After eagerly agreeing to teach Miko her assassination techniques, Kimiko teleported them to an open plain in Xia.

When Miko looked around there were all kinds of exotic creatures from myths.

He saw fenghuangs and wyverns flying together in the sky.

He saw a blue horse running on the water surface. It was a kelpie.

He saw a gnome petting a unicorn.

“…..I'm surprised that nothing surprises me anymore. Must be because I spent six months in that valley.”

Miko said to himself.

“Okay. Let's begin.”

He looked towards Kimiko and saw that she took off her coat and was waiting for him.

Momo was racing the kelpie on the water while making fun of the gnome.

“She so carefree despite everything that happened.”

“That's just her trying to keep herself distracted.”

Said Kimiko.

“Momo has a habit of not letting people other than Nero and Nova see her upset. She prefers to be seen smiling than crying.”

‘Just like Sonia.’

She thought.

“Anyway, let's get started.”

Kimiko got rid of her negative thoughts and focused on what's at hand.

“The first thing I'm going to teach you is how to hide your presence.”

‘That's a common trait for assassins.’

Miko thought.

“I'm going to erase my presence. I want you close your eyes, and tell me if I'm standing in front of you or not. Oh, you can use your nose to try and catch my scent if you want.”

Miko nodded and closed his eyes.

He then felt like Kimiko had disappeared from around him.

He couldn't locate her scent or hear her heart beat. It was like she vanished.

“You're standing in front of me.”

Miko opened his eyes after he said that, and surely Kimiko was in front of him.

“How did you know? I could've teleported away.”

“Even if you teleported your scent would still remain for a while. But your scent completely disappeared along with your heartbeat. That was unnatural, so I guessed that you were still around me.”

“Oh? Quite observant. You're right, i just used the technique called [Stealth]. It's a technique that erases your presence completely in seconds. It's perfect for stalking your target.”

Even as he was looking at her, Miko couldn't feel Kimiko's presence. Nor could he hear her heartbeat or smell her scent.

It was like she was a ghost standing before him.

“How is [Stealth] done?”

He asked.

“Using Qi.”

A golden glow appeared around Kimiko's body. It was then that Miko could feel like she was standing in front of him.

“You use your Qi to create a small vacuum inches around your body. This will make the sound and scent coming from your body nonexistent to those around you.”

“I see. It's like you create an invisible wall around you to prevent the sound and scent you generate from leaking to the outside world.”

Kimiko nodded in agreement.

“So how do you create a vacuum using Qi? Because it sounds really complicated.”

“Basically, you spread out your Qi and construct it into your body shape, you then need to force your will on the space around and manipulate it like you're cutting yourself off from the outside world.”

“…..As I thought, it does sound complicated. Can't I just use magic to create the vacuum?”

Kimiko shook her head.

“Magic causes a disturbance in the Mana particles surrounding an area. Because of this, a trained eye can detect when magic is about to be used. If you use magic to do [Stealth] there's a high chance of you giving yourself away before you even begin to stalk your target. Qi on the other hand is harder to detect, and most people can't detect it unless you're up close or it's being used in a large quantity. So Qi is better for [Stealth].”

“I see.”

“It isn't as hard as you think. After a few days you should be able to pull it off.”

He nodded in agreement.

It was then Kimiko got an idea. She turned to Momo who was cheering on a fight between two gnomes.

“Momo, come here for sec.”

Momo immediately responded to Kimiko's call and walked over to her.

“How long do you intend to train Miko?”

“Well, I'm teaching him Qi now which will take a lot of time. It's soon time for me to teach him magic as well, then there's spells, hand to hand combat, weapon mastery, general knowledge, history, war strategies, etc.”

“Then add assassination techniques to it. Whenever he's free he is to come to me so that I can teach him my clan’s techniques.”

“Okay, Ms. Kimiko.”

A frown appeared on Kimiko’s emotionless face.

“You know, I don't like the way you address me. It feels so distant. Call me Grandma or something. Or you don't consider me family?”

Momo smiled wryly when heard that.

“Ah, it's not like that. I think of you as my grandmother, but it just weird calling you that even though I don't know my real grandmother.”

“Hmm. Then drop honorifics, call me Kimiko. Or is that too much to ask?”

Death aura leaked out of her body as Kimiko wore a sad expression.

“No no no no! I'm fine with that! Kimiko!”

Kimiko's sad expression disappeared and she returned to her default expressionless face.

Momo took that as a sign that she was happy.

While they were doing that, Miko was trying to use stealth.

“No good. I can't seem to create a vacuum around myself.”

However, he was having a hard time.

“Now that I think about it, the guys who Sasha called for when we we’re about to fight against Luka, didn't have a presence. I also heard that the Primus branch specialized in assassinations. Since the leaders of both clans are married, they must've exchanged techniques.”

