Briefing

"How long's this ride going to take?" Tian Xu asked.

"About an hour, maximum an hour and half," Malone replied.

He had put the Thunderhawk on autopilot and moved to sit with Tian Xu and Lois.

Tian Xu nodded.

The speed was alright.

"By the time we arrive, it would probably be dawn in the Western sector," Lois observed.

"Mm. We'll be able to evade detection and make it into the sector unnoticed. Boss's probably up at this time drinking his wine," Malone chimed in.

"I've told him that if he wants to get drunk he should try something stronger, like Voronoi piss or something instead of that fancy crap he drinks," Tian Xu said.

Malone turned to him, confusion written over his face. "There's a booze called Voronoi piss?" he asked incredulously.

"Can't you tell he's lying?" Lois said, rolling her eyes.

"Ugh," Malone groaned and face palmed.

Tian Xu had screwed him again.

"Next time take his words with a bucketful of salt. He's a devious and tricky bastard," Lois advised Malone while giving Tian Xu the stink eye.

Tian Xu smiled wryly.

"Speaking of wine, I brought him some as a thank you for the mission," Lois added.

Tian Xu groaned.

Was there even a need for that?

She was going to give Richter a tangible reason to extort stuff from him!

Besides, it wasn't like any wine on earth was capable to make Richter drunk. 

Awakened held their alcohol far better than unawakened but someone like Richter was in a league of his own.

He could stay up all night drinking wine but would still be pretty much awake and not even a tad drunk.

Well, along with awakening came a lot of bodily changes and improvements.

No red wine on earth could make Richter inebriated

The only time they had seen him dead drunk was when he had a drinking contest with an alien back on the Dawn star.

The organization had been trading with the Philogs, a green skinned alien race, at the time and to mark the start of their cooperation, a drinking contest was held.

Richter couldn't pass down an opportunity to taste exotic alien wine and got into the contest.

He wasn't even able to finish.

He was heavily drunk by his second bottle and a young Tian Xu and Malone were the ones who had to carry him back to his quarters.

Richter didn't learn from that experience though and brought with him many crates of the Philogian booze. 

No matter how strong it was, it wouldn't be able to kill him or give him any negative side-effects.

This was because awakening lengthened the lifespan and made awakened less susceptible to illnesses and weakness.

Well, unless the awakened got specifically poisoned or hexed, falling sick was an impossibility for people who had awakened.

Before awakening, the life expectancy of humans was 70 years.

After awakening and finally being in the enlightenment realm, the life expectancy of the Enlightenment realm awakened was 200 years!

At the Advanced realm it was 350 years!

At the Grand realm it was 500 years!

At the Domain realm it was 700 years!

At the Transcendent realm it was 900 years!

At the Ascended realm it was 1,000 years

At the Planetary realm it was 2,500 years!

With each advancement in Realm, the lifespan of the awakened increased tremendously.

Of course, if the Awakened chose to stay quietly and not advance anymore, they would be able to live their full lifespans out.

If not, their vitality was going to keep on increasing and increasing!

Things like cigarettes, alcohol and diseases caught by unawakened were alien concepts to the Awakened

It would never be able to affect them.

"We've arrived," Malone said, checking his comm.

In the tangible darkness of the early morning, a Thunderhawk glided silently, unseen and unheard by everyone.

Moving far away from the bustling nightlife in the city, it strayed into a forest and landed in an inconspicuous clearing.

Malone typed something into his comm and the ground on which the Thunderhawk stood lowered down quietly, bringing the Thunderhawk underground.

After the hovercraft slid off the camouflaged landing pad, the landing pad rose back to as it was before, a normal piece of land in a part of a preserved forest.

The hovercraft opened and Lois, Tian Xu and Malone stepped out of it with their luggage.

In front of them, a handsome blonde guy in a pink suit and white shirt held a glass of red wine in his hand.

Looking at them evenly, he took a sip and grinned.

"You've finally arrived," Richter chuckled.

"Yeah boss. Nice jacket," said Malone, glancing at it in appreciation.

If there was one thing that Tian Xu had learnt from Richter apart from how he used his flames, it was his fashion sense.

Tian Xu had to agree Richter looked really good in his outfit.

"I brought you some wine," Lois said to Richter making his eyes light up in anticipation.

"Wow! You are such a lifesaver Lois. Which one did you bring?" Richter asked in excitement.

