"Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't know. Did you?"

His words weren't accusatory but defeated. He seems exhausted.

"I'm assuming this order didn't come from your lips."

"My boss decided that giving a junior member an entire team was an overreach in power, even though it's not. They’re causing problems behind the scenes. If you didn't find a source of supercharged snowberries, my job's security would be in danger."

"Alright, but why a suspension instead of removing the team."

"When an employee of a government agency gets flagged on the computers as someone who partook in the act of terrorism, usually they lose their jobs."

"But I didn't do anything."

"Yes, you must have a good lawyer. Just wait for the dust to settle."

"I feel like there's more than just that. I'm getting vibes of corruption in the FIB. Since I'm being punished while innocent."

"Corruption, yes. But not with this specific instance. The act of putting you on suspension was my idea."

"What?"

"In the papers, I've read you're leaving the city. You would have to put in an extended leave of absence anyways. However, the main reason why I did that was you are the only team left. My team members Cathay and Barry are MIA."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. We were going to enter a newly formed fracture. I stopped to tie my shoe right before entering, and my team entered seconds before I could. The fracture just poofed. Gone forever."

"Holy shit, that can happen?"

He nods before continuing. "Some fractures naturally limit the number of outsiders, but they are still tangibly there. They can be scanned by mana sensors and the like. But in this case, nothing remains."

"How does that relate to my suspension. Wouldn't I, the only team left, make me more valuable?"

"My boss has been trying to shut down the hazard branch in Bluefield and use it as a case study to collapse the entire system from the FIB. There is no way that you can go on an indefinite leave this early on in your career. He would find a way to revoke the leave and get you fired, leaving no teams available."

"But he can't veto a suspension."

"Exactly. I put so much of my life into this job, metaphorically and physically, that seeing it be cut just so the FIB could save budget makes me reasonably angry. Especially to all the friends and coworkers that died or got horribly injured in the past. Just casting them aside after profiting from their bodies."

"I'm assuming getting more people to join the hazard branch is an issue. "

"No one wants this job, Ellis. They have to be crazy or especially suited for the job. Just like you, Ellis."

I hope he means the latter rather than the former.

"And people suited for this job have way better prospects, Ellis."

"I'm assuming that your boss isn't the head of the FIB branch in Bluefield?"

"Haha, don't let the door hit you on the way out."

~

Since I have money, I buy a brand-new laptop and a shit ton of electrical doodads. I have an idea based on Khan's [Power of the Storm]. Typically we can't harness the power of lightning because there aren't batteries that can handle the sudden surge of energy. Tweaking either side spirals into something that's not efficient enough next to other energy sources.

Get a wind mage to blow on some turbines or a fire mage to heat some thermal generators, easy peasy. Enchanted gear usually uses mana crystals if there going to need a charge anyways.

If Khan could control his energy output, I could get power inside my mansion, the first step of modernizing my new home. If my plan doesn't work, I could get Rob to use a pedal bike. It's not like he'll get sore muscles.

I also buy a few low-ranked mana crystals in bulk for emergency rations for my beasts and a few other miscellaneous trinkets that I think would be helpful.

I'm at the shopping center, nearby where the strip mall used to be. This multileveled beacon of enterprise has a nifty system where you can 'cart' items you purchase and pick up everything at once without having to lug materials from one shop to the next.

However, physically going to the various shops to pick what I want is a must. I’m not going to let a stranger use my money to buy my things. I got scammed by one delivery person when I was younger, and never again.

I found a knife kiosk selling ‘enchanted blades,’ and I decided to check it out.

The owner is a middle-aged man. He's patiently explaining various enchanted functions to a younger teen who is ignoring him and looking at the more badass-looking knives. When he looked defeated, I waltzed over and said something to him.

"Hey boss, what does this knife do?"

I point to a random knife before activating my [Scientific Insight+] on what he's selling.

[Heated Handle Knife E

The handle is heated.]

[Slightly Sharpened Pen Knife E

This knife deals +10 damage.]

[Knife Black F

A black knife.]

It seems that the knife the other patron bought was unmagical.

"This knife right here is multifunctional. It keeps your hands warm when you hold it, allowing it to be used as self-defense for both attackers and the cold."

Sounds useless to me, but one knife caught my eye since it didn't give me a description.

[Prick D]

Since I see the rank, I could probably update the information with some probing, but I might as well ask the guy selling it.

"What about this one."

"I didn't make that knife. Someone traded that knife for one of my better ones, and I haven't figured out what it does exactly. Paying for an identifier would make the trade not worth it."

"Why take the deal?"

"I know it's around D rank, so I can market it as such."