“That's right.”

Kimiko who was done talking with Momo walked over to him.

“The Mors Clan’s killing Techniques were developed mostly by me and Gamiko almost 10,000 years ago. Because of this the Primus Branch have permission to use some of our techniques.”

“Then only the Mors Clan and the Primus Branch know these techniques?”

Kimiko shook her head.

“As you would expect, our techniques have been leaked out to the world over the years and became widespread in the assassination and fighting world. There are even copycat organizations who use these techniques to make a name for themselves. But since we're the originators, the Mors Clan is recognized as the #1 assassination organization in the world.”

“I see.”

Miko understood that nothing can be monopolized forever. Someone will get a hold of it eventually, and when they do they'll feel the need to expose it to the world either intentionally or unintentionally the result will be same.

“So other than [Stealth] what other techniques are there?”

“There's [Camouflage].”

Kimiko body glowed gold once again and then-

“She disappeared?!”

That's right. Kimiko vanished from Miko's eyes in an instant.

“Her scent and heartbeat disappeared as well. Did she teleport? No, the technique was called [Camouflage]. That means she's still here.”

“Yo.”

“?!”

A touch from the side made Miko distance himself on reflex.

When he looked there he saw Kimiko appear out of nowhere.

“That's [Camouflage]. I literally blend in my surrounds like chameleon.”

She said.

But Miko shook his head at her explanation.

“I'm not an idiot. You used [Stealth] along with [Camouflage]. Otherwise I would've heard when your hand cut through the air when you reach out to touch me. I would also be able to smell you and hear your heartbeat.”

“Oh. Good figuring that out so quickly. You really are smart.”

Kimiko said, as she clapped with her face lacking expression.

“That's right. What I used just now was a combination of [Camouflage] and [Stealth], [Stealth-Camouflage].”

Kimiko's body disappeared again.

This time Miko could smell her scent and hear her heartbeat, which was different from before.

She soon reappeared again.

“That was normal [Camouflage].”

“How do you do it?”

“This one is a bit harder than [Stealth]. You have to use your Qi to manipulate the light rays around you to not reflect your image. I can't explain it any simpler than that.”

“In order to do these stuff you'll need to gain better control over your Qi and become better at Qigong.”

Momo interjected.

“Looks like you're going to need to fall in the lava a couple hundred more times to gain better control.

Miko shivered when he heard that.

Recently, he hasn't been falling in the lava because he somehow learned how to stick to hard surfaces. But he still didn't figure out how to walk on the lava without getting burnt.

To him the lava was hell and he preferred not to fall in anytime soon.

“You aren't going to start throwing me into a volcano and have me climb my way out while my flesh melt off my bones right?”

Momo nodded.

“Are you trying to kill me, woman?!”

Momo ignored him and turned to Kimiko.

“Are you going to show him how to copy his presence next?”

“That's right.”

“Copy your presence? What do you mean by that?”

“Closed your eyes for a bit.”

Miko listened to what she said and closed his eyes.

“Now I want to focus on my presence. From my scent to my heartbeat and breathing. Don't lose track of it for a second.”

He nodded and focused on her with his eyes closed.

He listened to heartbeat.

He recorded her scent.

He timed her breathing.

He did his best to keep track of her presence.

And then-

The presence multiplied.

“?!”

He could hear two sets of the same heartbeat and breathing.

He could smell the same scent in two different directions.

It was like she duplicated herself.

“Open your eyes.”

Miko listened and opened his eyes.

“……?”

He was left confused.

There weren’t two Kimikos, just the one who didn't move an inch from where she was.

“What's going on? Even though I only see one of you, I can feel your presence to two different places.”

“This is called [Reprint]. A technique that allows you to create a perfect copy of your presence in another location. It's a deception technique for following people with superhuman senses, like yourself.”

Miko was astonished when he heard that. This technique basically creates an intangible copy of yourself in a different location. Everything that gave away a person’s presence like scent, heartbeat, and breathing patterns were perfectly copied without a physical body to go with.

He couldn't even imagine how difficult it must be to complete such a feat without magic.

“This technique requires you to be able manipulate your Qi to send your presence in a different location. It's as complicated as it sounds.”

Kimiko said as if figuring out what Miko was thinking.

According to Momo, Miko's control over Qi was normal, but even he can't he think about the first step you'll need to take to copy your presence. This meant that this was a high level assassination technique.

“If you combine this with [Stealth] you can completely trick your target. Even more so if you combine it with [Stealth-Camouflage].”

Said Kimiko.

If you combine it will [Stealth] you can distract your target and silently attack him from behind. But if you combine it with [Stealth-Camouflage] you can distract your target and boldly kill him from the front.

“When you combine [Reprint] and [Stealth], it's called [Silent Deception]. When combine it with [Stealth-Camouflage], it's called [Perfect Camouflage].”

