Battle Frenzy

This was something that she neither understood nor felt in the past. However, after staying in Tianjing for a period of time, she finally understood the feeling of helplessness. She had thirsted to being able to defeat an opponent like how she had imagined during combat, yet reality was a torment as the only thing she possessed was the name of Assassin. During the group training, there were many times when she sought out people for advice and guidance, however, their replies when facing her were all only courtesies, a distant smile, and flatteries. All of them were directed not at her, but at the name of Assassin and the people in the glass cabinet.

Creak. The large doors of the family leader’s office were pushed open. With a perpetually emotionless face, the old steward bowed respectfully towards Emily before saying, “Please come in, miss.”

“Thank you.” Exhaling deeply, Emily walked through the large doors.

A white haired Tumo sat on a sofa chair, his eyes half open as he sized up Emily and said, “You came back.”

Nodding her head, Emily replied, “Grandpa, I want to become stronger!”

Tumo gave a faint smile and asked, “Why?”

Hearing such a strange question, Emily instantly gawked. Was there even a need for a reason? Nevertheless, she replied, “While I was in Tianjing, I felt how weak and small I am. I want to become stronger!”

Shaking his head at her reply, Tumo said, “You don’t understand the price of becoming stronger. If that’s all that you know, you should go back. Follow your original thoughts of being carefree and living happily. In the future, you’ll marry a good person. This is what your parents had fought for with their lives.”

This was a matter privy only to the inner circle of the Assassin Family. As a successor, there was no way she would be allowed to live such a “willful” life, regardless of her qualifications or talent. This was something that was obtained by Emily’s parents in exchange for their lives, completing a great mission for the family. After they had done so, they had only one request, which was to allow Emily to live the life she wished.

Emily shook her head resolutely. On her way home, she had already sorted out her thoughts. Her current life was indeed satisfying as no one forced her to train. By relying solely on her talent, she had managed to achieve her current level of strength. While in Tianjing, however, she had learnt and seen too much. Barran’s disastrous experience and harsh words, Colby’s determination for quota naturally led to the most important lesson; her wish to not drag others down.

“You have to think clearly about this. Once you start, you can never go back. If you want to obtain strength, you have to contribute to the family. This is the assassin’s way in out Assassin Family.” Tumo’s voice was still as gentle as before.

Nodding her head, Emily replied, “Grandpa, I’ll work hard!”

Hearing her reply, Tumo gave a smile, one which appeared extremely radiant, as though it contained the flavor of something else.

“Very good. Emily wants to accept the way of the assassin.”

After Emily had left happily, the steward appeared quietly. “Master, won’t this be a little too cruel for the miss? After all, she has yet to make proper preparations…”

“Our Assassin Family has reached the cusp of life and death. Everyone must face this. She is of my bloodline!” Towards the end of his sentence, a sliver of arrogance appeared in tumo Assassin’s expression.

A matter that was extremely bothersome for Wang Zhong was something that Ma Dong thrived at. As the auction had ended, both Sharmie and Laura wanted to head back, as the summer holidays for the various academies was right round the corner. Both of them had a large squadron of people waiting for the two captains to train and practice. It was said that the two sat on the same armored train, something which resulted in many quiet prayers for the passengers aboard for three minutes. On the off chance that sparks flew between the two, it would be extremely easy for them to cause the entire carriage to flip off its tracks.

Two days later was the day of the transaction with the Stuart Family.

Legend said the stone slab was where one would be able to obtain the strength of principles. For so many years, there was not a single person able to decipher the mysteries that laid within it. If someone wanted to borrow the stone slab, the Stuart Family would definitely hesitate. Compared to that, they were not worried about a mere holographic image.

While Ma Dong used his Skylink to transmit over a set of holographic images, Wang Zhong waited in the dormitory. From the looks of it, the Stuart Family has shown sufficient sincerity, as the holographic images were exceedingly thorough and detailed. The three dimensional image displayed the entirety of the incomparably detailed sides of the stone slab. With just one look, Wang Zhong was already able to know that this was the best of the best, as the Fate Stone in him was already stirring and responding.

Remaining calm and unhurried, Wang Zhong sent an “Ok” message to Ma Dong, before shutting his Skylink off.

As he sensed the runes on the surface of the stone slab in detail, he could tell that they were completely different to the elementary runic system used by mankind and the living runes they were researching. These were genuine “runes”, and far exceeded the scope of mankind’s current research level. Even with Wang Zhong’s skill in perception, they appeared like heavenly scriptures that were completely undecipherable.

The twelve faces of the Fate Stone began to stir and activate, with the second face being pulled out and enlarged from the distance. The golden runes from the stone slab in the holographic image started to drill into Wang Zhong’s body as though they were alive. At that very instant, they felt exactly like the prickling sensation caused by needles. While this was happening, the runic pathways on the second face of the Fate Stone instantly lit up. Upon seeing that the runes started to move akin to being alive, Wang Zhong could not help but feel slightly excited.

He could determine that each of the twelve faces of the Fate Stone corresponded to a different power for a total of twelve powers. The previous time, it was flames. What could it be this time?

Wang Zhong was brimming with anticipation, as he was extremely clear on the degree of difficulty required just to obtain this stone slab. He would not be able to have such luck every time he entered the hyperdimension. As he quietly waited, a second face had indeed lit up too…

However, there were no distinct nor obvious feelings about this compared to the previous time. As the fate Stone returned back to its quiet state, Wang Zhong continued to sense for a while before wondering, it seems like nothing happened?

After waiting for a while longer, Wang Zhong tried to sense any changes. Yet, it was still the same.

Was it because it was just a holographic image?

This isn’t possible, huh. At the very least, another face of the Fate Stone had lit up slightly. There was no doubt this, as the stone slab should be a recording object with the truly important aspect being the runes on its surface. Could it be that the physical body of the stone slab was just a primer?

Wang Zhong continued to ponder about this for quite a while. Although the Fate Stone was inside his body, it was definitely considered to have an arrogant and idle character, moving when and where it desired without Wang Zhong’s control. There were only two reasons as to why this was possible. The first would be that it indeed required stone slabs, something that he was unable to fulfil. At the beginning, Wang Zhong had apprehensions about this point. If he was to borrow the stone slab from the Stuart Family, it was possible that his identity would be exposed, Furthermore, it would result in a complete change in the difficulty of the entire transaction.

The second possibility was that the new abilities were too mysterious, or that it was not yet classifiable within the systems of his scope of understanding; perhaps things that were not as easy to sense and feel like water, fire, wind and lightning? Or perhaps it was due to his first ability of pyrogenesis still being in an extremely weak state, leading to his second ability being unstimulated and unable to erupt out?

With no experience nor previous incidents as comparison, Wang Zhong could only speculate. He could assume that everything that was possible.

This was slightly disappointing. Wang Zhong smacked his lips, before feeling that his actions were laughable. He had gotten the fire special ability in such an easy and relaxed manner, that this caused himself to forget that there anything in this world that could be obtained without paying a price. Wanting to be happy and content would require him to understand his own pyrogenesis before moving his thoughts forward.

In the next instant, however, Wang Zhong started to laugh like a fool. Even without any special abilities, he was already extremely satisfied with himself. The feeling of having the peak level of 200 grassos flowing around in his body freely was too good! The feeling of having explosive energies brimming within his body was something that he had never experienced before. Furthermore, not only did his Soul Power increase, he felt an even more frightening feeling of being completely synchronised, as though this was the first time that his body was able to keep up with his thoughts and reactions. The harmony and coordination of his entire body had reached a new level which caused him to feel intoxicated and revel in this new grown fusion.