"Here." Orsen said as he handed over the Lesterion to the person up front. The one who received it was perplexed as he saw it.
The guild usually had a history of personnel defecting the moment they would come in contact with something of high value.
It was to be expected as it was human greed simply showing itself and thus other assassins would be sent to curb this.
But seeing a pristine tier four disc core right in front of his eyes completely untainted was still bizarre to him.
"I'll notify Henry that you are done with the mission." She said as she took the Lesterion away from the numerous greedy eyes that saw it.
Such a disc mana core was equivalent to fifty gold quartz or higher depending on the market. The reason as to why it was so expensive was due to its rarity.
"Very well." Orsen exchanged as he looked at Hedon. He could tell that he had some pent up frustration considering how ballistic he went at the camp.
"You do realize that you can't recklessly use the mana of the body that you are inhibiting. After all it is a demon's body."
He voiced his thought over. "What? I can't control myself!" Orsen's response came laced with a hint of sadism in it.
"Just switch your race then." He shot back. "Eeh! That's too much work, I'll stick with it like this."
Orsen narrowed his eyes slightly. 'Too much work?' It was as easy as a single thought to achieve this and yet he gave the blatant excuse that it was too much work.
"Just keep in check." He voiced over.
"He is ready to see you." The girl from before came back and the two went back to the room that they were in from before.
How long was it? Thirty minutes since they left and here they were. Henry beneath his mask was fearful of this duo. Their efficiency was scary.
"It's impressive to have you to finish such an arduous task within minutes. Hahaha!" He joked however the other party didn't seem in the slightest happy.
"It's hot under that mask. Ugh!" Hedon mused as he once again took it off. "I could have you made a mask to suit your preference." Henry added.
"Why didn't you say so?" Hedon mused as he was walking around the room. He grew interested in the mounts that were present portraying various beasts.
"As per our arrangement." Henry added as he produced thirty gold quartz. It was higher than the agreed price and the two knew why.
For them, this was merely a desperation tactics however none of them pointed it out as Orsen took the bag.
"Here." Henry placed two crow emblems on the table. They were gold in color portraying a crow with its red beady eyes shining ever so dimly.
"With this, you two are registered as official members of the Crimson Crows." Neither seemed all that impressed as they took it and prepared to leave.
"The client was extremely pleased and requested to meet the two of you. Our client seems-" Before he could finish his statement, Hedon was already at the door.
"Maybe someone other time." Hedon mused as his figure disappeared from Henry's line of sight leaving Orsen alone in the room.
'Hah! The arrogance of that bastard!' Henry mused as he realized that Hedon wasn't planning on coming back. Luckily Orsen was still here.
"I promise you that this will be worth your time." Henry voiced over however no response came from Orsen.
Once more the door opened and another individual came through. A tier three expert, masked with a blank face as he took his seat.
'One of the nobles of the prince of the kingdom. This is certainly interesting.' The individual seemed to be in his thirties as they took a seat opposite to Orsen.
"I'll leave you two." Henry then proceeded to stand up before he took his exit. The individual tilted his head as he surveyed the room.
"I thought that there would be two of you?" He said however his answer was shortly answered. "If you don't have anything worth my time, you might as well be talking to yourself Ethan."
The atmosphere grew tense as soon as these words permeated through the air.
"It would seem that you are a very capable individual Rhys. Why don't we help each other? The prince wants a proper competitor to act as his man."
He said as he handed over a small bag of coins. "For the test in two weeks, right?" Orsen added on to which Ethan gave a small nod.
There was supposed to be a small competition in between the princes as an act of vindication of power. Such a matter was meant to be kept privy to only a few people thus when Orsen pointed this out, Ethan was perplexed.
The more he stayed with Orsen, the more he feared him.
'What doesn't he know? It would seem that he knows a lot of information about the trial which wasn't supposed to be made public by the end of the week.'
"So do you accept?" Orsen tilted his head slightly. "Is there a penalty for killing other competitors?" Ethan was taken aback before masking his demeanor.
"If the situation is too dire then such a result can be overlooked." Orsen gave off a small laugh. "What about intentional murder?"
Ethan fell silent as he heard this. Orsen knew that Hedon wasn't on board with sparing his opponents. He knew how bloodthirsty his temperament was.
"Well such an act is extremely prohibited. After all we are all humans at the end of the day." Ethan feared as he gave off this response.
"However the rules could be bent slightly to negate this." He further added which Orsen gave off a small laugh.
"Very well. I don't mind." Orsen finalized his thoughts as he was about to stand up. "We will fill you on the details later on."
"And the prince has decided to gift you a proper place to be staying as one of his champions." He said as he gave the locations.
"Much appreciated." Orsen pointed out before his figure disappeared from Ethan's sight. 'What was that?' He remained bathed in awe as Orsen's figure disappeared.
