Jason, Hakeem, and Esther stepped outside of their vehicle. A familiar man was waiting for them. Neil Stinson smiled from one end to another with his long white coat.

 

“Welcome,” said Neil.

 

These three stuck out like a sore thumb as they came wearing in civilian attires.

 

Jason reached out for Neil’s hanging hand. Both of them shook hands. Neil pulled Jason closer to him as he whispered.

 

“We need to talk.”

 

Neil sounded serious. Then that face of his turned amicable once more as he turned over to Hakeem and Esther.

 

“Been a long time, you two. Hakeem, have you eaten? What about you, Esther?” said Neil.

 

The trio ate at the cafeteria free of charges, and a while later, Neil pulled Jason over. Jason sat in an office with Neil sitting opposite of him. Both of them were staring at each other with not a word coming out from their mouths.

 

“Is there a problem?” Jason asked.

 

“You have gotten stronger,” said Neil.

 

“I can say the same thing,” said Jason.

 

Neil Stinson Lv: 5 Job: None EP:44/45, E.G:150/150, Str:5, Agi:5, Dex:6, Sta:4, En: 15, E.R: 5 Status Condition : Healthy Skill: Scan, E.Guard

 

“Easy killing?” Jason asked.

 

“More like privileges of being at the top,” said Neil.

 

“You upgrade your skill,” said Jason.

 

“Upgrade?” said Neil. The confused look turned into fascination.

 

Jason accidentally spilled the bean, yet his expression remained the same. But then he sighed.

 

Sooner or later, they will find it out might as well gives them a heads up.

 

“Once the skill reaches a certain level, it may upgrade into a better one. I thought one of yours had an upgrade,” said Jason.

 

“Interesting, no soldier had an experience of what you said,” said Neil with a smile, leaning forward towards Jason. But then he spoke something else, “any other tips or secret you want to share Mr.Park?”

 

You sly dog, you think I’m going to give things that easily? I made a mistake, and to hell, I’m going to make another one.

 

Jason smirked and only stared at Neil.

 

“I’m lucky to receive an upgraded skill, and I’ve compared with Ellen Portsmouth’s Identify. The function was more or less the same except for mine had a higher degree of details,” said Neil as he leaned back on his chair.

 

“Let’s cut to the chase, what’s the problem?” Jason asked.

 

“The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind,” said Neil.

 

A brief silence between the two, yet it took a bit of time as Jason raised his eyebrows.

 

“You’re into poetry these days?” Jason asked.

 

“Besides science, I’m a man of literature myself,” said Neil.

 

“You know about the mission?” Jason asked.

 

Neil let out a sigh as he grabbed a file inside his drawer. He passed it to Jason.

 

“For the past one week, our military is making our move. The sixty-nine soldiers remained as one of our elites. They are training their levels as fast as possible, while more and more of our soldiers are going through the Awakening every day,” said Neil.

 

“What you did back then really paved the way for us,” said Neil.

 

“and the bad things are?” Jason asked.

 

“The bad news is, the UC are advancing without any obstacle impeding their way. We tried to block them at a certain bridge. But it proved to be useless, their levels are way higher, and we almost lost another precious member from the sixty-nine elites,” said Neil.

 

“Why didn’t you use Identify?” You can easily see whether they’re fightable or not,” said Jason.

 

“We did, the lowest level was thirteen, and yet we can barely produce a result,” said Neil. “Killing even one of them was hard enough, but with them moving in herds and groups, just surviving proved to be an obstacle.”

 

“I’m about to tell you to train your level first, but you probably knew that,” said Jason.

 

“We don’t have enough time,” said Neil as he stood up and looked out from the window.

 

“We’re losing 45% of Canada in just a matter of a week, and the reason we aren’t being totally conquered is due to our luck. Lucky for being avoided by that damn crack in the sky,” said Neil.

 

Jason sensed the impatience in Neil’s voice. He had the same worries as Neil’s, but he knew that without racking up levels, surviving would be difficult.

