Getting Ready

Alex left the underground space and got back to the trade center. Unlike the streets which were mostly empty at this time, the center was still full of life. Right away, he made a beeline for the first floor, where along the awakener-focused stores, were also shops that sold ordinary goods, like clothes or food.

He quickly bought a set of new clothes and found a fast-food restaurant. He made an order and went to the bathroom, where he quickly changed into a new set of clothes. He made sure to wear a simple medical mask as if he had caught the flu.

"I can not afford to be as careless as before."

He was about to leave but stopped himself from opening the door, and instead, used this opportunity to quickly learn [Precognition]. Right away the skill went off as if he had a Geiger counter in his head. The sudden feedback almost overwhelmed him, but several moments later, he got used to it.

"Just as I expected, someone is following me."

The bathroom was a simple room instead of having several stalls, so it was just a matter of minutes before someone would knock on the door. The relative isolation here would not be enough for someone to attack him right away, so he decided to learn the rest of the skills now. Thankfully, the process was pretty fast.

The [Precognition], however, didn't stop sending a warning.

He walked outside and found a seat for himself. Looking around the crowd in the seating area, no one looked suspicious enough, or even paid attention to him. Several minutes later, the feeling subsided, so he decided to move out.

Just as he left the restaurant and entered the crowd, the feeling came back.

That person was still following him.

"The safest place for me now is probably the trade center. If I leave now, I can't guarantee not being attacked. But I can't stay here forever."

Alex kept walking from store to store, seemingly window shopping. The feeling was getting weaker whenever he was within a store and stronger when he was walking in the crowd, meaning that the person following him was doing a great job blending in.

Roughly thirty minutes later the feeling went away completely. Alex continued to walk around for a bit, but it seemed that he had lost his tail.

"It's time for me to return."

He still needed to rest for a bit, because tomorrow morning, he was going to make one of his biggest jumps yet - from the 1-Star dungeon to the 2-Star one.

***

Alex woke up with a phone call. The person supposed to pick him up was going to arrive within twenty minutes. Alex took a rinse in the shower and ordered a light breakfast that arrived surprisingly fast.

Alex devoured the food and began to make his last preparations. He took out clothes he bought yesterday and made sure that they concealed as much as possible while remaining convenient to move in. The [Booming Boots] looked simple enough, so they could pass as normal leather boots. The earring he got wasn't too conspicuous as long as he had a hood on his head, and the ring looked like a simple bronze band, however, the [Scale Cloak] looked like something out of a fantasy videogame. It was clear to an untrained observer, that this was likely a piece of magical equipment since nobody in their sane mind would strut around in it.

So Alex did the next best thing. He wrapped the cloak around his left arm under the clothes. Thankfully it was thin enough and resulted in a kind of a makeshift hidden shield.

 He used the remaining time to familiarize himself with his newly acquired skills and left the suite.

Alex quickly identified the car that was there to pick him up. It was a rather expensive Horch, definitely at least a business-class model.

"Good morning, Mr. Anderson, please get in, Mr. Holt is already waiting at the helipad."

Alex nodded and got inside the car. He was a little bit nervous, but his [Precognition] did not really send any impulse, so for now he was safe. The driver kept quiet, so for the rest of the ride, Alex was left with his own thoughts.

Soon enough, the car stopped. Alex got out and realized that he was already at the helipad at the edge of the city.

Holt was talking to some guy but turned to Alex right away as if he had a pair of eyes on the back of his head.

"Mr. Anderson, good to see you. The rest of the team is already at the location, so we'll be leaving in a minute."

Holt turned to the man he was talking to.

"Jan, I believe you will be able to handle the rest yourself."

"No problem, Mr. Holt. You'll see my report his evening."

The man left.

"Alright, Mr. Anderson it is time to go."

The two boarded the helicopter that was already spinning up its blades.

"Let's go, Lukas, let's not keep our boss waiting"

The pilot simply nodded and the helicopter began to gain height.

"Did you study the contract I left to you, Mr. Anderson?"

"I looked through it."

"Good, but let us go through the basic terms just to be sure." Holt pulled up another copy of the contract. "Since you owe our company a decent sum, you'll be only entitled to half of your gains from inside the dungeon. Of course, this clause does not extend to the base pay of one thousand dollars you'll receive as compensation for participation in this operation. All the skill shards and the equipment dropped will be considered the property of the company, while your share will constitute of vitality or magic crystals, according to your contribution. It is possible to receive your share in monetary form, corresponding to the value of your share dictated by the current market price. You will be provided with three vials of energy-recovering solutions since you are a magic-type awakened, as well as a firearm, which will be leased to you for the duration of this operation. You will be able to pick up the equipment at the site from our support team. In case of satisfactory performance, you will be offered an employment contract and your debt will be wiped clean. The details of the contract are to be determined at a later date."

Holt continued to list out points of the contract for several minutes straight. Alex was already feeling the incoming headache when Holt finally got to the last point.

"And lastly, you will have to sign the survival responsibility waiver."

"The survival responsibility waiver?"

"Yes, as a newly awakened, your survival in a 2-Star dungeon can not be guaranteed."

Of course. And if the company was using this as a way to get rid of people they didn't like, who could press them if the dead signed their lives away anyway?

However, throughout all this time, the [Precognition] did not send out even a tiny beep, so maybe, this offer was genuine.

"Alright, let's get this over with."

Alex quickly signed the contract. He didn't really have much options anyway.

"Good. We will arrive at our destination shortly. Take this time to prepare mentally, this operation won't be easy."

Alex looked at the mountain he could see moving slowly out the window.

"Indeed."

***

Several minutes later, they approached their destination. The helicopter made a circle and finally landed roughly a hundred meters from the dungeon entrance. 

"Here we are, Mr. Anderson. The operation will commence soon, you may take this time to get the equipment and introduce yourself to others."

Holt disembarked the helicopter and made his way towards a tall, well-built man. The man took a glance at Alex when Holt finally approached him. His gaze had a piercing quality to it, making Alex feel slightly uncomfortable.

"You're the last one, huh."

A voice sounded from behind. Alex turned around to see a huge man, seemingly in his thirties, standing behind him.

"Yeah, that would be me."

"Then why are you wasting time? We are waiting for you." A slight hint of hostility and annoyance surfaced in the man's tone. "You can get your equipment there."

The man pointed at the crates covered by a tent nearby and walked off. Alex shrugged and got down to business.

There was no one to give Alex any explanation, but it was not like he'd need one. The crates were mostly empty, aside from a small box with three vials of clear liquid and a semi-automatic battle rifle with several magazines already prepared. The sticker on the box said "Energy-Recovering Solution", so there was no issue with that.

The rifle was a different matter since Alex never shot a gun before. Fortunately, he was versed enough to be able to load it without shooting himself. The caliber of the rifle was 7.62x51, which wasn't a small round, but with his maxed 1-Star vitality, the recoil shouldn't be an issue.

It was time to finally clear a 2-Star dungeon.