My eyes track the odd phenomenon, but the mana reading coming off it is so low I don't bother trying to dodge.

I just continue walking forward with an innocent look on my face, responding out loud to the duo.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. I'm new to town. I just ventured out here from a village up north. Heard there was opportunity to snag some free loot now that the Sector Leader went missing. Was I correct?"

As I finish these words, the shadowy hand expands and makes a motion to grasp around me, but the second it hits my Qi barrier, it disintegrates and disperses on the spot. Nearly invisible black and purple energy sizzles away and gushes out to the sides, evaporating into the air.

However, I don't bat an eye and walk forward like nothing happened.

The larger man still looks at me with a menacing glare, but the skinny dagger user's eyes widen and he steps back.

"W-What was that-"

As his hand of mana mysteriously disappears, I activate appraisal to see exactly what just happened. The readings that meet my eyes are quite interesting.

The large man has an [Extreme Strength] skill at the [Special Grade] rating, and his partner has a skill I've never seen before called [Bind] rated at [Legendary Grade].

From the look of these two, I never would have expected such high-grade skills, my only theory that comes to mind is they stuck their noses in an upgrade crystal storage locker of some sort to artificially boost these ratings. The gear they're wearing is shiny and unused, plus there is practically 0 mana control aura coming off of them. At level roughly 300 each, they should be putting out at least a little bit of aura.

This is what a prime example of artificially power-leveled hunters look like.

As I'm thinking this the lanky man continues to speak, turning his head to the larger fellow.

"Raze, hold onto this weakling while I make sure he gets a good taste of my daggers. He's wearing some kind of protection item, my Bind attack was reflected..."

The taller man smirks, turning to me and begins to glow bright gold.

"You got it, Fin. Let's see how he handles this."

He stomps on the ground and makes large cracks in the nicely stone-tiled road, then comes charging toward me.

I roll my eyes as he opens his arms to try and bear hug me with his strength alone, and put up a light wind barrier around my Qi to give the man a chance to run if he wants, but he doesn't slow down at all, grabbing a hold of the outer layer of the invisible twisting mana barrier, yelling to his partner as it begins to rip his outer layer of armor to shreds.

He has no grip on me at all as he just hugs violent wind magic a few centimeters above my skin, but doesn't back off and just bares the pain. I don't bother moving

"I got him! Do it now!"

Fin runs in, attempting to slash my midsection with the two blades soaked in red liquid.

My appraisal skill gets a reading on these as he gets closer.

[Stainless Steel Dagger Set][+300 Speed][+250 Agility]

[Elixir of Suggestion]

I activate my All-Seeing Eye as the daggers get closer to my thin barrier of wind and their in-depth description intrigues me.Stolen novel; please report.

______________

[Elixir of Suggestion]

Grade: C+

Info: If this elixir is ingested or injected into the bloodstream of an enemy, their senses and cognitive reasoning will be dulled for up to 12 hours. Orders will be followed without question and care for one's own life and wellbeing will be forgotten.

Crafter's Note: This elixir's effects tend to lessen greatly above level 400 hunters, and are negligible to those who have Ranked-Up. Excessive usage may lead to dependency, small dosages are suggested.

______________

Just like my low powered wind shielding slightly comes out from my Qi barrier, I allow a large portion of my cloak to flutter out of the barrier on my other side where the dagger user is attacking.

In my perception, it looks like just pure black fluttering mana-manifested fabric is peeking out.

However, to the rogue with one eye approaching, my concealment abilities make it look as if my entire right side is wide open to an attack.

He lets out a victorious yell and slashes through the weightless swirling black energy, but in his field of view, he's made two deep gashes on my side and sunk the red elixir deep into my bloodstream already.

"Let him go Raze, we got another one."

The golden glow of the giant man fades and I decide to play the part, falling backward to the floor and holding my side.

At first, I was just going to kill both of them, take the scrawny one's skill, and move on with my spectating. But the fact that they're just trying to sedate me piques my curiosity. I'll hold off on my initial plan for the time being.

Fin puts the daggers back on his waist while breathing heavily, and looking straight at me. He throws a red cloth with a dagger logo on it down toward me.

"Stand up, put this on, follow us, and don't say a word. You've got yourself a new job."

They both start to chuckle, and the tall man named Raze pulls out an HP potion to heal his wounded arms, muttering under his breath about how he needs to get new armor after that.

Both of them don't even turn back to check on me, it seems like they've done this quite a few times before and have confidence in the elixir's powers.

I stand to my feet and let out a sigh, following them through the streets without saying another word. If they're going to take me right to the action, I won't try and make things any more difficult than it has to be.

The sun continues to rise overhead as we walk through this other part of town.

Teams of about ten to fifteen are all working to clear out random warehouses and homes scattered all over the desert. Assembly lines are set up and none of their faces show any emotion.

Hunters, Businessmen, and average villagers all work together to load up large carts and haul them off to random locations. Everyone on this side of town has the same red fabric attached to their waistline.

It's becoming a lot more clear to me that all of these people are under the influence of this Elixir of Suggestion, but the fact that there are two rival gangs doing seemingly the same thing on opposite sides of town makes my mind wander.

As I bite my bottom lip and look up at the blue sky and white clouds, the Dagger user calls out to me.

"Watch your step, we're going down."

We walk into a small tavern that seems to be abandoned from the outside, but after walking through the front doors it's clear what this place really is.

The inside of the old bar is completely emptied out, and right in front of the bar is a wide-open staircase down into the basement that looks like an awkwardly placed storm cellar in the middle of the wooden flooring.

The two men disappear down into it, and I follow right after.

I can sense an abundance of magic items down below us, High D and C grade items line the walls in piles and some decent E and D grade items are even worn by about 20 people all between level 20 and 200 standing still in two single file lines.

As I make my way down the flight of steps, this is exactly what I see.

The room is dimly lit with no decorations on the grey stone walls. Lines of men and women in new shiny gear all stare blankly in one direction.

The scrawny man points to them and speaks to me.

"Get in line behind the closest person and don't move a muscle before we get back to give you orders. We'll be heading out in two squads to raid a newly discovered warehouse soon. I have to go check some things with the boss."

I walk over to the nearest line and the two men walk off back up the stairs to leave the room in silence.

I let out a sigh the moment they leave, disappointed at how easy it was to infiltrate their ranks. It's clear these two aren't professionals, but they're definitely using some heavy duty magic items here. Anyone below a Ranked-Up status is at risk of falling victim to its spell.

Whatever skill or item was used to imbue this elixir, its no joke. I tap the middle-aged man in front of me on the shoulder a few times, but he doesn't budge or react at all.

I step out of line and wave my hand in front of his face too and he doesn't move or even blink. Then, proceed to do the same for every other person in these two lines.

After none of them seem to be conscious or able to think for themselves, I shrug and begin appraising all the gear and items left around in piles in this underground safehouse.