The leader retreated and started running in a circle.

Nilus who was now encircled thought: “He is using his men as bait to strike when I reveal an opening. He must believe that I am at the same level as him. I’ve been eating souls for four years now and until now I have yet to lose to anyone. I’ve already killed A rank assassins, he knows it. He is stupid to assemble a team of A rank assassins to deal with me. Frankly, I would’ve preferred to fight an S rank. Well, my wish might be granted if I do not wrap this up. I should break the encirclement first.”

Nilus gracefully evaded every blow aimed at him using his senses. He could see a mental image of the assassins as they moved with their aura.

Since the aura was birthed from igniting the soul, it was considered as energy for Nilus. He had come to such a conclusion during his meals. He could see it and even ascertain the level of concentration just by looking at it. As he became stronger, his range and way of seeing changed. He could form a mental map of 200 meters around him. In that map, any human could be seen easily in his soul form. It was a plus to his physical enhancement.

Fighting with these rank A assassins was like fighting little suns in such a close distance. Their souls glowed in his mind. Even their aura weapons did not escape his notice as they dangerously came close to his back. He evaded their blows for 30 seconds until their leader finally appeared.

He had created the opening to his back on purpose. A short sword came with the intention on impaling him. He did a back flip in time and evaded it in time as he found himself behind the leader.

Nilus planned to end things swiftly by killing off the leader right of the bat to scare off the rest and disappear in the crowd.

He immediately grabbed the neck of the leader with his two hands and squeezed. It was over in less than a minute. The leader had fainted.

Nilus inhaled his soul and a green glow appeared under the mask. Everybody watched as if they had seen a monster. The leader was killed in under 2 minutes.

“The green aura again. It really is him. Poor Lucas. Well, at least he gave us the final clue. There are still five of us, let’s kill him before someone else steals our prey.” One of them said. Hundreds of thousands of gold could not be abandoned easily.

The five pounced on him like mad dogs.

Nilus sighed as he took out Cale’s bone dagger.

“Since no one can see souls but me, I might as well use this opportunity to see if I can upgrade it with the soul energy.” Nilus planned to experiment with the dagger inside the square as was he watched by hundreds of eyes.

Nilus disappeared from where he was and went for the furthest assassin coming for him as he slashed open every neck of the other four on his way.

By the time he arrived at the last assassin, the other four were clutching their neck trying to understand why there was so much blood coming out them. They collapsed on the ground almost at the same time gasping for breath.

“It should take some time before they die. In the meantime….” He said while looking the dying fifth assassin.

He made the action of inhaling the soul out of the assassin but stopped before the soul entered his mouth. He blew on the soul directing it towards the bone dagger.

He could not use his hands to interact with souls, only his mouth. Until now, he only knew how to breathe souls inside his soul core.

As the soul touched the knife, it was slowly absorbed into the knife’s aura core.

“This is no surprise, the aura comes from igniting the soul. Soul energy should be a form of energy that is acceptable as well.”

“ Good.”

He turned around and inhaled deeply. Four souls came out of the shivering bodies. He once again did the same thing and the souls were all absorbed by the bone dagger that finally gave a light shine that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

“ I guess it just leveled up to the 4th stage. I wonder how much aura crystals were fed to this dagger to reach the third stage in 15 years. The Malark family sure is rich. I wonder what kind of reaction Cale will have when he finds out that I earned him a few more years of savings to squander around.” Thought Nilus.

“At least it works.” He finally said.

He looked around then collected the aura weapons of every assassin. He planned to sell them and cover his expenses while adventuring for the next year.

It was recommended to acquire an aura weapon that was already leveled up to save time rather than painstakingly doing it for yourself for decades. Those who could afford such weapons could also afford aura crystals. It was a question of what was more important. Using aura crystals to help level up your aura weapon or just buy it outright.

“The leader’s short sword looks fancy enough. I’ll keep it for now.” Nilus said.

