Chapter 28

In the forest, many miles away.

A small man with a cracked silver mask limped past a surrounding sea of large looming trees and dense foliage. He travelled slowly, appearing to be heavily injured.

Fuoosh!

Suddenly, a large building appeared in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere.

The man looked up, stopped in his tracks, and heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally reached his destination.

For the past few days, he had been painstakingly making his way through the forest, stopping every so often to rest and ease his injuries. The punch he had received a week prior had done a great deal of damage, which he was currently suffering from. Because he had no medical supplies, he had been forced to leave his injuries untreated, and just try to reach his destination as swiftly as possible.

Just as the man was standing there, a flurry of movement could be seen around the base of the building, and a gold masked, black-clothed man carrying a sheathed sword appeared. He began walking towards the silver cracked-masked man.

“Naire. Did you retrieve the boy?”

“No sir.” Naire hesitated. He bit his lip, and then talked with a tense voice. “Some mysterious new expert stopped us… and took Kael prisoner.”

Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but tighten his fists.

“Took Kael prisoner…?” The man receiving Naire seemed surprised. “And you, a three star silver masked member, couldn't stop him?”

“I was unable to.” Naire responded, gritting his teeth. He pointed towards the cracks in his mask. “I just barely got away as well… judging by his strength, I think he has the power of at least a gold masked member.”

Even a week later, he was still shocked by the amount of force that seemingly small punch had contained. Having not detected an excessive quantity of spirit energy residing in it, its destructive power must have resulted from a mastery of spirit energy. What kind of advanced spirit energy control was that?!

“...hah.” The gold masked man let out a breath. Naire, as a three star silver masked member of their organization, was just one step away from gold masked rank. If this new person had been able to defeat him, and exert that much force on the mask, it did in fact indicate that he was certainly at least a gold masked level expert!

In their group, members were ranked by color of mask, with a number of stars representing one’s status in each color. Gold masked members were considered skilled experts that could freely utilize spirit energy.

“Gold masked level expert…” The gold masked man mused. “This is turning out to be much harder than I thought.”

Naire grimaced. From the other man’s attitude, he already understood that the organization couldn’t care less about his partner Kael, who was only a one star silver masked member.

“That deserter now has a powerful ally.” The gold masked man clicked his tongue. “We’re going to have to increase our manpower.”

Naire was startled. “Does that mean…”

“Yes.” The gold masked man cut in. “Head to the infirmary. I’ll gather some others. I’ll likely be able to get another two gold masked assassins to help lead the mission.”

Saying that, he turned around and headed back toward the large building. Naire hurriedly followed.

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In Zairen’s room.

A few hours had passed since Finn had come to visit. It was now afternoon.

Zairen was still sitting cross-legged on his bed, carefully executing his Shadow Dragon Art cultivation technique. As he meditated, he took deep breaths in and out.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Alivia ran in.

“Little brother! You have to see this!” Alivia stood at the end of Zairen’s bed.

Zairen was startled and instinctively dispersed the shadowy atmosphere surrounding him. He stared at Alivia, fully alert, hopeful that she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “What is it?”

“Come with me and you’ll see.” Before Zairen could protest, Alivia had already grabbed his hand and started dragging him toward the door.

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Alivia led Zairen along the dirt trail in the direction of the central square. They walked for a long while before reaching the square’s perimeter.

Zairen looked around. A familiar scene of numerous stands and crowds of people surrounded them. What was strange, however, was that all of the villagers seemed to be staring at the distant central square perimeter, as if waiting for someone to come.

He looked at Alivia. “So what did you want to show me?”

“Wait just a minute. He should be coming around soon.” Alivia pursed her lips.

Zairen glanced at her quizzically, but upon receiving no further explanation, stayed silent.

Just a few seconds later, Alivia suddenly pointed toward the left, toward the far perimeter of the square, and exclaimed: “There he is!”

As she said that, a large commotion also erupted amongst the villagers near them, who started talking amongst themselves as they stared in that same direction.

Curious about the clamor, Zairen twisted his head towards where Alivia was pointing.

Immediately, his eyes grew wide.

The person she was pointing at was Finn!

He was jogging along the perimeter of the central square, his face fixed in a determined yet exhausted expression, and his body moving in a slow repetitive motion. Soon, he would be rounding the corner, heading straight toward them. Judging by his current condition, he had been at it for a long while.

