Cosmic Patron System: 100X Return on Every Reward

"On the roof," this was the message Arpita received causing a change in her body language. She knew well enough that if a colleague or just a superior from Nisapal were here, the message would contain more details or even a simple greeting.

However, just three words means someone who takes direct orders from The Shadow was here. Arpita hurried her steps while thinking about the sender of the message.

Luna stayed silent while sitting on her shoulder, she knew enough by now and just quietly participated in the meetings.

Under two minutes Arpita was on the roof, she darted her eyes around, only to find the roof devoid of any being.

’According to message, I thought whoever was already here,’ she wondered.

While she was thinking, Luna suddenly turned back to find a middle-aged man standing, but Arpita couldn’t move a muscle as she found herself locked in space.

Instinctively, she moved mana in her body while trying to break the space lock. By now she had an inkling about the person standing behind her.

After trying for few seconds, she still couldn’t break the hold.

"And you are dead," a rough and deep voice came from behind as the hold on her body disappeared.

Arpita instantly turned back and got down on her knees, bowing her head in reverence.

"Greeting, master," she spoke, addressing man in a simple shirt and pants, appearing as a normal man.

"How are you doing, kiddo? You perception is still not sharp enough, even your cat is faster than you," he stated.

"I’ll work on it, master," Arpita answered, still bowing.

"Okay, get up, we have a lot to talk about."

Arpita stood as the man, her master, took out two chairs under the shade of wall to sit. He signaled her to sit as he sat on the chair.

"So, how are you doing, you didn’t answer?" the man asked again.

"Pardon me, master. I am okay, the cover job is a bit hectic but it helps with the mission so, all is well," she answered.

"I thought you were trying to break through to SSS-rank. When did you come to Mumbai?" she questioned.

"I came here to make a report about strength of big cities, I have already checked out Chennai and Bangalore, Mumbai was last on my list. As for my rank, why don’t you try and find out?" he replied.

Arpita brows raised as she heard the answer, she focused on her master in front, trying to gauge the rank of his mana core by perceiving the mana core of her master.

"You broke through...this fast?" she spoke, her eyes widened.

"Yeah, the cultivation technique that organization obtained was helpful and The Shadow also provided me with extra mana crystals." The man explained.

"So, how is The Shadow doing?" Arpita asked, her eyes filled with disappointment and pain.

"He is...doing fine. He especially assigned me Mumbai so you could meet someone familiar," he answered, understanding the meaning behind her question.

Arpita didn’t say anything and just remained silent, turning her face slightly away from her master. He also didn’t say anything, letting the silence stretch for few seconds.

After a few seconds, he spoke, "Okay, now that the small talk is over. Let’s get to business."

"Yes, master," she replied, facing her master again.

"Is he worth it?" he asked straight forwardly.

The question almost broke Arpita’s composure, she tried to control herself from giving a reaction.

"Who is worth what, master?" she asked, trying to feign ignorance, though her pounding heart knew the person her master was talking about.

’I haven’t even talked to Reyansh about The Nisapal if somebody else tried to force their way in, there’s a chance it could backfire, especially when he doesn’t want to join any guild or organization,’ she wondered.

"Now, are you forgetting who taught about investigation and deduction? Or are you calling me master just for the show?" he questioned, almost laughing at her question.

"I am talking about StarWalker or should I say Reyansh Kaul?" He added.

"Oh, he just awakened and was busy most of the time. So, I didn’t get an opportunity to talk to him about it," she answered.

"I am not asking if he is ready to join or not. Let me rephrase, is he worthy enough for you to use powers of Nisapal to facilitate his personal retribution?" he questioned.

Both became silent for few seconds before Arpita replied.

"Yes, I think he is worthy, master," she responded.

"You know his name and probably his record. What’s your assessment, master?" she questioned back.

He chuckled for first time, "Well, he is interesting one for sure." He answered.

"I was in the city yesterday, so when I heard someone forced the Executive Hunter of Mumbai to order a Blackout for a certain area. I was intrigued as to why Arpita would take such measures." He continued.

"I got the answer to that question within minutes. I have to give him applause to infiltrate a guild office and kill the guildmaster on live stream."

"But that’s not the interesting part, when he was exiting the building. I tried to look at him closely with no ill intent. However, he still caught my intrusion."

Arpita’s mouth opened, making an O shape at this revelation.

’Even I have hard time tracking my master and he caught that in first time. Am I still underestimating his strength?’ she thought.

"And that is interesting, even frightening a little bit." He stated.

"Did he saw you or was there some kind of confrontation?" she asked.

"No, I was still far away, so he couldn’t see or sense me. He just sensed my intent to look at him. Is he thinking about joining any guild?"

"No, as far as I know and he even answered that question on the stream that he isn’t thinking about joining anyone."

"So, he’s the solo type, makes sense with his strength. What about resources?"

"I don’t know how but his viewers are filthy rich. They always donate him in coins and that too in hundreds or thousands."

"I think first donation in credits was probably the guy on his stream yesterday. So he is going to be rich very soon," She added.

"So, do you have any ideas to make him join us?" He questioned.

"I am thinking about access, connections and maybe his family safety. But I don’t want to lead with that, he won’t have a good image if I start with leveraging his family," she shared.

"But I think there is one thing where disagreement is almost certain," she added.

Her master looked at her, he understood immediately, "The rules about streaming?"

"Yes, master. I can’t say for sure but it is most likely he won’t agree with rule of not streaming when working under Nisapal missions."

Her master became silent as he contemplated about this problem. He pondered on it for few seconds before coming to conclusion.

"Talk to him first, see if he agrees or not. If the only point of disagreement is about streaming, tell me. I will think of something or maybe talk to The Shadow about it," he remarked.

’He is ready to talk about one of the non-negotiable terms of Nisapal. Is the situation that bad or did master can gauge his strength better than me?’ she wondered.

Her master noticed Arpita’s reaction.

"You are surprised? Answer me this, could you have defeated an S-rank hunter while at C-rank, even after the ambush?" he asked.

"Nope," she flatly replied.

"This is one of the reason and the other reason is the situation is truly bad. You are right if you thought that." He nodded his head.

"The other reason behind my arrival is I am here to fill you in about the brewing danger and give you one more Priority one mission." He spoke, his voice a bit stiff.

Arpita straightened her back as she spoke, "Arpita Mukherjee, NA004-AM036, ready for accepting the mission, Master."