"This is emergency services. What's the nature of your emergency?"

  The operator answered the call with a calm, smooth tone.

  Of course, he answered hundreds of calls a day, so it was a well-practiced delivery, but there was some serious thought that went into it.

  Although everyone reacted to an emergency differently, most people would benefit from hearing a calm voice. It could serve to anchor them, either calming them down too or at least easing their emotional need to panic.

  "Help," a small voice answered, tinged with fear and panic that told him that this wasn't just another kid dialing emergency services by mistake.

  "What's wrong?"

  But instead of answering him, she just repeated the word.

  "Help."

  It was a bit odd.

  Nevertheless, he continued to try and walk her through things.

  "Can you tell me what you need help with?"

  "Help."

  There wasn't any progress at all.

  "Can you hear me? Do you understand me?"

  "... Help... help!"

  She wasn't just repeating herself. The girl on the other end was growing a bit frantic too.

  "It's okay," he tried comforting her as he went to work. "Help is on the way. Help is on the way."

  In case the word 'help' was the only one she knew at all, he made sure to say it loud and clear for her. The rest was just added as a formality.

  Imperial phones have location services.

  As cynics like to point out, they were essentially tracking devices. If someone had access to your phone's connection data, they could know where you are.

  Or where the device itself was, anyway, as a pedantic might add.

  But it was hard to argue that as a wholly bad thing when it helped emergency services send a response team directly to a phone's location.

  When minutes could be the difference between life and death, skipping the need to ask could save lives.

  It was especially obvious in situations like these, but even if someone had all their information ready, it was still a waste of precious seconds typing something in, instead of directly sending their precise location to the dispatch team.

  The operator just hoped that it was fast enough to help this girl... whatever her trouble happened to be.

  ***

  Ironskin was a Skill that allowed its user to surround themselves with protective mana. It was similar to Grit.

  Someone who had both Skills could pretty much fight until they ran out of mana, unless you could completely overwhelm their defenses in a single attack.

  Although these Skills were very physical, they were technically magic Skills.

  They were generally superior to non-magic Skills, but they cost mana to use.

  That meant they had a natural time limit.

  Of course, it was questionable if that was a true downside when it came to combat Skills. Being able to end a fight quickly was far more valuable than being able to endure a bit longer.

  It wasn't easy to simply draw the fight out, either.

  The only magic Skill Van had ever learned was Scan.

  He had numerous combat Skills, but none of them drew mana to work.

  They were augmentation Skills. Essentially, fancy calculators that allowed him to know or do things beyond human limits, without violating physical laws in the process.

  Concealment allowed him to move perfectly without being noticed. Sniper allowed him to take perfect shots. Knives and Evasion helped him make perfect movements in close quarters combat.

  Ordinarily, adventurers who had nothing but augmentation Skills were limited to rank C. Exceptional adventurers could reach rank B.

  Van was rank A.

  Exposure to the mana in dungeons could have all sorts of effects, good or ill, but most seasoned adventurers either gradually gained physical capabilities that were decidedly above human, or they eventually retired.

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  Van's baseline capabilities were particularly high.

  But he also had a rare Skill.

  Prediction.

  He could use it to simulate battles, to ultimately make the best outcome happen, often by making moves that'd seem subpar if analyzed individually.

  Such as taking a second direct Ki Burst attack.

  Prediction didn't tell him anything he didn't already theoretically know. He often had to take calculated gambles to gather information before he could use the Skill to its fullest.

  So he only finally took the second hit after confirming as many variables as he could.

  'Damn, though, did that still hurt...'

  As his opponent walked toward him, certain in his own victory, he waited patiently.

  Well... it's more like, his head reeled, and he tried getting his thoughts in order.

  His other reasons for testing the man's Deflect Missiles were in hand, carefully positioned where he needed them.

  He crushed a strange orb in one hand, before quickly opening said hand to let the flood of light loose.

  It was an adventurer's flashbang.

  Even knowing it was coming wasn't enough. He closed his eyes and turned his head, but he was still going to be seeing spots for a bit... well, not that his vision had fully returned yet anyway.

  Then he retrieved a weapon from his coat with his other hand, used his sharpened hearing to pinpoint where his opponent had jumped in instinctive response to the sudden blinding light, and fired until his weapon gave empty clicks instead of deafening bangs.

  He had once told Kid to get a gun for good reason.

  Since she was unusually talented but mostly Skill-less, her practical fighting style was similar to his own.

  It was scary how sharp someone could be without any augmentation Skills, but that was why people like him, who mostly relied on augmentation Skills, were seen as fairly ordinary as far as adventurers went.

  Because someone could do everything he did without a single Skill.

  It was a weapon that let people like them do serious damage.

  As for why he needed to get hit like that to win?

  Without magic, it was the only way to get distance from that guy.

