Chapter 124: Crimes In The City

Later that night, Mark sat on his chair with his laptop resting on the desk in front of him. The room was quiet, illuminated mainly by the pale light coming from the screen and the dim glow of the lamp beside his bed. Outside the window, the city continued to move beneath the darkness, with distant vehicle lights passing between buildings and the occasional sound of a horn drifting through the night.

Mark leaned closer to the screen, navigating through several websites and digital platforms in search of specific information. His fingers moved across the keyboard as he opened different reports, compared details, and examined the information available to him. Every now and then, he paused to read something more carefully, his brows tightening whenever he came across a detail that seemed important.

This was not ordinary school research, nor was it related to the upcoming tests that had occupied so much of his time lately. It concerned something far more personal, something he had been thinking about since the moment he realized that becoming a summoner had given him opportunities he had never possessed before.

His family.

Mark leaned back in his chair and stared at the screen for a moment, his thoughts drifting away from the information before him. He remembered the difficulties his family had endured and the sacrifices his mother and sister had made to keep things together. Their situation had never been easy, and even now, with him attending Amstral High, he could not simply put those worries aside and concentrate on his own ambitions.

His family had always been his first priority.

Although he had begun to make progress as a summoner, he was still a student who needed to attend classes, complete assignments, and improve his academic standing. There were expectations placed upon him, and he understood that his performance at school would influence the opportunities available to him in the future.

However, whenever he thought about his future, his family inevitably came to mind.

What was the point of achieving an impressive position at school if he could not help the people who had supported him when he had nothing? He wanted to become stronger, earn money, and provide his family with a more comfortable life. More importantly, he wanted to relieve his sister of the burden she had carried for so long.

His sister had already secured a job within the health department, but the work came at a considerable cost to her own well-being. Her schedule was demanding, and the long hours left her with little time to rest. To make matters worse, her manager had a harsh personality, adding unnecessary pressure to an already exhausting routine.

Despite those difficulties, she continued working.

Through her efforts, she had managed to arrange hospital care for their mother using available vouchers and had helped support Mark’s journey through school. She had taken responsibility for matters that would have been difficult for anyone in her position, and she had done so without expecting him to repay her immediately.

Mark appreciated everything she had done.

Yet appreciation alone could not settle the uneasiness he felt whenever he considered how much his sister had sacrificed. She had been shouldering responsibilities since childhood, and he could not accept the thought of leaving her to carry the same burden indefinitely.

He wanted to do something about it.

He was no longer the ordinary boy he had once been. Becoming a summoner had opened a path that might allow him to earn money through opportunities unavailable to most people his age. He possessed abilities that could eventually place him among capable individuals in a world where strength and talent often determined what a person could achieve.

He wanted to use those abilities to change his family’s circumstances.

In his mind, it was time for him to take a more active role. He did not want his sister to remain the one who had to solve every problem while he simply continued studying and waiting for the future to arrive. He wanted to become someone his family could depend on, someone who could contribute rather than remain another responsibility on their shoulders.

The thought brought a determined expression to his face.

"I can’t keep sitting around and waiting forever," he muttered.

He turned back toward his laptop and continued browsing.

One of the opportunities he had already pursued was the Mineral Guild dungeon programme, which was scheduled to commence in less than a month. He had applied with the hope that participation would provide him with valuable experience, improve his abilities, and potentially open the door to financial rewards.

The programme offered a promising opportunity for young summoners who wanted to develop their skills through dungeon raids. Depending on their performance, participants might earn recognition, gain access to better opportunities, or secure a position that could improve their future prospects.

Mark had spent considerable time thinking about what he could achieve through it.

If he performed well, perhaps he could secure a meaningful reward. If he proved himself capable, he might also attract the attention of people who could help him advance. Either possibility would bring him closer to the future he wanted.

Unfortunately, the programme had not started yet.

Waiting for it meant allowing several more weeks to pass without making any immediate progress toward his financial goals. Although he understood that patience was necessary, he found it difficult to remain satisfied with the idea of doing nothing until the scheduled date arrived.

His family’s needs would not wait for him.

Mark rubbed his forehead and studied the open pages on his screen.

"There’s got to be another way to make something useful out of my abilities before then."

The answer he had arrived at was not exactly conventional.

He had begun investigating the growing number of crimes reported throughout Amstral City. Rather than limiting himself to school and waiting for an official opportunity, he intended to use his abilities to intervene in certain criminal activities whenever he believed he could do so successfully.

In other words, he was considering becoming an unofficial vigilante.

It was a risky decision, and he understood that much. He had no official authority, no established team, and no guarantee that the people he encountered would be ordinary criminals. In a world where some offenders possessed supernatural abilities, even a seemingly simple confrontation could become dangerous.

Nevertheless, Mark believed that he could find opportunities if he was careful.

He had already created a small digital platform through which he gathered reports and information about incidents around the city. By examining public posts and available details, he hoped to identify cases that had not yet received a response from the authorities.

He did not intend to rush blindly into every situation he found.

His first priority was to assess the information, determine whether a report appeared credible, and consider whether the circumstances gave him a reasonable chance of intervening. He was not interested in walking into an unknown situation simply because he wanted to prove himself.

Even so, he knew that his plan carried considerable risks.

