of the Ai¨®n source couldn''t be underestimated.


    "A bizarre signature has been spotted by drone A-121 in sector 3." The man reported again.


    Thanks to the information of the previous two parties, a rough map of the area was made and William''s team had divided the areas in the region into sectors. Such division made it easier for their search to be organised and thanks to that they were fruitful.


    But just as the news was released, another member of the team abruptly yelled out.


    "We have an incoming vessel."


    The radar map of the region was immediately displayed in front of William, and on it, an icon was moving towards their location. S§×ar?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 310 - 310: Black Mountain Canon

    "We have an incoming vessel."


    On board William''s shuttle, a member of the crew suddenly stood up and notified everyone on board, including those on the other two shuttles.


    William narrowed his eyes as he stared at the ''obstacle'' on the radar.


    "Have the ''Little Star'' take on the other side. Trojan, be prepared to provide support when needed." William ordered with a cold voice.


    ''Little Star'' was the name of the second shuttle, and ironically, the largest. It was large enough to be a cargo-type shuttle, but was fitted with powerful weaponry and defence shields. The stellar engine was also remarkable and powerful enough to enter space. Because of this, the Little Star was classified as a military-grade cargo vessel, although barely. As a result, it was mostly used by paramilitary forces.


    "Unknown vessel with the communication profile zTC-872-b4, Delta Transporter, please identify for yourself?"


    To facilitate communications between shuttles, there were two channels; the private channel and the general/public channel. Each fleet, unit or organisation could designate a specific frequency and use that as their private channel, but the general channel remained the same even one hundred solar systems away. Due to this uniformity, it was easy to prevent a scenario where one wiped out a friendly force without knowing so.


    The code formed of words and letters was the advancing shuttle''s IP address (Intranet Protocol as opposed to Earth''s Internet Protocol) of the shuttle. The latter two words were the model for the shuttle. It was a Delta Transporter shuttle, and by mentioning it with the IP address, the speaker clarified who they were talking to.


    However, despite such efforts, there was no response from the other side. Instead, it approached the Little Star.


    "I repeat, Delta Transporter zTC, please identify yourself and state your objective."


    Silence once again pervaded the communication channel as the crew on board the Delta Transporter made no effort to respond.


    "Take it down."


    The commander of the Little Star and one of the nine men on board, was a close aide of William. It was because of his identity that he led the shuttle and was sent to handle the newcomers.


    Seeing that they didn''t respond, he gave the order for the shuttle to be shut down.


    While this sounded extreme, the man had his reasons.


    First, their current location was secluded and it was technically impossible for anyone to be here especially since it was in the depths of the Millennium Mountains, along unexplored territory. In fact, the only reason William knew about it was because one of his men got lost during an expedition in the past.


    The second reason was because of the presence of the Ai¨®n source and the absence of their enemies in the cave. There was a possibility that the escapees had requested for backup. Although it didn''t make sense for the backup to have arrived so quickly, that was only on the condition that they weren''t on their way from the start. After all, today was meant to be the day the Ai¨®n source matured, so it made sense for reinforcements to arrive, to help with the harvesting and pick up their men. Chances were that the reinforcements were close by and received the call for help, speeding over towards them.


    The final reason was because, despite his attempts, the other side refused to respond. Since they were being so stubborn, the man felt it was only natural that they experienced what happens when one is stubborn. In others words, fuck around and find out.


    Just as the crew took the commands and charged up their blasters, a beam of red light shot from the Delta Transporter and struck them. However, a transparent shield happened to have been activated earlier and the beam collided into the shield.


    *Boom*


    An explosion erupted on the shield with the impact transmitting from the shield and affecting the Little Star. The damage wasn''t much, leaving the shuttle rocking slightly in midair, but the shield was severely damaged.


    "Shield energy down by forty percent!"


    "That wasn''t an ordinary shot. Analysis shows it was fired from a portable Black Mountain canon. Those are illegal weapons!"


    Red lights flashed and alarms blared as the situation inside of the shuttle became intense. This was because of the reports by the two men in charge of controlling the shuttle.


    That one shot had consumed forty percent of the shield''s energy which was astonishing. To understand how insane this was, one should recall that the Little Star was a military grade vessel with the ability to go into space. As such, its defences were top-notch amongst shuttles available to the public. Its shield was the same and could even survive the assault of a horde of fourth level Apertures Opening stage desolate beasts numbering one hundred.


    Despite such a breathtaking r¨¦sum¨¦, the vessel had just lost forty percent of its shield energy with one hit. The only explanation for this was that the attack was powerful, and so too was the medium of the attack.


    In this case, it was the second report that explained that, yet this explanation did nothing to calm their hearts.


    A Black Mountain canon.


    This was a true military grade vestige, unlike the Little Star that snuck into this category. The Black Mountain canon was so named because one shot from it was enough to wipe out a mountain from the face of Eretre. The energy behind each shot was both potent and formidable, making this weapon an undeniable figure of war. Usually, it was used by the military to combat large scale desolate beast hordes or powerful desolate beasts with a huge body.


    Because of the devastating power of this weapon, it wasn''t available to the public, and even in the military, few militaries could get a hold of it. For instance, the Baylands city-state''s official military did not have this weapon in their arsenal. The Blue Springs City''s and Trundel City''s armies, however, did. This was because of their close proximity to the Millennium Mountains, which was a host to various powerful desolate beasts. S~ea??h the N?vel(F)ire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing such a weapon, mounted onto a transporter shuttle, the crew on board the Little Star werrr shocked to stupor. They began wondering who exactly was the party inside that vehicle.

 Chapter 311 - 311: Mystic Silver Lode

    After taking the hit from the Delta Transporter, the group on board the Little Star weren''t of the mind to sit back and turn into a target board. They immediately returned fire at the vessel before them.


    Compared to the Little Star, the Delta Transporter was a transport shuttle ¡ªeven though it had weapons mounted to it. As such, its defence wasn''t exemplary. Even if the shuttle had been modified, it still wouldn''t be able to resist the Little Star''s firepower for long.


    The Delta Transporter responded by dodging the attacks, before retreating to the distance. However,


    *Boom*


    *Crack*


    A laser beam struck the shield of the shuttle following which a crack formed on it. The canons on the Little Star weren''t on par with the Black Mountain canon, so it could be seen how flimsy the Delta Transporter''s defence was after cracking under one hit.


    Nonetheless, this didn''t stop the crew of the Delta Transporter as the shuttle sped off into the distance.


    "Do we chase?" One of the men onboard the Little Star asked the commander.


    "Go." The commander ordered.


