Code Collector

Allen sat inside his room, planning on how to expand his name as The Wandering Trader. The first step was to clear his name off with any of the bad record the impostor imposed on to the name.

The second one would be garnering more clients to his side, so he can easily reach the top of the food chain. Finally, he would build an empire to overthrow the one they have now.

His world would be perfect. Hunters would have zero power in the beginning, regardless of their connections. His ideal world would be systematized and clean. He will leave no stone unturned until this happened.

"But for now, I have to find the one responsible for tainting my name," Allen whispered to himself, slouching on his coffee table. He had been observing the people that Jack gave him, but they were all oddly innocent. He tried to make any connections with them to the case, but their motives were too low or too shallow.

He examined his interface, looking for something to help him when he found one of the Codes he got from the couple. The description said the Code will give him a special fruit, but it didn't say what the purpose of the fruit was.

Without having any more thoughts, Allen decided to cast the Code. In his palm grew a small bush that looked like it was a bonsai plant. The flow of energy from his hand continued to seep into the plant until an apple grew from it.

The fruit was smaller than the average apple, but its skin had little engravings on it. The engravings shows curves and symbols that Allen do not know of, nor was it familiar to him.

After about three minutes, the casting of the Code ended and the fruit fell from the bush. The bush snapped and aged, rotting away as if a long period of time had passed.

"What is this?" Allen asked himself as he watched the an apple on the table. With his index finger, he rolled the apple towards the edge, just for the fruit to barely hold on the wooden table. "Should I consume it?"

With a sigh, the boy took the apple in his mouth and took one large bite off of it. He felt the power of the fruit gush through his system, as if he was in an adrenaline rush combined with a series of stats boost from a Support Hunter.

'Instinct Enhancement Quintupled'

The world felt like it was passing through Allen. It was like he was traveling across the globe with his vision getting hazier as seconds ticks by. His mind got clouded, his thoughts were slolwy collapsing.

His entire body tingled— and was flinching. It was like he was vibrating from the inside. He couldn't stop shaking while his mind was brutally being flipped up and down without stopping.

"What's happening?!" Allen groaned. He was screaming to the top of his lungs until he saw a small hint of light up ahead. The light was getting bigger and bigger. It was approaching him. The boy could only stare at the light as it swallowed him whole, making him reach a newfound climax.

He then closed his eyes and almost immediately, Jeremy's face flashed in his mind. He opened his eyes again and everything was clear. There wasn't anything disoriented in the room. All his things were in their right spots and his mind was clear.

He looked at the apple. He took a few more bites until there was nothing left off of the fruit apart from its core. While he was eating the fruit, Allen had seen the light again and again for several times.

His instincts were enhanced for only a few seconds, and the time when he was flinching and shaking uncontrollably, his mind was assessing the case he was facing. His main goal was to catch the culprit who used his identity to commit crimes, and his enhanced instincts answered exactly that. 

It was showing him probabilities and scenarios where Jeremy was the one who exploited his alter ego. Allen was still not too sure if it was true, but everything was too realistic to ignore.

He took out his phone and was about to call Gwen when he thought of the woman. She was Jeremy's colleague, and even when she wasn't shown in his enhanced instincts state, she still wasn't clear of any suspicion. She and Jeremy could have worked together, and everything that had happened to her could just be their ploy to gain the people's trust.

Allen nodded to himslef and sighed. Now he doesn't have anyone to lean to, but he realized he doesn't. He was going solo so far, and that won't change anytime soon.

"Alright," he said to himself. He prepared all his necessary items to catch Jeremy and investigate him. He crossed the possibility of following him since he was a police officer and he has eyes everywhere. "What shall I do?"

As if a lightbulb lit above him, Allen grinned and went to his laptop. He opened the files Jack gave him and immediately searched for Jeremy's name. Not a few monents later, he saw the man's name.

"Jeremy Cruz," Allen said out loud as he read the description in the screen.

Jeremy Cruz was a twenty-five year old man that lived in a little country down south called San Antonio. He was the first of four sons and graduated in San Antonio Police Academy at the top of his class.

After graduating, he became a Hunter and rose the ranks until he became a police officer and was stationed in Camp Twyla three years ago. There wasn't much information about what happened in Camp Twyla in the three years of his duty but there was one scandal that he was involved in.

As he skimmed through the rows and rows of words, Allen's interest came at peak. The scandal Jeremy was involved in was the exploitation of goods and tax from the Wealth Valley in the camp. The reports stated that he was taking bribes from rich clients and he would allow them into restricted zones to hunt. 

Restricted Zones were the areas of the Otherworlds that was being monitored by the police. The resources from these areas were too short that it can't sustain the Hunters that go inside it, so they would be regulated.

The areas would be shut down to Hunters for a few months, just until it recovers and becomes available for hunting again. Restricted Zones could also be the areas where the resources would rarely regenerate.

These areas would often become sighed by the rich Hunters because they contain collectible Codes and materials that wasn't easily located in any other part of the Otherworlds.

The type of area that Jeremy opened to his clients weren't included in the data, but Allen was sure that it was the latter. Jeremy led people inside the Restricted Zones for them to collect rare Codes and materials.

What doesn't make sense was how the was still able to keep his job when this was grounds for him to get fired and imprisoned. His records were clean and he didn't have any police record of him being in jail.

Though there was a catch for his freedom. Even when he was popular among the people of Camp Twyla, he wasn't able to promoted into higher ranks and would be stuck with his Police Officer III rank. His income was also deducted with five percent for the damage and he was on probation for ten years.

Allen had his eyes on Jeremy now. His case seemed to suspicious just to be ignored. He was sure to get fired, but he didn't get fired. Now, he was going to be punished but his punishment were too clean, as if someone was backing him.

If that would be the case, then this would throw off the suspicion on him. Why does he need to use the Wandering Trader's identity and attack the twins and the guards if he had a backer? The clues would make anyone walk in circles and that's where Allen was exactly at right now.

"I'm missing something here," Allen whispered. "What could it be?"

There was still the aftereffects of the enhanced instincts that made Allen scroll up Jeremy's files and read everything about it again.

Jeremy Cruz. Born in San Antonion. Graduated at the San Antonio Police Academy and was the top of his class. At the bottom of this paragraph, there was a small plus sign that Allen missed before.

With narrowed eyes, he clicked the sign and it opened a new window to him. The window contained several photos that were attached to Jeremy's files. His birth certificate, report cards, diplomas, and one particular file that caught Allen's eyes.

His eyes widened after reading it. He was shaking his head in disbelief but at the same time sighing in pure joy at his discovery.

Jeremy Cruz. Born in San Antonio. Graduated at the San Antonio Police Academy and was the top of his class.

Adopted by John Smith, the Minister of Defense.