Carlos swung his fire dagger, sending out a burst of flame toward Gerrin. Gerrin moved his water shield in front of him, and a water blast stopped the fire from approaching.

He then swung his own fire sword, sending a spray of fire at Carlos. Carlos took the flame dagger and sent a spray of fire of his own.

He struggled a bit in the match as the fire that was used to make his dagger wasn't as much as the fire that was used to make Gerrin's sword. As such, the spray of fire coming from Gerrin was much stronger than his own.

Thankfully, his dagger stopped most of the flames, and the ones it couldn't stop weren't strong enough to reach him at all, and instead directly went up into the air.

Carlos jumped to the side and slashed with his water dagger. A crescent-shaped water flew through the air, coming at Gerrin.

Gerrin stopped the water attack before it reached him by sending a spray of water at the attack.

The attack was still strong enough to make its way out of the spray, but then it stuck the shield and did no damage to him at all.

The two of them continued fighting with each other, using this Essence weapon to attack each other with fire and water attacks. Meanwhile, the remaining 3 others arrived in front of Ning.

Ning looked at the 3 of them and looked at their weapons. Fortunately, it didn't look like the 3 held any essence weapons, but they still had metal swords and daggers with them, that would cut him all the same.

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The man on the right charged at him first, very careful as they had seen what he was capable of. He stabbed from afar, and stayed out of Ning's reach.

Ning struck the sword away with his own metal sword that he had taken from the first guy he killed. He tried moving forward towards the man, but another one to his left swung at him.

He turned around in time and struck the sword away. Then, he dodged the next sword's attack and sliced at the third man that attacked him.

The man moved back in time and dodged his attacks as well. When he was trying to think how to kill at least one of them, the first man attacked once more.

He started fighting the three of them at once and could only hold his own against the 3 in front of him. He was afraid that if he let his guard down, he would get hurt. In that case, he wouldn't know what to do to heal himself at all.

There most likely were ways, but he wasn't aware of them for sure. Bleeding at the moment would be disastrous.

He saw through his Omni-directional vision that Gerrin and Carlos' fight was still continuing, but Carlos seemed to be slowly losing his edge. If it continued, Carlos would most likely die, and then Gerrin would come after him.

Ning wondered if he had it in him to ignore the fight and run away. However, he couldn't lie to himself that if possible, he would want to save Carlos.

'I'll have to get out of this situation first though,' Ning thought.

He struck one sword after another, perfectly parrying each one as they landed. The 3 people fighting him were shocked at how good his swordplay was.

Ning was never a swordsman. His primary choice of weapon was always a spear as that was what he had used for most of his life. However, that was not to say that he had never used a sword at all.

His his hundreds of thousands of years alive, he had used a sword long enough to be more than a lifetime's worth for most people.

That was to say, he was a more capable swordsman than any of the people in front of him.

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The battle had gotten monotonous, with Ning defending himself while the three tried to cut him. Ning was able to continuously defend himself, not making a single mistake, while the 3 were not above that.

Ning saw the first mistake after two minutes of fighting. The three of them had been attacking him one after another, which had kept him in a defensive stance. However, right this second, two of the three attackers were attacking at once.

Ning noticed it and dashed to the side, approaching the third person. The third person wasn't expecting his arrival at all, and his swing had to change mid-preparation, so he was flustered.

Ning took the opportunity and stabbed the man in the throat. He sent his whole body into the attack so that the man's swing wouldn't hit him at all.

The two of them fell to the ground, with Ning on top of the man. Ning looked to the side and saw the closest one approaching him.

He quickly pulled out the sword and tossed it toward the man. The man struck the sword aside and continued his charge at Ning.

Ning had thrown his sword at him, and the dead man's sword was behind him, so he was plenty confident about killing the helpless Ning.

He arrived right on top of Ning and slashed downwards. However, before he could fully attack Ning, a dagger went up through the man's jaw straight into his skull.

Ning stepped aside and watched the man fall.

He had taken the first dead man's dagger without being noticed and killed the second man. Then, he took the 2nd dead man's sword and looked at the final remaining person.

He gave an evil smile, terrifying the last remaining opponent. However, before he could attack, he put his sword to the side to block the burst of water that had flown at him.

Then, Gerrin came charging at him and swung his sword.

Ning put his sword up and blocked it, but the fiery sword wasn't so easy to stop. He watched in surprise as the metal sword in his hand started to heat up and even deform in the location where it contacted the fiery sword.

Ning moved back and stared at his sword which had a dent on what should have been the edge. The blade of the sword itself was bent, so he tossed it aside.

"You're quite good at this," Gerrin said with a not-so-happy face. He was angry at the sight of his men dying.

Ning looked toward Carlos who was next to the wall of the house. He seemed to have struck the wall and couldn't move anymore.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you," Gerrin shouted as he sent out a massive burst of fire on Ning's way. Ning ducked at the last second, and the fire darkened the outer wall with black residue.

"Who are you exactly? Are you part of our gang too?" the man asked.

"I'm not with your little gang," Ning said. "He was just giving me a job because I needed one."

"Oh, nice lie," Gerrin said.

"I'm not," Ning said.

"Are you now?" Gerrin asked. "Whatever. It doesn't really matter, does it? After all, You killed my people, so all you can do now is die too."

Ning frowned and looked at the sword in Gerrin's hands. If he was struck by it, he was most likely going to burn alive. He did not want that.

'What do I do?' he thought. 'Think, Ning, think.'

He looked at Gerrin's fiery sword once more and then at his shield. 'Fire and Water Essence,' he thought. How were they using the Fire and Water Essence exactly?

Ning had learned something about Essence Weapons from the shop he was at yesterday.

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The reason an Essence Weapon was rare and expensive, aside from the fact that it was hard to acquire, was the fact that it was very sought after.

The reason why these weapons were so sought after had nothing to do with the fact that they could be used as weapons, but rather that they could be used to use one's Essence inside of them.