    To ensure that William successfully retrieves the Ai¨®n source safely, he didn''t mind pursuing the other side even with the possibility of encountering a powerful desolate beast along the way.


    On board the command shuttle, William watched what happened with a contemplative look on his face. The matter seemed fishy and it made him a bit nervous.


    "Notify the Trojan War Fox to follow for backup. This might be a trap. Apart from those in charge of flight and communication, the rest of you, with me to the lode. Keep the shuttle in the air and secure the area for us."


    After that, William left the shuttle with seven other men. The last man was to control the shuttle and facilitate communications between all three teams.


    At the same time, in a different direction from the pursuit of the Delta Transporter, another group of individuals in black outfits made their way towards 92B-Delta lode. They were Canza, the sexy woman and their teammates, numbering ten. The other two members of the group were on board the Delta Transporter to draw away attention.


    "Let''s go." Canza said.


    Far out, moving parallel with them towards the same location was Lucas. Thanks to the stealth mode of the Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour, which effectively wiped out any trace of stellar energy and messed with radar detection, Lucas was able to navigate his way carefully towards the same place without getting spotted.


    Compared to what was made of the area, there weren''t as many monsters ever since he came into the Millennia Mountains, and that worked in Lucas'' favour even until now.


    Lucas proceeded steadily, with his guard still up, ensuring that he would not get caught off guard by either man or beast.


    ''It''s already the fourteenth day. The Heart of Silver should be close to maturity.'' Lucas thought after recalling the moment the system sent him the new mission.


    It was roughly two hours from now.


    If going by the system''s description on the mission, after those two hours, the Heart of Silver would be complete.


    As a product of Eretre''s world source, who knows what kind of phenomenon would erupt then? Hence why both William and Canza were in a rush to reach it before that time. On the other hand, Lucas was calm. It didn''t matter whether he got to it first or not, because escaping was the most important aspect of this mission instead.


    After a few minutes, Lucas arrived before an unremarkable mountain. Similar to the other mountains, it was also short; actually, it was a bit shorter than the rest. There was an opening at the base of the mountain which seemed to lead downwards.


    Lucas approached the opening then squatted for a second. Following that, he stroked the walls with his hands as he felt their surface.


    ''Hand made. Quite recent in fact.''


    Lucas raised an eyebrow but didn''t say a word. He stood up and immediately made his way into the cave.


    The interior of the cave was dark as expected, but this wasn''t a problem for Lucas who had donned the SCB. There was a night vision feature built into the helmet, so Lucas could see just fine. The space wasn''t big and could barely fit two people walking side by side. The worst part was that the terrain was a downwards slope, and someone of Lucas'' height needed to crouch slightly to make it in. This made the cave a horrible place for battles, with the advantage of numbers being eliminated as well. For Lucas, this was a good thing.


    Canza''s team totalled ten while William had seven men with him, making up an eight-man unit. Even though Lucas didn''t know these exact values, he was aware that the other side''s numbers were well ahead of him. Even if the SCB boosted his strength, by Lucas'' estimates, taking on at least five fourth-level stellar practitioners wasn''t an easy task. But in this terrain, it might be just doable. This was because the passage was narrow, and with him being on the upper side of the slope, his attacks would be easier to aim.


    Lucas went downwards but maintained a progression rate that was pretty slow. This was because he wanted to avoid catching up to the others. At the same time, he was looking through the region for traps that they might have set up.


    This continued for at least thirty minutes, and just when Lucas was wondering when he would reach the end, he caught a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, literally. There was a speck of illumination a few metres ahead, and from what he could see, there was solid flat ground.


    ''Finally.''


    Although he was glad, Lucas didn''t rush forward but became even more cautious. There was a significant chance that he would find one or more from the two parties down there. Hence, he has to be careful.


    For fear of triggering a possibly existing alarm, Lucas didn''t even dare to scan the area with his battle-suit. Instead, he worked over slowly and just when he was three metres away, Lucas took off his gauntlets. He then crouched and placed both hands on the floor before utilising a unique skill of his. This was the same technique he used when searching for the Violent Sun ores during his first ever outing mission; the wave-style spiritual searching technique.


    The advantage of this technique was that it relied on spiritual energy rather than stellar energy. Even though this was still a form of mystical energy, hyumans were less sensitive to it compared to stellar energy, so there was essentially no possibility of him getting spotted.


    Upon activating the technique, Lucas was able to get a ''drawing'' of the open area ahead of him. It was quite big and spacious, at least when compared to the tunnel he was in. With a width of about seven metres, it was quite wide. The height of the ceiling from the ground was also good enough for Lucas to move around with comfort. As for the length and size of the cavern, Lucas was unable to estimate it.


    This meant that this naturally-occurring cavern was quite large as Lucas'' wave-style spiritual searching technique could cover a significant range compared to the first time he used it. But it was still enough; Lucas had ascertained that the ten metres area close to the entrance was safe.


    Without hesitation, Lucas proceeded into the open space in the area and was stunned.


    The wave-style spiritual searching technique might have given him an idea of how the place looked, but it still couldn''t beat seeing the place with one''s pair of eyes.


    Looking around him, Lucas finally understood why the cavern was lit up. There were ores scattered all over the place, visibly to the naked eye. Some of them were loosely embedded on the ground and the walls such that even a ten year old could pull them out. All these ores were of the same element and name, Mystic Silver ore. The metals that gleamed within the darkness, providing light in the cavern were all Mystic Silver. There were enough ores to arm an entire unit with Grade 3 vestiges at the very least; and this was with only just the ones here. If the entire lode was dug out, it might be enough to build an entire starship.


    ''Well, I can''t exactly say so since I''m not good at mining geography and all that.'' Lucas thought.


    As he walked around the place, he couldn''t resist picking up some of the loose Mystic Silver ores. These were ores on par with the Purple Iridium the system gave him long ago. Whether it was to make money off selling them or to craft vestiges, these ores held immense value for Lucas.


    After walking some distance ahead, while making sure to not leave any stone untouched, Lucas finally heard a commotion up ahead. Sear?h the N??eFire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 312 - 312:William Versus Canza

    Before Lucas had entered the tunnel leading towards the cave filled with Mystic Silver ores, William''s group as well as Canza and his men, had arrived first. Unlike Lucas, both sides hurried to find the Heart of Silver first, hoping to form a defensive line around it. Even though they suspected that there could be another party in play, they didn''t leave behind a sentry as the two leaders believed that it was best to proceed with the entire team.


    After a while, William and his men ¡ªwho were the first to head into the tunnel¡ª had found the cavern and began exploring it in search of the Heart of Silver. Roughly at the same time they found it, Canza had arrived with his men at the same spot.


