[Advanced Running] is now level 23. Passively Increases running speed by 46% and decreases stamina used while running by 20%.

[Meditation] is now level 48. You have gained 1 Path point. Increases mana regeneration by 48% while the skill is active.

[Detect Presence] is now level 42. You have gained 1 Path point. Actively sends a pulse of mana to check the user’s surroundings for living beings. Range 126 meters. Uses 6 mana per minute.

[Path of Greater Endurance 30/50] Endurance Increased by 1.

I made sure to look nervous as I walked towards the edge of the city with two hundred medium cores in my backpack, it wasn’t hard given that I would look the same if I were trying to look calm. Why did I even agree to be bait in the first place? Ego? Peer pressure?

There were some people watching me as I neared the makeshift wall, or it might be just my paranoia. The plan was simple, run and be wary of any ambushes. Joah is watching the walls and another guild member is watching Blyaza’s hideout, both looking for any people that venture into the wilderness, it’s to make sure that no bigger group with guns try to ambush me. Two hundred medium cores is a lot after all, perhaps a bit too much.

I made it to the wall and jumped over it easily. I decided to keep running at forty km/h, no need to run faster though I could easily run up to sixty km/h now casually with [Advanced Running]. If I were to focus and push myself to the limits using magic as well I could achieve even eighty km/h which was kind of amazing and stupid at the same time.

-

Finally after twenty minutes of running a person caught my eye, how he made it here before me I didn’t know. A person with a proper spear in casual clothing, looking at me with a smile. Not much of an ambush, really. Nothing to be afraid about.

“I heard you are quite fast!” He yelled at me since I stopped three hundred meters away from him. He started whirling his spear around his fingers creating a small whirlwind.

“I am fast too.” This I barely heard and immediately ignored it. He used [Half-step] and pounced at me.

[Half-step] activated. 10 Stamina used.

I leaped to the left, but never left my eyes from the Spearman. He passed a few dozen meters to my right and stopped, it took him two seconds to get to me and as much to stop. That was the problem I noticed as well while running, if you were running so fast it was hard to stop or change direction, kind of like a bull. Stepping aside was really an easy tactic to counter fast people, especially when they use [Half-step] right in front of you which increases movement speed to max in a single step.

“You are indeed fast.” I agreed with his earlier assessment. “But can you sustain it?” I leaped opposite from his direction, I leaped to the left before to make sure that the path to the counter-ambush place was open. I really needed to get the fuck out.

[Detect Presence] activated.

[Half-step] activated. 10 Stamina used.

“Cya!” I yelled as I left him behind. I heard his feet kick the ground hard as he activated another [Half-step] to keep up.

“Wait you coward!” I doubted that he smiled as he screamed at me.

Barely a minute later we made it to the forest, leaving the plains. As he entered the forest I felt him getting closer to me fast.

I jumped at the tree and turned vertical, as soon as I crashed into it with my legs I activated my most favorite skill again.

[Half-step] activated. 10 Stamina used.

I propelled myself higher to the other tree and landed on the branch at least ten meter high. The spearman crashed at the tree which I just crashed into myself and cut it down with his spear.

It must have been some sort of magic skill to make him speed up, some kind of dash perhaps. He seemed to have much more strength than me as well, but lacked the dexterity to really use it well, even to me it was quite visible.

“You are really good at running.” He said as he panted a bit. Was he pretending?

“Who are you working for?” I asked, seeing that he hadn’t moved yet. The spearman simply shrugged and smiled.

“Who gave you the information about the transport?” I knew it yet I asked, my Walkie-talkie was on all this time alongside gps in my phone, I could always stall and wait for the counter-ambush to simply come to me.

“You know well that I can’t tell you that.” The spearman kept smiling in an easy going way. “I know for whom your group is working for, my group is working for someone of similar status and that makes us enemies.”

He seemed talkative enough, but the comment about a similar status person was quite disturbing. The ‘rich snob’ was very rich, one of the richest people in the nation in fact. He certainly wasn’t speaking of Blyaza and if the other rich person was involved that meant other mercenary groups and much better armament. Coming here was a mistake, damn my greed.

Stamina 226/280

Mana 134/150

“How so?” I asked just to entertain him, my face emotionless as usual. “To rule!” He yelled and pounced at me again, this time using both his movements skills at once.

