Endless Vertex 4 Chapter 4: Settling down

But in his case, he blew up the temporary wooden hut built by his mentor, decimating it along with the inappropriate magazine collections that his mentor has just bought.

Atlas opened his eyes from this long mediation, wondering why his body felt more powerful.

Like what every normal person would think, Atlas's first impression was "Cool, I ranked up!" He looked around. Wait, where is the hut?

And why is that pervert holding a book thorn in half while murmuring 'boobies'? He looks so dumb.

He then looked down. How the hell are my clothes not gone?!

"Holy shit! My book!!! It was on the most exciting part!" The old pervert man howled, his neck veins bulging, eyes red from anger.

And well, you know what happens next. A shirtless old man chasing a young boy in the forest while screaming 'my books' !

What a scene.

Atlas shook himself back to reality.

"Atlas. Thank you for aiding me. But why?" Crow asked carefully, his heart still pumping with joy.

"I won't mistreat anyone who mean good intentions to me. Most importantly, it is not worth mentioning, that took barely any effort." Atlas smiled, the moment he sensed Crow's intention to kill vanish, he suddenly decided that it was time to build up some relationship. It definitely had nothing to do with impressing his employer so that he could get a possible raise. "So, you guys done celebrating yet? Because you guys haven't even told me any details on about why you hired me."

"Yes, yes. About that." Kane nodded his head as he stared at Atlas, smiling happily.

The reason why Kane hired Atlas, was to protect his daughter from his enemies. Recently, an organization of underground drug dealers planted their roots into Daxrim City, forcing the richest to work with them, trying to gain control of the wealth. Kane's company was one of the targeted.

After Kane declined their offer, they grew mad without a second word, threatening him. But what they didn't know, is that Kane's bodyguard Crow is quite a powerful warrior.

Failing to capture him, they had to switch to another target as a hostage. Since Kane has lost his wife many years ago, they targeted onto his daughter, Kristine, a 17-year-old, grade 11 student.

Even though Kane has tried to convince Kristine to not go out and stay home, she refused. Teenagers tend to rebel.

Kane couldn't tell her that she is going to be captured by criminals. After all, she is just a teenager. It could affect her life. And if he sent Crow to protect her instead of him, he would be captured, which defeats the purpose.

This led to a solution to hiring a bodyguard to protect her.

"I chose to not tell Kristine about all this. It's too much for her age to accept." Kane tone grew serious, as he took out his phone.

"Here. This is what she looks like." He passed Atlas his phone.

Atlas took a quick glance at the photo, then another, and then another. He couldn't stop staring at the photo. A beautiful teenager could be seen in the photo, holding Kane's arm. She was wearing a simple school uniform, but it couldn't hide the aura of elegance enveloping her.

Her pinkish-red cherry lips pouted towards the camera, like a ruby embedded onto her delicate and flawless skin. Her...

"Are you drooling?" Swiping away his phone, Kane raised his brow, questioning Atlas.

"No sir, no." Atlas quickly fixed his gazed onto his employer.

Oh... So that's where she got her brown eyes.

"Ahemmm." Kane coughed softly," Anyway, I have placed you in the same school and class as her, try to not give away your identity and protect her at all times, at all cost. Got it?"

"Yessiree." Atlas dipped his head." And one more thing, what's the pay for this mission again?"

"I thought you knew? You accepted it for free."

"Shit... That crazy old man is still angry about that incident?!" Atlas mumbled under his breath as millions of WTFs danced inside his head.

He hasn't gotten any single cent from any of his mission ever since he blew up his mentors magazines. All of the money were taken by the old man for his own purposes. But of course, Atlas had his own secret stash of it. [All that effort was wasted. But never mind, at least the Crow guy can protect my employer better. Plus, lots of alone time with a beautiful girl. When did I not get missions to protect a person who is not a stinky rich middle aged person? So that makes up for my loss.]

"Ok now, shoo shoo. You should get going. But before that, it seems like you don't have a decent phone."

...

Sliding the new iphone into his pocket, Atlas waved goodbye as he strolled back towards where he originally entered the forest from. As Atlas's figure grew tinier in the distance, Kane spread his smile wider.

Confused at Kane's weird smile, Crow couldn't help to ask," Sir, what's that weird smile for?" Studying his expression, he suddenly realized what the expression meant.

"You know what I'm thinking, right?" Kane turned around, a wide smile still dangling from his face. It was a satisfied expression of a proud father who has found a qualified son-in-law.

Chills ran down Crows spine. He slowly back away, hiding his view from that creepy smile.

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Class: Aura user

Tier: §1,2,3 Beginner §4,5 Intermediate §6,7 Specialist §8,9 Master {10 Zenith}

Class: Axonn

Tier: 1-10

Class:

Tier: 1-10

Class:

Tier: 1-10

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Getting back into his car, Atlas turned on the radio and drove.