    Unlike William, Canza knew where exactly it was so there was no need to spend time looking for it. This led to the two sides appearing at the same spot at the same time.


    "Who are you?" William glared at Canza.


    He scanned the other side and realised they were much bigger than his team, in a ratio of eight to ten. This made William falter a bit, but he still maintained a calm and confident demeanour on the outside.


    "This is the property of the vice city lord''s residence. I''ll advise you to leave this place quickly, otherwise, you would be classified as a criminal and hunted down."


    Suddenly, Canza chuckled.


    "That trick doesn''t work here, boy. What do you take me for? You should already know who I am by now. Stop playing dumb." Canza''s voice turned cold as he stared at William.


    William understood what the latter was saying. It was obvious that his plan didn''t work.


    In truth, his second statement was a front put up to mislead Canza''s party and have them retreat. He had already guessed that the other side were the attackers from earlier and even far back. However, having lost the numbers advantage, William had to think up another plan which resulted in his statement.


    "People will die if you don''t stop now " William said; his words clearly giving out a warning to Canza.


    "Then so be it." Canza cruelly smiled.


    He was back.


    With the situation now clearly devolving into a battle, the Canza who stood before everyone was no longer the cold-hearted and calculative individual, but the bloodthirsty maniac that is infamous in the freelancer circle.


    "Barriers!"


    William shouted at his crew before taking a step backwards.


    Two men from the group of eight walked in front and tossed up a few items that hovered in mid-air. A transparent green barrier immediately propped up from the gadgets, and separated the two sides.


    "How cute!"


    Canza grinned before waving his hand forward. That was the signal for the team of nine behind him to advance.


    Both sides unleashed their auras causing the rocks, turning the atmosphere from an aesthetic one to an ambience of violence and brutality.


    This was a common practice in group battles between freelancers. Right before the fight, both sides would unleash their aura, enabling the other to identify their strength. That way, they could easily pair up and face a suitable opponent.


    This wasn''t because of some moral rule or the like, but simply because no one wanted to die a dog''s death. Rather than inadvertently facing someone far much stronger than you ¡ªa situation where you faced no shot at survival¡ª it was much better to go against someone at your level where you have a theorised 50% chance of victory.


    In the very next second, the two sides charged at the other, with each individual picking an adversary roughly of the same level as they were.


    In terms of numbers, Canza''s team was superior. But in terms of strength, they were actually weaker.


    Apart from the woman in the team ¡ªwho was a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner¡ª and Canza, whose level was unknown, only two were at the fourth level while the others, numbering six, were at the third level.


    As for William''s team of eight men, William was at the fifth level alongside one of his men, who happened to be his personal bodyguard. Of the remaining six, three were at the fourth level while the rest were at the third level.


    When the two sides clashed, the 3 third level stellar practitioners on William''s side went against three from Canza''s team. The remaining 3 third level stellar practitioners teamed up against one of the fourth level stellar practitioners from William''s side. Logically, the battle should tilt in favour of Canza''s 3 third level stellar practitioners, but the fourth level fighter was equipped with a Grade 3 vestige which boosted his strength considerably. sea??h th§× n?vel_Fire.¦Çet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    The 2 fourth level stellar practitioners from both sides faced each other. William''s bodyguard took on the last, Cassie, from Canza''s team.


    In accordance with the military phrase, ''Generals against Generals, soldiers against soldiers'', William went up to face Canza. Even though Canza''s power level was unknown, William was confident in taking him one because he had a Grade 4 vestige as a trump card. On the surface, he was armed with two Grade 3 vestiges, which he believed should be more than enough.


    Such a scene was difficult to find in Baylands city-state, but in the unofficial Belfargos city-state, where so many vestige-smiths resided, it wasn''t difficult for a second generation to get their hands on a Grade 4 vestige.


    As everyone found their opponent, they separated from each other and formed miniature battlefields all over the place. However, the most fierce and ruthless battle was none other the one between Cassie and William''s bodyguard.


    The bodyguard was charged with ensuring William''s safety and he identified Cassie as a threat to that. As such, all of his attacks were cruel and vicious, targeting points that could end Cassie''s life with one stroke. In retaliation, Cassie was forced to respond the same way turning the battle between the two into a death match incomparable to the others.


    "Is this really worth it? The lives of your men for a rock?"


    William stared at Canza, exuding a righteous aura as he tried to pressure him using a moral high ground.


    "You talk too much." Canza grinned before lunging at William.


    On his right arm was a gauntlet fixed with claws that tore through the air as Canza waved his arm towards William.


    The latter quickly reacted by pulling out a Grade 3 vestige, a purple sword that was enchanted with stellar matrices.


    *Clang*


    The claw and the sword collided, setting off a loud metallic reverberation as sparks flew out from the point of collision. But they didn''t stop there. In the very next second, the two sides unleashed a flurry of attacks at each other creating a galaxy of sparks around them.


    Their strengths seemed evenly matched as both sides were able to hold off against the other.


    This revelation made William glad as he had presumed that Canza would be at the fifth level. But he was just only as strong as himself ¡ªthe peak of the fifth level Apertures Opening stage.


    "It''s sad, but this is where your tale ends." William cruelly grinned as he abruptly took out another vestige with his left hand.


    It was the second Grade 3 vestige he has, and was a pistol. It was quite common for practitioners, as long as they could afford it, to have two vestiges with one of them being a cold weapon and the other a hot weapon. As the son of an influential man and from a powerful family, William naturally followed this practice as money wasn''t a problem for him.


    *Bang*


    *Bang*


    Two shots rang out almost concurrently as purple beams shot straight from the vestige''s barrel and went for Canza.


    However, the latter dodged them easily as if having read the attacks, before taking the opportunity to close in and brandish his claws.


    William reacted in a hurry and blocked with his sword but was forced back by the force of the strike. Canza didn''t give him any breathing space and lunged at him, but William was prepared and forced him to a stop with a few bullets.


    "You should spend less time talking and more time fighting. Otherwise, you might lose more than just a sleeve." Canza superciliously grinned at him.


    William frowned before rapidly looking towards his right arm. A patch of his clothing had been sliced off with a small red mark left behind on his skin. It was faint and wasn''t bleeding, but to William, this was an insult he couldn''t take.


    "Good. Very good. You''re the first one to ever make me this pissed."


    William''s aura burst forth from his body. The quality of his energy became more purer and denser than before, showing that he was truly a genius of his generation. William was officially angry and decided to take this even more seriously than before.


    In response, Canza''s energy also shot through the roof. Although it was still the same as an average peak fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner, the quality was fierce and absurd. Rather than that of a hyuman, it was more like the energy of a wild beast.


