Kyle deftly sidestepped the incoming punch before ducking as a sword swung horizontally over his head. With a quick counter swing of his hammer, he fractured the ribs of the first thug before swivelling around him and kicking him in the back, sending the first thug crashing into the other.
Three swings and an arrow came in straight at him, forcing Kyle to hop backwards, his speed faster than the average fighter, thanks to his increased DEX. The leader did not look surprised, simply ordering the thugs to corner Kyle even more. “Killing the Seven Snakes leader would be the biggest haul of our lives!”
Penchant for Violence!
A familiar surge of power rushed through Kyle’s body, strengthening his muscles and sharpening his vision. The world around him seemed to slow down even more, with his combat stats all doubled and improved. The stats reported to him via the statistic screen were not linear in effect, but a 100% increase was always welcome.
The movements of the thugs were in slow-motion to him, making it easy for Kyle to parry the incoming strikes. To the cowering Guang Hwa, who was hiding at a safe distance, Kyle looked as though he was moving extremely fast, with ungodly reaction speeds. The sight burnt the strength of Kyle even more into Guang Hwa. Fuck! I just had to be enslaved by such a monster!
The increase in combat strength and speed caught the leader off-guard. Before he could even reorganise the thugs, already half of his dozen-strong squad was already dead, killed in one hammer blow by Kyle.
[System Message]
Killed [Hired Mercenary ], +100 EXP
What? They give 100 EXP? Kyle had expected a low amount of EXP – when he first killed a Red Lion Thug, it was a mere 10 EXP.
A sinister grin began to spread on his face as he twirled the hammer by its handle in his right hand, staring right at the leader. “Shit! Hold him off! I’ll finish the job!”
“Yes, si-“ Just as the thugs steeled themselves for their eventual demise, it came faster than expected in the form of Kyle’s lunging strike, dancing through the remaining five thugs and killing all of them in a swift motion even before the leader could move three steps.
“Damn you!” The leader pulled out a blunderbuss from his back, blasting it right at Kyle. The projectile defence vambrace Kyle had activated, but it was not enough to block the multiple pellets, with half of them making it through to hit Kyle right in the chest.
“I got you now!” The leader roared, drawing his sword and stabbing at Kyle.
However, Kyle was not hurt at all, the breastplate underneath blocking the rest of the shots as he dodged the stab, spinning around before delivering a straight direct kick at the leader’s head, knocking him down onto the ground.
“Wait, I’m just a hired-“ Words no longer came out of the gurgling mouth of the leader; his throat snapped cleanly in half by a single stomp of Kyle’s foot.
[System Message]
Killed [Hired Mercenary Leader], +250 EXP
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Level Up!
Level 15 ---> Level 16
[Stats Increase]
All Stats Increase
Bonus Free Points Granted
Guang Hwa meekly stepped over the dead bodies of the thugs, afraid to approach Kyle but also equally afraid to try and run away now. Kyle barely gave him a glance as he grabbed his arctech radio while walking to a parked arctech wagon nearby. “Where’s the dealer?”
[Sorry, sir. We did not manage to catch him, but Adrian is still trailing him right now.] Damian apologized.
“No matter. Give me his current location, I’ll handle the rest.”
In another building in an adjacent district, a room was a cluster of radios and old newspapers, with multiple copies of the map of Raktor and its surrounding areas, each marked with a note of events happening. Two clerks scrambled around as they listened in to all the public radio stations and checked up on the latest news.
The door was suddenly flung wide open, with a flustered dealer storming through the room.
“Sir, I have news that the military is increasing their purchase of arcite ore and recalling their reservists. I believe-“ The clerk spoke rapidly before the dealer cut him off, waving his hands frantically.
“NOW IS NOT THE FUCKING TIME!” The dealer grabbed the clerk by the collar and roared. “There are enemies coming for us!”
“Wh-what? Why?”
“The fucking Seven Snakes! You two go and defend with the rest of the guards! What are you giving me that blank look for? I OWN YOU! Now go!”
The clerks scrambled out of the office, each grabbing a repeater handgun. The handgun was not of the same design as Kyle, but a far worse and less efficient design, a result of reverse-engineering. With all the original copies of Kyle’s handgun destroyed, the reverse engineering was an attempt at duplicating the concept rather than the actual mechanism.
The dealer panicked as he scrambled around the room, grabbing a sack and stuffing everything valuable he had hidden around the safe house. Just as he was about to finish up, the sounds of screaming and fighting were already echoing through the building that he was in, causing him to tense up even more.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! The dealer cursed, quickly lifting the sack over his shoulder and heading towards the exit. It’s fine; my thirty guards can stall him long enough for me to make my escape. I just have to make it to –
The dealer opened the door only to see a smiling Kyle, barely panting as countless guards lay behind him scattered along the ornate hallway, rolling on the ground incapacitated. “Wha-“
Kyle grabbed him by the mouth, causing him to drop the sack with countless precious jewels and ornamental figures fumbling out on the ground, made of gold. “I’ve heard that you’ve been stealing certain secrets from me.”
“I only purchase what is put in front of me. It is your own men who betrayed you.”
“I have already dealt with him. It doesn’t change the fact that you are in possession of the goods.”
The dealer noticed Kyle was up to something. If Kyle was truly angry, the dealer knew he would have already been dead. “How much do you want?”
“Ah, signs of intelligence. You sold the construction blueprints to the ardent cretins for a nice five-millions rakels, did you not?”
