Dolminico's restaurant was considered one of the top places to eat in all of lighthouse city, it was also close to the college so it was one of the favorite places for rich students making and, of course, Mark was among the regulars.

The valet took the electronic key and drove the car to the parking lot as Uriel gasped in awe in front of the luxurious restaurant. Just by the looks of it, it was clear that the bill was going to be expensive and the food amazing, but then again, the bill was going to be really expensive.

Thinking on how Mark was willing to buy him dinner at a place like that, Uriel felt inclined to agree to whatever crazy expedition he wanted to invite him on.

With a pat on his back, Mark Jacobson led Uriel inside the restaurant, but not to the open hall and instead he took him directly towards the private rooms.

"This is an important conversation, we can't do real business if we're not in a real room." Mark said.

Great was Uriel's surprise when he got inside the room and found out the table was filled already. There were Tom, Will, Bert, Mark's usual crew of rich spoiled students, there was also Kenny one of Uriel's classmates and a few girls didn't know. Except he did know one of them and he had met her before, it was Cassandra the heavenly Sword.

"Uh... Ah... Hi." Uriel said a bit awkward. "What's this? I thought we'd be eating alone." He muttered to Mark who was still by his side.

"What are you? my girlfriend? Why would I have dinner with you on a place like this?" Mark laughed as he sat right next to Cassandra and leaving Uriel to sit in the other corner of the table.

There were all sorts of dishes on the table, but most of it was already eaten leaving nothing but scraps on the table.

"Excuse my delay, I had something to do but I hope you enjoyed the food. I've brought you all here to discuss an important opportunity for all of us." Mark started his speech, but was quickly interrupted by Cassandra.

"What is that idiot doing here? If I knew that weaklings like him would be invited too I wouldn't have bothered coming." She scoffed.

"Every team needs someone to carry their luggage." He laughed merrily trying to ingratiate himself with the well renown sword.

"Are you implying that I'm too weak to carry my own stuff?" She lifted an eyebrow, freezing Mark's laughter with a chill inducing glare.

"No, by all means no. That's not what I meant, but why should you carry your bags when there's people that can perform such menial tasks for you." He said after regaining his composure.

Sword wasn't yet convinced, she expected this 'incredible opportunity' to be something serious, if they were willing to bring evolved along then it was nothing but children playing to be adults.

"This is actually bigger than I'm allowed to discuss, all I can say is that the Mapple corporation is really interested in a certain POI and that the rewards will be juicy even for the wealthiest of us." Mark continued his speech, but he was cut short yet again by Cassandra.

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"If that's all you can say then I'm out." She shrugged.

"Please, listen to the end Miss Sword." Mark hurried to say. "We really need you, it's going to be really dangerous for everyone and we'll feel much safer if we knew you were coming." Mark didn't just need her to come for that, the whole reason he himself was invited to participate was because he said he could convince Cassandra the heavenly Sword to participate.

While Mark was doing his best to convince Cassandra to participate, Uriel was awkwardly sitting in silence. Everyone not involved directly in the conversation took glares at him in turns. All he wanted was to grab a bite from real food, he would have been fine with anything, but there was nothing but scraps on the table. That and the alluring traces of smell that made his mouth water.

Thankfully, Uriel was saved from the awkwardness thanks to an incoming call notification. Since his cellphone was inside his trait there was no buzzing sound or ring and only he knew about it. As he stood up he was swiftly mocked by those present.

"Look at him, how big he thinks he is that he stands up to leave even before Mark finishes explaining." Kenny said scornfully.

"He's an evolved after all." A girl chuckled, every single one of those presents was of the ascended rank. The only exception being Cassandra who was a heavenly rank.

"I bet he's shat his pants when he heard Mark saying this was going to be dangerous." Tom, one of Mark's minions mocked him even further. "I think I can even see the stain on his pants."

Everyone but Cassandra joined in the general laughter and the only reason why she didn't join them was because she didn't have any time to lose and so far, this meeting had been a complete waste of her precious time.

"Yes?" Uriel said after picking up the phone.

"Mister Sage, where are you?" A feminine voice replied.

"I'm at... Why would I tell you? Listen Miss, I've said this many times already but I am not interested in anything you have to sell, please stop calling this number."

"I don't sell anything, I'm calling on behalf of the Mapple corporation to invite you to participate on an expedition."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in that either, you see, someone already invited me and I don't really feel like going."

"Who invited you?" Asked the woman on the phone. "It's impossible, because this expedition is supposed to be top secret."

"My 'friend' Mark did, now If you excuse me..."

"Please don't hang up, I've been trying to contact you for so long and now there seems to be a security breach. Please, I'm just doing my job." The woman begged.

It was already difficult for Uriel to decline, he wasn't accustomed to saying 'no' to people, but when he heard the last part he was left with no choice but to comply. It wasn't her fault and it wasn't like he actually needed to do anything, she just asked him to wait. it only took a couple of minutes for the woman to go back to the phone.

"Are you currently at Dolminico's?"

"Uh... Yes... How did you know?"

"Please wait for me there and I'll explain everything in person."

"No way I'm doing that, I'm hanging up."

Unbeknownst to Uriel, while he was having the conversation with the unknown woman with the seductive voice in the hall, everyone had already left the room and there was a waitress right next to him.

"Good evening Sir, how will you be paying?" The cute woman dressed in the impeccable restaurant's uniform asked.

"Why would I pay? It's not like I ate anything." Uriel replied.

"You're the last to leave, so you're either paying or leaving the place in cuffs." The woman said with the same kind smile but a deep frown drawn on her face. If someone dined and dashed it would come out of her pay and she didn't make enough money to pay for a meal like that.

"I told you already, I'm not paying because I didn't eat anything. I was invited here by my friend Mark." Said Uriel, naively believing Mark's words.

"Mark said it was you who invited everyone and you should pay."

His face became red hot, his hands trembled at the realization that he had been scammed by Mark. Of course Mark knew that Uriel made a lot of money thanks to the incursion, but it was on his best interest that Uriel remained at the bottom of society. What better way to achieve that than force him into debt.