The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Isaac left the blacksmith's and walked home. On the way back, he rented a locker to store his left-over wealth.

The news about him joining the Sundersen faction should stop people from robbing him, but Isaac wouldn't take unnecessary risks and stored his things in the locker.

After doing that, he returned home to eat, then left again to visit the training grounds. Truthfully, he wanted to cultivate. However, he had exercised extremely precise control over his Anima during the advancement process and this had exhausted his will, meaning entering meditation would be difficult.

As such, Isaac could only give up on cultivating and go to practice swordsmanship instead. He practiced for a while and came home at around 8pm to get a good night's sleep.

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Isaac awoke early the next day.

He went to his locker, took 21 reward points, and exchanged them for 3 Intermediate Qi Pills at the market.

Then he put 2 of those pills back in his locker while he brought the 3rd one home with him. The first part of that day was spent cultivating, while the latter portion was occupied by swordsmanship practice.

The next day, Isaac followed the same routine.

On the 3rd day, he cultivated again and brought his Qi Core to 7.5% full. After that, he did some extremely light swordsmanship practice for an hour, then took some time off to visit the normal library. After all, the mission was tomorrow and he didn't want to exhaust his body.

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17th of June, 18125 T.C.

Just as Northern Tundra was passing through springtime and had many sprouts poking their fragile heads above the continent's blanket of snow, Isaac was also in the springtime of his life. Since, and even before the tournament, he had enjoyed many weeks of peacefully cultivating and growing steadily.

However, just as 'spring' was coming to an end for the continent, it was also coming to an end for Isaac. He was about to enter 'summer'.

Now, summer is a time of extreme vibrance and life. At the same time, it is also a time of great competition. The countless plants and animals which have emerged during spring must now compete for sunlight, nutrients and water. They must compete to spread their seed and protect their offspring. Only those who emerge victorious from this struggle will earn the right to enjoy summer's glories.

On one hand, there were many gains to be had. On the other, unexpected dangers lurked around every corner and would test animals to their limits.

Again, this was very similar to Isaac's situation. The Sundersen faction was a place teeming with opportunities and benefits, but precisely because of this it was also filled with an astounding level of competition. Now that Isaac was beginning to take an active role in the faction's affairs and throwing himself into this fierce political whirlpool, it could be said that his spring – his time for peaceful growth – was over and his summer – his time to compete madly for every advantage he could get his claws on – was just beginning.

Isaac was currently standing in a square near the Rank 2 district's gates, waiting for all 6 teams from the great factions to assemble so they could set off on their mission.

All 4 people from the Sundersen faction were already here. There was Isaac, Johan – who was the only Rank 1 on the entire expedition – a tall and thin woman with beady eyes named Klara, and Felix, an averagely built man with large ears that stuck out, a wide but flat nose, and deep-set emerald eyes which twinkled intelligently.

A senior member of the Sundersen faction had introduced them to Isaac and they had said Isaac would actually be leading the team for this mission! It would be his first test as a member of the faction.

This made Isaac glad that he'd put all his effort into cultivating and also creating a Rank 2 Anima. If his strength was too low, his prestige in the group would quickly drop and he would become more of a laughing stock than an actual team leader. Earning your subordinates' respect was a crucial aspect of leading a group, so Isaac knew he would need to showcase his impressive sword techniques and commanding abilities once the mission started so he could earn the team's trust.

Other than this, he also pondered what attitude the other groups would take towards him. After all, he was the only official faction member on this mission, while the other teams were full of interns. He and Johan were also the only 2 newcomers and possessed the lowest cultivation, putting their team in a poor position.

The other teams would likely notice this and try to force the least desirable jobs onto Isaac's team since they wouldn't be able to resist. It would be Isaac's job to stop this happening.

Speaking of other teams, the team from the Bakke faction and the 2 teams from the Goodman faction were already here. The final 2 teams from the Aalto faction were just arriving while Isaac thought.

He cast his eyes across the 8 people. Erik was not among them.

The people from the Aalto faction also surveyed the gathering and Isaac felt that, just for a moment, some of their gazes lingered on him.

Isaac was extremely perceptive to emotions and he sensed a hint of anger, even disdain in some of those gazes. That was understandable though; he was the youngest out of everybody here but he was also the only official member of a faction. Everybody else was an intern who had been giving it their all to gain that status, meanwhile Isaac had just waltzed in and taken it – it was normal for them to be jealous.

He disregarded their glances and waited for them to get closer. When they did, a giant of a man from the Goodman faction suddenly called out,

"My name is Bjørn. I have the highest cultivation and greatest experience out of everybody here and I have been chosen to lead this mission. While each team has its own leader and they are free to command their own subordinates, my word will be final and you must listen even if it means ignoring your team leader's commands. This is the decision of all four factions: they have chosen me as the leader to ensure the mission ends in success."

Bjørn's voice was deep and imposing, making the others feel unable to disobey. There were still several others who disagreed with him leading the mission – mostly the other team leaders – but none of them voiced their disagreement after they heard this was the 4 factions' decision.

After establishing himself as the leader, Bjørn gave a detailed brief about the mission. He began by describing the target: a nest of Carapace Bugs.

Carapace Bugs were Rank 1 insect-type wild beasts. They had tens of pairs of legs, were about the size of a dinner plate, and were surprisingly thin. Their main features were a pair of sharp mandibles which could bend steel and slice through iron, and the large shell which covered their entire back, earning them the name 'Carapace' Bugs.

While their defence was impressive, they did not possess any natural abilities such as the Sarcevic Wolf's 'phantom claw' or 'self-like-shadow', and a single bug's strength lay near the bottom of Rank 1.

Since this was the case, why were 24 elite Rank 2 cultivators being sent to deal with them?

That was because this was not a single Carapace Bug, but a medium-scaled nest which could possess anywhere between 500 and 3,000 Rank 1 bugs as well as several Rank 2 bug queens.

Their mission was to exterminate all the Carapace Bug Queens and completely demolish the nest, after which the remaining Carapace Bugs would fall into chaos and naturally scatter.

After explaining these details, Bjørn raised a huge, muscular arm and commanded everyone to form up.

They all assembled into an orderly diamond-shaped formation with the 2 Goodman faction teams at the front, the Sundersen faction and 2 Aalto faction teams lined up behind them, then the Bakke faction team guarding the rear.

Everybody watched in anticipation as the large gates opened in front of them. Then, in their formation, they stepped out into wild.