• Chapter #46: [SURVEILLANCE] “Umm… Sir Jack…?”, Allen hesitantly asked me. Quietly, I regarded his question by gazing him with my crimson eyes. He quickly became nervous, and averted his eyes. I sighed inwardly. Seriously, if you want to be a successful summoner, you need to have some balls kid. “What is it?”, I finally replied. “Uhh… I would like to know… What are you?”, He curiously peered back to my eyes now. I shifted my gaze to the side, contemplating. “Why do you want to know?”, I inquired further. “Well… I figured out that knowing you more would possibly help us in the coming battles…”, He reasoned. Hmm… That’s a sensible one actually. Not bad kid. “Very well…”, I let out a small huff. “As my name suggests, Jack the Ripper, I’m a summon who specializes in assassinations, death, and horrors. That’s pretty much it.”, I explained to him. Really, that’s what Jack the Ripper is anyway. A mysterious assassin of the night. I heard Allen’s audible gulp besides me. “U-Uhh… Sir Jack, if possible… Please refrain on killing our opponents.”, He nervously said to me. Hm, he’s quick to catch on too. “Hmm… That would be difficult because of my nature, but I’ll try. Though if I couldn’t do that… Perhaps, a near-death state would do? Maybe crippling them would work, or cutting off a limb? So much ways to incapacitate our enemies. Yes… This could work.”, I regarded his plea with my twisted answer. Heh, it’s always better to make sure that enemies are truly beaten down as to prevent any chances of counterattacks. “Haha… Please be also merciful…”, Allens nervous laughter, sweat rolling down his temples. “Hmph.”, I merely said, before deciding to move on. “So, why are we here?”, This guy just summoned me out of nowhere. Although it’s part of the contract that the summoner can call their summons anytime, it’s still quite annoying. Luckily, I had finished my tasks earlier. Before this, I had been on the pinkette’s room, again. My visits had been quite fruitful. I found some documents containing a supply contract of a producer of stress-relief medicine. Secretly loot— Cough I mean, searching her room for said pills, I found them on her cabinet. I took away only the contents, and replaced the medicine with similar looking ones I got from the [Store]. No need for her to raise suspicions. “Well, we’ll finally be battling. Tomorrow, the Class will be facing Class C… That, and we’ll be holding a meeting this afternoon.”, He explained to me. “Hmm… I see… That’s fine. I’ll be seeing you this afternoon then, summoner?” “Yes… If possible, your help would be greatly appreciated in the development of the strategy.”, He thanked me. It seems that my luck greatly helped, that I landed on a decent summoner. Though he’s a little timid, he’s kind but not naïve. He’s also cautious and decisive. “If that’s all, then I’ll be going.”, I said, before vanishing in a crimson light. Now, onto work. Those pills were bought by the girl from another market, hidden besides the main city market. And so, I will be starting there. [Spectre: Active] [Feather Light: Active] Immediately, I flew to where the supposed place is. I’ll have to make this quick, I still need to attend Allen’s meeting after all. After a while, I had finally arrived. Landing on a dark alleyway, I deactivated my [Feather Light] and begun exploring the area. Soon enough, I have bumped into something. In front of me was an old, run down building. However… [Potter’s Discernment: Active] It emitted a suppressed magical signature, as if there was something inside it. Clack*Clack*Clack Hmm? Someone’s approaching. Turning towards the sound, I saw a man covered from head to toe with a tattered black cloak. He walked towards where I stood, in front of the door of the ruined house. Stepping aside, I decided to observe for a bit. He stopped in front of the door, before fumbling something within his coat. Pulling it out, it revealed a medallion. The thing was silver in color, with several unknown symbols and runes. Meanwhile, the cord was simple, and black in color. The man then placed the medallion on the upper part of the door, which also started to glow upon sensing the medallion in place. [Shade Walker: Active] After seeing what was happening, I immediately entered the man’s shadow. I’m 100% certain now. This definitely is the place that I’m looking for. Rumble The old doors rumbled, before it removed itself from the hinges and slowly moved aside. Me and the cloaked man then entered. Just like expected. Instead of a ruined room, I was greeted by another dark and narrow alleyway. I observed the surroundings as the man continued to walk. Hmm… I would need to find that same medallion he has, or perhaps I could just steal it from him. Deciding to ponder on the matter later, I noticed that we had already exited the other alley. Quickly, I exited the man’s shadow and observed the market by my own. The area was much darker than expected, filthy too. Several stalls held items of most likely illegal origins. As I continued to walk, I observed the buildings and kept a look out at the one I was looking for. “Hmm?”, I looked over a large building at my left side. This was it. [Plotter’s Discernment: Active] Tch. For a drug house though, the place was sure secured to the brim. Then… [Miracle Invoker: Active] “The security of the entire area, alongside the structures within it, will malfunction and fail for 30 minutes.”, I whispered. Immediately, the magic