Chapter 10: Trade Secret

Elaine chuckled. “Yes, you do.” She hadn’t expected to get along with him so quickly, but then again, Elaine Cornor was easygoing by nature. There wasn’t much to dislike about her, which was probably why Grey had asked her specifically to stay behind instead of heading out with the team that morning.

Suddenly, an alarm blared from the field agents’ room.

“A new breach!” she exclaimed, placing her palm to the comm in her right ear. “Agent Elaine and Liam ready for active duty. What are the coordinates?” Her words transmitted to the control room, and seconds later, the analysts responded with the location.

“Got it!” she said, turning to Liam, but before she could speak, he cut in.

“I was born ready. Let’s go.”

They both had the same idea; there was no need for vehicles, would only slow them down and fortunately, they were both speed types.

Silvery-blue lightning burst through Liam’s body. His hair flared up, eyes glowing with the same electric hue. Elaine grabbed the sheathed weapon leaning in the corner, took a stance, and a soft golden aura surged through her. In a second, she hovered mid-air. She was definitely skilled, only a few below S-tier could repurpose their magic energy for flight.

She soared through the exit, and Liam followed her trail, moving across the ground in bursts of lightning. Together, they raced through buildings and streets, cutting through Detroit. In minutes, they reached the breach site.

It was a wide, open farmland, a cornfield to be specific, stretching into the distance. Thankfully away from the inner city, but it was obvious a mythical beast was here and a dangerous one.

The tractor was completely frozen. A trail of frost stretched from the machine to a nearby barn with its entrance partially destroyed.

They immediately realised the creature inside wielded ice-based abilities. They moved in carefully and when they got inside, they spotted a figure standing over two half-frozen corpses of a man and a woman, likely the owner.

The figure turned slightly, sensing their presence behind it

“An Ice Elf,” Elaine muttered.

The creature had humanoid features, much like Pip. It had long silver hair, pale blue skin, and dark sleeveless clothes. Intricate light-blue markings with a distinct pattern glowed across its arms and hands, pulsing with magic.

“Careful, Liam. Officially, Ice Elves are B-class threats, but their speed and precision bump them up to A in real combat.” Elaine unsheathed her long double-edged weapon lined with golden patterns. Her energy surged again.

Before she could move, Liam stepped forward.

“Wait. Sit tight, miss. I’ve got this.”

A new system prompt had already flashed in front of him. “What?” Elaine said, wondering if he was being reckless.

[New Quest → Make the Threat Submit]

However The elf didn’t wait didn’t wait for them to come to a decision as large spikes of ice erupted from its feet, racing toward them. Liam and Elaine leaped in opposite directions, dodging the attack. The ground between them cracked into frozen shards.

Whilst still mid-air from their dive, two bone-crafted daggers were already flying towards them in an attempt to catch them off-guard, but they weren’t ordinary Visors. These were A-tiers!.

As the blade came in, Liam’s body flickered into a streak of lightning, vanishing from his spot in an instant. It looked like teleportation, but it wasn’t, it was his high-speed lightning movement, a technique that turned his form into pure electricity and propelled him at lightning-fast speed. Elaine, meanwhile, swung her sword with her right hand, deflecting the oncoming blade before landing cleanly on the ground.

Liam hovered above, his entire body crackling with raging electric energy. Elaine looked up at him, surprised by the sudden spike in his magic output. Wasn’t he just barely near A-tier? she thought. From Liam’s view, their eyes met for a brief moment then he gave her a small nod, signaling he’d handle the beast himself. Seeing this, Elaine decided to stay back, that was when she chose to place her trust in him

Liam’s gaze shifted back to the elf, just as it extended both hands toward the fallen blades. A misty layer of frost swirled around its palms, pulling the weapons back into its grip. But the moment they touched down, Liam was already in front of it, his high-speed lightning movement in full effect. Infact his right fist was inches from the elf’s face, and before it could even react, the punch connected, launching it across the field and smashing it through nearby structures.

Elaine’s eyes widened. He’s even faster than an Ice Elf? The sheer velocity of Liam’s dash had left crackling light trails behind him, shattering the ice formations the elf had caused previously

The ice elf recovered quickly, flipping to its body upright while spitting purple-colored blood. A bluish aura surged around it, and soon after it lunged toward Liam. Just as its blade came inches from Liam’s face, a grin spread across Liam’s lips. He didn’t even bother to dodge. Suddenly, a force that felt like gravity seemed to pull the elf down, slamming it into the ground mid-attack. But it wasn’t gravity; it was Liam’s authority.