For the first 3 realms on one's Essence journey, they could not use Essence on their own at all. It was always at the 4th realm, the Essence Manifestation realm that one finally was able to use their Essence on their own.

Before that, if they wanted to use the Essence, they had to rely on a conduit.

Natural conduits existed, but they were very rare. Essence weapons on the other hand were man-made conduits that allowed one to channel their Essence and turn it into an element of the conduit.

The conversion rate of Essence with these man-made conduits wasn't as high, but they were high enough that everyone owned one.

Sometimes, people even owned multiple ones, as Gerrin and Carlos did.

Ning owned one as well, the Earthen sword. And now he was wondering if he could also use the sword as a conduit.

He wasn't wondering if it was possible or not, but rather if he could do it or not. He hadn't practiced that just yet and was worried he couldn't do it.

But, worrying wasn't going to help him at all. So, he reached his waist and pulled the sword out.

The sword came out wrapped in the loose cloth, which he quickly got rid of, revealing the Earth sword.

Gerrin's eyes narrowed when he saw the sword and gave a nasty little smirk. "I knew you weren't normal," he said. "To own an Essence sword, you can't be an ordinary man."

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He prepared his weapons. "Now, you will tell me who you are exactly. If you don't I will burn your leg first, then your arms, and finally your head," the man said.

Ning looked straight at him, but his eyes weren't seeing anything. His whole attention had gone to his body, which he was using to search for Essence deep within him.

He knew that he definitely had some Essence in him. After all, he had reached the first realm of every Essence user's journey, the Physical Improvement realm.

His body was stronger, faster, and more agile, so he knew he had improved. The only question now was if he could find the Essence deep within him.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Gerrin asked when he noticed that Ning's eyes weren't focusing on him at all.

"This bastard! He's not paying attention to me at all," he shouted. "Very well then, you can die now."

He thrust his sword forward and sent out a massive flame spray toward Ning.

At the same time, Ning's eyes shined as he felt something move in his body. The Essence in his body entered his sword through his hand.

The Essence mixed with the Earthen energy in the sword, and Ning imagined an earth attack emerging from the sword.

Just as he thought that something did appear out of the sword.

Ning looked at the thing that appeared out of nowhere, and his eyes went wide. Gerrin looked at what had appeared and his eyes went wide as well.

Carlos who was looking from the side was shocked to the point that he wondered if he had already died, or if he had been hit in the head too hard and was now hallucinating.

What had appeared out of nowhere was a massive rock that was larger than the house they were next to. If not only appeared but flew toward Gerrin.

The flame spray struck the massive rock, doing barely anything to it at all. He used his water shield as well, but that didn't do anything either.

Both Gerrin and the other man next to him turned around to run away, but before they could make it anywhere, the rock landed on them, and immediately crushed them to death.

Ning's eyes remained wide in shock as he looked at the massive rock and then at his sword. He couldn't believe what he was seeing at all.

"Is that… what this sword is made up of?" he couldn't help but ask. If that was the case, then he could finally understand why 15 different people were not able to pick the sword up at all.

Both Carlos and Ning continued watching in surprise at the massive rock that had appeared out of nowhere and watched until it disappeared into thin air.

What remained was the crushed bodies of the two people that were caught underneath the rock. Not only the bodies but even the Essence sword and shield were destroyed, only their hilt and a small disc of the shield remained.

"Yikes," Ning exclaimed when he saw the bodies and turned around. "What the hell happened to the rock?"

Carlos looked at Alex with a shocked look on his face. "How did you do it?" he asked.

"What?" Ning asked.

"How did you… how did you make that rock?" he asked.

Ning shrugged. "I don't really know. I was just thinking of attacking them with a big rock and that thing appeared," he said.

Carlos's eyes drifted from Ning to his sword, and Ning noticed that.

"What? Do you want to steal my sword?" Ning asked. "I might be tempted to give it to you if you tell me where I can find that crystal mine of yours."

"What?" Carlos looked back up. "What do you want with the mine?"

"Sounds like a good place to improve my Essence rank, you know," Ning said. "So, are you going to tell me where it is at all?"

Carlos slowly held out his daggers once more. "I would rather kill myself than tell you where it is," he spoke.

"Damn, alright," Ning said and turned around. He started wrapping his sword once more. "Thanks for the money, I guess. I will go get a sheath for my sword and buy a few more things. I'm really curious about this world, you know?"

"You're leaving?" the man asked.

"Of course," Ning said. "There's no reason to stay here anymore. Especially since the guards might be coming here, you know."

"They won't," Carlos said. "That explosion from earlier, they will be gathered there."

Ning thought for a moment and nodded. "You're right," he said. "Still, I don't plan on staying around a place with so many dead people." He looked towards the road that was hidden by the house. "I suspect people have heard the commotion and reported it already."

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Carlos couldn't deny that. He quickly picked up the crystal that Gerrin had thrown close by when the fight started. He found that there was no packaging to pack it in and simply wrapped it around his tunic.

"So, what are you exactly? Someone from some other gang?" Carlos asked.

"Huh? No, I'm a nobody really," Ning said as he walked away from the place. Carlos followed him.

"You don't strike me as a nobody," Carlos said. "I don't think you were trying to steal this from me, you didn't even know about it, so I'm curious why someone so strong like you would be looking for a job."

"Huh? I'm not strong at all," Ning said. "It is my sword that was strong. Oh right, do you know why the rock disappeared so suddenly?"

Carlos thought for a moment. "Are you only in the Physical Improvement realm?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so," Ning said.

"Hmm, then it is because your Essence wasn't strong enough to exist as a physical element for too long," Carlos said. "Don't you know what?"

"Nope," Ning said. "I know nothing about anything."

Carlos was surprised someone could admit to their ignorance so proudly.

