Chapter 387 - 387: Useless Effort

'Erasing Presence' technique or skill was the one that he had been looking forward too, courtesy of the little thief he had captured from the Quick Hands organization.

As for how he managed to get his hands into this skill, we will have to go a bit back in time, when Eric arrived at the bar.

…

Eric had directly determined the presence and condition of the target the moment that he had entered the bar, and he was thinking about how to do this without attracting attention.

But who would have expected that the moment he set foot on this place he would become part of that stupid situation and became the center of attention for everyone in the bar.

Even more so after he had shown a bit of his strength and had brought that idiot down with a slap, breaking his neck in the process.

He could feel that his target seemed to have sensed his strength and became wary of him, but he still didn't react.

If he approached him at that moment then there was no way he could steal the technique smoothly, without alerting the target.

So he had decided on another plan of action, he wanted to use the upcoming trouble in order to deal with the target in the ensuing chaos.

Who would have expected that the guys that would come finding trouble with him would be only some trashy fighters, with only their leader having some strength, being a Realm 1 fighter.

Still that guy wasn't like Panda, he didn't possess strength that could help him rival the geniuses of his realm, or fighters of higher levels, so he had fallen down with just one punch.

Eric wanted to curse and insult at the bastard who arrived the bar in such a high fashion, pretending to be some kind of bigshot, as he was left with only one remaining option.

Since these guys wouldn't start the chaos then he could only do so himself, with those thoughts in mind he started thrashing the guys behind the strong fighter.

When he was in the middle of thrashing, his target seemed to have relaxed his guard a bit and was just enjoying the show with everyone else, while drinking even more alcohol.

Seeing that, Eric felt elated inside his heart, as he suddenly seemed to have missed on of his punches, sending his momentary victim flying towards his real target's table.

The guy came crashing on the table, while Eric followed behind to give him another punch, or slap. 

When he finally arrived at the location though, Eric's punch didn't land on the flying guy, but on his real target.

Caught by surprise after getting drunk, the poor thief was unable to react in time, as he only felt Eric's punch land on his face like some kind of metallic hammer, and his head started spinning.

Profiting from the moment, Eric quickly robbed the technique's manual from the guy, and then returned on what he was doing previously, like nothing special had happened.

…

He had had to improvise but at the end of the day his plan had worked great, and the technique manual on his hands was proof of that.

With that thought in mind, Eric opened the book and started revising it, when suddenly his face went ugly for a second.

He had been to believing of these thieves!

As people that made a living by stealing other peoples treasures and stuff, it was almost impossible to have a successful robbery on them.

Why?

Because Eric could understand immediately that there was something wrong with the technique he had in his hands.

He had no idea whether this was the doing of the organization, or that senior brother thief. But the truth stood that this technique was flawed.

It seemed like he had truly overworked himself for nothing this time, but it didn't matter, he still had his Legacy System.

As soon as the Legacy System managed to wake up from the hibernation and booting, he would be able to easily buy a good movement and stealth skill from it.

Even the beauty he had coerced into paying him a hefty amount in order to bury the hatchet between them, would most probably renegade with the promise.

He didn't regret it though. Even if he was unable to collect this debt at the moment, he would be more than able to collect it later, when he had gotten strong enough.

It wasn't that he didn't think that he was strong enough to deal with her and her family, it was just that he didn't dare to reveal his tracks with the Council and the big families on his tracks.

As he was thinking like that, he suddenly felt the commotion happening downstairs, at the entrance of the hotel, and the circling police vehicles.

He didn't care about them though, as he had actually expected them to do something like that, so he got out of the bathtub, put on his clothes, and then started a small fire inside the Suite.

The fire was extremely small, just a bunch of papers burning on the floor, but what made this fire special was the powder he threw above.

'Riiiinnnggggg~!'

It was made of saltpeter, granulated sugar, and aluminum foil, creating a white homemade smoke bomb, completely covering the Suite in smoke, throwing off the smoke and fire alarms.

As soon as the first fire alarm sound reverberated through the hotel, all the guests resting in this hotel started running outside like frightened chickens.

No one wanted to try their luck, so they could only run towards the stairs and rush to leave. 

Certainly a lot of people were caught in a bad time and position, but even they had no choice but to wear their underwear and run outside.

In a short amount of time, the calm hotel turned into a clamor of noises, sounds, curses, and footsteps.

Eric would have loved to follow behind the crowd and pass through the police, but he didn't want to take chances at this moment, so he took out an Escape Talisman and used that to disappear from the Suite.

Appearing on an empty alley quite far away from the Hotel, Eric just smiled mischievously, and started walking towards the main road.

But before he took another step, he heard a few voices on the alley behind,

"You damn trash! How dare you tell on us to that guy? Have you forgotten who gives you food and shelter?

When you parents threw you away, who took you from the streets and gave you a place to escape the cold and rain?

Now you think that you have grown big and courageous enough to scheme against me, and take over my place? Huh!?"

The more this guy spoke the more ferocious he became, as he was clearly hitting with all the strength he had a small kid of around 14 years old.

The kid was covering his head, and was curved just like a snail, but no matter how much he was hit he didn't seem to release any sound of pain.

In fact, it looked like the guy had gone crazy as he started laughing at his aggressor, and then saying with a grimacing voice,

"Hhahahaha~! Go on beat me up you bastard! But you understand it better than me that your time is over! Hhahahhaha~!

That guy was a policeman, and he will surely take action against you. You are going to prison, and by the time you get out everything will be mine. Hhahahaha~!"

Eric had to say that he was quite surprised by the little guy's fighting spirit, and exclamations, as the guy kicking him seemed to be the same as well.

But that was only momentary, because at that moment the guy who was kicking the kid started laughing as well, as he said with a mocking voice,

"Hhahaha~! You truly think you are smart kid! Hhahahah~! You are nothing but a stupid little kid!"

Then he suddenly stopped kicking the young kid on the ground, as he reached with his right hand, grabbing him just like a little animal cub, and then said to him with a mocking tone,

"Hhahha~! How do you think that I have been able to keep this line of work for all this time? Do you truly think that all those policemen are good guys?

Let me tell you a little secret, the police that you talked to, is my accomplice. We are partners in this business, he is your owner just like me!

Do you think that he will throw me in the guts, and implicate himself as well!? Hhahhaah~!"

"Wha…"

The poor kid seemed unable to believe what he heard. It was like everything had shattered in front of his eyes.

"Noo~! You are lying!"

"Hhahaha~! You think I am lying? Well then, brother Snake how about you come out and give this kid an eye-opener!"

The moment that those words sounded, the other guy that was hiding in the shadow of a trash bin, came out with a grin on his face, while saying,

"Hhahaha~! Brother Viper it seems like you have already decided to not let this bastard live anymore!"

"Hhaahh~! Of course, he dared to think of going against me after all. Furthermore, it has been some time since I enjoyed the writhing of a little worm dying!

I am sure that this will be a thrilling experience!"

Saying that he even took out his nasty tongue and gave his callous lips a good lick, while looking at the poor kid with a playful and vicious look…