Every dawn is a new day—cherish it.

~Zorya, Goddess of the Sun Gate

It was another two weeks before they were all gathered. Crow wasn’t sure of the exact date since this realm’s time flowed differently. It was something he was more sensitive toward since leaving the Clocktower. The difference wasn’t much, but he was sure time flowed faster in this place.

Still, he was sure his birthday had passed. At fifteen, he’d left Oiche and spent two years traveling the Basement with Mara, and time went by quickly. Before he knew it, he was seventeen. After the Clocktower, more time flowed by until he passed the trials and arrived on the first floor. Even that wasn’t the end of his encounters. More time passed before arriving in Rosdoe, and he experienced his first real warlike scenario. Months were spent condensing his Source before he even reached the second floor.

Time was inevitable. Age gave a sense of distance between the person he was today compared to yesterday. Eventually, Crow and his people left to explore the higher floors, and between all that and the year he spent climbing to this floor, he breached two decades of life.

Twenty years didn’t feel like it carried any significant meaning, but it felt like a landmark age. A transition from his childhood to being a young adult or something. At the very least, it left him contemplative of his past and future.

He knew as a cultivator, twenty years would still label him as a baby in the eyes of practitioners. It didn’t matter that his life experiences were probably ten times that of an ordinary cultivator. Life wasn’t fair. Those that had charmed lives held a title among the sects. They were called the Children of the Heavens, the exact opposite of Crow’s station in life. He was the Bastard of the Heavens, whose fate should have been death.

While life wasn’t fair, it was balanced and just. A cosmic scale ensured those that suffered would gain, and those that gained would suffer—if not in this life, then in the next. This was the concept of Karma that Crow pondered since becoming unfated. Crow was blessed because of those that followed him, and they were worth every scar he had to bear.

Crow subconsciously looked at his palms and curled his fingers into fists. That simple action strengthened his resolve, and he looked up to find the Masked Hooligan staring at him. Her brown, almost amber, eyes were quite alluring. Even through her mask, he could see her facial shape had some fierce features. Her round jawline softened the entire shape and gave her a more feminine appeal. Crow was curious to see what she looked like without all the wrappings covering her head. The eyes alone were mesmerizing.

“Going to cry?”

“Going to grow some tits?” Crow retorted, and the girl looked down at her chest before he felt her killing intent.

“I have tits!” She nearly shouted, and everyone around them turned to stare at the two of them. Crow chuckled and didn’t say anything more. “I promise I’ll kill you.”

“You don’t want to be my ally anymore?”

“You!” Hooligan snapped at him, and he could hear her teeth clacking together as she slammed her jaw shut.

“If we are going to cooperate, you should give me a name, right?”

“No.”

“Fine, you are Hooligan. Welcome to team Crow.”

“Team Hooligan, I’m the leader.”

“Get lost. No one would trust a leader that can’t even show their face.”

Her grinding teeth made the people standing around her step back. Crow just stared, waiting for her to back down. He knew why she wanted to join his team, and it had nothing to do with his strength. She only wanted to team up with him and Munro because they were Druids, and she was looking for the greatest gains. There might be other Druids present, but if it wasn’t for Munro being a fool, they’d never divulge that information.

“Fine. You’re the leader, but not him,” Hooligan’s finger stabbed toward Munro, who’d just walked up to them. “And if that idiot doesn’t keep his mouth shut, I reserve the right to silence him.”

“What the fuck? I just got here and haven’t even agreed to join you two, and you already want to kill me?” Munro growled, his hands clenching into fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked. He initially thought Crow was joking with her, but he found this girl was more of a hooligan than he’d initially thought.

“That’s because you’re an idiot, and I don’t trust you not to fuck us over. In our first meeting, you gave away so much information about Crow.”

“Damn, your mouth is more vicious than Golden Mouth. I loathe Crow, so yes, I spilled all kinds of secrets about him. However, I really believe you two were born to be lovers.”

“What the hell is a Golden Mouth? You know what, don’t answer that. Your answer will be some bullshit and probably give away people’s secrets. So, you are Munro, you are Crow, and you can call me—”

“Hooligan,” Crow interrupted.

“Fuck you!”

“Oh, I like that name more than Hooligan.”

“You can just call me Nagilooh.”

“Isn’t that just Hooligan spelled backward?” Munro asked.

Oof!

Munro’s body curled around the girl’s fist.

Crow noticed her brawler-like technique and realized this woman was no assassin. Even if she moved like a ghost, her fighting style was conducive to assassinations. Not only that, but her power and speed—she was definitely a Body cultivator. He didn’t recognize her fighting style either, which interested him more and more.

“Ha!” Crow laughed. “You are a hand-to-hand fighter? You really are a hooligan.”

“Want a fist in your gut?”

“Seriously, not helping your case,” Crow chuckled. “But welcome to the team.”

“What about me?” Munro asked, but Crow just glanced at him. To his credit, Munro didn’t act like the arrogant person Crow grew up with.

“Are you really able to put our enmity aside? No more spouting off nonsense about me?”

“I’ve already made an oath with you. What more do you want?”

“I want trust. I don’t want to worry about you circumventing your oath through some loophole, like not trying to help when things go sideways. Are you capable of putting all grudges aside until this event is over?”

Munro didn’t look upset at Crow’s judgment of his character, and in truth, he knew he could be petty. It was something Esme pointed out frequently.

“Can we talk privately for a moment?”

“Hooligan needs to hear it. If we are a team, we must foster trust between us,” Crow stated, and Hooligan looked over, a little startled. Suddenly, she didn’t feel that her choice in following this man was a bad one.

Munro raised a hand, and a barrier formed over the three of them to prevent people from listening in. It wasn’t that impressive of a spell, but the ease with which he managed it, surprised Crow. Thinking back over the years, Crow felt Munro might be a Child of the Heavens.

“I didn’t want to come here. I left Esme out there alone when I got pulled into this place. She is safe for now, but I don’t know how long that’ll last, and it was just the two of us. I don’t care about whatever bullshit inheritance. If something happens to her, my reasons for climbing this tower drop to zero. The first opportunity I get to leave, I’ll do so.”

Crow remained silent and looked over at Hooligan, who was staring at Munro as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. He could almost see her dropped draw through her wrappings.

“What do you think?” Crow asked her. The girl looked between the two and then just nodded her head. “Welcome to the team. But Munro, we need to have a private talk later.”

“Already cutting your teammate out?” Hooligan asked.

“It’s more about coaching a junior in what should and shouldn’t be said.”

“Pfft,” Hooligan laughed. “I can train him. My fists are good at teaching all kinds of lessons.”

“Are you sure you two aren’t brother and sister?” Munro asked, and both of them turned to stare at him. Sighing, he just shook his head. “Forget I asked.”

A bell rang. The loud clanging sound sounded more like thunder than the chime of a bell. A glass sphere suddenly appeared between the colossus’s legs, and it pulsed as it spoke. Crow’s eyes narrowed as he heard his voice speaking to him again.

“Welcome to one of the Sacred Order’s realms—the Wistman’s Wood!”