Chapter 10 : Lurking Danger

Although the battle looked easy, it was anything but that. One shouldn't forget that the opponents were stronger than Lucas in all physical areas. The only reason he came out on top was due to a few factors like the system's aid. But the ones that stood out were his battle experience, the fact that he was underestimated and the element of surprise.

The criminals underestimated Lucas and treated him like a simple human since they couldn't get a whiff of stellar energy on him. At the same time, they didn't know the qualities of the gloves and took it as something ordinary since they similarly couldn't sense any bit of stellar energy from it. They never would have expected that it could not only absorb shock but was penetration proof. They also would have never guessed that their opponent wasn't a simple human but someone with over five hundred years experience with a majority of that spent facing super-powered freaks and mages.

After defeating the trio, then came the issue of clearing the scene.

Lucas was having trouble deciding what to do now. If this were his home world, he would have killed them right away but it wasn't. Back on Earth, Rhodia had security cameras on almost every street in every city so committing crimes was quite risky. For a technologically advanced world and an interstellar civilisation like this, the security measures would be even more impressive. Lucas wouldn't even be surprised if there was a satellite up in the sky watching his every movement at the moment. As such, committing murder was risky.

Although he could argue that it was done in self-defence, Lucas' act of taking down the enemy was already enough and proved to show that there was no need to be extreme as he had already overpowered them. That added with the treatment humans received, Lucas doubted he could escape jail if he was caught.

At times like this, it was best to stay low and not go overboard, so murder was off the topic. 

In the end, Lucas decided not to think too much about things. He simply searched the men and seized any valuables, specifically in the form of wallet cards and communicators. He wasn't lying when he said he would have the group fund his lifestyle for the meantime.

While this was an advanced world, the technology of credit and debit cards were still usable means. Although one could link their accounts with their communicators, for various reasons and fears, some would special cards called Wallet cards. These were special cards that functioned like a credit card and a debit card at the same time. Unlike the cards on Earth, they weren't just a plastic or metal plate but made from a special alloy encoded with a high level security protocol. The more expensive ones were such that transactions couldn't be carried out on them without a biometric confirmation to prevent theft. Of course, these trio couldn't afford such cards.

Once he was done collecting his spoils, Lucas dragged the bodies of the men and kept them out of sight before leaving the alleyway.

. . .

The Vinis pawnshop had two floors from the outside. The first floor was where they received clients and made their deals. There were also a couple of rooms dedicated to functioning as offices here for meeting high profile clients. The second floor was more different as it was a mix of both the office area meant for the store's executives as well as showroom that took up to a third of the entire floor. Here, the store displayed some of their items put up for sale.

However, there was a third floor, the basement. Unlike the other two, it was inaccessible to the public and even majority of the company's staff couldn't get here. While the second floor had a showroom, the basement was their storage room. But it also served an extra purpose, one that was related to the company's dark secrets.

"Any news?" A cold voice suddenly spoke up in a dark hall underneath the prosperous pawnshop.

A shadow appeared in the hall and bowed towards a certain direction in the hall. "None yet, sir."

"I need results." The voice sounded once again, this time more coldly than before.

At that moment, the silhouette hesitated a bit but eventually spoke up.

"...we noticed that he was being trailed by Ramirez' people. But he managed to take them down alone."

"Ramirez is on to him? Wait, he took them down alone? How is that possible?"

"We don't know. There was no sign of stellar energy or any mystical energy of sorts. He simply did it with brute strength and a blacksmith glove that seemed special. It was able to remain undamaged even after taking a direct hit from a vestige, albeit a low grade one." replied the silhouette.

"Despite being a force worth contemplating about, Ramirez' people are much too weak. Nonetheless, keep an eye out on him and don't underestimate him. It seems that apart from the Purple Iridium, this fella has a few more secrets of his own. Don't lose them." The voice said before going quiet.

The silhouette bowed and left the room.

Unknown to Lucas, his action of pawning just a single ingot of Purple Iridium had already alerted the higher-ups of the store.