"Anyway, if you're not gonna tell me about the mine, then goodbye," Ning said and walked towards the other side of the city.

Carlos quickly followed behind. "Wait," he shouted.

"What now?" Ning asked without stopping at all. Carlos quickly ran up to him and walked next to him.

"I have enemies in the city and they are most likely waiting for me outside," he said. "Can you please help me?"

"Dude, I told you, I don't want to help you deliver some package," Ning said. "I have no interest in that."

"What if I add more Earth coins?" Carlos asked. "I will give you 30."

Ning stopped. "30?" he asked while thinking how good that was. "No, I would rather have the crystals themselves. I bet they would sell for way more."

Carlos frowned. He needed to get Ning on this side any way he could. "Fine 50," he said. "And you won't have to deliver it. I will do it, you just need to be my guard. And I'll even put a good word with the boss to help you get into the gang. You okay with that?"

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Ning paused. "50?" he asked.

Carlos nodded.

"How dangerous is the job?" he asked.

"Nothing more than what you just went through," Carlos said.

"That's… alright, you got yourself a deal," Ning said. "When do we leave?"

"Right now," Carlos said.

Ning looked at him weirdly. "You got the money here?" he asked.

"Yes," Carlos said as he brought out a pouch from his pockets. Ning glimpsed the two daggers hidden underneath his tunic as well.

"What else do you need to grab before we leave?" Ning asked.

"I doubt I have anything of those sorts anymore," Carlos said with a slight frown.

"What do you mean?" Ning asked.

"That explosion from earlier, I suspect that it was for me," Carlos said. "They have most likely exploded the place I was renting to stay."

"Damn," Ning thought. "They must really care about the crystal enough to come after you."

"Yes," Carlos said. "Now, can we leave?"

"Sure," Ning said. "But money first."

Carlos frowned and pulled out the pouch from before. He opened the pouch and pulled out 25 different brown coins.

"Here," he handed it over to Ning.

"25? You said 50," Ning said.

"Half now, half later," Carlos said.

Ning looked at the coin and sighed. "Fine, half later," he said and pocketed the coins. He had already received 35 coins just this morning, so he was more than happy.

"Now that you've received the money, can we go?" Carlos asked.

"Sure," Ning said. "Lead the way."

Carlos and Ning got onto a carriage that could handle about 6 different people, but only the two of them were on it.

Carlos had paid off the driver for the whole carriage so they could get some privacy.

Ning placed his sword to the side and sat on one side of the carriage with one leg on top of another. The carriage rattled, but he had been in way too many of these things to really care about some rattling carriage.

Carlos closed the blinds on the carriage's windows and sneaked a glance outside from time to time by opening it a little.

"Damn, man. You're worrying way too much," Ning said. "Just chill, okay?"

"I can't just 'chill', okay?" Carlos said. "My life is on the fucking line here. So many people are after me."

"Can't you like hear the people if they get too close or something?" Ning asked. "That's what the Essence sense realm is about right?"

Carlos turned towards Ning. "I can't sense them if they hide it very well," he said. "Or if they choose to come through a place that is heavy with Essence."

"Like if someone comes from the river?" Ning asked. "Is that why you couldn't sense that Gerrin dude and the others approach?"

Carlos nodded.

"I see," Ning said. "The more information I learn, the better. Anyway, tell me about this gang of yours. I am very curious about your gang and your boss."

"My boss is a secret I can never tell you about. As for my gang, we call ourselves the Paradise Hunters," Carlos explained. "We are a big gang, one of the biggest in the Crowler Empire."

"Crowler Empire… is that where we are on right now?" Ning asked.

Carlos gave a weird look when he heard that question. "How do you not know that?" he asked.

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Ning shrugged. "I lost all my memories, so I don't know where I am right now. A few fishermen dragged me out of the ocean with this sword in hand. So I'm trying to learn more about the world and see if it jogs my memories."

"Woah!" Carlos said with a surprised look. "I did not expect such a backstory from you."

"Forget about me, continue with yours," Ning said.

"Okay," Carlos continued. "The Paradise Hunters consists of over 500 members, not including people that just work for the gang. Although, none of us really know who we work for. Our boss is just that secretive."

"And you still work for such a boss?" Ning asked.

Carlos nodded. "A month or so ago, the boss came across a small piece of information," he said. "Some place… uhh… close to the Frailheart city, there was a large deposit of pure Essence crystals and he made his underlings find out if that was true or not."

"I was one of them who was made to search the site and bring back a sample piece to report to the boss," he said. "But, it seems other people somehow got the wind of it, and not just the other gangs are after the location, even some members of our own gang are after it."

Ning gave a curious look as he heard it all. "Have you ever seen the boss? He sounds secretive," he said.

"Not directly," Carlos said. "We don't get to see their faces, but we do hear him. The boss is currently in Grayfire city, waiting for me to return with the crystal. I suspect I will finally be allowed to see how he looks exactly."

"I see," Ning said. "And you think you can put a good word in for me?"

"Of course," Carlos said. "Are you interested?"

"No, not really," Ning said. "Especially since it sounds like you're a group of criminals."

"We are not… dammit," Carlos couldn't deny. "I try not to do anything really bad."

"Whatever," Ning said.

Carlos sighed and turned around to look outside once again. Ning sighed as well and was about to close his eyes to rest for a moment when he noticed something.

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"Hey, what's wrong with your neck?" he asked.

"My… what?" Carlos turned towards Ning.

"Your neck," Ning said as he gestured to his own neck. "It looks like you were cut. Your skin is coming to off. Let me check."

He got up and got close, but Carlos quickly stopped him. "No need, just stay. I'm not hurt," he said.

"Huh? But your skin is flapping," Ning said.

"No, it's…" Carlos felt the flap and smushed it onto his neck. However, the flap continued popping out. "Shit, the adhesive is gone."

"What's going on with your skin?" Ning asked.