[AUTHORITY: BEAST TAMER]

The power forced the beast down and it gritted its teeth in frustration, struggling to resist but ultimately failing. Both of the elf’s knees hit the ground, and its blade slipped from its grasp, it had stopped struggling entirely and succumbed to the authority’s power. Elaine, standing nearby, watched in disbelief. Nothing about this made sense.

The next moment, another screen popped up in front of Liam:

[You have successfully entered a Contract with Lazark]

[Lazark can now enter Private Space]

A dark red aura engulfed the elf and the weapons lying on the ground, and their forms warped away.

[Level up]

[Level up]

[New Skill Acquired → Unity Weaving Lv.1]

[+3 available points]

“Hmm, that’s alright. Got a new skill too,” Liam muttered.

He’d almost forgotten he wasn’t alone—until Elaine spoke from just beside him.

Who were you talking to? And what the hell was that?”

Liam jolted slightly, realizing Elaine had been watching the entire time. He cleared his throat and said, “Let’s just say what you saw is the reason USOV hired me as a special agent.”

Elaine stared at him. “That doesn’t make any sense. Where did the elf go? And what was that power you used to stop it? Aren’t you lightning-type?” She was visibly bewildered. She’d seen plenty in the field, but nothing like this.

Liam raised his hands slightly. “Whoa, whoa, that’s a lot of questions,” Liam said, smirking. “Let’s call it a trade secret for now. Will that be enough?”

Elaine stared, then sighed. “No, it’s not enough… but I get it.” It still didn’t sit right with her, but she let it go. Then she added, “Well, now you can finally go see Mr. T.”

Liam grinned, and Elaine shook her head with a soft chuckle.

However, at that moment was when Ray Hooks dropped onto the scene from the sky. The impact created a small crater and kicked up a cloud of dust after which they both turned away to shield their eyes. As the dust settled, Ray stood at the center, wearing a slim-fit polo that clung to his muscular frame, plain trousers, and a pair of glasses he slowly pulled off.

“Where’s the monster?” Ray asked flatly whilst scanning the area. “My sensors picked up a breach here, but I’m not seeing anything.”

Elaine stepped forward. “As you can see, there was a fight but we’ve taken care of it. All clear now.”

Ray frowned. “Then where’s the monster’s body? I don’t see it.”

Liam stepped up beside her. “Like she said, it’s been dealt with.”

That was when Ray gave Liam a closer look. “Oh, you. I remember you.”

He burst out laughing, holding it for almost a full minute before pointing and saying, “Weren’t you the guy hiding behind that mythical beast?”

Elaine twitched at the question but said nothing. She wasn’t about to start trying to make sense of it right then.

Ray chuckled for a few more seconds, then his expression dropped flat. “I don’t know what kind of game USOV is playing, but I know something’s off.”

He walked up to Liam slowly, tension thickening in the air. Without breaking eye contact, Ray pressed his index finger against Liam’s chest.

“And I will definitely find out what.”

Liam said nothing, not because he wasn’t pissed at what Ray said, but because he knew he wasn’t ready to take on an S-tier, at-least not yet. Even with his recent level-ups, that gap was still too wide.

Ray turned, scoffing, “Fuckin’ chicken,” before lifting off the ground, and then BOOM, he flew into the sky, and then from the premises,

Liam clicked his tongue, “Tsk,” his right fist clenched tight. He was furious, and Elaine noticed.

“It’s part of the job. Let’s go,” she said, deciding not to press him about Ray’s comment. She’d already seen enough for one day, and from what she could tell, this Liam guy had some strange things going on.

Soon after, they arrived back at USOV, Liam still wore a gloomy look and Elaine noticed it, but also saw that a good part of the field agents had returned from a joint operation of all teams. Trying to lift his mood and steer him away from the Ray situation, she said, “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my team.”

They walked toward the field operations room just as Amir looked up. He had the sharp features of someone with Asian descent.

“Hey there, big girl. Heard you went out to handle a breach,” he said.

Elaine bumped her fist into his with a smirk. “Yeah, we just wrapped it up. All good on your side?”

Amir nodded. “Mr. T’s already dissecting the parts. Where’s the beast, or the clean-up team not done yet?,” He asked because he noticed they came back empty-handed.

Elaine hesitated, “Well, uhm… you could say something like that.”

“Alright,” Amir replied, then glanced over. “Oh? Who’s the new guy?”

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