I examine the knife. It looks like a novelty letter opener, shaped like a sword with a sheath, but it's only nine inches long.

"How much, boss?"

"10,000"

"For an unidentified item? Half the price and I can consider it."

"The knife I traded it for was worth that much, so that's how much I'm asking. I can do 9,000."

"Sounds like that's your problem. 6,000."

"Nope, 8500. Take it or leave it."

"Let me look over the knife closer. I want to make sure I'm not buying something made not for combat."

"Feel free."

I start examining the blade. The blade seems to be silver, not like that's the reason why it's so expensive. The entire handle can fit in my hand without any of it coming out the other side. I tap my finger on the blade, and surprisingly a drop of blood forms from where I got pricked.

"Don't be surprised if you hurt yourself, kid. I'm not responsible for poor decision-making."

I rub the length of my thumb against one of his other knives, and if anything, I dulled the blade rather than hurting myself.

"..."

That shut up the salesman. I stab myself a few more times for good measure and even [Bolstered Resistance] before noticing the same result each time. A small injury.

[Prick D

This novelty knife carries a rare but weak enchantment. This blade will deal a minimum of one damage. This blade ignores any of the user’s stats when calculating damage.]

"Boss, the blade seems sharp, but it can't do anything more than just this. It's a novelty if anything. I'll give my original offer of 5,000 credits."

"What about 7,500."

"Sure, why not."

~

Enchanted items are so expensive, especially weapons. The government taxes nonmilitary weapons becoming enchanted weapons quite heavily. It's a pain in the ass for legal and licensed enchanters because the non licenced ones ignore the tax anyways. Because of that, they could sell the weapon for cheaper and make normal enchanters lose out even more.

I want to see a black market one day. With my [Scientific Insight+], I could probably find a hidden gem some shmuck sells at a fraction of the cost because it's stolen goods.

Almost half my money is gone now, but it's not like I'm paying rent or anything. I didn't pay for any delivery and selected 'self-pickup,' so I went to the connected warehouse and found all my stuff at the designated location.

I looked around and didn't see anyone nearby, so I moved my stuff to where I didn't spot a camera. There I saw a delivery truck next to me.

I activated the mansion door at the back of the truck and shoved my stuff inside.

After I made Duchess move all the stuff off the front lawn, I left and went to find the golemancer, or at least where I think I can find a lead. In this day and age, humans are wired to the internet. Finding some sort of digital trail should only take time and patience.

I went to the local internet cafe and bought myself a private booth for a few hours. I don't have the internet at my crater or my mansion. I could go to my parents' house, but using a communal computer would be an excellent smoke screen. A non-personal network will make it harder to figure out who I am as long as I don’t use any personal information.

It takes me over an hour of cyber sleuthing before I found an obscure forum on the internet for "utility" classes like the tamer or a golemancer. Basically, any job that controls "creatures" to do their bidding.

They have a no necromancer policy, but besides that, it seems normal.

The forum is still active, but the important thing is the archives. I found posts from a user called "The Gentlemancer," and he types exactly as that golemancer speaks. He calls himself a gentleman on his account page, and one post is quite concerning.

It's only a picture, but it's him naked in a bath, drinking wine and barely being obscured by bubbles. There is a mirror off to the side, and it showed enough of his face reflected in the mirror that lets me identify him as the golemancer who tried to take Flash Gordon from me. It's not a selfie. Someone or something is taking the picture for him.

An animated wine bottle and standing mirror point to the fact that he is a golemancer. There's no mistaking it. I found his bitch ass.

It doesn't look like he posted here in quite some time so I look elsewhere using the same handle to try and find his internet trail. It's another hour before finding an account with that name on the most popular auction website.

The website seems to be owned by the massive auction house in the capital, and unfortunately, I cannot see his past purchases to help me confirm his identity. But there is a direct messaging system, and I can see he's been online within the past hour.

I make an account leaving as much as I can anonymous. If this guy can hack into the digital auction house, it wouldn't even matter if I used personal information. He'll be able to find me no matter where I went on the internet.

I set my username as U. I'm not creative, and putting my name as "master" or something similar would be too cringy for my taste. So my username is the shorthand for unique that the system uses. I'm surprised that it hasn't been taken.

After making an account, I notice a red banner at the top of my screen.

[Apologies to all patrons. After the divine conversion of money into CCs, the digital auction house is shutting down all means of bidding online. Having to pay in person is one of the features forced by the new system. We prayed to Merita about this change, but we had no response from any church. Patrons can always come in person. Apologies once again.]

I clicked on the banner since it showed itself as a link. I was taken to another forum site, but it's only open to those with accounts. Searching for it elsewhere brings no results.

I immediately search for posts by a specific user.

"Bingo."