"It's not my skin," Carlos said. "It's fake skin, which isn't working anymore."

Carlos slid his fingers into the flap and pulled out the skin, very much surprising Ning. It was not just his neck where the fake skin was, but his face and his hair too.

When he pulled it off, it came off entirely, revealing a rather handsome-looking face with dark blonde hair underneath. The man looked no older than in his early 20s, rather than the middle-aged he looked earlier.

His acne-scarred cheeks were also gone, revealing a smooth face underneath. "Shit, this is bad," he said.

"I don't know. I think you look quite good this way," Ning said.

"Huh? No, I meant bad because everyone will recognize me now. At least previously I had a mask to hide behind while on the road," Carlos said.

"And was that helping?" Ning asked. "Didn't the place you were staying at get attacked? Hell, you yourself were attacked."

"That… I suppose you're right," Carlos said.

"Think of it this way," Ning said. "Either you are going to get attacked, or you are not going to get attacked. Either way, you being so hyper-scared isn't going to change the situation."

"Just chill and we'll see if we do get attacked," Ning said. "If we do, we'll fight back. If we don't, we continue chilling until we reach the next city."

How long does it take to reach the next city again?" Ning asked.

"It would take half a day by foot, but on a carriage this fast, we should reach there in less than 3 hours," Carlos said.

Ning sighed and rested. "I should just sleep for the time being then," he said and was about to lay back when he felt his body jolt forward as the carriage came to a halt.

"What the?" he looked around.

Carlos quickly opened the window blinds and looked out. "Hey! Why did you stop?" he asked the person in the front.

"Dear sir, all the carriages have stopped. Something to the front seems to be burning," the man said.

"Burning?" Carlos frowned. "What the hell is—"

Suddenly, something struck them from behind, causing the two of them to slam into the back of the carriage. Ning hit the carriage door so hard that he flew out of it and landed on the ground outside.

"Urgh!" he cried a bit and tried to stand up, but before he did, a man was already on top of him with his sword ready to attack him.

Ning saw the sword move down and quickly rolled to the side. At the same time, there were a few people on the carriage that seemed to have slammed into them that were coming out with bows and arrows.

"Carlos!" Ning shouted to alert him, but it looked like he didn't need to.

Carlos arrived out of the carriage with his two daggers in hand. "You bastards!" he shouted. "You dare attack us out in the open?"

"Fire!" the man with the sword shouted at his friends that had the bows.

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A volley of arrows shot out immediately, but Carlos hid inside the carriage. The arrows stuck to the wooden wall of the carriage.

"Let me show you what real fire looks like," Carlos shouted as he quickly jumped back out of the carriage, right in front of the man.

The man tried to move his sword, but it was stopped by Carlos's water dagger. As for his fire dagger, she stabbed the man with it. Then, he let it burn.

A plume of fire burst from behind the man, charring his chest and the surrounding area immediately. He fell to the ground, next to Ning who had managed to get out of there.

Cries of shock and panic rang from the road as people in other carriages ran as far away as they could from the two that were there.

"You okay?" Carlos asked.

"Yes," Ning said. "Surprisingly, I don't feel pain at all."

"Where's your sword?" Carlos asked.

"Inside," Ning said and quickly jumped into the carriage to get his sword. In the meantime, the people on the other carriage had finished loading their bows and arrow.

"Surrender, Carlos," another man from inside the carriage shouted. He came out holding a sword that seemed to be made up of beach sand. "Tell us where you acquired it, and we will let you live."

Carlos's eyes narrowed. "Hanson, huh? Did Gerrin get to you too?" he asked.

"Gerrin? He was a nobody. Why would he get to me?" Hanson asked.

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"Then why are you after what the boss wants? Why do you want to go behind his back? Do you really think that you can escape the boss's reach just because you have a single mine?" Carlos asked.

"We don't fear the boss," Hanson said. "Why would someone who even fears to show his own face to his own people fear us? Just because he's then boss, doesn't mean that he can't be overthrown."

"You underestimate the boss way too much," Carlos said.

"And you overestimate him too much," Hanson said. "Do you think the boss can live to see another day when Dale, Bordick, and Firepalm are all coming to get him today?"

Carlos' eyes went wide. "What?" he shouted in surprise.

"You heard me right," Hanson said. "We have notified the other gang's bosses of the boss's presence in Grayfire city. After today, he won't be alive at all. At such a period in time, don't you wish that you were on our side?"

Carlos wasn't thinking about Hanson's offer at all. His entire being was only thinking about the boss's situation. 3 other gang bosses were coming for him, and they knew where he was today.

"You bastard," Carlos shouted. "After all the boss did for us. After you got a job, a shelter, a family, you still dare betray him!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Carlos. Why does it sound like you're refusing the offer?" Hanson asked.

"It sounds like that because he is refusing the offer," Ning said as he walked out of the carriage with his sword in hand.

"Hmph! Who the hell are you to butt in on this conversation?" Hanson asked.

"Me?" Ning asked. "I am his bodyguard. And I am getting paid to take him to Grayfire city. So, if you won't mind us, we will be killing you quickly so we can go on our merry way."

"Kill that bastard," Hanson said to the archer next to him.

Ning swung his sword before the archer could release his arrow, and a fist-sized rock flew through the air, striking the archer right on his face.

"Argh!" the archer cried in pain as he clutched onto his face. Hanson looked shocked, but he quickly gathered himself and turned around.

"Kill them!" he shouted as he used his sword to blast sand toward Ning and Carlos.

"Get behind me," Ning said as he stabbed his sword onto the ground, and out from it came 3 massive rock spikes that were enough to block all the direct attacks. The sand still spread onto the afterward, but the main attack was blocked.

The attacks stopped after 2 seconds, and a second after that, Ning's rocks that had appeared in front of them disappeared as well. Since their opponents were reloading and the pathway was empty in front of them, Ning dashed forward to go attack them.

