First Step

Chapter 39: First Step

'Unique spell? But Exp is very less when comparing it to other spell models.' Charles felt that he was missing some crucial information.

'Wait…It might take a long time to master it.' He thought for a moment but chose to construct it after some hesitation. Like the previous times, he closed his eyes and silently watched the constructing process in his mind. After five minutes of the long constructing process, Charles opened his eyes and became stunned for a moment.

'This spell model has double the amount of Runal Characters and appears very complex.' A look of astonishment appeared on Charles's face as he looked at the new hexagonal spell model in his mind.

'Hmm, the next ones are supportive spells.' He glanced at the spellbook and soon chose three spells.

The first was the only mind-related spell in the spellbook called [Burning Thoughts].

Upon casting this spell on an opponent, a strange type of fire called 'Mind Fire' will appear in the opponent's Inner World and burn their current thoughts. It had a similar effect as the 'Confusion' spell and was unique.

What if the enemy suddenly realized that some spell had secretly erased what he was thinking before? He would feel confused, and his mind would go blank for a moment. Although this spell doesn't have any effects like mind protection abilities, Charles felt reassured to have one mind-related fire spell. Unlike the previous spells, this spell model's cost was meager. It was just 230 Exp points!

If Charles could comprehend the secrets of this unique 'Mind Fire' in the future, he could influence the opponent's thoughts and would even be able to enter their Inner World!

It was a perfect spell to manipulate others' thoughts.

The second spell was a fire-type healing spell called Blue Cure. Unlike other fire spells used for burning and destruction, this spell would do the opposite. This spell came from a different type of fire called Violet flame or soul fire. The violet flame had many purposes, and it could revitalize and invigorate the user. It could also heal emotional and even physical problems. Most importantly, the violet flame could extract the life energy from the surrounding mana, healing one's soul itself in the future. Although it was just a healing spell, it was costlier than the unique fire spell.

'510 Exp points.' Charles didn't mind the cost and chose to construct it.

The final one was a movement-type spell called [Crimson Steps]. As the name suggests, it could fasten one's speed by twisting the space and help the user to take large steps. If Charles picks a suitable corresponding spell in the future, he could even teleport to a different place by altering the space law with this fire spell. As for the cost for [Crimson Steps], it was 404 Exp points.

After constructing all those spells, he felt that he had finally taken his first step on walking the Fire Mage path.

'Only 139 Exp points are remaining.' He looked at the interface for a second and shook his head.

'I still have many works to do.' He took a deep breath and then began to ponder his work in Slum Street. But instead of going to Slum Street to do his undercover job, he stayed in the study, took out a large chart, black quill with a blue ink bottle, and started writing.

He knew that just going to Slum Street would do no good for him, so he made a detailed plan and started to go through it multiple times.

Around noon, he changed his clothes into a formal black one and went to his mother's room. It was located just near the kitchen room, making his job easier. He also packed some of his belongings in a large iron suitcase and held them in his right hand.

Once he saw her reading something serious, he knocked on the opened wooden door and said with a smile,

"Mom, I'm going out of Riverdale City for a while, and it will take a few days for me to return."

Eve stopped reading as she heard his words, looked at him for three long seconds, and soon nodded.

"Don't go near any ruin-type areas." She warned him. After that, she waved her hand and turned her gaze towards the book.

In the meantime, Charles nodded his head, turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the wooden door.

He then walked out of his two-storied house, stepped on the mud road, and soon went to the main street. He didn't stop anywhere and soon reached the Riverdale City entrance gate. Due to the presence of his Withering Shadow membership batch, the security guards didn't even ask him a question and let him walk out of Riverdale City.

Charles didn't conceal his presence and went into the nearby dense mangrove woods. Once he entered the deep woods, he cast [Conceal] skill on himself and soon disappeared from there.

...

One human shadow walked out of the dense wood a few minutes later and soon looked around in confusion.

