“You can get out now,” Jack said, returning to the basement.

Everyone complied, crawling through the hole Jack had left behind.

“So? Are you alright?” Abraham asked, seeing Jack's pale face.

“All good, father,” Jack answered.

Then, Jack suddenly put his hand on Abraham’s chest, startling him a bit, but the man quickly recovered. After channeling the mana through his father’s body, Jack could sense a certain amount of poison inside. It was a minor one that could cause tiredness and hallucinations, nothing too lethal. He could attend to this later on.

“Let’s go!” Jack said.

The group headed upstairs and saw the devastating scenery. The mercenaries couldn’t help throwing their eyes at Jack, unable to cope with the fact he had done all of this, especially with the despicable fat bandit gasping in blood lying on the floor. One of them approached and tried to kick his head, but he was put to the ground by Jack.

“I need him!” Jack commanded.

Some were visibly irritated by the boy’s words. They would have let it all out but quickly realized they didn’t even know how Jack had moved there and knocked the man down. Without a word, the rest nodded, picked their man up, and scattered around.

Jack returned to Abraham.

“You go along with them and report this to the authority. I will stay here and wait for their leader.”

“You…” Abraham mumbled.

Hearing his son’s plan was one thing, but seeing he was really doing it was another. Abraham struggled to get all of these crazy ideas out of the boy’s mind.

“I need to try!” Jack reminded his father.

“No more trying. All you need to do is leave with us.” Abraham said, raising his voice.

Jack gave him a serious look, then put his eyes on the bandit clinging on to life only thanks to his medication. Jack’s gaze made Abraham second-guess, remembering his own guilty actions earlier.

“We will be in a lot of debt after this, right?” Jack asked.

Abraham turned his face away and nodded in disgrace.

“And our family won’t be able to pay for it all?”

A soundless nod was given in response.

Jack gritted his teeth.

“And mother Sophie will have to suffer too?”

Abraham covered his face as his eyes darkened.

Jack gave out a sigh, putting one hand on Abraham's shoulder.

“Look, all I’m saying is I will try. If things turn south, I’ll flee. Don’t worry. In the meantime, find some backup for me. The sun is rising, and I’m losing my edge.”

Abraham silently nodded again. He quickly went after the mercenaries and chose to put his faith in Jack one more time.

The night had hidden Jack’s wistful eyes. He had made the decision but still couldn’t be certain about it as he had always been throughout his previous life. His only chance now was to use the collection of poisons powerful enough to take down a Crusader Warrior that Felice had saved up, all the while hoping the Nightblade skills could keep him from danger. The prospect of bankruptcy Jack had shown Abraham was only half the reason, the other half being testing himself and recovering the Legacy Orb. The lessons he had learned from it had been proven essential in surviving till now. To utilize and manipulate distance while Shadow Dance was activated, to use Black Flame as a nuisance, and to focus its devastating nature against the soft part of a higher-level opponent were all tips and tricks from the orbs.

Jack shook his head, getting himself together. He couldn’t let Abraham’s worry affect him.

He took out the two bottles of the stairway poison. With some estimation, he mixed them with some additives, pouring one down Bud’s throat, whose remaining movements were now the weakest of his natural reflexes.

Staring at the other bottle, Jack clenched his hand, opened his mouth, put the mixture to his lips, and chucked it all down.

 

“Did you see Felice anywhere close when the kid was toying with you two?” The bandit leader angrily asked, emitting his aura on his subordinate.

Mantis kneeled, trying to resist, blood pouring back out from his arm, as his mana flow was disrupted.

“No, boss!” Mantis tremblingly answered.

“God damn it! He must have been shaking hands with that damn butler behind our back to dare betray me now.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Go back. I’ll have a look myself. As long as there is no Archon taking part in this, nobody can stop me from getting what I want. For now, getting that brat is enough for me.”

“Break his limbs before putting him on the market!” Mantis added.

With a stare of the eyes, Mantis was pushed flat to the ground, his mouth choking out blood, splattering the ground, all from the bandit leader’s aura.

“Don’t tell me what to do! I should have killed a good-for-nothing scum like you right here.”

Mantis quickly crawled up, nodding in apology. 

The two left for their base, not noticing the mess that the one-handed bandit had just puked out was burning the grass below.

