Chapter 466: Violation!

Hearing the veiled threat hidden in Loren's words, the drunken old man behind the desk slowly opened his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Rejected? I understand."

"In that case, if any commission suitable for you, Mr. Loren, comes along, I'll keep an eye out for it."

"Please rest assured. I won't try to cause trouble for a powerhouse within the Association just because of a little secret like this."

"Especially when you're a Legendary-tier Rule-Based Psychic and a God's Favored One of the Nature Sect."

"The reason this old man has managed to live comfortably to this day isn't because of my strength, but because of my judgment of things."

"We're on the same side."

"By the way, I have a pretty good private relationship with that First Secretary of the Interstellar Hunter Association."

"At the very least, I won't actively drag you into some dangerous conspiracy. That's the bottom line for both the Interstellar Hunter Association and the Bounty Hunters Guild."

"This is also the bottom line that the Chief left for us branch chiefs."

Upon hearing this.

Loren let out a light chuckle, said nothing more, and headed toward the door, leaving only one sentence behind:

"In that case, I'll be looking forward to it."

His tone was playful.

At that moment.

Cliff Barclay, sitting behind the desk, hesitated after hearing Loren's subtext, then asked with some conflicted expression:

"Mr. Loren, about the drink in front of you... are you going to drink it?"

"..."

The glass in front of Loren's seat was still full, untouched, not a single drop had been consumed.

With such a strange way of gaining power, the ever-cautious Loren would never accept it.

A strange old man met for the first time, liquor of unknown origin, and what seemed to be some unknown existence from The Abyss hidden within.

Even if this bottle of wine was priced at 200,000 Spirit Stones, he had absolutely no desire to taste it.

Cliff Barclay's voice sounded again, this time carrying a hint of genuine joy.

"If you're not drinking, how about I drink it for you?"

"...That's your wine, Chief Barclay."

Loren shook his head and left the office.

It was precisely because of your behavior like this that I doubt whether you can handle those complicated tasks...

His impression of this branch chief was mixed.

A Legendary powerhouse with decent strength and a wide social circle.

Although the other party seemed a bit unreliable, Loren's intuition told him that the man was at least a qualified branch chief.

Qualified in every sense of the word.

The covert spying at the beginning, his attitude toward Loren after being discovered, and his subtle attempts to recruit Loren all indicated that he was diligently working for this Bounty Hunters Guild.

Moreover, even after failing to recruit Loren, he quickly dispelled any dangerous thoughts Loren might have had.

Using some irrelevant words, he saved this Bounty Hunters Guild from being destroyed in some "unfortunate" accident.

Even the notoriously picky Loren could only identify two obvious flaws in him: "love of luxury" and "alcoholism."

This was beyond Loren's expectations.

After all, he had met quite a few branch chiefs with excessive authority.

Compared to those worthless scumbags who didn't respect their "work," this one was clearly much better.

Those useless branch chiefs who "embezzled Association funds" were clearly different from Chief Barclay, who had already learned to find "new channels of wealth" on his own.

And this difference was magnified infinitely in Loren's mind after he stepped into Rest Room No. 003.

When Loren walked into Rest Room No. 003, a wave of impact known as "the aura of wealth" slammed into his face.

The magically triggered automatic sensor lights all lit up as soon as he took one step into the room.

These gentle and sensitive warm yellow lights, under the effect of the psychic magic arrays etched on their surfaces, soothed the fatigue and hardships Loren had endured during his long journey.

A positive emotion called "relaxation" and "tranquility" comforted Loren's usually overly tense nerves.

Loren inexplicably relaxed, taking a deep breath.

Then, his eyes lit up!

He felt that the air he inhaled had the unique fresh scent of a forest, just like in his memories.

Loren opened his eyes in confusion.

He activated his Ninth Ability—[Guidance of Fate].

An illusory golden thread, visible only to Loren himself, precisely pointed to the ceiling of the room.

There, installed was a magic-oriented air purification device, shaped like a windmill in a field.

This magic creation, no bigger than a fist, had only two functions.

"Identify nearby air" and "Teleport absolutely safe air from deep within the forest."

A rather crude logic for air purification—"What is manufactured can never compare to the original."

When Loren learned from his Ninth Ability about the design philosophy behind this windmill-shaped magic creation, he silently pressed his hand to his forehead.

Ugh... maybe this is just magic...

After muttering a quiet remark to himself, Loren began to silently survey this spacious lounge.

A fireplace burning with magical flames was quietly regulating the room's temperature and humidity.

A white fluffy sofa, as soft as clouds, was eagerly tempting Loren's body.

His Ninth Ability—[Guidance of Fate]—told him that this white cloud-like sofa was also a magic creation capable of precisely massaging the human body.

In the corner of the living room sat a brand new "Cross-Star-Domain Signal Receiver."

On one of the room's walls, a large number of precision magic crystals were embedded, used for projection and playback.

The "Cross-Star-Domain Signal Receiver" and the "large number of magic crystals embedded in the wall" formed a unique feature that could watch all videos on the Federation Network.

This peculiar combination of technology and magic offered clarity and smoothness beyond the naked eye's resolution.

On another wall, there was a wine cabinet that occupied the entire wall, filled with countless bottles of wine.

A few bottles even emitted faint energy fluctuations from their bodies.

Very much in the unique style of Cliff Barclay, this branch chief.

At the end of the living room was a large floor-to-ceiling window.

This was also a magic creation.

The magic array etched on the window could automatically adjust the distance according to the viewer's line of sight.

Before this transparent glass, which was called a "floor-to-ceiling window" but was actually a "magic telescope," the entire City of Hekahn lay in full view.

After surveying the living room facilities, Loren began to wander around the room.

Driven by curiosity, he successively entered the study, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.

...

Then, deeply impressed, Loren found himself soaking in the bathtub, which was practically the size of a "swimming pool."

It was hard to imagine that the bathroom of a lounge would actually use spatial magic and healing magic.

To save space within the lounge, the builder had used magic to fold the space.

The bathroom looked small from the outside.

It occupied only a very small area of the lounge.

Yet when Loren walked in, he discovered that its actual internal area was over a thousand square meters.

And the bathroom's height was a staggering seven meters.

Beside that swimming pool-sized bathtub, six peculiar magical trees were even planted, constantly purifying the water quality.

The most excessive part was when Loren started swimming in the bathtub, he actually sensed the fluctuation of healing magic.

The healing magic array etched into the bottom of the bathtub was slowly working.

Clearly, the bathtub's designer was very thoughtful.

Thoughtfully considering the situation where a Superhuman might still want to take a bath after being injured.

...

Strictly speaking, this was the best room Loren had ever stayed in during his twenty-four years of life.

This excessively luxurious room also made him understand why some Superhumans gradually became corrupt.

Not every Superhuman could refuse such a comfortable environment.

This clearly violated human instinct...