He then proceeded to leave the room and head out. He made sure that he wasn't being tailed as he had a tier four mana disc core however he managed to return to a disclosed location.
It was an inn, casual in appearance with nothing outstanding about it. He went into one of the rooms before meeting another individual who sat calmly as he took a sip of his wine.
"So how did it go?" The body asked as he twirled his glass wine. "It proved successful." Ethan responded as he produced the mana disc core and placed it on the table.
"To think that they would be able to get the job done and in such a short time is truly remarkable." He laughed off as he finally spun back revealing his face to Ethan.
He had blue hair, a proud air around him and dimly lit blue azure eyes as he looked at Ethan. However his charm was masked by his attire.
The third prince of the Rien kingdom. Prince Zayne. On the third array teetering on the fifth array. He needed something to help him break through the barrier and be on the same tier as his brothers.
His eldest brother, Kaissus was on the fourth tier whilst on the third array, Sirius on the fourth tier as well whilst on the second array while he lagged in third on tier three.
Thus for this he was never taken seriously not only by his own family but also the people. "However it would seem that Rhys urged that killing should be allowed."
Zayne paused as he heard this. "It shouldn't be too hard for that to be arranged." He mused as he thought that he would finally claim ownership of this test.
It was to test on their connectivity and adaptability to the situation. They themselves weren't allowed to fight so as to remove the aspect of direct assassinations with each other but rather they would have champions to fight on their behalf.
Sirius already had a tier five expert on his side. One of the few adventurers who was well known not only in the present kingdom but in the adjacent kingdoms as well.
As for Kaissus, he already had several tier four all on the fifth array. However they could only recruit a maximum of four people.
The rest were specifically handpicked by the king to act as obstacles, not only to gauge the worth of those picked but also the foresight of his own sons.
As for daughters, that was left out as the system heavily leaned towards patriarchy. He had two sisters that would intentionally sabotage his works, each siding with their own prince leaving him to bear the wrath of both.
He felt that something was off when all he found as his options were tier three experts and those who were on the fourth tier were only on the first tier.
But with the emergence of these two, at least he would have a fighting chance. "As for the camp on the outskirts, have it orchestrated as if they were ambushed by ravenous beasts."
He gave out an order as he locked onto the mana disc core. He couldn't trust his own room due to fear of spies planted all over thus he could carry out his assimilation of the core here.
The room was spacious with multiple layers preventing the noise from spreading far out. He brandished the flask as he sat in a meditative position.
Ethan understood what he was about to do left the room quietly. 'Let's see you survive this.' He mused as a cold smile appeared on his smile.
Zayne who remained unaware of what was in store for him placed the mana disc in front of him before covering it in mana. The orb floated slowly above till it was on the same level as his abdomen.
He slowly increased the amount of mana onto it as he started to cover it more. This was to help jumpstart his breakthrough onto the next tier.
The mana disc in his heart slowly resonated with that of the disc mana core and slowly but surely, he could feel the agonizing pain of his own disc slowly being permeated through.
It was completely painful, equal to someone forcefully tearing through his heart however he knew that he had to remain strong as he went on with the procedure.
The glowing silver color of the disc mana core was replacing the color of his own green mana disc. Beads of sweat came about his face as the process went on stretching for hours.
*Two hours later*
Ethan came back to check whether Zayne had made a breakthrough or not. He was actually a mole planted by Sirius so as to keep tabs on his little brother.
He was to act as his actual subordinate, Zayne unaware that his actual subordinate was butchered off and replaced with a person masquerading as him.
Expecting to see his corpse, he opened the door haphazardly however it wasn't a corpses that he was greeted with but rather Zayne who had managed to make a breakthrough onto the fourth tier.
'But how? I laced the disc mana core with a trace of my own. I chose to detonate it and yet he seems unscathed!'
Shocked that his plans had failed, he chose to turn back however a voice rang through the air.
"Close the door." It spoke coldly making Ethan pause in fear. 'Did he realize that I am not his actual subordinate? But that is impossible for him to discern so. It would take him to be on at least third array to discern it.'
Ethan calmed himself down as he closed the door. In a few movements, the distance between the two was closed. In such a confined place, it was no problem for a tier four expert.
Ethan felt a strong choking force around his neck hosting Ethan high up in the air. He had a cold look on his face.
"To actually think that my siblings would do such a thing. To replace my actual subordinate with this imposter. It is truly a commendable move."
He spoke as he raised his grip. Ethan was a tier three expert thus he was unable to forcefully break free from his grip. He wanted to utilize his skills however it seemed that he couldn't at the moment.
'Why can't I use my skills?' He screamed in his mind however the pain round his neck jolted him back to reality.