“I haven't seen you, people, here before. First time?” An older gentleman asked in a polite tone. He was dressed quite nicely, with a shirt and blazer that barely covered his large tummy. Behind him were two men that looked to have weapons strapped around their side, checking out the gang.The others turned toward Kai, just like had been instructed to, and let him be the one to talk for the group. The fox masked teenager had expected that their new appearance and new faces would attract some attention, yet so far nobody else had come over.Of course, all he hoped for was to meet someone from lower tier towns, as those above would already have all the connections they needed.“I doubt we’re the only ones who’ve arrived here just for today. We’re the Howlers from Slough. Perhaps you’ve heard of us. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. ?” Kai placed his hand out for a shake, which the old man accepted. Feeling the Werewolf’s grip and seeing him up close, he was in for quite a surprise.“My name is
Following the instructions, two lines formed, five metres apart from each other, at either side of the hall. Behind the large door, there were several staff members dressed in the same dark purple clothing as the ones outside. Their faces were visible as they stood straight and proud like guards. This wasn’t the typical entrance or type of group that Kai was expecting. The Dark Guild was a well-known gang. Although gangs operated differently and did different businesses, all the guards were gang members, but this was almost like a well-tuned army.Guiding the guests in the front was a woman who was dressed in a skirt, a white shirt and a purple waistcoat. Next to her was a man with a purple sleeveless waist and a top hat. They didn’t say much, other than for the guests to follow them for the time being. The hall they were being led through was littered with giant paintings that depicted scenes of old armoured knights, kings with crowns, as well as fantastic beasts like dragons. At t
The bald man was filled with rage, but even more so, when he glanced at the people staring at him from below, he felt embarrassed. They had garnered too much attention to simply step down now.As a Tier-3 that had recently risen to the top, they felt like they were now in a place of respect. Getting to be seated with the King would allow him to progress further and he would be a person that he felt was deserved. Rising to the top of their town, the group felt like they needed to ride on this momentum and continue to push themselves further.It was at that moment that Sin, who had been the first to enter upstairs, went out to take a look at the commotion. When he saw the three men, he just sneered.“You think you have finally made it, huh? That is because you are able to be in a place like this, where you can do what you want. Let's make this clear, people like you can be replaced at any moment. Look around, there are plenty of those that are at your level, but your place is down there
Everyone had been comfortably sitting in their seats when they heard Kai mention the budget that their group had, but the moment he revealed the number, all of them nearly jumped up in shock. Five million was an unimaginable amount for any of them.Instantly, they were all thinking about what they could do with this kind of cash. There were even dollar signs in their eyes. Coming from a Tier-3 town, they could practically go anywhere, select any apartment and car they fancied, and still have enough left over to live a happy life… and yet for some reason, their blonde leader had mentioned it as if he was talking about fifty bucks.“I know what you're thinking, but it shows that you guys have no idea how much it actually costs to run an organisation as big as ours. While we get paid protection money from various businesses, we have dozens of people on our payroll, not to mention that each property we own has its own costs associated with it.“This money we’re using will be gone. We won’
“Thank you all for coming today. We’re especially happy to see so many new faces around, but of course, we’re also elated to see the old ones return. Allow me to inform and remind you all that it’s in your own interest to stay respectful and follow the rules of our auction. “For the first timers among you, be aware that any bid you make will be binding. Should your group be unable to pay the full sum, we’ll have our own ways to get our money.” The man stated with a mischievous smile without elaborating. It was a pretty brazen thing to do to start off an auction with a threat directed to everyone in the room, especially in a place filled with leading figures who all had massive egos, yet not a single one said anything. “With that out of the way, I won’t bore you any longer. Let's give you all what you are here for and introduce our first items.” The man said and pointed to the side.The headlight pointed to a staff member who rolled the first item in, a large crater box. Upon openin
As his upperclassman, Kai had never really interacted with Blake Hunt. The former had only known the latter due to being Westbridge’s rugby ace, making him famous in their school. Only later did he find out the younger teenager’s double life as an Altered Hunter, and that was mostly from Gary.During Slough’s big gang war, involving the Underdogs, the Grey Elephants and the Howlers, Blake Hunt had come out to help. One could argue that he had merely acted as an Altered Hunter, who wanted to get rid of the Infected Altered, but it was undeniable that his intervention had helped out their entire town.‘Have the Altered Hunters sent him on his own? No, I doubt that. He would make too easy of a target if that were the case. I should assume that either the ones next to him are Altered Hunters, or they’re somewhere else hidden in the room. Have they come here to buy Anti-Altered weapons… or are they here for another reason?’ Kai wondered. They were in a room with many Altered. The more Kai
“You’re going to be an Altered, Boss Kit!” One of his members cheered. “We’ll be able to make the others submit to us and all of us together will be over to take over a Tier-3 town!”Overhearing their group, Kai learned that the leader sitting next to him was called Kit, and their strategy was very typical for a low level gang. Rather than improve their own town, they planned to use all the money they had gained to improve themselves before attempting to invade another nearby town. No wonder, they were spending their money without worry. This was also the reason why it was nigh impossible for lower tier towns to rise a tier.‘Hmm, but the item sold for a lot less than I thought. Either the other guests are smarter than I gave them credit for, or the bidding was mostly done by newcomers like them. The others must be aware that better stuff is coming soon.’Keeping it interesting, the next item to roll out was not one, but three solutions at once, this time allowing the ones to ingest i
When the Howlers heard Kai bid their entire budget on the solution, they could feel their hearts stop for a moment. Even after the gavel was struck down, they didn’t really feel like celebrating. As the one responsible for their finances, they could only hope that there had been a good reason for their de-facto leader’s behaviour.Kai would be lying if he said that his emotions hadn’t influenced his action in any way, but it hadn’t been fully without any logic. Admittedly, it had been a calculated risk, and if someone had bid higher than them, the Howlers would have been unable to do anything about it. At that point, they might as well have packed their bags, as it would have been the same as admitting their entire budget was capped at 5 million.The Werewolf had bet on the fact that the others would be holding out their bids due to the Dark Guild bringing out more and better items each time. With this being the first mystery solution, it was clear that there would be more to come. Ha