"Let's skip the boring part and get to the business immediately." Finishing his words, Kang proceeded to form a blood weapon before merging it with an acid bomb. Soon enough, the formed sword matched the appearance of the one he destroyed a while ago.
"This weapon is capable of overpowering S-ranked weapons due to its corrosive nature. You can get one for free if you manage to pass the hunter trials of the Golden Sun guild. I leave you to figure out what guild is that, and get to the next product right away." Finishing his explanation, Kang moved the sword to the side before retrieving the familiar golden box containing the serums.
"Those serums are very similar, aren't they? Well, that's true because they were created by the same guild as well. Except for the fact that these right here are far superior to the ones sold by the auction house a while ago." Raising one of the serums, Kang displayed the difference which was mostly apparent in color as the serum's color was leaning more toward crimson than gold.
"Those are not limited to strength like the previous ones, they can improve your constitution as a whole without any side effects. While the weapons were free, those will require some guild merit to get your hands on them." Placing the serum back into the box, Kang silently closed it before resuming his speech.
"Please listen to this carefully because I won't repeat myself. The Golden Sun's main purpose is reclaiming the corrupted lands and fighting against the horror invasion. As such, you will most likely travel a lot and spend a lot of time in the wastelands."
"While that's the rough part for most of the hunters, we promise enough benefits in return for your valuable services. A-ranked hunters will be paid two A-rank mana stones per year, plus ten percent of the profit made from every raid they participate in."
"While the hunting teams will consist of A-rank mostly, B-ranked hunters will be paid according to their office work and assistance. And maybe they could collect enough merits and use them to buy serums that could help bring them into A-rank."
"Well, if you get the point then I will patiently wait for you at Ashford's capital, Lake Town. Please note that we will not accept more than two thousand during the first recruiting date, so make sure you come prepared!"
"That's all for today, it was a pleasure being here." Having nothing else to say, Kang quietly made his way toward the elder's corpse before making contact with the crimson spikes. Soon enough, the spikes slowly melted, revealing what remained of the elder. Lifting it on his shoulder, Kang carried it on his back before getting off the stage.
"Grandfather, are we just gonna allow him to take it?" Watching Kang's action, God's Hand looked at his resting elder before questioning.
"Let him have it… it's already past the point where we could do anything about it."
"That's besides the fact there is nothing special about that elder…" Coughing because of the damage caused to his ribs, the elder was hardly able to speak.
"Let's get going… we need a meeting to discuss the threat as fast as possible." Watching Kang leave with his group, the elder gestured to God's Hand to help him on their way.
While leaving the auction house, Kang had a couple of things going on inside his mind. One was the mana ring he wanted and the other was overthrowing the council as a whole. While he could do the former by simply beating up God's Hand stealing the ring from him, he decided to leave it for later until he's strong enough to take on the latter.
There was about a month until the guild trials began and for the time being, he chose to handle the Frost Claw merge first since the Frost Monarch's actions told him all he needed to know. Soon enough, both James and the Frost Monarch caught up to him before he had the chance to leave.
After apologizing for his actions, James left after getting assured that it was not his fault since the weapon was all his the moment he bought it to begin it. Discussing the merging process with the Frost Monarch, Kang insisted that he must go through the trial to assess his true rank before proceeding.
As for the rest of the guild members, Kang agreed that they could join right away as they needed to handle headaches which neither of them was willing to deal with. Either way, the Frost Monarch was becoming a vice guild leader as agreed.
"It's about time I met that guy." With things out of the way, Kang made up his mind to attempt the evolution trial. While he wasn't worried, he was quite concerned since the trial required fifty thousand blood to initiate, making him wonder how much the future ones would demand to advance.
"I guess I'm fine for now, a hundred thousand should be more than enough to complete it." Making up his mind, Kang waited until they were back at the guild's headquarters before informing Yuna and Aster that he shouldn't be disturbed for the next couple of days.
Naturally, he informed them of the merging plan and how to proceed forward since he wouldn't be around to help. At least that's what he thought…
"Let's get started!" Acknowledging Kang's intent, the system initiated the evolution trial as the familiar system message appeared before Kang's face.
[Trail Quest: Master the Crimson Aura and defeat the blood demon using the blood arts!]
[Rewards: Transcendence and {Ability: Blood Mark(S)}]
[Failure Punishment: -50,000 Blood]
"Huh? Why am I still here?" Reading the quest information, Kang was confused since he neither saw the Blood Demon nor entered the Blood Sea compared to the previous trails. Soon enough, Kang's doubts were answered as another system message appeared before his face.
[-15,000 Blood | Remaining Blood 35,000]
Following the message, Kang frowned as a strange feeling began to assault him. Soon, Kang felt as if his body was being split into two as an unfamiliar face appeared next to him followed by the hand that was pushed against in an attempt to separate them from each other.