She then covered her body with Qi again, and took a step forward.

And then-

She multiplied.

“Now this is [Mirage Step].”

All of the copies moved their mouth but only one voice could be heard.

“As the name implies these aren't tangible copies of myself, but mere mirages. Just like [Camouflage] you manipulate the light rays with your Qi, but instead of hiding your image you multiple it like a mirage.”

Her body then glowed again.

“All the copies have presences now.”

Said Miko.

He feel a presence from all five of the Kimikos that stood in front of him.

They all had a heartbeat, a scent, and a breathing pattern.

“This is the combination of [Reprint] and [Mirage Step]; [Deception Step].”

A voice now came from all five Kimikos which made harder to tell who was the real one.

“Of course, these are still mirages and not physical copies.”

Her body glowed again.

This time the one in the middle disappeared and reappeared moments later.

“?!”

Miko then jumped back when she appeared beside of him.

“You really need to stop doing that!”

He complained.

“Sorry.”

She said with a smile.

“Just now I used [Stealth-Camouflage] to slip away, and used [Deception Step] to leave a copy in my place. By doing this, your target will be distracted with the multiple copies and you'll be able to kill him however you want.”

All the mirages disappeared and only the original Kimiko remained.

“This technique is called [Absolute Deception]. The #1 technique for hiding your presence.”

“All those techniques seems useful. Are you going to teach me them all?”

Kimiko nodded.

Miko then started think of all of the ways he could use those techniques in a fight. If he used them smartly he'll be several times deadlier than before.

Miko now truly felt like coming to the Primus Branch was the right move.

“Ok, Grams(Grandmother). Let's start learning these techniques.”

Suddenly being called by a title that held a lot of affection by Miko, sent Kimiko's emotions out of control and her death aura leaked out in a large quantity and nearly killed everyone there.

Later that night, Kimiko was in her room smiling happily.

Her room was designed purely for her, so there was no danger of the death aura leaking from her body harming anyone.

“Oh, my wife is in a good mood. Bless the heavens.”

Her smile dropped when Nero appeared in the corner of the room.

“What do you want?”

She said coldly.

“Do I need to want something to visit my wife I haven't seen in 10 years?”

Kimiko said nothing in return and just looked at him.

“Come on, you can't still be angry about Sasha?”

“You kept the fact that my one and only daughter got married and had a child of her own from me for over a decade. Now tell me, Gamiko. Why shouldn't I be angry?”

“Okay I apologize for keeping that from you, but you had just left to deal with the problems at your clan. I didn't want to disturb you.”

“Gamiko.”

Kimiko's tone became even colder.

“Lie to me again, and I'll leave you. For good.”

Nero's faced paled when he heard that.

As someone who deeply loved his family, especially the women, losing one of them forever was equivalent to death to him.

It was because Kimiko knew this that she said that. Even if she wasn't serious, to Nero it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“Fine. Then I'll be honest. The reason why I didn't tell you was because I didn't want you back yet.”

Kimiko’s gaze sharpen when she heard that.

“Gamiko, what's the current power balance in the branch?”

“Over than Raven and Kroc, Krow have all the Elders on his side.”

“?!”

Kimiko was shocked when she heard that and sprung off her bed.

“You let it get that bad?! What were you thinking?!”

She then immediately regain her composure.

“I know what you were doing. You thought that it would be more exciting if Krow gather an army as large as possible. That way you would feel pressured for the first time in years.”

Nero smiled in response.

Kimiko sighed, and sat back on her bed.

“So? How much of my forces do you need?”

“Just Garmr’s Squad will do.”

“You want Mea here? You don't plan on leave anyone alive do you?”

Nero didn't say anything and smiled.

Seeing that devious smile, Kimiko knew that this War won't end unless either Krow or Nero dies.

“Oh, right, right. My wife.”

“What is it my husband?”

“Since it's been a decade, how about we spend the night together?”

Kimiko smiled and said-

“No way. Get out.”

“Why?! It's a wife's duty to attend to her husband’s needs!”

“I still haven't forgiven you for lying to me.”

Nero walked over to the bed and placed his hand on Kimiko's cheeks.

“Come on. Didn't bonding with Miko make you feel the urge to have another child?”

He then brought his mouth to her ear.

“I'm sure Nova and Sasha would want a younger sibling.”

*Bam!*

He was sent flying through the door with a punch.

He landed in the hall and stared at Kimiko.

“I said no.”

The door then closed in his face.

Nero sighed and got up. He was about to walk away, when the door swung open again.

“And don't even think about going to the Harem Garden. If you do….”

She pointed at Nero's lower body.

“I'll chop it off. Again.”

Saying so, she closed the door again.

Nero spent the rest of the night complaining to Raven over a few bottles of liquor.