Chapter 221 221:Secret Hideout
Inside a small apartment complex, a man with dark tired eyes stared at scattered pieces of chips and micro metal swirling like liquid around it.
"Hush!"
He rubbed his eyes and sighed.
"This barrier is just too hard to overcome, no matter how much I try, I can't seem to find a way to advance this orb sphere to 5-Star level armour protection."
Up to 4-Star, normal metals blended with ductile metals like harmonium, grey granite and others metals was enough to cut.
But to go beyond that, one needs to have metal that has enough molecular binding force that can resist the inner destruction caused by aura.
Repeated hitting with great strength wasn't enough to break low-level metals, but it becomes difficult when it comes to aura that is purely mystical energy.
The aura infused with mana seeps inside the metallic structure due to being a pure form of energy and distorts the atomic structure breaking down the bonds present at an atomic level.
The stronger the atomic bond of a metal is, the harder it becomes for the aura to destroy it. This was also the reason, they couldn't just mould metal into an orb and then restructure it into armour as required without the use of external energy.
"It seems this is it. Unless there is a technical advancement or finding a way to overcome this, our orb shields will forever be stuck at 4-Star."
James, who was lamenting about this project, came to a standstill and heard the doorbell.
"Haaa....Here comes the menace." James scowled with frustration.
"Jay, go and open the door."
Not many knew about this place, so except for 'him', hardly anyone appeared here.
DUM! DUM!DUM!
The loud sound of footsteps echoed and a boy ran swiftly leaving behind a gust, opened the door and jumped out.
Lucas, who was waiting after clicking the door, suddenly saw the door burst open swiftly and a figure jumped at him, crashing into his stomach.
'Ouch!'
Gritting his teeth to suppress the pain, he raised his hand to caress the hair of the boy.
"Big Brother, you are back. I have not seen you for months. I missed you."
Jay's voice was a bit hoarse and sniffy.
"I missed you too." Lucas's expression warmed a bit as he patted Jay's head softly.
'Now that I think about it, the last time I saw all of them was before going to church. I hadn't even visited Skies and hunted in the dungeon. So, it wouldn't be weird if they kicked me out already.'
'Haaaa...It seems I neglected things too much.'
"How are you, Jay? Did James trouble you?"
"Brother, don't talk about that grumpy old fool. I have rarely seen him smiling.''Jay then looked up and pondered something, giving a mischievous smile.
"Let me tell you a funny thing. Scotch has arranged a blind date for Uncle James with the identity of a scholarly poet working for a press. When Uncle James went on a date, that girl, seeing his deadly expression and his grumpy look, kicked him aside and ran away thinking that he was an old man looking for young girls."
"Jay, shut the hell up!"
James came out with an embarrassed expression and gave Jay a glare who hid behind Lucas.
Pfftt!
Lucas controlled his urge to laugh and then stared at James coldly.
"Is this what are you doing? I don't have the right to interfere with your personal matters but have you forgotten about Scotch's black deeds?"
When Lucas went to deal with Scotch, he caught a glimpse of Scotch chatting to several women at many different computers which he dismissed thinking that this was a part of the investigation.
Later he found that this guy had many vests. Using many different identities, he was fooling with several women ranging from young girls to rich heiresses.
Lucas still remembered that day when he found that many of them were nobles' unmarried girls and on top of that, this bastard was also chatting with their mothers.
That guy was just a different breed of playboy.
He was scared out of his wits seeing this and wanted to give that hooligan a sure beating by informing this to Aaron but stopped after Scotch begged him and explained that having contact with gossip-hungry women of upper society was the best way to know the rumours and news.
Instead of admitting his mistake, he boasted proudly that he sacrificed himself for intelligence.
Though this was true, it pricked Lucas' conscience however as it helped in expanding the intelligence networks, Lucas could only sigh, give this guy a thumbs up, and applaud him for being the greatest scumbag player in human history after Duke Kai.
Sighing heavily, Lucas walked inside.
"Stop being trash and do things like a man. You are setting a bad example for the kid."
"Kid...." James tilted his head with a vicious glare.
"You are saying this is a kid who is almost 15 years old? If this was fifty years ago, he would have already been a father of one or two children."James screamed at Jay who just shrank behind Lucas while striking out his tongue to tease James.
"Huh! Did I miss something? It seems you two have become more friendly." Lucas assesses but shrugs his shoulders.
"Whatever!"
"Jay, it seems you are good now. Soon, you need to start training otherwise you will be lagging." Lucas, not trying to spoil Jay, overly reprimanded him who just nodded his head brightly.
He didn't have any experience of being a brother. Moreover, Jay was going to be a good assessor. Though his expertise lies in mechanics he didn't want his golden bloodline potential to go to waste and become someone like James.
"Stop staring at me with those shrewd eyes!" James shouted, wrapping his arms around his body, feeling a bad premonition.
"James, you are also going to work out. Your face looks exactly like a person who had damaged his kidney by getting sucked dry."
"You...."
Before James could scream, Lucas, ignoring him, spoke indifferently,"Hey, give me your phone."
Walking in, Lucas forcefully snatched James' phone and called the greatest scumbag.
Lucas then stared at Jay and asked,"Jay, can you bring me a glass of water?"
"Okay..."
As Jay rushed to the kitchen, the call connected soon after.
"Oh! Lucas, it's you. I thought you had forgotten about us. After all, you seem to have become a hot commodity after your slight appearance in the tournament." Scotch's gleeful voice echoed from the other side.
"Hot commodity…?" Lucas' brows furrowed.
"What! You didn't know?!'' Scotch screamed and started to explain.