    "Good. Now, show me. Show me how long you can last!"


    Canza bellowed with a lunatic smile and expression.

 Chapter 313 - 313: Two Fighters

    Just as the fight between the two sides had gotten heated up, Lucas had arrived at the bottom of the tunnel and into the Mystic Silver lode cave.


    After walking towards the location of the sound he heard earlier, Lucas spotted two individuals duelling it out. Based on the energy they gave off as well as his experience with other practitioners, Lucas was able to estimate that the two were third level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners.


    Considering they were facing off against each other, they were most likely from two different camps.


    ''As I thought.'' Lucas sighed.


    Earlier, he had seen the shuttles taken off with one side pursuing the other. However, Lucas guessed that not all their men were present in those shuttles. The value of the Heart of Silver was immense, so there was no way one side would just send all their forces in pursuit while another side would simply retreat just like that. It was most likely a diversion tactic, and he turned out to be right.


    Nonetheless, being right didn''t make things any easier on Lucas.


    At the moment, he didn''t know how many enemy forces were present in the cavern. His only source of information would be these two. But if Lucas wanted to succeed, he had to take them down quickly without giving them a chance to resist. Also, he would have to ensure that they had no secret method of communicating with each other.


    While he thought of a plan, the two sides battled it out furiously with their lives on the line. There was no holding back as anyone who did so could possibly die without even knowing how. Their entire focus was also set on the battle as a lapse in concentration, even for a second, would result in the loss of one''s life. As a result, they were unable to sense their environment, much less Lucas, who had taken off his Stellar Circuit Battle-Armour.


    The purpose of doing so was to remain under the radar.


    While the SCB''s stealth mode was effective against technology and shuttle radar systems, it wasn''t as effective against a hyuman''s senses. After all, it was still powered by stellar energy and could absorb the stellar energy in the atmosphere ¡ª courtesy of the Vis Receptacle.


    However, in his bare human form, Lucas was essentially "invisible".


    All hyumans released a unique frequency wave that could be sensed by other hyumans when staring at the target. This allowed them to identify each other and differentiate between a hyuman and a human. Why it existed and how it came to be was unexplainable, although some suggested it was related to stellar energy and its effect on the mDNA, but it did indeed exist.


    Lucas didn''t know the limitations of a hyuman''s ability to sense this wave or even the limits of sensing stellar energy because of this, but he theorised that it was possible to sense this wave even without looking at the target. He also believed that this ability increased their sensibility to stellar energy. So, Lucas preferred to move around in his human form. This way, Lucas became essentially "invisible" to such senses since he never gave off those unique waves, neither did he possess a hint of stellar energy.


    As the battle got even more vicious, one of them was unable to keep up and finally revealed a flaw. His opponent saw this and didn''t hesitate even one second to chop off his arm.


    "Ahhh!"


    The man who just lost an arm and yelled was a member of William''s party.


    Compared to Canza''s team that was made of veterans who lived their lives in desolate beast domains where they could die at any second, William''s men were all trained practitioners who had been enjoying the comfort of a peaceful life and a luxurious salary. Although they were quite powerful compared to the average stellar practitioners or even freelancers, Canza''s men ¡ªand not just the unit he currently commanded¡ª weren''t average.


    Before Canza took over, the original team of black clothed folks were six with Cassie leading them. But when Canza took over, he brought in some of his men. The man who sliced off his opponent''s arm was one of them.


    In a flurry, the one armed man brandished his saber at his opponent. Blue streaks darted out of the blade for his opponent. The latter reacted quickly, dodging most of them. However, probably as a consequence of the intense battle, he faltered at one point and received a glaring scar on his chest.


    Now, both sides were severely injured and breathing heavily. But even then, the tables had turned and the one-armed man actually became the more likely figure to win, although it was still a long shot. sea??h th§× N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    While he had lost his arm, but since it wasn''t his dominant hand, he could go on fighting as long as he took care of the bleeding stump. The other side had a massive bleeding wound on his chest and it looked like he wouldn''t be able to keep fighting for long. Otherwise, he would die due to blood loss.


    In other words, the battle became a situation of who could last longer or who could end faster.


    "It''s over for you." The one-armed man smirked.


    As he still had his dominant arm intact, the man was confident in being able to hold out even if his opponent fought like a rabid dog.


    "Haha."


    The man suddenly began laughing like a maniac. Blood spurted horrifically from his wound but he seemed not to care or even feel a thing.


    "Over?"


    The now insane man took off his belt. There were three compartments on the belt which seemed like detachable pockets.


    Originally, it wasn''t clear from the start, but after he clicked a button on the belt, a red light blinked on the pockets.


    For some reason, a dreadful sensation covered both the one-armed man and Lucas who was watching from a far.


    That wasn''t a set of detachable pockets; those were miniature bombs.


    "Now I wonder, who exactly is it over for?!"


    The man mocked.

 Chapter 314 - 314: Interrogation

    ''This is bad.''


    Lucas frowned seeing as one of the men had pulled out a set of explosives.


    It was obvious that since he saw no chance of winning, he decided to die with his enemy. The explosives weren''t so powerful and would require the man to be in close proximity with his target. This meant that Lucas, who hid away, was safe. However, this would affect his plans of getting information from the two of them.


    The current situation of the two men made them easy targets for Lucas. Even though there might be other battles ongoing elsewhere, there was no assurance that Lucas would end up with such a perfect opportunity on his lap.


    "Are you crazy?!" The one-armed man cried out.


    He was already exhausted and the best he could do was to hold back his opponent. But if it was trying to outrun the latter and escape, that would be difficult. After all, the injured man had two options: chase after him or maintain a certain distance, then with the right timing, toss the belt at the latter.


    In summary, it would be pretty difficult for the one-armed man to escape this situation.


    "You''re right; I am indeed crazy." The adversary grinned before charging towards the one-armed.


    "Fuck this." The one-armed cursed before turning around to escape.


    However, he couldn''t get far away even though his pursuer was severely injured. His legs were exhausted and all he had going for him was his adrenaline.


    On the other hand, the pursuer was only critically injured on his chest and his stamina wasn''t as exhausted, although the blood loss made his endurance dip massively. The most important thing however, was that he had lost all concerns about living past this.


    While one side ran for his life, the other chased without care for his. Both ran with a single desire in mind, but surprisingly, the injured man was able to close the gap instead.


    ''Damn it!''


    The one-armed man mentally cursed before turning around and flung his saber at his enemy.


    Because the man was chasing without care, he failed to expect his opponent to retaliate in such a fashion and got stabbed by the blade. That happened to become his tipping point and his footsteps faltered. He had not much energy left and would be dead in a few seconds.


