After showering away as much of the sewer stench as possible, Sigmarus walked over to the gym to pick up his wrist-com. From there, he headed toward his apartment while sending a message to Elizabeth asking if she knew whether or not Grace was safe or if she possibly knew where the Green Devil members dragged her off to. Since Elizabeth usually replied within a few minutes, his brows gradually lowered out of worry as he continually glanced at his wrist-com multiple times along the way without receiving a reply even by the time he reached the apartment building.

Did something happen on her end, too? He wondered.

Sighing, he set aside his worries for the moment and entered his apartment. Over the next few minutes, he focused on tossing the rest of his books, clothes, toiletries, random items, and even the bookshelves and sleeping cot into his inventory. Altogether, his belongings filled up most of his available inventory space. Once he threw the last item in, the indicator at the top of the silver inventory screen told him that there was only a few square centimeters of free space left.

Unfortunately, focusing on packing all of his belongings could not curb the tension in his heart. This whole situation annoyed him.

I think I might’ve underestimated how troublesome getting involved with the gangs would be… Guess I got too used to slaving away at my simple muskrat life the last few years.

While thinking about the huge difference between his past and current situations, he shook his head, locked up the apartment, and headed out. Shortly after leaving, a beep finally sounded from his wrist-com. He quickly opened the message in one swift movement. After reading it, he frowned.

“Don’t come to see you anymore? Tch. Fat chance,” He mumbled. Kicking a nearby stone hard enough to send it flying through a nearby broken window and shattering what remained of the glass there, Sigmarus clicked his tongue and grumbled, “How fucking brilliant.”

Guess those bastards did something on her end after all. Like I’ll do what they want, He thought, frowning deeply. Suddenly recalling the people he once played with as a kid who eventually abandoned him once he got slated for banishment, he spat on the sidewalk and thought, Those bastards who left me alone when I needed them most… I won’t be like them. I said I’d be your friend, Elizabeth, so I’ll be your friend.

Quickly forming a course of action in his mind based around his new skill, he turned down a dark alley and changed into a black hoodie and dark, tight-fitting athletic pants. Both of which were frayed in places, but they would suffice for his needs.

Blending into the dark alleyways thanks to his dark clothing, he traipsed all the way past Red Street and down a side street connected to the back alleys behind the brothel area. Along the way, he practiced using his new freedom step skill.

Upon reaching the area near the back of the Blue Moon brothel, he investigated the area from a safe distance. There were two men with green goat skull tattoos on their forearms standing to either side of the back door. Every other brothel owned by the Green Devils also had a guard or two stationed at the rear entrances. It struck him as odd that they stationed so many men like this, but then concluded that they most likely wanted to prevent Fallen Leaf from burning down any of their places in retaliation of yesterday’s arson.

Sighing and scratching his head, Sigmarus slinked back into the dark alleys and toward the entrance of the abandoned building directly behind the brothel. After verifying that nobody was nearby, he walked right up to the barricaded entrance and took a deep breath. It was time to test something he had been contemplating over ever since reading the description of freedom step.

Sigmarus breathed deeply a few more times and then focused on the wood and sheet metal blocking entry. He scanned the inside of the building as far as he could with his perception but found nothing else blocking his way. He then firmed his resolve and circulated his energy. He stepped forward.

A sudden and complete darkness greeted him and a slight dizziness crept into his brain. Sensing outward with his perception caused his lips to curl up unintentionally. As he suspected, freedom step brought him across the blocked entrance as though nothing had barred his path in the first place. In a way, it seemed like warping, but his understanding of the skill made it seem more like his origin energy was reaching out into space itself and connecting two places together like a miniature wormhole.

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Taking out a flashlight, he checked his surroundings. The large room in front of his eyes was completely empty. Wallpaper was falling off the wall. Pieces of cement and rotted wood littered the floor here and there. More empty rooms in front of him and to both sides were the same. He looked around for a bit, and eventually found a metal stairway near the back of the building.

On the second floor, he pressed a hand against the back wall and tried to use his perception to find the Blue Moon brothel, but couldn’t scan far enough. Frowning slightly, he traipsed over to the nearest window and carefully wiggled one of the boards off of it. A sliver of red-tinted light poured through the crack, giving him a direct line of sight to the second floor of the brothel.

Judging the distance between his current location and where he assumed the inside of the brothel’s hallway was based on his previous visits, he frowned and rubbed his chin. Although the alley in between the two buildings was narrow, the distance was more than a meter. Since he definitely wouldn’t be able to make it over with his current skill level, he checked how much AP he would need to upgrade freedom step to level two.

Five AP? That’s not much. It sets me back a bit on going to another world again, but it’s probably worth it in the long run.

Thinking such, he decided to spend the AP to upgrade the skill. He reached forward and pressed the skill name in his skill list. As usual, the strange sensation of touching something intangible unsettled him.

{Upgrade Freedom Step?}

{Yes/No}

“Yes, obviously.”

Nothing happened.

Pursing his lips, he pinched the bridge of his nose since he got ahead of himself again and pressed the ‘yes’ option with his finger. The notifications immediately dematerialized, and a newfound comprehension of the skill poured into his mind, forcing him to shut his eyes and furrow his brows in order to absorb the disturbing input of information. No matter how many times he experienced it, he didn’t believe that he’d ever get used to such an invasive yet otherworldly experience.

{Freedom Step Lv.1 → Freedom Step Lv. 2}

{Agility +1, Dexterity +1}

A minute or two later, he opened his eyes and circulated his origin energy again, though he didn’t follow through on the full activation of freedom step. The energy flowed through his meridians more fluidly than before, which made him wonder if upgrading any skill could affect how well he could utilize his other skills too. He immediately moved energy to his arm and threw a punch into the air. The corner of his lips lifted ever so slightly.

It really does feel smoother now. Interesting. Maybe upgrading skills is better than just upgrading stats? Meh, I’ll figure it out as I go.

Casting aside his speculations, he focused his gaze back on the brothel. Calculating where the hallway would be, he started circulating his origin energy again. A hazy image of a wooden hallway suddenly overlapped with his current view of a boarded-up window, causing him to recoil from dizziness and cancel the skill.

Mouth hanging open due to his surprise, he blinked several times while trying to comprehend what just happened. Something like that hadn’t happened when freedom step was level one.

“Is it something like seeing where I’m going to land?” Sigmarus wondered aloud.

Since he could only figure out the reason by using the skill, he once again circulated his energy and stepped forward. The hazy image overlapped in his vision once again, but he followed through. The hazy image quickly materialized, and he stepped onto the wooden boards of the hallway just beyond the inside of the brothel’s wall. He blinked once more and frowned as his eyes swam and stomach churned a little due to the instant change of scenery. However, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time he had used the skill earlier.

I’m getting used to it.

Nodding to himself out of satisfaction toward his obvious growth, he stepped forward and silently walked up to the door at the end of the hallway. He didn’t even bother knocking and simply used freedom step to step into the room beyond the closed door.

The moment his feet touched the floor inside the room, a yelp entered his ears. He looked over to the right and saw a wide-eyed Elizabeth stumbling backward with a frightened expression.

Oh, and she was mostly naked and in the middle of putting a bra on. She barely stopped herself from falling over by grabbing onto her wardrobe, though that completely bared her body to Sigmarus’ eyes.

Sigmarus blankly stared for a moment until she stammered, “Y- y- you! How?!”

Blinking once to collect his bearings, his eyes wandered over the gratifying sight of the beauty before him. He then raised a thumb and calmly said, “Very nice.”