Sector A was a normal open-air food court with over a hundred stalls and on the center was filled with umbrella-shaded tables that dotted the court hard.
The location was before a high-rise building in the upper districts.
Upon entering, the smell of grilled meat and brewed coffee casually wafted in the air and laughter and chatter echoed as people in office attire, vacation outfits and even students in uniforms ate casually.
Jack could barely control his expressions but a chill also spill through his spine, as his feet started to move on their own. It felt wrong as though he was merely stepping out of a shadowy lair straight onto a university campus.
Jack, having lived in this city his whole life, for 24 years, knew the courtyard food court well. It was one of the city's favorite hangout spots which was managed by one of the top corporations in the country.
Jack squinted, feeling mixed emotions, then he stopped toward the end and gripped the glass wall as he was greeted by the familiar, beautiful view of the city stretching all the way to the western coast.
It was strange and unsettling to realize he had been here countless times with his friends since his childhood days, and yet this place was dine and dinner of suspicious individuals all along?!
Anyone in his shoes would be shocked, and that couldn't even begin to measure to the absurd reality he had seen in over 24 hours.
Turning around, he grabbed a tray and followed Lucy toward the nearest stall.
Now that he put it into perspective, even though Lucy seemed like a pushover, this was Lucy's world. Even for her, this strange blend of secrecy and normalcy seemed perfectly ordinary. She must be an excellent individual while he in comparison had a life he couldn't even begin to compare.
Jack felt like staring long and hard at the blue skies as the air swept through him.
'A hidden world is beneath this city all this time…' Jack was astonished. 'It's as if aliens were real all along. No, isn't this world like that already?' Jack softly said to himself, as his eyes swept the crowd, and tested his appraisal skill.
Within the facility, Jack had already tested the skill on people, not just in Brian and Lucy but also on the others and even on some objects.
'Appraise,' he muttered to himself someties blurting it out loud feeling a small surge of excitement each time he ran his mental scan.
[Name: Daniel Cruz]
[Occupation: Accountant]
[Level: 3.]
[Race: 41% Gnome, 10% elven, 18% Dwarven, 21% Canine, and 10 % Human]
Next, he turned his gaze to a woman.
[Name: Maria S. Relova]
[Occupation: Administrative Assistant]
[Level: 2]
[Race: 23% Human, 22 % gnome, 10 % elven, 43 % Nymph and 2% Dryad]
Jack grinned.
'Holy crap. This system is crazy!'
Every person he glanced at, the system spilled their personal information.
[Name: Carlos H. Lim]
[Occupation: Crifford Organization Agent I]
[Level: 9]
[Race: 30% human, 15% elven, 20 % Dwarven, 10% Gnome, 10% Nymph, 10% Canine, 5% Salamander]
[Kill Count: 4]
Jack frankly does not know anymore if the data he was seeing was truly correct. It was just too absurd but this was exactly the kind of thing he loved. Moreover, using the appraisal skill seem to be give him additional exp points, so he had to do it.
While eating, Jack kept using his appraisal skill, sometimes forgetting to chew as he scanned the crowd.
But then he noticed his energy starting to drain even though his stamina bar didn't seem affected and his eyes had turned red and veiny.
'My eyes hurt too… is this a drawback of the appraisal skill? Maybe I should use it less,' he concluded, massaging the back of his head.
"Does your head hurt?" Lucy then asked.
"A little," Jack said chuckling a little, before immediately stuffing food into his mouth, "Let's go back after we finish eating."
'Also… she stands out!!!' Jack also screamed in his mind, making him want to cover his face. The girl's eyes were wide and soft like puppies.
He also knew from the first time but Lucy was undeniably pretty and cute. She was the type that triggered the protective instinct in men, but was usually oblivious. So she might not realize, but plenty of men were looking at her and then him, as if he was a problem that had to be uprooted!
'What if someone I know sees me here?!'
Jack was just thinking this when a familiar laughter cut through the chatter from a few tables away.
'What are they doing here?!'
Jack didn't need to turn around. In fact, turning around would just make it more dangerous.
Cindy and some of her other girl friends which also happened to be his classsmates were there chatting and laughing as if nothing could touch them. Jack swallowed hard, realizing the consequences of being seen here.
