[Void Step lvl 13 -> lvl 14]

[Spirit Fortification lvl 20 -> lvl 21]

Julius found himself feeling simultaneously excited and disappointed by the disciples of this Heavenly Crane Sect. He had been hoping for more of a challenge. The only one who caught his attention was the young woman who had used the bowls.

He hadn’t expected to kill that other guy so easily. It wasn’t even a real axe, it was just a construct made of his mana holding together the scraps of his old axe. The fact that he was able to piece the armor along with whatever defensive skill the guy had was more surprising to him than anyone else.

He was only using his life and fire mana at the moment; he wasn’t even utilizing his kinetic energy to reinforce his body. And while his ability to enhance his body with life mana had grown exponentially, it was still behind what he could do with his kinetic energy.

He also decided to use his [Void Step] skill. They were already hard skills to level up, but he often hid the skill’s existence, which made it even more difficult to level up since he rarely used it.

On another note, he was glad that his new technique was working. It caused a lot more internal damage to his body than intended, but his healing skill made the damage inconsequential. The actual enhancements were quite potent. His ability to release his aura was also swifter than before, which was an unexpected benefit. He was starting to see the potential of such a combination between his life mana and his ruinous aura.

When he killed their frontliner, they all panicked, but they were still oppressed by his aura, so they couldn’t really do anything. Their leader and the bowl user were the only ones who finally managed to escape his aura. It required them to blast out their authority, canceling the oppressive effects of his aura.

This helped their comrades, and Julius watched them all scramble away from him. Funnily enough, they didn’t seem to care about the death of their comrade. He had a feeling that they didn't like the guy in the first place.

“Wait, wait! We surrender!” Their leader said in a panic as Julius stalked toward them.

Julius frowned and cursed under his breath. He didn’t know that was an option.

“You surrender?”

“Yes, we surrender! Please don’t kill us,” he said desperately and threw his sword to the ground. The rest of his group followed, and they all kneeled on the ground.

“You wanted to kill me, though,” he pointed out and tapped his axe on his chin in contemplation.

“No! We wanted to bring you back with us alive. It was Brad who wanted to kill you,” the girl with the bowls exclaimed.

“Yeah, Brad was the only one who wanted to kill you, but as you can see, he’s…” The leader started to say something, but trailed off as he looked over at Brad’s warm corpse.

“Yeah, I wasn’t even trying to kill him. Are all disciples of your sect that weak?”

He saw them all look at the ground in shame and fear. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes as he thought about what he should do.

“You said that you wanted to surrender? Why should I not kill you where you stand?”

“We promise you, we just wanted to bring you back to the sect like we were asked to.”

He glared at them. “Yeah, I can’t say that kidnapping is that much better than outright killing me. Who sent you and for what reason?”

“We got orders from Elder Yorel to go out and grab you. He said that you were some kind of honored guest from the Burning Sun Sect, and we could use you as a ransom or for information. If that failed, then it would at least make the Burning Sun Sect look bad,” their leader said in a rush, as if he couldn't get the words out of his mouth fast enough.

“So I’m just an unfortunate bloke who got caught up in sect politics?”

The young man suddenly found the dirt at his toes very interesting, but still responded. “Yes.”

“That’s pathetic. Is it commonplace for this kind of stuff to happen? Is your sect really that shameless that you act more like desperate bandits rather than a powerful sect that can rival one of the Ten Great Sects?”

The entire group that attacked him continued to stare at the ground in shame and embarrassment.

He pinched his nose and took his time to gather his thoughts. This certainly complicated matters. He didn’t know what to do with these people.

“How did you know I was here? It hasn’t even been more than several days since I was left behind.”

“I have no idea, sir. We didn’t really think to ask; we simply were following orders from our elder.”

Sir? That was amusing. One moment, they were trying to kidnap him, and the next, they were calling him sir. How quickly the situation changed.

He tapped his finger against the shaft of the broken axe while deep in thought. He could think of several explanations for how they knew his location. The most obvious one was that the Burning Sun Sect had some spies within its midst. There was also the possibility of traitors with their own agendas.

He knew that Cassandra had mentioned a few things about elders not appreciating his presence in the sect. But he didn’t think they would go this far. It wasn’t like he was all that important, and his relationship with Cassandra had remained relatively secret.

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He sighed again. The issue he currently had to deal with was what to do with these people. The easiest and simplest solution was to just kill them and be done with it. It would remove any possibility that they would tell their sect about him and his strength.

He wasn’t really hiding his strength, though. He was hiding his identity, and that was all he cared about.

Then again, killing them might have been even more problematic; the last thing he needed was for an entire sect to come after him for killing its members. He had already killed one, but the guy had been trying to kill him in the first place. But slaughtering these disciples in cold blood after they surrendered and begged for their lives seemed a bit much.

He had no idea what kind of divination or skills they could use to find out if he killed them. Plus, they had been sent to capture, and it wouldn’t take a genius to assume that he was the reason they died.

But if he left them alive, what would they tell their sect? Would they insist that the sect should come after him?

Their auras seemed genuinely scared and regretful, but that was just in the moment. Who knew how their hearts would change once they were safe back at their sect?

