Mia had a metal telekinesis skill so it shouldn't surprise Logan that she'd managed to master it to the point where she could fly. But it wasn't true flying—not the flying he could do once he put on his other Pink Sock. Logan could counter her skill and put it on, but it was soaked in Matt's sweat (ugh), and Logan hadn't tested the ability yet. It would be just his luck that he'd put on the sock and then fly headfirst into a building.

No, he didn't need the sock. Not yet.

Besides, even with one Pink Sock, he could use his jumping ability to counter Mia. Plus, [Threshold Shift] allowed him to leap from place to place.

For a brief second, Logan debated trying [Life Fabricator] on Mia, but it took concentration and time. Time he didn't have.

Around him, the wind became violent, sending the empty plastic containers flying. It was like he was standing in a localized tornado. That burning plastic smell had disappeared, replaced by salt and humidity, like unwashed bodies and discarded trash roasting in the Caribbean.

Mia glided closer to him, her hair streaming behind her and her nose scrunched, her teeth bared, her face flushed red with rage. Most of the dirt had flown off her, but her shorts and shirt were filthy, and streaks of wet soil clung to her bare legs. Logan didn't know what she was doing to generate frigging weather, but it had to be related to her telekinesis skill.

Something flew at him, a blur of black, and Logan reflexively jumped, only for the thing to slam against his chest rather than his face. Fuck! It was a street sign. Before he could look down at his armour to see whether there was any damage, something else came hurtling towards him, this metal round and flat, the size of a…

It was a manhole cover!

Logan used his Pink Sock to jump through the air and to the side, inadvertently jarring the metal sticking out of his leg and sending sharp stabs of pain throughout his body.

The wind screamed as he scaled the side of the nearest building. He leaped over the shop glass pane window before scaling the side of the brick building. But another screaming shriek of an incoming projectile bled his ears, giving him just enough warning to deploy [Threshold Shift] to teleport to the middle of the street.

His feet smashed against the asphalt, gravel flying.

Against the side of the building, the manhole cover slammed into the brick and carved out a portion as big as Logan's head.

Up above, Mia screamed in rage and clenched her fist, her eyes dark and focused.

With a feeling of disbelief, Logan felt his sword twitching, jerking from side to side within his grip, before it pulled him forward and flung him down the street as his heels dragged against the asphalt.

Mother—! Mia had managed to turn his own weapon against him. Even though it was System sourced, it was still metal.

With a growl, Logan willed his sword inside of his spatial collar, and then flicked his talons, bracing his legs and getting ready to jump.

"KNEEL," Mia said with narrowed eyes as she flew closer to him, the wind whipping at her on all sides.

Logan gasped, feeling dazed, as if a battering ram had hit his head. Worst of all, although he knew Mia was using a mental manipulation skill, the knowledge didn't make resisting her command any easier. Logan had already moved to press one knee against the ground before the movement caused the strip of metal sticking out of his thigh to jar him to awareness.

Clenching his fist, he ground his teeth and bit his lip for good measure as he returned to his feet.

"KNEEL DO—"

The Cursed Rope crackled with electricity as it jumped through the air. It didn't have eyes yet, but it had the start of them—eyebrow ridges and two deep black divots for eye sockets. Its body had grown and swelled, ballooning in size. Its mouth had widened—gotten so large that it could swallow a small dog. The ends of its tail were rough, fibre bound rope, but it was wider than before as if it had formed a tail ridge with a frill.

Damn, it looked like the end of the queen serpent's tail, only smaller.

Too much put away, too much put away. The rope will feed.

It jumped right in front of Mia, darting for her face and trying to wrap its long body around her neck.

Her eyes widening, she made a gesture with her hand and jerked the hovering streetlight to the side. It allowed her to avoid the Cursed Rope's reach by an inch, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid a splatter of acid.

"What the hell is that?!" said Mia.

The rope didn't have a level, but since it leveled up with Logan, he had to believe it would be like fighting the equivalent of a monster over level 100. Better yet, although he was betting that Mia had a higher constitution attribute than average, it was wisdom and intelligence that fed a mental manipulation skill, which meant that although she could withstand the rope's acid attacks, she wasn't immune.

Regrouping, she jutted her jaw and forced her streetlight to steady and then glared at the hovering Cursed Rope. "Go back to your master," she crooned. "Attack him. Attack him with all your might."

Logan snorted. She was trying to use her mind tricks on the Cursed Rope.

Good luck with that.

Silly girl, silly human, sent the rope back to Logan. Full of juicy, juicy XP.