"A special edition Vin Rouge Mousseux. I heard it's quite pleasant," Lois replied, opening her suitcase and taking out an exquisite dark red bottle with a beautiful label.

"As a thank you for the mission," she added.

Richter walked forward and grabbed the bottle of wine.

"That's some good stuff," he commented as his eyes examined the bottle like a hawk.

Satisfied with the quality. he opened the bottle there and then and filled his almost empty glass to the brim.

Richter took a big gulp of the wine. "Ahh, this is very good stuff!"

"What of you two? Did you bring your teacher anything?" Richter turned to Tian Xu and Malone. 

"Pfft! As if," Tian Xu laughed while Malone scratched his hair sheepishly.

"That's it! Lois you can do whatever you want to these boys. I promise not to interfere," Richter said, causing Lois to break out into a wide smile.

"Really? Thanks!" she said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Malone and Tian Xu exchanged glances and cold sweat ran down their backs. 

If Richter gave Lois free reign over them, what prevented her from taking it out on them? Their lives would be miserable!

"On second thoughts, I brought you something," Tian Xu smiled brightly at Richter.

"Oh? Let's see it then," Richter turned to look at Tian Xu in interest. 

Shedding a river of tears inwardly, Tian Xu opened his suitcase and took out a black suit. He had just bought it and hadn't even had the chance to wear it out!

"I figured you'd like this," he said glumly, handing the suit to Richter.

"It's got a nice feel. Thanks for nothing brat. It looks better on me than it would ever look on you," Richter smirked, obviously enjoying Tian Xu's dissatisfaction.

Malone also reluctantly handed over one of his gadgets.

"Take it easy on them, Lois. We don't want to send them to their early graves, do we? Richter chuckled as he beckoned them to follow him.

He led them through a plain door in the underground base and they got in.

Putting away his gifts, Richter walked over to the holographic screen in the room even as Tian Xu and the other two took a seat.

"Playtime's over kids. It's time for mission briefing," Richter turned to them, his previously lax and leisurely smile had been replaced by a calm look.

"Damn," Malone muttered as he went over the profile of their target for the umpteenth time.

Damien Walker, a sixteen-year-old kid in the Imperial Institute with five powers, a mark of 19, awakened in all the three paths…

Like what the fuck?!

"Yeah yeah I know. He's an impressive talent," Richter said demurely, running his hand through his hair.

The seriousness he had used to do the mission briefing was long gone and his usual self had returned.

"His powers complement each other very well. If he's trained well, I wouldn't want to be his enemy," Lois observed as she watched the video of Damien's fight with the seniors.

"Y'all are ignoring one thing. How are we going to get in contact with him in the first place?" Tian Xu asked.

If his timing was right, the first year students hadn't yet spent a month in the awakened schools.

They would only finally come out for missions after the month and the start of the ranking battles. They would have to wait for weeks or even a month because they didn't know when Damien would decide to go out on a mission!

"That's why I said it's going to be a long ass mission," Richter replied.

"I'll leave later on to check up and protect his parents. Both of them are unawakened and his mom's pregnant with his father also on leave to watch over his wife.

Makes my mission easier because they are together. 

I'll be moving out so you have this whole place to yourself and you can wander about anywhere you like.

Just don't touch my wine," Richter elaborated.

The trio nodded at him.

"Who's the contact in the school?" Malone asked.

"Agent A60… some kid named Lyon. He's in second year… he joined up in his first year and he shows a lot of promise,' Richter replied.

"I'll send you his details so you can let him monitor Damien from afar and see how best to get him to join us.

Remember, this kid has to be convinced not forced to join us. Be transparent with him or else we won't have his trust in the future.

We need more people like him.

Don't screw this mission up or else Miss Nancy will have my ass," Richter added.

"I'll make sure they don't screw up," Lois nodded solemnly, eyeing Tian Xu and Malone.

"Hey! Why are you singling us out? That's not fair!" Malone complained.

Lois snorted and looked away.

This mission could either be very easy or very difficult.

Being geniuses themselves who had been poached from the government, they would know how best to convince Damien to join the Dusk Organization.

They wouldn't force him.

Hopefully, he would join them and they would have a powerful new genius in their ranks. If not, they could only count themselves unlucky.

"What name are we giving to this mission?" Tian Xu asked.

Richter smirked. "Operation Woo Damien."

"Your naming sense is as bad as always," Tian Xu snorted.