A week had passed since Nichol was discharged. Also, in less than a week or so from now, he will finally receive his Ranger license and his registries.

He can officially be Nichol Schade again.

Then, most importantly, their sifting in the internet had successfully brought to them two High Grade Elixirs, a Life-type and a Power-type.

______________________________

[Status Window]

Name: Nichol Schade

Age: 18

Condition: Healthy

Level: 1 [Mana: 12]

Strength: 16.54

Dexterity: 11.00

Vitality: 16.29

Intelligence: [unidentifiable]

Innate Skill(s): [SENTINEL], [ONE ABOVE ALL]

______________________________

One was won from an auction while the other was bought from the black market. Unfortunately, due to the nature of both acquisitions, their initial bounty was dried immediately and after exhausting the remaining recommendations which rewarded them an amount close to 300K, the succeeding recommendations are either too far, too time consuming, too dangerous, or completely speculative.

Nichol’s presence in front of a Rank 1 Maze and under the identity of a porter once again belonged to the last type.

Blamed to the limitation of his current level of intelligence, the result of their analysis is far too abstract even in the sphere of supposition. If this flopped, he will only earn some spare change after spending an entire day. Still, the reflected potential income was worth the inconvenience and hence, he is here alongside the other freelance porters with their cardboard ads looking for work.

‘Here he comes,’ Nichol said when a van arrived at the parking lot in front of the Maze’s perimeter’s gate and five young men around their 20s exits it.

“The big douche is here again,” a porter near Nichol grumbled.

“Let’s scram before he bullshits us to porter for him,” another one said and majority of the porters near the gate like Nichol scattered.

Very few remained. They are either oblivious or too desperate to care, and then there’s Nichol who has an ulterior motive.

The douche the porters are pertaining is the man leading the group of five. His name is Bryan Downing, the son of Portland’s Mayor, Conrad Downing, and he and his friends are Rangers belonging to the Induced-faction and are raiding low level Mazes for leisure.

Downing has a bad reputation among porters.

He overworks them, mistreats them, and sometimes even ditches them of their payment when he feels sour after the raid. However, since the porters here are mostly undocumented and his Dad is the Mayor, the mistreated porters can only swallow their anger.

Downing and his party entered the entrance’s perimeter after presenting their permission at the gate and he immediately looked among the peddling porters as if he owns them. “You,” as the fittest looking porter among the remaining ones near the entrance and alongside a little subconscious manipulation on his part, Nichol was picked. “Carry our stuffs!”

They dropped their bags of supplies and Nichol complied, “Yes sir!” He picked them up and piled them all inside his own and much bigger bag.

“Tch!” The other porters clicked their tongues and pitifully stared at him.

“There’s still a party inside,” one of the two gatekeeper at the Maze’s entrance told them.

One team at a time. That’s the regulation established by the Association when they turned some of the permanent Mazes into a business. Hence, they will have to wait until the team before them is done.

“Let’s hit the café for now,” a teammate of Downing suggested.

Ranger support is a big market and it’s not just limited to the Association, the gear production, and the porters. Rest place and foodstuffs are also a big portion. That’s why, the 350 meters perimeter from the Maze’s entrance, especially those belonging to the low ranked permanent Mazes where most raids are for leisure, is a concentration of food stalls, restaurants, and cafes.

“Fucking annoying!” Downing cursed. He truly has some anger issue.

They then head to the nearest café and while they enjoyed their coffees and pastries and the pleasant atmosphere inside, Nichol stayed outside to wait for them. There are rare exemptions but in circumstances such as this, a porter should always expect by default that they are excluded.

-They’re pissing me off! (Sentinel)

Sen grumbled and with their shared thoughts, Nichol could tell that Sen is ready to blow up their gears.

“Hey we’re here to make money not to get pissed by them.”

-I’m really sorry brother. If I can only manipulate the digital world like I used to, we needn’t need to be here. (Sentinel)

Sen lamented. However, that’s not even the biggest issue regarding him as an A.I. and as an Innate Skill.