    Realising that he had no time left, as the explosives were set for five seconds, he tossed the belt at the one-armed man with what was left of his strength.


    "See you in hell!"


    The man utilised the last of his energy to grin savagely at his opponent.


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    *Boom*


    Three intermittent explosions sounded off as a blast of both flames and hot air erupted from the centre of the explosion. An area of fifteen metres got caught in the blast and this included the injured man who failed to escape in time, as well as the one-armed man.


    Seeing this, Lucas frowned as he presumed that his plan was a failure. However, just as he prepared to leave in search of another target, he suddenly froze on the spot and waited. Sear?h the nov§×lF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    It took a few seconds until the site of the explosion cooled off and the scene became visible.


    The injured man was no more, with only a charred corpse resembling charcoal, left behind ok the scene. As for the one-armed man, he was left laying on the ground looking dead, but was surprisingly still alive.


    Faint traces of stellar energy exuded from his body alongside smoke and the scent of roasted human flesh and skin.


    Lucas was astonished by his survival and wondered how it had happened. But after sensing the leftover stellar energy as well as taking a look at the man''s only arm, he understood what had happened.


    There was a contraption attached to the arm of the one-armed man which looked damaged and dysfunctional. Lucas guessed it was some kind of defensive vestige that could deploy a shield. The man most likely hid it and kept it as a trump card. If he had shown it earlier, his opponent would have considered the vestige when plotting his final attack. However, as the one-armed man had hid it until the last moment, he was able to save his life with it, although barely.


    ''Damn that bastard. What kind of idiot would pull such a stunt?'' The man cursed inwardly as he tried to feel his limbs.


    There was almost no energy left in his body to the point that even a seven year old could walk over and stab him, and there was nothing he could do about it. His injuries had also gotten severe but on the plus side, the heat from the explosion, together with his efforts, helped close up his bleeding stump.


    ''I just need to rest for a bit; recover my energy, then take care of my injuries. After that, I''ll retreat to the surface.''


    The man planned out his moves.


    Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps coming close. It took only a second before his heart sunk.


    For someone to have arrived so soon, it was most likely that the newcomer had been watching everything from the start. If the newcomer was on his side, they would have helped earlier. If the newcomer was on the enemy''s side, he would have also attacked him earlier. The only logical explanation was that the newcomer belonged to neither side and was a third-party.


    ''Fuck it. What the hell are those guys on the surface doing? Shouldn''t they be monitoring the region and inform us of any foreign party?'' The man yelled internally, but said nothing on the outside.


    It wasn''t that he couldn''t speak, but that he was too tired to do so. At the same time, he decided to fake his death. Even though the shield had kept him alive, his body was still greatly charred, with at least half of his body now black, including his face. As long as he controlled his breathing and heart beat properly, it should be possible to fool the other side. After all, he had not moved yet, so it was difficult to ascertain his life and death from the current circumstances.


    Just as soon as the man closed his eyes and remained still, he heard a voice close by.


    "Don''t even plan on playing dead. I have a few questions for you and if you answer, you can go on smoothly. But if you don''t, you''ll be wishing that the explosion took your life."

 Chapter 315 - 315: Secret Of The Aión Source

    "Eight against ten huh?"


    Lucas stroked his chin as he began reviewing the information he just received. S~ea??h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "No, it should be seven against nine now."


    Behind him, a black disfigured corpse laid bare in the ground in a horrific manner. It was what remained of the one-armed man.


    After extracting the information he needed, there was no way Lucas would let him go. As such, he killed the man by burning his corpse using his gauntlet. This way, even if someone were to find the corpse later, he would be mistaken to have died in the earlier explosion.


    ''From what he said, the two leaders are facing up against each other right beside the Heart of Silver. So it would be impossible to sneak it past them.''


    This conclusion made Lucas frown.


    According to the information, the leader of the one-armed man''s group is the son of the deputy city lord of Blue Springs City. He was a talented fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner armed with two Grade 3 vestiges. Lucas estimated he could even have more trump cards. He was definitely not someone Lucas could take on right now, and even less could be said about the leader of the opposing team, a peak fifth level stellar practitioner.


    ''It would be best if they can kill themselves, but I can''t interrupt their battle to make that happen.''


    Fifth level stellar practitioners weren''t the same as third level stellar practitioners. They were already in a separate class from the other as every three levels was a class of its own. If Lucas approached those two, there was a significant chance that they might sense him, unless they were too focused on their fight. But that wasn''t possible because their battle took place right beside the Heart of Silver. It was inevitable that a bit of their focus would be on their surroundings.


    ''There should be some way.'' Lucas began frowning while slowly making his way forward carefully.


    Suddenly, he noticed a few strange tracks on the path.


    These tracks easily blended with the environment, which was a dark and gloomy place. Although the Mystic Silver ores did give off a bit of light, it was a dull green light that was barely enough for one to see. A stellar practitioner could see just fine enough here, but not as good as in broad daylight. Because of that, there were a couple of dead angles. This was one of the reasons William, Canza and the other high level fighters still utilised a bit of their perception and focus on their environment even during their intense duels.


    Lucas turned towards the bizarre tracks he spotted and went over to take a closer look at them. For some reason, he felt that he shouldn''t ignore them.


    ''These are...!''


    Lucas'' eyes widened in shock.


    ''I understand it now. It makes sense now. How could I have missed such a fact?'' Lucas slapped his face with a sigh.


    As his hand shifted away, a smiling expression appeared on Lucas'' face.


    ''This can work.''


    . . .


    The battle between William''s team and Canza''s unit became heated up and by now, casualties had already occurred on both sides.


    Of the 3 third level stellar practitioners on William''s team, only one survived. One was killed by his opponent while the other one died in Lucas'' hands, even though he should have lived.


    The fourth level stellar practitioner who went against 3 third level stellar practitioners from Canza''s side, came out victorious, although he was heavily injured to the point of not being able to display his true strength.


    On the other hand, one of the other 2 fourth level stellar practitioners had died to an opponent of similar strength while the other survived and killed his enemy. The two eventually discovered each other and began a new bout.


    As for the top level fighters, Cassie was still locked in a tight combat with William''s bodyguard. Both sides were fifth level stellar practitioners, so it would take a bit more time for their battle to end unless they went all out. However, there was no reason to do so yet even though the battle was already quite intense. On one hand, the bodyguard needed to retain enough strength to still defend William later on. As for Cassie, she wasn''t willing to put her life into this mission.


