The underworld society is a very dangerous place for an Uvelia student like me to wander around carelessly.
The guards and the group managing the black market is specially warry of delvers on the side of the Alliance which would mean that they would be familiar with students from a prestigious academy.
'I have to be carefull not to out myself in the open' I reminded myself as I inputted the mana code on the wall.
It's locations was easy to pinpoint out since in the story, Jun had infiltrated the place in order to get information on the cultist movement and also buy some illegal stuff that he was really reluctant to buy at the time.
All of that information came in really handy in finding the black market and figuring out the mana code for the entrance.
'It's location is fairly easy to find, staying incognito is the greater concern for me' I thought as I looked around the neatly aligned stalls in my vicinity.
I had already gone inside the black market before nightfall, worrying that it would be harder to find it at that type of time.
All I needed to do was follow the description of the market from the story and match it with the map from my vrace.
It was easy to navigate but the environment that I was in really screamed to me that it was a really sketchy and dangerous place to be in.
'I wouldn't want to stay here any longer than needed' I lamented.
I scanned the place, minding not to look overly eager to leave immediately.
However it did bother me that almost everyone in the black market was wearing some type of mask just as I did.
I even dyed my hair black and wore a white mask with two eyeholes as the only functional design.
It might be a lame mask but it was the most mediocre one of the bunch I could find from the mall I visited earlier.
I already knew that most people that made business in the black market wanted to conceal their identities as much as possible.
Even Jun did the same which in hindsight was a useless effort since he would always attract attention and trouble to himself wherever he goes.
In my case, I was confident I wasn't that much big of a person to be in the hitlist but seeing my perfectly normal mask among the peculiar looking ones made me regret picking it out in the first place.
'This thing only makes me stand out more...'
I shook off those worries in the meantime while I looked through the several juicy items and potions laid out before me.
Even in one glance, one could tell that the merchandise was of high quality from the norm but one would say it's natural since it came from an illegal channel.
It basically avoided all the regulation and policies governing the sale of such potent and rare items that comes from the labyrinth.
Not that it was any concern for me since I only came here for one specific material in the first place.
I've passed by several stalls already and I was worrying whether the material I was looking for was not available in this place.
If I couldn't find it here today, I would have to adjust my plans for the coming test.
As I though of that, a lone stall caught my attention.
It was at the corner of the area where stones where being sold and it was evident that it was not a popular stall at first glance since none came to visit it.
I quickly came to to that particular store. I scanned through their items as I found the reason why no one ever came here to buy something.
The stall basically sold art materials. Not that it was to be disparaged but no one in their right mind would waste their time in the black market to buy art materials.
One could just do it in the regular stores in the city afterall.
I turned my attention to the vendor who had a weird look on his face as if he couldn't believe that someone actually came to check out his goods.
'...This guy reminds me of that poor kid....' I thought feeling a sense of dejavu.
Although he was a pitiable person, I quickly change my attention towards his merchandise.
More specifically, the stone materials that he had on display.
There were varying kinds, some were shaped like an exlpoding star while some had weird shades of color on their surfaces.
Alas, the most eyecatching stone for me was two perfectly black round stones conjoined together by a slight gap in between.
"Hey, How much is this stone?" I immediately asked.
The vendor looked absentminded for a while until he snapped out of his daze. He looked at the stone I was pointing at and quickly gave the price.
"278,000 Del's?"
'Is this guy ripping me off? No, the price is close to the ones shown on the material list on the alliance data website...'
I sighed inwardly as I could see why it was high. The stone is not really known to be that rare but it was hard to extract in one piece from what I had read from my brief research.
That is also the reason why it must be rarely sold in the regular market while there's a higher chance of it appearing in this kind of place.
I eventually gave in after giving it some thought. I place my vrace over his, transferring the required money.
Right after that, I stored the stone in my vrace as I tried to quickly leave the place. A sense of relief had overcome me after finally having acquired the material I was looking for.
Though there was sense of loss after seeing the balance in my vrace.
I felt so relieved that I failed to immediately sense the danger in front of me until it was too late to run or hide.
My eyes widened in shock when I saw the small figure that was walking a few meters away from me.
Sweat started to fall from my masked face as I tried to calm my breathing down. I stood in place as if time had stopped at that moment.
Red rustic hair and eyes that's filled childish curiosity. His unusually small height made his identity undeniable.
'....Soren Jillert....'
I backed away little by little as my heart pounded as fast as it's ever been. In my panic, I didn't even notice he had a companion with him.
Although he's still the most dangerous person in the black market in my eyes.
'..Shit! why the hell is he here?!.... Is it the stone?"
"...I messed up...." I uttered in frustration as I observed him by a mere distance away
I didn't consider that he would come to seek out the stone this early in the story. I should have considered that there was that possibility of encounter.
I assumed that his search would be a little later on when Delan's shops operations have stabilized from those loan sharks.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that we would meet in this type of way.
'...No, he doesn't know who I'am yet. Calm down.Now that I look again, he's with someone but he's not familiar to me. Damn it..' I cursed, letting out the stress piling up within me.
I breathed in and out, trying to make sense of the situation at hand.
'..If he's looking for this, he might be using his skill right now, he can even sense it from inside vrace. If I pass by him like this, I'm going to be a goner..'
Running away was an option available but I couldn't be sure If I could slip away from him in the first place and now that he has someone with him, the choice of running away becomes much riskier.
The other option would be rather difficult for me without a mental skill to suppress my thoughts but another way to do it is using extreme stimulus to jumble my thoughts and intention away from him.
Baiting the danger sense of his skill will delay his transition to his normal state. It's a trick that the protagonist once used to escape from this guy.
The fact that Jun in his overpowered version could only run away from this runt using a cheap trick says a lot about how dangerous this kid really is.
'My goggles are still in my vrace...good it will be ten times more effective this way then...'
I looked at his direction once again. His frolicking behavior is a good start to increase my bloodlust.
"You're not getting this stone you prick..." I mumbled begrudgingly.
'[Penetrating Gaze!]'
I activated my skill without holding back as I added any bloodlust I had in me right at him.
The whole place was a mess. All I could see was bones walking around me, everything felt transparent in my eyes.
The stalls, the ground, the ceilings and the walls felt like it wasn't there anymore.
I felt like hurling any second now but it seemed that he had already sensed immediate danger.
Soren had already stopped in place as his eyes narrowed like an arrow finding it's target.
My knees almost buckled as I desperately tried to keep standing. The pink glow in my eyes had already vanished, it had only left a huge constant panging pain in my head.
With my thoughts and my eyes literally shut off, I quickly passed by the two with what little energy and sense I had left in myself in that moment.
I kept walking like a drunk man, colliding with stalls and people alike. I kept myself from feeling anything other than the pain, forcing myself to focus on it entirely.
My painful walk continued until I reached the secret entrance. I passed through it as fast as I could.
"Uueeehhhhhh!?"
I vomited right after ripping off my mask, my knees fell to the ground as soon as I felt the cold wind brush past my skin.
I kept letting it out, the pain inside my head slowly dissipating.
I then found myself leaning on the dirty wall of this dirty street, my clothes stained with the content of what I ate.
My eyes still hurt like hell but I opened one of it as I looked up at the full moon that illuminated the pathetic sight.
However a chuckle instead escaped my mouth, only to hide this frustration welling up inside.
"..Screw..you..." I mumbled, a faint smile showing through under the light of the moon.