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n*Cra-Squelch* *Thuthump*

nCovered in blood, Daniel removed a piece of brain that had landed squarely on his forehead, while also trying to keep his gag reflex under control. It was in these moments that Daniel found it the hardest to maintain his cold and composed attitude.. When pieces of brain matter hanged from his eyebrows, and split the view of his left eye into two.

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"Who..

" Said the second elder with an intimidating tone whilst cleaning her weapon for the residue of her ex companion's brains.

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"What?

" Asked Daniel with a hint of irritation. His early lunch had suddenly turned out to be an extremely bad idea.

nThe old woman turned to look at Daniel, and while stepping towards him threateningly, and gripping her weapon as if she was one moment from starting to swing it left and right, she said

"Who commissioned the attack.. And who accepted the commission..

" Her tone was cold, and it was clear that she had no good feelings for Daniel at the moment.

nThe angry tone of the old woman riled Daniel up. Instead of backing away and answering to the old lady, he stepped towards her with just as much fighting intent. He was not going to back away from a fight just because his enemy was slightly stronger, and if things went wrong, he was sure to at least escape.

nJust as things were starting to get heated, the head blacksmith walked in between the two of them, and said with a calm tone

"Hold on..

" He then turned to look at his companion, who after seeing his uncomfortable expression, put her weapon away and turned around in anger.

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"I am sorry for her behaviour.. Try to understand, she and her husband were married for over three hundred years..

" He said apologetically, before continuing

"Regardless of what you'll decide to share with us, the Scorching Anvil will be from now on an ally to your company.

"

nDaniel could sort of understand where the old lady was coming from. She was at the sixth stage of immortal cultivation, and her lifespan could reach as long as three hundred and fifty years of age. That meant that she had been married with her late husband for what was three lifetimes for a common human.. Honestly speaking, there were at least a dozen people amongst Daniel's friends whose death would cause him to lose his mind completely, and yet, he could never imagine what losing that type of partner would make to a person.

nWith his newfound respect towards the previous self control over her emotions that the old lady showed, Daniel turned to look at the head blacksmith, and responded by saying

"As I've said.. The bomber is dead, the traitor who was within your group joined him..

" At this point, Daniel paused for a moment, before adding

"I am willing to tell you who the culprits are.. But I will not tell you who the broker who hired the assassin is.

"

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"Can I ask you why not him?

" Said the head blacksmith with curiosity. To him, Daniel didn't seem the type that would have respect towards that sort of individual or profession.

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"Because he works for me now, and I need him. I hope that that will be enough for you.. If not, you'll just have to start a war between companies.

" Responded Daniel plainly. He had no intention of selling the broker, as he was a well known professional in his field, and therefore, it was an incredibly efficient source of information.

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"That is.. Reasonable. Please, tell us more..

" Said the head blacksmith with a calm tone.

nOnce the situation had defused, Daniel started to calmly explain which ones were the senders of the attack to the Scorching Anvil company.

n-----

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"That was tiring..

" Said Daniel after entering a large living room within his company's building. This living room had numerous chairs and sofas, and sitting on them, as well as standing while conversing with each other, were a good amount of Daniel's group members.

nAmongst them, were Der, Heimart, Ligart, Imblen, Gai'ha, Lucious, Alesia, Roley, and many others.

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"Dan, what did you ask us here for?

" Asked Ligart, whom due to being in charge with the marketplace, he had been extremely busy lately with handling the majority of the deals between the golden karma company, and the mid-low level trades between their company and customers.

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"Wait a second..

" said Daniel while walking towards one of the tables on which various glasses and jugs of water had been placed. He then poured himself a big glass of water, and downed it all in one gulp. Afterwards, he took a deep and refreshing breath, and turned towards his group members.

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"Alesia, please find Serf, and tell him to request for more black pills from his family. We don't actually need them.. I only need his family to think that he has ran out of them, and that I will die soon.

" Said Daniel after looking at Alesia, who after hearing his words, nodded slowly in response.

nDaniel then turned towards Imblen, and said

"Imblen, I have a task for you. I plan to create an academy for comprehension of essence. I will give you a list of the groups that you'll have to invite. Talk only to the people I tell you to, and no one else. Start with inviting the Tigg family, of the Hellblazer company.. If they don't wish to visit, try and get my message to the old man.. 'I have something you'll want to see'..

"

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"No problem.

" Imblen responded with confidence. It had been awhile since the last time she had been entrusted with a task, and she was eager to get to work.

nAfter hearing Imblen's response, Daniel turned to look at Ligart

"Lig, I need you to prepare to open the auction house.. Not far from now, we will get quite busy. Have Alis help you with refurbishing the auction house. I want it to be the most refined one in this damn rock of a planet

" he said with a stern tone.

nWith 'not long from now' Daniel naturally meant 'from the moment we will reveal what we are in possession of'. It was not a secret for Daniel's group members what Daniel was referring to.

