(Julius Argenti POV)
After the school day ended, I returned to my room, unpacking all my luggage. I disliked organising my clothes but leaving everything messy would give me a headache.
After hanging all my clothes, I placed my school laptop on my desk and took out my work laptop. This was a laptop issued by SUITE and it was a top-of-the-line model.
It was extremely expensive, with greater RAM and processing power than the ones released by big companies. It was the good shit the military exclusively used.
It also served as a great gaming laptop, but I wasn't going to tell Umbra that. I connected the laptop to a private network and used a VPN to remove any traces.
"Seriously? A mission already? It's just the first day."
After connecting to the nearest SUITE base, I immediately received a document, showing my targets and their abilities. I was tempted to just ignore it, but that would just cause more problems.
"Errr... fine, I'll do it."
I reluctantly clicked on the details of the mission, making note of all the powerful targets. This group was formerly a gang before being assimilated into a fairly prominent organisation.
The group mostly comprised of non-mages with a few mages taking leadership positions. As I read the report of targets, I realised the strongest among them was only C rank.
"Why are they sending me? I'm overqualified for this."
A C rank SUITE agent could easily complete this mission. As I finished reading the report, there was a note at the bottom saying that there was the potential for a B rank to be on this mission.
"Seriously? Just for the potential for a B rank, they are sending me."
However, I understood where they were coming from. Losing a C rank agent would be devasting with the current situation and it was better to be safe than sorry.
I packed my greatsword, a combat knife and wore a fancy suit. These criminals worked out of a casino, so I had to employ other tactics to complete the mission.
The greatsword that Veronica bought also had the ability to fold into itself allowing it to become smaller. It could easily be hidden in the suit, though in its folded state it was unuseable.
If this sword was made of a regular metal, this would've comprised the integrity, but the self-repairing properties made it so this wasn't an issue.
An operation like this would take days of planning, however with SUITE behind me, I already had an infiltration plan laid in front of me. I already knew the layout of the casino with all weaknesses in security.
After finishing my preparations, I took a taxi to the casino. The bright neon lights illuminate the night sky. Crowds of people hung around the entrance, some drunk.
Standing in front of the casino, I could feel the stares of many people at me. With my looks, I could easily pass off as an adult so that wasn't the issue.
"Hey handsome, would you like to come with us?"
Two women in fancy dresses approached me. The woman who spoke flashed me a smile while accentuating her assets. Presumably, she was trying to entice me, but such tactics weren't going to work on me.
I politely declined her offer before disappearing before her eyes. I went out to the back of the casino, sneaking in through the back entrance.
I didn't want to go through the hassle of the security checkup. It would be inconvenient if they discovered the weapons on my body.
There were a few bouncers standing guard. They were civilians, which I could easily defeat, but if anything happened to them, they would be suspicious.
Standing a bit away from the entrance, I cooled the atmosphere. This caused the air density in the area surrounding me to increase. The difference in air pressure caused a blast of wind to rush toward the guards.
When they were distracted, I rushed forward and snuck past the guards. With my rank, I could move so fast that nobody could detect me.
Simultaneously, I activated a program that temporarily looped the cameras. The SUITE agent who initially scouted the casino planted this, allowing me to sneak in undetected.
I appeared in the kitchen and hid in the storeroom. The suit I wore wasn't an ordinary suit. It was a prototype made by the SUITE tech division. It could change colours by only using mana.
I don't know the science behind it, but I didn't question it. I changed the clothes to resemble the chef's clothing before waltzing past all the cooks.
The smell of the food tempted me, but I restrained myself. I could always eat after my mission.
With the constant noises in the kitchen and my skill, I exited the kitchen without catching anyone's attention.
I switched my clothes back to my suit as I explored my surroundings. To avoid arousing suspicion, I bought some chips and started gambling.
Poker was the card game I was the best at, so that was where I spent my time. To discourage cheating, all casinos have mana detectors that can easily detect if mana has been used.
This would even catch me, a B rank and even A ranks wouldn't even be spared. However, S rank with their abilities would be able to evade detection.
They couldn't create a mana disrupter similar to the one at the noble's gathering because of how expensive it is and the immense amount of mana needed to fuel it.
There also wasn't enough space to plant the Degen Trees needed to fuel the formation.
I played some games, before walking off with a profit. Even though I didn't have mana, I could still cheat without it. A bit of sleight of hand if you would.
'I should do this more often. I've earned quite a lot of money.'
While I was playing, I was looking for some rich people I could use. The casino had multiple levels and to go up the elevator, I would need a key card.
I could probably make do without one, but that would cause more inconvenience. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a young master being escorted by guards.
The young master was probably a noble but didn't have the potential to become a mage. That's why he was so loosely guarded and why I didn't feel any danger coming from him.
After I finished my games, I continued observing him. The card was probably with the noble or the head guard. Getting close to them was nigh impossible. I had to distract them.
'There!'
Nearby, there were a group of gruff men who were playing blackjack. A couple of them were pissed, probably because of the money they lost.
I neared them and dropped a drink onto their clothes. I then quickly escaped the scene, making it seem like someone else was the culprit.
Already angered from losing money, they started fighting, distracting the guards around the young master. Only the head guard remained.
"Watch where you are going!"
I walked towards the noble and accidentally bumped into the young master and the head guard. The young master was pissed, while the guard was trying to console him.
I apologised profusely, before scuttling away from the duo. As I left, a wide grin appeared on my face and a white keycard appeared between my fingers. I found the keycard on the head guard.
The head guard was a D rank mage, whose senses far exceed regular humans. So the only way I could pickpocket something from him was by using mana to enhance my speed.
Thankfully, the two men who were fighting before unconsciously released mana and tripped the mana detectors. With those two's mana flooding the area, my little use would remain concealed.
I appeared in front of the elevator and scanned his card. Then I pressed the highest level I could go. Phase 1 of the mission was over.