Chapter 73: Ashspire City, new beginning (1)
Time waits for no one. In the Blue Star, two months had gone by in a flash. It was almost winter and the weather had become increasingly cold.
That was even more prominent in Ashspire City, which sat in the dead north of the Southern Region, far, far away from Nova City in the other part of the Southern Region.
Ashspire City. It was a third-rate city like any other in the Southern Region, however among other cities this particular one stood out.
Of course, not because it was a great city with good education, good people, and abundant resources.
Rather, it was because it had decent education, a large amount of resources comparable to several second-rate city, and mainly because of its people. The people in the city ran the full spectrum, from extremely good to extremely bad.
The city was infested with gangs, and they went about lawless without a care.
In Ashspire City, there were more middle-stage second-rankers than in any other third-rate city, yet this place ran lawless most of the time with no one to stop the criminals.
That was because this city was not fully under the control of the City Lord or the Federation. This city was run by corporations and companies.
Here, the Evolver’s Association and the City Lord held no absolute power like in Nova City.
Another aspect of Ashspire that made it stand out was the main evolutionary path everyone followed here.
Ranked 11th in the First Rank Evolutionary Ranking System: the Cyborg Evolutionary Path.
Blue Star had extremely advanced technology, far surpassing Earth, and the existence of a cyborg evolutionary path was no surprise. People implanted cybernetics — advanced technology to grow stronger and assimilate with their cyberware.
The limit of the cyborg evolutionary path for now was only at early second rank, as no one had managed to find the law to comprehend and fully merge with the evolutionary path yet.
None seemed to master it, but it was still strong and Ashspire City was filled with practitioners.
Ashspire City, Sector One.
"Have you guys heard?"
"Hear what?"
"About the expert formation master that suddenly appeared in Ashspire City. It’s said that person is a two-star formation master. We now have another two-star formation master."
"It significantly boosted the reputation of our Ashspire City, with people from the neighboring cities coming to our city to personally seek guidance from that master."
"I also heard that Miss Valeria from the Azrael Corporation has been commissioning formations from this master and buying a large stack of them. Looks like she has taken a liking to him. She is usually cold and indifferent toward everyone, treating everyone like air."
"The rumor is that she is from the Ten Floating Cities. Of course, she wouldn’t take anyone from a third-rate city like Ashspire City seriously. Of course, rumors are just rumors and I will still continue being Miss Valeria’s fan. To rise as one of Ashspire City’s hegemons in her early 20s is no easy feat, and she commands three middle-stage second-rankers. A goddess like her shouldn’t live here."
"Forget that. What do you guys know about the Aether Evolutionary Path?"
"The Aether Evolutionary Path? Who doesn’t know about it? People went crazy over it and some even shifted to the Aether Evolutionary Path as soon as news spread that it was effective against corruption fields. Aether energy is a natural bane to corruption fields. I truly wonder who made this evolutionary path. It has been mentioned that many experts from the Ten Floating Cities have been searching for its creator, even the Federation Master himself. But Eterna has the information tightly sealed. Not even the Federation Master can see it."
"Yes. That’s right. Aether evolutionary path has a lot of potential, however I don’t think it will be able to reach the level of the top three paths. Sure, they have deduced a way to strengthen the mind, body, and energy with a high success rate, but it is still not enough to reach middle-stage second rank. It will become just like the cyborg evolutionary path."
"You’re just a hater. I’ve transferred my path to Aether evolutionary and if you dare, come fight me. I’m afraid against my current prowess you won’t be able to hold a candle against me."
As fellow evolvers who lived and worked in Sector One talked with each other, an explosion rang out not far from them. It came from a three-story building everyone knew.
It was one of the den of the Black Viper Crew.
Ratatata!
The sound of heavy shooting and firearms rang out from within the building.
Inside.
Almost ten Black Viper Crew members wearing black bandanas with the picture of a viper shot toward one corner of the building, all with terrified expressions.
They all had cybernetics on their bodies with intricate patterns. From head to torso, some had weapons extending from their hands, some from their heads.
"Shoot that guy!" a member shouted with an enraged expression. "Kill him! He knows about us! He cannot get out no matter what!"
However, just as he said that, his body, covered in cybernetics, began twitching and sparks came from him. He fell to the ground lifeless.
"Alright folks, stop wasting your ammo and queue properly so that I can eliminate you," a playful voice resounded from the corner of the smoke-filled area.
"No. Nine is down, everyone!" another member shouted in panic. "Kill that guy! You bastard, ByteRipper, what the hell are you doing? He is taking down our people. Why aren’t you redirecting his signals?"
"I... I can’t!" the member with red glowing cybernetic eyes stammered. "I can’t sense his cybernetic presence or his internal chip!"
As he said that, his body began twitching like the previous member and he too fell to the ground with a terrified expression.
As soon as the hacker of the team fell, everyone stopped shooting and looked at his body in horror.
Even the person with hacking cybernetics, someone who could hack into anyone’s brain as long as they were a cyborg, the ByteRipper, had fallen.
"You lot are kind of weak for a bunch of late-stage first-rankers, aren’t you?" the cold yet playful voice rang out again.
The smoke near the voice cleared up and a young man appeared in everyone’s vision.
This young man had long black hair, deep purple eyes, and a wide grin on his face.
It was none other than Grey!
"Are you guys really working for the High Order? I’m starting to have my doubts about how weak you guys are. Either way, you deserve to die for the crimes you’ve committed, so it doesn’t matter."