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"Consider it done.

" Responded Ligart while raising his thumb in confirmation.

nOnce he was finished giving his instructions to Ligart, Daniel turned towards the table, and with a wisp of his immortal essence, made a stack of sheets of paper and a pen appear. He then used the pen to write what looked like a long message, which he discarded and started over more than once in the following few minutes. Once over, he pursed his lips and blew over the fresh ink, which gradually dried.

nOn this letter, a clear message was written in black color, and refined calligraphy.

n____________________________

nDear Mr & Mrs Helvha.

nWhat follows are the exact details extrapolated by the journal of the broker who hired the people that assassinated your late daughter.

nThe entry has been copied, and in case you would want to confirm it by seeing the original personally, I am willing to show it to you. I sincerely doubt that that will be necessary, as thanks to the information that it contains, you will definitely manage to find out the truth of the matter by yourself.

n-----

nSender: 29 years old woman. 167 cm, about 55kg, young mistress of the Gath family.

nTarget: Young mistress of the Helvha family

nMethod: Kill guards, **** victim, Kill the victim, Stage a robbery.

nPay: 20 High crystals

nNote: That bitch got really fired up when talking about the target.. She kept mentioning her beloved.. From what I understood from her rambling, she was dumped (and I honestly can understand why). Now she is taking her revenge on her ex-boyfriend's new sweetheart.

n-----

nThe broker has been already taken care of, while the hired killers are a three brothers group which goes by the name of Killshot brothers. They can be found dwelling in the 'Never Empty Jugs' tavern most nights.

nI sincerely hope that these information will help you find peace of mind.

nKind regards, D. H.

n____________________________

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"Gai'ha, take this letter, and the moment I'll tell you to.. Deliver it to the family head of the Helvha's family. Don't give it to any guard or steward.. Do use my name to be allowed to see them. I doubt that they'll have forgotten about me..

" He then said to Gai'ha, whom was eagerly waiting for her assignment.

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"Heimart, communicate to the collective that, from now on, we are not part of them anymore. If they make a fuss about it, tell them that the reason is due to their lack of support when the powers of the poisonous rose started to oppress us. If they want us to stay, they'll have to fight back with us.

" Daniel said to an unprepared Heimart.

nHeimart turned to look at Daniel with surprise, then said

"Hold on.. They will never agree to it.. Any of the poisonous rose's big families could decimate the entire collective im a day..

"

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"That's what I am hoping for.

" Responded Daniel before turning towards Jerigh, Roley, and Lucious. He then said

"You three are the highest level cultivators in the group.. We lack that kind of power. It would be best if you could cultivate for the time being. Use as much perfect crystals as you need.

" Jerigh and Roley had no reason to refuse their instructions, and while Lucious was a researcher, he had lived all of his life in a tribalistic world where he was forced to fight constantly to protect his tribe, therefore, fighting experience was not something he lacked.

nAfter seeing the nods of confirmation of the three of them, Daniel turned towards Der, and said

"I know that our collaboration is temporary, and that you don't trust me fully.. But I do have a plan, and if you've come to understand how I am, you know that I intend on going through with it. So, if you wish to, we could use your help.

"

nIt was true that Der did not trust Daniel completely yet. After all, he had shown to be an odd and unforeseeable person more than once before, but things had slowly changed with time. In the few months that the two had spent knowing each other, Der had understood that Daniel was an impulsive man that caused good effects, while not fearing taking risks, or exploiting the initiative. He had come to respect him as a leader, and now, his thoughts towards him were at a breaking point.

nUntil now, Der was a father in need of a passage home, but after hearing Daniel's clear desire to have him join their group, he finally gave up of the shreds of doubt that he still possessed, and decided that if he was going to do something, he might as well go all in.

nThe words were forming a clear sentence in his head, but before he could even pronounce it, a wave of power flushed into his body. Just like an injection of adrenaline, he felt the instantaneous increase in sheer power, control over his immortal essence, heightening of his senses, and if that wasn't enough, the increase in his capability of absorbing the natural mana.

nNo one else in the room was surprised of what was happening, after all, they had felt the same way the moment they had decided to commit to Daniel's group, and they felt that feeling whenever they found themselves close to their leader.

nOnce Daniel finished giving clear instructions to all of the group members he had summoned, he turned to look at them once again, and said with a serious tone

"The days ahead are not going to be easy for us.. We will be attacked, we will be accused, we will be admired.. But we are the Golden Karma, and that means that messing with us means a big **ing lot of bad luck.. Let's give them hell.

"

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