Birth Of The Crafts-God

One might wonder what was the point of Lucas buying so many properties, but it was quite simple; to throw off investigators.

The Branch Manager skill allowed Lucas to own and manage branches of the Seven Sparks Forge store. In order for a building to be classified as a store, it has to be owned by Lucas and he had to agree to this change.

Thanks to the modern advancements in society and technology, it was easy to buy a plot for land miles away. Even on Earth, this wasn't a challenge, but in Eretre, it was much faster and easier to do so. Typically, a transaction would not even exceed four hours.

At the moment though, the Branch Manager system skill was still limited and Lucas could only manage two stores at the same time. So, why did he buy many?

If Lucas simply bought one building, the Baylands City Patrol Corps, which could easily gain access to his digital footprint [1], would find out about the building he bought and eventually investigate it once he was declared missing. However, if Lucas was to purchase and rent so many buildings at the same time, it would throw them off and make investigating difficult.

Many of the buildings Lucas had either bought or leased were located in various city-states and continents. If the Baylands City Patrol Corps or any of the top factions in the city wanted to go after him, these buildings would be suspicious points for investigation. However, with there being so many of them in various locations, such an investigation would become quite costly and time-consuming for them. There was also the possibility that Lucas would not really be in any of those buildings and might have just gotten them to throw them off.

With quite a few conclusions, and the fact that it would be costly and time-consuming to find him, there was a chance that the BCPC and the others would give up. Even if they didn't, Lucas would buy enough time to hide and restart his life in a safe place. Sacrificing more than half of his wealth for this was not a big deal.

Having made the decision to leave the city, Lucas then contacted Kelvin.

According to the system, only the host and his employees could use the Branch Travel skill that came with the Branch Manager system skill. Since Kelvin was his employee, Lucas wanted to reach out to him and find out whether the latter was interested in leaving with him.

The first call didn't go through and Lucas frowned. After a while, he tried again. This time, someone finally responded although it took a few seconds.

However, even after Kelvin's projection appeared, Lucas didn't say a word. Kelvin also went silent as well.

"It seems like you've made a decision." Lucas said after staring at Kelvin for a while.

"... I'm sorry, but I can't help you." Kelvin lowered his head and sighed.

Although Lucas didn't state his reason for calling, Kelvin suspected that the latter did so to ask for help.

Toman's Workshop might be declining, but the old man's contacts still existed. Through them, they had found out that Lucas was previously arrested by the BCPC's Central Prefecture district branch and he was currently under house arrest.

Kelvin presumed that the call from Lucas was to ask for help from his father. However, with the current situation of their family, it would be unwise of them to take on another difficulty.

In truth, Kelvin had been thinking about this for a while. When he made a decision, Kelvin then began to keep his distance after Lucas sent him back. He originally planned to not even respond to the latter's call, but in the end, he decided to do it. Kelvin wanted to clear out everything and officially cut off his relationship with Lucas to prevent his family from getting dragged into the situation.

"I understand." Lucas curtly replied before cutting the call.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't pissed, but Lucas truly did understand Kelvin's worries. However, it didn't mean that he would tolerate it. There was a huge difference between understanding and agreeing. Regardless, he didn't let it get to him.

In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had already experienced even worse betrayals before, so this was nothing.

All that was left was for Melissa to return. Until then, Lucas began making preparations and packing up.

. . .

Outside of the Seven Sparks Forge store, there was a vehicle that was parked a couple metres away. Inside, a small team of specialists were on standby, monitoring the situation outside and inside of the store. They utilised high-tech spy cameras, satellite imagery, and even infra-red and bio-scan systems to ensure that Lucas was always on their watch. This was to prevent the possibility of him escaping the city, which those at the top predicted could be his next move.

Even though they were far out from the building, the screens in the vehicle showed the interior, but in a unique display. This was because they were monitoring the inside using infra-red and bio-scan cameras. As such, the concept of colours and inanimate objects weren't properly displayed as they would in reality.

"With the level of security we have in this guy, I don't see how he can sneak out. Why then do we need to be here?"

One of the five men in duty sighed.

Apart from their small team, there was also a group of BCPC agents who were positioned in sttaygice locations around the store. Some of them occasionally approached the store, but didn't walk in since it was closed. Nonetheless, they weren't worried about a secret path as the entire area had already been scanned. From the positioning and number of agents, it seemed impossible for Lucas —a human— to be able to escape.

"Well, who knows. Maybe he has some secret trick hidden up his sleeves?" One of them men said.

"As if. This is Baylands City. It might not be the Central Prefecture district, but it's still a part of the city. Every information about every construction and infrastructure has been recorded. No such trick exists here." The first man snorted as he stared lazily at the screen.

The entire area had already been scanned and mapped out by a different unit, even before they had arrived. Apart from the small building behind the main store building, there was no underground structure present here. The main building had no basement and only the two existing floors above. As for the small building behind, the basement was small, and examination by the special unit had proven that it was actually a storage unit and nothing else. The unit had even once sneaked in there and found nothing except a few gardening tools and random items.

Unknown to them though, the only reason they had managed to even sneak in was because Lucas had permitted it. Otherwise, the system would have prevented them or even killed them on site.

"He's right." The team leader said.

"We have records of the construction done on this place and even the blueprints. The renovation details are also available to the Commission of Infrastructure and City Layout. There's no secret tunnel for him to escape, so our participation is just for formalities."

The first man smirked at his teammates seeing the team leader support him.

"However," The team leader continued, "who knows, maybe a miracle could take place. Like a teleportation station hidden inside the building."

The inside of the vehicle went silent for a while, before they all burst out laughing.

"Haha."

"Haha. That's a nice one cap."

"A teleportation point? Might as well say he's the Divine Protector's secret lovechild son." One of them said.

The Divine Protector was the undisputed leader of the Hyuman Alliance and the ruler of the Niera galaxy, where all humans lived. He was at the Paragon realm which was four stages ahead of the Apertures Opening stage, but thirty one levels away when counting from the first level of the Apertures Opening stage. From this, one could imagine how powerful he was.

As for why everyone found the idea of a teleportation point hidden inside the store to be just as ludicrous as a human being the Divine Protector's secret lovechild, it was simply because such a technology was too advanced even for Eretre. One should recall that space-bombs, items with the ability to shatter space and open a wormhole, could not have their endpoint fixed using the technology and minds on Eretre. There was no one with the ability to make such a device and it could only be bought from higher planets like Mandora, the solar system's capital.

As for teleportation points, they were even more complex of a technology. Just like how regular space bombs could be found in the Oklo Dynasty, short distance teleportation points might be found, except it would be under the direct control of the royal family. However, they only had a range of fifty to one hundred metres. Also, they couldn't be sold to anyone, even top factions or city lord enterprises.

As for the medium distance ones, which could teleport up to five hundred kilometres (500km) (310.69 miles) [2], it couldn't be found on Eretre as there was no one capable of making it. Buying it was too costly, and only organisations such as The Lin family, the Lester family, and the Oklo royal family might be able to afford them.

The long distance devices were even rarer and only top factions in the solar system or transit points for long distance travel in space used them. These devices could reach distances measured in light-years and were used for inter-solar system travel.

Regardless of which it was, it was impossible for Lucas to have one, at least from the perspective of these men.

"Enough laughing. Pay attention to the screen. Even if he can't escape, we still have to do our job."

"Yes, captain." The team responded.