Jack had to admit, he was slightly worried about the kids as they began exploring the dungeon they had found themselves in. Though he was quite sure their chances were more than just average, quite good in fact, but that did not mean he could just relax and await the good news. Such was the damn thing called 'care'. The more you get to know someone and the better your relationship with said person, or group of people, the harder and harder it becomes to sit by and do nothing when they are likely facing danger, even if in limited amounts and nothing they cannot truly overcome. That was the thing- as the wildcards for the world, Kenji and Kaede had already shown their ability to both draw trouble towards them and at the same time to overcome it as well, thus Jack's belief that the threat was not truly insurmountable. Nevertheless, he worried, though at the end of the day he still remained within the city. That did not mean however, he was not paying close attention to the kids and their progress.

  With one eye on the kids, a small perk the amulets he had given them as a last resort nuclear option came with such nifty little perk, though limited in what he could perceive. Jack had no desire to know just what kind of kinks and fetishes the kids developed over time- though right now only Kenji and Kaede were active- thus the rather stringent limitations he himself had placed on the observer mode. The item was also working as intended, at least as far as he could tell so far, for he had yet to tune in at an inappropriate time. So, with the status of the kids within the corner of his eye, Jack himself could finally get to the task he had been waiting for a while now.

  Ramia had just sent over his usual messenger, delivering the needed information folders, so Jack could let loose a bit as mercenary would once again see the light of day and some much needed action. Not that he had been idle during the downtime he had had, expanding the equipment the kids had, working his way through accessories now, albeit slowly and to make sure no one could see a shiny, too shiny in fact, new things on the hands of new adventurers, or whatever else the kids group could be perceived as. All that however, was the small and insignificant stuff, as he had also worked on some more pressing tasks for himself as well.

  The most important, and quite the mandatory piece of mission critical equipment was the Mini displacement anchor(unique). Two units to be precise. Each allowed the one holding a special key, as well as knowledge that was, most likely, far above the level of this lower plane, to teleport to their vicinity while leaving no traces behind. This would allow Jack to come and go as the merc without anyone figuring out anything besides what Jack himself decided to let the future stalkers learn. The devices had their own drawbacks, as well as other strengths as well.

  The main advantage of them, besides providing Jack with untraceable movement of course, was the unique way they remained in their designated location. The item, once deployed, was concealed in a micro space pocket, making it virtually untouchable and untraceable, as such there was no way his access point could be disturbed and what not. He had chosen a place that was traversed by numerous people every day, though at the same time empty during certain times of the day.

  In turn for the incredible advantages the item provided, something had to give due to Jack's limited matter supply and the obvious first victim was its range. Unlike what the original design would eventually be capable of reaching, this one could just barely cover the town in question, meaning that he could not go off to a dungeon, go wild and then be home within seconds of deciding to finish up for the day. Another function he had to sacrifice was the mini array that each of the original anchors come with, sacrificing fortification ability of the area it was placed in. Thankfully, Jack could, and was more than willing to pass up on said properties, bringing the anchor within acceptable cost, though just barely at that for the set of two he had made and already placed in a selected locations- one within the city proper and the other in his own home,

  Now, with the last pieces of information necessary here, he could go to town, so to speak and do a bit of good, hopefully, to benefit the entire town as well. He had become just so damn altruistic, one almost was brought to tears. The thought was as funny as it was ridiculous, though Jack could not find a reason, nor did he actually desired to try as for why he should not do what he had planned. And so, a session of planning began as he sat down at his own table, the numerous documents he had just recently received rolled out across it.

  The room now smelled like parchment and ink, with just the barest undertones of something sweet- a small tray with a fork and a fair number of freshly baked, bite sized pastries waiting for his attention should the desire strike. His gaze moved from one piece of writing towards the next, quickly but carefully reading through and creating expansive folder of knowledge within his own mind. He might not have the bonus calculation speed and memory enhancement from high intellect, but he more than made up for it all with the insane base and modifier that his spirit provided him. That was the thing about spirit. The total output of a being was tied to their stats, obviously, but not all of them worked equally. It was why spirit could not be increased with the free attributes, since that was a form of pure energy the system used to strengthen the body, to evolve it of sorts. The soul however, could not be enhanced the same way, requiring a different type of energy, thus only extremely rare achievements would even warrant the expenditure of said energy, though even Jack, for all his past divinity did not have all the knowledge about the ins and outs of the system itself. He knew it was ancient, older than all presently living gods, as well as quite a bit of surface level knowledge, but that was it. What purpose was it made for and by whom? Too many questions that much, much older beings had asked and given up on the question as well. He could, if fancy struck him, ponder on the philosophy and questions such train of though brought about another time. Right now was time for planning and executing said plans shortly after.

