Chapter Nine: Sudden Assault

After decades of continuous improvement and integration, the Humanity System had become deeply ingrained in the lives of humans.

If one were to sign a contract drafted by the system, they would have to follow every rule to the letter. Going against the contract clauses would result in severe consequences no sane human was willing to bear.

Forgotten Maple drafted the contract, but before forwarding it to Valen, he asked, "May I know your Evolution Path? As the team leader, I have to be aware of this so I can take into account everyone’s strengths when issuing out commands. I, myself, am of the Speed Evolution Path."

Hearing Forgotten Maple’s question made Valen hesitate. He didn’t know what Evolution Path he should introduce himself as having. He evolved through all paths, so he had to carefully select which one to say as he would have to stick to it during this raid mission.

After a moment of thought, he came to a conclusion.

"I’m of the Strength Evolution Path," Valen announced.

He had chosen to reveal this path due to a few reasons. First, the strength evolution path was the most common of all paths. Second, it was also the hardest to control.

If he revealed another path but couldn’t control his strength, he would be exposed. Attention was the last thing he wanted right now.

Forgotten Maple nodded and also introduced the evolution paths of the others. After all that was done, he forwarded the contract to Valen.

Valen carefully read through the contract to ensure there weren’t any loopholes. Having gone through the first Silver King’s memories, he could be said to have decades of experience—albeit on paper.

Still, it was useful enough for him to recognize possible loopholes in a contract. Just as he tapped the floating blue screen before him and prepared to sign the forwarded contract, someone stepped forward from the team.

"Hold on a second," the person declared, staring at Valen from behind his mask.

Valen glanced at the masked youth before him, recognising him as the one introduced as Night Vanguard. He evolved through the endurance evolution path.

He could serve as a sturdy meatshield during this raid of theirs. He held onto a blue shield, a sheathed longsword strapped to his back. His deep blue eyes revealed a look of skepticism as he scrutinised Valen.

Frowning, Valen asked in a confused voice, "Night Vanguard, what’s the issue?"

The others also stared at him, curious as to why he had stopped Valen from signing the contract.

"Oh, it’s nothing. I just reject the idea of you having to get a share in the spoils when you might just be dead weight. Aside from the armour on you, the only other valuable thing you possess is that sword, correct? The requirements clearly stated you have to possess three pieces of common equipment, yet you came with only two and even want to sign a contract to get spoils? The others may overlook this, but I care too much for my life. Having you in this team is me clearly seeking death!" Night Vanguard stated calmly, staring at Valen with unfriendly eyes.

Everyone immediately realised that they had overlooked something so crucial. Some of them shot Night Vanguard grateful looks while others looked as though they were itching to rip Valen apart.

Iron Wraith, a strength path evolver, hissed through gritted teeth. "You actually dare to come here without fulfilling the requirements, and you even asked how the spoils are going to be divided? Do you take us for fools?"

"Worst thing is that I fell for it. He must have been laughing at us in that head of his. If it wasn’t for Night Vanguard, we would have indeed gone ahead and thrown our lives away." Shadow Circuit—a speed path evolver—snarled.

Everyone took their turns ridiculing Valen, and although Forgotten Maple remained silent, Valen could make out his ugly expression behind his mask through his eyes.

Valen remained calm in spite of everyone’s angry tirade. He tapped the contract hovering before him, writing his signature at the bottom.

Then, he turned and glanced at his party members. "I think you all are mistaken. Although I don’t possess three pieces of common equipment, my armour and sword are—"

Valen abruptly cut off his words as he subconsciously sidestepped. A faint, almost imperceptible sound of the wind being sliced reached his ears, giving him the feeling of imminent peril. He couldn’t be bothered with explaining himself to his teammates right now.

In a flash, he had leapt over three yards, unsheathing his sword and adopting the stance to begin the Basic Swordsmanship Art.

Everyone tilted their heads at Valen in confusion. He had just been explaining himself but then he leapt back and unsheathed his sword.

’Could he be planning to attack us now that he’s exposed?’

Just as they were entertaining this thought, they had to quash it immediately as a three-foot-tall, glass-like monster had revealed itself at the spot where Valen previously stood.

This scared everyone in Platform 3. As though realising the danger, the sirens blared.

"Monster attack! It’s a glass creature which possessed the power of invisibility. Be careful!" Someone yelled.

All the Evolvers unsheathed their weapons, but before they could attack, the monster vanished.