"Many girls are talking about you. Though I am sure most of them would shoo you away after knowing that you are a commoner still some may want to hire you as their bodyguards after you graduate. However, it is not that simple...Hehe."
Lucas' lips twitched for a moment.
"Get to the point."
"Okay! Listen here Lucas, after your performance you have been put on the target list by many families. I am not talking about being an enemy but rather the one whom they want to make use of. Your family background of being a commoner might make you an easy target. They might offer ample money to make you their dog and in the worst case, might hold your family hostage against you."
Lucas' expression turned grim as he heard Scotch's serious voice as things might get quite troublesome.
He knew that he might pull aggro towards his family so Scotch hacked into the National server to change his parent's profile.
He changed the name, photos and family address. On top of that, he raised this issue before Julian who upon accepting that his worries were well found, put an additional layer of security over it making the file restricted.
This two-layer safety was enough to prevent others from reaching his parents. Still, if one searches using all his resources, reaching his family is not impossible.
"Also, as you said. I tried to monitor your city. Sadly, I was not able to as the mana signal is off in your home city for some reason. It seems a mana transducer and receiver are broken but your parents were at home before the beginning of the tournament and no calamity had befallen your town." Scotch spoke seeing Lucas' worried gaze.
"It's good then." Lucas sighed in relief and took the glass of water offered by Jay who looked at him like a puppy wagging his tail and hungry for love.
Lucas smiled and patted his head.
"Scotch, the main reason I called is to find someone." Lucas then started to explain.
"Hmm! Do you have any details?"
"Not much. But I am sure he might be within these three locations. in the slum of the outer district Blair, Montear and Hemp. There should be an illegal jewellery shop or wine shop. The guy I am looking for mostly wears a hood, he has a ring with a devil's face in his left hand. That ring is a special one that can't be replicated."
"And this guy might be in the group."
CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!
As soon as Lucas' words fell, a clicking sound echoed one after another.
"Contrary to your bad luck, there are CCTV cameras near it. I can look for the person however I am not sure if the CCTV caught the sight of his fingers." Scotch muttered.
"Damn, how did people know I am that unlucky?"
"Did you forget about that card incident?" Scorch chuckled remembering how Lucas lost the coin flip gamble.
"This guy might be in a group wearing dark robes and hoods but this particular guy doesn't bother to cover his face, he looks quite good and exceptional." Lucas explained, trying to change the topic.
"A perfect candidate for being fresh meat."
Cough...Cough....
Scotch coughed on the other side for a moment.
"Lucas, why are you looking for this guy? Don't tell me you are taken by a rich..."
"Shut up and do your work, you-" Lucas stopped his curses, noticing Jay standing beside him.
It would be bad if a child heard it and learned curses, no?
Lucas kept being silent while the clicking sound echoed one after another.
"Found it. Oh my God, Lucas, are you sure this guy isn't noble? His looks are quite exceptional. And about the ring, it was really hard to spot it if not for this guy breaking out from the group to flirt with girls and aunties."
"Stop describing him and send me relevant information." Lucas snickered as to why the hell did he need to bother about a dead guy.
"Send me his location."Lucas then cut off the call.
"James, the things I asked for, are they ready?"
James nodded.
"Follow me."
"Can I go?" Jay asked cutely.
"Yeah!"
Lucas and Jay followed James down the basement.
"This thing can only be opened by your palm or mine." James informed Lucas and pressed his hands on the hand scanner on the wall.
CLICK!
The wall bifurcated and a vault appeared. James typed the code and soon the vault opened.
"How strong is this vault?" Jay who followed Lucas and James asked, while accessing the neatly stacked and arranged things curiously.
"Strong enough to handle an impact from a 6-Star." James answered grumpily, giving Jay a vicious glare.
"Wow! This place looks so cool. It's like a secret treasure vault from a spy movie." Jay spoke excitedly, turning his head around to ignore James' sharp glare.
"It is." Lucas smiled.
On the left side, there were the latest crafted guns made of D-rank metal with E-rank bullets.
The metal parts were crafted by Sir Bentley. Though he grumbled a lot for wasting precious metal on making bullets, but who cares?
As long as you pay the money, you will get your things done.
Each bullet was 1000R and had enough power to drill a hole in a 5-Star if they were careless.
The cartridge can accommodate 35 sharp bullets of 3.5mm and the gun has a shooting range of 350 meters.
However, for now they weren't for sale.
The left side was filled with flashbangs, grenades, minesweepers and bombs.
In the middle were round orbs which on click would form armours.
"If you are looking for masks, it's there."James pointed at the corner where there was an ice cooler.
Lucas opened it and saw a pair of face masks.
One was quite smooth and had patches of scar in it. There were also wigs and bears in it.
They were ordered by him before and were made according to his instructions. The maker was someone from the black market found by Reynolds.
"This is gonna be of great help."
Lucas, then looking around, finally spotted a dark box.
"Oh! It's here."
Without waiting for James' words, Lucas walked in and opened the box which contained amorphous powdery substances sealed in pouches along with smoke grenades that contained some of it in gas form.
"Finally…."
"Keke!"
"I can use this…"
Lucas' lips widened with a smile tearing out from his lips.
James and Jay who stared at Lucas's sinister expression from the side shivered in fright.
Jay nudged James to the sleeve a bit and whispered,"Uncle James, why do I feel big bro has changed a bit?"
"He looks more like a crazy person."
James stared at Jay's innocent expression and cursed,"He was a crazy bast…boy from the beginning. It was hidden inside him but now it seems he accepted his crazy side."
James' eyes almost became teary remembering the beginning days when this lunatic threatened him with a knife that he would take his kidney away and sell it if he couldn't achieve satisfactory results.
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