"I am curious as to what his skills will be like, I didn't know vassal weapons could be in form of items."
"That's a scam, it's a magic item, I can't believe you got fooled by that..."
"Huh huh, but it's rusty?"
"Isn't that natural since he has been using it for a long time?"
As Anastasia mentioned it, I suddenly came to a realisation, 'Of course...metals rust normally over time.'
I looked at the man in front of me who was startled at the fact that no matter how many fire bullets he shot out of his hand with the aid of his ring. It was being blasted away before it reached me.
"Let's see..." I raised a finger and a magic circle appeared beside me.
"Ice crystal"
~Pow~
A crystal shot into his chest and immediately all of his body began to freeze. I looked at both of them, the other one was lucky that he didn't wake up, truly lucky.
'Or is he pretending...' I carefully tried to find clues if he was but I couldn't stay any longer.
'Hmm, I need an overpowered spell for them to shut up and talk'
"Why don't you just beat them up with your martial art, using Ardor to cover your face?" Anastasia suggested.
"That's right. Ardor..."
Immediately all of my body was covered by a thin layer of golden armour along with my face.
After leaving the room, I had to go through stairs that went upwards, which made me figure out the room I was put was underground.
Upon opening the door, the loud shouts and hails I heard suddenly come to halt. I must admit I wasn't expecting it.
"It's the full gang in here..." I said and gently entered back where I was coming from and closed the door.
"Hey Ana, I think we need to restrategize..."
"What you need to do is go out there and use your body... I thought you said you had knowledge about everything but you've only been obsessed with magic... let's see what you've got in your fist and legs."
Her words were provocative to my martial art ego, and a passion burned within me.
~SLAM~
I slammed the door open, this time the whole gang was standing with different kinds of weapons. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my body a bit.
No stance
No rules
No this
No that
I dived straight into them and grabbed the nearest one by the jaw, I threw him away using him to push the others away, I could have crushed his jaw, but I needed them to talk hence I couldn't kill them.
~SLAPP!~
I slapped my hands together creating a shock wave that sent all of them flying backwards. But it only lasted a few seconds, they all came rushing at me again and this time I was properly ready.
The martial art was all about the stance, the timing, the perspective, it was all about calculation one cannot afford to be reckless but the truth is I have always wanted to be reckless, with no calculations, no timing, no perception, no rules just pure fight with enjoyment, I heart leapt as I joined in with them.
~Wham~
My palm dived into one's stomach, making him puke and tossing him away, multiple weapons came at me but were all repelled by ars praesidium, in the moment of repelling, I would grab the closest and slam him to the floor, kicks flew in the air, so did punches. It was a complete dogfight, something I've always yearned for but never could have because of the fear of death.
...
...
...
...
After a long while, everybody had calmed down, they were all laying tired and groaning, panting, and some were even crying.
"Whoooo..." It wasn't easy for me too, I exhaled loudly and sat down on a stool. I looked at all of them as they all lay around in different positions.
I looked towards the bar, "Hey you... I know you're hiding there, get me water."
With my distorted voice, he sure must have been intimidated and scared, he hurriedly brought the cup of water, his hands were trembling and so was the cup.
I took the cup from him, the part of Ardor that covered my mouth opened as I was about to drink the water, I had even forgotten that I was masked.
"What is this place?" I asked him, looking at his legs that wouldn't stop shaking.
"Th-th-th ththth-this...-"
"You can relax, I didn't reach you for a reason..." I said to him.
"How do you expect him to relax when you are recklessly discharging your ether at a tremendous rate at that."
Only when Anastasia mentioned it did I remember, I had deliberately discharged it during the fight to make my punches heavier and my pace faster, just like how internal energy could be used to generate greater offensive power.
The bartender suddenly fell to the flow and sighed, with several drops of sweat immediately I concealed my energy, filling the air with my ether must have put a huge burden on his heart, and scared the shit out of him.
"You can speak now..." I said to him.
"This is the hideout of the Nameless brotherhood sir."
"So they are a gang after all..." I gulped more of the water and looked at the boy, "Where is the leader of the gang?"
"Ha..." He was immediately startled as I mentioned the leader, "The leader was summoned by the mercenary union organisation." He said.
'Strong people for rent...' "Have you ever heard of the shadow assassins?"
"Of course! They are the number one ranked most prominent gang because of their use of shadow magic, it is said that only they can use it. They are also the biggest gang in the whole of our Dausa continent." He replied.
"Do you know of their recent activities...?"
"A mere bartender like me, how would I...?" He said. I concurred with him and looked around.
"Tsk, Goshujin, use Clairvoyance on him..."
'Ana what is it? I don't want to go around discovering core sickness when I still looking for a way to solve that of my mother's'
"Just look."
I used my clairvoyance eyes on him and immediately I was shocked at what I saw, 'What is this Ana? He has a core, but doesn't have a circuit system?...is he even supposed to be living?' I said to her in my thoughts, still shocked by this boy's phenomenon.
"That's because he is not using ether energy... neither is it mana..."
'Now that you mention, the energy feels unfamiliar, and even though I almost missed it, the energy is spreading throughout his body by diffusion... I never knew that was possible.'
"It's not with ether or mana, that is arcana energy."
'Arcana?'
"Just like how animus is for beast tamers, ether is for primas, mana is for mages, arcana is for druids. A special people that can harness the power of runestones."
'Oh my God, even that exists?!'
"You've been silent, is everything okay...?" He said, he was already back on his feet and was politely standing in front of me.
I stood up, he was taller than me even though he's face looked young, he brought to my remembrance that I'm still thirteen years old, I looked up at him and said with the intimidating distorted voice Ardor gave me.
"You're the boss aren't you?"