"What happened?" General Roger asked his legion of knights as they didn't dare look into his eyes. They failed to capture three-star criminals even though they were knights with the weakest of them being a high three-star warrior. It should've been easy to capture those thieves but they didn't expect to lose any of their traces once they entered the sewer. No footsteps, mana, and aura residue, and there aren't any signs of battle or movement. It's as if they vanished in thin air.
"General, once we entered the sewers. Their trace is gone. I suspect someone helped them escape" one of the higher ranking knights in the legion replied with no shame in his voice.
"So you're blaming a non-existent man and not on your uselessness?" Roger glared at the knight who shuddered in fear.
"Search for them. Post their faces in every adventurer's board and every town we can. Make sure by this week, you all useless knights brought their heads to me or you will face punishment" Roger threatened the knights who in turn nodded immediately before leaving them as he entered his quarters. His anger warped his expression as he can't believe one of the sealed cursed artifacts was stolen. If the emperor finds out, his head would be put on the chopping block
The reputation of the auction house is at stake as this is the first time where something is stolen and they weren't able to capture the thieves immediately. He can already hear his enemies whispering about his failure as his expression contorted in contempt and displeasure.
"Lawrence Von Aenir…the 'talented paragon' of the Aenir Family from the Kingdom of Rebia. The successor of the silver moon and the thief of the black market and auction house. This rat bastard…i'l kill you.." Roger crumpled the paper before burning it.
Meanwhile in the forest. Lawrence realized that creating new magic is a daunting task. For the creation of the magic node for an original spell. He needs to create patterns to make a specific command. Attraction is a process of creating a heavy gravity towards his palm and to create this gravity, he needs mass and force. That means he needs to make his mana as heavy as possible and spin it at fast speeds to create a sucking force. Luckily, he has the gravity attribute which means, his mana can create gravity without needing to do all of that. After thinking of patterns he needs to create, an hour has already passed and he barely made a progress.
'Why is magic too fucking hard?! If I just create mana full of gravity on my palm, it would create a black hole that would suck me in too while using all my mana. I can't also use minimal mana since it would be useless. There are almost a thousand patterns and i expected myself to create a new magic spell? You know what, fuck it!' Lawrence annoyed by the lack of progress created a magic node composed of patterns from a similar spell he saw which is the engulfing wind that attracts the enemy towards the sharp winds to cut them in pieces. After adding a pattern that uses his hand as a trigger and a pattern that connect his mind and mana heart to his palm to quicken the triggering of spell and mana efficiency, he decided to put mana marks on items and people he wanted to control with gravity. Meaning, to be able to attract his enemies towards him, he needs to touch them first and apply mana marks.
He also based the repelling spell on a spell called warding wind which makes it that everything in a 10-meter radius, he automatically pushes anything away with the use of his mana. It's weaker than the spells where he based on but as long as he levels up his spells. It would allow him more freedom in using it. Meaning, he has to fight with only two weakened versions of wind magic spells. At least, he can fight and it's important since he can feel himself reaching third-star warrior, he only needs a single fight to get more internal aura.
"Did you really wake up this early?" Luke yawned while gazing down below as he slept on the branch of a tree. The sun is only rising and the chirping of the birds woke him up as he stretched his arms.
"Yes." Lawrence replied as he opened the space ring as a multitude of weapons fall in the mat where he is sleeping. The clattering of metal woke up Vania who opened the tent where she and Catalinna were sleeping. She didn't put on the mask as she rubbed her eyes.
"Your mask Vania.." Lawrence reminded Vania who hurriedly put on the mask
"S-sorry boss.. i won't do that again" Vania bowed as Lawrence nodded with a smile.
