"I hired these two idiots to monitor him and I was told that he had a bookshop and his name was Felix.. yes, his name was Felix Argus" The middle-aged aged man replied.
'So they knew about me, the question is how much do they know?' Felix asked himself in deep thought.
"What else do you know about this Felix?" Felix asked as he tried to seem unbothered by this revelation.
"Actually that is all these fools told me, I hired them because they were weak so they wouldn't raise much suspicion" The middle-aged man replied.
"How is he related to the light race?" Felix asked with a calm expression.
"I don't know how, his past is somehow fuzzy so we know very little about him" The middle-aged man replied as he tried to remember something.
'Whew, that's good' Felix thought with a relieved expression.
"So where is he now?" Felix asked with a curious look.
"Well, he is unfortunately dead, his shop was found razed to the ground, all the things his father left for him was also there but fortunately these idiots managed to salvage something from the rubble, a weird crystal and an old book which wouldn't open no matter what, it was with my son and I was planning to present it to the Kreed to deliver it to my supervisors" The middle-aged man said sadly as he remembered his son.
'Hmm, so those things were actually in the shop when I burnt it down, why aren't they in my memories, never mind that maybe I can find out about my past through it, my trip here was really fruitful and at the right time" Felix thought happily.
"I will spare your life as I promised if you answer this question, who do you think is behind all this?" Felix asked with a grin as he stood up.
"Thank you, I think the Ale... Al...hellpp meee" The middle-aged man said with joy but as he tried to call the name, he suddenly started choking and immediately, Felix sensed a huge amount of energy gathering in him which caused his eyes to widen.
He immediately grabbed the two fools who were knocked out and the kreed before running out of the mansion, immediately he moved about 8 feet away from the mansion, he felt a huge energy spread out in all directions from the mansion and he was thrown backwards by the force.
When he stood up and glanced behind him, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets, he saw the whole mansion levelled to the ground and his legs went cold as he imagined what would have happened if he had delayed for a second.
He was about to move into the mansion to find out what had happened when he suddenly felt several powerful auras approaching so he abandoned all thoughts of searching for money and immediately ran away as he stored the bodies in his dimension space.
Some seconds after he had left, 5 figures appeared wearing armour as they stared at the mansion that was levelled to the ground with furrowed brows, one of them stared at the direction Felix had moved in before turning into a streak of light that moved in that direction.
Meanwhile Felix had already moved far away when he felt a powerful aura approaching him at an unusual speed so he immediately launched his speed to the peak and tried to throw him off but to no avail because instead, he could feel the aura approaching him and he was starting to sweat.
'Damn, why won't he just give up, why is he so adamant' Felix cursed in his heart as he thought after the person following him didn't seem to want to give up and his energy was being depleted.
"This is bad, I can't get caught now, I have to find a way to escape, maybe this can work, I don't have any choice, I have to risk it" Felix said to himself as he suddenly thought of a plan.
After running for some time, he paused and stuck his body to the wall then went into camoflague and immediately after, a figure appeared wearing armour as he paused and looked around with furrowed brows.
"The aura was just here some seconds ago so how can it just disappear, there is something strange about this" The figure said to himself as he looked around and when his eyes reached where Felix was hiding, it paused and he started approaching.
Meanwhile Felix was also staring at the approaching figure with slight fear as he held his breath, he could feel that he was definitely not his match because his aura was even stronger than the D+ rank Esper who had rescued him in the beast forest and it was only a little bit weaker than the city lord's.
As he watched the figure approaching him slowly, his heart jumped into his mouth and he was starting to think of whether to use his bloodline skill when the figure stopped only a few feet away from him and glanced in the opposite direction then turned into a streak of light that rushed in that direction.
It was only after he was sure that the figure had truly left that he let out a sign of relief, he had been this close to getting caught but he didn't waste anytime before rushing away.
After some minutes the figure returned to the mansion empty-handed and he headed towards the others who were discussing something.
"What happened?, did you lose him?" A second figure asked with surprise.
"Yes, I chased him for sometime but as I was about to catch him, the aura suddenly disappeared into thin air and I searched all around but didn't find anything, what about you?" The first figure replied before asking them.
"We found several bodies in the rubble, some were killed with a stab wound and others were killed by fire, the only D rank Esper was also killed, he must have been the source of the explosion because his body was all mashed up, all the E ranks sustained heavy injuries from the blast but they may have a slight chance of surviving" The second figure replied.
"This is the third one this week, do you think it's the same people who are doing this?" A third figure said in a worried tone.
"No and yes, no because I think it's only one person doing all these and yes because it's the same person because in the second case, they were all killed by a stab wound to their vital part and only one by a wind blade and in this case, most were killed by stab wounds to their vital parts and they others were killed by fire" The last figure who seemed to be the leader said and if Felix were here to hear this, he would be shocked silly by how accurate his deductions were.
"Do you think it's a kreed?" The first figure asked.
"No I think it's a dual-ability Esper at least at the D rank" The leader replied after thinking for sometime.
