Crisis

A handsome green haired elven man among them furrowed his brows.

"Shane, What's bothering you? Want to say something?" The boss asked the elf in an indifferent voice.

Shane questioned, "I think Richie Rolnslin know about us and he was intentionally misleading us and using our hands to kill him or throwing him as our bait?"

The other members didn't look surprised, they quietly waited for the response from their boss.

The Boss smirked and said, "It's not surprising that he told him about us. We were after the package for sometime so if he didn't know anything that would be the surprising matter."

The girl with the lolly pop licked her lips, "I wonder, what is inside that package? Would it be some precious treasure? Boss you should know that other than us someone else is also tracking the package, right?"

Next moment the bald man Lucas saw on the bar growled and said, "Shut up Mary, did you forget our rules? Our mission is only delivering the package, nothing more. Haven't you heard the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat'."

Trying to cool down the situation another member of the group tried to change the topic, "Boss, what if Shane said is right? What if it is all a bait?"

The Boss didn't have any change in expression, he calmly replied, "I know where you're going, but I am sure that it is not a bait."

He laughed and with a calm and serene voice he spoke, "If you want to know why, it's quite simple. They don't have the capability. I have researched the manager, he is a cunning and a clever man, but he is still a coward. He won't use too many of his men for the job."

The Boss slowly stood up as he continued, "That coward, he is someone who doesn't like taking risks. I have checked and he only allocated a few of his men for this trip and they consists of one elite and others are mediocre, they don't have the capability to trap us."

"As for the airboat's powerful staff members, I will take care of them and will inform you if any problem crops up."

The Boss raised his head and looked outside through the glass window, his eyes were filled with sadness, grief and resolution, "This mission have struck heavy damage to our group, many of our brothers died. But with great risk comes great rewards."

"If we successfully completed this mission we can recoup our losses and you all will have the opportunity to raise yourself to Higher Three Realms."

All the surrounding member's pair of eyes lit up with a glow filled with eager anticipation.

The Boss raised his hand and slowly stroked his scar on his head, "So put your maximum effort in this, check everyone from list. It's better to kill thousands than to let one escape."

"If we fail this mission we will….. we will be the lowest of the dregs, our reputation will be destroyed and... may be our lives will be lost too."

Boss gave a long sigh and said with a direct but cold and emotionless voice, "Be fast, Be direct, Be quiet."

***********

Lucas walked humming a tune and with his hands in his pocket. As he wandered around, he started consider his next plans. For him this new world was fascinating and intriguing, he wanted to explore the world and enjoy the beautiful landscapes.

In his previous life when people of his age was enjoying their college life with their friends, he was struggling, he was running. Now since he got a second chance, he should live a fulfilling life.

As he slowly tread upon the black marble floor in the partially filled lounge he slowly rubbed his space ring. He was thinking about the Runic box, the runic box he snatched from Antonio and Hawk.

Should I open it? Is it safe to open?

Many questions whirled in his mind causing him a hesitance in opening the runic box. He risked his life on the line for the runic box, no should say the Realm Crystal, but now this hesitance that originates from deep in his mind gives him a weird feeling, Lucas couldn't identify where it was coming from nor why. Finally he decided to to think it over after arriving at Skyline city, let's take one step at a time.

Lucas when came to his senses found that he had unknowingly walked to the direction of his room. After letting out a sigh he decided to get some sleep.

As he walked towards his room, he felt a weird feeling of being watched. Lucas casually gave a cursory glance to his surroundings but was unable to find anything suspicious.

Dismissing his suspicions Lucas continued to proceed in the path towards his room slowly. Soon he reached a corridor, as he walked he noticed a man walking opposite to him.

The man was dressed in a casual and elegant suit, with a slender build and gold framed spectacles he gave out an intelligent vibe. The moment Lucas saw this man his eye pupils constricted, he immediately heightened his senses.

Because Lucas recognized him. The bespectacled man was one of the men who was watching over the skinny and bald man in the bar room. Lucas didn't know whether they were the same group or another group tailing them. He don't know whether he was like him who was a stranger just simply listening to them due to chance.

For a moment Lucas was curious, What are they doing here? What are they after? Who are they? From which organization.

The bespectacled man casually glanced at Lucas, his eyes didn't meet Lucas but met someone behind him. The next moment Lucas's pupil shook, if Lucas wasn't observing him, if Lucas didn't have heightened his senses, if Lucas didn't have system and superb analytical abilities he would have missed it. The disdain deep in his eyes and the man behind him.

His body tensed unknowingly, his energy condensed. Lucas was now like a drawn bow, ready to release the explosive force.

Because he noticed a sound behind him.

A sound of footsteps.

Tap tap tap

Lucas quickly detected the man behind him, away from him about three steps, someone was walking behind him. Lucas's sensitive ears easily caught the man's footsteps, information and knowledge surged inside his mind.

Quickly in his mind information from the few pages he read from [Compendium of the Art of Supreme Body] flashed. When he first found the half dozen of pages, he felt it was useless, but still he scanned and analyzed these information using system. Lucas never thought that the knowledge form [Compendium of the Art of Supreme Body] would be useful nor would it be useful so soon. The knowledge derived from those pages was imprinted in Lucas's mind in deep by System and now it almost became an instinct for Lucas.

As soon as warning signals started to go off in his mind, it automatically worked as a innate talent of Lucas.

Just from the sound of the footsteps he could figure out the man's approximate height, weight, whether he practised martial arts or not, whether he is agitated or anxious, information filled his mind. The man behind him has a stride which is steady, strong and with a rhythm, undoubtedly he is a man practising in martial arts and he definitely have his own accomplishments in his field.

Is it a coincidence? Is the man walking behind him is with the same group as him?

Lucas didn't have mood or time to think of their reasons for making a move against him.

Is it something related to my name?Arsln?

All of this happened in split seconds, Lucas without any change in his facial expression casually walked, his stride even and pace unchanging. Although Lucas pretended to be calm, he was actually becoming increasingly reluctant to move forward. He was drawing closer and closer to each other…

30 steps…

20 steps…

Lucas was feeling nervous, he first thought to attack first. Doing so will make the initiative in his hands and will give a sure surprise for them. He can easily take care of one of them and escape, he was sure that they will not blatantly attack him after he escaped and move to an area with other people. But the distance between them was large and he didn't have a clue regarding the person behind him. The chance of success was low considering that he was not well versed in close combat.

And Lucas still had a tiny hope that this was not a trap, that all of this was a coincidence. Even though Lucas's intuition was saying otherwise Lucas still hoped.

Lucas gave a long sigh inwardly, I really need to train in some close combat techniques, the world is dangerous too dangerous.