Chapter 51: Phantom
The morning sun filtered through the windows of the Glacier Palace, casting long shadows across Scar’s bedroom. He was still asleep, enjoying his peaceful slumber.
Suddenly, the soft, mechanical hum of anti-gravity thrusters broke the morning silence and woke him up.
Scar’s eyes snapped open. He didn’t sit up; his body instantly tensed, ready to react. Hovering just three feet above his mattress was a sleek, silver drone the size of a grapefruit, its singular blue optic scanning him.
Scar instantly summoned his pistol from his inventory, his finger resting on the trigger, ready to shoot at the machine’s lens. But before he could launch the strike, the drone’s optic flared.
A beam of hard-light projected outward, materializing into a high-definition holographic bust of Alicia.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you," the holographic Alicia smirked, leaning forward as if peering down at him. "This drone costs more than your entire wardrobe."
Scar froze, his arm still suspended in the air. He let out a harsh exhale, banishing the pistol.
"Good morning, Roy. I hope you slept well," Alicia’s hologram continued, examining her fingers. "This is a prerecorded message so don’t try to reply. Anyway, I’m sending this message to inform you that Mom and I are heading out to Gaea Nation at this very moment, so, I’m afraid our meeting is postponed. But don’t worry, I’ll be back by tomorrow, and we can have our little meeting then." She offered a devastatingly playful wink. "Try not to miss me too much. Oh, and one more thing—this drone is programmed to self-destruct immediately after delivering this message, so I’d stay far away from it. We wouldn’t want your pretty face getting blown to bits. Bye!"
The hologram vanished. Then, a rapid, high-pitched beeping began emitting from the drone’s core.
It took Scar a fraction of a second to process her final words. His pupils dilated. At the absolute last possible millisecond, he violently jerked his head away, throwing his arms up to shield his face.
BOOM.
The drone exploded as said. But there was no explosive effect. No concussive shockwave. No jagged shards of shrapnel tearing through the bedroom walls. Scar slowly lowered his arms. The drone was completely gone. In its place hung a small, dissipating cloud of white smoke. The machine had effectively vaporized itself, breaking down its own molecular structure in an instant to leave zero trace of its technology.
Scar stared at the smoke, genuinely stunned by the sheer absurdity and the advanced technological flex. He shook his head, running a hand over his face. "Crazy redhead." He mused.
He dragged himself out of bed and headed down to his private training room. He didn’t linger. He aggressively cleared his daily lifting and calisthenics quests, receiving the respective rewards after.
Upon leaving the training room, Scar decided to go hunting directly. Better for him to start early, since Alicia had canceled their plans for the morning.
After a quick shower, Scar stepped out of the front doors of the Glacier Palace. He dropped into a sprinter’s crouch on the pristine, tree-lined residential avenue. The road connecting the estate to the central park was exactly one kilometer of quiet, affluent serenity—flanked by ancient oaks and towering mansion walls. It had become his daily routine.
Scar focused his intent, and the world warped. Then, he bolted.
FWOOSH!
The pavement spider-webbed beneath his boots as he launched himself forward.
Scar moved like a phantom. The quiet morning air tore apart with a localized sonic boom as he tore down the avenue. The towering trees smeared into a continuous blur of green and brown. Because it was a private residential sector, there were no transit lanes to cross, no heavy traffic to evade. It was just a straight, blistering shot.
He reached the gates of Arcadia Central Park in less than fifty seconds. He dug his heels into the pavement, skidding to a halt just in time for the system notification to chime.
[Objective 1 Complete: Run 1 Kilometer without stopping]
[You have received: +5 Exp, and +10 Km/hr to Top Speed]
[Daily Quest Complete]
[Top Speed: 740 km/hr]
[Exp: 995/1000]
Scar exhaled in satisfaction, he was really close to leveling up, and a step closer to reaching Mach 1. He walked casually to the burger vendor in the park, grabbed a free protein burger as always, and took a massive bite. He didn’t stay to enjoy the scenery. He pivoted out of the park, chewing rapidly, and bolted back into a sprint straight into the city. The landscape shifted from quiet residential avenues to the towering, neon-drenched metropolis.
Running at 500 kilometers per hour, Arcadia didn’t look like a city; it looked like a heavily blurred painting of neon and steel. The wind resistance felt like a solid wall of water parting around his aerodynamic frame. He didn’t even need to activate Accelerated Perception to weave through the morning transit traffic. His mind naturally processed the environment at a terrifying rate. The sprawling concrete and steel faded rapidly into the secluded streets of the city’s outskirts.
He arrived at the towering, heavily reinforced perimeter gates of the hunting grounds in a matter of seconds, his boots skidding across the dirt in a cloud of dust.
Scar walked up to the gates, passing by the small security building positioned just off to the side of the entrance. He stopped at the closed steel gate, finishing the last of his burger. He turned, looking through the side window of the building. Sitting at the control desk was a young woman in her mid twenties. It wasn’t the gruff man from before.
As Scar approached the window, the woman looked up. The moment her eyes landed on him, she gasped softly, her posture instantly shifting from authoritative to deeply reverent. She immediately stood up, knocking her chair back, and bowed respectfully through the glass, deeply acknowledging his presence.
Scar was mildly surprised by the woman’s actions, but then the he remembered that Felicity’s grand broadcast had circulated globally. Everyone now knew exactly what the only son of Felicity Myers looked like. And they witnessed a fraction of his ability.
The woman grabbed a heavy mechanical lever on her console and pulled it back. The massive steel gates groaned loudly, parting to grant him unrestricted access.
Scar offered a brief nod and stepped into the artificial wilderness. As the gates locked behind him, he pulled up his current status, analyzing his baseline before the bloodshed began.
——————
*Name: Henry Myers
*Race: Human
*Level: 4 (Exp: 995/1000]
*HP: 400/400
*Stamina: 129
*Energy Points: 80/80
*Shop Points: 760
–––––––
[Speed Index: Tier 1 - Cheetah Class]
*Top Speed: 740 km/h
*Speed Rate: 0 km/h (Idle)
*Perception Index: 4.5x
–––––––
*Strength: 38
*Agility: 33
*Durability: 70
*Perception: 56
*Mastery: 17
*Stat point: 0
*Super Speed
*Accelerated Perception
*Health Regeneration
*Eye of Horus
None.
——————
Just five Exp away from leveling up, Scar noted, a predatory smirk touching his lips as he walked into the woods, searching for his first victim.
He didn’t have to look for long.
Deep in the first forested sector, a pack of six E-rank Bloodhounds caught his eye. They were monstrous, mutated canines with exposed, pulsating musculature and jaws that could snap steel. They burst from the dense underbrush, surrounding him in a coordinated ambush circle. They snarled, their muscles coiling to strike simultaneously.
Scar stood perfectly still in the center of the ambush, his expression calm as ever.
The pack leader let out a guttural roar, and all six beasts launched themselves through the air, their claws extended, aiming to tear him apart from every angle.