The Author's POV

Inside of a large skyscraper made out of glass, multiple large portals that emanated strong magical power shone brightly.

-Vuam! -Vuam!

Soon after, as the light died down, a group of people emerged from the portal. They each wore different styled combat suits ranging from thin clothes to large bulky metallic ones. Each of them carried different weapons, with some holding onto massive swords whilst others holding onto long magic staff.

"Goodbye squad captain"

"Thank you very much for today"

"Hope you guide us again squad captain"

Waving goodbye towards the last person that came out, all of the individuals inside the group smiled brightly.

...it looked like they were all in a good mood.

"Heee...don't mention it, just doing my job"

Waving goodbye to multiple people wearing different-colored combat suits, a middle-aged man with a lazy smile on his face and a large cigar in his mouth stood within the lobby of the building.

He had Black hair, an unkempt beard, and a wild yet commanding aura around him that made everyone near him look at him in respect.

Leopold Ray.

That was the name of the middle-aged man standing in the lobby.

He was a ranked hero, and a squad captain working for the Moonlight mercenary group, a [IV] graded mercenary group.

His job was fairly easy.

All he had to do from day in and day out was train the new recruits that the mercenary group was seeking to recruit.

...In terms of ranking within the group, he was at the bottom of the mercenary corporation. However, despite being at the bottom of the hierarchy, he was a highly respected individual by all of the new recruits.

...and that's because he was extremely capable.

During dungeon raids, he was meticulous, efficient, and safe.

As long as he was in command, the raids would always be successful with the rookies barely sustaining any injury. Moreover, each recruit managed to learn a lot from Leopold as he would always calmly instruct them when the situation called for it.

...However, despite such accomplishments, the higher-ups of his mercenary group didn't bother to promote him nor give him a raise. To them, a ranked hero in his late thirties was not worth their notice.

Waiting for Leopold at the reception of the establishment, a young girl with custard brown hair and a neat grey uniform greeted Leopold with a professional smile on her face. Taking a stack of bills from the register, with both hands, the young girl handed it to Leopold

"Welcome back Leopold, here's your payment"

"Ah, thank you, Natasha"

Thanking the receptionist named Natasha, Leopold took the stack of bills and slowly counted each and every one of them. Not missing a single bill

"100U...500U...2800U...5000U...this should do for now"

Nodding his head, Leopold put the stack of money in his pocket and waved goodbye towards Natasha.

"Aight, cya around Natasha"

"Have a safe day Leopold"

With her usually business-like smile, Natasha waved goodbye to Leopold.

Not so far from Leopold, arriving at the lobby of the building, wearing a neat black suit and sunglasses, a young man spotted Leopold in the distance and headed in his direction.

Arriving a few meters away from Leopold, the young man said

"Excuse me?"

Having just received his payment, hearing someone calling out from him, Leopold glanced at the young man before him and asked

"Yes?"

Smiling brightly, the young man extended his hand towards Leopold

"Hello, Mr. Leopold, let me introduce myself, I'm Smallsnake"

...

On the same day, not so far from where Smallsnake was, Epsilon cafe

Sitting in the corner of the establishment, in a more secluded area of the cafe', I merrily sipped on my latte'.

the stuff with regards to the company, it was

the files Smallsnake sent me, I realized that recruiting her wasn't actually going to be that

I decided to skip that directly and decided to jump straight into the hardest task

Kevin into

of a way to

why I was currently sitting inside of a

took me

Kevin's figure. Currently, he was wearing a black hoodie

taking off his hoodie, Kevin's deep-red eyes were revealed. Holding onto a

you

you before I had a

"A deal?"

nodded his head. Although he didn't know what the deal was, he was curious as to why he asked for him to meet him all the way over here.

"Yeah..."

"Alright let's hear it"

in an open-palm position. Noticing my action,

"High five?"

my head, I

"No, Five"

"...Five?"

at Kevin straight in the eyes, I slowly

"Five-star sword manual"

out of my mouth, the atmosphere around us

Yeah.

was offering him a five-star manual. To be more precise, I was giving him something that would've already belonged to

Five-star manual [Levisha style]

five-star swords art

the novel, in terms of the timeline

opportunity presented itself, why not just use it as bait for enticing Kevin into bringing

would accept, I

"Huuuuuu..."

a deep breath, Kevin tried his best to

its value was immeasurable. Even with the system, he doubted he would

he possibly have

but find him more and more mysterious the more he got to

such a deal unless he wanted something from him. Therefore, taking a couple of seconds to regain his composure,

"The catch?"

my head, I didn't

see, I have an ability that

"Huh?"

Kevin looked at me with a skeptical face.

this day and age for someone to have the ability to foresee the future, those people were a dime in a dozen. Moreover, they would immediately be

how sought-after

with even more confusion, Kevin

would he reveal to me such

internal conflict,

"You don't believe me?

Kevin in

ability allowed me to

glancing at me,

"...what?"

you have the ability

"..."

if time had frozen, he stared at me with

be impressed by the level of bullshit that came out of my

when I said I could foresee the future. After all, I did have

wasn't in the way I was describing it to

composed, Kevin lowered his head

how much do you

I shook

much, just about

him

I needed his help. I didn't need for him to start

me some time to think

slumped back on the

'...A five-star manual"

had to admit, the offer

Problem was...

leisurely drinking his

'Should I trust him?'

had interacted with him in the past, they never actually talked for long. At most 10 minutes. To him, Ren was someone that he couldn't

he knew him, the thicker the veil of mystery around him

like he was a being that wasn't supposed to belong to

*Sigh*