He finally faced the crowd of mercenaries and shopkeepers and said:”See. It’s all over. Now if you'll excuse me...” He disappeared in the crowd.

As Nilus left, a figure appeared at top of a building. It was Cale who had not missed a moment of the fight. He thought:

“I followed him to protect him. But why was I ever worried? It looks like his body was enhanced to the fourth stage. He doesn’t even know it himself. If that soul core of his works like the core of an aura weapon, it will start emitting its own aura at the fifth stage. He is closer than I thought. He doesn’t even need to adventure outside, but it has to be done. We will probably come back in less than six months instead of a year. Sigh… I will have to come back to this boring place…” he then departed.

Inside the Assassin guild

The main hall was humongous. It was a fun thing to see as the guild itself worked outside the law but showed itself so openly to the public.

As Nilus entered, he was quite the most normal one. It seemed that there was a tacit understanding between everybody, even the clerks that worked there, that no one's identity was to be revealed whatsoever.

He looked around and saw that there was an available clerk waving at him. He went over.

When he arrived, he simply said:”I am here to join.”

The clerk retrieved a form and a pen and told him: ” Fill this out.”

There were only 2 questions on the form. He quickly answered and gave it back.

She looked at the answers and looked at him and angrily said: “You do know that your targets will never be scared enough if you told them that your name is Silent Owl. I also notice that under occupation you mentioned hero. Are you making fun of our guild? This information is already confidential and we do not even ask enough to be able to track you down.”

“Well, I really am the Silent owl. Call the Shadow Envoy over to test me, I’m in a hurry.” Said Nilus, indifferently.

The clerk looked at him and then started laughing and thought:”This moron asks for the Shadow Envoy to test him? Is he crazy? He’s just a recruit…and why do I even bother thinking like this? I see that he wrote Holy Demon as referral. Holy demon? Isn’t he the newly promoted S class Shadow Master? How can this moron even mention him? Holy Demon is one of the most secretive operatives of the Shadow Envoy... he cannot give his name so randomly... unless this guy is who he says he is….. If he is lying the Shadow envoy will surely kill him…well better safe than sorry… ” She told Nilus: ”Please take a seat the Shadow Envoy will be here soon.”

Nilus found an empty seat and calmly sat down

On a spacious rooftop. Two middle aged men were playing a board game as a maid was pouring tea.

“I just received an intelligence report that your prized Silent Owl was seen in the eastern square close to this branch. Hehe,…he killed 6 rank A assassins almost instantly. He must be an S class fellow who grew too bored with his strength. Did you try and see who was under that mask?” Jeffrey, a Shadow Envoy from Hedgebourne city, said.

“…let him do as he pleases. If I get that information, I will be too tempted to sell it. Every day he does his hero job, his bounty keeps increasing in the tens of thousands. So many nobles have created an alliance just for that Silent Owl to be killed. The bounty is at 350,000 gold coins right now…” said Stewart, the Shadow envoy of the Violetmill city Assassin guild branch.

“That much? Heck…even I am tempted. Don’t tell me that you plan on waiting for the bounty to go up so you can sell his true identity as a bonus. Just that intel will bring back more than just the actual bounty no matter how high it becomes.” Jeffrey had seen through Stewart’s plan.

“Of course. We are in this business to make money after all. We keep but a commission on the bounty but the intelligence that we sell is ours. We can slowly milk it until the target is dead. In this case, the Silent Owl's worth just went up. Everyone will assume that he is really an S class. That stupid noble alliance will have to almost double the bounty to attract even us in the fray. You do not understand what this self-proclaimed hero does to them, he kills their side businesses so fast that even I have no idea how he does it.” Stewart said.

“How high do you think the bounty will end up?” Jeffrey asked.

“Interested huh? I expect it to reach 500000 gold coins minimum.” Stewart said with a gleam in his eyes.

