Max ate his food silently, his attention fixed on a group of young men nearby. They seemed to be discussing something interesting, so he listened carefully while savoring his meal.
"I heard that Killian Blade will soon upgrade his rank to Apprentice Rank, and that the number one spot in the Novice Rankings will be vacant in the Battle Realm."
"This has been the talk lately. I mean, he has held the number one spot in the Novice Rankings for two years straight. Of course, there’s bound to be a commotion when he upgrades to Apprentice Rank."
"He’s invincible in the Novice Rank. Nobody could defeat him, so he might as well upgrade his rank and let others fight for the number one spot."
"It’s a shame that number two and number three in the rankings are from the Thorne and Ashford families. Thomas Reed from our guild is at level four."
"Don’t worry too much. With Killian gone, nobody will be able to hold onto the number one rank for that long."
"True. He’s just too strong for someone in the Novice Rank."
’Interesting,’ Max thought, sipping from his glass of water. ’The Blade Family is really powerful if someone from their family has held the number one spot in the Novice Rankings for two years straight.’
A grin spread across Max’s face as a devious thought took root. "What better way to get back at them for what they did to me outside the Burning Wilds dungeon than by taking down their so-called number one genius in the Novice Rankings?"
His eerie, sinister smile widened as he imagined the shock and humiliation on the so-called genius’s face when he, a mere 6th Rank Novice, utterly crushed him. The thought alone filled him with a dark sense of satisfaction.
’That’s something I need to plan a bit, but for now, I need to hang out with these guys,’ Max mused. He got up from his seat, dragged his chair across the floor, and sat beside them.
"What the hell, dude?" One of them immediately frowned, clearly annoyed by Max’s arrival.
Max smiled and placed 20 mana crystals on the table. "I want some information, and it seems you guys are very knowledgeable."
The four glanced at each other, nodding in understanding. One of the guys leaned in close to Max’s ear and whispered, "That won’t do." He pointed at the 20 mana crystals.
Max grinned at the response and whispered back, "That was just to let you know if you’re interested in the deal or not, but it seems we have a deal. Meet me in the back alley of the restaurant if you want more." He placed another 20 mana crystals on the table before standing up and leaving.
The four exchanged quick glances, their eyes gleaming with barely contained greed. Without a word, they rose from their seats and silently left the restaurant, their intentions clear but unspoken.
---
Behind the restaurant lay a dark alley, quiet and mostly deserted, with very few people around.
A figure appeared at the entrance of the alley, followed by the four others.
It seemed as if the four had come to gang up on the silver-haired kid.
"What information do you want?" one of the four asked. He appeared to be around 18 years old, with black hair falling into his eyes.
Max looked at him and the others before speaking. "I’m new here, but I’ve heard some very interesting rumors."
"What rumor are you talking about?" the same person asked, curious.
Max adopted a hesitant expression, as if struggling to decide whether to speak. Finally, he said, "I heard some guys talking about Freya, but when I went to ask them, they ran away like I was some kind of plague."
The four of them widened their eyes at Max’s words, their expressions filled with hesitation. They exchanged glances but refused to speak further on the matter.
Max saw their hesitation and said, "If you tell me what this Freya matter is all about, I’ll give each of you 20 mana crystals. How about it? I’ll also make sure not to talk to anyone else about it."
One of the four clenched his fists, his face darkening. "It’s said that Freya Voidwalker was once the prized student of the Phoenix Order guild’s Master. But two years ago, something happened, and she was declared a traitor."
He continued, "After the announcement, she vanished completely. Even her home address and other personal details turned out to be fabrications. Some even claim that Freya wasn’t her real name—it was something else entirely."
"Ah, so that’s it… I expected something more exciting." Max chuckled, dropping another 60 mana crystals onto the table before vanishing from his spot, leaving the four of them stunned.
---
Max walked through the streets of Phoenix City, his mind occupied with various thoughts. ’She was declared a traitor by the guild...’ His thoughts kept circling back to this point. His expression darkened as he walked, his mood sinking.
Then he recalled the strange expression on Alice’s face when he had asked her about Freya. ’No wonder she reacted like that.’
’But what happened to cause all of this? Why would she betray her own guild? How much of this is true?’ Max thought, struggling to digest the idea that Freya could have done something like that. He knew her sister. She would never do anything like betraying a guild or committing some terrible act.
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’What should I do now?’ he wondered. Now that he knew what had happened to his sister and that she was considered a traitor, staying in the same guild that she supposedly betrayed seemed like asking for his own death.
Max contemplated his options as he walked slowly. ’I still don’t know where my sister is, and the Blade Family is still after me, so I should stay put for the time being,’ he thought.
But one thing troubled him—the Thorne Family had told him that the Phoenix Order Guild was suitable for him, yet they had warned him to stay in the shadows. If they knew about the issue involving his sister and the guild, why hadn’t they warned him directly? Why had they been vague, leaving him in the dark?
"It seems this matter is far more complicated than I imagined," Max mused, his thoughts drifting back to their cryptic advice about staying hidden. Perhaps their caution wasn’t just about safety—it might be connected to the tangled web of secrets surrounding the guild and his sister.
’Could it be that they were warning me not to reveal my identity by telling me to stay in the shadows?’ Max wondered, his brows furrowing as he tried to piece things together.
Was he interpreting their cryptic advice correctly, or was there another layer of meaning he had yet to uncover?
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If the Thorne Family knew something about the situation with his sister, perhaps their warning was a subtle way of protecting him from them.
"Ugh, it would’ve been so much better if they’d just come clean about the whole thing," Max muttered, letting out a frustrated sigh.
The cryptic warnings from the Thorne Family, along with the half-truths he had just learned, only added to his confusion, making him feel as though he were walking blindfolded through a maze.