Morning came and just like yesterday, Aeron woke up early. He stood up with excitement, level 6 was just around the corner. But the problem was the final push when the core was fully completed, he would be deep in a trance, defenseless to outside interruption.

‘She didn’t do anything yesterday, so it should be fine,’ Aeron thought.

Him meditating defenselessly the day before was a test, if she really had any thoughts of hurting him, then yesterday would have been a perfect opportunity. Although he held a certain trust towards her, as the circumstances of their meeting should be enough for the other party to not kill him if she was truly not who she said she was, of course, there was a chance of her being evil in nature so saving her life would not hold value, but the chances of that was slim, adding to the fact that she introduced herself as the Governor’s daughter. Another hand he hid was the location of the cloak and fruit, since she had yet to ask him about it, he’ll just hold on to it while he was not yet a level 6 Professional.

Aeron went around feeding his pets, he looked towards Lina and saw her sleeping still, Aeron knew she had already recovered some of her strength, and would most probably be much stronger than he was, and even against Arthur. Aeron just hoped it wasn’t a mistake to save her.

‘Let’s begin then,’ Aeron thought as he sat down.

This time, the meditation wouldn’t stop before he breaks through level 6. Feeling their masters resolve, Richie, Claude, and Akila surrounded Aeron, Arthur who was sitting on a branch a distance away was observing intently, he also felt that the woman became much more powerful yesterday, and it would have been a futile effort to fight her.

Lina woke up at the sight of Aeron meditating, his pets surrounded him vigilantly.

‘So you still have doubts about me huh,’ She thought.

What caught her eye about Aeron was his pets, others might not be able to see it so easily, so when she saw Richie, a black martial monkey, she didn’t think much and thought it to be normal, but when she saw the Cloud Leopard and the Silver Wolf, she was surprised. This was unheard of, even those geniuses lauded by their families and peers won’t be able to tame Mid-Grade Beasts before they hit level 6, of course, there might be others that did and just didn’t spread it, after all, taming High-Grade Beasts was also another almost impossible task, else everyone would just choose Tamer as their profession.

When Aeron’s pets saw her look at their master, they visibly tensed up, they watched her walk towards a branch to pick some fruits before eating it. They could feel an oppressive atmosphere around her that made them even more guarded.

“Hehe.. so it seems, you not telling me about the cloak and fruit was intentional,” Lina said as she bit the fruit she was holding with an audible crunch.

Tamers were never good at lying when their pets were out, their true feelings would always be shown through their pets. Just like what was happening in front of her, the scene made her chuckle, if she tried to, she could easily slaughter them if she wanted to.

“Tamer’s pets are always so endearing,” she said as her figure disappeared.

The three pets were confused when they saw the woman disappear in front of them, a shadow suddenly appeared below them as Lina reappeared. Her hand’s blurred as the three beasts fainted.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to your master, I still need to get my stuff from him,” she said as she brushed her golden locks aside as a smile formed on her lips.

The sight would have been stunning if not for the cold chill than one could feel from seeing it. Arthur froze, not knowing what to do, if he moved, then the woman might just kill his master, before killing him, his hands clenched producing an audible crackle as he stayed on his spot.

“Such a talented young man, if only you had no connection with her, then I could’ve just pretended before leaving, how unfortunate,” she murmured as she neared Aeron, her lips almost touching his forehead.

“Hmm.. maybe I could bring you back, it’ll be a pity to kill such a young and talented person, and a good looking one too,” she said as she slowly traced Aeron’s face.

Aeron was too deep in a trance as he worked towards leveling up, the formation of the core made him not notice his pet’s distress.

“Sigh.. the problem would be getting those guys approval.. see, they really hate beasts,” she went on as she shook her head.

