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nMaster Giovanni called Boss Elijah while ignoring the piercing gazes of the uninhibited zoo animals.

nOn a technical level, Elijah was not Master Giovanni's Boss, but rather he was currently this group of disciples of his's Boss.

nElijah was in fact Master Giovanni's associate.

nThey had worked together previously, which made them more like business partners, but since they also knew each other on a personal level, as much as Master Giovanni hated to admit it, the level of trust couldn't be compared.

nIt was hard to describe their working relationship, but just from the fact that his disciples had all come to work on this assignment for Elijah, it was clear that it was by no means simple.

nIn this specific case, Master Giovanni was using Elijah as a test and a starting ground for his students, while Elijah was using Master Giovanni's students as labor workers as well as a link to strengthen Master Giovanni's ties to his

"company

".

nWorking for Elijah and completing the assignments given to them was a form of Master Giovanni's trust in his students, trying to set his students up for success as Elijah's background was by no means neglectable, but also a harsh test as Master Giovanni knew Elijah's personality well.

nElijah's strictness when it came to work came right from his bones.

nJust imagine how disappointed Master Giovanni was when he came out of seclusion, breaking past the peak of the intermediate Master level, just to discover that his students had thoroughly trampled on his face and reputation in front of their current Boss, who was also his business partner.

nUnable to accomplish a single task in over half a year.

n(The zoo animals had done some loose tasks in between, but the M task was their 'Main' mission)

nElijah was definitely going to use this against him sooner or later, be it discretely so to not bring up past shames, or openly to pour salt in this untended wound.

nAt first, Master Giovanni could only hope that it was discretely, but now, he wouldn't have to suffer at all.

nThis was a great gain!

nThe zoo animals didn't know that at this moment, their newest junior brother was climbing up in the rankings when it came to their places in their teacher's heart, and fast!

nHow could you even compare between a lot that brought you shame with one that help you regain your dignity?

nOf course, emotional ties with the older disciples were still stronger, but now Master Giovanni had a great impression of TWO, which would help Theodore later on when he wanted to learn more and more, becoming much less restrained when it came to his demands.

nIt was simply embarrassing for Master Giovanni and if this event with TWO hadn't happened today, Master Giovanni was sure that he would have to pay for this failure, and the price wouldn't be small.

nThankfully, this time, he was confident that most of his face could be restored by accepting TWO as his disciple, not that that was his main goal.

nNot to mention, he would not easily let off his other disciples now.

nSince he came out of seclusion, their training definitely had to be increased by manyfold.

nIt really had to be said that this group of poor souls had really kicked a brick wall this time.

nWhat they didn't know was that Elijah had purposefully sent them to this specific wall, telling the group that it was made of Styrofoam.

nThey were all too blinded by the pain that came from kicking the wall, wanting to break it down to get revenge that they had missed what was in plain sight… they had dismissed who it was that had brought them to this wall for them to kick.

nOf course, this analogy is not completely correct as these hackers were no idiots, at least, most of them weren't, but the general idea is still there.

nThe reason why this analogy works is not because the hackers were idiots, but rather because Elijah had thought ahead, much more ahead.

nThey had fallen into Elijah's trap the moment the hackers were emotionally invested.

nIt would have been great, amazing, simply perfect if these hackers were able to get a hold of TWO and thus by extension M, but Elijah was a realistic man.

nMaster Giovanni and his disciples were not the only trusted hackers that Elijah had contacted and employed for this mission, they were only one of his side plans.

nSo many other, more trained, more experienced, and more skilled hackers had failed… just how much hope could Elijah possibly put in this lot?

nIn fact, even if they didn't succeed it would still be a win for Elijah.

nThis was something that even the sly fox Giovanni had yet to notice.

nReally it was about time he realized, but sadly, here he was, happy that he would not have to suffer against this younger man, not realizing that he had still inadvertently fallen for Elijah's schemes.

nThe phone ring twiced before the other person answered.

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"Why, isn't it ol'Master Giovanni, to what do I owe the pleasure?

"

nA magnetic, lazy voice sounded.

nThough the man always sounded relaxed and nonchalant as if he had all the time in the world, as someone who had worked with him previously, Master Giovanni knew better than others that Elijah was in fact a man who hated wasting time the most.

nMaster Giovanni knew this well because he had felt the feeling of unwinding after finishing a job with Elijah, if that weren't the case, Master Giovanni may really have missed that as Elijah always seemed calm and in control when he wasn't putting up an act.

nIn fact, even he had been surprized when he let out a big sigh after closing the first case with Elijah back then.

nAfter further observation, the man's impatience was obvious to this observer.

nElijah distained anyone who wasted his time and thus though he may slowly approach you as if he did not want anything from you, as if he was trying to help you, in his mind, he had probably already found a thousand ways to calculate you into his plans.

nIf you weren't useful to him, he wouldn't give you a second glance.

nAnd if he did look at you a second time, then you should be ready to be trapped by the man.

nBut that was not his biggest merit.

nWhat Master Giovanni had found to be Elijah's greatest merit was his amazing patience.

nYes, it may sound contradictory, but Elijah was in fact, a man of great patience.

nIf he were someone who only calculated you into his next plans, then he may very well have been ruthlessly used my society.

nUsed and thrown away.

nSuch a short sighted and greedy person would have never been able to have gotten to where Elijah was right now, even if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

nThat was what was scary about this man.

nHe was incredibly long sighted.

nFrom the moment you met Elijah, he would already be observing you as prey.

nFirst starting by calculating your worth.

nFrom that point onward, he would decide whether you were worth the long con or not.

nIf you are not, he may very well use and discard you, though those cases were few and far between as Elijah wasn't fond of making short term investments for some chump change.

nIf you were only barely worth it, depending on his mood, Elijah might still ignore you.

nWhat Elijah specialized in were long term investments, which was something hard to imagine when considering his relatively young age.

nAnd if you were divided into these cases of people worth being invested in long term, chances were, you were going to be in the palm of his hands for years.

nEven if you yourself didn't know it.

nEven if you were countries away, doing your own thing for years, that may very well be part of his plan.

nIn the end, if he had his eyes set on you, no matter how far you were, you would never leave his sight.

nBe it days, weeks, months, or years.

nIt didn't matter how long he had to wait, how many plans he had to concoct, that was Elijah's patience.

nThat was a hunter's patience, and his hunger to get what he wanted was what pushed him to be what he was today.

nHis hunger for talented people.

nAnd of course, by the time you realized that, if you realized that at all, it would already be too late.

nHe would calculate you so thoroughly that you would end up being willingly used, because he knew exactly what to give to get what he wanted.

nHe hunted talents, and he was a patient hunter.

nAs for people not worth his time, not a second would be spared.

nThat was his inpatience.

nIf things could be done more efficiently, then they would.

nIf things could be ignored, then they would.

nIf Elijah could spend one less second doing paper work and other useless stuff that could be given to his subordinates, then he would.

nHis impatience for wasting his own time was correspondent and directly correlated to his patience when hunting for people who could work for him.

nIn the end, these two opposing adjectives both resided strongly in this man in a way that was not in the least bit contradictory.

nBut then again, even if it was contradictory, humans are contradictory beings to begin with.

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