Richard could tell that agreeing would lead to problems he doesn’t want to involve himself in but he ultimately ended up agreeing to the meeting.

What else could he do?

Run away to another state and fight against a different group of people?

It may not have looked good but his options were heavily limited and the only choices he had where he could actually make an active decision on his fate was accepting the invitation.

What RIchard didn’t expect was the rather quick actions taken by the mystical powers.

It didn’t take them a day to have a car waiting outside his door.

Not a limo, but an offroad bulletproof truck.

"I wonder who’s the snitch?"

Richard asked while turning towards Hana with a smile but the tomboy beauty only turned her face away without shame.

In the end, Richard could only lead his group composed of Cindy, Ragnar and Hana with him.

The goddess?

She was always with Richard and now she acted like a trump card... if Hana didn’t snitch on her identity.

"I know you’re not all that gutsy but I hope you understand that some things are better left unsaid"

He addressed Hana who understood the meaning of his words as she nodded quietly.

Of course, their interaction did not go unnoticed but Richard kept his words vague for that very reason.

The trip was rather short, half a day and they drove through some rather interesting terrain.

Not only did they take an underground path that is not on any maps, they also drove deep into the woods rather than the city.

Yet, their final destination was-

"New York? Wow... is that the magic of tunnels? Where did you learn it? The middle east?"

Richard joked with the driver who had introduced himself as a special forces operator who worked under the FMC group affiliated with the US Military.

"It’s our own technology, home grown"

The man said with pride but Richard rolled his eyes.

’Home grown? Yeah, true, maybe it was but the people who built it– were they home grown?’

His own company hired a lot of international talents, he knew the limits there were in the American Education system.

While not everyone in the US was an idiot who probably believed the world was flat, due to the highly capitalistic system of the nation, even education came with subscription tiers.

The cheapest schools hired the cheapest teachers who were probably spending more time talking about racism and cultural appropriation than maths.

Meanwhile, more expensive schools are likely to teach people more about business, maths and economy than they would actual common sense.

The true talents of the nation come from the middle of the pack, the guys who were out of poverty- just enough to spend some time acting like a Greek scholar pondering the universe and whatnot.

But still desperate enough to focus on actually learning things that could turn a profit or help them secure a job in the future.

Unfortunately, it is in the middle pack where you get the less known talents. The silent heroes who actually make engineering and scientific discoveries that move the country forward. The geniuses who could create a bright future for the nation.

On the other hand, the extreme ends of the spectrum was where you get the influencers and loudmouths.

Their status would basically boil down to "what’s the hottest topic of the week?".

Because of this, many of those in the middle had, within their mix, a complex population of locals and immigrants.

International students who made a home in the US during their studies.

Experts that were hired from overseas and given visas to support the great nation.

It was really difficult for Richard to just accept the soldiers words but he didn’t want to start such a debate at this moment.

For now, his goal was to meet with the leaders and so he followed the soldier and was led to a small cafe hidden in the quiet alleys of New York.

How this place came to be was something that he could only attribute to "magic" as he found the random door situated between two rundown apartments to be quite an interesting case study on "how to make a secret base".

Unfortunately, unlike what he expected, the door did not open to a mysterious space not connected to the two apartment buildings.

Instead, the door literally opened to a passageway in between the two buildings that led to a stairway that led underground.

The soldier explained that the government made the building plans purposely to keep a small alley in between the two structures, used magic to erase the alley’s existence and then walled off everything to make it look like the alley never actually existed.

The only mystical element was the door that could only be seen by mystics and those given charms to see it.

In short, instead of a mystical secret base, all he got was a government sanction underground bunker in the middle of NYC that would never appear in any city planning document and whose existence would be hidden through force, mysticism and political will.

"Underwhelming"

Richard replied to the soldier not hiding his disappointment as he followed him down the well lit stairway.

Again, unlike the standard "magical passage".

What greeted Richard was a modern pathway that would look better in a sci-fi or superhero film.

It could even rival m*n in bl*ck... if the stairs were turned into an elevator.

