"Didn't do nufing, didn't see nufing…" Gerald murmured as he combed the city for some loot. Since he was already considered a criminal, why not gather some goods while he was here, right? It was only right, a brilliant strategy!

"Gimme dat!" he shouted and punched a lone soldier in the face. The guy appeared to be of a higher rank than the common foot soldier and as such served well for his plan. He stripped the guy down to his underwear and bound his hands and feet with chains and left him like that, unconscious, in a back alley.

He then wore the man's clothes, made himself look presentable, and confidently marched back to the main road. As many were running in one direction in panic, hurrying to help put out the flames, he slowly, with a confident smile on his lips, made his way toward an important-looking building.

Actually, he made his way towards the back where wide stone steps led underground. That place was one of the few that were still crawling with guards, so it was bound to have some goodies inside!

As he neared, the guards there straightened their backs and saluted as was the norm.

"At ease, soldier!" Gerald replied as he made his way past them as if it was the most normal thing to do. Unfortunately, he was soon stopped as a massive wooden door blocked his passage. And although they tried to hide it, the guards all around were watching him, making him slightly nervous.

It was time to show the power of confident bluffing!

He gripped the door by the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. He gripped the door by the handle and pushed. Again, nothing happened. He realized the doors were locked from the inside while being reinforced with countless runes, making it quite impossible to just blow them open.

The guards gave him a few curious glances, some of them becoming suspicious.

Having no other options left, he did whatever was left; clear his throat and bang on the door with an iron knocker that was mounted on it. He knew there were people inside since he could see them. The place also contained many expensive-looking and Mana-dense objects inside.

There came a heavy mechanical sound, and soon the door opened with a creak.

"Yes?" An old man opened the door, looking suspiciously at him. "Who are you?"

There he had it, a suspicious old man that probably wouldn't fall for his bluff so easily. Gerald scanned the room behind him as well as the old dude, but then an insignia attracted his attention. It was something he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Hey there, brother!" he began. "The sun is high and shining bright, full of life and flaming might!"

The old doorman's eyes enlarged slightly and he nodded, "The rats are spreading, but the snakes are too. Only time will tell us who is who!"

The two then stared at each other in silence.

"Aren't you going to say the last part?" the old man spoke.

"There's another?" Gerald blurted out before he could stop himself. He knew he had messed up almost immediately. Especially since the old man's visage darkened in an instant.

"He's a spy! Take him down!"

At the old man's command, every guard around the door took hold of their weapons, both swords, and spears, and attacked. They were at least twenty against a single enemy, and as such, the fight ended as quickly as it had begun.

"Sorry guys, it's nothing personal," Gerald murmured and released a concentrated windstorm around himself, with the air moving so ludicrously fast that flesh was stripped from the bone of the unprotected soldiers, painting the stairs and stone walls around them red with their blood. It was all over in but an instant, forces of pure chaos given form.

The old man was frightened by the cruel display of power that left the guards as little more than skeletons in ravaged armor and quickly attempted to close the heavy door.

However, Gerald was faster and pointed a finger at him.

"Solar Point!"

The old man ceased his movements and a few moments later, collapsed on the floor. A finger-sized hole went through his forehead, through the fried brain, and out on the other side.

It was unfortunate that he had to kill so much because now his Soul was going to get filthy again. He internally sighed. So much for beginning with cultivation.

He took a step closer and picked the golden insignia off of the old man's white robe. He exhaled slowly. 'This damn Blood Sun Viper sect again…' They really liked to get in his way it seemed.

He lifted his gaze towards the five other men in white robes standing in the spacious circular room, readying their spells. One of them was even manipulating some bubbling green liquid. It was most likely some sort of poison or acid, but Gerald wasn't in the mood to taste it. He lifted his finger.

"Solar Point!"

The man collapsed on the floor, the green liquid falling on him a moment later. Immediately his white robe turned black and started smoldering, while his skin began melting at a rapid pace.

