Chapter 23: Butterfly Whip

[ Butterfly Whip ]

Grade: Basic

Damage: 7

Effect/s: (none)

Looking at the weapon he had in his hand, Allen remembered his first weapon. The Foxground Dagger only had 5 Damage points while this weapon had 7. This would mean that the Buttefly Whip was in a higher scale than the former, making it more powerful than the other.

"Weapons of the same Grade, doesn't guarantee the same quality," Allen said to himself. He kept the words in his mind like a set of quotes for him. He was planning on portraying a mysterious character that deals with Codes and weapons.

He was sort of a mercenary, a collector, and a trader all at once. The plan he had in mind was to go to different camps and deal with all sorts of people. They can hire him to hunt Codes, trade Codes or weapons, or even buy Codes.

To start his own little business, he first needed to gather his own "stocks" aka the Codes and weapons. He has a lot of slots for his Codes and Inventory, the goal was to maximize those slots.

Storing the Buttefly Whip in his Inventory, Allen leaped from the branch of the tree and landed gracefully on the ground. Leveling up meant that his body had undergone changes– improvements that made him more durable.

Compared to the whimpy Allen, their punches alone differ by a lot. Before, he could barely successfully land a punch on a moving object, but now he could swiftly bruise beasts with a single punch. He was excited to get even stronger to crack beasts' bones with one attack.

Allen opened his map on the phone Jake provided. Human advancements in technology using Otherworld materials created almost unbreakable cellphones with batteries that would last for weeks. Charging it was even easy since most devices captures the energy from the Otherworld sun.

Humans really provided ease with their lives after exploiting as much as the Otherworlds as they could. After only three years of being under attack by Otherworld beasts, humanity gained its upper hand. And it all started when Nelson Drake found the Primordial Dragon.

His map had a GPS on it and he was then sure that Jake was really watching him. He tried to stick his phone in a tree and take a step back, trying to see if his position would change, and it did. The GPS didn't track the phone, but he himself was being tracked.

"I think that man will be a problem in the future," Allen sighed to himself, shaking his head and walking to the direction of the lake.

He saw his camp back. The frogs leftover he had there were already rotten. Their stench were so bad, no other beast dared to come close to it.

The lake still looked calm, but Allen knew there were beasts underneath, waiting for a prey. He was eyeing the lake since water-based Codes were in high demand in the city.

He was also studying how economics worked in camps. It wasn't too hard to study and master how everything worked. Celebrity Hunters would dictate what Codes were in or out. They endorse specific Codes that would then become the trend and raise the demand.

The shops and other markets had already pre-planned with the celebrities so they could prepare what stocks to increase and what to dispose of. It was like that all year round, just mindless ever changing business deals.

Allen's introduction to the market would become a huge impact in the supply and demand of the Codes and goods. If he creates a small leak in the constant flow of the supply/demand circle, the leak would get bigger and bigger until he will have a specific flow to himself.

At first he needs to be as easy and as open to anyone as possible. He needed the clients and he needed the connections in order to get a certain pool of clients. As the pool gets bigger, he would slowly get rid of the ones who has low social class.

His alter egos, yes he needed to create a lot but pretend as if they're working for the same person, would climb up the ladder and soon enough, he will serve the ones at the top. He already has one client, but Jake couldn't be part of his plan.

If he tries to communicate with people with Jake, the man would know and everything will be exposed. It's easy for Jake to drop Allen's service if an inevitable leak would indeed happen. If something as a huge irreversible revelation would be put on to the world, Jake can simply get rid of his communication with Allen.

Or even dispatch him using people like Bernard. That man was way above Allen's level. Even his fame was high on top. If Allen would deal with clients in Jake's circle immediately, all hell will break lose. And he can't have that.

He needed to start small, simple, but effective. Clients who he chooses that are at the bottom but will connect to the ones on top through several links.

Shoving all the thoughts under the rug at the moment, Allen braced himself for a day of hell. He needed to hunt, he needed to craft, he needed to collect. He needed to do a lot of tasks, but he wasn't in a hurry. He has all the time in the world in his hands.

"The world is my oyster!" Allen yelled and laughed loudly. His voice echoed the calm lakes several times until he felt something come up the surface.

The water from the lake boiled and something ominous was approaching. Allen walked closer to feel what it was but instantly leaped back when he saw that it wasn't something.

It was a swarm of beasts.

One by one, jets of water exploded from the lake. Short humanoid beasts with fish heads leaped out of the water carrying spears made of fish bone that were sharpened.

The beasts landed on the ground right in front of Allen. They were only half his height, but their numbers weren't something to be reckoned with. Their appearance alone, and even their weapons looked dangerously horrific.

Allen sighed and took out one of the weapons he got from Jake. He didn't know he would survive tens of these creatures, but he knows he will.

He survived a swarm of wasps when he was nothing. Now he is something, "I can survive anything."