Alec found himself in the room where he had spent the night, or rather, its bathroom. He held a toothbrush in his hand, his eyes glaring at the mirror above the sink.
He wished that what he had experienced was nothing more than a dream, but that thought was tossed right out the door when he saw a timer ticking in the left corner of his vision.
Opening the tap, cold water gushed out. He cupped some water with his hands and splashed it on his eyes, a tiny part of him hoping that the piercing cold temperature would wake him up to reality.
However, the timer remained stuck in his vision, and deep down he knew he was in trouble. What does a government's dog know about games? Making people happy?
His job had always been simple: they gave him a target, he infiltrated that target's friendspace without drawing any suspicion. Before anyone could figure out what had happened, the target would be dead, and the official cause of death was always some type of accident. Always.
This was a new avenue of life for him, and frankly, he didn't know the best way to approach it. Alec chose to take a cold shower, hoping that the tap water wasn't cold enough.
After a while, he finished and picked up a few clothes that his new identity would wear casually. It was a pair of black shorts and a white skintight t-shirt that showed off some of his muscles. His hair was dyed fully black to fit the identity, and his eyes were the most beautiful shade of green anyone would ever come across.
Now, all he needed was a job to better integrate into the Slums. He had a plan that would ensure he made contact with some of the larger gang members in the area. Lana was part of that plan.
Lana's Night Out wasn't a random place he chose on a whim. He had a goal here. Lana was of B-rank importance and suspected to be someone from Arcane's inner circle.
He stumbled out of his room and walked towards the elevator. Pressing the down button, he waited patiently until the elevator chimed. The descent down was a boring one, even for someone who was supposed to be immune to boredom. The ground floor was filled with people from all walks of life, at least in the Slums variation of that saying. Surprisingly, the bar was filled to the brim during the early hours.
A casual glance allowed him to sense their auras. Most of the people hanging around the bar were Tier 2 Soulburners, and with his enhanced hearing, he couldn't help but perk up at the topics they spoke about.
"Heh, the Grave Diggers have gotten hold of another rift, a small one though. Tier 1, apparently," a large scarred man said in a hushed tone. "The Millennium Rabbits believe it belongs to them, since half the portal crosses over their territory. I just hope this doesn't devolve into a bloody war like the last time."
"The Millennium Rabbits are trigger-happy. Who doesn't know that? Especially with this new Tier 1 rift. It's small, yes. But you haven't caught a whiff of the rumor yet, right? Word around everyone half their salt is that it has a few enderstone deposits. Some say, based on the aura alone, it's about half a million Tier 1 gravestones," the matchstick-like man opposite the scarred one spoke. People never bothered to call him by his name either, and to his distaste, most called him Stick. The man opposite him was called Scarface. The Slums were harsh; once a name stuck, it stuck for the rest of your life.
"If that were true, then the Bloodhounds wouldn't just watch it sit there," Scarface said, grabbing the iron mug of string beer next to him and chugging half of it in one sip.
Alec noted down the details of their conversation and thought of taking a look at the rift one of these days, if possible even today. It might lead to some sort of clue, and even if it didn't, he couldn't let something like that fly under his radar.
"Alec!" Lana shouted.
Whipping his attention to her, a blush formed on his cheeks, seamlessly falling into his naive character. He walked towards her, his steps deliberate, feigning power and confidence to cover up his embarrassment.
"How was your night?" she asked in a lovely tone that drew out another blush from him.
"It was refreshing. Thanks again, ma'am," he said.
"I'm not 'ma'am,' call me Lana," Lana said.
Alec nodded as if he understood her instruction, but out of instinct, he replied, "Yes, ma'am. Uh, eh, Lana."
Lana's face shifted through a range of colors and expressions, but settled on a smile once he called her name. She didn't mind the respect, but she was a young woman. Next month would be her twenty-second birthday. No way would she allow someone to "ma'am" her to death.
"Follow me," she said.
Alec nodded a few more times, his hands sweating in his pockets. His shoulders drooped as they stopped talking and fell into silence as they walked.
"Mark, keep an eye out. I'm going to my office. I want Tanya on the floor, keeping an eye out for the two guys in the left corner of the bar," Lana gave her orders to Mark through a method known as soul transmission. It was a method available to Soulburners once they crossed the third tier.
When Lana said "office," Alec was expecting a literal office. Unfortunately, he wasn't creative enough. She led him through a series of winding hallways until they reached a heavily fortified door. Waving her hand over the sensor next to it, the door rumbled open. A blast of heat shot out, and Alec winced.
Lana waved her hand towards him, covering him in a flaming red aura that reduced the heat to null.
Alec looked behind the door and saw something he had never witnessed before, and that was saying something considering his immense experiences. The room beyond couldn't possibly be called an office; it should have been dubbed a cultivation room based on his understanding. From the door to the center of the room was a footpath made from obsidian that pulsed with comfortable soul energy, leading to a platform in the center that held a desk, a shelf, and a few computers. But that wasn't what captivated him.
Rather, it was the molten lava surrounding the platform and footpath that stole the show. The flaming orange liquid generated immense amounts of heat that was pretty good for Mid-Tier Soul Burners, basically heaven.
He had never once witnessed someone melding a workspace with a cultivation space. Very few people wanted that overlap, but Lana seemed to have an entirely different take on that idea.
"My office," Lana said.