"Phyllis it is me! Claire. Open up… We need to talk now!" Cassandra said from behind the door. As Phyllis heard her, she seemed confused about why she was here? If she is here then does she knows that the agent had visited Cassandra? Then she remembered that Cassandra told her that the agent would give out different assignments for all three of them. She then thought that maybe Arvin also paid a visit to her too…

While Phyllis was thinking, Cassandra went and opened the door. Still wearing her silver armor, Claire came in as soon as Cassandra opened the door. Claire had expected that Cassandra would be here. She knew that Cassandra would straight away come running towards Phyllis as soon as the agent would come. So he figured that she would be here tonight…

​​

"So I think Cassandra would have told you about Arvin," Claire said.

"Yes. She had. I didn't think that guy Arvin would be involved in this situation." Phyllis said.

"So what assignment did he gave you?" Cassandra asked Claire.

"The assignment that he gave both me and Phyllis is a very tricky one. So we both have to be very careful." Claire said.

"Wait you both have the same assignment?" Cassandras asked.

"No. Arvin told me what both of our assignments are, he said that he was feeling a little bit tired that is why he would retire early. So he told mine and Phyllis's assignment and then vanished from the plain side." Claire said.

"What exactly did he tell you? Begin from the start and tell us everything." Phyllis said.

"Ok… He met me at my house. He brought dinner and wine and we chatted for about 15 mins or so… He told me that he stole something from Alman. Then a guy that works with the Merchant came and offered him asylum in exchange for his loyalty. And the guy that we met was not the real merchant…" Claire said.

"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked.

"According to Arvin, the merchant is supposed to be the guy on the highest level of hierarchy. So there are hardly any chances that he was the real merchant. Maybe the guy that we met was some a subordinate of Merchant." Claire said.

"Did he told you anything else about their organization?" Phyllis asked.

"Not much. From the way that he talked it seemed to me that he himself didn't know much about the organization. He told me that every guy that he met till now was wearing masks on their faces. And they were all secretive about their identities…" Claire said.

"How strong is Arvin?" Phyllis asked.

"Based on what I saw, he is very strong. He told me that he was trained on the second floor. And also he was an earthling, to begin with, so I think he is very strong for us to handle alone." Claire said.

"Hmm… Now let's come to the main point. What he had planned for us?" Phyllis asked.

"He told me that to officially enter the ranks of the organization of merchant he had to give a test. And if he passes the test with flying colors he would officially join their ranks. And his test is that he had to kill 4 people of this floor." Claire said.

"That should be easy with his powers right?" Cassandra said.

"No. He told me that he had to kill these people with the help of his brains. He can't use his powers to kill them or otherwise he would fail the exam. If these people realized that he was trying to kill him, he would fail. And if someone found out about his motives, then also he would fail." Claire said.

"He just told you these things? Arent these things suppose to be a secret?" Phyllis asked.

"He may be strong. But he is very dumb." Claire said.

"…" Phyllis and Cassandra looked at her…

"He is… Anyhow, the targets that he had to kill are a problem." Claire said.

"Merchant wanted to destroy Cullen and Cross family right? So he had to kill people from these families. That would be no problem for us if he is in our team." Cassandra said.

"No. His targets are neither Cullen nor the Cross family. They are just using them as a cover to hide their real targets. His targets are those three people from the Aurora tribe and Alman of Arcane city."

"Hmm, this task would be difficult…" Phyllis said as he listened to the names of the target…

"Oh yeah… That would make more sense as he told me to find out anything I can about those three…" Cassandra said…

"…" Phyllis and Claire just looked at Cassandra thinking why were they friends with such a dumb girl.

"So what is his plan and what are our assignments?" Phyllis asked.

"Your assignment is to get your hands on the mana stone bomb that is somewhere in the Cullen estate," Claire said.

"A mana stone bomb?" Phyllis asked again.

"Yes. Apparently, Han was the one that was going to get him that bomb. But as he is dead, he trusted Phyllis with that task to get the bomb. As for me, my assignment is to catch him."

"You have to catch him?" Phyllis asked

"Yes… I have to catch him… You see one week from now…." Claire then told Phyllis and Cassandra everything about her assignment.

….

Mana bomb is a necessary part of Arvin's grand plan. Arvin didn't know how devastating was this bomb or would it be useful against the trio or against Alman. All he did know that if things go sideways, that bomb could act as a good cover for him or it would help defeat already weakened Alman or those three goons…

Arvin had made a pit stop at Josh's old house three to four times. But every time he goes there, he gets dejected that there was nothing there. Arvin figured that him removing the runes from his battle gear may have triggered that Terumi woman to become suspicious. That is why they didn't send that mana bomb to Josh's old house.

That is why he gave the assignment of retrieving the bomb to Phyllis. She may be a bastard but she has contacts in the higher echelons of the family. She could probably retrieve the bomb. Arvin was 99% sure that the old man of the Cullen family must have made the bomb and send it to that woman Terumi. But she must have not sent that bomb to Josh's old house.

That old man of the Cullen family is an idiot to Arvin. And he didn't seem to have a little bit of suspicion when Arvin asked those things. him. He seemed to have complete trust in the old man Han. But that woman on the other hand didn't seem to have any trust in Han. He could see it in her eyes that she was very suspicious of his every move. That is why Arvin was sure that she was the one that was behind this too…

After Arvin giving out orders to Phyllis, Claire and Cassandra that night, he sneaked into the crockery market in the outer city. It was night time and Arvin stealthily was jumping from one building to another with the help of his skill stealth. Stealth was the only skill that Arvin didn't have any need to practice yet. After all, it was the only skill that got leveled up as he walks so he didn't need to practice that skill…

Arvin sneaked into the crockery market in the outer city as he needed to find some containers in which he could use as a bong for the rotten egg. He had already become an acolyte and he needed to get even stronger if he wants to complete the quest with 100% accuracy. Arvin had talked to Loki about the usage of the egg. According to Loki, it would take a very long time for Arvin to completely absorb that egg and make its power his own. But he if starts now that egg maybe is beneficial for him for the upcoming fight of Alman and those three…

It was a fairly easy job for Arvin to sneak in the market and steal some of the metal vases from the market to use as a bong. As he stole some substantial amount of utensils, Arvin returned to his inn. There he straight started the next part of his plan. That was to make the rune formation for the utensils.

As Arvin had become acolyte it was time for him to learn how to cast runes and magic circles. So Loki had started giving him training for this. Loki made the rune formation for the shield and gave it to Arvin. But from now onwards, Loki had told Arvin that he would not help him any further in making these runes formation. He would only help when he is in dire need of any help. So based on lectures by Loki and books that Arvin had read, he started making plans about the rune formation that he would need and how should he proceed with these plans…