Chapter 17 - First Day in Vale

Let's just say, their first day at Vale isn't that pretty.

"Hands above your head, now!"

"Fuck! I swear I'll break his face next time we meet.!" Adam wanted to stomp on General Ironwood's face that badly.

After all he did, after he helped save his Specialists. He was repaid by being branded a terrorist and being arrested the moment he landed on Vale airport with treatment appropriate for a terrorist, being surrounded by soldiers in white and also Winter who refused to look him straight in the eyes, probably feeling guilty.

"Is this how you people reward good deeds? No wonder those researchers wanted revenge that badly." Adam said, which made Winter flinch and avoid looking at him in the face entirely. "I personally want to burn Atlas to the ground for this treatment."

"Shut up, you terrorist!" Some soldiers look that Adam has no weapon on him and so do his companions and bravely approach them to make an arrest but that's a big mistake.

"You can't blame me for this as it's self defense." Adam mutters and his shotgun appears in his hand as he cripples their legs, leaving them screaming in agony and turning to the Specialists for help.

"I apologize, Wh- Adam. However, General Ironwood sees the technology your organization poses as a big threat."

"What? Simply because of that he brands me as terrorists? Hypocrite. Then having all those big airships, robots and mechs makes him a bigger terrorist than me, why wouldn't you arrest him instead?" Adam lashed out angrily but he soon sobered up as police and people were starting to gather.

"We are leaving." Adam turns away and walks with Agent and Alice follows behind him after giving Winter and the Specialists from the previous mission a look.

Winter isn't stopping Adam from leaving. She knew the reason behind the arrest. Adam and his organization is a great boon for the four kingdoms but also a curse if fallen to the wrong hand. The ability to engage long distance teleport, bombardment, etc. If it fell to the wrong hand, it could spell disaster to the four kingdoms. That's why James Ironwood declared that for the sake of prolonging the peace, Atlas must obtain the technology by all necessary means.

It's something Winter didn't agree to why she purposely volunteered for this mission and brought the Specialists that participated in the previous mission. They simply watch as Adam and his companions vanished into the city.

"Now, to make an excuse. Haah… why did it have to be like this." Winter sighed. She didn't think his betrayed look would gouge her that deeply. "We just lost a potential powerful ally just because of paranoia."

———

"Here is the place, Master." Agent leads Adam to a nightclub which is hanging a close sign since it's like 10:30 in the morning.

"Club…? Is this a front for a criminal hideout or something?" Adam made a blind guess while spying at the building from a corner.

"Yes, it's the Xiong Family crime syndicate. It's a legitimate business on the surface but a headquarter of Xiong Family underneath." Agent explained. "If there's anyone that can provide information to us, it's Junior Xiong."

"I see. But…" Adam turned his head down to Alice sticking next to him like she was glued. "No, nevermind. Let's go in."

Agent quickly stopped Adam with her hand. "Before that, Master. Remember that they are criminals that will hardly be swayed unless we use money and intimidation."

"It's presumptuous of me. But please allow me to take care of the negotiation for you, Master." Agent begged with her head bowed which confuses Adam slightly for her to be this insistent.

"Sure. Of course, no need to lower your head like that, Agent."

"Also, please hide your identity, Master. Your hair and eyes aren't exactly inconspicuous and with the arrest order from Atlas, it might make the negotiation more difficult."

Adam nodded and put back on his gas mask and helmet before his hood of the cloak to fully hide his appearance. Meanwhile Agent and Alice didn't because the arrest order or warrant only had his face for some reason.

After that, they enter the building. Immediately Agent can sense many fake walls and grunts hiding behind it ready to attack. Agent silently orders Alice to not to show any hostility as they make their way in and head to the bar top where a bartender is cleaning a glass while his eyes momentarily darts toward the approaching group.

"The club is closed, you know?" The bartender said while his eyes constantly appraised the three and frowned at the odd matchup.

"A glass of Gin, please. As usual." Agent said.

Junior scrutinizes the Agent for a moment but seems like he fails to find what he needed.

"Who referred you? I can't say that I had seen any of your faces before." Junior said a little sarcastically especially when his eyes landed on Adam.

"None. But we learned of you from Carlos."

"Carlos…" Junior paused his hand at making the order as he looked at Agent with a shocked eyes.

This Carlos refers to an old crime lord that used to rule the Underground of Vale but sadly died after he was assassinated in his old age by a rival crime lord that sought to raise in power to replace the old generation.

"Do… Do you have any proof?" Junior didn't immediately buy it as someone can easily just mention the name.

"Unfortunately, no. But I do know about his grandson who is living in Vale."

"Enough. That is enough." Junior sighed and stopped Agent before she blurted out words no one was supposed to hear. One can never know when the wall or floor might have ears.

"So, what is it you need from me? Just for you to know. Just because you all know old Carlos doesn't mean I will give discount or do a free job." He warned with his arms crossed.

"Of course, my Master will pay for every service in full. Even a bonus if you do your job well." Agent reassured him before she started listing down things she wanted.

Adam felt bored as he kept himself entertained by pampering Alice on his lap until two girls suddenly appeared. One in red and another in white. Both show quite some interest and curiosity to him.