 

“And the mission?” Jason ignored Neil’s rant and came back to the main topic.

 

“A squad of twenty people, including you three, will be sent to Oshawa and impede the incoming UC,” said Neil.

 

“Oshawa? That’s close to Toronto,” said Jason as his eyes narrowed.

 

“Indeed, we detected the closest UC to Toronto is from Oshawa. For the last two days, their movement had slowed down almost stagnant. We need to stop them before they reach Toronto,” said Neil.

 

“What are they?” Jason asked.

 

“We couldn’t determine their level, meaning they are higher level. But, we can describe what they are,” said Neil.

 

Jason flipped through the documents in his hand and saw an image.

 

“It’s a horde,” said Jason.

 

“To be precise, it’s an orc horde,” Neil replied.

 

Then the office phone rang. Neil picked it up and put it back.

 

“It’s time to go,” said Neil.

 

Jason got up and shook hands with Neil. Then out of sudden, Neil went for a hug, which surprised Jason quite a bit. To be fair, they weren’t that close. But then he heard Neil’s whisper.

 

Jason left the room and proceeded to join back with Esther and Hakeem. While walking back, he was deep in his own thought.

 

Mantis stalking the cicada? Since when do Korean learn Chinese idioms? Well, thankfully I know a bit of two about idioms and that last whisper of his.

 

Jason stopped on his track as his fist clenched tight to the point of shaking.

 

The military is trying to take me down, huh? But I can’t say its the military since it’s more like some part of them since Neil is probably by my side, I think. Well, let's just see what happens.

 

Jason continued walking back to his designated room.

 

Shitty humans. We’re under an invasion, and they’re worrying about whose dick is the biggest. They’re really that afraid of me and trying to take me down? No way I’m going to sit back without a fight. If they want a fight then I’ll gladly give them.

 

A vicious glint flashed within Jason’s eyes as he finally arrived at his designated room. He walked inside and saw both Hakeem and Esther dressed up in the military uniform provided.

 

Hakeem was fully clothed in a military uniform from head to toe except for the helmet.

 

“You’re not wearing a helmet?” asked Jason.

 

“Don’t want to mess up with these new cornrows,” said Hakeem.

 

While Esther was only wearing the military uniform from the waist down. There was no jacket or a helmet on her. But what caught his attention was what she was wearing for the top. A nude color sculpting bodysuit. A rather bold choice.

 

“You’re not wearing a jacket?” Jason asked.

 

“It’s too stuffy and too big, I can’t move that well in that,” said Esther.

 

“Suit yourself,” said Jason as he clapped once, taking both Hakeem and Esther’s attention.

 

“We’re up against orcs, and Hakeem, like always, I need you to take the beating and Esther hit from the flank and kill them as fast as possible,” said Jason.

 

“Orcs? You mean those pig face monsters?” Esther asked.

 

“Yeah, that’s the one,” said Jason.

 

“I read they smell bad,” said Esther.

 

“It might be true but let’s don’t get our hopes up,” said Jason.

 

Esther felt dejected while Hakeem was wondering about something.

 

“Hey, why didn’t you bring along Mateo?” asked Hakeem.

 

“Mateo? Who’s Mateo?” Esther asked, surprised by the new name.

 

“He’s not ready, and besides, he’s probably discovering something new by now,” said Jason.

 

Then the door was knocked, Jason opened the door.

 

“Sir, reporting, we ready for departure,” said a fully-clothed soldier. 

 

“Let’s go,” said Jason beckoning the others to follow him.

 

Hakeem whispered in Jason’s ears.

 

“Are we dropping from an airplane again? Cause I don’t think I can do it again,” said Hakeem.

 

“Relax, we’re probably going by road,” said Jason.

 

But as the trio grouped up with the rest of the squad, Jason saw the varieties of armor vehicles standing behind them, and there was even a single tank among them.

 

“Woah, we’re going to ride a tank?” Hakeem was amazed.

 

Esther too couldn’t hide her amazement. While Jason had his concerns.

 

Isn't this a bit too much?