Approaching the farm, the leader halted. He closed his eyes, putting his hands forward, spreading his palms to launch mana waves, scanning the empty field and the house. He carefully repeated it a couple of times, then stopped.

“No one!” He mumbled.

“So…?” Mantis opened his mouth.

Ignoring his subordinate, the massive bandit bent his legs and leaped forward. He couldn’t feel anything save for two motionless bodies, one lying in front, the other somewhere in the house.

Mantis struggled to follow. His leap couldn’t catch up with that of a Crusader Warrior, not to mention the state of his body. He stopped behind his boss’ back, which seemed like a wild beast from this angle. The mana disruption caused by the man’s aura was growing heavier.  Mantis stepped to the side to look at the thing that had been placed in front of the house.

Bud, with his dim eyes and bloody mouth, leaned his head at the two. The dying bandit had a sudden burst of energy seeing Mantis. He tried to lift his head, his hand clawing the ground, his mouth screaming, but all the sound he could make was that of a choking man.

“Your tongue…”

Before he could finish his words, Mantis suddenly opened his eyes wide. Something was moving inside of him like snakes swirling around his organs. Bud’s movement was also abruptly stopped. The fear in his eyes was similar to that in the eyes of the one who had given him the critical thrust.

Boom.

Boom.

The explosions came from inside the two designated bandits. Flesh splashed everywhere, but the blood that followed wasn’t red. It was a disgusting mixture of a moss-green liquid and a black goo. When touching the air, it instantly evaporated, releasing a horrible stench.

The bandit leader was quick to react as soon as he saw the anomaly inside Bud’s eyes and the disruption of Mantis’s mana flow. However, some of the toxic gas still affected him since it had managed to catch his skin. He roared, creating an aura blast to push the gas away, moving mana to fortify and isolate his infected parts.

The moment he landed outside of the radius, two more booms followed without any warning. There was less poison gas this time. With another aura blast, most of it was also pushed and cleared away, but, again, some still managed to get on his body. He realized his opponent’s intention; all of this was to strain his mana pool as much as possible. He then halted his movement, stood his ground, and started popping some medicine vials. Unexpectedly, the medicine helped him a bit but not enough to remove all the poison in his body.

It’s not Felice.

Without any other option, he had to utilize some mana and suppress the harmful substances that were starting to flow inside his veins and organs.

He was trying to open his mouth for some scouting when a dagger born from within the shadow of the house covered in a dark purple flame was launched straight at his head. He effortlessly waved his hand and deflected the blade, dropping it on the ground. However, the fire had caught his arm. No matter how hard he shook or used mana to put it out, the flame persisted; its remnant always found a way to burn up again. With that, another part of his body needed some more mana. He hadn’t even seen his attacker yet but already seemed to be on the back foot.

Jack removed his Presence of the Night status, appearing before the enemy with a satisfying smile.

“You!” the bandit growled.

“Yes, yes. I heard that a lot tonight, probably three or four times already.” Jack joked. “So, was your subordinate poison taste any good?”

The thug frowned, trying to process what Jack had just said.

“Yes, I am a Maester,” Jack said. “And I also killed Felice and your two dumb henchmen. How’s that? Want some vengeance?”

The bandit raised his head and laughed out loud. He looked at the kid half his size with a pair of rapacious eyes.

“You’re one crazy kid. I like you already. Can’t wait to torture the hell out of you and make you spit out how you can be such a decent Maester and Nightblade at this age!”

Jack wasn’t too surprised to see the man realize the faction. Nightblade was not well-known simply because of the scarce amount of its practitioners, so there were only a few people who needed to keep an eye on them.

“That is,” Jack said, “only if you can catch me.” Jack lowered his body, backing into the shadow and analyzing the points he had just received.

You have killed two High Herald Human, Level: ??? (Need Identification Lens for further information).

You have leveled up.

Your level has increased from Level 2 -> Level 3.

You are granted 9 Stat Points and 9 Skill Points.

You have used 9 stat points.

Your Strength Attribute increased from 22 to 31.

Your Agility Attribute increased from 9 to 18.

Your Spirit Attribute increased from 22 to 31.

You have used 1 skill point on Black Flame.

You have used 2 skill points on Presence of The Night.

You have used 2 skill points on Shadow Dance.