  Taking a hit was inevitable. If he tried to execute his counter attack up close, he'd have still gotten hit for it. At least, that was the case in all of the outcomes he could predict.

  He needed to line one up that he could actually survive.

  Now that he won, his enemy no longer moving, nor breathing as far as he could tell, he took off his backpack and dug through it.

  He searched for another adventurer's staple.

  Fortunately, the little plastic bottles that contained it were particularly rugged, designed to survive even worse than a couple of mana-empowered attacks.

  Undoing the top, he chugged it.

  A healing potion.

  ***

  'This brat was actually dangerous...'

  Aoi Mugiya went to pick up the kid himself.

  It was a risk, potentially inviting war with a high ranking adventurer's guild, but he needed to ensure things went smoothly, so he took a direct hand.

  All of the men who went with him had been shot.

  As far as he could tell, that small girl he'd arranged to be kidnapped had been the one responsible. And why?

  They left an opening? She's afraid other people might try too?

  'What kind of kid thinks like that? This bitch is seriously a monster in human clothing.'

  But she didn't have any noteworthy Skills. Just Beginner, whatever that was.

  Well, it probably just meant she was the boss of a beginner dungeon. Or maybe it was the secret answer to why Naraka was so interested in her.

  Regardless, he'd won.

  Time would tell if it had been a pyrrhic victory or not, but victory was his.

  He'd originally planned on just taking her to a safe house, but between how dangerous she was, and how quickly people came to rescue her, he decided to take her straight to his main headquarters.

  While driving, he even made a few calls.

  "Yeah, we need reinforcements. Call everyone to the base. Prepare anti-adventurer contingencies."

  "Get some guys on loan from our old buddies in the west. The north too, if they don't ask for too much. It's just deterrence."

  "I'm coming in with some hot merchandise. Get ready."

  "Bring that guy, you know... yeah, the S ranker. I know he's not cheap, but get him out here. He's still on retainer isn't he? No, you're not asking him to come, I'm asking."

  'Hopefully I'm just overpreparing...'

  But his instincts told him not to hold any card back.

  Maybe it was the bored look on that monstrous brat's face.

  ***

  That older kidnapper made a bunch of phone calls as we drove.

  I was a bit surprised at first, since he just started talking, but a voice answered him each time, so I figured that was what he was doing.

  Cars doubled as phones in this strange world, it seemed.

  As for what he said... I wasn't sure. It was all in a foreign language.

  I doubted it was anything particularly good, but since I still had a way out, I wasn't too worried.

  After we drove for over an hour, we finally arrived at some mansion with a fancy gate and a huge yard. The sort of place you'd associate with high ranking nobility, like a duke.

  A bunch of guys came out to greet us.

  They all seemed to be foreigners, but likely from the same country as this guy and his other associates.

  Well, the first two guys who grabbed us were imperials, though.

  As for their greetings, they bowed to my kidnapper and handcuffed me.

  Multiple guns were out, not directly pointed my way, but still ready to shoot me if they needed to. They also didn't gag my mouth to stop me from just biting my tongue.

  In other words, they had no clue I had a secret victory condition... or they themselves had a way to cancel Beginner, and foolishly didn't bother simply saying so.

  After all, if they wanted me alive, why let me think I could escape by dying?

  'Of course, it's still a last resort either way.'

  As an immortal, so long as they didn't just try to kill me, I'd eventually overcome them.

  Even if it took years.

  ***

  Well, despite Van showing up that day, rescue hadn't immediately followed.

  'I just hope Lilac got out, and that Savi's been watering the plants...'

  They put me in a surprisingly nice bedroom, but between the bars on the windows, the fact I spent most of my time handcuffed, and the various odd devices they put on me, it was obviously a prison.

  They told me the thing around my ankle was a tracking device, and that it'd stop moving if I tried to leave the manor.

  And the one around my neck could blow up, killing me in the process.

  'They really haven't realized, huh?'

  Aside from that, it wasn't all that bad though.

  The food was really good.

  Honestly, that was the worst part by far, knowing I'd eventually have to stop eating it.

  The bed was soft and luxurious.

  They even got me some spare clothes to wear, since I'd shown up in pants and a tank-top, and it was winter.

  Were they islander clothes?

  Ah, they were from the Islands, by the way. Islanders. They all worked for the Syndicate, I guess, which was some big international crime organization.

  The clothes were definitely an imperial style, but it was an older style that not many imperial girls still wore. Long skirts and dresses were a bit out of fashion, except in more formal circumstances.

  However, they were still popular in the Islands.

  So it was a funny situation where they were imperial clothes, but also islander clothes.

  Pants were just more practical for my usual lifestyle, but since I was living it up like a captured princess, it wasn't so bad. It was almost reminiscent of Atlantean fashion.

  Almost.