A man who woke up from bed was staring at his desktop screen. His hand kept on scrolling down the news section and most of it was all bad news. Death tolls, the advancement of UC and the worsening condition of the economy. There was nothing good except for the red hair lady. Even in Canada, the Scarlet Battle Maiden was popular. She was the trend in this semi-apocalyptic time.

 

Jason only smirked seeing this woman who was now dressed in a skin-tight suit. He couldn’t help but found her similar to the image of a film character.

 

Damn, she really looks like that marvel bombshell.

 

He had to admit, he kinda regretted not doing anything while both of them were naked. But what could he do, he was a gentleman to the core.

 

From the article alone, Jason got to know that the military was working with Bryce. He expected as such.

 

As expected, those guys won’t let her go around fighting without trying to gain credit about it.

 

He was right. The military reputation was deteriorating as the invasion kept on advancing. The public dissatisfaction at them was at the highest since their lives were at stake. Like it or not, people only care about themselves and when things go south, they pushed the blame to someone to take care of it.

 

But Jason had to admit, while the media pushed Bryce’s image to be the savior, rather than pushing the woman away, the military did the right thing and clung on to her.

 

For some reason, the public showed a good response to such a thing. In Jason’s mind, he thought that the public probably thought that there was no way a woman could do it all on her own. But they were wrong since he knew the truth.

 

If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t be such a celebrity.

 

As expected of Jason, if he could, he wanted to take credit regarding Bryce’s sudden rise to fame. Since he couldn’t forget about that ten million ability.

 

Well who cares, I should probably worry about myself than about others.

 

True to his thought, for the past two weeks he didn’t have much progress. Most of the time he polished up his numerous skills and at times he went killing monsters at the nearest UC infested area, Oshawa City. The second invasion which didn’t stop like expected proceeded to push the boundaries until finally stopping around Oshawa City at exactly one week. The highway beside Lake Ontario was no longer accessible blocked by the monsters.

 

He didn’t go with his friend and sister since his killing activities only happened during the night as he sneaked out using Shadow Sneak. He found out, going solo was the best for him. Three nights of sneaking out and continuous killing gifted him quite a lot.

 

Shit, leveling up is not easy. Three nights and I only gained three levels. The grind really is way more harder compare in a game.

 

Jason Park

Job : Assassin

Level 25

EP : 136/136(+10)

E.Guard : 3180/3180(+30)

Strength : 50

Agility : 73

Dexterity : 42

Stamina : 42

Energy : 42(+2)

E.Resist : 42

Points : 0

Unique Trait : Rapid Growth

Skills : Intermediate Swordsmanship Lv.4, Heal lv.9, Energy Guard Lv.9, Wind Cutter Lv.9, Shadow Sneak Lv.5, Intermediate Archery Lv.4, Parry Lv.1, Scan Lv.9, Basic Projectile Throwing Lv.3, Blood Edge Strike Lv.3, Basic Smithing Lv.9, Basic Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv.4, Triple Strafe Lv.3, Minor Defense Buff Lv.9

 

His status finally struck a balance except for the leading agility. He could have throw everything in a single attribute and be monstrous like being but the future was full of unexpected things and who knows the lacking attributes might be his biggest weakness.

 

I wish I have a bigger EP pool, this small number isn’t enough to grind all my skills.

 

He had a limited EP for a single day and the past two weeks he focused it all to Heal, Energy Guard and Scan. The three most useful skills within his repertoire and when he ran out, he turned to his passive skills, Intermediate Archery and Basic Projectile Throwing. They were all brought to a few levels up but Jason wasn’t satisfied.

 

On the other hand, if others heard his complaint they would have gone mental. Those new Awakens throughout the world were having a hard time trying to stay alive with five points per level in their arsenal and two guarantee skills under their reign. It was like a rich man complaining that they couldn’t succeed since they hadn’t had enough resources to back them up.

 

Well, that was how it was, the new world of earth.

 

“I probably should check up on Hakeem, he’s probably training like mad,” said Jason as he turned invisible leaving the room empty.

