Ethan didn't sleep that night, preferring to meditate through the dawn, keeping a high vigil and sending light pulses of mana throughout his room every few seconds.

He opened his eyes just as the sun rose over the horizon and the first ray of light came through his bedroom window, reminding him that it was time to leave this place and finally begin his mission.

Kneeling on his bed, his eyes scanned the room carefully as a sense of detachment from reality took over his body, like an abstract feeling, as if his eyes could see beyond everything.

"System, what are my chances of breaking through alive?" Ethan asked, already realizing that this night's meditation had greatly altered his perception and control over his mana, but he still wasn't sure how close he was to getting back on track.

"Hm..." Ethan exhaled deeply as he looked at these numbers, determined to deal with this man called Gobini as quickly as possible before leaving this city and perhaps heading east and south towards the capital.

"It's not enough..." Ethan muttered as he let his mana flow out of his body. He needed to get stronger if he didn't want to spend months or years in this city.

After a long sigh, Ethan dressed and prepared his sword before leaving the establishment and walking through the streets of Stormerga, which were slowly filling with farmers, hunters, travelers, and adventurers.

In the midst of so many people, Ethan went completely unnoticed.

He walked slowly, watching the establishments around him, looking for something that would serve him a good breakfast.

He had even considered eating at the establishment where he had spent the night, but after what had happened to that waitress, he decided to avoid places with "special services.".

"Good morning, young friend! You seem lost; do you need help with anything?" As he walked along, Ethan heard a husky male voice, which somehow carried a certain kindness, and felt a strong hand grab his shoulder.

Turning in the direction of the voice, Ethan came face-to-face with a man who could only be described as a giant. He stood over two meters tall, with a slightly older, masculine face and short black hair. He carried a large staff on his back, and despite his intimidating appearance, he still had a gentle smile on his lips.

Ethan watched the man strangely, looking for any sign of bad intentions as he watched him for a few seconds.

"I'm fine," Ethan replied when he saw no sign of bad intentions in the man's words, "just looking for a place to have a good breakfast."

"Breakfast? I know a tavern that makes divine scrambled eggs! Would you like me to take you there?" The man grabbed Ethan's shoulders and looked at him expectantly.

Again, Ethan didn't answer immediately, and although he judged the man's words to be sincere, he couldn't help but see a hint of an ulterior motive in his smile.

A new mission is available for you!

This could be interesting... Ethan mentally smiled as he gave the man a positive nod.

"Great! My name is Robert, by the way. I've come with my group of adventurers to hunt some monsters and earn some gold from the lord of the cityy." Robert smiled as he shook hands with Ethan.

"Ethan is just a wanderer from the south." Ethan returned the man's handshake before they both started walking side by side through the streets of Stormerga.

"South? We came from there too; we were doing some hunting missions for the farmers of the Plains of the Gentle Sun. Are you from there?"

"No, from a small fishing village on the banks of the river Nilia, you must not know it." Ethan lied, and after a short walk, the two men finally arrived at a wooden building with a modest and even slightly dilapidated appearance.

"Don't let the poor appearance fool you; this place is the safest and most comfortable inn in this part of town." Robert laughed as he opened the door to the establishment.

"A place where I'm sure I won't wake up with a blade in my neck? I doubt it." Ethan scoffed at the man's words, kept a slight sneer on his face, and looked around cautiously.

"Hahahaha! Well, I guess that's too much to ask around here." Robert scratched his head as he walked in, knowing full well that the outskirts of Stormerga were a haven for corrupt people, prostitutes, drug dealers, and murderers.

Entering the tavern next to Robert, Ethan noticed that it was empty, except for a small, odd group consisting of two unintelligent-looking men, along with a woman with black hair, and a fourth man, this one as small as a child, with a pair of pointed ears, a large black beard, and the face of an old man in his 70s.

"A dwarf?" Ethan muttered as his eyes locked on the most distinctive figure in the group.

"What are you looking at, you little fucker? You want me to gouge your eyes out?" Noticing Ethan's gaze focused on him, the dwarf roared angrily and grabbed the axe at his waist with a menacing look on his face.

Both Robert and Ethan froze for a second as they heard the little man's disrespectful words, the former apologizing with an embarrassed face.

"I'm sorry, this is Durgan; he's a bit temperamental and hates people looking at him, but I promise he's a good person."