Mia shrieked when instead of obeying, the rope jumped through the air again, its mouth wide open. But this time, instead of trying to evade, she stepped off the hovering streetlight.

Stepped into a freefall.

Dropping down, she plummeted to the ground, her ponytail flying behind her.

Was she…?

She was way too high up to safely jump to the ground.

But instead, Mia had managed to position the manhole cover directly underneath her. She jumped on the human-sized disk, using it as a hoverboard. Worst yet, the manhole cover was smaller and round, easier for her to move, and less awkward than the streetlight, which she'd had to balance on while at the same time as lifting it. The manhole cover gave her better maneuverability.

Even worse, the Cursed Rope ended up getting a mouth-full of streetlight instead of Mia.

With another gesture of her hand, she sent the streetlight hurtling through the air like a missile, aiming it directly at Logan.

Logan laughed in disbelief. Using [Threshold Shift], he shifted in the opposite direction. He landed on the street with a sound like thunder. He'd sent himself behind Mia while she stared at empty space, the streetlight hurtling towards nothing.

Not giving her a second to re-adjust, Logan used his Pink Sock to leap through the air, his talons out and ready, aiming directly for her back. A feeling of adrenaline surged through his stomach, his mouth dry, wind whipping his body. Mia had underestimated Logan, had taken him for a weakling, had killed Lachlan, and had fucked with the wrong guy.

He swiped his talons over her neck, cutting an inch deep into her nape and shoulder. Mia screamed. He was about to take another swipe, but something flared in his vision like a supernova, cracking him over the head and knocking him to the side.

A metal pipe.

Logan shook his head and steadied himself. Getting hit over the head was disconcerting, but it hadn't done any damage other than cracking his facemask. It was like looking through a cracked space helmet. His vision warped—everything was calm inside of the helmet while the wind outside made it seem like Mia had unleashed hell.

Dropping to the ground, Logan used [Mimicry Armour] to collapse his helmet and facemask. But the wind was going crazy, hurtling plastic, dirt and metal into a sandstorm. There was no way he could remove a bucket full of sand from his spatial collar and reform his helmet while all this shit was going down. Oh well, a little bit of metal hitting his bare face and head wouldn't do much. Hell, in the grand scheme of things, that was nothing. He had [Regenerate], which would heal his injuries. Short of decapitation, he should be fine. He—

Wait a minute.

With a blink, Logan deployed [Threshold Shift] and sent himself twenty city blocks away from the fight. He had just enough time to take in the skyscrapers and the calm weather, before he removed a bucket full of sand and used [Mimicry Armour] to reform his helmet and facemask. With another blink, he used [Threshold Shift] to send him back to the fight.

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Mia was standing on her hovering manhole cover in confusion. She got sight of Logan and sneered. "I thought you had run away, Idiot. Like the coward you are."

Underneath his facemask, Logan smiled. "Now I wonder why I would have left only to return."

Mia looked uncertain before her expression hardened. "Because you're just like all the other men. Panicked when facing a woman who outclasses them, fleeing, only returning when you realize what fleeing will do to your ego."

Logan raised his eyebrow. Was she for real? He didn't know her story, but she had to have gone through serious trauma for her to have such a warped viewpoint. Before all this shit had gone down, he may have tried to appeal to what remnants of fairness and sanity she had inside of her, but now, she was shit out of luck.

His anger was like a living thing, but he was also becoming enraged for another reason. Time. Time was a resource he didn't have. Every second he spent fighting Mia was a second he couldn't use for his Build an Empire quest. He didn't know how much time had passed since he'd last checked his quest status, but it was way more than the hour he'd given himself to tackle the plastic blob.

He needed to finish this so that he could go back to what was important.

But Mia was starting to really piss him off.

"I've got this, Mia!" said Charlie from behind him.

Logan turned his head, giving the man a look.

Charlie had rushed out of the pharmacy and stood in the middle of the street facing Logan with a clenched jaw. A stray bit of metal whipped his face and drew a line of blood above his eyebrow, but he paid it no attention.

Swinging his massive arms, he clapped, his biceps bulging, sending a percussion noise directly at Logan. Just like with the plastic blob, the skill seemed to act like a weapon, sending an invisible, massive force right at Logan's chest.

Logan looked down.

Although it hadn't hurt him, it had done something to his armour. With a fine, hairline crack, his chest plate split from his shoulders to his hips. Even as he watched, Logan was already deploying [Mimicry Armour] to reform the cracks, but Mia had decided to take advantage. With a scream, she held out her hands, and what had to be a hundred pieces of stray screws, nails, metal, wire, pipes and building frames came hurtling at Logan.

