The whole treasure chamber exploded in a bright flash of mana explosion. A sound like roaring water and breaking glass filled Cale’s ears as the light blinded him. Scarroid’s roars of pain and anger joined the cacophony. And then there was silence.

  Cale just stood and looked at the space Scarroid’s head had been a moment ago. Now there was nothing but a charred up neck, sporadically spurting up blood.

  “That was amazing, Cale!” Aura practically beamed. “I am reconfiguring my combat modules. Oh, I think I leveled up!”

  [A.U.R.A skill advanced.]

  [Predictive Battle Algorhitm: 1]

  Cale didn’t feel amazing. He felt sick. He had just killed a man in cold blood. His instincts had taken over. Sure, this brutal cultivator was most likely not going to take him on a beach holiday after he regained his strength, but Cale hadn’t given him any time to plead his case or explain what he would do next.

  It had felt so easy to pull the trigger. But looking at the charred remains of Scarroid made Cale feel the weight of his decision.

  He had just killed a man.

  It bothered Cale. It bothered him, but he found he could live with that. And he had the distinct feeling that this would be the first of many if he continued on this path. Could he live with that?

  Maybe he hadn’t even planned to kill me…

  The possibility weighed on Cale’s heart like an anvil made of lead.

  “Was this right..?” he asked half-aloud.

  “Do not be foolish, Cale. You did what you had to. Now, what is our next move?”

  Before Cale could answer, the tall man with the umbrella leapt into the room from the broken bridge. He looked at Scarroid. Then he looked at Cale, then at Scarroid, and Cale again. He threw back his head and laughed. He brought a hand to cover his face and laughed so rambunctiously, that the whole chamber seemed to shake. At the end of his fit, he sighed wistfully and turned to Cale.

  “Well done,” Darius said in a smooth voice. He stepped around the chamber, looking at the various treasures with mild interest. “Who are you?”

  “You first,” Cale said.

  Darius smiled at him. Cale found he didn’t like that smile. “Do you know who I am?”

  “Should I?”

  Darius shook his head multiple times. “Yeah. You really should.”

  “I’m new around these parts,” Cale said. “Anyway, I’m Cale. I’m the guy who doesn’t want to get murdered.”

  “A pleasure,” the tall man said, stepping forward. ”I’m Darius Roas. The guy who is still considering it.”

  “Stay back,” Cale snapped.

  “Feisty,” Darius drawled and grinned. Then he looked at Scarroids corpse and pointed a finger at it. “Your handiwork?”

  “What of it?” Cale said.

  Darius looked at Cale with a keen predatory interest. “You have my attention. What tier are you?”

  Cale swallowed and did not answer first. He weighed his options. He knew he couldn’t get out of this one alive with luck and brawn.

  “High enough to get down here,” Cale said, mustering his best poker face. Then he nudged his head towards the Scarroid. “And do that.”

  “Touche,” Darius said, casually wiping dust off one of the pedestals with a finger. “So how come I never heard about you?”

  “I don’t leave witnesses,” Cale said and casually pointed his arm at the man with the umbrella.

  “Smart,” Darius, while rubbing the dust between his fingers. “But that tells me a lot already. You’re either a Whisper or from the Aegis. And if you were from the Aegis, you’d know who I am. And if you were a Whisper, you wouldn’t be able to do that.”

  After Darius said that he smiled and locked eyes on Cale. Cale said nothing, but he hoped the tall man didn’t hear him swallow. Darius only stared, wearing a lopsided smile, as if engaged in idle small talk that he knew the beats of.

  “How about we stop playing this game,” Cale said and strained himself to prevent his knees from buckling as he pointed his hand at the man. “You walk away, or I’ll give you the same treatment I gave this guy.”

  “Oh, but I love games,” Darius said and took a few paces towards Cale. “What happened to no witnesses? How about we play a different game?”

  “No games. Back off, or I shoot.”

  Darius casually picked up a medium sized crystal off a pile and tossed it up and down in his hand as he approached Cale.

  “I think you’re a quickshot, and yes, that’s a double entendre. You’re limp after dealing with my friend here.”

  “You sure you want to risk it?” Cale asked, straining to keep his voice calm.

  “Kid, this line of work is all about managing risk,” Darius said. Then he looked at the crystal in Cale’s hands and there was a tug at his lips. “Shoot your shot. But if you miss…”

  Cale swallowed. This was it. Darius had called his bluff. Not only was Cale barely standing at this point through sheer power of will, but the crystal in his hands was empty, and Darius knew it.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  There is no way I beat this guy. I need something else.