To let them live or to kill them? He was at a loss for an answer.

He rubbed his head. He hated this shit. It felt like there wasn’t a clear best decision. Both options had their drawbacks.

Eventually, he made his decision. At the end of the day, he didn’t want to become a person who just slaughtered anyone who angered him; he felt like that was a dangerous path to continue down.

The weak couldn't afford mercy, but he was slowly becoming strong enough that he could afford those luxuries. Plus, they made a good point. It wasn’t like they were out here to kill him; they were simply here to fulfill a mission for their sect.

They could have stopped their teammate in his opinion, but he wouldn’t hold it that much against them. It wasn’t like he was in any actual danger.

And more importantly, he didn’t think they were worth it. He didn’t want to further dirty his hands for these people.

He looked back at the cowering group of Tier 4s; his aura was still oppressing them, so he couldn't exactly blame them for their fear.

“I won't kill you,” he eventually said to them.

Their battered faces looked up at him with hope. “Thank you, sir!”

“Don’t thank me yet. I want you to make it clear to your sect that I will forgive this offense only if they don’t cause me any issues in the future. I will kill any other disciple who comes after me. Got that?”

They nodded frantically, and he nodded. He didn’t think that would stop the sect if they decided to come after him, but this way, he was drawing a clear line in the sand and wouldn’t feel bad should he kill any more people after him in the future.

“I also have one more condition,” he said with a more sinister smile.

They froze and looked at him fearfully.

“What is that, sir?”

He held up his axe, which he had broken on Cassandra’s face. “I find myself in need of a new weapon.”

***

Julius was actually pretty pleased with how everything worked out. He had been expecting a lot more resistance from them when he asked to see their rings, but when he told them he was looking for a weapon, or at least some material to make a weapon, they were a lot more willing.

In fact, they all voluntarily opened their rings to him. He got some good stuff, too. The girl was apparently a pretty good crafter and had a bunch of materials in her storage ring. There was a huge chunk of metal called Spiritforged Iron. According to the girl, whom he later learned was called Lyssa, the metal was highly coveted for its unusually high conductivity to aura and similar energies.

It was similar to mythril in that respect, but specialized in aura applications instead of mana.

He also got himself a small nugget of something called Eternium. It was a metal similar to adamantine and orichalcum, but even rarer. According to Lyssa, the metal was notoriously hard to work with and was mainly used as an outer layer on weapons or other items.

He got a few other interesting ores and materials. She didn’t seem all that upset to be robbed of him. In fact, she insisted that he take even more, telling him that her family was quite wealthy and could always repurchase them at another time.

Apparently, to someone as rich as her, the value of these metals was much lower than the value of her life. Then again, that didn’t sit right with him, and so he decided to take a few things from the other three just to make sure they felt included in the ‘trade’.

They seemed a bit more upset with him than she had been, but this was the least they deserved. They attacked him, and honestly, they were getting off easy.

The second he allowed them to leave, they ran away as if their lives depended on it. It was only when they were far away that Velmora made her appearance once again.

“You should have killed them. They attacked you first,” she said with a frown.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to risk causing any issues with their sect. If they want to come after me again, then it's their choice. But I have other things to worry about than killing random disciples and weak Tier 4s.”

“I could have killed them if you wanted. Anyone from their sect who might have come to investigate would have only found traces of my mana.”

Huh. He didn’t think about it like that.

But he eventually shook his head. “I wouldn’t feel good about that. I wouldn’t want you to kill a group of people for me. If I’m going to take a life, I will do it by my own hand. I won’t have a Tier 5 slaughter them for me. And it’s not like I haven’t experienced worse. Compared to some of the other attacks I’ve been through, this was very tame. Actually, I’m happy they chose to do so. I got to test my new technique and got some pretty materials for my new axe.”

She shook her head at him. “I don’t understand you humans. But as long as you are fine with it. I won’t say anything else. But we should probably wrap up here. If they report back to their sect, then another group might come looking. I need to get back to my clan, too, and let them know I am okay.”

“Yeah, let’s meet up again. You already told me your clan’s location. I don’t know if I will be able to visit soon, but if I am in that region, I will come and say hi.”

“You'd better. I have a few things I want to show you. They will definitely help your technique. Also, I still need to properly thank you.”

“You have done more than enough.”

“Not even close. But I will make up for it next time we meet.”

Then, before he could thank her, he felt something hit the top of his head and drop to the ground.

"What's this?" He asked and bent down to inspect it.

"It's one of my scales. It's a symbol of friendship, anyone from my clan should be able to recognize it and welcome you should I not be around."

The scale was beautiful and heavier than he imagined. He had been around her for almost a week, so he was used to her beauty, but now that he was holding the scale close, he could truly appreciate it.

He laughed. “Thank you. Next time we see each other, you can show me that waterfall you were telling me about. I can’t wait to see it.”

She smiled and leaned over him. She was in her smaller form, but she was still much larger than him. Her nose gently rubbed the top of his head. “Stay safe, Julius. Don’t get yourself killed by one of these treacherous humans, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.”

He smiled warmly and activated the token Cassandra had left him.