    That left the battle between William and Canza which had evolved to be even more dangerous than the other two. This was because of Canza''s nature in battles, which was the same as a bloodthirsty beast that operated purely on battle instincts. Due to this, William had things rough and couldn''t even focus on the overall situation. The best he could do was to monitor his environment to prevent anyone possibly sneaking up on him or stealing the Ai¨®n source.


    "You crazy bastard." William gritted his teeth as he blocked a barrage of attacks from Canza''s claw.


    He immediately took a step back and fired a few shots from his gun, forcing the latter to pause and create distance between them.


    "If I''m correct, you should be the Wild Dog, Canza."


    William said as he stared at Canza in the eyes while his hands still gripped tightly on his vestiges.


    Canza the Wild Dog.


    It is a somewhat popular name in the freelancer circle because the owner of that identity was a man with an impressive record of almost 100% success rate in missions. But despite such an achievement, he was given the title of Wild Dog, which almost seemed to be derogatory. The reason for this was because of Canza''s personality in battle; a scene where he became just like a wild dog and fought without care.


    It was said that the more vicious a fight was and the more injuries he took on, Canza would become less and less of a hyuman and more of a rabid dog operating solely on instincts.


    Right now, William wanted to avoid such a situation, which was why he continuously messed up Canza''s tempo mid-battle using his gun. As long as Canza didn''t lose himself in battle, it wouldn''t devolve into a reckless fight that would put a strain on him. Even if William won, it would end up being at the cost of severe injuries and such an ending wasn''t a good one.


    "My identity doesn''t matter. Stop this farce and face me like a man. Or is this how your father trained you?" Canza stared derisively at William.


    Even though the latter was known for a calm composure, the taunt seemed to have worked as the vibe around him became gloomy.


    " ''Heaven seeks not the soul of the man who stands proud before it, but the pleas of the ones who crawl''."


    William chanted as he stared at Canza with a tranquil expression.


    Suddenly, the atmosphere turned eerie and gloomy as a weird sound echoed closeby.


    "...you''re not a pure hyuman, are you?" Canza looked at William with surprise.


    Initially, he had sensed the unique frequency wave generated by hyumans and so never doubted William''s nature. However, with the revelation of this skill, something suddenly crossed his mind.


    It was common knowledge that some hyumans could unlock a part of their innate superpower before reaching the tenth level, which was known as ''a hint'' of their superpower. However, it was a bit of an uncommon knowledge that such phenomena were more popular within mixed bloods and hybrids.


    This was because, unlike hyumans who are a genetically modified or artificially created species, other alien races were natural and innately possess the ability to manipulate stellar energy. As a result of this, it''s easier for them to tap into their true potential, unlike hyumans who had to get stronger until they reached the tipping point to unlock their abilities.


    On the other hand, a cross-breed was like the mid-point of both sides. Some cross-breeds were lucky to have the advantages of both sides but it was more common to see them in between than superior. For instance, they still had the limits of hyumans, but they didn''t need to reach the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage to unlock their innate potential. They could already tap into a portion of it from the third level, although this was much weaker than the true form of their super power. Nonetheless, it was still a massive advantage.


    Seeing William utilise what looked to be a superpower, Canza suspected that rather than being a pure hyuman, William was more likely a crossbreed between a hyuman and an alien species. Such situations weren''t uncommon, within the unofficial Belfargos city-state, neither was a hybrid being in a place of power.


    William didn''t reply to him but simply channeled his stellar energy into his surroundings, planning to end the battle.


    Just as the situation was about to change, a loud roar sounded within the cavern. Compared to the sounds of battle all over the place, the roar superseded all that and occupied everyone''s ears, disrupting their tempo.


    "What the hell was that?"


    Cassie, who had now separated from her fight with William''s bodyguard, had a worried look on her face as she turned towards the direction of the roar.

 Chapter 316 - 316: Invader

    "Roar!"


    The monstrous sound rang out once again, enforcing the opinion within the minds of all that they weren''t mishearing things.


    There was a monster down here with them, and a very ferocious one at that. And from the looks of things, it had sensed them.


    "Tarak, talk to me."


    William cancelled his technique and immediately reached out to those on the surface.


    All nine members of the Little Star were accounted for and had gone in pursuit of the Delta Transporter. The Trojan War Fox had only seven men at first, but two were dead and two heavily injured and sent to the command shuttle. This left only three on board. On the command vessel, there was only one man present. Together with those onboard the Trojan War Fox, they were charged with monitoring the area. They also monitored the life signals of the other teammates, which was possible thanks to a band everyone wore on their wrist.


    Before entering the cavern, they had scanned for any signatures and failed to spot any. This could only mean that the monster in the cavern had only arrived recently.


    Originally, as he was engaged in an intense battle, William avoided communicating with them and gave the order for the other side to do the same unless the situation was dire. Logically, they should have sensed this monster on their scans and informed him, after all, based on the power of that roar, it was definitely not just a fifth level desolate beast.


    The fact that the unit on the surface failed to do so could only mean two things: either the monster had been underground this whole time and could avoid their scans by some bizarre means, or something happened above.


    "..."


    There was no response from the communicator which further raised William''s worries. Only one thing could explain the situation now; the group above the surface were taken down so swiftly that they were unable to react and notify those below.


    "Shit! Everyone, return towards my side, right now."


    William immediately panicked and switched his communication network to match the same frequency as the team present with him. Right after that, he recalled them towards his side while moving away from Canza.


    As he had not gone completely wild, Canza still retained his senses and knew that now wasn''t the time to resume the battle. It was better to identify the threat that was in the cavern with them first, and nullify it.


    Hence, Canza made the same decision as William and called for his team to gather by his side.


    "What could that be?"


    One of the surviving fourth level stellar practitioners from William''s team asked. S§×ar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    After a headcount, of the eight men ¡ªalongside himself¡ª only five were alive with one of them being too injured to fight.


    "It''s most likely a sixth level desolate beast at the very least " The bodyguard said.


    He was the most experienced of them all and a former freelancer, so he could roughly estimate the strength of desolate beasts by their energy and even the sound they made.


    "Any clues on what it is?" William asked, hoping to get a positive reply.


    But the man shook his head.


    "It could be anything. The mountains within the Millennium Mountains host a ton of varieties of desolate beasts. Even though we''re underground, that''s not enough information to determine which creature it is. Also, you said it probably came from above, which means it''s not a subterranean creature. My guess is, it''s probably a powerful creature that discovered the Ai¨®n source just as we did."


    William thought for a moment and then added,


    "It seems like Canza''s men never knew about it either, so it''s appearance is just recent."


    With a dark expression, he turned on his communicator and glanced at a countdown. There was still fifteen minutes left before the Ai¨®n source ''matures''. Despite that, such a powerful desolate beast had managed to sense it already.