 

Approximately fifteen minutes later, a bunch of black SUVs parked in front of Jason’s house. They even double-parked the family’s car which inadvertently blocked everyone’s cars from leaving.

 

Then men dressed in a similar black suit came out from these SUVs as the one leading them spotted a navy color suit with his hair combed perfectly to the side, he walked through the pavement and reached the door of this household.

 

He knocked on the door thrice with no nervousness in his countenance. The moment the door opened, Jason’s mom was rather surprised and nervous seeing these men with stoic faces.

 

“Yes, how can I help you?” Jason’s mom greeted them and went straight to the question. She felt uncomfortable with these strangers in front of their doorstep but she still managed to flash a smile.

 

“May we come in Mrs.Park?” said the navy suit man.

 

“I’m sorry but who are you again?” Mrs.Park asked.

 

“I’m Howard Rostenkowski,” said the navy suit man.

 

“Roste- what again?’ Mrs.Park wasn’t familiar to such name and couldn’t catch on to his name.

 

Howard was pretty irked by Mrs.Park’s action but he kept his cool since he had dealt with this kind of situation since even before he had this job. He kept on that fake smile like it was second nature.

 

“Ma’am, we are from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, we have come here because of your son,” said Howard.

 

Mrs.Park didn’t know what those names meant but she was smart enough to know that these people were from the government.

 

“Please, come in,” she said.

 

The bunch of stoic looking people that number around fifteen entered in a systematic number.

 

“Honey! We’ve got guests! I need you here!” Mrs.Park shouted at the top of her lung calling out to her husband who was probably having fun with his gadgets.

 

Mr.Park walked down the staircase while humming and after reaching the living room, he stopped as he was flabbergasted seeing these many unknown men in his living room.

 

Mr.Park flashed a quick smile and waved his hand a bit as he then left to the kitchen.

 

“Who are those people?” asked Mr.Park.

 

“They’re from the government, help me out with this,” Mrs.Park passed a tray full of empty cups and a jug filled with tea. She didn’t have a teapot enough for fifteen people and jug seemed to be the best bet.

 

“The government?” Mr.Park held on to the tray as he was still confused about why some government officials were in his house.

 

Mrs.Park handed out cups with tea with the help of Mr.Park.

 

“Mrs.Park, you don’t need to do this,” said Howard as he wasn’t here for a tea party.

 

“Drink it,” she said with a smile. Howard didn’t have a choice but to just took it in his hand.

 

Mrs.Park and Mr.Park then sat across Howard. There was silence in the living room and it felt suffocating for the Parks.

 

“Mr. and Mrs. Park, we are here because of your son,” said Howard.

 

Mrs. Park closed her mouth as she felt something bad was going on.

 

“Did he did something wrong?” she asked afraid of what was about to come.

 

“Your son has stolen something from the government and we need it back,” said Howard.

 

“Oh no,” Mrs.Park covered her gaping mouth with her hand as she couldn’t believe what she just heard.

 

“My son would have never done that, do you have any evidence of it? You know I can sue you for the accusation,” Mr.Park defended his son as he knew his son. His son would never resort to thieving.

 

“This is not a negotiation Mr.Park, it’s either Jason Park follow us or he will be convicted for no less than ten years in prison,” said Howard with a calm voice.

 

Mrs.Park started to crying while Mr.Park stood up glaring at Howard. Picturing their son in jail never crossed their mind before.

 

“What he did he stole from you?” asked Mr.Park as he felt wary about this situation. He knew about the CSIS but shouldn’t the police be involved if it included an arrest?

 

“Classified,” said Howard. He didn’t have the authority to shared such a thing.

 

Mr.Park couldn’t accept this. If his son really did it at least he deserved to know what kind of thing that his son had stolen. But after hearing the word ‘classified’ it only made his emotion even more unstable.

 

“Classified? You accuse my son of stealing and you said the information is classified. Stop bullshitting and tell me what the hell is really going on?!” for the first time Mr.Park let his anger dictated his tone of voice. He wasn’t much of a screamer but in this situation, he just had to.

