Daniel looked up from the corpse of the Savage Blade he had been examining, a slow, dangerous smile spreading across his face.
His A-Grade [Voidwalk] had made him a silent observer of Tariq, Ramsey, and Anita’s greedy plotting. He had hoped, foolishly perhaps, that so shred of decency or gratitude might have survived their entry into the Taiji Basin.
He was wrong.
"I shouldn’t have bothered saving you from Kane," Daniel said softly, not looking at them, his voice carrying a weight of cold regret.
"So lessons, it seems, are only learned the hard way."
Tariq Lorenzo scoffed, mistaking Daniel’s calm for fear, a fatal miscalculation many before him had made.
"Big words for a lone wolf about to get fleeced! Get him! Take everything!
With a synchronized, ragged yell, Ramsey and Anita charged.
Ramsey, relying on his bulk, swung a heavy, scavenged pipe like a club, aiming to crush Daniel’s skull.
"Boom!"
The air split as he brought the weapon down, the force of his clumsy swing making the ground tremble slightly.
Anita, surprisingly agile for her earlier timid deanor, darted in from the flank, her crude spear jabbing towards Daniel’s exposed ribs.
Daniel didn’t even bother activating [Twilight Phantom Step].
He simply moved. One mont he was kneeling, the next he was a blur.
He t Ramsey’s charge head-on. Instead of dodging, he raised his left fist, a casual, almost lazy movent.
"Boom!"
The sound was like a small thunderclap, sharp and brutal!
The wind shrieked as Daniel’s gauntleted fist didn’t just intercept Ramsey’s pipe; it connected with overwhelming kinetic force.
The heavy pipe, upon impact with the sheer power emanating from Daniel, simply disintegrated into tallic dust.
The shockwave, a visible ripple of force, slamd into Ramsey’s chest.
His eyes bulged in disbelief as he felt an irresistible force course through his bones, shattering them from the inside out.
He was sent flying backwards with a choked, gurgling scream, his trajectory ending abruptly against a thick, dark obsidian tree.
A sickening crunch resonated through the clearing, and Ramsey Bolton slid to the mossy ground, a broken puppet.
"One," Daniel said calmly, his glowing fist still smoking faintly.
Anita Stone, witnessing her hulking companion’s instant, brutal demise, faltered for a split second, her eyes wide with dawning terror.
But desperation and greed had taken root.
With a wild scream, she redoubled her attack, thrusting her spear with all her might. She was faster than Ramsey, her movents honed by fear and the harsh realities of the Verge.
She fought well, for soone of her level, her spear a desperate, flickering point of danger.
But Daniel was on another plane of existence entirely.
He sidestepped her furious thrust with an almost contemptuous ease, the spearpoint hissing through the air where his chest had been.
As she stumbled past, unbalanced by her own montum, Daniel brought his right fist, wreathed in the crackling energy of his gauntlets, down in a swift, precise chop.
"No rcy for betrayers," he stated, his voice cold enough to freeze the humid air.
"Boom!"
Another contained explosion of force. Anita’s spear clattered uselessly to the ground as she collapsed, before she even registered the blow that had taken her down.
Tariq Lorenzo, who had been confidently advancing, ready to join the fray, froze.
His jaw hung slack, his rusty sword trembling in his grip. The arrogant sneer had vanished, replaced by a mask of pure, unadulterated terror.
His two companions, who he had believed would easily overwhelm this "lone wolf," had been dispatched in seconds, with an efficiency that was simply monstrous.
"M-monster..." he stamred, taking an involuntary step back, then another. "Y-you’re a monster!"
He dropped his sword with a clatter, his legs turning to jelly. He fell to his knees, his face ashen.
"P-please! rcy! I... I didn’t an it! We were wrong! Don’t kill ! I’ll give you anything! Cards, gear, my... my undying loyalty!"
He began to blubber, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Daniel walked slowly towards the groveling Tariq, his expression unreadable.
He rembered Tariq’s earlier sneering words, his disdain, his malicious intent to rob and potentially kill him, all spoken when he believed Daniel was weak or alone.
"rcy?" Daniel repeated, his voice a quiet rumble that seed to vibrate in Tariq’s very bones.
"You speak of rcy now, Tariq? After you conspired to rob and harm soone who offered you aid?
After you and your companions repaid kindness with malice and attempted violence?" He stopped directly in front of the trembling recruit. "I heard your plans, Tariq. Every word.
The whispers of the greedy are often louder than they think."
Tariq’s eyes widened further, if that was even possible. He knew. He had known all along.
The realization sent a fresh wave of icy terror through him. "I... I... it was a mistake! A terrible mistake! I was... I was desperate!
The cards... we needed them! Please, Aspirant Vance, I swear, I’ll never..."
Daniel simply raised his right hand, his A-Grade Kinetic Void Gauntlet humming with a deadly, silent power.
"So mistakes, Tariq," he said, his voice utterly devoid of pity, "don’t get a second chance."
"Boom!"
The sound was little more than a dull thud, a contained release of kinetic force.
Tariq Lorenzo’s begging and pleading were cut short as his world dissolved into darkness.