    One could only imagine how dire and intense the situation would become once it matured.


    As a product of a planet''s world source, the value and allure of an Ai¨®n source wasn''t only obvious to intelligent species like hyumans. If it could raise a hyuman''s mDNA concentration by improving their m(o)DNA count, it could also increase the potential of other living beings. Desolate beasts, whose growth and progress was heavily reliant on potential, were sensitive to such materials that could improve their innate potential. It was to the point that they craved for it more than their natural desires.


    "What do we do?" The only surviving third level stellar practitioner couldn''t help but ask.


    He was increasingly worried about the situation, after all, he was the weakest individual present. Against a sixth level desolate beast, that was one class above him, the practitioner couldn''t offer any resistance whatsoever. A fourth level stellar practitioner, with the right vestiges, might have a very slim chance of escaping, but not him; even if he was armed with a Grade 4 vestige, death was the only option.


    "We can only work together with them."


    William turned towards Canza who also happened to look towards him at the same time.


    Although the 2 fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioners on their team could take on a sixth level desolate beast, it was possible that Canza and his men would take advantage of this and attack them. The reverse was also true. Hence, the only option was for the two sides to cooperate and quickly defeat the monster. After that, they could resume their battle.


    If it was only a sixth level desolate beast, 4 fifth level stellar practitioners armed with Grade 3 vestiges were more than enough to take it down.


    "What do you say?" William shouted towards Canza.


    Although it was a simple question, he knew that Canza would understand the underlying meaning as the latter should have reached the same conclusion as he did.


    "Sure." Canza smiled as he replied.


    "It''s coming." William''s bodyguard whispered.


    At that moment, a daunting aura assaulted everyone gathered beside the Heart of Silver. Accompanying this aura was the silhouette of a large creature reaching at least ten metres in height. It''s head was almost touching the ceiling of the cavern, resulting in no leeway for the monster to dodge with ease.


    However, this didn''t seem like a problem for it. This was because, rather than a sixth level desolate beast, it was a seventh level desolate beast; there was no reason for it to have to dodge.


    "Roar!"

 Chapter 317 - 317: Satcthalle

    "Roar!"


    A ferocious beast appeared before the two groups, unleashing an ear-piercing roar that sent shockwaves through their hearts.


    This was because the monster before them was not a sixth level desolate beast as they had hoped for, but a seventh level desolate beast and one at the peak for that matter.


    The monster had the head of a dragon with two horns on its head. But there were also two short horns sticking out from its chin. The neck of the monster was covered by a mane just like a male lion. It had a surprisingly slender yet stocky build which gave off the impression that it was both fast and strong. It had the body of a snake, albeit a bit muscly, and the legs of a horse. Its two front limbs were the same, but the hoofs had strange protrusions from the sides.


    "A Satcthalle." Sear?h the n??el Fire.n§×t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    William, his bodyguard, and Canza simultaneously grimaced at the same time. Cassie was almost overcome with fear as she shivered at the sight of the creature.


    A Satcthalle was a strange, somewhat mythical creature that was native to Eretre.


    This description might not seem like much, but according to historians, over three to four thousand years ago, almost all native species of Eretre were wiped out by a global catastrophe that ended many, including the true owners of the East Braftford relics, the Sunil civilisation. After that cataclysmic event, it was said that desolate beasts from the neighbouring planet, Jota, had somehow migrated to Eretre; possibly due to spatial cracks left behind by stronger desolate beasts or other means.


    The native species that managed to survive the global event and even remain existing in the current age were not to be underestimated. Although luck played an important role in their survival, there was no doubt that their strength and ability to adapt, and survive in an era where the planet''s world source was severely affected, was great.


    On Earth, such species would be regarded as "endangered", but not in Eretre. These true native species were classified as deadly, and even if one was on the same level as they were, it was advised to not take on such monsters unless armed with enough vestiges of an adequate grade. To have lived this long and survived against the invasive desolate beasts from planet Jota, they were definitely not ordinary opponents.


    The Satcthalle was one such unique variable. An adult would usually end up as an eighth level desolate beast and in some cases, a ninth level. In some rarer cases, a tenth level Satcthalle could exist. That was the level of a city lord of a city-state or even a great city such as Trundel City.


    The one before the group, although not an adult, was very much close to being so, seeing as it was at the peak of the seventh level. In truth, it could very well be described as an adult already.


    Apart from the difference in power level, what differentiated an adult desolate beast from an adolescent was the experience and tactics.


    As desolate beasts aged, they would obtain more genetic information regarding their bloodline. This information wasn''t limited to skills but also techniques and fighting styles.


    It was pretty much similar to how animals on Earth would learn to utilise certain tactics and pass on this information down to their offspring. As a result, the body of their offsprings would evolve in a direction to help assist them in assimilating this information and performing the action better. For example, the ancestors of lobsters were fans of shelled-creatures but they had a hard time prying them open and depended largely on their dominant claw. Over time, their offsprings evolved to have their dominant claw become bigger to help them pry open or crush shelled-creatures.


    A similar situation occurred with desolate beasts at the Apertures Opening stage, except this evolution wasn''t pronounced at the start but as they aged. Using the above example where modern lobsters now have a larger dominant claw, if it were the case in a desolate beast, this difference in claw size won''t be obvious until adulthood. As a result, the fighting techniques of a juvenile desolate beast differed from that of an adult desolate beast, with the latter being more capable and dangerous.


    "We can''t defeat this." William''s bodyguard advised the young master.


    However, even though he knew this, William wasn''t willing to give up right then and there. He had sacrificed so much, especially in finances, just to come this far. What''s more, two of his men had died and another two were in a critical situation. If he simply gave up and went home like this, not only would William be disappointed at himself, but he wouldn''t know how to face his men again.


    Gritting his teeth, William said,


    "We can''t give up. Not until we get it into our hands."


    The ''it'' naturally referred to the focus of all three, actually four, parties; the Ai¨®n source.


    "...okay, young master." The bodyguard sighed but he couldn''t talk his master out of it.


    If they wanted to leave sooner, rather than talking, they would have to figure out a plan.


    Suddenly, Canza''s voice reached over to them.


    "We''re still cooperating, no?"


    "Not like we have a choice. That''s an adult Satcthalle." William answered with a wryly expression. However deep down, he could already guess that Canza was cooking up a scheme to steal the Ai¨®n source amidst the chaos.


    "Good." Canza smiled from ear to ear.


    He began to exude a murderous energy from his body as his eyes turned red. It was clear that he was going all out; at least compared to when he faced William, his energy was through the roof.


    ''Is that bastard really just at the peak of the fifth level?'' William couldn''t help but question.


