Within the North Star city's enforcement campus, several people were sitting at the different sides of the long table, eating. Only two were sitting together.
"Do we have a new chef or what? Why is the food so different?" suddenly asked one of the two enforcers.
"You only noticed it now?" replied with amusement as he continued eating.
"I was busy on a mission outside the city," the first one shrugged his shoulders.
"Outside mission? That's quite rare. What was it?" The second asked curiously.
But the first one shook his head, "Sorry, I can't reveal much at the moment. But what I can do is that it was an escort mission into the city," he then looked at the second man in a mysterious smile, "You'll see it in a month or two."
The second one was quite curious, but he didn't ask further, and instead decided to boast a bit, "By the way, if I complete one more mission, I'll be able to get that thing."
The first stopped as he looked at his colleague, "Are you telling about…"
"Yeah! That reward for body training or whatever it is called. Body Strengthening? Body Tempering? I don't remember. Either way, I will be getting it soon," replied the second one.
Jealousy was vivid in the eyes of the first enforcer, "Damn, good for you. I've heard if you successfully practice it, your skin will become like leather and will slow down its aging. Is that right?"
"I've only heard rumors so I can't be sure, but it most likely true," the second one replied as he continued consuming food, "I don't know how hard it's to train, but I've also heard once you successfully complete its training, you will be able to enter either Greywind or Redstone clan at your choice."
The first one was stunned, "Damn. That's nice! These two clans control the city after all. You might even be able to marry one of the elders' granddaughters."
"Stop dreaming. Even captain George was denied his marriage request. And it's rumored that he's at stage 2 already."
The first one was somewhat dejected, "So there's no hope? It's quite unfortunate."
After that, they didn't chat much and soon left the table and campus as their break time was over.
…
Several hours later, in the Freewind town, Vincent was sitting in his room. His face was pale, but inwardly he was joyous.
Currently, the 3-colored veins in his body were fading as he looked at the result of his minor creation that he came up with after excessive trial and error.
Vincent felt so bad it was hard to describe with words as he observed his fingernails on the right hand curiously.
They were sharp yet not too long and looked like they were made from black wood.
He tried to create a wooden dagger, but it failed time and time again so he stopped and decided to lower the scale to his fingernails.
It took him several hours to find a right balance of his three elements to create them and make them exactly how he wants.
Vincent slowly moved his fingers as he observed those nails. They looked quite ominous, but they burned his flesh so he couldn't maintain them for too long.
But still, it should be worth it.
He had yet to test it, but if his assumption is correct, once those dark fingernails come into contact with liquid like blood, they inflict it with corrosion somewhat similar to venom, yet much more active and dangerous.
'If I will be unable to assassinate the captain in one attack, this should kill him shortly after.'
'The information I've gathered on the captain should be more than enough for success.'
'On the other hand, he has no idea that I'm a body practitioner like him and what I'm capable of so he'll not be very cautious. But if he manages to survive, this will be a completely different story.'
Vincent calmly shifted his pale face to the window.
'An hour or two of rest and I'll be ready to move out once everyone falls asleep.'
With this he stood up.
*Knock-knock*
Vincent turned towards the door and a young girl with blond hair tied in a long braid entered.
Once she saw Vincent beside the window, she slightly squeezed her fists and walked to him.
As she stood in front of him, she looked at his pale face and her eyes narrowed.
'He must've pushed himself to his limits.'
Vincent didn't speak as he calmly looked at her beautiful face.
"Are you going right now?" she asked quietly.
"No, but soon."
"Can I help?"
"No."
Alisia's heart trembled upon hearing such a direct answer without any hesitation.
"Am I… of no use to you at all?"
"..." Vincent didn't reply right away, "In fighting the captain, yes. You'll be a hindrance."
Her body trembled a bit and some tears appeared in her eyes.
Vincent was slightly stunned before she gently touched her cheek and wiped tears from the corner of her eyes, "Don't worry. It wouldn't be like that forever. Once you enter the 2nd stage in Essence Cultivation, you'll be able to control the darkness element enough to make use of its concealment properties and assist me if the need arrives. And in the future, it will be me who will be asking for your assistance if you don't slack out in your training," he gently spoke, feeling her warmth that oozed his heart.
Hearing it, her mad mood improved significantly as a smile appeared on her face.
"Can you show it to me?"
"What exactly?"
"That shadow form or whatever it is called. I want to see it."
Vincent didn't reject her wish and calmly nodded before black veins gradually covered his body as a thin black mist began to appear around his body until it slowly hid his body within. If Vincent wasn't near the window and was instead in the corner where the shadow was, Alisia would never have spotted him no matter how closely she looked.
'Fascinating!' she exclaimed in her mind upon observing this humanoid-like shadow.
The shadow then started to dissipate as well as black veins until Vincent was revealed with slightly paler complexion.
"So, if I am able to do this too, will I be able to assist you in future?"
Vincent took a brief pause before slowly nodding, "That way I'll be less concerned about your safety."
"Then it's a promise!" she happily exclaimed and hugged him.
As Vincent looked down at her blond head, he slowly lowered his face and gave a brief kiss at the top of her head which made Alisia giggle on his chest a bit before he looked outside the window at the sunset.
'George… I hope you're enjoying yourself, because this night… will be your last one.'