"A dual-ability Esper?" The second figure asked in shock because a dual-ability Esper was a very rare existence that only appeared once in a blue moon, the probability of finding a dual-ability Esper was 1 in 10,000.
"Yes a dual-ability Esper and if that's true then it's means that his full strength can match ours and the only clue we have is this card" The leader once again replied.
"Shadow, this is the second one, we have to report this to the city lord" The third figure said with alarm and fear as they all moved away.
At this moment Felix, the cause of all this confusion was already at an inn in the city, he decided to not return to the Connor's mansion and instead checked himself into an inn because he had a lot of things that needed to be done in secret.
The next morning, Felix woke up feeling sore all over his body but he still exercised for two hours before taking a bath and having breakfast.
He had already sorted out his plans the previous night, today he was going to the training facility to practice for the white jade seal tournament which was coming up in one month.
He walked through the streets which was bustling with people all over and as he walked, he noticed that the people stared at him weirdly but he didn't know why until he followed their gaze to his clothes which had been torn and destroyed in several places due to the battle the previous day so he had to make a detour to the clothing shop to buy some new clothes before moving to the training facility.
He stared at the sign which read "Scarlet Panther Training Facility", he could sense the intent contained within, and as he was observing it, he heard a voice behind him.
"This training facility is the oldest in the city, it was built by the great "Scarlet Panther", the most faster Esper who had ever lived in this continent, the intent contained within those letters are very profound" Felix turned around to see a silver haired youth with plain clothes around his age who gave off a sense of mysteriousness.
"Who are you?" Felix asked coldly as he glanced at the youth as if trying to pry open his cloak of mysteriousness.
"Hi, my name is James, nice to meet you" The youth replied with a smile that looked pleasing to the eye.
"Hmm, nice to meet you" Felix said indifferently as he walked into the facility totally ignoring the youth, he didn't have time to waste in making friends, he had seen how weak he was from yesterday and he hated the felling of being weak so he was determined to get stronger.
He looked around and saw a tall muscular man exuding a vicious aura walking towards him.
"You here to train?, admission fee is 10 E rank beast cores, pay up" The tall muscular man said as he sized Felix up and down.
"What?, 10 E rank beast cores?" Felix asked in shock after hearing the prize.
"Hmmp, if it's too expensive for you then get out" The tall muscular man shouted as veins bulged on his body causing people to stare at them.
"Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" Felix said angrily as he stared at the tall muscular man with rage, just a E+ rank and he actually dared to speak to him like that, what audacity, he was thinking of teaching the man a lesson when a familiar calm voice sounded behind him.
"Calm down, how much is the VIP token?" The calm voice of James sounded behind him as he asked the tall muscular man.
"Hahaha, the VIP token is not for poor little fries like you, do you think this is the slums" The tall muscular man shouted in a loud voice so as to attract people's attention.
"Did you hear that?, that guy is actually asking about the VIP token, he must be sick" A E rank Esper said with mockery.
"Look at his ordinary clothes, does he think this place is somewhere he can talk nonsense, he must be stinking rich" Another F+ rank Esper said sarcastically.
"Watch how he is going to be taught a lesson, hahaha, this is going to be fun" Another E+ rank Esper said with happiness as he stared at the misfortune about to befall them.
"What did you say?, I didn't hear you well so can you say it again" James asked with a grin.
"Are you deaf?, I said.... " The tall muscular man was about to repeat his sentence when James stepped forward and he immediately fell to the ground with shock and fear.
"What just happened?, did I just see it right or are my eyes playing tricks on me?" The E+ rank Esper said with shock as he saw the scene unfold before his eyes, he just saw James step forward and the tall muscular man immediately fell to the ground, what was this.
As he was wondering what just happened, he suddenly felt a gaze on him so he looked up and saw James staring at him, he immediately felt that he had been stripped naked and place in front of a terrifying beast, he was so scared that he didn't know when a stream of warm liquid flowed down his legs.
"Ugh, did you just piss yourself, what a waste" A E rank Esper said with disgust after smelling the scent coming from the E+ rank Esper who just stood there petrified before running out of the training facility, if it was before he would have taught the E rank a lesson but now all he cared about was getting far away from here.
Meanwhile Felix was also standing there in fear, the others didn't know what happened but he did because he was standing right behind James.
He saw James take a step forward and suddenly he felt a huge wave of killing intent like a slumbering beast that had awoken coming from the seemingly simple youth in front of him but the funny part was that he had a smile on his face when it happened and the aura wasn't even directed at him so he could only wonder what the tall muscular man before him was experiencing.
"I will ask you again, how much is the VIP token?" James asked once again with a calm expression.
"It's jusst 50 E rannk beasst coress" The tall muscular man stammered in fear as he stared at the man in front of him with pure terror, how stupid he was to provoke someone this strong.
"Here's 100 E rank beast cores for the both of us, get us the tokens in 5 seconds" James said with a smile as he withdrew his aura as he threw a bag of beast cores towards the man.
