BEEP!

[NEW! Unread Message from Mr. Dave]

Leon opened the message.

["Hey, it's Mr. Dave, Engineman."]

After a long day of work, Leon was stressed but the moment he saw the introduction of the message, he chuckled as he sat on his work chair and leaned back on the backrest, relaxing.

He continued reading.

["Sorry for not being able to contact you since, life has been hectic. I had multiple work contracts that kept me occupied. Since Wednesday, despite the accident I've not rested. I've been traveling guideways between Leviathan Quay, Sprawl Delta, and Verdanthold repeatedly."]

["Only now did I get a vacation week to rest. The moment I stopped working, I remembered you and I've been feeling guilty all day. I'm yet to officially host you at my home to thank you for saving my life."]

["My wife has been disturbing me repeatedly to see her husband's savior, haha, you know women. But I agree with her this time. Anyways, I'm taking it upon myself to formally invite you for dinner at my house."]

["You already have my address, I hope you can make it".]

["Your friend, Mr. Dave."]

Leon took a deep breath and relaxed on the chair.

He looked at his work table and the ground which were now filled with dozens of constructs that he'd been working on since.

He was satisfied with the work he did for the past few hours but now, he had to pay the price. He was having a migraine.

He rubbed his aching forehead with a grimace. "What a day," he mumbled. "I really need to relax so I can recover and reset, a family style dinner should do it".

Despite the fact that he had so many things that he wanted to do, Leon knew the risk of burnout. If he pushed himself too much, instead of meeting his goals, he would most likely end up wasting not just money, but time and resources.

Besides, he originally had intentions of meeting Mr. Dave before his explosion in Grand Prix Arena that multiplied his earnings through his popularity.

Despite his current earnings, with all the plans and projects he had in mind, Leon knew that his money was still not enough.

But with all the things he currently had going on, there was no time to work in a construction company for more money.

"But it doesn't necessarily have to be for money," he thought. "Even after I become a D Rank Mechanist, I'll still need a lot of money to grow and get stronger. Having connections with a construction company can help solve this".

"Even if it's not to work just yet, I still need Mr. Dave's help to establish a preliminary connection with them".

Holding his smartphone, he quickly started typing a reply.

With a smile, he typed…

["Hey, it's Mr. Thomas, the Journeyman Mechanic."] He chuckled.

Leon typed a long message asking about Mr. Dave's family, he also wrote that he understood how busy the Engineman's schedule was, and finally he revealed his agreement to join Mr. Dave's family tomorrow for dinner.

After that, he yawned tiredly and rubbed his aching forehead again before standing up. It was time to leave.

As he locked up the caravan, he sent a message to Sergeant Tyla that the commissions the Lieutenant gave to him were ready for retrieval.

By the time he was done with everything, it was already 11:32pm.

It was almost midnight in Leviathan Quay.

The night was quieter than the day but Leviathan Quay was never quiet.

The bars were still loud, playing classic pop-punk music in the night. As he walked, Leon peeked into the bars and saw bodies gyrating to the music.

Nightlife in Leviathan Quay was wild and interesting, it was one of Daren's most beloved aspects of the Geneforge City.

As Leon walked to his hotel, he heard a sudden commotion.

"Freeze! It's the police!"

"Hands in the air!"

Leon looked towards the bar and saw a towering Synth instantly erupt in a sprint, trying to escape the policemen but with a well-timed EMP blast, they rendered his body immobile and handcuffed him.

'Another Synth,' Leon thought, his face serious. 'Are Synths connected to the terrorists? Is this the Gene army's way of fishing out the terrorists?'

Leon didn't approve of the means the army was using to find clues to the terrorists but since he was not in the position to influence any military decision, he refrained from doing anything.

By the time he got to his hotel, it was already past 11:40.

Leon had his bath and slept.

That night, he had a dream, a familiar dream.

He had a dream where he found himself back inside a familiar thick forest with ghostly green bioluminescent fog where he was being chased by shadows.

The shadows had demonic faces, laughing in a mad and deranged manner as they pursued him to devour him.

In this dream, he didn't have his Ascended powers.

He was a mundane human.

After running for a long time, sweating, panting, and gasping for breath, the shadows finally caught up to him as they started devouring him.

Once again, despite already knowing that this was a dream, he felt true horror and fear. He felt like his mind, his personality, everything was being devoured by the encroaching shadows.

And then, he woke up.

He looked at Daren who was still sound asleep and frowned. 'What does this dream signify?'

He slept again feeling troubled.

…

The next day, Leon once again woke up late.

Ding! Dong!

The sound of the doorbell woke him up. Waking up, the first thing that Leon noticed was the fact that Daren was not in the room.

He looked at the time.

[09:18am]

Wondering who was at the door, he yawned and went to the bathroom to watch his face with water and then he put on clean clothes before going to open the door.

Standing in front of the door was a familiar female face.

"Good morning". Sergeant Tyla greeted with a bright smile on her face while holding a tray of delicious food.

She looked him up and down and nodded in satisfaction. "You look good today".

Leon chuckled as he looked at the tray of food. "Is this is new perk of working for the Gene Army?"