signature of the hidden market flickered away. Although… I also noticed that the spell consumed ¼ of my mana. How strange… But thankfully, [Multiplier] had also increased my mana capacity, so it was alright. Hmm… It appears that utilizing the power of fate and miracles in this world is quite costly. A thing worth of note. [Shade Walker: Active] Again activating [Shade Walker], I entered the building’s shadow to go inside. Upon my exit, I was greeted by a dark and smoky hallway. Strange, there’s no one or something here… [Store: Open] I bought two surveillance wards. Then placed them within the shadows of the hallway. I also applied [Spectre] to them, as to further hide them. After that, I then decided to walk in the hallway. “Kaide…”, Miyanase’s call stopped me on my tracks. “What is it?”, I asked her. “I can sense them…”, She said to me. “I see… Alright, lead the way.” Earlier, I also requested Miyanase to survey the area within the shadows. I wasn’t too worried, she was powerful enough to guard herself. Also, the extra help was invaluable. And it was, she seemed to have found something. Following her directions, she eventually led me into a dead end. Although, it looked as it was a dead end, I knew better than to trust such a thing. Placing my palm into it, I sent a pulse of my magic power into the wall. Immediately, it crumbled away like paper. Looks like the [Miracle Invoker] I casted was worth it, there were no further magical activity as the wall crumbled. Another hallway was revealed, though it was different this time. Red carpet with black accents. The walls were made of some kind of stone, well polished too, while the lights hanged like lantern on the sides. It was an out-of-place sight for a black market. [Bloodlust: Active] Though I was using [Spectre], one can never be too cautious. ------- Sigh “I’m tired Nate…”, The man whined. They were inside of a cave, full of black crystals, and the only things that were lighting up the area were the magic lamps. The complaining man wore a bowlers hat, his white shirt, jeans, and boots were full of dirt. Like his clothes, his face and body were also covered in dust. His black hair was unkempt and wet due to the sweat, while his eyes held a look of exhaustion. “Don’t be lazy Fernan, we’re getting paid for this.”, He glared lightly at the man, before adding. “Plus, the nobles want these stones.”, He finished, before continuing to work on his equipment to extract the crystals. Sigh “I know, I know…”, Fernan also went back to work, with much less enthusiasm. He picked his equipment back up, before using it’s sharp end to pierce through the crystal. Immediately, a viscous and eerie black fluid flowed through and into the tube. The equipment they were using is actually simple in appearance. It’s body is similar looking to the jackhammers used in Earth, but is silver in color, and is covered by various runes, as well as an large line-meter that glows blue. On it’s bottom part, is a giant needle, similar to one’s found on syringes, while the top has a transparent tube that’s connected to large, cylindrical, magical container. ‘Seriously… What are those nobles planning. These things are just plain creepy…”, Fernan thought in idle curiosity, and a bit of disgust. The machines are used to extract energy from raw materials. By piercing it with it’s needle, the machines then absorb the energy and turn it into some sort of liquid. The liquid’s color depends on what energy it’s absorbing. The absorbed energy is then stored into a magical container, in which the Arch Mages will be the one to know on how the extracted energy will be utilized. “Are you done?”, A deep, but rather hushed voice stopped Fernan and Nate from their work. Turning to the voice, it revealed a man covered in black cloak, and an all black mask. It was the man sent by the nobles to be the leader of the extraction. The two thought he was pretty suspicious, but he was personally escorted by the nobles that they work for, so who were they to ask. “Well be finished in a minute sir, then we can take this up the surface.”, Nate answered the man. He then signaled Fernan to quicken his pace. As the two continued their work, the masked man went to the container, where it was being overseen by two more workers. “We are just about to finish, check everything again.”, The man ordered. “Yes sir.”, With that, the two began to work on the stored energy within the container once more. “Thermal Energy… Good, it’s passable.” “Scanning for impurities and contamination… Negative… Application of Frost Energy… Now running…” “Cold Measures successfully applied.” “Checking if sample quality is similar to previous ones… A 100%.” “Sir, everything’s up and ready.”, One of the men said to the masked man, who only nodded in satisfaction. Inwardly, the man was smiling eerily. For him, everything was going well. “Heh, who would’ve thought… These black rocks are a gem, and it came from something of the same status as these people’s creator.” As this was happening, unknown to them, two crimson eyes faintly flickered in the dark. The eyes gazed at them creepily, before vanishing in a crimson spark. Of course, it was Hōri Kaide. ‘Wow. Who would’ve thought that those things are actually extracted underground.’, Kaide idly thought, as he continued to observe them from the shadows. Application of magic from everyday life to technology, this world is truly amazing. [•END•] Revised by BaNaeNae.