At the center of a spacious hall sat five mages around a large white table that looked like a conference table. Stress was shown on their faces as if something was worrying them. The mages here were of varying ranks ranging from warrior mage to sixth-level knight.

    “Your Grace, what was it that happened just now?”

    The question came from a bald mage with a stern face. One of his eyes, completely blind, was hidden under an eyepatch, leaving him with one seeing eye. His voice broke the silence of the room. The other three mages turned to the one called “Your Grace” as they waited for an answer.

    “Although it was a moment, what I felt was a powerful force, perhaps even greater than mine. Its power was like that of… a beast.”

    The one called Your Grace replied with an expression of stress and concern on his face. He was dressed in golden armor with a tinge of black which shone brightly like a holy knight’s armor. Although he was already a middle-aged man, his face managed to maintain its gracefulness. He had a beard and mustache, and his eyes resembled a lion’s. Although the look on his face was one of stress, he still carried himself with the grace of a noble. This was Coven, the Duke and the ruler of Bernier.

    “What!? A beast stronger than Your Grace…could it be a guardian-level beast?”

    The man widened his one remaining eye in disbelief. The situation turned even more stressful than before. Beasts were classified into ten levels: low, middle, high, demon, warlord, guardian, great demon, grand demon, emperor, and archdemon. The wood surrounding Bernier was inhabited mostly by low-level and mid-level beasts while high-level beasts were sighted once in a while. However, due to rumors about demon-level beasts living in the heart of the forest, the area had become forbidden. Beasts of demon rank and above possess a certain level of intelligence similar to humans. Thus, defeating them was not as easy as defeating an ordinary beast. Even warrior-level mages would find them difficult to deal with. If there was indeed a guardian-level beast within the border of Bernier, then it would probably be the worst thing that ever happened to the city in several decades.

    “This matter has not come to a conclusion yet. It is merely a speculation of mine. Order all men and soldiers of the Hargen Family to patrol the city. Pass my order along to the five great clans! Have every clan send their people out on a patrol around the kingdom all day and all night! Perhaps this has something to do with the incident where a herd of goblins attacked the Hobson’s people. If anything happens, report back to me immediately.”

    “Yes, Your Grace!”

    This was the state of chaos and disorder people all over the city found themselves in. Meanwhile, the cause of such chaos was resting comfortably in a hotel, restoring his magical power without a care in the world. Arias had lost a significant amount of his magical power from using his blood as a sacrifice to awaken the Shadow Demon’s power. He had lost not a small amount of blood. Luckily, he had kept the Moon-bathed elixirs for emergencies. After he took the elixir, it gradually helped to restore his magical power, and little by little, his injuries got better until they became completely healed.

    “Finally, my power is restored and back to normal.”

    Arias got up and inspected his body. Sparks of lightning flared from his palm when Arias was checking the power in his body. Once he saw that his body and magical power were in their normal state, Arias then left the hotel.

    Before Arias could walk out of the hotel, Shuga the werecat ran up to him with a nervous face. Shuga had thought Arias was leaving early because he was dissatisfied with the hotel’s service, so she quickly came and apologized profusely. It took Arias several minutes to explain to her that he had an important matter to attend to and that he was not unhappy with the hotel’s service. Although it was troublesome having to explain himself to her, Arias became quite impressed by the hotel’s service. A small smile appeared on his face as he left.

    Arias did not head back to the family manor after he left the hotel. Instead, his next destination was Cater’s shop. Indeed, the owner was too talkative to the point of being a bit irritating, but the place was uncrowded. What he needed now was resources to nurture his power. It had always been the purpose of his plan. Everything he did–potion-brewing and taking the elixirs to the auction house–was all for the sake of making money so he could spend it on resources for his power.

    Once he was out of the hotel, he could see how people were acting oddly. Their expressions were still that of panic or even fear, while some of them seemed to be curious. It appeared that the strange phenomenon that happened a while ago had become the most popular topic of conversation, even though the incident had lasted only for a few minutes.

    “A curse! This is a curse. It must be someone with evil power…dark evil power!”

    An old man muttered over and over like a madman.

    “Could it be that…there was a beast with a power stronger than the Duke.”

    “Watch what you’re saying. It could get you in trouble!”

    Two mages stood on the roof of a house and glanced around the city. The two were talking with each other with a concerned look on their faces. Both of them were among the several hundred soldiers of the Hargen Family assigned to look for any anomaly.

    Arias’ brows furrowed. Along the way to Cater’s shop, he heard a lot of conversation about the strange phenomenon. He knew that everything was caused by Shadow Demon’s awakening. Although it was only a high-level weapon and still not yet fully awakened, Arias knew that there was a fraction of a second when its soul seemed to be fully awake, the howl of its soul rumbling all over.

    “Welcome, sir! Oh, it’s you. If I’m not mistaken, you’re that brewer’s apprentice who bought some herbs for the beasts you’re raising, aren’t you? Come, come, come. Please come on in. What kind of herbs does your master want this time? There are some new herbs that arrived today. Would you like to take a look? If you’re not interested then it’s fine…”

    As soon as he reached the front of the shop, the same chubby merchant came out to welcome him with an endless speech of his as usual. Even though he could feel a headache starting to form, Arias was starting to get used to this man.

    “Hey! I think the two of us were here before this kid, Cater.”

    A voice rang from one side of the shop. There, a skinny young man about the age of eighteen was staring at Cater and Arias with a frown on his face. Beside him was another man, big and tall, who seemed to be about the same age as him. This man was holding a mighty black club in one hand. The two of them were second and third-level acolytes.

