The noon sun bathed Andrew's lonely silhouette in its fierce light as he traversed the cobbled streets of Heathgate Border Town. His eyes continuously took in the sights along the way while his ears picked up the hubbub of sounds made by the masses.
Heathgate Border Town was an urban area like no other. It was more of a fortress standing between the Ashwood Forest and the southern border of the Dartolonian Empire.
Simple but fortified gray stone buildings lined the streets, interspersed with arrow towers and a few well-placed sorcerer pagodas. Together with the high walls, they formed the basic defensive set-up of the town that would lay waste to any incoming enemy with countless spells and arrow volleys.
Most people within the town were either soldiers of the empire or warriors and apprentice sorcerers belonging to private mercenary guilds. Their constant source of income involved hunting fierce magical beasts from deep within the Ashwood Forest and selling them for money. As such, it was common to see large carts ferrying beast corpses on the streets.
Andrew saw many such sights as he headed towards the eastern part of Heathgate Border Town. He relied on his past life's memories to weave his way through the crowds before arriving at the junction leading towards the Glamourous Delights Brothel.
He took the left turn and passed by the brothel before continuing towards the Red Cloud Merchant Guild, where he was supposed to meet one of the Robinson family contacts operating in the empire.
"Save me! Please, save me!!"
Just then, the voice of a frightened woman crying out in distress sounded from the other side of the street.
Andrew looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a group of three thugs surrounding a pitiful girl who looked to be around fourteen to fifteen years old.
They had cornered the innocent girl on the wall and had already torn apart her dress. They were getting ready to do what could only be a nefarious deed in the middle of the day.
"Such a lame scheme. Do they think they can trap me with this nonsense?"
Andrew creased his brows and looked around. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that there were no other people on the street aside from him and thugs trying to rape the innocent girl.
He quickened his steps and hurried toward the direction of the Red Cloud Merchant Guild, hoping to leave the area without attracting any trouble. But all of a sudden, one of the thugs turned towards him and acted. He tossed a dark object towards him while grinning hideously.
"Shit!"
The word was all Andrew could manage as the object landed beside him. It immediately exploded with a dark luster that enveloped him. He felt all the noises around him disappearing, and everything turned dark.
His strong mentality worked wonders, and his senses acclimatized to his new surroundings within an instant. He found himself in a dark space that was clearly separate from the outside world.
'A treasure with an isolation-type darkness spell! Have my cousins finally acted? I must kill the treasure owner to escape from this isolated space.'
Andrew took a deep breath and relied on his strong perception to scan the entire space. He remained calm and waited until he heard a few voices sounding as if from far away. They most likely originated from outside the isolated space, but he could still pick them up due to his enhanced hearing.
"Young sister! I already told you that no one would fall for such a lame scheme," a male voice said. "We would have let him escape if we didn't have the shadow orb with us."
"But everything worked fine, and we still trapped him," a female voice replied. "Let's hurry and take care of him before we attract unwanted attention. We must finish everything before we catch the attention of the military or that woman from the Red Cloud Merchant Guild."
Andrew's eyes narrowed as he understood what was happening. He focused and relied on his previous life's memories to construct two temporary spell models within his soul space. His book totem trembled and oozed mana fluctuations as he expended two units of his mentality to cast two spells on himself within just over a second.
The first spell was [lesser invisibility], a rank 0 stealth spell that concealed one's presence. It had enhanced effects within a dark environment.
The second spell was [cat's agility], a rank 0 spell targeted at enhancing one's speed while causing one's movements to become lighter and more flexible. Andrew wished to use the spell to boost his already enhanced agility and, in so doing, gain an advantage over the enemies.
A few figures appeared within the isolated shadowy space after a few seconds. They were the three thugs and the pitiful young girl that acted a shitty play to attract Andrew's attention on the streets.
"This is surprising," the girl's voice sounded as her eyes turned toward Andrew's position. "Didn't the intelligence from the client mention that the target was a powerless young man without any knowledge of spells? Why does this guy know lesser invisibility?"
"It's just a shitty rank-0 spell," one of the thugs holding a pitch-black dagger said. "No need to worry about it. Any run-of-the-mill sorcerer can learn rank-0 spells. Let's finish the task before any problems arise."
"Can I ask a question?" Andrew suddenly said after knowing that his stealth had no effect on the enemies. He was a bit relaxed as he had already relied on his sharp instincts honed over years of battling demons to figure out their powers.