Amstral City had been experiencing a noticeable rise in criminal activity, and the situation appeared to be worsening as economic difficulties spread through several surrounding communities. According to reports he had read, the problems had become more severe following the withdrawal of the United States from certain joint collaborative arrangements after a brief but consequential conflict.

The change had affected civilians and workers on both sides, disrupting established arrangements and placing additional pressure on already vulnerable communities.

As economic opportunities became harder to find, more families struggled to cover their expenses. Some businesses reduced their operations, while others found it difficult to maintain their usual workforce. In certain towns, people who had once managed to support themselves were suddenly faced with uncertainty about their next meal or their ability to pay their bills.

The hardship did not affect everyone equally.

Low-tier citizens and those without reliable employment opportunities were among the groups most exposed to the consequences. Some searched desperately for new sources of income, while others became increasingly frustrated with the circumstances surrounding them.

Unfortunately, desperation did not always lead people toward honest choices.

Crime reports had begun to appear with worrying frequency, particularly those concerning theft, burglary, robbery, and abduction. Many incidents were reported to have occurred at night, when the streets became quieter and fewer witnesses were available to identify the people responsible.

Mark scrolled through another collection of reports.

The world had changed considerably since the appearance of dungeons and the emergence of summoners. People had become accustomed to the existence of dangerous creatures, mysterious energy, and supernatural abilities, but those things were not the only threats to public safety.

Humans could be just as dangerous.

In some cases, they were even worse.

Monsters generally acted according to their nature, instincts, or the conditions that governed their existence. Criminals, on the other hand, could plan their actions, exploit weaknesses, and use their intelligence to harm others for personal gain.

The situation became even more concerning when the people responsible possessed supernatural abilities.

A criminal who could manipulate mana or use a dangerous summon was far more difficult to deal with than an ordinary offender. Such individuals could threaten witnesses, overpower security personnel, or escape situations that would have been difficult for an ordinary person to survive.

Mark had seen enough of the world around him to understand that the problems among students were only a small reflection of what existed beyond the school grounds.

If people could abuse their abilities to intimidate their classmates, there was little reason to assume that everyone outside school would behave better.

He glanced toward the window.

The streets below appeared peaceful from his room, but he knew that appearances could be misleading. Somewhere beyond the buildings and illuminated roads, people were dealing with problems that might never attract public attention until it was too late.

The city needed more than hopeful assumptions.

The authorities were already struggling to manage the growing number of cases. Enforcers had numerous reports to investigate, and their resources were spread across different districts. Even when they acted promptly, there were situations in which they could not be everywhere at once.

Mark understood that he could not replace them.

He was not a trained officer, and he had no intention of pretending otherwise. However, he believed that he might still be able to help in certain circumstances, especially when information suggested that a crime was taking place and no official response had yet arrived.

He also had a personal reason for wanting to succeed.

He needed money.

He was not embarking on this venture simply because he considered himself morally superior or because he wanted to become a symbol of justice. His motives were more practical than that. He wanted to make use of his abilities, improve his circumstances, and find a way to support his family without waiting for every opportunity to arrive through official channels.

Some people might have called his approach selfish. Others might have considered it pragmatic.

Mark did not particularly care which description they preferred.

He wanted to survive in the world as it was, not as he wished it could be. If he could help others while also creating opportunities for himself, he saw no reason to reject the possibility.

Still, he was not foolish enough to believe that every criminal would carry something valuable or that every successful intervention would result in a reward. He would have to be selective and accept that some situations might offer nothing beyond trouble.

The hunt for the Elixir of Life had not disappeared from his thoughts, either. It remained one of his most important goals, and he knew that pursuing it would require resources, information, and a considerable amount of effort.

For now, however, he had decided to focus on the growing problems around the city.

He turned back to the laptop and resumed his research.

Minutes passed as he examined different reports, reading through descriptions of incidents and checking whether they had already been addressed. Some concerned bank robberies, while others involved shop thefts, home burglaries, and missing individuals. A few reports included updates from officers who had already arrived at the scene, making them less useful for his immediate purpose.

Mark discarded those and continued searching.

"Already handled," he muttered, closing another page. "And this one has officers on the way."

He opened a different report and studied it more carefully.

The incident appeared to have occurred earlier that evening, but the information suggested that the people responsible might still be nearby. Unfortunately, the available details were incomplete, and Mark could not determine whether the situation had already been resolved.

He frowned and checked the page again.

"No. Too uncertain."

He moved on.

The longer he searched, the more aware he became of how much information was missing from some reports. People sometimes posted about incidents without providing exact locations or reliable descriptions. Others shared rumors that had not been verified, making it difficult to distinguish genuine cases from exaggerated stories.

Mark had to remain patient.

He was not going to treat every post as a reliable lead simply because it appeared on his platform. If he wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble, he needed to be careful about what he believed and how he used the information he collected.

Then he found something different.

A report concerning a facility on the outskirts of a commercial district had recently appeared on the platform. The building was used to store valuable items recovered from dungeons, including dungeon cores, equipment, and other materials that could be worth considerable sums.

The report indicated that a break-in had taken place.

More importantly, there was no clear confirmation that the authorities had arrived.

Mark leaned forward.

He opened the available details and read through them twice, paying close attention to the time of the incident and the information provided about the location. The report suggested that the facility’s security had been breached, but the extent of the damage and the number of people involved remained uncertain.

He checked for updates.

Nothing substantial had appeared.

A small smile gradually formed on his face.

"Bingo."