Seifr stood alongside the building keeping watch down the alleyway for anyone deciding to walk towards them. So far nobody had so much as glanced down the alleyway. There were not many people walking down backstreets in the middle of the night. Shayla was hunched over by his side working a pair of lock-picks trying to open the door.

This was the third "mission" he had been on with Shayla, and they had all gone smoothly so far. To be fair, though, they had been assigned easy targets to help him get used to the work. The task Seifr found himself on this night was a step up. This particular target employed private security. Their surveillance had shown mostly Peak Mortal Realm and Early Elementary Realm cultivators being employed, but they had heard rumors that the captain of the security team was in the Mid Nascent Realm.

Seifr had suffered some fairly serious internal injuries from the backlash he received from channeling his ki into the sword. He had used up the entirety of his ki to escape from the nightmare he had found himself in. Close to the end, blood had started seeping out of his nose, eyes, and ears, and his mental state had degraded into delirium. It was while in that state that he managed to crawl into a warehouse with the instinctual need to hide.

The effects of the backlash were considerably more severe than the first time he had channeled ki into the sword, and he was incapacitated for a week. When he had finally awoken, he found himself in a bunk room with several other teenagers and Shayla standing over him. He was bedridden for another three days after waking, and when he was finally able to move again, he found that the bunk room was a dug-out basement concealed with a trap door in an innocuous house in a middle-class residential neighborhood. He was confused about the setup until he realized the group of teenagers were a band of thieves.

Shayla finally managed to pick the lock, and the door swung open silently. Shayla used a little trick to suppress the vibrations caused by the hinges creaking to muffle them to nearly silent by infusing her ki directly into the door and suppressing the vibrations directly. Seifr had found that there were a lot of little useful ways to manipulate ki without having to be able to manifest it. He had learned the night-vision trick not long ago, but was still an amateur at the rest of the skills. He had spent the past eight months training and had managed to advance his cultivation to the 2nd Elementary Stage - a fairly significant breakthrough for him as it caused a qualitative leap up in his fighting prowess.

They crept into the backroom of the target. Their current heist was targeted on a small jewelry store in a semi-rich commercial district. This particular area did not employ nearly the level of rich stores that Seifr had once visited while shopping for a Ki Weapon. The band of thieves focused their activities on the wealthy or semi-wealthy luxury stores that catered to the rich. They never took enough to cause a store owner to go out of business from the loss, and they stayed away from the middle-class or poor districts. Even though they were thieves, they had a little bit of honor and would not put someone out on the streets. Sometimes, though, they would rob a noble mansion directly if they thought they could get away with it, and they took everything they could get their hands on.

Shayla used hand signals to direct Seifr down a hallway and into another room that should have been locked but, happily, was not. They made their way around a counter to a locked case, and she had him attempt to pick the lock. He would rate himself as above average for the amount of time he had spent, but he was definitely not in league with Shayla. He spent several minutes before finally sliding all of the tumblers into place, unlocking the padlock. Shayla used the vibration trick, as she knew that Seifr had yet to master it to a sufficient level to use on the job. As she lifted the lid to the case, a red security light hanging on the wall above the door lit up with a red glow.

Security lights were things that various cultivators could craft through ki manifestation, and this one appeared to be linked to the case where it would automatically come on if the case was opened. It was a fairly sophisticated setup, and one the pair had not anticipated. Shayla wasted no time stuffing a sack full of gems and jewelry before motioning for Seifr to lead the way out.

Seifr almost ran head first into one of the security detail as he exited the room. Seifr did not hesitate and landed a palm blow directly on the man's chest, sending him flying down the hall. The guard had only been at the Peak Mortal Realm, and with Seifr's increased purity and being in the Elementary Realm, the man was like a child compared to Seifr's fighting prowess. Shayla's eyebrows climbed up her head in surprise. This was the first time she had seen Seifr strike anyone, and she was not expecting that level of disparity. It was common knowledge that the stages close to each other in the Common Path did not have that much significant difference in power level. The way Seifr man-handled the opponent was almost as if he was an entire realm higher in cultivation and not just two stages.

All attempts at stealth were aborted as the duo made a mad dash back to the exit. Several more security personnel came rushing down the hall from both ends, placing the two thieves in a pincer attack. Shayla turned and engaged a man at the Peak Elementary Realm. The guard had not paid attention to her cultivation base, and was thoroughly shocked after she struck him with the power of the 1st Stage Nascent Realm. The disparity was much less pronounced than when Seifr had launched his opponent clear across the hall earlier. Shayla was not trained in the fundamentals of Kung Fu, and thus was actually at a slight disadvantage against the older man. He smiled at the frustration written on her face, but it soon vanished into astonishment and a little fear as Seifr maneuvered around into position replacing Shayla as the combatant. The man looked over the two's shoulders and saw that Seifr had already incapacitated three other guards, one of which who was also at the Peak Elementary Realm like he was.

The security guard grit his teeth as he yelled out, "You can't get away! Make things easier on yourselves. Drop the stolen goods and turn yourselves in."