Twenty minutes later, he arrived at his destination. Located nearby an old street, dark alleys led to a huge mansion. Expecting to see a old, spooky haunted house, Atlas was shocked to see it wasn't. It was a normal looking mansion!

Atlas, master of description. Your welcome.

Despite such lush mansion being located in a vintage street, Atlas didn't really mind. He was used to all this.

Using the key in the envelope, he pushed open the door. A gust of dust greeted him, forcing him to quickly cover his nose with his hand.

Switching on the light, cob-webs and heavy dust entered his eyes, as if no one has stayed in the house for a millennia.

The mansion was quite big. It was a three-story-high, modernised building with an outdoor swimming pool on the top floor. Except for the cleanliness of the mansion, everything else seemed to be fine. Picking up the broom and mop he found lying around a corner, Atlas got into work. He found some abandoned cloths on the third floor, where the largest room of the mansion was at, as well as some spoiled food in the refrigerator. It seemed like the owners before left in a hurry.

Finally finishing to clean every corner of the mansion, Atlas collapsed on the living room sofa, rubbing his sore back.

"Cleaning. Such an exhausting job." Atlas groaned. As a man who has faced numerous ups and downs, as well as so many nearly impasse missions, he never thought cleaning could be so enervating.

Selecting a big room on the third floor, he dumped the items out of his Iron Man hand-carry, including a silver cased laptop.

Atlas grabbed the silver laptop. He cushioned himself into the sofa and switched it on. Typing in his incredibly complex password, 'A', a fierce wolf appeared on the display screen. Growling in the middle of a raging battle field, it glared its bloody fangs and pounced towards the screen.

In a flash, the laptop returned to the home screen. Cracking open the neighbouring's wifi password easily, he took a sip of the coffee he brew.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a sepia frame hanging on the wall. On the fading old photograph, was an incredibly handsome man hugging a beautiful, angel-like woman lovingly. The woman's belly was curved slightly outwards, symptoms of a new life. They were probably previous owners who deserted this house.

[What a lucky child! I wonder where my parents are?] Atlas was still troubled by his mysterious parents.

He stared out the window to his left gloomily, when...

"You know I'm bad, I'm bad~." Atlas's Nokia hummed out a Michael Jackson song. It was a long-distance call, from Africa.

Atlas took a glance at the caller. He grinned.

"Hello, good evening!"

"What evening?! Boss, it's already morning here. Its not that I despise you. But as our fricken boss, you can't just goof around and suddenly run away quietly. Everyone in Blood Hound is freaking out dude, they thought you got kidnapped by aliens!"

Listening to Blackbear's complaint, Atlas suddenly realized that they were in a different time zone. He replied calmly.

"It's no use complaining to me. As long as you and the others don't do weird stuff, I'm pretty sure you'll lead Blood Hound to the right direction. Just make it as if I were on a vacation."

Blackbear chucked loudly," oh yeah boss. Since you're in China, why don't you introduce some chicks to us? By the way, you should be finding yourself a girlfriend too. Your so called vacation could be an great opportunity!"

"Shut up. I'm still a kid. I'm only 17." After reporting some status, Blackbear hung up the phone, leaving Atlas bored with nothing to do.

Scrolling through the internet in order to kill time, Atlas couldn't help but to yawn.

"This is so boring!" Atlas's voice echoed in the empty mansion. "I'll just go practice for a while."

Standing steadily on the balcony, Atlas faced the busy streets. He took deep breaths of air, and threw some punches. The set of punches Atlas threw had a very simple name, 'punches.'

Maybe the set of punches got its name due to its awesomeness? Atlas always tried convincing himself. But of course, Atlas knew deep down that it most likely got its name 'punches' because his mentor was too lazy to name it. After all, he was a horrible namer.

The perverted old man passed down this set of punches to Atlas a few years ago, saying that he himself and Atlas are the only ones in the world who has learnt this set of punches. He arrogantly claimed that the punches were crazily powerful and the best in the world.

Anyway, Atlas didn't really believe that crazy old man. But he had to admit, he wouldn't have lived till now if it weren't for the 'punches'.

Practicing the punches, gusts of strong wind swept across the busy night market.

"Woo! That was a good warmup." Atlas returned back to the sofa, his voice once again echoing in the empty house.

"I think I might start considering Blackbear's suggestion."

Going back online, Atlas decided to create a post for room rental. The contents are as the following: Hi! Anyone who is interested in renting a room? Your awesome, friendly and supercalifragilelisticexpialidocious-ly handsome dude filled with positive energy here has an offer for you. Located at Daxrim city District 8 Anold street, I have a 3 story mansion with an outdoor swimming pool on the top floor. Price can be discussed with sincerity through face to face interview. Applicants can be of any gender from the age 18-30. Chicks get half price :)

Of course, if a guy came, Atlas would reject him for sure.

Adding one last photograph of the mansion, Atlas shut the computer, feeling satisfied with his post.

Chapter end