She sat in front of Aeron, she chatted about as she waited for him to level up, she didn’t want to kill him at first, but when he confirmed his connection to that girl, then what happened before might just get traced back to her, disguises were not a thing on this new world, there might be beasts out there that could pull off such a feat, but humans didn’t have such abilities, even an Assassin like her. Memory stones were the perfect way to describe someone as a memory of them could easily be extracted, if she had known that the young woman was a Governor’s daughter, then she wouldn’t have done something so drastic.

“Tsk.. she just had to say her name before she died,” she said as she recalled the scene of a massive tide of beasts devouring the young woman as she fled from the scene.

She was confused when she woke up, so the first name she blurted out was the young woman’s name. Unfortunately, she didn’t know that Aeron had some connection to the Governor of Isa, and was specifically given a task to find the Governor’s daughter. Things started to dwindle afterwards.

Arthur watched on as he saw the woman blabbering to his master, but his patience was growing thin, the woman was dangerous and he was here standing by, watching, the more he thought about his weakness and incompetence, the more he wanted to charge at the woman. But just as he wanted to do so, a tweeting sound arrived.

“A notification bird?” the woman said in surprise.

Things were getting more complicated, if Aeron sent out a memory of her to someone, then she needed to kill them too.

‘Such a hassle from killing a girl,’ she thought.

It never entered her mind that the young woman would survive the ordeal as she vividly recalled a tide of beasts chasing her, the young woman was swallowed by the tide as she escaped, she killed many powerful beasts before she became too injured and weakened to continue, the last thing she saw was the Vine Snake’s jaws before everything went dark.

The golden haired woman vanished again as she arrived in front of the notification bird, but just as she reached her hand out to catch the bird, a sword flashed in front of her. Her hands formed a knife-hand as her aura gushed out to envelop her body.

Clang!

The impact sent her spinning into the air, her body twisted as she landed on a branch, but before she could steady herself, another sword flash followed. She was able to block the sword blow by crossing her hands and concentrating her aura to block the cut, but the blunt force still sent her on the floor.

Boom!

Dust and wooden debris flew out when the golden haired woman crashed into the ground, but another person appeared standing before the woman. A beautiful young woman wearing a set of grey leather clothes, her sword was pointed at the woman’s throat.

“Where is it!?” the young woman asked in an angry tone.

The golden haired woman laid on the ground, her arms still crossed in front of her as a crazed look replaced her sweet demeanor. Her hair was disheveled as pieces of splintered wood covered her body, even so, a thin veil of aura covered her body preventing further injuries.

“Hahaha, you’re still alive!” the golden haired woman said in a crazed voice as she faded in front of the young woman.

The golden haired woman’s figure appeared beside the young woman as a lightning-quick kick landed on the young woman’s side, the kick sent the young woman spinning into the air, the golden haired woman followed as she readied another blow, but the young woman swung her sword to block the attack.

Bang!

Both attacks landed and blew the two women away from each other. Each of them landed safely and gracefully on the wooden floor.

“Where is it thief!” the young woman suddenly said.

This young woman was the true Lina Azrhail, the daughter of the Governor of Isa, after being chased by wolves, she suddenly met the golden haired woman inside the Endless Forest, she was surprised as well as delighted. If the woman helped her out, then she could escape the wolves' pursuit faster. But what she did not expect was the woman’s expression changing before attacking her instead, an unexpected kick to the stomach sent her sprawling to the ground, Lina was able to say her identity in hopes that the woman would stop. The woman stopped for a moment before picking the grey cloak Lina bundled the piece of fruit in. She then proceeded to uncover the object inside, the scent exploded from the cloak attracting the strong beasts in the surrounding.

A huge tide of beasts covered the forest as the surprised woman glared at Lina before hightailing it out of there, Lina still in pain felt cold all over, despair and regret suddenly covered her being, but something unexpected happened. The beasts around her ignored her existence as they proceeded to chase the thief who stole her cloak and fruit.

“I can’t believe that you’re still alive, but did you really think you could beat me?” the golden haired woman said in a smug voice.