"The only good person in this room is my axe, and he doesn't like people! Let alone one with such energy." Durgan continued to shout, but before he could finish his sentence, the black-haired woman moved in and put him to sleep with a single blow to the back of the head.

After making sure the little man wouldn't wake up to disturb them, she smiled at Ethan with a subtle but burning look on her face as she watched him from head to toe.

She approached him and extended her hand: "I'm Eve; the two idiots here are Clark and Jon; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Idiot is your..." One of the idiots stood up against the woman but stopped when she looked back and gave him a murderous stare.

Eve was a slender woman with wide hips, large, firm breasts, black hair, and blue eyes on an ordinary but heavily made-up face.

"I'm Ethan; it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Eve." Ethan smiled politely and shook the woman's soft, delicate hands.

Carefully, so that no one would notice him, he cast a cautious glance at the unconscious dwarf, remembering an old book he had read in his childhood.

The book said that dwarves were extremely sensitive to certain types of energy and could easily tell good people from bad.

At first, this wouldn't have been a problem for Ethan, since it was just an old legend, and the dwarves who lived on the Eternal Islands were so few that they barely numbered in the hundreds.

But now it was different. Ethan had clearly heard Durgan mention some kind of energy coming from him, and from the little man's tone of voice, he was sure it wasn't good.

"Why don't you take a seat, Ethan? I'll take Durgan to his room, and Eve will explain to you why we called here." Robert nodded to Ethan before taking Durgan in his arms and heading up to the second floor of the tavern.

"So, Mr. Ethan... Won't you tell me a little more about yourself first?" Eve smiled and rested her head on her left hand, her voice fluctuating between the coldness of a cruel businesswoman and the seductive attempts of a pleasure demon.

"I'm just a traveler from the South, Miss Eve, a man with little time for men like Robert and Durgan, but I can reserve some for you if you wish." Ethan was in a hurry and still worried about what Durgan might know about him, but he wasn't the kind of person to run away from a beautiful woman with unfulfilled desires.

"Fufufu~" Eve laughed as she picked up the bottle of beer on the table and poured two full glasses. "Maybe we can come up with something after we've talked about our important business."

Without much thought, Ethan picked up his glass and drank.

The taste was what one would expect from a cheap, low-quality beer from an out-of-the-way tavern: a deep, intense bitterness masked by an alcohol content that would make any unawakened person drunk on a single bottle.

"I'm all ears," Ethan said after setting the empty glass down on the table.

"Well, we have a job with an extremely wealthy contractor, a job that requires 6 Awakened. I can't give you too many details about it since you haven't accepted the mission yet, but know that it pays well, even though Gobini is one of those involved.

If you're not afraid of messing with him, you're welcome to work with us."

"Hm..." Ethan exhaled, his eyes shining, when he heard that the man was somehow involved, but there was still something suspicious about the whole thing.

"I understand that you need someone else, but I don't understand why that sixth person has to be me; don't you know any trustworthy warriors under the mantle of your contractor who could provide that?"

"Yes, we know many famous warriors in this city who could help us, and that's the problem. We need someone who is unknown, someone who can't be easily identified, and someone who can easily disappear if something goes  wrong." Eve replied, but Ethan remained unconvinced and pondered for long seconds.

"What do you think if I give you the first reward?" Sensing Ethan's suspicion, Eve spoke up and pulled out a small, jingling purse before placing it under the table.

"Gold? If that's it, I'm afraid I'll have to decline your offer." Ethan asked before opening the bag, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw its contents: low-grade beast cores—more than three of them.

Maybe if it was just gold, even hundreds of them, Ethan wouldn't think twice before refusing, but Beast Cores were different; they were the main fuel to increase an Awakened's power, and even if they were of low quality, they were still beyond what could be acquired with money alone, and only nobles could trade them legally.

With that in mind, Ethan thought for a few seconds before finally extending his hand to the woman.

Her willingness to pay such a high price just for Ethan's participation in the mission made him realize that this was more than just a service for a random rich nobleman; it also increased his greed.

"It will be a pleasure to work with you, Miss Eve." Ethan smiled and put the crossbow cores away.

"My pleasure, Mr. Ethan." Eve returned Ethan's smile before looking toward the door.

"Our contractor should be here in a few minutes; he'll give you all the details of the mission."