Birth Of The Crafts-God

"We surmised that the assassin was trying to escape with a hover car fitted with hypersonic driver systems. But for some reason, he not only failed but also died while at it. The forensics are currently on it, but the preliminary scan identified a problem with the hypersonic drive sequence. It seemed to have been damaged just before it reached full output."

"Don\'t you think it\'s strange that he failed?" The woman glanced at the red haired man and asked.

The latter was stunned a bit before shaking his head. He understood what she meant, but until the forensics analysis in the place was completed, they couldn\'t go around pointing fingers, especially at a human.

"Even if we want to say he did it, there\'s no evidence of that happening. Also, he is a human; how can a human destroy a hover car, especially one with hypersonic speed capabilities and structure?" The brown haired man said. He similarly knew what the lieutenant meant by her words, but he was of the same idea as his colleague.

The lady stared towards the horizon as she said,

"There\'s only one way to find out."

. . .

After Lucas had murdered the assassin, he immediately made his way back to the store as that was where he felt safe. Although he was close to the market zone, the Seven Sparks Forge was still far from the area, so Lucas decided to bite the bullet and pay for a hover taxi.

While in the hover taxi, Lucas asked the system,

"What are the odds of them finding out I\'m related to his death?"

"One hundred percent." The system succinctly replied to him.

Lucas wasn\'t surprised by this.

This world was much more advanced than Earth, especially in terms of technology. Even though he had never spotted any cameras, Lucas was sure that there was something keeping an eye on everyone, but he couldn\'t identify what it was. There was no saying whether he was caught by the monitoring system when the crime took place, but it definitely observed him following after the assassin.

"If I get investigated, what are the odds I\'ll end up in jail." Lucas asked again.

"Host should know that the system\'s function is to aid you in becoming the next Crafts-God and not for answering a Q&A session."

"True, but as it stands, that would be difficult to pull off if I get in jail. Who knows, it might be so long that I\'ll end up dead in prison." Lucas said nonchalantly.

"In that case, the system would take the next best course of action."

Lucas felt a foreboding feeling before asking

"...which is?"

"To abandon you and find a new host."

Lucas silently cursed at the system for being so heartless, but he wasn\'t affected by this. He took the system as an equipment to help him get stronger and improve his skills, while the system used him as a probable labrat. Each to his own, but it was still a win-win situation for both sides. There was no emotional entanglement between them and it was simply a transaction relationship.

Lucas brought his thoughts back to reality and began analysing his situation. He had currently murdered a hyuman, which was one of the gravest crimes in Baylands city-state. Even though the target was an assassin after his life, Lucas has survived the attempt and the option of escaping was a viable course of action. However, he chased after the man and killed him.

It would be difficult to classify this as self-defence.

What\'s more, Lucas was human. If he was a hyuman, it might be possible to fight for an exoneration on the terms of self-defence and retaliation. However, if the judge was someone who disliked humans, that would be impossible.

Even if the judge wasn\'t a speciesist, about seventy percent of hyumans didn\'t consider humans to be the same as them -quite alright-, so they didn\'t have any sense of relation or consideration for them.

All this added together made Lucas realise that if he was arrested and trialled, there was a more likely possibility of him ending up in jail.

The hover taxi soon reached the store and Lucas got down and went into the building. Right now, he had to figure out a way to not escalate the situation.

\'Worse comes to worse, I\'ll hole up in the store or I\'ll just burst out of jail.\' Lucas thought.

He went to the workshop to work on some items, almost as if he had forgotten about his impending trouble. It didn\'t take long for Lucas to abruptly stop and face the entrance of the store.

"System...?" Lucas asked as he could sense something strange in the air.

"Host\'s suspicions are correct. The store is currently surrounded."

"Indeed. They came quite fast." Lucas smiled as he walked out of the workshop.

*Ding*

The bell on the door rang as a few figures stepped into the store.

In the lead was an icy beauty dressed in a blue and black attire with stern looking eyes and an air of indifference around her. Despite being in foreign territory and looking not more than twenty five years, she was composed and still radiated a confident feeling as if everything was under her control.

Behind the woman were two men dressed in a similar attire, with one of them looking younger and having brown hair, while the other one had red hair. The brown haired man was like a snake, with shifty eyes that scanned the entire store while giving out a dangerous vibe.

As for the red haired man, he gave off the feeling of a veteran tiger that had lived in the jungle for a long time, mastering the art of stealth and burst.

When the trio saw Lucas they stopped a few metres away and simultaneously studied him for a few seconds.

"How may I help you?" Lucas plainly asked.

Even if they were the police or whatever, he wasn\'t obliged to give them special treatment and neither would he. Lucas had seen even more terrifying people in his past life, and while he might be starting anew, it didn\'t mean that he would behave differently.

"Are you Lucas Saunters?" The red haired man asked, despite having seen his picture before.

"I am." Lucas replied.

"Please come with us. We need your help in answering a few questions." The man smiled.

Instead of replying, Lucas glanced at the woman. She was clearly the leader of this group, but relegated the role of talking to her deputy. For some reason, this irked Lucas a lot. The look in her eyes was almost as if she considered having a conversation with Lucas beneath her.

This wasn\'t the same as the haters of humanity who looked down on him due to his species; this was an innate sense of arrogance she possessed.

But even with such an explanation, Lucas didn\'t like it.

"And who might you be?" Lucas asked, facing the woman, but his words were clearly aimed at the group.

The woman\'s brows wrinkled as she released a hint of her pressure.

Fourth level of the Apertures Opening stage.

From his experience with the Autumn Gate guild and the desolate beasts of the Cicalien Mountains, Lucas could easily approximate the woman\'s strength. Such a level of power achieved and while still being so young was amazing. But, Lucas had seen more. Even if one were to eliminate his past life\'s experiences and solely consider his encounters in Eretre, Lucas had seen more powerful characters.

For instance, Lisa, the vice guild leader of the Autumn\'s Gate guild, who was of roughly the same age as the woman before Lucas now. However, Lisa was much stronger and already at the fifth level.

Others were: Harry, who was at the fifth level; the chimera monster at the Green-Snout metal moles\' hideout, which was at the peak of the fifth level; and Crimson Fang, the guild leader of the Autumn\'s Gate guild, who was at the sixth level.

All of them were much stronger than the woman present, and Lucas didn\'t react to the display of their aura. So, there was even less to say about this attempt. What\'s more, this was the store; the Host Protection Mechanism was always active.

Lucas just stared at her as normal, looking as if he felt nothing.

The woman was surprised by this and increased her force, pressuring Lucas with it, but he still remained nonchalant.

Suddenly, the lieutenant snorted and grabbed at Lucas.

Her hand speed was so shockingly fast that Lucas failed to react in time; even if he could, there was nothing he could do about it. Before he knew it, his neck was clasped in her hand.

"You\'re coming with us, now."