But the people who used the bunker were soldiers and operatives, not businessmen, leaders or directors.

Stairs were better to ensure that operatives who rely on their body could clock in to work and still get on their daily 10k steps.

Of course, Richard himself didn’t really mind the stairs as his body was adapting better and maybe even evolving the longer he practices and surrounds himself with mysticism.

It took them a while but the group soon reached the end of the stairs, they walked through more halls that looked like they came out of a superhero movie.

Automatic metal doors that made that classic mechanical sound as they opened.

The strong AC and air circulation network that kept the place at a "not too cold and not too hot" ambient temperature and gave the whole place a very "official" odor.

There were office ladies, office workers and even soldiers wearing camo walking around.

Whenever their eyes caught Richard’s group though, they would turn away. Some even hid their faces, focusing on their eyes, using whatever they had on hand.

Soldiers looked down and lowered their hats to cover their eyes.

Everyone did their best to avoid making eye contact.

[Some mystical spells and abilities could be cast through eye contact and with the recent hypnosis event, their actions could be seen as their way of combating such methods]

Richard came to the same conclusion as the Goddess, he didn’t really comment on it and just let it go. The soldier saw that he wasn’t all too bothered and didn’t even try to explain.

Dealing with mystical practitioners was a test of patience, you must never cause them any distress or allow them to have a reason to take action.

That was what they were trained to do and Richard was not a standard Mystical Practitioner, he was one who could even shrug off their most powerful armaments.

The soldier didn’t want to cause trouble and decided, rightly so, to just continue with his job and to only answer when he is asked.

Not long after, the group finally reached a room.

The door that looked like it melded with the walls moved with the sci-fi sound like an air lock opening revealing a brightly lit room filled with many... luxuries.

In the middle of the luxurious room was a round table, and around it sat three people.

A woman with short bright red hair wearing a lab coat over a leather crop top, short skirt and fishnet stockings. She didn’t wear anything to conceal the skin that was not hidden and Richard could see the rather eye-catching outline of her well defined abs.

Though he immediately shifted his gaze away when he saw the cross amulet that hung on her neck.

This made Richard eye the next person, a blondie. Blonde hair and blue eyes, standard look that people imagine all Americans have but only a small portion of the population actually are. Couple that with the natural tendency of light hair to darken over time and you have an even smaller population of natural blondes.

But that rarity is just what made Richard’s eyes stay on the woman for a longer time.

It was NOT her white crop top that showed off her bountiful chest that she coupled with her biker jeans, boots and leather jacket.

[The man who was emoting near his diseased lovers grave the night before is now staring lustfully at two women]

’Merlin’s genes’

[Of course you blame Merlin]

The silent exchange between Richard and the Goddess went unnoticed and his strong poker face made his gaze less "perverted" and more in the lines of "assessing"- at least, that’s how others perceived it.

’Can’t help it, ever since I awakened, my emotions were weirdly... at a constant high. Lust, sorrow, depression, joy, excitement... all of it were magnified’

He answered back to the Goddess in his mind but before the Goddess could give her response, the voice belonging to the last person around the round table called out to him.

"Welcome Sir Damien Dixon... no, Richard Rex? I heard you have changed your name, do you prefer we address you as such?"

Richard turned towards the man who spoke, he looked familiar but at the same time not-

Dressed in a formal suit, the man contrasted heavily with the two women who were obviously the leaders of Salem and Nova Munda respectively.

The tattoos on the blondie and the cross coupled with the goth make-up of the pixie cut redhead revealed as much.

Though Richard didn’t mind if he was mistaken about them as it didn’t change anything.

After all, the true problem he had to deal with was the man wearing a business suit.

After all, like that one song said- the devil doesn’t have horns, a gun or a knife- he has combed hair and wears a suit and tie.

Funnily enough, the man who was obviously the director of the FMC wore a black suit with a red tie and white shirt.

"Call me Richard, I’m assuming you’re the leader of the FMC?"

So began the first meeting between Richard, the descendant of Merlin and the three mystical groups of America.