"He disappeared?" A cold male voice came out from the shadow's mouth as he touched his silver ring to send out a warning signal to his boss. A second later, the human removed his black hood and stared at the place where Charles stood before in puzzlement. He had deep blue hair, a lean body, and looked around 187 cm tall. He wore a black mask with an eye symbol engraved on the forehead and looked more like a skilled assassin.

Before he could utter another word, his silver ring began to shine brightly and soon formed into a small illusionary figure of a slim young woman in a blue peplum dress.

She was seated on a sofa and stared at the masked human in confusion. She had long silvery hair, a pear-shaped body, a pale face, oceanic eyes, and a hawk nose. If Charles had been here now, he would have identified her instantly.

She was none other than Bella Collins, who forced him to sign a contract and blacklisted him from Riverdale City's Amber Bank!

"What happened, Lucas?" Bella asked in a deep tone.

"He disappeared, My Lady." The masked human named Lucas said in a confused tone.

"How did he escape from an expert assassin like you?" Bella asked him in surprise.

Silence descended as she finished her words. Noticing Lucas's silence, she waved her hand and muttered.

"It looks like he is not a normal Mystic. Back off from your current mission." She paused for a moment and then added after a short deliberation,

"Protect his mother. The Nightwind family Ancestor owes our Collins family a big favor. So, I'm planning on helping him this time. Moreover, I also unknowingly placed a curse on him and made his life harder." (Note: Eddie Nightwind and Myers Collins are friends. The favor she is talking about is what Eddie did in the past.)

In the meantime, Lucas squinted his black eyes and soon asked in puzzlement.

"My Lady, I thought you just used a blacklist contract to restrict his movement? When did you put a curse on him?"

A wry smile appeared on her face as she shook her head and said solemnly.

"I didn't. But someone from the headquarters with higher authority did. That someone used that contract as an offensive mark and put an 'Amber's Curse' on him."

"Amber's Curse?!" Lucas went wide eyes as he heard her words and soon blurted out in surprise.

"Why did they go that far?"

"I don't know. But Charles didn't seem to have realized that someone put an 'Amber's Curse' on him. Well, his mother is the one doing all the financial works, so it didn't affect him in any way yet." Bella said with a sigh.

"But he will find out soon." Lucas paused for a second and then asked.

"Did the higher-ups know about his background?"

"How would they not know about his background?" Bella pinched her chin and then shook her head.

"He is bound to be on odd terms with the Amber Church from now on. Well, there is no point in talking about this matter now. I can now use the favor as an excuse and help him through various means. As for how he is going to survive without money in the future, it's all lies in the upper-echo men's hands." After saying those words, Bella waved her hand and cut off her long-distance virtual magic call.

In the meantime, Lucas shook his head, pulled his black hood over his head, turned around, and soon disappeared into the woods.

...

In the meantime, Charles made a few turns in the woods and soon moved towards Wind Villa's direction.

After two hours of walking, he soon reached the Wind Villa mansion's entrance and walked in. Unlike the Dreamworld's Wind Villa, this one looked gorgeous, with many ornamental plants and trees planted in the outer yard and appeared well maintained. As soon as he went near the compound gate, a muscular man, around 40 years old, walked from the nearby garden and soon smiled at him. He had long black hair, a round face, and brown eyes and wore a regular brown linen shirt and pants.

"Charles? What a surprise!" The muscular man's smile widened as he recognized him, opened the metal gate with a click, and then invited him in.

Charles also identified the man from Charles's memories and walked in.

The black-haired man's name was Rey. He and his family members were the ones who were currently farming the 23-hectare land and maintaining the Wind Villa under Eve's order. After Eve brought the 23-hectare land, she gave the Wind Villa and the land to Rey's family in the name of lease and earned most of their money from the lease rent. If not for this rent money and her divination job earning, Charles wouldn't have finished his higher studies in the Archaeological department.