"Okkaay" The tall muscular said with fear as he caught the bag but a surprising scene took place because as the man caught it, he was unexpectedly forced back 5 steps before he stabilized himself stared at James in shock and ran to get the VIP tokens which he handed to James who received it with a smile.
"Here, this one is yours" James said with a innocent smile as he handed a VIP token to the Felix.
'So he is a D rank Esper but his aura is is more stronger than Damien's, who is he?' Felix thought in his mind.
"Hello, anybody home" James said as he waved his hands in front of Felix's eyes which made him snap out of his daze.
"Thanks, what did you say your name was again?" Felix asked as he received the VIP token.
"James, and you?" James answered with a grin as if he expected this question.
"Felix, thank for the token" Felix answered with a similar smile, he was too surprised to notice that this youth had just taken out 100 E rank beast cores like it was nothing.
"My pleasure, I won't waste much of your time, I can see that you are anxious to practice for the white jade seal tournament, I know that our paths will surely cross again sooner or later" James answered with a mysterious smile as he left.
"Whew, so powerful yet so young, system what do you think about him?" Felix let out a sign of relief as he asked the system.
"System?, are you there" Felix asked when he received no response from the system.
"What the hell is wrong with the system?, never mind that, I need to practice" Felix said before walking towards the stairs leading to the second floor leaving the stunned crowd of onlookers behind.
When he arrived at the second floor, he looked around and was stunned by what he saw, there were several doors around him and everything on the second floor seemed to be made of special materials and the mana here was also thicker than that of the first floor.
He observed the second floor before walking to one of the rooms which had a sign that read "Accuracy Challenge" and when he entered, he found himself in a huge room which looked bigger than it did from outside, in front of him was a huge ranking board which had several names and the first read "Scarlet Panther".
"Hmm isn't that the name of the founder of the training facility, Rank B: Level 10: score: 100,500" Felix said as he remembered what James had told him while the read the information beside the name.
"Well let me see what score I can get" Felix said as he walked towards an array.
"Input name:.." A voice said from the array as he entered it.
"Hmm, how about Shadow Walker" Felix thought for some time then choose the name, he wouldn't be foolish enough to input his own name.
On the ranking board, the name Shadow Walker appeared then he was suddenly transported him into a huge plain which looked like it had no end.
"Rank F: Level 1, hit the bullseye for 100 points and any other part of the target hit will reduce by 20, score above 99 points to pass the challange" Felix heard a voice sound in his ear.
"Do you wish to select a weapon?" The voice asked in his head.
"No" Felix answered as he took out his own lightening bow.
"You have 1 minute to pass the challenge, good luck" The voice sounded in his head as 5 targets appeared some meters away from him.
"Hmm this can't be that bad" Felix said as he nocked an arrow and aimed at the target.
He aimed at the first target for 30 seconds before releasing the arrow which turned into a bolt of lightening that flew forward and struck the bullseye causing the target to disappear.
"So that's it, this is too easy , well I will just gain more points" Felix said as he nocked 4 arrows and aimed before releasing them, each of them struck the bullseye gaining 400 points more for him.
"You have passed the first level and gained 500 points, remaining time converted into 170 points, do you wish to advance to the next level or rest for some time?" The voice asked again in his mind.
"Advance to the next level" Felix answered calmly as 5 more targets appeared further away from him, the voice sounded and asked him the same questions which he answered with the same answers.
"Rank F: Level 2, hit the bullseye for 200 points and any other part of the target hit will reduce by 30, score above 200 points to pass the challange" Felix heard a voice sound in his ear.
"You have 1 minute to pass the challenge, good luck" The voice sounded again.
"Hmm, this doesn't seem too hard, I wonder how far I will go" Felix said to himself as he nocked 5 arrows and released them, each of them hitting the bullseye.
"You have passed the second level and gained 1000 points, remaining time converted into 370 points, do you wish to advance to the next level or rest for some time?" The voice asked in his mind.
"Advance to the next level, this is too easy" Felix answered with a smile as he moved to the next level.
Meanwhile outside the challenge, people had gathered together to watch when he entered the challenge.
"He actually moved to the third level, he used 35 seconds to move to the second level and 7 seconds to move to the third level, who is this Shadow Walker" An esper said with shock as he stared at the rankings.
"What! he has moved to the next level already, it has been just 10 seconds, this speed is too fast" Another esper said with shock.
"If he continues like this then he will most likely reach the 300's ..." Another esper was talking but before he finished the writing changed and he had already moved to the next level.
While he was causing an uproar, Felix was busy in the process of completing the 5 level.
"You have passed the fifth level and gained 5000 points, remaining time converted into 500 points" The voice said in his mind.
"Congratulations you have passed the F rank with a perfect score and gained a F rank reward" The voice sounded in his mind.
"Do you wish to claim the reward?" The voice asked in his mind.
"Yes" Felix answered as his sight became filled with a golden light.