"Hey, what's with the hood hiding your face?" The white one asked while the red one sat shyly next to the white one.

Adam lifts his head up when hearing someone is talking to him. He didn't give any response as he didn't know how to answer that question. Thankfully, Alice came to save the day.

"Why do you want to know about Master?" Alice looks a little agitated as she is ordered by Agent to guard Adam specifically from these two which Agent found out is the most dangerous within Junior's rank.

"Hmn. Just curious. Loaded and accompanied by a maid and a bodyguard. Both a Faunus too while addressing him as Master." The white one slowly dissects the information as she expresses her curiosity of Adam.

Seeing that Alice is about to turn hostile to protect Adam, he pat the girl and calm her down. She turns her head back at Adam who shakes his head before she nods and returns to sitting on his lap while being pampered.

"I think the answer should be obvious. Miss?"

"Melanie." She introduced herself and then pointed to her sister. "She is Miltia, my younger twin. We are the Malachite Sisters. We are quite popular around Vale Underworld which means you are not from here or not someone that lives in the Underworld, right?"

"Yes." Adam said but not specifying which one he is agreeing to but neither is Melanie interested to know.

"So, is there anything I can help, Miss Melanie?"

"First no need to add Miss. Melanie is just fine. But what about your name? We introduced ours yet we still hadn't heard about your name." Melanie points out with a slight flirtatious tone.

"I suppose it's fine." Adam mutters before he answers. "My name is Adam."

"Adam, huh? So, Adam. What are you doing in Vale? If you want to share, I suppose." Melanie tried to satisfy her own curiosity of this mysterious man.

"For a business. I am trying to gather resources and manpower, an important task." Adam explains which technically isn't a secret as they can easily guess it from hearing what Agent is listing down.

"Are you trying to build a syndicate or something? Well, I suppose the waters in Vale are quite muddy with the Roman and White Fang getting more active lately." She sighed, sounded irritated.

"No, not a crime syndicate. Well, you all will know about it sooner or later." Adam kept the secret to himself and stood up when Agent messaged him they were done here.

"Anyway, got to go now." Adam apologized that their conversation was cut short. But before he left, he turned his head slightly and looked at the twin under the hood. "Think of this as a token of my apology. The future of Vale is uncertain, if you get what I mean. Better if you two move out from this continent entirely assuming flying Grimm hadn't been affected."

Melanie is a little puzzled with the word of advice Adam gave her but she somehow can feel with the intuition that she should listen to him.

———

"By the way, Agent. How did you manage to get 15 Million Lien to pay Junior?" Adam was curious as he is sure his card has less than 3 Million Lien.

"Just a little redirection of funds." Agent shrugs and openly admits to robbing the bank. "I might not be as good as Scarecrow in Electronic Warfare. But I spend a lot of time getting good at everything to be at my best to serve my Master. Siphoning a little bit of money from everyone isn't all that hard."

"Hmn." Adam just hummed without comment before asking what they were doing next.

"I had acquired a new residence for us which doubled as a base of operations.We have to lay low for now because of the Arrest Order. While laying low, we can take the opportunity to raise our power." Agent is secretly getting her plan in motion while simultaneously assisting her Master to her best capacity.

Six minutes later, they arrived at a warehouse near the port. The warehouse is actually a secret safehouse belonging to a syndicate which had been eliminated in a power struggle and leaving behind many of their assets to be fought over by other gangs or Families. Agent bought this warehouse off Junior for 2 Million Lien.

Inside the warehouse is a functional office and an underground room which doubles as a living space enough for a dozen. There is also an indoor shooting range.

After Agent brings the group to tour their new home, Adam gets a new notification.

*Ding*

[New Objective]

[Nurturing Strength]

-With the threat of Outbreak becoming increasingly severe as the number of infected doubles every day. The world will soon be overrun by infection. Without adequate strength, you wouldn't be able to survive, much less saving the world.

Objective

-Reach Level 100 within a week.

-Recruit people with good potential into your fold.

Reward

-Decided based on the overall strength of the group and number of recruited people.

-Flawless Progenitor Virus

Looking at the mission and immediately see that it's impossible to achieve without doing Interdimensional Contract.

Objective completion rewards a lot but he doubts he can milk that method. He can't trigger something like side quests. He tried and even asked his System and confirmed he can't.

Grinding Normal Contract will take too much time. He earns on average 10k XP per run by just completing a Normal Contract when not accounting the bonuses. Meanwhile the total XP needed to reach the next level is 300k+ and will keep increasing.

Depending on just Normal Contract will not cut out as he can spend every second of his one week time grinding and not reaching Level 100. Not to mention, he still need to spend some time recruiting.

[Host can pick a short term Interdimensional Contract. Unlike the normal Interdimensional Contract, Host will only enter the world for a short duration to fight and leave instead of having to complete a series of objectives.]

"That's helpful…" Adam can't wait to try it out. From what he can see. It's just another Normal Contract but takes place in another world.

He secretly hopes he can get some rewards unique to that world like how he obtained his three companions.

Without further ado, Adam is testing out this new function.

—————

(Yo! This fic got into the power rankings. This is the first time any of my fics did it. Thanks for everyone's effort!)

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