Shaking those useless thoughts away, he chatted with Rey for a while, walked into the yard, and soon appeared in front of the building entrance. He didn't enter the building, though. Instead, he got the guest house key from Rey and then went towards the building's right side.

After a minute of walking, he soon arrived in front of a small single-storied brick house and unlocked the wooden door using an iron key. After that, he turned the doorknob, pushed the door open, and walked in. Unlike the main building, Eve didn't give this guest house to Rey's family as a lease and let it be for their personal use.

Charles locked it from inside once he entered the guest house and glanced at the interior building. Unlike the house in Riverdale city and the outside three-storied mansion-like building, this one looked very simple. There was a kitchen room on the right, a reception room, and a bedroom and bedroom on the left.

Charles walked on the concrete floor and soon entered the bedroom. After that, he put his iron suitcase on the wooden bed and opened it. Inside were skin coloring potions, a voice-changing gem artifact, wigs of men and women, woman's breast pads, beards, and even some sharp blades for shaving hairs.

Charles first removed his formal dress, put them in the wardrobe, and took out a tan-colored skin coloring potion. He then opened the bottle tap and gulped it down. A few seconds later, his olive skin started turning darker and soon turned into a tan-colored one!

'I have three more Tan skin potions, and each bottle can be effective for 12 hours.'

Nodding his head, Charles took out a thin blade from the suitcase and started shaving his face like a young woman's face. If he were a little older, he would have faced some difficulty. But due to his child-like oval face, he didn't face any difficulty at all!

He skillfully removed the small hairs using a sharp knife and then washed his face using the bathroom tap water. After that, he put a long black-haired wig on his head and adjusted it to his head.

Once he finished the process, Charles wore a black bra, put the breast pads inside, and made it look like a real woman's breasts. After that, he wore tight black pants and a full-sleeved black shirt and then stared at his reflection in the mirror.

"Damn, there is some similarity in between Marie Holmes and me!" He muttered aloud as he pressed his chest area to feel the softness and nodded. After that, he took a blue crystal from his void pouch, put it in his mouth before swallowing it, and started adjusting his voice tune. He spoke while tuning it to his original one and soon tuned it to Marie Holmes's voice. After that, he cleared his throat and muttered in a pleasant young female voice.

"Should I call myself as Marie Holmes from now on? Or, should I use another identity?"

He furrowed his brows and soon fell into deep thoughts.

'Directly using Marie's name will attract too much attention and future problems. The Mystics will search for Marie's background and soon find out that Marie was the daughter of Eddie Nightwind. Although Eddie gave me the 'Mark of Imagination,' I don't want to put my life on someone's strange skill. When the mystics find out that I also disappeared when Marie shows up, they will connect the dots and discover my real identity...

That's not a good thing. During this undercover mission, I plan to get close to Jimmy Holmes and see if I can get some information about the Holem's crown. My option is to use another name as a cover and get close to Jimmy. After that, I will directly ask him about the Holem's Crown and check if A-035 would respond to my call...

Although the Series-A artifact has the power to check if the other party is a Nightwind member or not, it doesn't have the power to check the Nightwind family member's real identity. That is more than enough for me. Once it reveals its presence, I will then use Marie's identity to threaten it and trick it into signing Eddie's special contract paper.'

After thinking for a minute, Charles let out a heavy sigh and muttered.

'It's been so long since I disguised myself to do an undercover mission. I should use my former title, 'Colorless Ghost.' Let's go by the name 'Edith Oliver.' Edith's main class is a Rank 2 [Assassin], and she is more skilled in stealing. She was born in Twin Towers City and came here to do an assassination job. Her target is Addie Baker, and her job is to probe the target's strength and kill him swiftly. As for his employer...' He paused for a moment and soon curled his lips upward.

'Her employer is Anderson Black.'

After making the fake identity's goal, he took out red lipstick and started getting ready to do his first job.

Once he changed his outer appearance, he put the makeup kit in the black suitcase, closed it with a click as he stored it into his void pouch, and then waited for the sun to go down.

...