  The remainder of the day passed by in the blink of an eye, his focus locked on the two tasks he had been so deeply immersed. One would, fairly, wonder, what was so difficult in keeping your eye on a group of kids while planning what was a relatively simple clean up mission. The difficulty, in this particular case, lied in that same perceived simplicity. If he wanted people to think the merc came here on a private job of sorts, something happening all too often within this world since many influential would be clients of the mercenary guild preferred to have as few people aware of the details of the more sensitive or less than legal jobs provided, he had to create the false trail that would end up in smoke if anyone tried to dig deeper. And that, as expected, called for a much more complex and better thought out plan. There was no way that someone of his caliber would sneak in a gifted's city as well as a neutral territory like Valkia without having a solid plan of action. Him laying low afterwards could also be explained easily since his actions during the monster tide were to be assumed necessary for full completion of his job.

  Before the last rays of the setting sun kissed the horizon, he received another call from Kaede. The party had proceeded smoothly, taking extra time and care to advance forward while not bringing any unnecessary harm to their own side. After a brief recount Jack was informed that they would have to spend the night, as well as a few more, in the dungeon, implementing the guard shifts and everything else he had drilled into them whenever they had some free time and were all back home. And unlike the fair number of complaints and whining when he had done so, he was now showered with plenty of gratitude for his provided lessons.The last thing he heard was Carla joking in the background about how his actions were expected, him being the dad and all, before the call was cut off.

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  "He he he." he chuckled as returned his gaze to the even more messy, though with a certain order only he could understand, table that now held the outline of his plan on its aged surface. "Work hard and smart kids. I expect great things from you." he murmured as rolled his shoulders, making some last second adjustments he had deemed to be a better choice. With the sun disappearing behind the horizon, it was also time for him to start his own mission.

  "Let the deception begin."

  -----------------------------------

  The slums were, just like the last few times he had visited the place during his own investigations, just as run down and depressing as always, though with the added extra layer of depression and despair the darkness of the night and numerous less than savoury individuals moving from one place to another would have. This atmosphere clung to the few homeless and desperate souls he could see from the corner of his eyes like a loyal puppy, too naive and unwilling to let go. Jack was never amongst the more compassionate gods in the higher realm, though he was nowhere near as sadistic, cruel or cold hearted as those on the other side of the spectrum either. While he considered himself to be in the middle, leaning slightly towards apathy more often than not, his sample size for comparison was rather skewed. He lacked the centuries, millennia's even, of lived life to grow as uncaring as most other gods were towards the mortals as well as the fact his company, when he had any in the form of another divine, were the more outgoing and compassionate gods.

  Humans were quite the interesting beings in that way. There were as many different personalities as there were people, with them being pulled in equal measures towards both benevolence and evil. with the latter gaining upper hand when one was having a hard, miserable life, while the other surfacing more with more comfortable and pleasant environment to grow up in. Of course, the people themselves around the new human, or any other civilised humanoid race for that matter, and the way they behaved and treated others also mattered a great deal. A merchant's kid growing up with greedy, unscrupulous merchants and mercenaries around him, always pushing to earn more at the expense of others while laughing off the misery they created, would quite likely pick up the same manner of conduct, beginning the next generation of the same, likely propagating the same lack less than stellar values to his own descendants afterwards as well. The same worked for the reverse as well. A son of a knight, growing up with an honourable and strict, yet fair father, was quite likely to inherit the same values, teaching his own children the same as he was taught by his father before that, creating a legacy of good that trickled down generation after generation.

  Of course, not all was as black and white, with many other factors being just as important, sometimes even more so, in the development of the children. Sometimes, people were born with some unique conditions that skewed the development of said person greatly, just like it would in the modern day world Jack came from. If the kid was born a sociopath, the likelihood said child would develop as a productive member of whatever society he lived in was lower than otherwise- unless of course said child was taught with the knowledge of his unique condition in mind.

