The No.1 Alive Bank City of the Universal Zodiac Taurus Bank Region was the headquarters of the Universal Mercenary Agency, and only the bigwigs of the agency were allowed to enter the No.1 Alive Bank City.
In fact, this was the case for all the No.1 Alive Cities of the three regions under the three hegemonies, and these cities were located in the very heart of each region.
Anyhow, the person in charge of this city or the entire region was a well-known character among all the people living in the Epic Plains.
Bank Manager Lucy was one of the three top figures of Alive Plains. She was also quoted as the most perfect and beautiful woman of the Epic Plains despite only a handful of people actually seeing her true appearance, and she was known as an art lover.
Whether any of it was true or not, one thing was true and undeniable; she was number one when it came to wealth!
Right now, Lucy, in a white veil, was looking at a projection of a long hair, burly man with bronze skin and strange tattoo markings on his face.
"Where are we with the task I gave you?" Lucy emotionlessly uttered.
The burly man replied respectfully, "I have already set up perimeters in all possible entrance in the Star Ocean that leads toward the Epic Alive Plains except the ones on the Northern Side of the Epic Dead Plains and those that lead to the No Return Zones.
"No one will be able to enter the Alive Plains without an identity check by us. However, there is something strange going on. I have seen at least one scouting party of the Alchemy Region in the same areas."
Lucy coolly replied, but her voice was filled with malice, "Ignore them, you just focus on your mission, and if you fail, you better be prepared for the annihilation of your Bronze Barbarian Tribe from the Bank Region!"
Done declaring, the projection of the Bronze Barbarian vanished just a moment after he showed a warped expression.
Another projection appeared in front of Lucy's emotionless eyes, and this time this was a projection of a map, and there was a small black arrow pointer moving toward a map zone colored in red.
Lucy muttered with a hint of disdain, "In the end, greed is still the bane of everyone. After all that performance you put up, I was worried about a moment but you only amount for this much.
"Mr. Jacob Steve, let me see if you can survive this Unknown No Return Zone of the Star Ocean and live to see the extra preparation I put up for your arrival…'
Lucy's oceanic-blue eyes shimmered with ridicule and contempt as she watched the black arrow moving in the direction of the red zone!
---
On the other hand, in the No.1 Alive Alchemy City,
The Alchemy Guild President, Nelsen, was tending to his herb field while humming a mysterious tone when his star watch suddenly vibrated.
Without even looking at the star watch, he uttered, "Receive."
"Old man, what the hell are you up to? It's been two years since our guy vanished from the Rare Plains, or should I rephrase it for you? Someone had uprooted the entire Alchemy Guild Branches, and we only knew about this when our people arrived!
"Yet, you not only let me not contact Faceless Ancient, you even forbid me from investigating the disappearance of our branches in the Rare Plains or coming in contact with anyone from the Rare Plains. Are you going senile?!
"If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll find out myself even if you demote me!" Ellie's spiteful voice rang, filled with indignation.
However, Nelsen lips curled up in a gentle smile as he teasingly said, "My lovely little girl, for a change, don't you want to know if your daddy here is living happily or feeling lonely and eating well?"
"Your life is even more tenacious than the King of Dead! Cut the act and tell me why in the world you made me place that bet, then you didn't even let me monitor the 'dog' we're betting on!" Ellie coldly questioned.
Nelsen's smile didn't vanish at all despite his daughter's tone, and he seemed like a masochist who enjoyed these sorts of insults.
"My Darling Daughter, I've taught you to remain patient even if you're stabbed by someone. Remember, as long as the person didn't kill you on the given a chance, then there is a possibility that the person wants something from you, and this means you have a chance to escape death by taking advantage of the other party's desperation. But you have to remain calm and patient to notice this, or you'll die!" Nelsen smilingly stated.
"You may be the only father who teaches his 1-year-old daughter by giving this sort of example. Now if you don't tell me what I want, then I'm going to take action!" Ellie threatened in exasperation.
Nelsen sighed ruefully, "I really miss my innocent little girl who loved to make drawings of us holding our hands together…"
"GOODBYE!" Ellie's furiously roared.
"Alright, alright, I can't even feel a little nostalgic despite my old age." Nelsen clicked his tongue and glanced at his watch, and when he saw Ellie hadn't really cut the call, he smiled slyly.
He said, "I stopped you from making contact because there wasn't any need to waste your time in this matter at all, and I was already on it, so I didn't want to trouble my little girl.
"As for why I didn't let you contact the Faceless Ancient after you made that bet, it was because too much contact will make a rose goes bad, and the same goes with our friend the Faceless Ancient. His personality is something I want you to have, but you can't have everyone, can you?
"If you keep contacting him, he would've sensed something amiss from it or even spooked away from coming here at all. Now, we both didn't want that, could we?
"I've been on him since the first day you bring him up, but only a spectator from afar, and this is the only way you can keep an eye on this sort of person. After what I'd 'saw,' I have this feeling that we have over 90% chance of winning this bet!"