The maid who had been serving tea previously came back and said: ”Sir, Mina, a clerk from the main hall requests an audience.”

“Let her in.” Said Stewart.

Mina slowly came up the stairs and greeted the two men after reaching them:” Good morning, Sirs. ” She then turned to Stewart and said: “I did not have a choice but to come up here since Holy Demon’s name was mentioned.”

“Sigh…What did that kid do this time?” Stewart was already showing some fatigue as he heard Cale’s alias.

“Well, it concerns someone who says that he is being referred to us by him and he specifically asked for you to administer the test.” Mina said.

“That noble kid doesn’t know how to make good friends. To refer somebody means that you’ve known him for years and he must at least be of the same level. Those are the rules that a Shadow master must follow. His only friend is a cripple that is in love with my daughter. I cannot kill Holy demon for letting them fall in love because he is talented and I cannot kill the cripple because my own daughter will disown me. All three give me a fucking headache…Sigh…give me his form…” Stewart said.

The nearby Jeffrey could not hold his laughter “Hahaha…I remember you saying that you never wanted any kids back then…Haha…Look at you now…they are playing around with your head…this is too funny.”

Mina was handing out the form and said:” Sir he calls himself Sil….” Before she could finish she saw Jeffrey snatching the form and reading it. This time he could not stop his laughter and his eyes started releasing tears of joy as he said: “I hope it's a prank from your disciple…If this guy is the real deal, I wonder if you are going to sell out your referred new Shadow master…haha” He gave the form to Stewart.

Stewart read once and thought he was dreaming. He read two more times before he put down the form and closed his eyes while his right hand massaged his nose and saying:

“Well, this is an odd day.” He stood up and headed towards the stairs: ”I am going to see what this is all about. Even Holy demon will have to ask for forgiveness after I find out that he wasted my time for nothing.”

Nilus was feeling bored already. When he saw a middle-aged man appear, he was startled at first to see that there was someone who did not care about hiding his identity coming from the inner area of the edifice. The same masked clerk was trailing behind another middle-aged man who showed a happy face.

“I hear that you call yourself Silent Owl, the hero who’s been ransacking the nobles all over the city. How do you know Holy demon?” Stewart asked.

“He is a good friend of mine.” Said the nervous Nilus. He could feel that this harmless middle-aged man was stronger than him. He had guessed that he was the Shadow Envoy that Cale had mentioned.

Stewart was startled as he heard Nilus’s voice: “ I’ve heard this voice somewhere before.” He thought. Stewart decided to keep asking useless question until he remembered.

“How long have you known him ?” asked Stewart.

“Ever since we were kids.” Said Nilus who had no idea that he was talking to his girlfriend’s father and Cale’s mentor who knew Cale’s noble identity and knew Nilus from when he was thinking of killing him.

“This is odd. I know him personally and he never said anything about a childhood friend who was as strong as him. He never even mentioned the Silent Owl to anybody.” Stewart said.

“I am sure he will tell you next time you hear from him.” Nilus said.

“Alright, let's go to the arena.” Said the suspicious Stewart as he turned around and went back to where he had come from.

Jeffrey appeared next to Stewart and almost whispered:“Your memory has never betrayed you. Come on, spill the beans. Who is he? I can see from that face of yours that you know something.”

Stewart thought for a moment and said before he regretted it: “It is impossible, but he has the same voice as my future useless son-in-law.”

As they left the main hall toward the inner area, Jeffrey attracted all the attention as his laughter reverberated in the inner area.

Nilus could not understand why this other old man was laughing and looking at him at same time. He just followed them as they took endless stairs that brought them inside an underground arena in which hundreds of assassins were seated watching two assassins fight on the stage.

It was quite animated with the relentless screaming, cheering and chit chat.

They stopped in front of what looked like betting kiosks and Stewart said to a clerk behind the counter: “Tell them to clear the stage for a while, they are going to want to bet on this fight.”

