Supremacy Games

The driver wasn't really a good guy trying to make a living by driving this shitty cab. In fact, he was part of one of the small gangs in Craghorn.

They mostly prey on new arrivals by checking first if they were rich or not. The way they do so was by asking them to buy the list for a massive amount of money.

If they agreed in a heartbeat, the driver take them to an empty alley and stop the hovercar. Then, he would act like it broke down and exit to check the engine.

The moment he did so, he gets jumped up by his gang members and beaten up to avoid suspicion while the passenger receives a totally different treatment.

Since the gang members always moved in a pack and they were strong on their own rights, the passengers usually concede to their conditions to avoid getting killed.

That's because unlawful killing in the city was totally allowed as long as it didn't happen in public space.

This sort of freedom was the reason why Felix wasn't requested to sign a contract before stepping foot on the planet.

A contract that should forbid such criminal activities.

One would think that the capital city of the empire with the strongest army in the universe would have the strictest order and safest environment.

Alas, that wasn't the case at all.

Craghorn city was filled with tens of gangs made out of retired mercenaries, criminals who joined the Mercenary Guild but quit after finishing their sentence, and failed recruits.

Although the army could clear them out in a single week if they desired, they still left the gangs to keep doing their pitty business in the capital city.

Before stepping foot in the city, Felix had done his due diligence and found out everything to know about this dreadful city.

This was the reason he knew that the driver meant bad business the moment he proposed that price.

As for the reason why the army left the city to be a den of criminals? No one really knows but the Great Commander who gave off the order.

Though, Felix had read a few smart guesses in the network. His favorite was that the criminals were there to filter the good apples from the bad ones.

If one was stupid enough to get robbed or killed on his way to register in either the army or the mercs, they wanted nothing from him.

Only those who were smart, strong, cunning, observative, and battle-honed were required to fight against those abominations.

The rest would be merely wasting their resources and time to train.

"We are here sir." The driver notified Felix with his face looking in front, not daring to stare at him.

"Thanks for the list."

Crack!

Felix patted the driver's shoulder lightly and exited the cab.

"Mmmm!!"

Not caring about the stiffened cries of the driver, Felix took big strides towards the hotel's front gate.

It was guarded with two soldiers wearing white winter coats and holding long silver energy rifles.

When it came to security within buildings? No one had to worry about a thing.

Just because the army allowed rats in their city, it didn't mean that they were welcomed into their houses.

'So, this is the best hotel in the city.' Felix stared at the grey walls and basic furniture with a speechless look, feeling like he was cheated by the cab driver.

However, after going forward and asking the lady at the front desk, he realized that this was indeed the best hotel.

"One suite please." Felix requested while registering his ID into the guests' list.

"Alone?" The receptionist smiled charmingly as she asked.

"Yes."

"Here's your key." The receptionist handed him a card and added playfully, "If you want some company dial the number in the back."

"Will do." Felix replied casually and walked towards the elevator.

'Like hell you will.' Asna squinted her eyes threateningly while doing her nails.

'You can have a say in it if you were my girlfriend.' Felix teased.

'You!' Asna was left tongue-tied yet again.

Felix smirked faintly and entered the elevator.

As for the number on his card? He wasn't planning on calling it since he knew that it wasn't for the receptionist but a prostitute business that could hook him up.

The receptionist was paid by the business to make such offers to single clients.

It was a common practice that he had experienced a few times in his previous life.

Naturally, the act itself would be done in the UVR unless the client paid extra for the real experience.

After Felix reached the top floor of the hotel, he checked in the suite. He wasn't surprised one bit when he saw that the room was just as sunless as the city.

In his eyes, the suite was just a bigger version of a motel room.

Though Felix liked it since the hygiene was top-notch and that it was a sound-proof suite. Those were the only two requirements he cared about.

After he got comfortable on the bed, Felix brought out the holographic list again. This time, he started reading it carefully.