The girl was an advanced-stage apprentice sorcerer, while the three thugs were rank-two assassins with combat powers only amounting to secondary-stage sorcerers.
None of them could match up to Andrew, who was already a peak-stage apprentice supported by countless life-and-death experiences from his years battling the demons.
"Can you tell me who hired you to take my life?" Andrew continued in a calm voice. "I can exchange the information with a lot of gold coins. While you are at it, can you tell me how you got hold of the info that I was heading to the Red Cloud Merchant Guild?"
The assassins suddenly stood rooted in their positions. Peculiar radiances flashed within their eyes as they glanced at Andrew with incredulity. They were most probably wondering how he could be so calm in such a situation.
"Guys!" The seemingly innocent girl whispered. "This guy seems dangerous. I have a feeling that he can even see us while we're in the shadow space. We should be careful..."
"You guys don't wish to answer me," Andrew interrupted the girl.
He took a step forward, and something incredible happened. His over-the-limit agility bloomed in great splendor as his figure disappeared from one end of the shadow space and appeared before the girl within an instant.
The girl's innocent face paled, and her eyes flashed with horror. She tightened her hands on something within her hands, probably to trigger a spell attached to some treasure. But her efforts were fruitless as Andrew gave her no time.
The girl's movements appeared to be in slow motion within Andrew's eyes. He calmly stepped forward and threw a seemingly simple punch at the girl's stomach.
It was a one-hit K.O. She groaned and bent forward while dropping the item she had been grasping in her hand. She couldn't even tell right from left at the moment.
"Tsk, tsk!" Andrew smiled as he caught the item dropped by the girl. It was a fist-sized orb with many runic inscriptions adorning its surface. It exuded a mysterious force that appeared to be connected to the entire isolated space.
"So, this is the treasure you used to isolate the space? Where could poor wretches such as yourselves have obtained such a precious treasure?"
Andrew questioned but didn't stop moving. His body flickered away from the incapacitated girl and strangely appeared in the middle of the three thugs.
His over-the-limit agility, boosted by the [cat's agility] spell and his peak-stage apprentice sorcerer physique, worked wonders again. He calmly incapacitated the three thugs with only three punches and took their daggers away before they could react appropriately. He then stepped back and left them groaning on the ground.
"Now, where were we?" Andrew stowed the daggers in his ring and calmly dusted his hands while glaring at his fallen enemies.
He knew that they would have taken his life without batting an eye if he had been weaker. He wasn't about to show them any mercy after incapacitating them.
"Who sent you to take my life? And how did you get hold of the information that I would be heading to the Red Cloud Merchant Guild?"
The thugs remained silent. It seemed like they didn't want to answer.
Andrew observed them before focusing his fiery gaze on the girl. "You're still trying to chant a spell before me? Why don't you learn?"
Andrew rushed forward and mercilessly slapped the girl, sending her tumbling in the air like a spinning top. But he didn't stop at that as the girl was dangerous. She was a sorcerer who could hurt him with her spells even if she was weaker than him.
He followed up his attack with a few more slaps before picking her up like a powerless chicken by her neck. "Do I have your attention now?" He asked with the same calm voice he had been using.
The girl nodded in response.
"Good!" Andrew said with a smile. "Can you answer my questions now?"
The girl nodded again.
"Young sister!" One of the thugs suddenly said. "Don't say anything. The military will discover this place soon enough. He can't hold us here forever."
"That's indeed true! It seems I'll have to be quick about my business," Andrew said and stepped towards the man who had spoken.
Without saying any more needless words, he summoned one of the daggers he had seized from the enemies before swiping it across the man's neck. Everything happened so quickly, and before the rest could react, the man was already gurgling and losing blood on the floor.
"One down, two to go," Andrew mumbled while approaching another thug.
He followed the same pattern and swiftly slit the enemy's neck. He quickly sent him on the way to hell without any change in his expression.
He was about to step forward and end the last enemy. But just then, a weak voice reverberated in his ears.
"Please, have mercy!" It was the girl he had grasped by the neck who was struggling to make her voice heard. "I'll talk! I'll talk! Please, have mercy...?
"You have thirty seconds to answer all my questions," Andrew responded. "Otherwise, I will lock you up and torture you for months after taking care of this piece of shit." He pointed at the last thug still surviving.
"I'll talk, I'll talk," the girl mumbled incoherently.
"Good! Who sent you after me, and where did you get the info about my movements? Two, where did you find this orb?" Andrew questioned while flicking the orb up into the air.