"I messed up, didn't I?" Adrian mumbled, scratching his head.
He had hurriedly left the pub, heeding the pub owner's warning regarding the Raven. But unfortunately, Adrian forgot he barely knew the layout of the slum.
The revolting, filth-filled streets all looked uncannily similar. The place was like a maze Adrian hadn't entered before. Besides, he had no idea where he would find a shop in the mess of a place.
Adrian scratched his head, realising he had to ask someone for directions. But he was in the Slums, not the Central city. People around here didn't hand out help for free. So, it boiled down to paying strangers to open their mouths or pounding them till they did.
As much as he liked the idea of roughing up strangers, Adrian knew he'd attract attention, the kind he didn't want on himself. Moreover, he preferred to avoid making more enemies in unfamiliar territory.
"Don't want anyone snitching about me to the Ravens... It's better to pay someone, even though I don't like the option."
Opting for the second approach, he spotted an elderly man sitting on a rusty metal crate, his eyes clouded with age. As Adrian approached the old man, he waved Adrian off like he was some pest.
Adrian's anger flared up a bit. But given his tattered attire and the shady neighbourhood, he couldn't blame the old man for being dismissive. So, he took a better approach.
The old man's face completely changed as Adrian retrieved a Lumen Shard from his pocket. Instead of looking repulsed, the man's eyes now invitingly shone over Adrian as he walked up to the man.
"Looking for something, lad?" the old man inquired, showing off his toothless grin.
"Just directions," Adrian nodded, holding out the Lumen Shard. "Can you point me to the nearest shop where I can sell some rubbish I plundered from a dungeon?"
While merely mentioning being a Plunderer would have gotten Adrian thrown in prison had he been in the Central city, the slum-dwellers did not care about such things. After all, most of them were themselves, either Plunderers or worse.
Besides, telling the old man about his activities would decrease the chance of him trying to fool a Plunderer and keep his nose out of Adrian's business.
The elderly man's eyes twinkled upon seeing the shard, and he was more than happy to be of service.
"Head down that way," he gestured, "turn left, and you'll find a shop run by a fellow named Gideon. He'll take care of your loot. If you tell him Robbie sent you there, he might even offer you a discount."
"Thank you," Adrian nodded and tossed the shard towards the old man before disappearing. Little did he know, the friendly elder had just sent him into a trap.
As Adrian walked toward the supposed shop, his gut was gnawing at him. With enhanced [Mana Capacity] came a little thing as sensory awareness, and it was that sensory awareness that was yelling at Adrian.
It didn't take long for him to realise he was being followed. At first, Adrian thought it was the Ravens but quickly dismissed the thought.
The Ravens were the literal owners of the slums. Someone like them wouldn't bother with sneaky tactics. If they wanted, they could jump him on the streets and beat the heck out of him while no one would stop them. It only left him with one answer to why he was being followed.
'Money.'
Someone must have seen him handing a shard to the old man and decided robbing him would be easy. However, not wanting to engage with them, Adrian chose to wave them off his trail.
Adrian weaved through the twisted pathways of the slums, making abrupt turns left and right. But his followers were persistent. No matter where he went, the followers appeared shortly behind him.
'What else did I expect? They have probably lived their entire lives in the slums. It's obvious they know these paths better than I do.'
Adrian thought about using [Adaptive Skin] to trick his followers but decided not to. He didn't know if any of them had sensory skills or not. If they did, using the skill would be pointless, and the skill would go under cool down, meaning he wouldn't be able to use it for a while.
'But I got to do something! I can't keep running from them forever...'
Frustrated from the chase, Adrian decided it was time to face the music and lured them into a narrow alley where he planned on confronting them head-on.
Watching Adrian disappear into the alley, the pursuers rushed in, expecting to corner him. However, they were in for a surprise, and when they entered the place, it was entirely empty!
"Where'd he go?" One of the seven followers asked.
"Keep your eyes peeled! He could be anywhere!" Another one instructed.
The gang's leader, a burly guy with a scarred face, barked orders. "Spread out and find him, you idiots!"
Adrian chuckled to himself as the gang scrambled to locate him. He used the [Adaptive Skin] skill to make his presence scarce as he sat on a rickety set of stairs above them.
Unable to find him, the gang members grew frustrated, and Adrian could hear their grumbles. At first, Adrian had planned to deceive the group and carry on his way. But after realising the group's leader had some decent gear on himself, Adrian decided to teach them a lesson.
The gang heard a whistle out of nowhere, drawing their attention upwards. Before the gang could realise what was happening, Adrian leapt off the stairs and onto one of the men below. The impact knocked the guy out cold as his head met the hard pavement.
Adrian stood up, gripping the sword tightly. "Alright... Who's next?"