Alice and I watched as the massive doors Liam had passed through slowly closed with a loud thud.
When I turned around to leave, I realized no one was following me. Alice remained still, her eyes fixed on the doors, even though they were now completely shut.
I know what she's thinking…
I walked up slowly and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine," I said quietly, trying to reassure her.
"I know... it's just that…" she murmured, still staring ahead.
"I get it. You're more worried about what could happen later, right?"
"Yeah…" she said, her face filled with concern.
Despite what others thought of Alice aggressive, impulsive, drawn to trouble the truth was that she deeply cared about those close to her. And her brother, of course, was one of the most important.
Liam. The only second child in history born to two paladin parents.
That matters, because it's been proven that the more powerful the parents, the greater the likelihood their children will be born genetically gifted. Meaning they'll have talents and abilities well above average.
Some believers claim that the reason high-ranking individuals struggle to have children is divine a way to preserve balance and prevent the rise of too many overpowered beings.
Whether that's true or not, there's no denying Liam is a true anomaly.
"Do you think the extremists might try something against him?" Alice asked, her voice tense with worry.
"I can't say for sure. But they won't try anything too obvious at least not yet. Liam's still a kid, and he won't begin mana training for another two years. It's not even guaranteed he'll show superior abilities... For now, we're still the bigger threat to them," I said, trying to comfort her.
I wasn't lying to make her feel better. I told her the truth. And Alice seemed to notice.
"You're right," she said with a small smile.
"Then let's go complete our first mission as
rank 3."
The slums are located in the far north of the planet, a long way from Nexington. And since Nexus is a massive planet, even using the fastest aerial vehicle, the trip would take over nine hours.
Luckily, since we were on an official clan mission, we had clearance to use the clan's teleporter, located just two hours away by land vehicle.
A couple of hours later...
"Damn it, finally," muttered Alice, clearly exasperated.
"Yeah, the traffic was worse than I expected. Took us three hours total."
After over an hour stuck in traffic, we finally arrived at the clan's main teleporter.
It was a towering structure: a twelve meter tall wall with a blue spiral portal at its center.
There were several like it across planets in our zone, but this was the largest. It allowed instant teleportation not just across Nexus, but to any planet under the control of the Evans clan.
Other clans had similar devices, but none as advanced as ours. It was proof of our unmatched skill in spatial tech and abilities.
"All set. Good luck," said the teleporter operator.
We nodded and stepped through the portal. In an instant, we were just meters from the slums' outer borders.
We walked a bit and saw someone waiting for us. A man slightly older than us, about six feet tall, dark brown hair, and black glasses that matched his eyes. As soon as he spotted us, he approached confidently.
"You must be Mr. Ethan and Miss Alice. A pleasure to meet you my name is Caleb," he said politely, shaking our hands.
He was the Rank 3 operative assigned to replace the novice who'd been killed.
"Nice to meet you too. Since we're short on time, we'd like to see the body right away so we can head into the slum," I said courteously.
"Of course. This way," Caleb nodded.
He led us to the control post, where a small room served as a morgue. The body was still there, covered by a sheet.
"What were the results?" Alice asked seriously.
"Five stab wounds to the back lethal damage. Then four more to the chest. The killer probably used the basic reinforcement skill to strengthen the weapon. No other wounds were found, so it's likely he didn't have time to defend himself," Caleb explained.
"Sounds like a quick, surprise attack," I said with a grim look.
"Yeah, but it's strange. His mana sense should've picked up someone approaching. He was a novice supposedly the highest level in the slum," Alice added.
Mana sense is one of the first things you learn when starting to control mana. Unlike other skills, it doesn't consume energy, and once mastered, it becomes almost instinctive.
At its most basic, it allows you to feel another being's mana, giving you a sense of their power as long as it's close to or below your own. With training, you can even detect enemies much stronger than yourself.
That's why the novice should've sensed his attacker unless they were way stronger, which shouldn't have been possible.
The other possibility is that the attacker concealed their mana, a technique only mid-level users or higher should be able to perform.
"Yeah, I thought the same. But I've got a solid theory," said Caleb, growing serious.
"The kid was found deeper in the slum than he should've been. I think there was more than one attacker one lured him in."
"I checked his record. He was arrogant, overly confident thanks to his top marks at the academy. It's possible someone provoked him, and he took the bait, thinking he'd teach them a lesson. But it was a trap. He got ambushed while focused on the first one, didn't have time to reinforce his body with mana."
"Also, we have to consider that while he had mana sense, his rank was still low. If all his attention was on the person in front of him, he probably didn't sense the second one until it was too late. His detection range would've been short," Caleb finished.
"That's a pretty solid theory," I nodded. "Definitely plausible for strong apprentices or weak novice assassins."
"By the way, how do we know the killers didn't escape the slum?" Alice asked.
"The boy was found by a Rank 3 patrol just minutes after it happened. He immediately alerted Ranks 2 and 3 on the outer perimeter, but no one found anything not even when fully extending their senses. We also checked the border control cameras nothing. So I can say with confidence the attackers are still inside the slum. I don't know why they killed him and didn't try to flee. My best guess? Pure hatred for the Evans," said Caleb.
"The cameras didn't catch anything?" I asked.
"No. They only monitor the outer perimeter to spot people trying to escape. The boy went too far in cameras didn't cover that area."
"Stupid kid," Alice muttered .
And honestly… I had to agree.
"Well, that's all we needed. Thanks, Caleb," I said gratefully.
"No problem. Remember if anything dangerous happens, use your communication device. Even deep inside the slum, we'll send reinforcements as fast as possible," Caleb replied.
"We'll keep that in mind. Thanks again."
With everything clear, Alice and I prepared to enter the slum. Our mission was just beginning.
find the assassins.