"STAND IN PLACE," commanded Mia, and her voice acted like a weapon all on its own.

Logan wrenched the metal shrapnel sticking out of his leg, sending shooting agony through the limb, while his mind felt like it was being torn to pieces. It took every ounce of willpower to use [Threshold Shift] to disobey Mia's command.

This time, Logan tried to keep his jumps unpredictable and jumped to the side. As soon as his feet hit the asphalt, he used his Pink Sock to leap into the air and soared directly for Mia's manhole cover. His pulse pounded in his ears as he grabbed the edges of the metal disk, his muscles straining as he hung on.

Mia shrieked in shock and kicked his hands, but he hardly felt it through his armour. Logan already weighed a lot before the Integration, but now, he was packed with solid muscle. Not to mention the heaviness of his armour, which dragged the manhole cover to the ground as if he'd weighed it down with iron.

Mia tried her best to keep herself in the air, but her skill wasn't strong enough. She also couldn't concentrate on keeping the manhole cover aloft at the same time as looking for something else to jump onto. The Cursed Rope was still attacking the streetlight like a rabid dog, and everything else was uneven, not something that she could keep level.

Logan used his talons to get a better grip and then pulled down on one side of the manhole cover, tugging it, trying to make it tilt.

"LET GO."

Unwillingly, Logan felt his grip loosen, his muscles relaxing and his—

The Cursed Rope darted directly at Mia, its mouth wide open.

The rope can obey, the rope can be useful, the rope will do what's necessary. Aiming directly for her neck, the Cursed Rope latched onto Mia, and then wrapped its tail around her, swelling in size and releasing a deluge of acid. In her panic, Mia released her grip on his mind as she wailed in pain while the hovering manhole cover pummelled to the ground. Logan jumped away, just clearing the impact zone as both the manhole cover and Mia fell to the ground with a crash—dust, plastic and metal exploding in all directions.

Good job, Rope, said Logan, as he walked towards her. Mia was moaning, her body curled on herself as she hit the rope, her fists becoming raw with acid. Blood streamed down her neck, the rope swelling as it absorbed its meal.

You can let go now, sent Logan.

The rope sent a feeling of unwillingness Logan's way, a feeling of stubbornness.

"Rope," snapped Logan out loud. And then mentally, remember to obey. You know what will happen if you don't.

Chagrined, the rope sent, the rope can be good, the rope can obey. Unwinding itself from around Mia's neck, it jumped back into the air and hovered in place, blue electricity crackling.

Damn.

Unlike the murderers in the cabin, the rope hadn't cut through Mia's neck, but it had done a ton of damage. Around the impact point, her skin ballooned like a swollen blister, and directly against the acid damage, bloody flesh and skin glistened, sizzling like it was under the oven. But even as he watched, the damage started to heal, and her flesh knitted together. Left on her own, she'd survive.

Logan wouldn't give her that chance.

Willing out his sword from his spatial collar, he used his strength and agility and came at her with everything he had, his sword ready to swing.

She held out her hand, palm side out. "STOP!" she boomed both out loud and in his mind, her eyes frantic.

This time, the command leached into his mind and became inexorable. It was like trying to fight against an oncoming tsunami.

Just like that, he skidded to a stop, his sword frozen, his jaw twitching in rage. More than anything else, this encounter taught him the importance of a high constitution stat. Logan could have as many attributes as he wanted, even advance to level 1000, but it would mean nothing if someone low leveled had a mind manipulation skill that put him out for the count.

Rage swirled in his gut, making his breathing speed up, his heartbeat skyrocketing.

It took thinking of Ernie. Of thinking of Lara and the kids and everything he'd done to survive to give him the willpower needed to reach down. Biting his lip, a poker digging into his head, Logan twisted the metal in his leg and jarred his wound. The physical pain overrode the mental strain. The command dissolved, and he could move.

Mia panted. She gave him one last, desperate look, taking in Logan surging towards her, and then she blanched as if she'd seen a ghost.

Or her death.

"Fuck!" she said, and then with a blink, she was gone.

***

A portal skill. Mia had a portal skill all along, only revealing it at the last minute to save her life. Logan glanced around, scanning his surroundings, even utilized [Life Fabricator] to scan for signs of life, but Mia had disappeared. Wherever she'd went, it wasn't anywhere close.

Logan stood in place, his nostrils flaring, planting his feet wide apart. There was a pounding in his ears. He wanted to scream in frustration, an emotion that only accelerated when he realized he wanted to do violence, but there was no one here for that violence. She'd escaped. After all of that, that little shithead had managed to escape.

There was a sound behind him.