He had plenty of acquaintances and a few close friends he could count on one hand, but some of his reputation was that of a social butterfly. He was inherently introverted and quiet but he could turn his social skills anytime. That usually meant he ran into people everywhere.
Normally, he wouldn't care about spotting someone familiar outside but more often than not he just wanted to be at peace and stroll around without talking to anyone. And right now, with Lucy beside him, the thought of someone he knows seeing him made his stomach tighten.
"I feel dizzy… let's go once you finish eating." Jack said calmly as the possibility made cold sweat trickle down his forehead.
At this time, he causally tried to hide his face from Cindy's group using the bodies of the crowd, glancing at his plate as he finished his own meal.
This however flustered Lucy and in her haste, accidentally knocked over her drink, sending it spilling across the table and even splashing their umbrella. The liquid splashed onto the floor with sharp hiss, drawing immediate attention onto their direction.
"Miss, are you alright? That spill almost ruined your beauty."
"Careful now… wouldn't want an angel like you to get hurt."
"It's my first time seeing you here… are you perhaps alone?"
Immediately, a few men nearby jumped up like it was a kdrama scene, rushing to help her wipe up the mess while acting like a pack of nasty pigs.
Curious onlookers tried to see the situation as whispers and murmurs rippled through the rest of the crowd,
"Is she a model?"
"She's so beautiful. The sunlight makes her look like an angel--myy angel."
"Hey, do think that's…her boyfriend?" a girl asked.
"What a sorry ass of a boyfriend if he is. Look at him just sitting there sleeping while other men are gonna take her and rightfully so." Another girl said.
'How clumsy can this idiot be?!' Jack could hear everything and was screaming in his mind.
Jack almost bolted out right there and then, but it was too late, so in a split second he iimmediately covered his face with his hands like a turtle and pressedd his forehead against the table while pretending to be asleep on the table.
"Huh? What do I d? Sir's passed out… is it the heat?! I heard that he was also brought in injured last night." Lucy panicked and before anyone could react she shoved the three men aside who was surrounding her with surprising force, making them stumble and nearly collide with each other.
Stifled laughter were instantly heard from the other tables as the men had their eyes wide in shock.
That broke their pride like glasses.
"Did she just push three guys at once?"
"Hilarious!"
"They must be pretty weak."
Lucy then knelt beside Jack's table and talked.
Jack still had his face-down on the table pretending to be asleep the whole charade and could feel his stomach twist between embarrassment and awe.
'Great you idiot. Just go away!!!' he was screaming.
But he obviously couldn't bring himself to say his thoughts aloud.
"I'm alright Lucy. Can you give me bring me some water instead. The type that sparkles." Jack told Lucy.
"Yes, sir, immediately."
When Jack could hear her gone, Jack clenched his jaws and prepared to die out of embarrassment. In the next second, he rose from his seat with his shirt stretched upwards covering his face as he bolted out of the courtyard like a madman.
Meanwhile Cindy and her friends watched in silence before laughing and talking about the entire thing.
The courtyard was actually well-known as a romantic hangout. There were tourists, student groups, but couples sometimes dominated the customer population. Thus, the people there occasionally became an audience for pulic break-ups, heartfelt confessions and sometimes even marriage proposals.
So such weird things were actually more frequent than one would expect.
"He's fast!"
"That is something else. This is up there with that funny break-up last month." Zoe, one of Cindy's friends, commented as they watched the mad Jack storm out of the food court like some juvie.
"She's back." Cindy also commented seeing Lucy back with a water.
"And he's nowhere to be found lol. What do you think is happening here?" another girl laughed.
"That guy seemed to have come here with that girl and suddenly didn't seem to want to show his face. I could only conclude that guy is cheating and din't want to be caught." Cindy said.
"But don't you think that guy looked like someone else?"
"No way. Who?"
"I don't know."
Just then Jack fixed his clotheS an exhaled before shaking his head in shame.
'I'll have to apologize to Lucy later… though, to be fair, she's also at fault even if doesn't know,' Jack tried to justify to himself, but another thought struck him. 'Maybe it's because I'm now Level 2… but I really became faster!'