“A new Shadow master?” The clerk behind the counter asked.

“Yes.” Stewart said.

Jeffrey advanced and furtively said something to the clerk who started showing an unusual smile as he listened.

“What do they bet on if I cannot even beat you?” Nilus asked Stewart.

“I only use my body to fight, you just have to endure three minutes on the stage against me. If you cannot make it, I will be the judge of whether you can become a Shadow master or not. In most cases, the tested will find themselves being just given the S rank after the spar and promoted to Shadow master later. As for the bets, they bet on the chance that you force me to use my aura to protect myself first and my aura weapon in second. Forcing me to use the aura happened before. Forcing me to use my aura weapon is clearly impossible. Don’t get your hopes up and just do your best. ” Steward answered.

Nilus retrieved five of the aura weapons he had acquired from the six assassins earlier and asked: “Can I also bet with these as well?”

The clerk almost took them from his hands but restrained himself and said: ”Yes, You can. We can even convert them into gold coins right now if you want. What do you want to bet on?” He finally snatched them from Nilus’s hands.

“I will make him use his aura at least.” Nilus confidently said. He knew himself well enough to give himself that chance.

“Noted.” The clerk said before he took a weird conical object that amplified his voice and announced: “Attention everybody. Something special is about to happen. The Shadow envoy is about to interview a new shadow master. The bets are open as of now. Our new challenger is named Silent Owl. ”

Immediately after, the exit was crowded rather than the betting stall.

“Sir, How about we wait for fifteen minutes. I am sure that all the assassins in the city will be here shortly to bear witness to your test.” The clerk tentatively pleaded Stewart.

Stewart inwardly sighed and looked at Jeffrey: “ This smells like your plan.”

Jeffrey shrugged his shoulders and said: “ I am just helping your branch to rack in as much gold as possible. Everybody knows that the Silent owl was sighted near this branch. They will believe that he came here to join and that we have sufficient intel to allow him to keep his name because he is the real deal. They all know that he is going to leave alive and spent after fighting you. Those that will enter will be here to see what he looks like; how strong he is as well as betting. The rest will stay outside to prepare an ambush for him.”

Nilus looked unaffected but said: “You may be killing all the assassins inside this city without knowing it.” After saying that he slowly walked towards the stage as the remaining assassins inside the arena gave him a greedy look.

Behind him, Stewart remained motionless as he looked at the back of the cloaked young man and remembered his daughter telling him that her boyfriend was not as useless as he thought he was. Then he remembered his disciple who was always worried for a guy that now looked at a thousand assassins in the eye and swept them away like dust.

Jeffrey was cursing for not managing the soon to be wealthiest branch in the country because of one madman who hated criminals and nobles alike. He asked Stewart when Nilus was far away: “Don’t you think this is a good time to sell his true identity? You heard him yourself, he is clearly not afraid of the army waiting for him outside.”

“His name is Nilus Hornraven. Do it. ” Stewart firmly said to the clerk, Mina, who had been lurking in the corner.

“Ye…Yes, Sir.” She said as she left.

Stewart slowly started walking towards the arena as well. He was thinking: “You hid well, Nilus. Even your best friend probably knew nothing until recently. Even I saw nothing. I can finally bring you away from my daughter without killing you. Hehe…I should thank you for this as well…Oh, how the world is little. Playing around in this city and doing what you want, you are going to understand how many people hate your guts. Especially those nobles you enraged. When they buy from me your real name, they are going to go nuts and start creating nonsense about your motives. Your family probably has no idea as well. They will be feared by everybody when even them will be scared of you. Hahaha…I think this is the reason that disciple of mine asked for a sabbatical. He was planning on adventuring the country with you. Well, this way you can go away for good…hehe…You better be strong enough when you come back because even I will be tempted to kill you when the reward reaches a certain point. Others at my level and above might probably chase you even now. Hehehe…Good luck kid… ”