    But with no machine to measure Canza''s strength, he could only depend on his experience and senses, which all pointed out that Canza was still not yet a sixth level stellar practitioner.


    "Try your best and keep up with me. I''ll take the lead."


    Canza grinned before charging right at the monster.

 Chapter 318 - 318: The Strange Needle

    "Come at me, haha."


    A psychotic laugh pervaded the area as a "small" silhouette charged at the ten metres tall giant.


    The charging figure was none other than Canza, who had now devolved into his deranged self. His fight with William left him unsatisfied as the latter has always interrupted his flow and retreated whenever possible. As such, this left Canza wanting for a more intense and blood-boiling battle, which he decided to seek from the Satcthalle.


    Accompanying him just a few steps behind was Cassie, who was to provide backup. Slightly behind her was William and his bodyguard, who has also joined to offer their strength.


    As the Satcthalle was a peak seventh level desolate beast, only these four were capable of taking a few blows from it and retaliating; and this was because of the vestiges in their possession. If they didn''t have those, surviving would be an impossible challenge.


    Canza in particular, surprisingly had a high quality Grade 3 armour type vestige. It was a nano-tech battle-suit that could be worn at any time. No surprise that Canza had held it back during his fight against William. Even William had held back from using his Grade 4 vestige as well.


    Seeing the approaching group, the eyes of the Satcthalle seemed to display a hint of mockery as it raised one of its clawed hoofs and swung it at the group.


    An immense force erupted from the limb as a powerful airwave struck the four. Accompanying the airwave was a hint of stellar energy mixed in between, giving it a more deadly characteristic that could even end a fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner if they weren''t careful.


    "Shit!"


    William cursed as he raised his arm, calling forth a shield from his sword. As the deputy city lord''s only son, it was only natural for him to be armed with defensive measures.


    Cassie and the bodyguard also deployed their defensive tactics while Canza relied entirely on his battle-suit.


    This one attack from the Satcthalle was enough to force the group back and dampen their momentum. Even though they weren''t injured, it was clear that just a single casual attack from the Satcthalle was more than enough to keep them at bay.


    There was no reason for this other than a very obvious; the difference in strength was too great. The Satcthalle is a peak seventh level desolate beast while the strongest of the four was only a peak fifth level stellar practitioner. Even when armed with Grade 3 vestiges, they had no chance of beating the Satcthalle. After all, Grade 3 vestiges only translated to a peak power of the second class, or in other words, from the fourth level to the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage.


    However, the truth was that nobody was interested in beating the Satcthalle. They simply wanted to hold it back, just long enough for the Ai¨®n source to mature.


    Picking himself up from the ground, William glanced at the countdown displayed on his wrist.


    There was still thirteen minutes to go. Once the timer was up, it would become a free-for-all where every both sides would ignore the threat of the desolate beast in a bid to seize the Ai¨®n source. But until then, they both had to work together to keep it at bay. Otherwise, chances were that it could grow in patient and simple devour the Ai¨®n source as it was. S§×ar?h the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    "Such a troublesome creature." William grimaced as he stared at the desolate beast.


    The Satcthalle was in no worry to execute a follow-up attack. At its level, it already possessed a bit of intellect, enough to rival a four year old at least. It knew that the team of four could not pose a threat to it, so it was interested in playing with them a bit.


    Just like the four, the Satcthalle was also waiting for the Ai¨®n source to mature.


    The importance of having the Ai¨®n source mature couldn''t be underestimated. To put this in an analogy, it was like the difference between a ripe and an unripe fruit, like an orange for instance. Whether it was in terms of edibility, taste, or nutrients, a ripe orange was better than an unripe orange.


    In a similar way, a complete Ai¨®n source gave more benefits than an incomplete one; so much so that the two couldn''t even be mentioned in the same breath. This was why despite the dangerous situation, neither William nor Canza were willing to retreat with an incomplete Ai¨®n source.


    "We can''t win if we keep holding back." William said as he stared suspiciously at Canza.


    After the attack from the Satcthalle, Canza didn''t seem to have given up or call into despair. Instead, a crazy grin hung on his mouth.


    "Haha. I don''t need you to tell me." Canza laughed.


    William''s eyes had a mysterious light in them as he took in Canza''s behaviour.


    Truthfully, apart from resisting the Satcthalle, there was another option. It was to retreat and wait out somewhere until there were two minutes left for the Ai¨®n source to mature. However, there was a risk involved here. It was that the Satcthalle would seize an advantageous position and prevent them from reaching the Ai¨®n source.


    Currently, the group seized the advantageous position. The Ai¨®n source was behind them and only a few metres away. For fifth level stellar practitioners, this distance wasn''t noteworthy and without any barrier, it would be easy for them to retrieve it. However, if they retreated now, the one who would be in their current position would be the Satcthalle. No one wanted that to happen.


    At this moment, Canza pulled out another vestige he has kept hidden. It was a seven inch needle (17.78cm) made entirely out if a mysterious blue metal. Just an inch before the tip, there was an opening carved out on the needle, making it look no different from a sewing machine needle, except longer and bigger.


    Within the carved opening was a concentration of red energy that gave off a murderous and unrestrained vibe. Even the Satcthalle took notice of this weapon upon its appearance. The creature seemed to take it seriously as its eyes narrowed at the sight of the needle.


    This was because the energy contained in the needle seemed to approach it in terms of quality. This meant that this was a vestige with power at the seventh level; in other words, a Grade 4 vestige.


    "Young master, what do we do?" The bodyguard asked Lucas.


    No one expected for Canza to have a Grade 4 vestige in his possession. The existence of this vestige seemed to redefine the power balance as it was shown earlier that Canza already has two Grade 3 vestiges. Although both he and William now had the same number of vestiges, Canza had faced off against him relying only on a single Grade 3 vestige while William needed two to hold out.


    It was obvious what would happen if both sides fought with their all.


    "Cooperate for now. We can use this chance to understand his true power. I don''t believe he has another trump card left." William replied as he shifted his gaze from the Satcthalle to Canza''s needle.


    Even though the Belfargos city-state has a lot of vestige-smiths, Grade 4 vestiges weren''t cabbages on roadside stalls. With Canza having pulled this out, there was a significant chance that he has nothing else held back. All William now had to do was to understand the ability of the vestige and form a strategy to counter it.


    "You guys should help as well!" Cassie yelled at them as she saw the duo sitting still while Canza charged at the Satcthalle.


    "Sure." William smiled as the ambience around him changed to become gloomy.


    " ''Heaven seeks not the soul of the man who stands proud before it, but the pleas of the ones who crawl''."


    He was going to activate his superpower.