To Adelaide’s south was its stunning coast. A hotspot of beachgoers and sand enthusiasts alike, the sandy shores were always ready to be enjoyed and appreciated. Even in the dangerous world of post-System earth, it was truly the place to be.

As long as you disregarded the occasional appearance of legged sharks and the roaming tentacles of the family of Krakens laying deep below on the seafloor.

After taking a good hour or so for Brock to stroll through the populated streets of Adelaide proper, the sun was beginning to grasp the edge of the horizon with the fingers of its radiant glow. The waterfront had become a tapestry of refracted light and beauty, and Brock couldn’t help but nod at the majesty of nature.

The imparted directions persisted in Brock’s mind all the while, stubbornly clinging to the forefront of his brain as to prevent him from so much as thinking about anything else. Even if he had wanted to do something other than what it was beckoning him to, he was certain that the invasive nature of the directions would disallow him to do anything with even a semblance of coherent thinking.

The location Ari had led the office worker and his companion appeared to be a nondescript warehouse a handful of meters from the shoreline, probably once used to store boats in a simpler time. Now, Brock doubted the aged floating vehicles could survive the tumultuous waves of the sea and the beasts hiding within.

Around this part, it was relatively quiet, far removed from the safe bustle of people in the city centre. Still, Brock spotted a handful of people around, making time to enjoy the simple things in life, but the vast majority of the population seemed to stick to the middle of the concrete jungle. The outskirts of the place were left to crumble in their absence.

He couldn’t argue with the safety of the centre, however.

As he approached the warehouse with Harry following closely behind, Brock detected several presences stationed within. The most powerful - the aura that was blaring out like a beacon to his senses - was clearly that of Ari’s. There were ten or so others, though they were far weaker, being even dimmer than the soldiers they had fought their way through.

Most likely, they were just there for formality.

Brock didn’t exactly have any real driving force for coming here other than the annoying presence of the directions in his brain, although he was still willing to at least show-up. The woman evidently had something she wanted to discuss, and the least he could do was hear her out, regardless of the answer he would give in the end.

He wouldn’t serve to lose anything by doing so, and while she was certainly powerful, he doubted she’d succeed in an ambush against both him and Harry. Although, he hadn’t at all detected the presence of the hidden soldiers in their prior meeting, only the subdued vibe of the environment, so it was entirely possible it could be one. Otherwise, the weaker presences could be a gesture of goodwill after the events of their last meeting.

Either way, he strolled up to what seemed to be the main entrance of the place - a large metal roller door opposite the concrete walkway and dock - and briskly knocked on the surface, savouring the cacophony of crisp dings that resounded. He felt the auras within shuffle around, and mechanically, the door began to roll up, revealing a group of people and Ari herself inside.

She was sitting calmly at a table set up for three, a lovely white and red plaid tablecloth covering its oak surface and dipping off the edges. A delectable fragrance wafted up into the office worker’s nose as he stepped inside, and instantly, he noticed the fresh bread steaming upon the table, practically begging for him to partake in its deliciousness.

Ari Ahnjong had come prepared, and she certainly knew how to swing things in her favour.

Her previously respectable suit had been traded out for a set of simple jeans, sneakers, and a stylish black shirt with indistinguishable symbols on it. Judging from her background, Brock assumed them to be Korean characters. All in all, she looked very laid back and Brock was happy to reciprocate the vibe.

Nodding her way politely, Brock pulled out a chair and plopped down, with Harry following his lead and doing the same, taking the final seat as his own. Out of the corners of his eye, the strongest man present noticed the closest guard rest her hand on the weapon at her waist. It seemed Ari had kept the events of only an hour prior as a secret among her forces.

Either that or the woman was just eager to hit something.

Licking his lips, Brock partook in the consumption of the bread, and Ari began to speak. Her voice came out friendly and entirely lacking of that previously domineering force it had to it, “It’s good to see that you decided to show up.”

“I had nothing better to do anyway.” Brock gulped down his current mouthful and shrugged loosely.