The golden haired woman stood in front of a seething Lina and looked tauntingly at her. But instead of an angrier Lina, she only saw her staring back at her, sword pointed. The beauty in front of her made her angrier instead. One of the reasons she attacked her was because of her beauty, she had always been the most beautiful in the room, but seeing another person with a beauty that surpassed even hers made her seethe with rage, and jealousy, anger clouded her head. A crazy thought suddenly appeared on her mind as she attacked the innocent young woman on impulse. She had first decided to let the woman live after she heard the name Azrhail, but the following events didn’t allow it.

“Do you really think I can’t beat you in your current state?” Lina suddenly spoke.

If it were back then, then Lina would not try to fight her, but she saw the golden haired woman’s trails and the bloody path she carved. Following the trail made her see the leather vest and daggers the woman had dropped, the only reason a Professional would drop his or her weapon in such a situation was when he or she didn’t have the strength to hold it.

“Tch, then DIE!” the golden haired woman shouted as she dug her heels on the ground before launching off with a bang.

Lina looked at the woman lunging in front of her donning a crazed expression, her hands reached behind her.

“[Dance of Death]”

Lina activated her skill as her figure vanished, the woman was able to react as a sword flashed behind her. Her hands turned into knife-hand to block the blow.

Clang!

The sword blow was successfully blocked which made the woman grin in satisfaction, but before she could execute a counter-attack, Lina’s other hand suddenly swung with another sword, the sword was so thin and transparent that it looked invisible when it was stationary.

Bang!

The second sword blow hit the golden haired woman on her hips, the aura enveloping her body was able to protect her from being cut, but the impact shook her insides, she crashed into a tree trunk before spouting a large amount of blood. The golden haired woman’s body was still injured and her strength was far from her peak, her confidence and anger made her blind as she wanted to end the fight quickly. In truth, she did have some regrets, if she had just killed Lina instead of kicking her down, then there would have been no problems that followed, in truth, the fruit was a surprise for her, she knew it was precious and would fetch a huge price, it was also an item wanted by their master, which was the main reason she held unto it.

Lina didn’t let the woman rest as she vanished, blades spun as she chased the woman around. The golden haired woman disappeared again. Lina looked around her vigilantly, the most dangerous method of an assassin wasn’t when you fought them head-on, it was when you least expected it. Thus, if not for the woman’s confidence and arrogance, then Lina wouldn’t have been able to damage her as much, and things might have gone into another direction.

“Hmm, since I can’t kill you, let’s just end it here,” the woman’s voice could suddenly be heard.

“Do you really think it would end like this?” Lina replied.

“If you had died then maybe it won’t, but since your alive, then it will, whether you like it or not hahaha” the woman’s voice replied with an almost crazed laughter.

“You really believe that my father and the Azrhail family would just let you go after what you did to me?” Lina answered seriously.

Even if the woman was truly mad, she was still able to recognize Lina’s family and the power they held, hence the reason why she hesitated in killing her before.

“Hehe.. then tell them it was the Golden Rose from the Immortals that bullied you.. we might even see each other when the time came,” the woman’s said before she vanished completely.

Lina stood on the spot, she looked around vigilantly, she did not trust the woman, but she did recognize the organization the woman mentioned, her father once told her not to easily provoke their members, they were a crazy bunch of people, but they generally did not antagonize their fellow humans, as such, their existence was not deemed dangerous to humanity, they also had a powerful leader which made it even harder to fight them.

After half an hour of standing on the spot, Lina suddenly held her abdomen where the attack landed. The difference between stages was not easily bridged even against a heavily injured opponent. The woman who called herself the Golden Rose was a Sky Stage Professional at her peak, thus, it was a gamble for Lina to try and fight her even if she was heavily injured.

Lina gritted her teeth from the pain as she guided her mana towards the injured area. She looked in front of her where three beasts lay unconscious and behind them was a young man, maybe 3 years younger than her.

‘So this guy is Aeron?’ Lina thought.