The list was split into the people he shouldn't cross and the things he needed to take advantage of if the opportunity presented itself.

'As I have read in the network, the current big dogs in the city are the five major squads owned by the Void Guild Assembly Members.'

Felix had already etched in his mind the names of those squads and their logo so if he ever met with a member, he would make sure to avoid bashing his teeth in. 

Those five mercenary squads were The Ring of Phantoms, Unsung Heroes, Exalted Fangs, Blind Scarves, and last but not least, Void Harvesters.

Those were the only squads that were led by 'SS' ranked mercenaries with the highest authority in the Branch.

Felix wanted dearly to avoid getting himself entangled in their matters and waste his precious time.

As he read further down, he started to see some new Intel that he didn't find in the network.

'Loyal Patrons, a 'B' ranked squad, notorious in the city for paying gangs to harass lone new mercenaries just to show up and save them.' Felix snickered, 'They are really trying everything to get good mercs to join their squads.'

Such a shameless technique would actually work on some new recruits if they didn't know about the scheme beforehand.

Even Felix was ignorant about the matter just a few seconds ago.

When the lone recruit sign a contract with the squad only then would he realize that he was duped.

Scammed in a sense that he had joined a shitty ass squad with a shitty ass clearance rate of missions.

Alas, most squad contracts forbid the members from ditching the squad before finishing a number of missions with the squad.

'This city really doesn't have much respect for mercenaries.' Felix scratched his chin as he closed off the list.

He could understand the soldiers not moving against the gangs to protect the new arrivals.

But to allow direct harassment of real mercenaries doing their job?

That's a bit too much discrimination in his mind.

If a soldier was treated in the same manner, those gangs members would have their spines removed from their back almost immediately.

'Whatever, I'm strong enough to ignore this shit anyway.' Felix closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Tomorrow was a big day as he would head to the Void Guild to apply!

*****

The Next Morning at 07:00 AM...

Felix could be seen eating breakfast on a common-looking wooden table in the living room.

After he was done, he beamed a black chest and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Go for it." Asna replied as she yawned.

Eee Eee!

When Nimo saw the black chest, his eyes brightened up in delight.

In the past month or so, he was being fed void energy by Felix and Asna on daily basis from those chests.

By now, more than thirty chests had been consumed by him and still, the egg refused to hatch already.

Whoosh!!

The moment Felix opened the chest, he placed his palm inside and started absorbing the purplish void energy automatically without worrying about getting harmed by it.

He had already reached 19% in his integration, allowing him to unlock two passives.

One was Void Immunity while the other was called Dimensional Senses.

Void Immunity was self-explanatory as for Dimensional Senses? It was a passive that allowed Felix's senses to cross dimensions.

In other words, Felix could hear, feel, speak to the other side without even being in it!

This was a different version than the passive described by Lady Sphinx.

But Felix wasn't complaining since it was much better than merely sensing fluctuation in the other dimension.

In a few seconds, the chest was emptied out by Asna. Felix closed it and beamed it back in his spatial card. Then, he wore his winter clothes and exited his room.

Meanwhile, Asna was purifying the energy while at the same time feeding it to Nimo.

Kee Kee!

The little greedy raccoon kept rolling on the ground in pure euphoria.

It was a very very long time since he ate purified void energy that exists only in the core of the void realm.

Asna kept feeding him continuously until he finally stopped rolling and started showing weary signs.

Asna cut off the stream after seeing his cute eyes were closed shut.

Just like Felix, he also had a limitation of daily intake since Asna was shoving purified energy down his throat instead of letting the egg bathe in it.

'Is it done?' Felix inquired while calling for a cab in the cold street.

'Yep, he is sleeping just like a baby.' Asna answered.

'How much did he absorb this time?'

'2% more than yesterday.'

'Sigh, by the time we finish all the chests, the void energy I gather will have the same quantity as a bag of peanuts in his eyes..' Felix's eyelids twitched at Nimo's increasing apatite.