So the first deal was a trap too! The dealer was astonished that Kyle was using his own blueprints as a money-making scheme. He already knew what Kyle was going to ask for next. “So you want me to hand over the blueprints, the goods AND pay you back five million rakels?”
“Oh, I think you are misunderstanding something. I want ninety million rakels now. You can keep the blueprints.”
“What?!” The dealer was completely confused now. Ninety million rakels was more than his entire fortune three times over, but the dealer took a second glance at the whimpering guards outside; burly men turned into crying babies. “How the fuck am I supposed to give you that amount of money?”
“You’re an information dealer, are you not? Do what you do best.”
Two weeks later…
The shopping arcade built by the Ardent Cretins was having its grand opening day, with a much larger turnout and fanfare, thanks to the immense marketing budget the union and Sebastian had thrown in. The shopping arcade was significantly larger, spanning an entire urban block, unlike the single building size of the Seven Snakes, adding even more to the grandeur and wowing the crowd.
Hundreds of businessmen, wealthy middle-class and lesser nobles turned up, with the shopping arcade this time dedicated to only the upper class. The Ardent Cretins actively blocked the slum dwellers and poorer folks from approaching the area, making it a limited area.
This is the way to make a shopping arcade profitable – why pander to those with no money? Sebastian smirked to himself as he stood by the side, watching the chairman take the stand with an opening speech.
“This may not be the first shopping arcade established in Raktor, but it is most certainly the biggest. We promise the best in entertainment and satisfaction to all our patrons here – a dedicated zone!”
The crowd nodded in agreement; many of the attendees previously shunned the Seven Snakes shopping arcade due to the influx of lowborn workers and poor individuals. Many of them detested the idea of giving out free amenities to the public, though they internally admitted that it had a dramatic increase in footfall.
As such, upper society was split on which model to follow. With Sebastian’s new shopping arcade, the ardent supporters of the class hierarchy finally had something to back. Sebastian had no shortage of investors who wanted to establish a limited shopping arcade tailored to the wealthy. The notion was not unique at all.
“And without further ado, we shall now open the new shopping arcade! Enjoy the luxuries we have to your heart’s content!”
Unlike the surging crowd that tried to force their way in during the Seven Snakes opening day, the crowd here were a lot more mannered, entering in an orderly fashion. Sebastian spotted a familiar face in the throng of people, causing him to smile as he made his way over.
“I did not expect you to actually accept the invitation.”
“A senior must always support his junior, is that not the case?”
“You don’t seem particularly surprised at the construction of this shopping arcade.”
“Of course, the innovations I have implemented are hardly cutting-edge. Even a layman could make his own, given the right understanding. It was only a matter of time.”
“Well then, as thanks for your warning, I would like to inform you that your innovations are out on the black market for everyone to see. I could give you the name of the dealer who has been leaking them.” Sebastian said with a tinge of glee in his voice as he watched Kyle’s face turn into anger. “Perhaps even now, other businesses in other Sectors are buying the information right now.”
Kyle looked furious. “Thank you for the tip. I wish you only the best for the rest of your opening day.” He stormed off, not bothering to enter the shopping arcade.
Most likely, he is going to perform a purge of the Seven Snakes. Sebastian himself did not know who was the one who leaked the information, only that he had bought it from the dealer as the middleman. He gloated to himself, walking into the shopping arcade guarded by two Ardent Cretin bodyguards, watching the attendees visit the countless shops.
The first hour was truly a success, with the temperature control engravings cooling the air within the corridors and shops while extravagant lighting awed the customers. Sebastian had only invited the very best that the South Sector had to offer – beauty products, fashion, and jewellery were all on display here.
“Sir? Sir… You are needed at the main control office.” An Ardent Cretin quickly whispered to Sebastian. Sebastian quickly followed the man, entering an office on the top floor with a dozen engineers all arguing with each other.
“What’s the matter? What’s going on?”
“Sir, it’s hard to explain, but our estimates of the arcite fuel consumption are off by a slight margin.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“The temperature control engravings, the efficiency is much lower than expected.”
“How much are we talking about.”
“It’s not much, but..”
“Tell me the numbers.”
“The efficiency is only about 70% at best.”
“Did we not estimate at least 80% efficiency?”
“Yes, but…”
At that moment, another engineer burst in through the office door. “Sebastian, sir! The lights are flickering! I think the lighting engravings are overheating!”
“Turn off a few of them to alleviate the strain. All of you, keep working on improving the design. Surely the twelve of you can beat an old university professor, can’t you?”
“Uh… yes, sir.”
Sebastian wasted no time, heading up to the duplicated light thrower theatre’s projector room, which had more than five employees scrambling inside preparing for the debut show. “Are you sure you’ve tested the light thrower?”
“Yes, sir, we did a test run yesterday with a sample film. It ran smoothly for a good fifteen minutes.”
“Try it now.”
“Sir?”
“Try it now!”
The employee hastily activated the light thrower, projecting the sample film on the theatre screen. Not after a minute the image began to flicker, and sounds of hissing sparks could be heard inside the light-thrower machine.
Sebastian immediately assumed it was a failsafe implemented by Sliver Snakes Productions, quickly opening up a side panel of the light thrower and inspecting it. Already he could see the traces on the engraving slightly warping, resulting in the weird behaviour.
“Cancel the light-thrower show.”
“But sir, that’s the main attraction of the –“
“CANCEL IT NOW!” Sebastian roared, prompting the employees to quickly scamper out of the room, spreading the order to the others. That fucking slimy dealer - charging me for more than twenty million rakels for this sham?! I will find him and kill him!