Seifr smirked at the man as he attempted to wage a defensive battle, obviously trying to stall for time. But he was on the inside direction of the hall, and Shayla had the sack with the merchandise. Seifr waved his partner away as he said, "Go on ahead. I'll cover our tracks and meet up with you at home later. Trust me." He gave her a sincere smile, that was only diminished because of the mask that he was wearing to obscure his identity.

Shayla hesitated at first, but then firmed her resolve when he told her to trust him. She had spent eight months around him and knew that he was not full of stupid bravado, and witnessing his fighting abilities in action for the first time also helped her make up her mind. She turned and dashed off, escaping from the building into the dark of night. Seifr knew that she would zig-zag through the city, find a spot to change her clothes, and then casually walk among any crowds out at this time back to the house.

Seifr turned back towards the man and continued his assault on the guard. The man gave ground continuously, finding it very difficult to keep up with Seifr's relentless attack. The difference in cultivation should have had the opposite result with the older man quickly dominating this youth. The guard never even had the opportunity to get over his astonishment and try to adapt to his opposition's fighting style before Seifr struck a blow to the side of his head, sending his body into the wall of the hallway, and then he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Seifr casually looked around for more opposition. The store owner only employs a small night-shift security team, and I've already fought off five people. Surely there aren't any more. Though now that I think of it, I never did see anyone in the Mid Nascent Realm. He turned and made his way back to the exit. Before stepping across the threshold of the door to the alley behind the store, he felt a premonition of danger. It was very similar to the one he had felt while waiting outside the Stone Garden nearly a year ago, but it was much less pronounced. Seifr trusted his instincts and so he dashed to the side and crouched down while spinning to face the direction he had come from. As soon as he had dashed out of the way, a throwing dagger sailed through the space he had been and impaled itself into the wall.

Seifr stood back up and observed the man who had thrown the dagger. The man approaching Seifr appeared to be in his late twenties, and he had a cultivation of the 6th Nascent Realm. Seifr adopted a very serious expression as he drew his sword out of the scabbard. Over the past eight months he had continued to experiment with infusing ki into the sword. While it was extremely dangerous and painful to infuse all of his ki into the sword, he had found that tiny, controlled bursts would allow him to temporarily move marginally faster than everything else, and it happened in a way that his perception remained the same so he could still maintain complete control of his actions. The more ki he infused, the faster the marginal change in perception and speed he experienced.

He had still not mastered the ability to properly gauge the correct amount of ki to use and when to use it when in actual combat, so he was nervous about facing this opponent. If he did not want to be bedridden for another week or so, it was going to be dangerous trying to focus on properly fighting and controlling his ki infusion. Sink or swim. This is the only way to learn - by doing. At seeing the sword form stance and the steady, determined step Seifr took towards the guard, the older man's face lit up with surprise. He had been expecting an untrained youth who he would easily be able to manage.

Seifr continued taking steady, measured steps to close the gap between them, and after a brief moment of surprise, the man drew his longsword from his back and charged towards Seifr on the attack. This other man was also trained in sword forms, but they were apparently a different set than what Seifr had trained in. Instructor Nalai had never actually told him what the forms she had imparted on him were called. The two men flowed between the forms in a kind of deadly dance. If Shayla had remained behind to witness this scene, she would have been utterly flabbergasted. The fluid movements of the two men's bodies and the flashing of the swords as they collided with each other in strike-parry-counter over and over as each sought a chink in the other's defense could have been described as art.

It quickly became apparent to Seifr that while he was the better skilled swordsman, his body was not able to keep up with the speed and power of the Mid Nascent Realm practitioner he was fighting. The other man noticed too, and he smiled as he became more confident as he increased the pressure on Seifr.

It's now or never. I need to seize the next opportunity to attempt to outmaneuver this man. Seifr never lost his calm even as he started to get steadily pushed back. The other swordsman managed to slip just barely past Seifr's defenses and nicked him on the shoulder. The guard paused in momentary surprise, and Seifr grabbed this moment to infuse a small bit of ki into his sword. To Seifr's perception, the man's pause lasted far longer than it should have, and he took the opportunity to circle his katana around the other man's hilt and use leverage to throw the man's arm wide and send his weapon flying in a classic disarm, and then he lashed out with his foot and kicked him in the chest. It seemed to take a couple of seconds to Seifr, but to the security guard, it happened literally in an instant.

This was the first time Seifr had struck anyone when under the effects of the sword, and it seemed like instead of kicking him fairly strongly in the chest, it was more of a powerful blast from a sledgehammer. Several of the man's ribs directly fractured and he spewed blood out of his mouth as he was sent hurtling down the hall. Seifr returned the sword to his scabbard and then also snatched up the longsword and the throwing dagger that was embedded in the wall. As he made his way towards the exit again, he heard his opponent cough violently before saying, "Give up. You can't get away. You can't win."

Seifr frowned as he turned his head back without stopping and replied, "I've already won. I beat all your subordinates, and now, I've even bested the captain."

The older man on the floor chuckled before responding, "I'm not the captain. I'm only the vice-captain. My subordinates earlier were not stalling for time. I've been stalling for time."

Seifr's eyes widened in realization, and he broke out into an all-out sprint towards the exit. Just as he was about to make his escape into the night, a powerful aura came crashing down exerting tremendous pressure on him.

Mid Spirit Realm!