    “The two of you wouldn’t stop bargaining until there’s almost no profit for me. I’m running a business here, not a charity!”

    Cater yelled in annoyance, his tone, and manner completely different from when he talked to Arias. The adept-level mage blasted his power, creating a pressure that made the two young men’s faces turn white. Pressured by a power higher than theirs, the two of them could only look down and go quiet. Cater turned to look at Arias, a smile was back on his face once again like he was a different man.

    “Don’t mind those pests. Now, what are you looking for today?”

    “I would like two hundred low-level magic quartz and a hundred mid-level magic quartz. Do you have enough for me to buy?”

    Arias was not really bothered by the incident.

    “You want that many of them!? Please give me a moment. Wait here and don’t go anywhere.”

    Although he was shocked by the amount of magic quartz that Arias wanted, Cater quickly rushed back to the storage room at the back of the shop, his round belly shaking under the influence of gravity looking like a big bouncing ball.

    “I think I have it somewhere…here it is! Luckily I have some in my stock.”

    It took only a moment until he came running back with a dimensional ring containing the quartz. Although he had a heavy body, he was quite light on his feet. His movement might look like an ordinary movement, but Arias could see that there was a small wind that enabled him to move more quickly. If his assumption was correct, then Cater must be an Air-Wielding mage.

    “One low-level quartz is a hundred Crystal Coins, and one mid-level quartz is a thousand Crystal Coins. That’s a hundred and twenty thousand Crystal Coins for everything. But I’ll make it a hundred and fifteen thousand Crystal Coins just for you.”

    Cater calculated the price quickly and accurately, and he did not forget to give Arias a discount to please him as well. The man grinned from ear to ear. When he smiled like this, his eyes became so narrow you could barely see them at all.

    “Good sir, I’m afraid there is some problem. It appears that the dimensional ring you’re currently wearing is but a low-level one, and it won’t have enough space for all this quartz. Do you happen to have another ring with you?”

    The ring Arias was wearing was just a low-level dimensional ring. A low-level dimensional ring only had one square meter of space.

    “No, this is the only one I have.”

    “Hee-hee, then would you like to purchase a mid-level dimensional ring? I do have some of them here. I think it will be more convenient for you. Who knows? You might need it once you become a potion-brewer.”

    Cater’s face moved closer with a big grin on it. His eyes were sparkling, his two hands were put together in front of him. Having done business with Arias twice, Cater knew that this brewer’s apprentice seemed to have quite a bit of money. So, he immediately took the opportunity to recommend another item.

    “Uh…I’ll tell you once more! Don’t move your face too close to mine like this again. But you’re right. So, I’ll take the dimensional ring you’re holding there. No need to waste time transporting the items to another ring.”

    When that round face moved closer, Arias unconsciously stepped back. He did not really like being close to another male.

    “Errr – Sir, this one is a high-level dimensional ring.”

    “I know. Add it to the total cost of the quartz. Hurry up. There’s still a lot of things I need to do.”

    “Right away, sir! It will be one hundred and sixty thousand Crystal Coins for everything.”

    Cater’s eyes which sparkled like a star were staring at Arias like he was a gold mine. It had been a long time since he’d seen a big spender such as this; spending almost two hundred Crystal Coins in a single day. This mysterious boy was certainly something more than just an ordinary person. Cater inwardly cried with delight, ‘This is truly a blessing from heaven. To be able to make this much money within a day…it’s even more than the overall profit I’ve made so far this year.’ His shop was something that had been passed down for generations. However, in his generation, it had been doing worse with every passing day. There was hardly any customer who would visit this place and when there was, it would only be someone who was here to create a ruckus like those young men who stood there staring at him. A person like Arias was truly a godsent customer.

    “Uh…sir, may I have your name?”

    Before Arias could leave, Cater hurriedly asked the name of his important patron. This name would be forever engraved on Cater’s heart. Although the other was just a neophyte, Cater would treat him with the utmost respect. If this gold mine were to slip out of his hands, he would be in so much grief he cried until there were no tears left in him.

    “You can call me Las.”

    Arias did not tell the other his real name. He still wanted to keep his identity a secret.

    After Arias walked out of the shop, he could still hear Cater thanking him profusely. However, aside from Cater who watched him with an impressed look, there were others–a pair of men–who were glaring grudgingly at Arias.

    “I think we’re going to be rich.”

    The skinny man licked his lips. His eyes, full of greed, watched as the young man in a grey hood left the shop.

    “Rich? Where do we get the money? Or do you have it already?”

    The big guy stared at his friend curiously.

    “For once, Nell, try and use your brain instead of your muscle.”

    Seeing the stupid look his buddy had, the man could only rub his temple in exasperation. The two of them had been living together as friends since childhood. The big one called Nell was an Earth-Wielder. Although he looked big and strong, he was not very bright. The other one was Han, an Air-Wielder who would usually come up with a plan.

    “Are we doing that again?”

    “That’s right. The usual thing.”

    A vicious smile appeared on their faces. The two exchanged a knowing look, acting like they had done this several times before. They were not a part of any guild, which meant they did not receive financial support from anyone. They used to hunt for beasts in exchange for money as other mages do. However, Han suggested not long ago that mugging money from lower-level mages would be an easier way to make money without having to risk their lives. Most of their victims were neophytes or acolytes with lower ranks than them. If the victim surrendered without a fight, they might just get away with a scratch or two. But if they fought back, the pair would take care of them without showing any mercy. There was one time that they accidentally killed someone who resisted.