Filed to story: A Bullied Boy Died: A Mafia King Woke Up In His Body
Interesting… I don’t recall any base humans having such a feature.
Kyle sorted through the rest of the stash, only finding one book of interest. It was an intricately bound tome, complete with a metal binder and leather cover riddled with engravings.
A Treatise on Arcia by Theorin
An incomplete guide on wielding internal arcia.
The theories are outdated but still provide a good baseline understanding.
“My God! I didn’t know this still existed!” Damian exclaimed as he wiped the dust off the old tome. “Theorin was the first gang leader of the Seven Snakes more than twenty years ago. He was a natural-born wielder of arcia, a mage if you will. This allowed him to dominate the districts before arcite fuel became popularized. Didn’t expect Ulon to have held on to it.”
Kyle opened the tome, noting some of the more complicated terminology and formulas that would take time for him to understand. He would need Keith’s assistance to translate it.
With this book and the new ring, he could potentially utilize more arctech in the future. Even he understood the limitation of his fighting skills against items that could impart special effects.
With this, it’ll be an easy win.
Assault
A few days later…
“Boss, all our men are waiting for your orders.”
“Good.” Wrent nodded his head, wearing his reddish armor set. He strode out to the training yard where more than forty members were all lined up in formation under the evening sky. They each had a light armor set, but only four of them had arctech on them, which was the sign of the squad leaders. Each squad had ten members standing in neat rows.
“The Seven Snakes have been rapidly growing over the last two weeks. On top of that, they are still holding our men! As such, from today, we will be entering a state of war against them. Each squad is to target one of the major businesses immediately.”
Wrent held up a printed piece of paper with a rough sketch of Kyle’s face. “If you encounter the leader of the Seven Snakes, Kyle, retreat at once. Do not attempt to engage alone. The objective is to wear them down and split their forces. He is the only one among them who has any sort of combat training. The rest are weak idiots.”
Wrent knew this war had a chance of being dragged out. If they failed the first assault, they had to wear them down slowly over time.
The Red Lions had been using the Stamina Potions, but not all of them. Wrent kept more than four hundred of them in a protected area near the armory. However, he wasn’t worried about an attack on the base, seeing as he was here to defend it. This allowed him to maximize his attacking force, which he needed if he wanted to hold a numerical advantage over the Seven Snakes.
He passed a single arctech radio to each of the squad leaders. This way, Wrent would be able to monitor the situation, and the squad leaders could convey information to one another. Information was the key to winning everything-Wrent knew that well.
“These are precious pieces of equipment loaned to us by the main base. Don’t you dare lose it! Even if you die, your ghost must return this to me. Understood?”
The squad leaders nodded grimly.
“A few days, a week, two weeks-we will not rest until the Seven Snakes have capitulated and returned our comrades. The Red Lions never falter in the face of adversity. BEGIN!”
“Yes, Boss!” The squads moved out, heading to their designated locations.
Wrent smiled himself as he retreated into his office.
You may be smart, but the nail that sticks out will get hammered down first. It’s just business. He was already internally salivating at the thought of taking over their potion production process, wondering what other secrets the Seven Snakes held on to.
An hour passed, approaching dusk. The arctech streetlights flickered on, their bright, blue lights illuminating the dusty cobblestone roads. The first squad reached the brothel first, but they soon noticed that the Seven Snakes associates were already out in force, with seven guys guarding the nearby streets.
“Boss, they seemed to be onto us,” a squad leader reported through the radio.
“It’s expected.” Wrent was calm, already having expected Kyle to be prepared in advance.
“When all squads are in position, we’ll attack simultaneously.”
Another ten minutes passed before all four squads were in position. The brothel, two pubs, and a restaurant were being targeted, but the squads reported seeing associates of the Seven Snakes in the vicinity.
“Any sign of Kyle?”
“No, Boss. But there seems to be more associates than the twenty expected. Closer to thirty or even more now.”
This didn’t faze Wrent at all. If I’m right, he’s probably waiting at the base or somewhere in the middle where he can rapidly respond to any attacks. And the new recruits barely had a week or two for training. “Move in now.”