First Assignment [3]

'Time to get this done.'

I was quickly walking out of the building as I had finished my business here. When I walked through the door I wanted to go over the task once more to make sure I could complete it with max efficiency. Maybe if I do well enough on this first assignment I could prove myself to the other students and impress my professors.

Maybe I'd be respected.

I was determined to reach that goal, that goal of achieving respect from others and proving them wrong. Taking the card out of my bag I clicked on a button to reveal its details.

E-rank Task :

Acquire an object.

Reward: 15,000 CR

Description:

At the request of your employer, we assign you to retrieve an object located at the coordinates sent to your watch and give that object to your employer.

Capture and Deliver.

It sounds easy enough on paper but let's see how well it fares in action. I put the card back into my bag and continued my way out of the large building. As soon as I walked out of the building I looked up at the sky. The clouds were grey and the air was cold as if a storm were coming.

It was around 6 PM and my assignment was due on Friday. If I do the math correctly with class starting at 7:30 AM I have approximately 37 hours and 30 minutes to complete it.

The clock was ticking.

Tilting my head back down I looked at my watch and looked for the coordinates to my objective. It wasn't far at all, according to the coordinates the object should be somewhere near the city center.

'I need a way to get there.'

I could walk there on foot but that would be wasting efficiency. I bet I'd also be too exhausted to fight if needed after walking that distance due to my low stamina.

'Ah- that reminds me.'

I turned my watch back on and clicked on a projection saying 'status'. As soon as I hit the button the screen in front of me only became visible to me and displayed my overall stats.

===STATUS===

Name: Keir Licht

Rank: F

Combat Level(CL): 10

RC Level: N/A

Strength: F

Agility: F

Stamina: F

Charm: F

===SKILLS===

- Advanced Swordsmanship: Mastery of the blade

- Advanced Martial Arts: Make your body the weapon

- Free Running: Mastery with running over obstacles and escape tactics

'F..F?!!'

My charm was that low?! Every time I checked my status I felt like crying, it just had to be too accurate. After shedding a tear over my charm stat I closed the status window and returned to my planning.

"Haa- I need to focus."

Letting out a quick sigh I looked to the sky for ideas. I needed quick and easy transportation which was also preferably budget friendly.

'Ah, I have the perfect solution!'

****

Ding-

"Attention all passengers, thank you for riding with Haneul public transportation services please leave a positive review thank you!"

As I exited the bus with the other passengers, I was greeted by the city center. A large courtyard with a statue of earth was located in the middle of the district. Not only that, but the skyscrapers reached extraordinary heights and surrounded the open area with bustling crowds doing their daily routines.

'The bus proved effective and cost-efficient, would most definitely use it again. What was their rating site called again?'

Quickly scrolling through my phone, I rated the bus services a 5 out of 5 for great customer satisfaction. After leaving my positive rating, I looked at the GPS coordinates I had for the object. It should only be a few minutes away. I should scout out the area ahead of time so I looked for a place I could use as a viewpoint.

'There.'

I found a decently tall building that overlooked the location I needed to scout out. So I made my way to its rooftop within 5 minutes. The wind started to pick up, and the sun was close to setting. I took out my binoculars and looked at where the tracker said the object was located. I scanned and scanned over the sight in front of me repeatedly until I finally spotted the exact place it was in.

"Ohhhh shit…"

The object really had to be there didn't it? I sure do love coincidence and the fact that the thing I need is going straight into the fucking black market. It shouldn't be too bad though, I have a mask to conceal my identity and I just needed to play it cool. I needed to sneak it out somehow. Let's wait until night falls.

Then I'll make my move.

*****

8:00 PM - Haneul City Center

"Guess it's time to start."

I put on my mask and body armor. Though it wasn't really body armor in a normal sense, it looked more like the outfit a military assassin would wear with its built in cloak. Apparently it could change colors too, so I guess that's a plus.

After getting my gear all set I made my way down the building and into the market. The place was dimly lit and filled with extraordinary goods from all over the human domain, some goods were even from outside the human domain. Places like the desert of mist or the sunken mountains contained highly valuable resources and some vendors were selling them here.

Suddenly, I spotted the object being pulled into a room that was going to be locked soon. I didn't have time for admiring the valuables being sold here I had to get it before it made its way into that room.

Wooosh-

I planted my feet onto the ground with a target in sight and I pushed off as hard as I could. Gaining a large boost of speed from it I ran as fast as my body would let me until the momentum allowed me to dive for the object and roll away.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?!"

After successfully snatching the package, I caught the attention of all the guards that were escorting it. There were about 6 of them from what I could count. I could confidently fight hand-to-hand with one of them if they didn't use RC, but that wasn't realistic. Plus, I was also outmatched, all 6 were hulking figures at around 6'4 and they looked like they squished cats as a pastime. There was only one option for me at the moment.

I needed to run.

After analyzing the predicament I was in, I turned at a 360 degree angle and instantly bolted to safety. The 6 large men were in rapid pursuit of me going as far as destroying black market stands to get to me faster. Looking forward and not looking back I put all my focus on one thing which was escape. I dodged countless vendors and slid underneath multiple stands with the speed of Hermes.

'I should thank sis for teaching me free-running.'

It was an amazing skill I could heavily utilize at the moment, but the pursuers didn't stop for anything. Even when I climbed to higher ground, they just caught up to me a minute later by cutting through an alleyway. Eventually they had me cornered in an alley and I could clearly see the faces of my pursuers and the gang they were a part of.

"If I'm gonna be totally honest with you guys if I knew you were Berith members, I wouldn't have messed with you."

I put my hands up and tried to negotiate with them. Although I don't think I'll be getting out of this one without any help. Berith was the largest criminal terrorist organization on the planet. They only recruited members that showed high promise and talent. Don't even get me started on the douche that leads them.

"Why would you take this in the first place kid?!"

The first to speak was a man with a buzzcut and a few neck tattoos.

"A school assignment…."

I looked away in embarrassment and to get away from their piercing glares; it was absurdly scary.

"You stole our shit for a fucking school assignment? Are you fucking dumb kid?!"

The second man to speak had a dragon tattoo on his wrist. All of these men had different tattoos, but there was one they all had in common.

The Berith Sigil.

It was a tattoo depicting a demon with three horns spitting fire out of its mouth.

"We'll make it painless kid."

Huh? Painless? Are they seriously about to kill me right now? No no no they can't do it in the middle of the black market. Even in there they have rules to abide by.

"Think the rules are gonna save ya kid? Hate to break it to you, but we're already outside of the market."

My heart sank to the lowest level possible.

The men brought out their weapons and harnessed their RC enhancing the weapons they used with jagged rock. Looks like they're terra users, huh? I fell to my knees and accepted the inevitable.

I could only blame myself for not being able to fight back.

As the man swung his sword toward my neck, something had interfered and caused him to slash my head instead, instantly causing me to fall on the ground and slowly lose consciousness as I bled out. The world started fading away into a blur that couldn't be interpreted, and the object had suddenly broken out of its prison and killed all 6 men.

I couldn't see what exactly happened or what killed those men, but I'm glad it did.

****

CURRENT STATS

===STATUS===

Name: Keir Licht

Rank: F

Combat Level(CL): 10

RC Level: N/A

Strength: F

Agility: F

Stamina: F

Charm: F

===SKILLS===

- Advanced Swordsmanship: Mastery of the blade

- Advanced Martial Arts: Make your body the weapon

- Free Running: Mastery with running over obstacles and escape tactics