  As Jack carefully moved towards his first target, all he could ask himself when he glanced at the homeless people, hiding as best they could from being chosen as a target for the thugs to unwind whatever tension they had, was when and how had it gone so wrong for them to break to the point of giving up entirely, squandering whatever lives they had left begging and surviving on the scraps other, better off people, who would pretend said scraps as either an act of mercy or a sick game of their own.

  The first on Jack's hit list was a gank that went by the name of Black Dream. A less than imposing name, if a little ominous, though not nearly as much had the name been something like Nightmare's whatever. Still, the name fit, what with the main occupation of the gang being drug smuggling and training obedient and doll like slaves, once again all thanks to the assortment of drugs at their disposal. It also seemed that no matter the location, they had their own presence established the moment even the slightest hint of a beginning of a town were noticed. Only the most remote and smallest villages were spared their presence, and even then it was not a surefire thing. What's worse, they did not care for laws and whatnot operating, like all decent criminal organizations, even in places where drugs were heavily regulated and slavery outlawed. There were plenty of people looking for a relief in a drug induced euphoria or rich bastards seeking for flesh slaves of outstanding quality and behavior that was demanded of their new station in life.

  It did not matter how often the authorities were going after them either, the allure and monet coming from the black business more than enough to go around to enrich not only the ones in charge but also numerous law enforcement members who were feeding the necessary information to the gang so they could escape each and every such raid with minimal losses, often times even gaining something else in the process- either removing some weak links among their own ranks or getting rid of the competition among the local underground forces.

  Sure, Jack was not expecting to create too large a dent in their long term operations with a small culling of the local personnel, but he would need to do so regardless if he wanted easy way to explain how he got his hands on the substances traded by said gang. He had a long term plan already in place to combat that particular issue as well, though to initiate and get it truly underway, samples of the substances in question were needed. Once acquired, he could then understand the chemical and/or magical composition to create a more permanent solution to deal with the effectiveness of said drugs. Once that stage would be reached, he could then use Ramia and his connections to get new, much safer versions of the same drugs, but with milder effects as well as well as prescribed by doctors as a possible remedy for the many mental illnesses that plagued more than its share of people. There was always something that could and oftentimes would crush the spirit of promising adventurer seedlings, bringing them low and drowning in booze or hard drugs.

  His target was a two story compound consisting of a territory enveloping almost seven normal sized houses, with a relatively large fence around it that hid most of the first floor action from the eyes of passerby and curious observers, as few as those were around due to the threat such curiosity possessed. The compound was conveniently located approximately in the middle of the slum area, providing easy access to all those in search of the commodity they desired. It also proved that, like always, contraband paid well and opened many doors to the hearts of nobles and the rich, as well as plenty of corrupt and easily swayed minds.

  As he approached, the only question he had, more for himself than others, was whether to leave any witnesses around or make the wake of his passing the only real evidence he was ever here. Both had their own merit of course, but it worked in fundamentally different ways. He could play the unseen threat, leaving nothing but silence and corpses in his wake, making all who connect the dots to regard him with more weariness and caution. The message would be clear- the merc can be unseen when he wants to and there is nothing you can do to stop it, but please, do try your best.He could also go in guns blazing so to speak, or in his case with his sword drawn, and make both a spectacle and a mess behind him. There would be plenty of rats scurrying away as he began his work, cutting through those that still stood in his way despite the word of his skill displayed during the monster tide.

  In the end, Jack decided to go the silent route, making the merc appear smarter than one would expect of such power based individual. It would mean the would be enemies in the future would act more cautiously, but he was fine with such a small sacrifice if it meant that all those brutish muscle heads seeking to challenge him would be cut in at least half. A fight between muscleheads was more desired than dealing with a smarter opponent.

  "Stealth kill mode on." Jack murmured as a small smile spread across his face.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 21

  Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)

  Stats unassigned: +11

  Attributes:

  Strength- 24 (14+7+3)

  Vitality- 23 (12+8+3)

  Dexterity- 21 (15+6)

  Intelligence-7

  Spirit- Spirit- 25 (20+5)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.

  Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str. Rings- spatial storage, vit +