Ning was surprised at how fast his dash was. For a body that was nowhere close to being as strong as his other one, this was surprisingly great.

Some of the fighters on the enemy noticed him coming out of the massive amounts of sand on the ground and tried to shout at him. But before they could say anything to warn the others, Ning swung his sword while putting as much Essence into the attack as he could.

The sword cut through the wooden carriage as easily as carving through butter. It only stopped when it struck the ground and went nearly half a meter deep into it.

Then, his essence went to work. A massive pillar of stone jumped out of the ground, sending the destroyed carriage into the air. It reached over 10 meters high in just a second, sending the people on it scattering everywhere.

Some landed in the field by the road, some landed on other carriages, and a few fell directly onto the road they were in.

Carlos moved at the same time and arrived in front of Hanson. Before Hanson could do anything, he stuck his water sword into his mouth and started flooding his mouth with water.

The pressure causes the water to come out of Hanson's nose, and at the same time, he breathed in a massive amount of it, filling up his lungs in the process.

Carlos moved towards the others and used his fire swords to attack them. Ning moved as well, killing a few of the others that were trying to find their bows and arrows to shoot at them.

Once they were done, they returned to Hanson, who was choking on the water as breathing was impossible for him anymore. Ning watched awkwardly as Hanson drowned on the dry land and Carlos moved to pick up his sword.

"That was… something," Ning said as he watched the dead man slowly turn pale after death.

"Let's go," Carlos said, not looking back at all. "We need to go to the city fast to warn the boss."

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"Well, I don't know how we can do that, with such a long line," Ning said, looking at the carriages that were left behind, causing traffic. "Our own carriage is broken too… and the driver is gone."

"Damn these bastards, causing needless problems," Carlos shouted. "We will need to just run now and maybe catch a ride somewhere far away."

"You really want to run all the way to the other city?" Ning asked with a hesitating look.

"We don't have any other choice," Carlos said. "I need to warn the boss about the attack."

"Argh! Fine," Ning sighed. "I haven't eaten anything this morning really, so I will warn you that I might get hungry."

"I'll put a feast in your name when we reach the city. With the money you get, you will be able to buy as much as you want for yourself too," Carlos said.

"I get it," Ning said. "Let's go save your stupid boss."

The two of them started running away. A few people pointed at them as they ran, remembering them as the two that killed people today.

"Sigh, I'm going to have to get away from this place now," Ning thought. He continued on his way, hiding his face as much as possible.

The road up ahead was mostly empty on one side as the accident from earlier had left it completely open, so the two of them could run on flat land without having to suffer running on uneven terrain.

Ning was surprised at how high his endurance was as he ran hundreds and hundreds of meters without experiencing any shortness of breath. For a body he created about a month ago that hadn't gone through any sort of physical training aside from the Essence rank, he was rather strong.

'I wonder how strong I am,' he thought. It was hard to judge against others he had fought with as they were not in the Physical Improvement realm the same as him.

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If he wanted to test himself, he would have to do it with hard numbers, but if he had to guess, he was at least 5 to 7 times as strong as a normal person.

That was judging based on just the speed too. He wondered what other improvement his body had had by now.

"I'm surprised you can keep up with me," Carlos said. "You don't remember how you got this strong?"

"I have no idea," Ning said as he ran.

"After you join the gang, I will help you find out about your past," Carlos said.

"Thank you," Ning said.

"Alright, eyes up front. We'll have to go through this forest for a shortcut," Carlos said.

Ning looked towards the forest around which the road seemed to curve. "People won't be waiting for you in there, would they? They seem extremely envious of that crystal and would go above and beyond for it."

"With such a massive forest, it's impossible," Carlos said. "Still, just keep your eyes out."

Ning nodded and they continued.

Fortunately, there weren't any nefarious people waiting for them in the forest. The forest wasn't that big either, and they passed through it in about half an hour, saving about half an hour had they just run on the normal road.

When they came out on the other side, both of them were finally starting to feel the shortness of breath from running for so long.

Carlos stopped an empty carriage on the street. It was hard to tell if the carriage driver stopped because he was a good person, or because he was afraid of the two random people that had come out of the forest with naked swords in their hands.

Either way, he let them on the carriage and took them on their way to the Gray fire city.

An hour later, the two of them could see the houses grow denser and denser, and not long after that, they saw a river.

They got off and turned toward the river. Just past it, they would find Grayfire city.

We're here," Carlos said as he looked at the city from the other side of the river. Ning stood next to him as well, looking at the bridge that was mostly filled with other people.

"So, what now?" Ning asked. "Do I get paid or is there some more work?"

"I need to get the crystal to the boss," Carlos said. "But I don't know who exactly I can trust right now. Anyone could have betrayed the boss and is waiting for us in ambush."

"So… no 'loud Silence'?" Ning asked.

"I can't trust anyone, even if they know the secret code. I must go meet the boss himself and hand over the crystal and information to him," Carlos said.

"So you know where he is?" Ning asked.

Carlos nodded. "Let's go," he said and started walking.

Ning placed his sword through the belt around his tunic to hold it for now. There was no cloth that was wrapping the sword, so he had to be careful not to be seen by some city guard or he would be in some more trouble.

Although, he had enough money to make a sheath for his sword.

The two crossed the river and arrived on the other side. Ning glanced to either side of the river and noticed some people that were standing around there doing nothing.

He looked towards Carlos, who was staring at one person in particular. The person looked back and waited for Carlos to approach him. However, Carlos ignored the man and increased his pace.

"Let's go," he said to Ning, moving faster and faster.

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Not even a minute later, Carlos was taking Ning through alleyways, rather than the city roads as those were much better shortcuts to reaching the Gang's hiding place. Not only that, it also hid them from city guards which was a very much-needed benefit right now.

After going through 4 different alleyways, climbing over 2 different walls, and running across two major roads, Ning and Carlos finally arrived in front of what looked like a tavern.