Logan turned, narrowing his eyes. Charlie was creeping down the street, his head ducked low, trying to stay under the radar and avoid notice.

Like hell.

With a growl, Logan deployed [Threshold Shift] and jumped right behind him, grabbing him by the back of his shirt, digging in his talons before turning him around and slamming him against the side of the nearest building.

"Where did she go?" he hissed, squeezing Charlie's neck.

Charlie gasped and clawed at Logan's armour covered hands and talons, frantically trying to loosen his grip, his eyes bulging. For such a bullshitter and a leader, he'd wilted when faced with someone he knew he had no chance against.

"Where?!" Logan slammed him against the wall, cracking the back of his head, then did it again for good measure.

"I—I don't know!" Charlie gasped.

"What's her skill limitation?" Logan demanded. If it was like [Threshold Shift], then he'd have to always be on the alert. But then again, if Mia had a skill like that, she would have used it.

Charlie bit his lip, a bead of blood trickling down his chin. His look became calculating, as if he were thinking of a lie.

In response, Logan dug in his talons, digging in two inches deep. Any deeper and Charlie would be in serious trouble.

He coughed, gagging. "48 hours!" he burst out.

Logan released him with a glare. "Voss!" he said, raising his voice. At the start, Voss had been peering out of the pharmacy door, but he'd inched his way closer when Damsel hadn't appeared. He was clutching his injured hand to his chest, but his face was less alarmingly pale.

"Yes?" he asked, his eyes cautious.

"Is Charlie telling the truth?"

Voss approached and dipped his head. "I don't know enough about Damsel to tell you one way or another. But… when she materialized out of nowhere, she never left right away. She was always here for a day at least."

Logan felt his tension lessen, but he was in no way out of the woods. But at the same time, even if she did return, he couldn't imagine that she'd come back until she'd healed. The Cursed Rope had done a number on her.

But his frustration was real. After all of that shit, she'd managed to get away? Logan didn't like leaving loose ends, and the worst part of this whole encounter? She was a high ranker. In less than six days, the System would send the high rankers on Pied's shitty Integration Tournament. He didn't know much about it, but it sounded like it was world against world. Having to work together with Mia instead of trying to kill her sounded like a quick way to an early grave.

"Fuck," he muttered underneath his breath. Pacing, Logan dissolved his facemask and ran his hand through his hair. Well, she was gone, and she wouldn't be returning to her complex for a while, which meant that Logan had an opportunity here. Not just to craft his lodestone, but to ruin this shitty leadership structure so that when she did return, it would become unrecognizable.

Logan turned back to Charlie, but then came to a stop, staring.

Something glinted down the road. It was half hidden by a pile of plastic and metal, but it looked like…

"Watch him," he said to Voss. "Tell me if he moves."

Logan moved to the pile of plastic and metal, and then pushed it, clearing the area, revealing…

Holy crap.

Fuck yes! Mia's necklace! It was long and silver, a large red gem glinting at one end. But most importantly, it had an aura that could only be System sourced. This whole encounter might not have been a waste of time after all.

When Logan had attacked Mia and went for her neck, he must have broken her necklace.

Logan scanned it with [Idiot's Inspect]:

[Gem of Subterfuge. B Grade. While touching the user's skin, this gem will hide the user's level, characteristics, and hidden name. You may change these items at whim.]

Logan let out a whoop of excitement, beaming. He felt rejuvenated with adrenaline, his negative emotions wiped away. This would be a game-changer. A game-changer! Every time he'd encountered another person, he'd been worried about attracting their attention because of his hidden name and the Silverdagger bounty. With this gem, Logan could change his hidden name and hide his true name from others.

Not to mention hide his true level.

He would never want to be someone who hid their level like Mia. She'd done it to lure people into a false sense of security so that she could attack them. Whereas Logan wanted it for another reason. People were starting to treat him differently based on his level. If he'd approached the complex offering his System market and the lodestone, he didn't think he would have had that much trouble if he'd appeared as someone in the mid level 70s or 80s. Still a respectable level—someone you wouldn't screw with, but not so high leveled that he'd put a target on his back.

Even better, according to the System message, the gem was the System item, not the necklace. Logan didn't have to walk around wearing a dangling, glittering necklace. Instead, he could take the gem and attach it to his spatial storage cat collar tag.

For now, Logan threw the whole thing into his spatial storage. Everyone at the complex already knew his level; there was no use hiding it now.

But it was time to return to the complex so he could tackle his Build an Empire quest.

Logan turned back to Charlie and gave him an unhinged grin. "How much KarmaCoin do you have?"

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