The superpowered psychologist chuckled lightly and nodded understandingly. She too reached out and took a bite of a slice of warm fluffy bread, although it was proper and small, “How about I change that?”

Harry happily chewed his bread off to the side, satisfied that he seemed to be uninvolved in the talk. The guards appeared to be somewhat surprised that he wasn’t the one being spoken to, especially since he was clearly the second-highest levelled person present.

“Righto. Hit me,” Brock prompted her, watching as she brushed her brown locks behind her ear covertly.

Ari nodded with a small smile and continued, placing her bread down, “Lately there has been a bit of a… problem that has arisen with the local population. Or more specifically the criminalistic portion of the population.”

The man opposite her snorted in amusement, “They’re crushing up Shards and snorting them aren’t they?”

It was less a question than it was a statement. Ari’s eyes widened in surprise and she rested her pale cheek on her palm

“You know of it?”

Brock shrugged once more, “If something can be snorted, injected, or smoked, someone’s probably already done it.”

And he’d also recognised the energy signature from the powder in the bags he’d seen to the Shard he’d produced and immediately had stolen. But he wouldn’t mention that part. It would greatly diminish his so-called ‘cool factor’.

To that, the Korean powerhouse nodded sagely. She knew he wasn’t at all wrong, “I suppose so. Anyways, the primary dealer of this ‘Pink’, as it’s creatively called, is someone approaching my own level of power, and I’m far too well-known in the city for her to let me even get close to the core of her operations. Her senses would detect me as soon as I approach, and they’ll be gone before I even get there.”

Finishing off his slice with relish, Harry couldn’t help but weigh in, “Why don’t you just send some of those soldiers from before? They seemed kind of powerful, if a bit dumb.”

Brock almost spat out his mouthful at the irony.

That aside, he was thinking the exact same thing. If anything, he was quite frankly amazed at the genius of the people in the new world, taking the reins of the assets they’ve been granted and making the most of them.

Of course, that was if you ignored the fact that they were literally selling money.

Suddenly, it made sense why most people didn’t want to accept Shards. Who’d want to associate their business with a drug, after all? It’d be like opening an Eski shop for children and calling it Ice for Kids. It wasn’t at all a great idea for potential business.

“If twenty-six of them couldn’t even win a fight against a level 46 and a level 24, then I doubt they’d be able to beat someone close to my own level.” Ari snorted humorously, though she did glance apologetically toward her guards afterwards.

Quickly, she shifted her gaze to Brock and met his eyes, “Though I do suspect you’ve found some method to mask how your aura appears to others. I’m almost certain yours is stronger than my own. I suppose you won’t tell me how?”

As if to demonstrate that she too was in a similar boat, her aura rapidly began to shift in Brock’s perception, becoming that of a level 20 in one moment and climbing barely past 60 in the next. Although, he could tell that the latter strained her strange ability to its very limits on both ends. It wasn’t hard to pinpoint it as a mere mental trick, considering what her Ascendancy seemed to be related to.

In other words, it was all just an illusion.

“A magician never reveals his secrets.” He didn’t even know a single magic trick, but Brock had always wanted to say that.

Ari raised a silent brow, but otherwise chose to ignore his remark and she dismissed her earlier question entirely, “In short, I need you two to infiltrate the drug operation and detain the leader of it, then bring her to me afterwards.”

“In return, I’m offering access to my personal ritualist, who’s also a ‘scryer’. I’ve heard you been asking around for one.” She finished off her offer with a bang, and she barely hid the smile brewing on her lips as the two men’s attention suddenly zoned in on her.

Things started to add up in Brock’s mind as she pitched her offer. The whole pointless fight between her soldiers and the two of them suddenly made sense. It was all just an act to shed any suspicion from any of the thugs watching - and they would be - so infiltration would be seamless and in her favour.

It was the move of a genius. No criminal organisation ever lacked even the barest of an information network, and Brock had no doubt word had already made its way about the event to their leader. Those that didn’t have one were usually run by idiots.