"It's fine." Lawrence replied before staring at the steel weapons laying on the mat as he slowly mark each weapon with his mana. With the slow and careful movement of his hand, he slowly wrapped each weapon with his mana. Still, despite only using small amounts of mana and with the basic knowledge of mana applications Lawrence learned in the academy. It will corrode the steel and lose its mark the more it is used. This is why Lawrence treated each steel weapon he has like its ammunition. He has a total of 5 steel swords, 2 battle axes, 7 small daggers, and 3 steel spears.
"What are you doing bossman?" Luke chuckled before landing beside Lawrence with his eyes gleaming with interest.
"You don't even know these?" Catalinna replied instead as Luke shakes his head
"Nope, we're trained only to kill and collect information. The most they can do for us is how to write and read.I mean i was trained mainly on killing" Luke shrugged
"I see…i'm marking my weapons with mana so I can control it easier when fighting" Lawrence replied
"It's my weapon assshole. Give me the space ring. We practically escaped the empire. I'm not gonna take your 'we have no time' bullshit" Catalinna glared at Lawrence as he sighed.
"You already have a space bag. Let me use this instead"
"No, give it to me. I'm not budging from my decision. My stuff is mine"
"Fine.." Lawrence takes off the space ring before throwing it towards Catalinna who grabbed it with her hands. Catalinna decided that taking the steel weapons that she doesn't need is fruitless. She left the two youths with Luke smiling awkwardly.
"I'm surprised the both of you are still working together"
"Well, what can i say. Beggars can't be choosers" Lawrence shrugged as he focused on marking each weapon as Luke decided to help the girls in cooking and taking care of the camp.
After two hours of a slow and painful monotonous task. Lawrence is finally finished marking each weapon with his gravity-infused mana. Take a minute to relax and eat the food Vania made since Catalinna can literally burn every food she makes. Luke has to force her to stop cooking after Lawrence chuckled, hurting her pride. Sitting across Lawrence, Catalina glared at him while biting the chunks of meat in the stew.
"Ma'am Catalinna…do you want more?" Vania asked with the pot as Catalinna bit her lips and nodded.
"You're quite good at cooking Vania, your skills are comparable to the cooks at my family's house" Lawrence commented
"Thank you boss but I was just too used to living alone that i guess i can do household chores easily. It isn't worthy of your compliment" Vania replied
"Worthy or not, i'm only telling the truth" Lawrence proceeded to eat the food before Luke hurriedly opened his eyes while looking around.
"Guys, we are currently surrounded by bandits" Luke said quietly as Lawrence nodded. He walked slowly back to the mat where steel weapons are laid as he controlled, one, two, three, and up to 10 small daggers as he can feel the threads of mana connected to his palm. With both repel and attraction spell working, he can move all daggers all-around a ten-meter radius as he tried speeding each dagger which resulted in daggers lining each other and moving like a metallic worm that can slash anything. He can also control 10 daggers with both of his hands as the daggers moved individually in different speeds and directions like they are controlled telepathically.
"Nice party trick boy" a gruff voice emerged behind the tree as a large man wielding an axe smiled at Lawrence savagely like a predator watching a defenseless prey.
"Boys! We might make a good sum of money! They even have a beauty and a…masked one" the man shouted before giving a flirtatious wink to Catalinna who immediately rushed forward with her fist ready for a beating. The fire swallowed her arm as it turned into the shape of a tiger's head. Surprised by this, the man winds up his axe covering it with a green qi as he strikes forward. Meeting both his axe and Catalinna's fist as the fire blew away from the man, repelling it with air but the flames created a continuous explosion which pushed Catalinna forward as her fist linked into the man's chest before covering it with fire. Creating a massive explosion. Killing the man instantly with his chest caved open and Catalinna bathed in blood before it's boiled from the sheer temperature of Catalinna's fire.