Aside from his limitation of functions, they’d also discovered another weakness of Sen which was only identified after they reconnected to the digital world.

Entering the digital world, when Sen assimilates into it, this action makes him mortal. So if he encounters aggressive entities more powerful than his present strength in the digital world such as security systems, viruses, and other programs, it could kill Sen and by extension, Nichol. Presently, even if Sen is capable of manipulating the data, his current strength is far too weak to challenge the extensiveness of the security systems and viruses offered by the best of the present era’s technology that are operating in the deeper premise of the digital world. On top of that, even though he’d already practiced theft, it was towards those that didn’t earn them through the fair means. When the time comes, which will certainly will, where Sen reached the tier where such tasks will be menial, Nichol won’t be a greed-driven madman who will mindlessly strip the properties and the hard earned riches of every reachable individual especially from those that are simply trying to live an honest life.

“I told you to stop bothering yourself with that. In the first place we’re just a bunch that’s trying to survive and live. A power of that extent is a convenience but not a necessity to our goal.” Nichol reminded Sen.

Their goal is simply to satisfy the One Above All so they can live their lives the way they wanted. There’s no bigger picture or a greater purpose in what they do. They just needed to extend the time they had. Survive and then live.

Half an hour later, the prior team finally cleared the Maze.

“Let’s go now!” Downing spoke.

There are two types of permanent Mazes. The dungeon-type which has the form of caves and labyrinths and are located underground. Then the field-type, in which as the name implies, are lands that were overwritten by the Maze’s topography.

The Maze they are about to embark, as what was already mentioned regarding most of those from Rank 0 to Rank 2, belonged to the former.

______________________________

You have entered the Greenbleed Cavern

This Maze had already assimilated. Basic monsters will be spawned.

Entry Limit: (6/6)

______________________________

Now that he’s connected to the Akashic System, he can finally see the notification received by Rangers when entering the Maze. The Maze’s name, status, and the entrance limitations. Most limitations are simply over the number of entrants but some had stricter restrictions such as Level and Ranger type. A factor which contributed to the number of Mazes that had assimilated over the years.

The inside of Greenbleed is pretty spacious, at least thrice the size of the Rank 2 Maze where he awakened so there’s no issue of space.

“Let’s kill those fuckers!” Downing shouted obnoxiously, not caring the luring of monsters it would cause. But then again, he’s an early Level 2 and his companions are all mid or peak Level 1. Hence, there’s no reason to be wary in a Maze where the worst inhabitant is a Level 1.

Greenbleed Cavern, as the name implies, always spawn green-skinned monsters like goblins and Downing’s unnecessary provocation attracted a group of 5 goblins.

“Kyakakakakaka!”

Goblins are small creatures typically around the height of an adult’s waist. They’re not that strong, even an ordinary human with a weapon can handle them. However, they always attack in groups.

‘The spawns are goblins,’ Nichol took note of this. ‘Which means the Boss will either be a Hobgoblin or a Troll.’

Neither of those Bosses will pose a challenge at all. Even the weakest of Downing’s companions can handle either in a one-on-one. Hence, Nichol can’t still figure out why did their analysis brought them here.

‘But it’s still too early to conclude,’ he ultimately told himself as he diligently fulfil his duty.

A couple of hours had then passed and finally, it’s the Boss Room.

Entering the Boss Room, it is at this moment that Nichol finally felt a disturbance in the surrounding. The entire time since entering Greenbleed, Libra is constantly at work and they never sense any disturbance until now.

Then, before the door behind them closed, a small but highly concentrated in Mana entity flashed pass them and when Nichol turned his head around to see where it came from, he saw a shadowy silhouette running away from the door. Unfortunately, the door completely closed before Nichol could capture more details.

On the other hand, the high concentration of Mana that entered the Boss Room with them, which revealed itself to be in the form of a bee, had headed to the spawned Boss which is a Troll and entered its ear.

‘Sen, I think I know now why our analysis brought us here.’

-Really? What is it? (Sentinel)

‘What’s about to happen is a high profile assassination.’