"Do you still want your turtle back now?" The gang boss pointed at the burnt breastplate. "Kakakaka."

The gang bursted into laughter.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the strongest hunter!" A gang bowed and gestured at the breastplate.

"Kakakaka!"

"Let's throw this armor into the void." Another thug suggested. "He can search for his turtle in his afterlife. Ah gah-gah-gah-gah."

The volume of laughter rose up.

Bam!

A hole was blasted out of the wall.

The laughter stopped.

Jeff fixed his business suit a little as he walked through that hole. Even though he was in the rain for a while, his suit was still perfectly dry.

What could Jeff say?

Telekinesis sure made his life convenient.

"Wow. All that. Just to destroy an outdated armor. Bravo." Jeff looked around with kill-intent.

The thugs raised their weapons again.

*Ting-ling* *Ting-a-ling*

Wearing ecstatic expressions, those thugs turned their weapons towards their boss.

"Command." The gang boss raised his chin.

The eyes of those thugs instantly became unfocussed. Robotically, these guys pointed their weapons towards Jeff again.

"I'm the man in charge here." The gang boss smirked.

Jeff raised his hand.

*Snap*

In the standstill world, one could see a sphere of mana expanding from Jeff's fingers.

Like an unstoppable curtain, anything in its way crumbled and snapped.

The gang boss lowered his body and crossed his arms before his head. Yet, this guy was blown back as well.

Like being hit by a naval shell, this hilltop mansion exploded into pieces. In an instance, this hilltop became flattened.

One after another, void rifts opened up in the air, sucking in rain water.

Building debris started to fall down along with the rain.

A black object shot towards Jeff. Leaving a blur in the air, it cut through the debris and raindrops in its path.

Leaning sideways, Jeff easily dodged that thing.

Extending a hand, Jeff easily caught the handle of that projectile. It's a odd-looking black sword.

Holding onto its handle, Jeff suddenly felt a burning sensation creeping up his arm. There's an invasive energy trying to convert Jeff's arm by force. Yet, in the next moment, Jeff's arm digested this energy and turned it into mana.

'So this is the void energy huh? Too bad I'm immune.'

'Also, my mana capacity increased a little?'

Just a little though. More importantly, at this moment, Jeff suddenly sensed a connection with the void rifts.

'Finish the fight first...'

In a blink, Jeff suddenly appeared before the gang boss.

Slash!

The gang boss was cut into two.

Without hesitation, Jeff jumped back.

Yet, the two halves of this gang boss bursted into mist. In an instance, the two mist clouds merged into one. The gang boss was fine again.

"Tsk." The gang boss smirked. "You might be the strongest hunter, Mission Machine."

"But I! I have totally ascended into the void race!"

"I cannot be slain by a mere human like you!"

"If you join the void race, you can also obtain this power. I bring you in. We flip this page over. How about it." The gang boss offered.

"No. I think not." Jeff shook his head.

Jeff chuckled in disdain in his mind. 'Which sane person would accept this deal? Do I look stupid?'

'If I joined, this guy could probably take over my consciousness.'

After all, this gang boss just did it to his minions a moment ago.

"People are always so resistant to change." The gang boss charged at Jeff. "I thought you'd be different."

Slash!

Jeff jumped back.

The gang boss bursted into mist and quickly recovered.

"I can do this all day Mission Machine! I am invincible!"

"No." Jeff locked gazes with the gang boss. "No you are not."

An invisible ray shot out of Jeff's eyes.

That gang boss lost focus in his eyes.

Jeff tiredly sighed. Being halfway into sage-tier, Jeff's psychic level was at a whole new level.

By shooting out a burst of psychic energy, Jeff easily erased the gang boss's consciousness.

However, there is a heavy cost to this ability as well.

For this to work, Jeff's psychic level had to be overwhelmingly stronger.

Also, the mental energy cost is simply too expensive.

Just not a great ability overall. No. In fact. Jeff would consider this ability to be terrible. Absolutely shit.

However... that's all he had...

Well. Hey. A month ago, he didn't even have this available.

Making progress... Getting better...

The gang boss' heart rate gradually dropped to zero.

A 4-meters long rift opened up. The gang boss leaned back and fell into that rift. Grass, mud, and rain was streaming into that rift as well.

The wind tried to pull Jeff towards that rift. A futile effort.

Feeling his connection with the black sword, Jeff stood there with his eyes closed for a moment.

'Close.' Jeff pointed the sword at that large rift.

Like a vacuum being turned off, that void rift stopped sucking in air. However, it's still there.

'Huh.' Jeff looked at the void rifts in the air. They were gradually losing strength over time.

Looking down the hill, Magni was closing in the net now. Gradually and steadily, they were shrinking the search circle. There's some resistance. But it's negligible.

Looking into the sky, Jeff raised a brow. Passing through the heavy rainfall, a flying canoe came into view.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

One after another, four figures jumped down.

With a splash, they landed onto this muddy ground.

It's one dude and three girls.

The dude was in his late twenties. Well groomed. Well-built body. Wearing a classy white dress shirt. Golden-and-white striped tie. Leather gloves. Dress pants. Wearing a charismatic smile. Holding an average-looking wooden staff in his hand.

Based off the first impression, and his pure prejudice, Jeff didn't like this guy.

Behind the dude, there were three girls in their 20s. One girl was wearing a scarlet robe, holding a glass orb in her hands. The other girl wore leather armor. She had a short sword by her waist. The last girl was in a pilot's uniform.

Just like Jeff, raindrops just bounced off these guys. They were also covered in some sort of invisible force fields.

"Alright man. I'll need you to drop your sword." The dude brightly smiled at Jeff.

Jeff raised his brows at this request.

Yep, Jeff knew for certain now. He didn't like this guy.

Also, this A-rank sure had some guts to make that request.

"Oh? Are you here to avenge your boss?" Jeff asked. "Or are you the hidden boss?"

"Boss?" The dude chuckled and shook his head. "No bro."

"Well naturally." The dude gestured a hand at Jeff. "A new wild mage like you wouldn't know us."

The dude stood a little taller.

"We are the Anas family. We have been fighting the void since the age of Shamans." The dude looked rather proud of his ancestry.

"I am Daylor Anas."

"And you want my loot." Jeff looked up at the floating canoe. It's somewhere between a glint-tier and a glow-tier. There were streams of runic characters flowing around on that canoe. This seemed like advanced magic.

Looking at the dude's wooden stick... It looked normal. But this stick gave off an ancient feel. Also, it had a much brighter glow than glow-tiers.

Based off what he saw, Jeff found this guy's words to be rather believable.

Secret ancient families exist now. Why not. Why the fuck not. What next? Horny alien goddesses? Tentacle deities of the old days? Whatever...

'I'm not even surprised anymore...' Jeff sighed in his mind.

"Yes. I'll need to retrieve that sword you are holding. Untrained mages like you can't possibly resist the corruption of the void energy." The dude pointed at Jeff's sword with his wooden staff.

"Really now." Jeff raised a brow.

Checking his newly gained passive ability. Nope. Corrosion or corruption thing, not happening. He's kind of immune to that now.

"I think I'll pass." Jeff nodded.