Suddenly, two shadowy figures appeared beside the house. They whispered to each other as they made the way towards the door, opening it to find that it hadn't even been locked.
"Ha, the bastard is so drunk he forgot to lock the door." One shadowy figure said to the other.
"Hey, count it as our good luck. Anyways, are you sure what you heard is true?" The other figure couldn't help but ask.
"True or not, who cares? That bastard is just another alcohol gambler, there's a million people like him, and the world certainly won't be missing him when he's gone. Even if there's no money, consider it doing the word a favor." The first figure said with a laugh.
"You know you should be an official with the way you can twist things so it seems like you're the hero."
"Huh, you think? Well let's talk about my potential some other time, for now there's men to kill and money to make."
With that, the two snuck towards the room. Opening the door, they quickly sealed Cypher's mother and fathers throat with a single slash, ending their lives before they could even open their eyes.
"Well that was easy."
"What do you expect from some mortals? Let's search."
With the inhabitants of the room dead, the two searched with complete disregard, tearing the room to pieces as they searched every nook and cranny.
Despite their extensive search, they found nothing, much to their annoyance. That was the luck of the draw, and tonight they had no fortune.
"Dammit, not even a single copper coin? Why did this bastard lie about having money? He could have saved his own life had he kept his stupid mouth shut."
"This is part of the business. Some losses, some wins, anyways, let's ignite the place and leave."
Pulling out alcohol jugs from their waists, they poured it all over, before igniting a small flame and igniting it.
With the alcohol to act as fuel, the entire house was soon engulfed in a tremendous flame, the shadowy figures disappearing as the house was reduced to ashes.
…
While all that was happening, Cypher woke up from his sleep, feeling completely refreshed. Leaving the inn, he entered the streets, making his way towards the Iron Back Gang.
As he walked, he heard whispers about a house fire. While he was curious, he didn't care all that much, but once the location was spoken about, he couldn't help but freeze.
Doing a u-turn, Cypher changed his direction back to home. To be honest, he wasn't very concerned about the fates of his parents, but he still needed to confirm once and for all.
Soon enough, the ashen ruins of the house appeared in Cypher's vision, and it was clear he wasn't the only one here to watch the spectacle.
An entire crowd had gathered around the ruined house as they whispered among themselves, thanking the heavens that it wasn't their homes that were struck by such misfortune.
Two constables stood in front of the house as they jotted down some information on their pads and talked to each other.
It seemed they didn't care about keeping the information secret, so anyone curious enough to listen in could do so easily.
"Two dead, cause of death still unknown, but probably asphyxiation due to the flames."
"What do you think caused it?"
"Who knows, that isn't our job to find out. Anyways we've collected enough info, let's head back."
Watching the constables leaving after only doing a surface level inspection, Cypher couldn't help but slightly shake his head, realizing just how corrupt this enforcement system was.
However it was also this slack attitude that made his own future easier, since it was unlikely anyone would care about him, a child of two nobodies.
Trying to investigate his disappearance was not only difficult, but also worthless, so it was likely that from this point forth, 'Cypher,' was also considered dead.
Had Cypher been planning to be an official, such a thing would be a massive problem, but fortunately he cared little about that, and the Iron Back Gang was still ultimately a gang, and also didn't really care about things like that.
Cypher watched the ruins for a bit longer before making a final prayer to his parents, hoping that they would be better people in their next lives.
As he walked back, he couldn't help but think about how lucky he was. Had he stayed just one day longer, he would have died, and yet had he left one day earlier, it was unlikely he'd have ever found his fathers hidden wealth.
Cypher couldn't help but smile under his coarse mask as he thought about the fact that he had somehow chosen the 'perfect' day, almost making him let out a laugh.
Forcing back his good feelings, he finally arrived at the gates of the Iron Back Gang. The guard looked at Cypher with suspicion, wondering why he was wearing a mask.
"Stop, unless you have business with us, you can't go any further." The guard shouted, stopping Cypher mid-step.
"I want to become an official disciple of the Iron Back Gang." Cypher said.
"Do you have the money?" The guard asked
"Of course."
"Good, go ahead then." The guard replied, not doubting Cypher. Only an idiot would lie about something like that given the Iron Back Gangs ruthless attitude.
Walking past the guard, Cypher finally entered the true grounds of the Iron Back Gang. What he saw was exactly as he expected, a field full of disciples training at full strength.