“How long has he been doing this?!” Zairen asked, shocked. He instantly remembered the order he had given Finn a few hours prior: run two hundred laps around the village square. He had said that to drive Finn away, but it seemed that instead, Finn had taken it as part of his training.

“He’s been like this ever since this morning.” Alivia responded. “Several people have urged him to stop, but he hasn’t listened.”

Hearing that, Zairen stared on in amazement. Since that morning?! That spoiled brat actually had that kind of perseverance?

“And that’s that’s why I brought you.” Alivia finished explaining. In truth, she was flabbergasted as well. In the morning, when she had first seen Finn running around the square, she had been very surprised, but had not said anything to Zairen. But then, that afternoon, when she had seen him still running, she almost couldn't believe her eyes! Unexpectedly, Finn had ran around the square for a full five hours straight?! She couldn't help but running to tell her little brother.

It seemed that, against all expectations, Finn really did view Zairen as his master!

It wasn’t just Alivia and Zairen that were in disbelief: all of the surrounding villagers seemed to be skeptical as well, and they gossiped with hushed voices.

“Isn’t that Finn, the governor’s son? Why is he running around the square?”

“I don't know. I don't remember him ever being interested in training his body.”

“Yeah. Wasn’t he very spoiled? What possessed him to do this?”

“He’s been running for almost six straight hours! Has he gone crazy?!”

As Finn approached, everyone closely observed him, wondering what he was thinking. Finn himself, however, seemed to be focused entirely on his task, looking very out of breath and haggard.

Just as Finn finally reached near where the crowd was, Zairen stepped forward and yelled out his name.

“Finn!”

“...ha…?” Hearing that, Finn was at first a bit groggy but then immediately stopped jogging and looked around. Completing a cursory scan, he quickly spotted Zairen near him, and stumbled a bit as he hurriedly tried to bow. “...Master… wh… what... brings you… here..? ...ha… ha...”

Upon hearing the word “master,” Zairen couldn’t help but slightly raise an eyebrow. Biting his lip, he slowly said back: “Finn... you’ve done well. You can stop running now.”

“...huh?” Upon hearing this, despite being extraordinarily tired, Finn was still bewildered, and cocked his head to the side. “But… I still… ha… haven't finished... running two hundred laps! ...ha...”

“...” Zairen stared at Finn’s earnest/looking expression, finding that he had trouble believing what Finn was saying. Had this previously spoiled brat really become so diligent and hardworking? He quickly shook his head. “It’s fine for now. You can go back home.”

Finn thought for a moment, before scrunching up his face and scratching his head. He nodded sluggishly and said: “Okay... master… ha... Let’s meet up… here again... tomorrow… ha… ha...”

After saying that, he gave another sloppy bow, before turning around and stumbling off.

“No… no, wait!” Zairen hurriedly said back, reaching out his hand and trying to gain Finn’s attention.

However, it seemed that Finn was too tired to hear his words, and did not respond.

Seeing Finn’s state, Zairen halted his speech, and ended up staying silent.

Pap, pap, pap… Finn’s slow, rhythmic, footsteps slowly faded. Gradually, in front of everyone’s incredulous eyes, Finn’s figure melted into the distant woods.

After Finn’s figure had disappeared, all of the villagers turned their attention to Zairen. It was evident that they were stunned by what they had just witnessed.

“Finn, the young master… Listened to that boy?”

“Did he just call him master?!”

“Who is that? I don't think I've seen him before.”

“Finn is actually taking orders from someone else?!”

“How can he have the authority to tell the governor’s son what to do?”

Like a violent flood of water shooting out of a crumbling dam, a large uproar suddenly erupted amongst the villagers. They stared at Zairen as they blabbered, as if studying a piece of art.

All of them had previously seen Finn do what he pleased, never taking orders from anyone.

But now, for the first time, he had actually called someone else “master”; how could they not be alarmed?

Zairen brought his hand to his face and slowly rubbed his temples. He had never liked attention, and especially did not like being a source of gossip.

However, despite the looks people around him were giving, he still glanced at the distant treeline in which Finn had disappeared into.

‘Finn… What happened to him? Has he really changed so much?’