Brock was already certain he’d be taking the offer, if just for what she had put up as a completion reward. The woman had no reason to lie about not knowing where his mother was, as she had said after the fight, and she clearly was at least aware he was looking for her.

For added effect, however, he went silent for a minute and occasionally whispered gibberish into Harry’s ear, to which the boy responded by nodding slowly, a thoughtful expression donned on his face.

“Yeah, alright we’ll do it. Tell us where to start looking.”

Ari steepled her fingers together and broke out into a victorious grin that threatened to make Brock’s heart flutter, “Excellent. We’ve managed to pinpoint the operation as somewhere to the east of this location, around the coastal area.”

They talked for a while longer on what to expect and eventually decided on the warehouse they were in currently as being the rendezvous point afterwards. According to Ari, she often slept out here to get away from the claustrophobic pressure of being in the main office and had planned beforehand to spend the weekend here in seclusion.

Taking the rest of the bread with them, Brock and Harry waved goodbye and left. Immediately after devouring the rest of their soft, fluffy spoils, they began running fervently in pursuit of the drug dealers that threatened to pollute the population of Adelaide.

The reward: a scryer with which they could find their parents. They were severely disappointed when what felt like a grand quest ended in a handful of hours, however.

**

A cloaked figure grinned widely as he gazed down at his status menu, regarding today’s haul with barely restrained glee. In the dark of night, he chuckled, ignoring the judging stares of the few individuals out and about at this time of day. He was technically rich, and they weren’t. That was all he needed to know.

In one day, he had managed to scam people out of just over sixty thousand Shards. Although, nothing beat the payout he’d gotten off those two idiots in town earlier. Fifty thousand was an astonishing amount in Shards, and if not for the fact they seemed kind of stupid, he wouldn’t have even dared to steal that much. Luckily for him, they seemed to be as powerful as they were dumb.

Idly, he crystallised the stuff into his hand and regarded the glowing pink crystal in the moonlight. Ha-eun would be happy with this. It was easily one weeks’ worth of food for him to take back home if he traded it in. It was certainly far more lucrative than his other method of acquiring supplies on the side.

Chuckling to himself once more as he rounded the street corner, the man laid his eyes on the warehouse they had their operation take root in. The main roller door entrance was wide open, and he immediately blamed Clarke for it. The intern had definitely knocked over another batch and forced everyone to air the place out, lest they breathe in that accursed stuff scattered around.

The girl was as clumsy as clumsy came.

He always returned to the operation around this time, bringing with him one of the many daily doses of Shards to be smashed down and packaged up. It was his only job here, after all. Although, he did have to say that while it provided more for doing less, his other method was the fun one. It was worse in every single way, so much so that it wasn’t even a competition between the two morally.

At least snorting Pink didn’t kill anyone. The stuff was simply as addictive as meth on steroids, and that was all.

The darkness of night was the best time to return back to the warehouse, as with the limited visibility the dark provided him, it was easy to arrive unfollowed and lose anyone that was tailing him. They all knew ‘the Mirage’ was attempting to track them down, yet it only made them sneakier. It was more fun this way, when you had stakes.

Darkness hid the interior of the warehouse, though he knew that was merely the ward placed up by their powerful leader. He found it oddly humorous that she possessed an Ascendancy that was a direct counter to both her sister’s and that of her sister’s ritualist, the old hag.

And yes, he did say sister. That, most of all, was the funniest part.

“Hey, shitheads. You won’t believe the dumb fucks I stole fifty…” The man stepped past the ward, guarding his mouth and nose with the hem of his cloak. His voice trailed off, however, as his gaze met absolute carnage.

The gear they had prided themselves in was in utter disarray, shredded beyond recognition. The lights had shattered and plagued the warehouse in a dimly lit glow, illuminated only by the glowing storm of crystalline dust floating through the air. The man was at a loss for words, and as he glanced around, no one was in sight.

“…Uh… Guys…?”