The First Hunt

'Hmm.... I need to practice my [Space Authority] and [Time Authority].

But the city might get ruined if I pull any shenanigans here. What happens if I pull the poor folks living in the city into an unstable spatial tunnel?

They'll get turned into minced meat.'

Stella was deep in thought. She had to control and gain mastery over her authorities. She could feel many weird abilities will be unlocked if she properly mastered [Space and Time]

'Should I leave the city for a while? But getting in and out would be troublesome without any permits. I still don't have any stealth abilities. I can't teleport properly either. Who'll know where I will end up.'

She was a bit lost. Gaining abilities was too easy for her, but she had to form a clear image of that ability and try to replicate its effects to unseal it on her own without scanning any person with her [Gaze of ######].

'Hey, there's a lot of skilled spies in the capital right? I should find one to see their abilities in action.'

She happily locked the house and left.

Her mission: Find a spy, the more powerful and capable, the better.

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*******

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Jonas was a fairly successful businessman. He had opened a luxurious bakery in the inner part of the city, close to the noble households of many different families.

His business got overwhelming reception. His bakery would be filled every day to the brim with various peoples from noble households. His business got good support from the Empire's business commissions too.

But he still was humble and approachable and would work personally at his bakery, despite his success.

But this was no humble businessman, for he had a secret.

He was a spy. A spy under the direct command of the Grand Marshall nonetheless.

He was one of the best in this profession. No one was better than him when it came to infiltration.

He was posted here to act like a businessman and keep a watch on all the noble households in the area.

He had a good thing going on, and his long-term infiltration plan was going smoothly, until this day of course.

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It was noon.

Ding-Ding!

The door opened inwards as a little girl entered the shop.

As Jonas turned around, he was stunned.

He saw a little girl about seven, with pale-white skin and silver-white hair, and a pair of bright green emerald eyes.

As a professional in disguise and stealth, he had impeccable control over his facial expression and he had a mind that was incredibly hard to shake.

But he could not help but betray his professionalism at that moment. He had an uncontrolled expression on his face.

He was deeply shocked by his own actions.

'That little girl is stunningly beautiful. But who is she?'

As a spy directly under the Grand Marshall, he had no shortage of information. But he still couldn't recognize this girl.

He observed her with a hidden frown.

'Such unique hair, I've never seen someone like this. Her clothes seem exquisite. It's even better than what the princess of the Emperor wears.

How could this be??

She seems to be a noble, but how the hell don't I recognize her at all?'

This was a big mystery to him.

He observed her further.

'She seems to have a carefree attitude and doesn't seem powerful. She isn't using any magic or illusion to appear younger either.'

As a person who had honed his instincts in the deadly game of spying, his intuition was pretty spot on most of the time.

And this time, he was indeed correct in all aspects, except one.

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*******

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'Huh, he has quite the skills.'

Stella was naturally evaluating the spy that was disguised as the businessman.

[Name: Jonas <True name: Ren>

EP: 86000

Age: 37 - Soul Cycle: 22

Abilities:

• Acute Intuition (A):

Has a deep and accurate intuition about his surroundings and people. Can detect hostility and malice towards him pretty accurately.

• Stealth (B):

Subconsciously lessens his presence and movements to stay out of people's attention.

• Enhanced strength (B):

Has a high amount of strength that exceeds the norm by many folds.

Skills:

• Illusion Magic (B)

• Stealth Magic (A)

• Invisibility Magic (B)

• Strengthening Magic (B)

• Hand-to-Hand combat (A)

• Dagger Mastery (A)

Intent:

• Friendliness: -

• Hostility: 5%

• Love: -

• Lust: -

• Kindness: 17%

• Possessiveness: 1%]

He was indeed strong, worthy to be one of the top spies, no, the best spy in the Empire. Even as a spy focused in infiltration, he was stronger than the Empire's magic knights in many combat areas.

Now Stella could see people's ability description as her mastery over [Gaze of ######] has improved slightly further because she glanced at everyone's information while coming here.

But, the question arises, how did she find him in this enormous city filled with millions of people?

It was quite easy.

She just wanted to kill the best spy in the city, of course.

Her [Apex Hunter] ability kicked in and immediately tracked down her target, irrelevant of where they are, or what kind of protection they had.

She was terrified of this ability's efficiency.

After gaining stealth abilities, she could be the best and the deadliest assassin if she wanted to.

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She sighed and sat down beside a table and looked at the menu.

Many items piqued her interest but she knew all of them would taste crap. So she ordered a small chocolate cake.

It was priced at 70 silvers. And it was in the middle spectrum of the price range.

'Rich people sure are exorbitant, spending a middle-class family's entire month's earnings on a small cake.

Huh? Paying? I'm not going to. I don't have any money. Sorry.'

She put a spoonful of the barely edible cake in her mouth with a frown on her face.

'Doesn't she like the cake? It seems she doesn't even want to swallow it. Is the cake really that bad?' Jonas who was keeping a watch on her from the counter was puzzled.

'Ugh, horrible. Is this even a cake? This is more like charcoal stuffed in feces.'

Stella had one bite and felt it was enough. She spat out the cake, sighed, and simply vanished from her place.

That's right. She simply vanished into the air.

The maidservant and Jonas widened their eyes as she simply vanished in front of their eyes.

The more astonished one was Jonas. He knew how hard and troublesome it was to use invisibility magic. Not only did it take a lot of time to cast, but it also drained a lot of mana while it was active.

And this little girl simply vanished in front of them without the slightest magical fluctuations. And it was instantaneous as if she teleported away.

But teleporting inside the city of Stargate? Impossible. He knew for a fact, even the most powerful wizard of the empire, Sir Merlin couldn't do it.

So where did the little girl go?

Jonas had no idea even with his sharp perception.

So it was all useless.

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Thunk!

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An odd impact sound spread out followed by a body dropping on the ground.

'Twas a nice hit.' Stella nodded her head in satisfaction as she spun the cast iron pan in her hand.

She retrieved the knocked-out Jonas into a frozen sub-dimension with air.

She also knocked out the maidservant and threw her into the sub-dimension too.

She decided to make this sub-dimension her 'prison'.

Her sub-dimension had two prisoners, for now, frozen in time, for eternity.... Their only relief is being spared from suffering. However, they have a chance of getting released.... if she feels like it.

'This cast-iron pan is pretty handy. I like it.' She stuffed it into another of her sub-dimension as she whisked away happily.

She was indeed quite happy, as she unsealed three of her abilities that she needed currently.

These abilities were unsealed as soon as she swept her consciousness at Jonas with [Gaze of ######].

[Absolute Stealth: Completely removes your aura and presence from reality. All environmental and magical reactions will also ignore you and directly pass through your body. You can also hide the aura and presence of other objects and beings as you wish. Has the greatest effect when paired with <Arcane Invisibility>]

[Arcane Invisibility: Completely removes your visual presence in reality. You can also hide the visuals of other objects and beings. Has the greatest effect when paired with <Absolute Stealth>]

[Primo##### Sense: The sense of the Primo###### are absolute, and nothing can escape their grasp. Your intuition and senses are elevated to the supreme and cannot be blocked or misguided by any means and work seamlessly with <Gaze of ######>. This is an exclusive ability of Primo######.]

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Stella happily went back to sightseeing towards the big city gates.

But for the Empire, it was quite the distressing occurrence indeed.

As one of their best spies simply vanished in broad daylight directly from the capital...