A moment later, it appeared beside Valen swinging down its paw.

Valen shifted to avoid the attack while striking back with his sword. At this moment, his mind became unusually clear.

’It’s just a Level 1 monster. I can deal with it,’ he thought as his sword cut into the body of the monster.

Clink!

Sparks flew, with only a few cracks appearing on the surface of the glass-like monster.

"SCREEE!" The beast screeched as it lunged at Valen.

’What?! Even my D-ranked sword could only slightly harm it? Why is it only after me?! I can only use that move. Hopefully, the effects of Silver Edge match my expectations.’

Valen surged forward, meeting the beast in a head-on clash.

Clank!

They pushed against one another, and Valen felt his hands go numb as he was sent reeling back a few steps.

’Is this the power of a Level 1?’

Even so, Valen didn’t linger—he couldn’t. If he didn’t swing his sword within the next three seconds, then the efforts of his sword would reset and he would have to start over.

So, he leapt for the beast, steel meeting glass. Sparks flew and the cracks on the beast’s skin widened. Of course, Valen still earned a few slashes here and there, but his suit absorbed all the damage.

They clashed for some time, yet only frustration filled Valen’s heart. The beast couldn’t do anything to him and the same went for him.

Whenever his slash count was about to reach ten, the beast would distance itself, as though sensing the danger, causing him to pause his attack and exceed his three-second limit.

This greatly annoyed Valen, because if the battle became dragged out, he would lose a source of points. Slaying this Level 1 beast would net him a few tens of points, but if the security guards of the train station arrived, it wouldn’t be his turn to earn points anymore.

The mirror beast had only reached this area because of its invisibility. However, that innate ability of it had a flaw.

Mirror beasts could only use their mirror body to shield themselves from sight for a limited period of time and it could be used only twice a day, so he had to make good use of this golden opportunity to end the beast before it activated invisibility once more!

The onlooking Evolvers stared at the battle in shock. Most of them hadn’t evolved long ago, so their levels weren’t particularly high. Although they could handle a Level 1 creature, it would not be as easy as Valen made it out to be.

"Captain Maple, why is he so strong?" Iron Wraith whispered in dumbfounded amazement.

Shadow Circuit’s lips twitched. "Could he be a Level 1 Evolver who liked keeping a low profile?"

"If that’s so, then haven’t we offended him by our previous statements?" Nova Drifter—a sound path Evolver—asked.

Forgotten Maple watched the battle scene in silence. After a while, he spoke: "It’s too early to celebrate. The mirror beast hasn’t used its second invisibility yet. Unless he possesses the sound path, he’ll be doomed. Ready your weapons, once the beast becomes invisible, we’ll charge in to help Night Star."

"Alright." Nova Drifter nodded, playing with a black dagger in his hand.

...

Valen slid backwards, having received an attack from the beast. He didn’t linger before launching another attack. This was his eighth strike.

As expected, the mirror beast shot backwards, distancing itself from him.

Valen’s eyes gleamed with mockery.

’Think you can escape?’

Although the beast wasn’t within reach of his sword, he still performed the ninth strike, swinging at empty air.

’This decides it all.’

Before he could launch his final assault, the mirror monster vanished, having used its innate invisibility.

’I’ve been waiting for this...’

Valen’s ears perked up and he tried discerning the faintest sounds around him.

One second passed...

Two seconds passed...

’Found you.’

Valen shifted his stance slightly and unleashed the tenth strike to his left in the nick of time. The green shard on the blade shone slightly and a green wave shot out from the tip of the blade, slicing the air apart.

"SCREEEEEE!" A pained scream sounded as the mirror beast was revealed. But at this moment, it was sliced in two with white blood pooling around its dying form.

The mirror beast shot Valen a resentful glare before dying, its crystal eyes revealing the calm image of Valen.

Immediately after he slew the beast, a series of system notifications sounded in his ears from his system relay.

Valen returned his Silver Edge to its sheath as he walked over the corpse of the mirror beast.

At this moment, several heavily armed guards walked into Platform 3, but he paid them no heed.

His sights were locked on Forgotten Maple’s dumbfounded teammates. As he approached, some of them subconsciously took a step back, but he remained calm.

He stopped just a few feet away from them and said in a serious tone, "As I was saying before, I think you all are mistaken. Although I don’t possess three pieces of common equipment, my armour and sword are both D-ranked."