He slumped forward, his brief, treacherous journey in the Taiji Basin at an end.
Daniel stood over Tariq Lorenzo’s cooling corpse, the last vestiges of the recruit’s terror fading from his lifeless eyes.
The wind whispered through the obsidian trees, a mournful sigh for the foolish and the greedy.
Daniel felt a flicker of sothing cold, not regret, but a weary acknowledgnt of the grim necessities of this world. He had given them a chance. They had spat on it.
He extended his hand, not in a fist of destructive power, but with an open palm, his SSS-Rank [Soul Assimilation] talent humming to life. It was ti for the harvest.
He started with Tariq, the arrogant leader. The essence that flowed into him was weak, tainted with fear, resentnt, and a surprising amount of misplaced confidence.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Fallen Awakened: Tariq Lorenzo.]
[Gain: Agility 0.07, Spirit 0.04 (mostly from delusions of grandeur, Daniel suspected).]
[Minor Skill Fragnt Acquired: ’Condescending Sneer’ (F-Grade - Passive, slightly increases chance of annoying powerful individuals. May lead to premature face-punching.)]
Daniel almost snorted. His talent’s sense of humor was truly sothing else. "
Next was Anita Stone, the quiet girl whose fear had twisted into venomous betrayal.
Her essence was fainter still, a flutter of anxiety and sharp, impotent anger.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Fallen Awakened: Anita Stone.]
[Gain: Vitality 0.06, Adaptability 0.03.]
[No significant skill fragnts detected. Just a lingering aura of bad decisions.]
"Efficient, if unrewarding," Daniel noted.
Finally, Ramsey Bolton, the hulking brute. His essence was a dull throb of brute force and not much else.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Fallen Awakened: Ramsey Bolton.]
[Gain: Strength 0.09, Vitality 0.05.]
[Minor Skill Fragnt Acquired: ’Loud Grunt of Agreent’ (F-Grade - No combat application. May be useful for expressing solidarity with cave trolls.)]
Daniel shook his head. These three were barely an appetizer.
He then turned his attention to the clearing where Ayra had unleashed her crimson fury upon Kane’s thirteen Savage Blades.
The bodies were scattered, a testant to her S-Grade berserker power. Daniel didn’t need to approach each one individually anymore.
His Tier 2 [Soul Assimilation] pulsed, its 10-ter extraction radius enveloping the entire cluster of corpses.
"Let’s make this quick," he murmured, focusing his will.
A chorus of faint, ghostly lights, the residual essences of the fallen Savage Blades, detached from their broken forms and flowed towards him in a macabre stream.
[Soul Assimilation successful on Fallen Awakened: Savage Blade Thug (x13)...]
[Total Attribute Gain from 13 Savage Blades: Strength 1.1, Vitality 0.9, Agility 1.3, Spirit 0.5.]
[Multiple F-Grade & E-Grade Skill Fragnts and Concepts Acquired and Integrated/Discarded.]
[Assimilation Charges Consud (16/35 Remaining after Level 7 refill).]
The individual gains were pitiful, almost insulting to his SSS-Talent. But as the disparate essences settled within him, his Nexus Interface chid softly.
[Detected compatible skill resonance: ’Loud Grunt of Agreent’ (F-Fragnt from Ramsey), ’Crude Intimidation’ (F-Fragnt from Damon Cruz - assimilated earlier), and combined aggressive posturing echoes from multiple Savage Blades.]
[Attempting Skill Fusion...]
[Fusion Successful! New Skill Acquired: AGGRESSIVE BELLOW (E-Grade)!]
Daniel checked the description with a sigh.
[Skill: Aggressive Bellow (E-Grade): Active Skill. Unleash a startlingly loud and sowhat intimidating roar.
May cause montary hesitation in extrely weak-willed opponents or attract unwanted attention from larger, angrier creatures. Minimal mana cost. Cooldown: 10 seconds.]
He finished his grim work, dusting off his A-Grade Kinetic Void Gauntlets.
Daniel held up a hefty pouch that clinked pleasantly. "Indeed they did. It seems Kane’s crew, along with our treacherous trio, were quite diligent in their... acquisitions.
It was dusk now, the oppressive gloom of the Dark Forest deepening into a true, impenetrable night. Daniel t, Ayra and Lia as they’ve planned earlier.
We collected another thirty-five Yin Cards from this batch." He paused, doing a quick tally. "
Combined with what we already had from Damon’s group and other... opportunities... that brings our grand total to exactly one hundred Yin Cards."
Ayra’s eyes widened. "One hundred! That’s... that’s a ridiculous amount! More than enough for all three of us to aim for so seriously powerful Class Transitions!"
Lia nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "With such a surplus, we should be able to choose our paths very carefully, perhaps even targeting so of the rarer, specialized classes Director Thorne ntioned."
"We’ve swept this sector thoroughly," Daniel said, looking towards the central S-shaped mountain range that lood in the distance.
"We have more than enough Yin Cards. It’s ti to balance the scales."
He t their gazes, a new resolve hardening his own. "Tonight, we head for the Yang region. Ti to hunt for so Yang Cards and see what other delightful surprises the Taiji Basin has in store for us."
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