“You know, in the original timeline all we had to do was identify the patriarch, and then watch the show play out? I have to say, this is a decidedly more interesting experience,” Liam decided to add this particular observation as a sidenote, revealing to Noah that he was travelling unchartered waters.

“What? But I followed your instructions?” Noah mouthed to himself as he followed the old man past more unpleasant surroundings.

“Well yes, lad, and I improvised. Or rather, I wanted to see what the best possible outcome would be when we are armed with future knowledge.”

The old man walked into a dilapidated wooden hut at the very end of the alley, and Noah reluctantly followed. He wasn’t sure if he could escape the man even if he wanted to.

“How’d you know this was a possibility, anyway? What if we hit a dead end or broke the quest line?” A thought struck Noah and he decided to mouth it to sate his curiosity.

“Please. You’re really wondering how an entity that allows you to see more possibilities than you could ever previously conceive, conceived a possibility that you, through your actions, created?” Liam replied in one tongue twister of a sentence.

The wooden hut only had a single room; no surprise there, definitely. A small table, two chairs and a straw mat on the floor along with a blanket were the only furnishings within. Oh, and there was a cane, leaning against the wooden wall next to the bed. The ‘revered master’ walked up to the cane, and tossed it to Noah, who gave him a questioning look.

“Well, what’re you waiting for? Land a hit on me, I want to see the extent of my nephew’s judgement,” he said to Noah, looking at him with expectation in his eyes.

“Use your combat art, lad. Remember, in the actual assassination you’ll have four old codgers like him backing you up, so it’ll be fine. Probably.”

‘Real reassuring,’ thought Noah, and took a deep breath. He had to focus, he had to remember the sensation of that wonderous energy flowing through him. No, that was incorrect; it was within him, it always had been. He just hadn’t been able to sense it before. He closed his eyes, sensing the air around him, the sound of his and the old man’s breathing, the slight draft of wind that flowed through the chipped wooden walls of the hut, and then… there was something more. A core of pearly white energy at the very center of his lower abdomen, all he had to do was reach out to it.

‘Myriad Illusions,’ Noah thought, and he opened his eyes to a still world. He covered the distance between him and the old man in the single step, and sliced once in the direction of his throat, another stab made at the center of his chest, while a third blow was directed towards his right leg. Time resumed once again, and Noah sidestepped to the right and struck towards his head.

He watched in shock, as the old man parried not only the phantoms that were headed in his direction, but also his sneaky assault from the side- merely tapping at the stick once with his finger, causing it to crack in half from the center.

“Fascinating,” the old man said, stunned even though he had blocked Noah’s assault like it was child’s play. “Marvelous, absolutely marvelous! Where did Bulai pick a prodigy like you, child? You are so weak, so frail… and yet, and yet I cannot distinguish the slightest between your illusions. Your combat art… coupled with this dagger… yes, this will work! Succeed in this task, child, and you shall be a legacy disciple of the Wailun Clan. I will bequeath the dagger to you in four days’ time, at this very location. Be sure that you are not followed, but with your prowess in illusions I doubt that will be a problem. Tell me child, is there anything else you need of me?”

“Um… actually there is. I… I’m not sure how to explain this…” Noah stuttered, as if he were embarrassed with this little problem.

“No need to be coy, child, you walk amongst allies. Tell me what plagues your mind.”

“Revered Master, my past is… a complicated one. It is a long story, and as time runs scarce I shall not burden you with such. I fear my origin core is highly lacking in development, if I just had access to a bit more resources I could perhaps double, maybe even triple the illusions I can summon in a single strike. Master Bulai had sent me to first receive your approval before investing any resources towards my development,” Noah said with a bowed head, as if he were deeply ashamed of his lacking development.

“That miserly fool!” The old man whispered angrily under his breath. “The fate of the four clans hangs by a thread, and he still accounts for each resource as if they were his children! Here, take the Sect seal and hurry towards the origin pool. I want to see you by first light four days from now, hopefully by then you can summon nine phantoms. Now hurry back, child,” The old man said with a dissatisfied harrumph, and he was glad the dissatisfaction wasn’t directed towards him… the man could snap him like a twig, after all.

Noah walked out of the wooden house playing with an azure seal that had thousands of intricate symbols carved over the small area available.

“What is this anyway? Was it worth all that trouble just to get this?” Noah asked, though he had gotten an inkling of what it should be.

“You ever seen those movies, where some absurdly rich guy has one of those gold cards you can buy anything with? It’s basically that,” Liam said with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“No freaking way…” Noah muttered in stupefaction, wondering how he’d gotten himself involved in a scheme to rob the Wailun Clan dry instead of assassinating the dictators.