Meanwhile, Luke decided to protect Vania as he is surrounded by the bandit in every direction he turned around to parry a sword slash before turning around once more to dodge the spear aiming at his chest while making sure that Vania is safe. A blue qi surrounded the dagger as it multiplied into four creating a mirage of daggers stabbing forward. Creating a multitude of holes from one bandit as he used the magic spell inside the dagger as it summoned a wolf's head and together with each mirage dagger summoning a wolf's head. Four wolf's heads emerged before swallowing four of the bandits whole as the sickening cracking of the bones resounded in Luke's ears. His qi allows everything from a simple attack to his dagger art movements to multiply. He can only multiple every attack of his to four but he wonders if he can improve it in the future.
After getting sidelined by Catalinna fighting the boss of the bandits by herself. Lawrence fought the right and left hand of the boss as both men each wielding a saber moved in and attack Lawrence at the same time he has to block each strike with the line of daggers moving around him in a quick burst of speed. He's getting pressured by their continuous dance of attacks as he can't even attack back. Still, slowly and slowly. He is getting accustomed to the daggers as he can start to move each of them individually as he continuously jumps back with both of his palm moving at a fast pace as daggers danced and moved unpredictably. The battle turned around as he willed the daggers to move around and slowly surround both of the men as they parried and blocked the daggers. Because of the large explosion, one of the men tumbled as Lawrence slammed down his palm. The dagger flying on top of the man crashes below as his head was impaled with three daggers sticking from his skull.
"Bael!" one of them shouted as the men looked at his comrade with sadness and anger before daggers stabbed and pierced his back, chest, and stomach. Creating large gashes in his body as he glared at Lawrence with indignant before slumping on the floor.
"Ugh..disgusting" Catalinna scorned as she wipes her clothes off from the blood. Lawrence glanced at Catalinna realizing that she didn't seem to be affected by killing a man for the first time. Lawrence felt that he wanted to be disgusted by his actions or be guilty by taking a life but his mind would always whisper that it was the right thing to do. He felt disgusted by himself but deep inside, he realized that he has no pity on the bandits they killed like monsters. He can hear Ozial's chuckle as he desperately erases what that mysterious teen told him.
"That's right…i have no time for this" he muttered as he desperately tried drowning out Ozial's chuckle resounding in the back of his mind.
"He's only misleading me for his own amusement" Lawrence told to himself as he saw Vania shuddering. Noticing this, Catalinna tried to calm her down but she jolted and inside the mask, Catalinna saw her eyes full of fear like she is looking at a monster.
"S-sorry ma'am..I was just su-suprised." Vania chuckled to hide her fear as Catalinna nodded with a forced smile before leaving. As her face contorted with sadness and pain.
"So umm…where should we go boss?" Luke asked with an awkward smile upon noticing the atmosphere. For him, killing is the same as bathing. A necessary part of his life.
"Let me talk to Catalinna after she has calmed down. For now, we should head to a nearby river to wash off the blood on our clothes." Lawrence commanded as Luke nodded. Not a patch of blood can be seen in his clothes as Luke is too proficient in killing. Luke called for both Catalinna and Vania as the group headed to the river to wash up. It was an awkward walk.
"Sorry, Catalinna…it's just that I got surprised. Seeing a woman younger than me killing someone easily is quite a shocking experience" Vania takes off her mask to give a sincere smile towards Catalinna as both boys are in the back.
"It's okay..I can be quite aggressive but i just don't want anything happening to you and to everyone." Catalinna gave a gentle smile
"I think you're aggressive but it might be because of you being overprotective to anyone you cared about. It's quite womanly don't you think so?" Vania replied as Catalinna blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"I guess hehe" she chuckled as Lawrence glanced at the two girls speaking like they have been friends for years.
"I mean Ma'am! i sometimes forget that you're a noble"
"It's fine…nobility is something stupid anyway. Besides, because of that Ozial. They would know that i protected and helped Luke and that unreliable asshole. I'm technically not a noble anymore. Just call me Catalinna"
"Don't call my boss like that.." Vania sighed as Catalinna chuckled.
"What? I'm just describing someone accurately. If you heard how we met, you would agree with my sentiments" she snickered as Lawrence can only sigh.