It was the middle of the day right now, but the tavern was still full of people drinking and shouting.

Carlos ignored the drunkards as much as he could, while Ning held his sword at the ready for any random attacks. Carlos went up to the tavern manager and said, "We would like to make use of your finest rooms."

The Tavern manager was a middle-aged woman with thick, brown hair. She put down the jug she was wiping and looked at the two of them. "You can't get something fine just by asking for it," she said.

"I'm willing to hunt for it," Carlos said.

"Good," the woman said. "Clara, come help show these hunters to their paradise."

A woman came from the back that was barely in her early 20s. She wore modest clothes with her pitch-black hair in two braids that hung down to her her lower back.

Her eyes were black as well, through which she stared at the two of them. Carlos seemed unphased, but Ning felt a little awkward as the girl stared at him more than she did Carlos.

The girl named Clara turned around and started walking away. Carlos quickly followed her and gestured for Ning to follow her as well.

"Do you still need me?" Ning asked as he walked along. "Isn't everything basically done?"

"Not until I hand over the crystal," Carlos said. "Also, I plan on telling the boss about you, so it will be easier if you are there with me when I explain stuff to him."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if I wan—"

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"Less talking, more walking," the girl from the front said and took a left turn, going downstairs into an underground lair.

They followed her through a large hallway, before coming into a room that was glowing with light that was captured from outside.

The room was rather small and mostly empty.

The girl moved to one side of the room and stood by the wall, next to a man that was already there. Carlos and Ning stood in the center, and Ning could see a silhouette of another person behind a very thin curtain that stood between them and another section of the wall.

A bunch of rocks suddenly appeared around Ning while he was looking at the silhouette, trapping him in it. He tried to move, but he found it rather hard to do so.

Carlos turned around and then turned toward the man next to the wall. "Free him."

"You know I can't do that, don't you?" the man spoke. "I'm not sure why you brought him here, but he's not a member of the gang, so he will have to stay that way. Don't worry, unless I find a reason to, I won't kill him."

Carlos frowned slightly but said nothing else. "You'll have to stay that way for a bit brother," he said.

Ning was annoyed by the situation, but there was nothing he could do.

"Why are you here, Carlos?" the man spoke. "You were supposed to find the crystal and hand it over to the ones that were waiting for you."

"I don't trust them," Carlos said.

The man frowned a little. "You found it okay to come to see the boss just because you couldn't bring yourself to trust in the members of your own organization?"

"Two of our members tried to kill me today, and many other no-name ones were with them too," Carlos said while looking at the man. "The last thing I would do is trust ones I don't fully know. I'm sorry, brother Kepli, but I don't trust you either. I can only trust the boss today."

"You were attacked?" Kepli asked with a chilling look on his face.

"By Gerrin and Hanson," Carlos said. "And I doubt they are alone in betraying the gang today. This is one reason I came to rush to the boss today. I have important news for him."

"What news?" Kepli asked.

"Boss," Carlos spoke directly to the person behind the curtain. "Dale, Bodrick, and Firepalm are all coming after you."

What did you say?" Kepli asked when he heard the words from Carlos.

"Hanson and the others have told the other gang bosses that you are here, boss. You need to leave as soon as you can," Carlos said. "I have no idea who else is in on it, so you have to be careful not to trust anyone else."

The figure behind the curtains moved silently, but it said nothing.

"How confident are you?" Kepli asked.

"Hanson spoke those words to me to try and dissuade me to come to his side, so there's a chance he could be lying too," Carlos said. "But I don't think the boss should be taking that chance."

"How do we know you're not in on it? And that the friend you've brought along is actually one of the people that are trying to kill the boss," Kepli said.

"Don't trust me then," Carlos said. "This friend is someone who saved me twice today. If not for him, I would've died to both Gerrin and Hanson. He currently has some memory loss, so I was hoping to use the gang's influence to try and find where he's from."

"You brought him here for that?" Kepli asked.

"That and I was hoping to have him join the gang. He's strong," Carlos said.

"He's a Physical Improvement realm kid," Kepli said.

"Yes, and he's strong," Carlos said, only looking at the boss, who didn't speak.

"But he's still a—"

Kepli stopped talking when he saw the boss move. The boss's silhouette gestured for him to move on with the matter.

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"Alright, enough talk about him. It's time to talk about the crystal," Kepli said. "Bring it out so we can see that you at least did what you were asked to do."

The boss nodded on the other side of the curtain.

Ning looked at the silhouette as well and tried to understand why the boss was being so… quiet. He had heard the boss give orders, but for some reason he wasn't speaking at all this time around, only moving his body slowly… like a puppet.

Ning's eyes went wide. "Carlos, stop," he said.

Carlos, who was reaching to the back of his belt where he had stuck the crystal, paused and looked back towards Ning.

"The boss," Ning said. "He's not talking. Confirm the boss is alive."

Carlos's head quickly spun around to the silhouette which was still moving. "Boss? Are you really there?" he asked. He slowly used his Essence sense to sense for his boss, and while he did notice the Essence from the area, it wasn't necessarily from a living body.

Kepli frowned. "Stop being stupid," he said. "The boss is here. Just take your crystal out and let us see how good it is."

"No," Carlos said. "Not until we talk to the boss. As long as the boss says something, I'll hand it over."

"You blustering idiot," Kepli shouted. "The boss is alive and well. He just doesn't want to talk right now. Just bring out the crystal so we can be done with this."

Carlos dropped the sand sword he had taken from Hanson's corpse and brought out his two daggers.

Kepli was getting angry now. "You stupid fucking dumbas—"

A loud explosion sounded from somewhere in the building. From what they could all hear, it was from the floor above them.

"The hell is happening up there?" Kepli shouted.

Just as they said that the wooden roof croaked, and then the entire upper floor came caving in on them.