 

His wife, Mrs.Park stopped crying and started taking out her phone and recording the faces of these people with her smartphone. With teary red eyes, she won’t back down for her son’s justice.

 

“This is the people that accuse my son and want to put him in jail,” said Mrs.Park as she knew that recording this situation would be a good thing in the long run if the case went to prosecution.

 

“Ma’am, please stop recording. It’s illegal and you don’t have the…” Howard warned Mrs.Park and the rest of his subordinates blocked their face from being recorded. But in his mid-sentence, Mrs.Park lashed out at him.

 

“Shut up! I’ll record whatever the hell that I want to record and see you in court bastard!” said Mrs.Park. She too left her restraint and went full mother’s protection mode.

 

Howard had a few documents in hand to prove that their son indeed a thief but stopped himself seeing the situation turning out of hand. Right now, brute force was the answer.

 

“Confiscate the phone and you ten go search for Jason Park, retrieve him at any cost,” said Howard with his cold calculated voice.

 

“No, you can’t do that!” shouted Mrs.Park as she tried to stopped these men from climbing up the staircase.

 

Yet she was stopped as one of the tall and big CSIS agents stopped her moving an inch. Mr.Park saw this and felt enraged.

 

“Stop holding on to my wife and get fuck out of my house!” he charged at the one who held on to his wife. But another black suit man easily restrained him from doing so, a light punch at the gut and Mr.Park was on his knees.

 

Howard saw this and frowned.

 

“Come on Stuart, I know you are new to this but we have protocols. Follow the freaking protocol,” said Howard.

 

“Sorry Agent Rostenkowski,” said Stuart as cuffed Mr.Park on the floor.

 

“Get the fuck out of my house! Get the fuck out of my house…” Mr.Park kept on repeating those lines shouting like a hysteric man. While Mrs.Park kept on shouting not to take her son.

 

Yet one of the men who were sent to catch Jason went downstairs.

 

“Agent Rostenkowski, we have a problem. Jason Park isn’t here,” said the black suit man.

 

“What?!” Howard was surprised as he was quick stood up on his two feet.

 

“Our surveillance cameras on this house had been monitoring on for the last two days and you said he wasn’t here? Stuart go check with the recon team and report to me immediately,” said Howard as he climbed up the stairs.

 

“Affirmative,” Stuart went out of the house to rendezvous with the recon team.

 

Howard barged inside Jason’s room as it already turned into a mess due to the action of his men. He opened the closet and saw there was no one. He closed it down with force even ending up breaking the closet door.

 

“Damn it!” Howard said. Howard knew about the high chance of Jason having an invisibility ability and they came prepared with the technology ranging down from thermal vision and EMF vision. Even the surveillance cameras monitoring this house had those technologies to see the Invisible Man.

 

Yet none of them knew that their technology was worthless against Jason’s ability.

 

Stuart came back and reported that there was no sight of Jason leaving the house. Howard had an inkling that the Invisible Man really could become invisible and undetected through the technology.

 

“Abort the mission, we need to inform headquarters about the target going loose. Station some men within the proximity of the house and report back to me if the target comes back,” he relayed his order and went back down to the living room.

 

“Agent Rostenkowski what about the parents,” Stuart asked.

 

“Leave them, they’re not the priority,” said Howard.

 

These fifteen men left the house leaving Mr.Park still in handcuff and Mrs.Park sitting on the couch. As soon as they all leave, Mr.Park shouted to his wife.

 

“Call Jason, tell him he’s in trouble and don’t come back home.”

 

While Mrs.Park phone dialed up Jason’s numbers. The SUVs started driving on the road leaving the Park’s house behind.

 

The people inside a particular SUV were busied with Howard sitting in the middle of a sea. He was the only not calling on the phone as he tried to think about their next step of action. But then he felt something cold, pressed by the side of his temple. He jerked up in response as an unfamiliar voice filled up the air of the vehicle.

 

“You’ve got some balls treating my parents like that,” it was Jason and right now he was holding Howard at gunpoint.