Purple Iridium was a rare with great value one of which was forging vestiges. Just from the fact that its base price was 10,000 federal coins per ingot was enough to show how valuable it was. There was also the fact that Purple Iridium wasn't mined in Eretre. Even in the entire Kellan solar system, there was no Purple Iridium deposit so it was much more valuable.

When the system told Lucas the value of Purple Iridium to be between 10,000 to 12,000 federal coins, this was actually the value when considering the entire Niera galaxy, as such it was heavily underpriced. In a place like the Kellan solar system that had no deposits or mines for Purple Iridium, the value per ingot was higher, reaching up to 14,000 at the base price and this was if the owner was in a hurry to sell it. Otherwise if one were to purchase it from outside the solar system, including custom duties and transport fee, it would cost 16,000 per ingot.

This 'cheap' price of 10,000 was why the clerk had readily agreed to Lucas' offer. At the same time, he had reported it to his boss. There was no way someone who could afford Purple Iridium would be in the West Wing and decide to pawn it. The only explanation was that he had stumbled upon it somewhere.

The upper figures in Vinis pawnshop guessed that there was a possibility Lucas had a stash somewhere. As long as they captured him, they could find the information, but they didn't plan on doing that. Instead, they wanted to make Lucas lead them to this 'stash' instead. This was a safer option because capturing Lucas did not mean success. If the latter decided to commit suicide or refused to talk even with the threat of death, their golden egg would be gone. They saw that as a killing the goose for its eggs which was a dumb move. It would be better to monitor Lucas and find out where he stays then ransack the location and any other suspicion area he frequents.

While all this took place, Lucas used the money he got from the trio and rented a room in a somewhat fancy hotel, and spent the night sleeping. Even though his soul was much stronger than in the past and this improved his senses, the tracker sent by Vinis pawnshop was a professional and wasn't at the level of Body Strengthening, so it was impossible for Lucas to know he was being trailed. In fact, after Lucas defeated the trio, the man tasked with monitoring Lucas had changed the tracker to a stronger fellow.

The next day, Lucas awoke and freshened up. After scrolling through the KSSI (the solar system web) and learning more about his new world, especially so about the value of money and housing, he checked the time and departed for the Klein's pub where he met the man with glasses and a friend of his who also happened to be the owner of the building Lucas was interested in.

The building looked a bit run down but that in terms of this world's development. Although it had a few faults internally, its outward appearance was still above average compared to some of the buildings in his last life on Earth. For instance, the two storey-building had a helipad parking space on its roof that could fit ten SUV-sized hover-cars, a backyard with a not-so-small shed, as well a balcony on the second floor. The structure of the building wasn't cement nor wood, but a special soft metal alloy that felt like bamboo to the touch but was a lot tougher than cement with a suitable heat conductivity and retaining factor, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Apparently, this used to be a family-owned restaurant, but its isolated location and the low profitability margin made the owner, who was in debt, want to sell it and relocate elsewhere with the money. In summary, it was a rush sale.

The starting price was 3200 federal coins but Lucas managed to get it for less -2800 federal coins- after some bargaining. The location of the store was bad after all and the interior needed a lot of fixing. 2800 was the equivalent of seven months pay so it wasn't a bad price. Once a price was agreed, they began the deal process.

Unlike on Earth where purchasing a building was a big deal, Eretre had a much faster yet secure system for this. Communicators were everything and made everything 10 times easier. They simply connected to the city-state government's office online, filled the necessary forms, made the appropriate payments and signed on them with their biometrics and accounts. After a few minutes of waiting, the deal was confirmed by the city-state government and the documents were sent to Lucas while he got debited the required amount. In the other side, they got the money and the name on the ownership document in the government's database was changed to Lucas Yohan Saunters.

When Lucas bought his communicator, he had registered an ID with the city government as well as opened a bank account and an account on the KSSI. On his ID, his first name was Lucas and surname Saunters, same as his life on Earth. Yohan was his middle name here and also the name he used in his original life.

An interface visible to only him appeared in front of Lucas at the same time the deal was concluded.