[Leg Muscle Enhancement] activated.

[Half-step] activated. 10 Stamina used.

He was fast, I barely dodged despite being on the higher ground. It seemed that gravity didn’t help as much as I hoped it would. “Come here!” I ignored his yell and used [Half-step] again as soon as I touched the ground.

[Half-step] activated. 10 Stamina used.

I took too many chances, time to go to the meeting point. I heard the Spearman crash at the ground where I was just half a second ago. I didn’t dare to deactivate [Leg Muscle Enhancement].

“Stop running!” It seemed that his easygoing smile was just for show. The spearman used another [Half-step] alongside his dash, but he didn’t make it close enough to me since he was a bit too far behind, the skill cancelling way before me. It was still very stressful though. His dash has to have a max distance in which it works, perhaps twenty or thirty meters.

I ran for ten seconds longer and detected another presence fifty meters ahead of me. ‘Alex? Alone?’ I wondered as I barrelled next to him and crashed vertically into the tree twenty meters further to stop. Using the recoil I pushed the tree slightly with my feet to do a backflip and turned my body to face the Spearman direction. It had to look cool, I wouldn’t be capable of doing it before the System.

Once I saw the spearman I noticed that him and Alex were in a staring contest.

“So you are working for Blyaza, Arthur.” Alex spoke, it seemed that he knew the spearman. “I am disappointed.” Perhaps I shouldn’t focus so much on looking cool, it seems that I failed to notice the start of their standoff.

“So it was a trap after all.” The spearman spoke, I didn’t bother to remember his name. “You are out for my blood Alex? Figures.”

“He used [Half-step] five times and some kind of dash four times.” Alex nodded slowly to my information and the other man grimaced a bit.

“We didn’t even start and yet, you are already out of mana?” Alex asked, a chuckle escaping his mouth.

“We don't have to fight.” The man tried, but Alex cut him short as he used [Half-step] and his own dash to pounce on him, two daggers in his hands. It was a bloodbath.

-

“It’s over.” Alex said as he stood above the bleeding Andrey, wait what was the spearman's name again? Arthur, oh. “Give me the chain William.” I took my backpack off my back and opened it, only a chain was inside. It was hard to pretend to have two hundred medium cores in my backpack, thankfully the chain gave out a similar sound to shitton of cores while shaked.

“So even two hundred medium cores was a lie.” The spearman said while looking at us with hatred. His arms and legs were badly cut making them unusable, Alex knew where to cut which was quite disturbing. “Kill me.” Acceptance visible in

“Send a message on group chat that there was someone trying to rob you but you made it away, no mention of the trap.” Alex looked at me expectantly. I took out my phone and wrote a message on a group chat, though I didn’t take my eyes off Alex.

‘There was someone trying to ambush me again, we should look deeper into the Bakery contact.’ Alex wrote his own message to the rest of our little team from the apartment, a few minutes later they found their way to our location.

“It’s Arthur.” I think it was Micah that spoke. “Yeah.” Alex said as he looked on the spearman, never taking his sight away from him since he was forced on his back. I had no idea how they knew him but he seemed quite popular.

“Hi.” Said Arthur, he hasn’t smiled though. His [Pain Resistance] had to be quite high since he didn’t show much of an acknowledgment to his wounds. Figures that such a man would use pain alongside his own sanity as a ‘resource’. Then again, wasn’t I the same?

“You can go William, there is no need for you here.” It was Alex that spoke to me, he knew me enough to know I wouldn’t want to see what they would do to him. Or perhaps he just didn’t like me, not that I really cared.

“Text me later.” I was curious if there was a rat in the guild. How they would extract information from a person that had a high [Pain Resistance] I didn’t know. I would use drugs, there was no such thing as [Poison Resistance] after all.

I left soon after to look for some dogs, I still had enough stamina to level [Advanced Running] a bit and the stamina reduction while running away was quite important for effectiveness.

-

‘One of the Army scientists from the Union got a crafting skill. Something about cores and runes, it might be useful to you.’ Jake, my military friend from the time of the Association seemed to be happy about sending me messages with useful information every now and then. The information looked useful, something to keep an eye out for in the future. Should I share it with the people from the guild?