Some were punching iron poles repeatedly, despite the blood that was forming on their knuckles. Others were jogging around the field with sacks of sand tied around their bodies, making every step ten times more exhausting.
The entire ground was filled with a disciplined aura, and only a handful of people had a somewhat lazy attitude, showcasing the good quality of Iron Back Gang disciples.
A large man who was punching an iron pole seemed to notice Cypher, and after sending out a few more punches, he stopped.
Taking a deep breath, the man wiped his sweat off with a towel before walking towards Cypher, each step being heavy, as if a single kick could snap a normal person in two.
"Do you have business here?" The man said, each breath like an oxen.
"I'm Cypher, I'd like to become an official disciple. Here's my payment." Cypher said, as he handed a silver coin over.
The man took the coin before giving it a quick bite. After confirming it was real silver, he welcomed Cypher in, showing him the grounds before taking him to his master.
"Master, this is Cypher, a new disciple." The large man said towards a gray-haired old man relaxing on a futon as a beautiful young girl massaged his shoulders.
"Hmm, good, well teach him the basics and if he has any talent, we'll go from there." The old man said before ignoring Cypher and focusing on his massage.
The man wanted to say more, but seeing his master's attitude, he swallowed his words, guiding Cypher back out onto the training grounds.
"Don't mind my master. Despite his behavior, he cares about every disciple equally." The man said, seemingly not even to Cypher, but rather himself.
"Anyways, my name is Ox, I'm the masters first and oldest disciple, so in terms of expertise, only my master is better." Ox slightly bragged.
"Before I explain the technique we practice, are you aware of the realms of martial arts?" Ox asked.
"No clue."
"Well all you need to know about right now is the first realm, Flesh Refinement. Martial artists split the body into six separate parts, these are the two legs, two arms, torso, and head, added together, they form the body."
"Flesh Refinement is the process of slowly refining these mortal limbs into something extraordinary. The Flesh Refinement Realm has nine layers, though the ninth layer exists more as myth, with no one having ever really reached it, at least not to my knowledge."
"What you need to worry about is the first three layers, which are the Wood Layer, the Copper Layer, and the Iron Layer. Once you refine each limb to the Wood Layer, you'll have officially entered the First Flesh Refinement."
"You don't have to refine all body parts at the same time, and it's completely possible to have some limbs stronger than others, though you need to remember the rule of three."
"Rule of three?" Cypher asked.
"It just means that there should never be more than three layers between your strongest limb, and weakest one. For example if your torso is at the Wood Layer, then your other limbs can only be at the Iron Layer at most, otherwise the strength difference would cause you to just injure your own body with every attack." Ox warned.
"Good, I'll keep my eye out for that then." Cypher said.
"Well that's about all you need to know about the realms for now, so now I'll teach you about our gang's signature technique, the Iron-Shelled Tortoise Technique. This method is better at refining the torso, so our disciples tend to have stronger torso's compared to our other limbs."
With that, Ox finally began slowly guiding Cypher through each movement, while also teaching him the special breathing method.
"Also one more thing, as an official disciple, you'll receive one packet of blood paste every week, which will help your wounds heal faster, which in turn will accelerate your training speed."
"Don't forget to never push yourself once you're injured, or else you won't only not get stronger, but in fact you'll harm your body and become weaker." Ox said, finally getting everything out of his stomach.
With Ox leaving, Cypher finally had some space to himself. Thinking over everything Ox had taught him, he began slowly practicing the newly learnt movements.
Eventually, Cypher seemed to get a hand on things, and began slowly feeling that some special energy was gathering at his chest, slowly tempering his body.
The process was incredibly slow, but it was definitely there. Noticing the difference, Cypher was ecstatic, continuing his movements with even more vigor.
From what Ox had told him, there were two ways to train the flesh, active and passive. What he was doing now was considered passive training.
Meanwhile, active training consists of constantly damaging the flesh before letting it heal back stronger. That was what Ox had done previously when he was punching away at the iron pole.
While active training was a lot faster, it was also a lot more damaging to the body, so unless one had blood paste or other special healing medicines, it was best to only actively train once in a while.
Cypher was still new to this technique, so he planned on spending a few days getting used to it before he considered active training.
While passive training wasn't as damaging as active training, it was still exhausting, and after only an hour, Cypher was completely drained.
Wiping down his sweat with a towel, he was about to head out to get some lunch, but before he could, he was stopped by a young man around his age.