*Clak*Clak*

"H-huh..?"

Ilyon woke up to a place plunged in darkness, save for the burning torch.

\'Where am I?\'

Ilyon found the place eerie and scary.

\'How did I get here?\'

His memories, fuzzy at first, cleared up soon after as he shook himself to awareness.

\'That\'s right. In the tavern! Some b#stard knocked me out!\'

This action alerted him, as he was unable to move his body.

\'Huh?\'

He struggled and retired, yet the result was the same.

Staring closely at his body, his blurred vision cleared up to reveal something Ilyon would\'ve rather not seen.

For starters, his arm, and the stump in place of the other one, were pinned down by two spiked metal circlets, well, half of it, onto a metal chair.

Same with his legs.

Tilting his head from side to side to make out where he could be, a door, surely metal, Ilyon deduced from the sound, opened.

From it came a short man, garbed with a short coat and pants, with a tall hat to top it off.

"Hey! Who are you? Where am I?!"

Ilyon yelled, grabbing the man\'s attention.

Coming closer, Ilyon was able to make out the face of the man. He was not young, but not elderly either, with an expression of joy as he spoke in a rasp breath, thoroughly creeping Ilyon out…

"Ah…you\'re awake. The lord will be happy. Wait right here"

With that, the man left to go somewhere.

Ilyon popped a vein with the last sentence, but he couldn\'t even move.

Ilyon had an ominous feeling. That person, this situation, all clues pointed to something bad happening.

The man came back soon after, holding a bag whose metal contents jingled within.

After him, came a man with a familiar visage.

This was the man that knocked him out, Ilyon realized.

Catching onto his expression, the man spoke.

"Seems you remember. I guess we can skip the introduction and get right into it"

"Why did you kill Rowan?" he asked slowly.

Ilyon\'s eyes popped in surprise as he denied.

"I didn\'t do anything about that, it was the snake!"

The man\'s eyes curved into sinister crescents as he gave a warm smile.

"Is that so?"

But to Ilyon, his fear instantly multiplied as his skin was filled with goose bumps.

The man\'s actions were contrasting his smile as he picked an item from within the woolen bag.

"Giffard, do you mind?"

"Not at all" said the shortie as he picked out a round object and imbued it with mana.

As the object lit up, Ilyon felt something burning, this one far more painful than anything he\'d ever felt.

It was like his internal organs had been set ablaze.

He screamed and shrieked.

"Please! Please, no more! Please!"

Then the pain receded like it never happened.

The pain would no doubt drive him insane if it continued for long.

His heart calmed down, while his brain was still in disarray, when another wave of pain hit him.

*Clip*

His pinkie was cut off, putting him in another series of pain.

The man stared him down.

"I hope you understand, I hate being lied to. So, with each lie, I\'ll clip one of these off"

Ilyon yelled, his brain overloaded with pain…

"DON\'T! Please! I\'d tell you anything you want to know, just don\'t hurt me anymore!"

His voice was pitiful.

His plans for the future were all shattered just a few days ago when his meridians were broken, not to mention having lost an arm.

He was tired, immensely so.

\'Why is my luck so bad?\' he thought with a few tears falling from his eyes.

The man didn\'t give a damn.

"So, you\'ll answer all our questions?"

Ilyon nodded vigorously.

After which he said…

"Bring them in"

The door opened and two men were dragged in.

Their bodies were buff and bulky, but also soaking in blood.

Shortly after, Ilyon\'s eyes gave a surprised look.

The man took that as his cue…

"So, that means you know these men?"

Ilyon nodded. How could he not know them? They were part of the Red Wolf guild!

With a smile, the man said…

"Things are certainly becoming interesting. We tracked them on the way to question them. Yet, we found them holding items beyond their worthless existences"

…before turning back to Ilyon.

"Begin narrating the events that lead to my brother\'s death"

"B-brother..?" Ilyon stammered.

The man gave a surprised look.

"Ah! I haven\'t introduced myself, have I? Then let me do so. The name is Tom Everdust, and yes, Rowan was my little brother"

Ilyon\'s eyes shook.

"You\'re done for? Yes, definitely so. What matters is if I\'ll kill you painlessly or slowly. How well you answer my question will determine that"

"Take them away"

With that, the Red Wolf members were promptly dragged out.

"Now then, I\'ll begin spilling all you know to Giffard here"

With that, he moved out after leaving a few words…

"Giffard, he\'s all yours. I need all he knows ready by dawn"

"Yes my lord" Giffard says, his face stern.

*Clack*

With the sound signaling the door closing, Giffard tucks in his sleeve.

"Now, let\'s find out what you know"

His face stayed stern as he picked an item from his bag.

"We are going to be doing this for quite a while"

What followed throughout the night were screams and shrieks unheard by anyone else.

—-----------------------

Nearing the arrival of dawn, a slew of horses marched on.

"Boys, we\'re almost there"

Cabrera and the boys would soon arrive in Kingsmere

—------------------------

\'Yes! With this, I don\'t have to worry about using an incomplete technique!\'

Meanwhile, Ezra never left the royal vault, forcing himself to stay awake.

He couldn\'t afford to waste such a precious opportunity.

He had already begun plundering coins like no tomorrow, before halting and perusing the technique section.

Mana techniques and combat manuals were clearly separated, with the combat manuals divided by weapon type and element, and mana techniques divided by element and preferred fighting method.

The problem was, Ezra couldn\'t find any that allowed for steady cultivation of a penta-elemental like him.

The best option he found until now would be to abandon two elements to use only three, but that would be settling for less, and Ezra wasn\'t going to do that.

So, after racking his brain, an innovative idea popped up.

Cabrera had bought five thousand copper scrolls.

Normally, that would have nothing to do with the matter at hand, but…

Cabrera gave Fredrick the space ring, who transferred its contents into Ezra\'s ring.

Now, Ezra remembered that soul contracts could be upgraded by putting a lesser scroll in a higher tier one.

So he did something similar with the mana techniques and…it worked!

The thing was, what the copper scroll could copy was very little, and while this would normally be a problem, Ezra had five thousand with him.

Five thousand!

It couldn\'t copy even half of the mana techniques, but it would be more than enough to copy the contents of those he deemed necessary.

The mana techniques ranged from Silver to Diamond rank.

Ezra knew that it was a test.

\'Most kids would immediately go for the highest ranked one\'

That would be a very big mistake.

Mana techniques had conditions its practitioner needed to fulfill.

Or rather, the practitioner had to have certain qualities to use mana techniques from Epic Gold upwards, ranging from gender, to physique types, to affinity grades, to having peculiar herbs or artifacts, and much more.

Again, such a large disadvantage was laid to waste because it was Ezra.

\'Hehe\' he gave an evil laugh.

Bolton will be mind-blown a few years from now.

Before that though…

\'Let\'s get some sleep\'

With much tenacity, he got to his room with his body now heavy and slept off within seconds of laying in his bed.

A smile on his face as he couldn\'t wait for tomorrow.