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—not 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,

"That's one."