"So it was acid after all…"

He repeated the same magic four more times with little effort and then tossed the corpses out the door before locking them behind him. It seemed that his body was capable of sustaining way more magic than it used to, and even his powerful lasers just left his finger only slightly aching despite running hundreds of MP through it in a short time.

The room was circular in shape and quite large. The ceiling was at least three to four meters high, while the radius was about ten. It somehow reminded him of a laboratory because of all the beakers, tubes, alcohol burners, and a myriad of different liquids stored in vials. A long stone counter went all around the room, and a few tables were at the far end of the room with fresh bodies on them.

Or, wait, no… They were still alive. The naked men laying there were covered in black runes and glyphs tattooed onto their skin. Gerald placed his hand on them and began healing. Each of them received a similar dose of magic before they showed some reaction and began waking up.

However, when they awakened and he tried to communicate with them, he noticed something was off. They stared at him with empty gazes, and if he moved across the room, they would follow him with their unfocused eyes. But that was the least of his problems. Having a few brain-dead patients on his hands was nothing too difficult to deal with, however, when those patients' tattoos suddenly flared up and began transforming them, that became a slight problem!

What happened next was the most disturbing, frightening thing he had ever witnessed. And that was saying something, coming from him.

The man before him began convulsing violently before slowly changing into… something... else.

His arms, his legs, his fingers, his toes, and his neck, all grew to double their length. New sharp teeth descended from his gums, and the existing ones broke into sharp points. His jaw seemingly dislocated, giving him a gaping, terrifying maw. His back split open, exposing his spine that grew long, jagged spikes, like some sort of a dinosaur. The same sort of spikes also grew from his elbows and knees, or most of his joints actually.

His skin turned black and started to smolder as the transformation made the man little more than skin and bones. He released a frightening, inhuman scream, as he swiped at Gerald with his long arms and sharp nails that now looked more like the claws of a wild beast.

In response, Gerald lifted his palm…

Smack!

… and gave him a resounding slap. Needless to say, the newly formed monster was nowhere strong enough to endure his strike. The skull was broken to pieces in an instant, and the body was not far behind. It crashed on the ground with a crunch as the weakened thin bones split and fractured in countless places.

"Ew! What the fuck!" Gerald loudly expressed his disgust. In the meantime, the others transformed into similar monsters, though each of them was slightly different, just as their tattooed runes were.

For those, he made use of Solar Point and killed them cleanly. And the reason for that was simple: He didn't want to damage the damn goods! I mean, look at that thing in the middle of the room! A raised, circular stone platform, upon which was a table with countless crystals of all sizes, shapes, and colors.

Upon closer inspection, Gerald noticed there were many dials and buttons as well, it kind of reminded him of a music-mixing table. It was also full of runes and shit, as well as numbers and letters, but he had no clue what it all meant.

It had to be something important, but he didn't know what. If nothing else, it had to be extremely valuable at least. Just the crystals had to be worth at least a few hundred thousand gold coins, especially that melon-sized purple gem. Oh boy, that was the biggest Space Crystal Gerald has ever laid his eyes upon. His fingers started itching just seeing it.

But he didn't give in to greed. Destroying such a marvelous machine would be a tragedy. Instead, he searched the room to see if he could find a manual of operations or something. Wishful thinking for sure, but you never know.

"Oh? What's this?" He picked up a book from one of the drawers under the stone counter at the edge of the lab, near the place with all the beds. "Research notes for making… Branded Warriors?! Is that what those ugly things were?"

He flipped through the pages and quickly scanned the contents of the book. It was an accumulation of condensed knowledge of making those things, a way to turn common folk into extremely strong beasts that could be used for war.

Currently, the beasts lost their reason after the transformation so they couldn't follow orders, and they became extremely fragile as they focused all on attack… However, a group of suicide soldiers that could infiltrate the enemy and destroy it from within was still extremely useful.

"Oh, so that's what that was, those followers of Beliar…" Gerald realized. Those made quite a mess in the capital some time ago while he was away. He didn't personally see them transform or fight, so he thought they might be a bit stronger than that.

"Still, what a waste! So many resources wasted on each modification, it's not worth it!"