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Carlos jumped to the side and Ning was close enough to the door that the debris didn't come close to him at all.

Kepli on the other hand was trapped underneath the rubble.

Carlos got back up and looked up in fear. he got behind Ning and stuck his dagger into the rock constriction he was in. "I'll break you out," he spoke softly.

"Don't bother," Ning said. "I could get out whenever I wanted to." At some point early on, Ning realized that since his body was in contact with his sword, he could use Essence to get rid of the stone if he wanted to.

He had only stuck around in it so Kepli wouldn't kill him for acting out.

Above the rubble, 3 men stood, with one of them standing next to the corpse of the middle-aged woman from upstairs.

"Haha, so it was hidden so close to us, huh? To think we could get here so easily," one of them spoke. The man was middle-aged at best and his physique was in a state which could make any other men jealous.

He didn't wear any upper-body clothing and showed off his fine features. He held a massive hammer in his hand, which was made up of wood for the handle, and something fiery for the actual hammer itself.

"You guy sure we didn't kill him already?" another man asked. This one wore a red ribbon around his forehead and held two single-handed axes in his hand, each of which seemed to be made out of fire and earth.

The last man looked more intellectual than the other two. He had long flowing hair that was tied behind his back while he held a book in his hand. He held a simple staff in his hand, with a jewel attached to the end that was made up of water.

Kepli grunted in pain and forced himself out of the debris. He made small gaps using rocks he created and crawled out.

However, right as he was out, the man that was dual-wielding axes stepped on his back and stopped him from moving.

"Is this the boss?" he asked.

"His feature matches the one they called Kepli," the staff-wielding man said.

"Oh, the Boss's right-hand man, huh?" the man with the axes said. "Good to meet you, buddy. You know who I am right?"

"You attacked us, Bodrick," Kepli said through his grunted teeth. "You won't survive today."

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that," he said and looked around. "Where's your boss?"

Come on, speak," Bodrick said. "Tell me where the boss is, or I'll have to torture all 3 of you."

"The boss is not here," Kepli shouted while grunting in pain. Bodrick was still stepping on his ribs which were starting to hurt by now.

Carlos looked at what was going on in surprise. Was Kepli protecting the boss? Was he not in on it as well?

As he thought, he looked toward where the boss was. The curtain had disappeared and beyond it lay nothing. There was no sign of any human there at all.

Let alone a human, there wasn't even any essence on that side of the room.

'Where's the boss?' he thought.

"We need to leave," Ning said softly. "After they kill him, they will come after us."

"Oh, we're coming after you no matter what," the man with the staff spoke as he turned toward Ning.

Ning frowned when he realized that he had been heard. 'Just how good do their senses get?' he thought.

"Since you three are the ones here, you are probably the only ones who know about where the boss is," the man said.

"Hey, speak up," Bodrick shouted at Kepli. "Keep this up, and I'll have Grayfire here smash your head in with his hammer. And I'm sure you know how bad that can get."

Kepli's eyes moved toward the big man with the glowing red hammer. He knew something about Grayfire's hammer that others didn't.

Most people saw his hammer and assumed that it was made using the Essence of Fire. However, it was in fact made using the Essence of a fiery explosion.

As such, each time the man used the hammer, it was an explosion appeared, not just fire. That was probably the reason why the roof had come caving in, but nothing was burning at all.

"I don't know where you heard about it, but the boss isn't here. He never was. It was all a lie," Kepli said.

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"Oh, is that so?" Bodrick looked surprised. "Such a shame then. Hey, gray. You wanna do some smashing?"

The bulky man walked forward. "Haha! I love smashing!" he shouted as he arrived in front of Kepli.

Kepli's eyes went wide as she saw the big man prepare his hammer.

"Wait!" he shouted. "I'll tell you. I'll tell you."

"Come on!" Grayfire shouted in disappointment. "I was just about to hit you too."

"Speak quickly," the man with the staff said.

"The boss…" Kepli breathed heavily. "The boss… is me."

All 3 of the other bosses looked confused for a second. "You're joking," one of them said.

"No, I am the boss of the Paradise hunters. I act like my own right-hand man so no one finds out it is me," Kepli said.

"What? That sounds dumb," Bodrick said. "It's dumb, right?"

"It sure is," Grayfire said. "You know what's dumber?"

"What?" Bodrick asked.

"He spoke just now to stop me from killing him, but if he is the boss, we have more reason to kill him," Grayfire said.

"You're right," Bodrick said. "This stupid idiot tried to save himself and instead is going to get killed. Such an idiot ended up making one of the strongest gangs of the empire?"

As he spoke, Bodrick felt like something was wrong. He was right, the man in front of him was stupid… but only if he were the boss.

But if he wasn't… then he was lying to save the boss.

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Grayfire prepared to attack once again, but Bodrick put his axe before Grayfire. "Stop, I don't think he's the boss," he said.

"Huh? Then what's wrong with killing him?" Grayfire asked.

"Just wait," Bodrick said. "Oi, Dale! You're the smarter of us 3. What do you think is happening here?"

He waited for Dale to answer, but he heard nothing.

"Dale?" he turned around and saw Dale standing still with his staff in his hand. He seemed to be lost in his own thought for some reason. "Bastard? Are you daydreaming or wha— what the fuck?"

Dale's eyes slowly opened and Bodrick couldn't help but feel creeped out when he saw it. Dale's eyes were completely pitch black from the iris to the whites.

"What the fuck is going on with you dude?" Dale asked.

"What the fuck is that?" Grayfire turned around to see what was going on as well.

Dale didn't speak or do anything at all. All he did was looked at the two men with his pitch-black eyes, while holding his water staff.

Ning managed to slowly make his way out of the rock's hold on him and looked at what was going on in front of him.

'The hell?' he thought too when he saw the situation.

Carlos was at a loss for words as well. He had no idea what was going on at all. Of the 5 people that were staring at Dale in the room, only one of them seemed to have any idea what was happening at all.

