Chapter 62 — First Mission

There were many buses that traveled between Tranquil City and the Academy daily.

They ran twenty-four seven, since countless people traveled between the two destinations every day students, staff, workers, and various other civilians.

Inside a futuristic-looking bus with sleek chrome panels and holographic displays, the Mafia sat in tense silence as they waited to reach Tranquil City to carry out their first real mission.

Yes.

The Mafia was so pathetically poor that they could only afford basic bus tickets for now.

In the coming few years, people wouldn’t believe that the infamous Mafia carried out their first criminal operation by traveling on public transportation like common civilians.

The Academy had their own private buses designated for official club activities.

But in order to use them, students had to get explicit permission from the Student Council first.

Which, in their case, would never happen in a million years.

’Sigh... We really are broke. I never really considered earning money before since my family provided everything. But the Mafia desperately needs substantial funds to function properly.’

Damian sighed internally as he stood near the front of the bus, looking back at his newbie Mafia members seated nervously in their seats.

He did have money in his personal account from his family’s allowance, but he absolutely refused to use his family’s hard-earned money for running the Mafia’s operations.

This had to be built from the ground up with their own hands.

’I genuinely never thought all of them would actually agree to come...’

Yes.

Every single member that he’d gathered and spoken to in the shooting range earlier had agreed to come along for this dangerous mission, each for their own personal reasons.

Not one person had decided to leave or back out.

And Damian felt genuinely glad that his two months of carefully building bonds and trust with them hadn’t been wasted effort.

Looking at the obviously tense expressions on the faces of everyone gathered, he decided to try lightening the oppressive mood.

"Relax, everyone. I’m not sending you all to your deaths on our very first mission."

His calm voice cut through the nervous silence.

"Since this is our first operation, the target I’ve chosen is also something you can realistically handle without too much difficulty. And in case you still don’t manage to hold up under pressure..."

He smiled slightly.

"You have me."

Hearing him say that with such casual confidence, many students visibly relaxed, their shoulders dropping slightly.

"That’s right! Don’t worry so much, you guys!"

Ronan’s loud, enthusiastic voice boomed through the bus.

"Didn’t you all see how Boss absolutely demolished Mara two months back? Beat a C-rank third-year half to death with his bare fists!

And it’s been two whole months since that incident. Boss will surely be super powerful by now!"

Several students nodded, their confidence growing.

Damian smiled genuinely before his gaze shifted to a particularly calm-looking girl seated in the back of the bus.

The girl’s name was Ariana Sterling.

She had simple black hair and black eyes – the most common coloring for people in this world – and everything about her appearance seemed completely average and unremarkable.

But she possessed one of the absolute rarest innate skills Damian had ever encountered.

She was born with a spatial manipulation skill.

Yes.

While everyone else would eventually have to purchase expensive storage rings to carry their equipment, or spend years trying to somehow learn an incredibly rare space-type skill through brutal training...

This girl had been born with the natural ability to store objects in a personal dimensional space.

Her storage capacity depended directly on her Aura core rank, which was currently only E-minus, so the space wasn’t particularly large at the moment.

But it would grow with her.

Right now, she was carrying everyone’s weapons inside her spatial storage, including Damian’s distinctive battle axe.

"Ariana."

Damian’s voice drew her attention.

"You’ll stay directly by my side when we engage our target. Don’t stray from me."

"Okay."

Ariana replied with that same calm, unruffled expression on her face, as if they were discussing tomorrow’s weather rather than a dangerous criminal operation.

She was also a student from Section A thanks to her exceptionally rare innate skill being recognized during the entrance examinations.

Everyone else in the bus looked at her with openly envious eyes.

She was probably going to be the safest person among them all tonight.

****

Tranquil City was fundamentally divided into three distinct regions, each with its own character and level of danger.

The Quintin Skyscraper that Damian had spectacularly obliterated previously was located in the Core Region – where Old Man Mike and his mysterious "friends" quietly operated their shadowy business dealings.

Surrounding the Core Region was the Inner Region, where most of the city’s wealthy, influential residents lived in relative safety and luxury.

And then there was the Outer Region.

It was the most chaotic, violent area of the entire city – a place even the regular police deliberately avoided entering unless absolutely forced to respond.

Dozens of small gangs were constantly engaged in brutal territory wars here, fighting over scraps of control and influence.

And the Outer Region was precisely where Damian planned to begin the Mafia’s rise to power.

He’d obtained all this detailed geographical and political information from Old Man Mike during their previous conversations.

And his chosen target was one of the bigger, more established gangs controlling this dangerous region.

The Serpent Gang.

This particular criminal organization controlled approximately ten percent of the entire Outer Region’s territory and ruthlessly extorted protection money from everyone who had businesses operating within their claimed area.

But there was another specific reason why Damian had chosen this gang as their first target.

They ran one of the largest drug distribution rings in the entire city.

And Damian absolutely despised this type of business, even back in his past life.

He didn’t particularly mind alcohol or cigarettes – those were vices, sure, but relatively harmless in moderation.

But hard drugs? That was where he drew his line in the sand.

He wasn’t a hero by any stretch of imagination.

But he had principles.

And some things were just unacceptable.

****

The bus finally stopped at the border between the Inner and Outer Regions, as far as public transportation was willing to go.

The moment Damian and his thirty Mafia members stepped off, the atmosphere changed dramatically.

The clean, well-maintained streets of the Inner Region gave way to cracked pavement, flickering streetlights, and buildings covered in graffiti.

The air itself felt heavier, more oppressive.

"Everyone, gather up."

Damian’s voice was calm but commanding.

The thirty students quickly formed a loose circle around him, their hands unconsciously moving to where their weapons would normally be.

Ariana stepped forward silently and began distributing weapons from her spatial storage.

Ronan received nothing – he fought with his fists and innate brute strength.

Lysa was handed an elegant compound bow with a quiver of arrows.

Edrin received twin short swords that gleamed under the dim streetlights.

Zavier nervously accepted a simple spear, his hands trembling slightly.

Other students received their chosen weapons – daggers, shields, staffs, chains, even a few guns for those who’d trained in marksmanship.

Damian left his axe in Ariana’s storage for now.

He wouldn’t need it yet.

"Listen carefully."

Damian’s crimson eyes swept across every face.

"Edrin will lead you through the initial engagement. You’ll start from that street."

He pointed toward a narrow alley lined with small businesses, all of them clearly struggling under the weight of extortion.

"Serpent Gang members patrol that area regularly. You’ll encounter resistance. You’ll face people who’ve killed before, who won’t hesitate like you will."

Several students swallowed hard.

"Some of you might get hurt. Some of you might even nearly die."

Damian’s voice was brutally honest.

"But I’ll be watching. I won’t let any of you actually die on your first mission. That would be a waste of my investment in your training."

He looked directly at Edrin.

"Show me what you’ve learned these past two months. Show me if my time was wasted or well spent."

Edrin adjusted his glasses, his tactical mind already working.

"Understood, Boss."