"Maybe, who knows?" She smiled and entered the hotel room with the tray of food.

After brushing his teeth, as he ate, Sergeant Tyla looked at him with interest.

"You actually met the Lieutenant's target again," her voice was filled with wonder. "I've never heard of a Mechanist working so fast, not even the E Rank Mechanists I know work so fast".

Leon smirked and raised a finger. "First, that's the power of desperation when you're broke and need a lot of money fast".

"Second, there's no E Rank Mechanist in the world that's like me". He boasted shamelessly. "I'm the first of my kind".

Sergeant Tyla smiled. "For some reason, I'm compelled to believe you".

She looked at the time then she asked. "Your fight against King Agama is scheduled for 12 noon today right?"

"Yes," Leon looked at her in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Who doesn't know?" Tyla scoffed. "Thomas Riley vs King Agama is the biggest trending news online in all of Leviathan Quay, everybody knows. Do you even surf the psionic network at all?"

"I'm a busy man". Leon shrugged.

Then out of the blue Tyla said. "I intend to follow you to Grand Prix Arena".

"Huh?"

She smiled. "You're currently the biggest thing in the psionic network in Leviathan Quay. You have a massive followership already, and I'm also a fan of combat sports".

"Unfortunately, I can't participate because I'm in the army. But I can watch".

"The arena is already fully booked but as one of the main event fighters, if I follow you, I believe I'll get a VIP seat for free".

Leon was surprised at first, then he smirked. "Are you saying you're my fan?"

Tyla looked him in the eye, then she scoffed. "Maybe".

Leon laughed.

After eating, they left to the caravan where they did the exchange of goods and once again, more crates of raw materials were dropped in the caravan.

Having revealed her intentions to go spectate Leon's fight at the Grand Prix Arena in Floating District G12, Tyla didn't follow her 2 subordinates this time after the products were handed over.

She stayed behind with Leon at the caravan, sending both soldiers to deliver the goods to the Lieutenant on her behalf.

By 11:00am, Daren was still nowhere to be found.

During this time, Leon didn't do any work. Today's fight was definitely going to be his hardest since he registered into the Gene Combat Sports Tournament.

To be at his optimum state for the battle, he refrained from doing anything that would stress him physically and mentally.

At some point, Tyla finally asked. "Do you know King Agama?"

"No, why?"

Tyla was stunned. "You're about to fight the biggest fight of your life in the octagon, and you haven't done your research about your opponent?"

Leon innocently looked at her. "I've been busy".

She sighed then she said seriously. "There's a reason why King Agama is the no. 1 ranked fighter in Grand Prix Arena, he's extremely strong".

Leon listened attentively.

Seeing this, she continued. "He wields a special nanotechnology Spear. It has 2 forms and it's able to change shapes between both forms, the base Spear form and a Javelin form with integrated kinetic energy modules".

"According to what the internet knows about him, when fighting with the base Spear form, the Spear absorbs friction and kinetic energy that's stored inside a special module".

"When the Spear morphs into the Javelin form, all these friction and energy is turned into powerful kinetic energy that can be triggered in 1 sudden burst through ADE".

"With it, King Agama can throw the Javelin at a speed exceeding sound speed. It's almost like being shot by a bullet".

"That's his finishing move, and no one has been able to dodge that move yet in the octagon".

"Last year, he ranked overall 8th in the finals in Verdanthold".

"The Spear is not what makes King Agama truly dangerous though. He's an E Rank Cyber Gladiator; as an E Rank yourself, you should know what I mean".

"Also, like your friend, he's a Geneform with Lizard DNA but not just any lizard. He has the DNA of an Agama Lizard hence his ring name".

"He's shown in his biggest fights in the finals that like an Agama Lizard, he has a penchant for nodding his head regularly during tough battles. But unlike regular Agama Lizards, when King Agama nods, his racial trait is triggered to make him stronger".

"Analysts believe that by nodding his head and triggering his racial trait, his adrenaline levels spike, increasing his Strength and Endurance stats every few seconds".

"Analysts believe that if King Agama is given enough time in the octagon to nod his head, he could potentially get so strong that he'll become undefeatable in the octagon".

"Last year, his opponent knew this and overwhelmed him within just 2 minutes of the fight or many believed that King Agama would have won if the fight went past 3 minutes".

"What I'm trying to say is that if you want to beat him, you have to beat him in the first 2 minutes or it's over".

"Do you think you can beat an E Rank Cyber Gladiator in 2 minutes?"

Leon chuckled and twirled his black hair. "Honestly, I don't know but who cares? All I care about is the payout".

"I'm not going to lose without a fight though, I made some preparations yesterday. Hopefully, it all works out".

On one hand, Leon had no intention of showing all his trump cards to the world; that would be foolish. But still, he intended to fight and win.

A few minutes later, Daren arrived with Mr. Paul.

Apparently, he went to Picasso Lifestyle to enjoy himself that morning after building a relationship with the manager already.

The moment Mr. Paul arrived, Leon didn't dally around as they entered the G-Wagon style modified airbus and took off to Floating District G12.

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