"You guys are fucked!" Kepli shouted loudly even though his chest hurt to speak. "The boss is taking direct actions against you all, so you better not hope of leaving him alive today."

He started laughing maniacally, unnerving even Ning and Carlos as they stared at Dale and the others.

Suddenly, Dale's head twitched for a moment and he dashed forward. He moved at an unbelievable speed and arrived in front of Bodrick and Grayfire in an instant.

Bodrick attacked to block the incoming attack, but Dale's body twisted mid-dash and moved toward Grayfire in the last second.

His staff came slamming down on Grayfire who was ready with his own attack. The two attacks slammed against each other, and Grayfire's explosion sent all of them in different directions.

They all got back up quickly, and the two bosses looked at the 3rd boss with weird looks in their eyes.

"You…" Bodrick spoke as he looked towards Dale. "Are you the real boss of the Paradise Hunters?"

Bodrick's words surprised Grayfire who was getting back up. "What? That's Dale. Why would he be the boss of the Paradise Hunters?" he asked.

"But he said—" Bodrick looked toward Kepli for a split second before turning back toward Dale. "Forget about it. If he's not the boss, then he's working for him. Either way, we have been backstabbed."

"I really don't like being backstabbed," Grayfire said. "I think you should die for this, Dale."

Dale stared at the two of them with his black eyes and his lips stretched until it formed a forced smile. He face seemed slightly darkened by the explosion, but everything else seemed fine.

Carlos slowly moved toward Kepli and pulled him up. Kepli had some broken ribs, and his leg seemed to have fractured as well from the rubble.

"Brother Kepli, what is going on?" Carlos asked.

"Just— just shut up and sit back. Boss will get rid of these two now," Kepli said.

Carlos looked at the two that were focused on the third one and was surprised. "That guy… is our boss?" he couldn't help but ask. Was he trying to act like he was here to kill himself? Did he just watch as these two killed their way into his own hideout.

'No, can't be,' Carlos thought. It simply didn't make sense. But then again, who knew?

Dale moved forward once again, attacking the person closest to him. Bodrick blocked the staff attack with his two axes and immediately used the earth axe to launch large stones at the man.

Dale's body moved unnaturally, as it changed its dodged by bending sideways at the waist. It immediately got back into shape and slammed its staff at Bodrick.

Bodrick wasn't ready for the attack and was nearly hit, but Grayfire's hammer arrived before Gale could hurt Bodrick.

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The hammer didn't explode this time around, only stopping the attack. He pulled bak the hammer and Bodrick launched his own attack before Dale could attack again.

The two of them attacked one after another, and Dale fought the both of them with very unusual movement.

"Something is off," Bodrick said.

"Yes," Grayfire agreed. "He's not using his essence to fight at all. He's holding back for some reason."

"That or he can't use it at all," Bodrick said. "Let me test which one it is."

He dashed at Dale who slammed his staff onto him. Bodrick dodged at the last second and hit Dale on the arm that was holding the staff as hard as he could. As he did that, he also used his essence to create a really sharp stone that formed from his Essence that hit the arm as well.

Dale attacked with his other arm at the last moment, punching Bodrick on the face as hard as he could. Bodrick staggered a few steps back as he held his face. That punch had hurt him very hard.

But since he had taken away Dale's arm, he was okay with wha—

Bodrick stopped thinking for a moment when he saw what was in front of him. Grayfire's eyes widened in surprise, and a trace amount of fear.

"Hey, hey, hey! What in the living fuck is that?" he shouted at Bodrick who had no answer himself.

Dale stood straight with his left fist bent the wrong way. As for his right arm that was torn off, for some reason there was now a black arm that seemed to have replaced the cut off arm.

The black arm seemed to drop wisps of black smoke with each movement.

Carlos was at a loss for word and Kepli simply smiled at the situation. On the other hand, Ning had absolutely no idea what was even happening right now.

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There were too many things happening in too short a time for him to understand it without someone explaining him the situation.

"That's… Shadow Essence," Bodrick said when he finally realized what he was looking at. "That's a bloody Shadow Essence. How the fuck did we not know that Dale was a Shadow Essence user?"

"He can't be!" Grayfire said. "I've seen him only ever use Water Essence. Shadow Essence is just too rare for him to not have made himself big with it."

"Then what is going on?" Bodrick asked. "That is definitely Shadow Essence."

"That…" Grayfire couldn't answer.

"Whatever, let's kill him first. We'll deal with finding the answer later."

The two of them immediately launched into the battle once more, attacking the wounded Gale who still was fighting back. However, now that they both knew that Gale wouldn't be using any Essence, they fought him without holding back at all.

Within just a few more attacks, Dale lost his other arm as well. Even then, the shadow arm appeared from his body, replacing the parts he lost.

The two bosses attacked more and more, and Dale lost more and more body parts. However, with each loss part, a part made up of Shadow Essence would form to replace it.

The two kept attacking a few more times and managed to take Dale's head. They waited for the head to be replaced too, but instead of that happening, Dale's shadow parts vanished, leaving just chunks of body parts that weren't damaged.

The two bosses stepped back and looked in surprise.

"It's over," Bodrick said.

"He's finally dead," Grayfire said. "But, he died so easily. What was happening to his body? It looked like Shadow Essence had infiltrated his body, but who did it? You got any idea?"

He waited for Bodrick to answer him, but Bodrick didn't speak at all. "You hear me?" Grayfire asked as he turned around to Bodrick.

Bodrick slowly turned toward him as well and his face turned to a wide smile. He glared at Grayfire with open eyes that were entirely pitch black, just like Dale's.

"What the fu—"

Grayfire stumbled over himself while trying to move back in a hurry. He fell down on top of the rubble, but he quickly got back up and faced off Bodrick, who had now been taken over by Shadow, just as Dale was.

:)