  Cale’s eyes shifted, before they finally locked onto something. Something that would make Darius think twice.

  Cale threw the empty crystal at Darius, lunged for a mana crystal on the ground that had been scattered in the fighting, grabbed it and immediately jumped on the dais in the middle of the room, and pointed his hand at the mana attuner. The strange tubed contraption was now between Cale and Darius.

  There was just a hint of fleeting tension around Darius’s eyes. Then it smoothed out. He stopped tossing the crystal. It wasn’t much, but that was all Cale needed to see to know he had leverage now.

  “That was an excellent move, Cale!” Aura chimed full of pride. “That mana attuner, crude as it is, must be worth more to that cultivator than anything in the room combined.”

  That gave Cale some well-needed confidence. He even managed a hint of a satisfied smile.

  “This is what you’re here for, isn’t it?” Cale said. “You move and I blow a hole in this.”

  “Ah,” Darius said and took a few paces back. “You’re a quick thinker, aren’t you?”

  Cale smirked. “Low risk target. Hard to miss.”

  Darius shook his head, with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “Kid, if you don’t embrace risk, you’ll never make it.”

  “I made it this far.”

  “Well played,” Darius muttered and looked at Cale under his brows. “You turned a gun to your head into a stalemate. But unless you got another ace up your sleeve, this is the end of the line.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cale asked.

  “Well it pays to ask what you’re risking in these situations,” Darius said and started pacing back and forth with hands behind his back. He winked at Cale. “If you destroy the attuner, you lose your ace. Let me be clear, if you didn’t catch up. Destroy that, and I will kill you. And I’ll make good sport about it too.”

  “What’s behind door number two?” Cale asked cautiously.

  Darius chuckled to himself and stopped pacing, facing Cale again with all of his looming predatory focus. “See, that’s what you should have thought before you threatened my property. You put me in a situation where I stand to lose money and advancement unless I do what you want. But you being the fool you are, don’t even know what you want.”

  “I know what I want,” Cale said.

  “That so?” Darius asked, looking at his nails. “What is it?”

  “Power,” Cale said, and Darius looked up at him.

  “Now you’re speaking my language, kid,” Darius said and sat down on a pile of mana crystals and leaned his chin on his hands which rested on his umbrella. “Why do you want it? Security? Control? Fear?”

  Cale was startled by the question and didn’t have a clear answer. He was faced with the fact that he barely knew himself. He sifted through the memories of hot dog stands, libraries, designer sofas and hot air balloons. But he found nothing of himself.

  “Do you often engage in deep conversation in situations like this?” Cale asked to buy time.

  “Only when it amuses me.”

  Cale only knew the thrill he got when he fought and the pure, unadulterated joy of advancement. The contentment of knowing you had just become superior to what you previously were, and nothing could take that away from you.

  “I want it because it makes me feel alive,” Cale said gently.

  “Ah, I see how it is… Power,” Darius said wistfully as he shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Women, drink, hell, even money… Nothing quite catches the high that pure power gives.”

  “Why do you want it? Cale asked eagerly. “Why did you become a cultivator.”

  Darius smiled at Cale. An ever so fleeting genuine smile. They had shared a moment.

  “I said I like games. This is the ultimate game. And I love winning at it.”

  “How do you win at this?” Cale asked.

  “First lesson: Don’t compete without an edge,” Darius said and got up, lazily pointing his umbrella at Cale. His eyes hardened. “Speaking of which. How did a novice like you get down here? What tier did you say you were again?”

  “I didn’t,” Cale said.

  “I know you didn’t,” Darius said. “I find it passing odd, that you managed to create an external energy blast strong enough to kill a Core Formation tier cultivator. And when I try to sense your mana, do you know what I sense?”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense,” Cale said tightly.

  “Nothing,” Darius said flatly. “Absolutely zilch. Which makes you either very dangerous, or at least very curious. My gut is telling it’s the latter. Do you know what else I think?”

  Cale said nothing, but that didn’t seem to bother Darius who clearly enjoyed his monologues.

  “I think the only technology that can hide mana signature is some high end black ops Gilded Gear experimental Integra,” Darius said and paused before tilting his head. “Or Nevani True Integra.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cale said flatly, but his heart had suddenly started thrumming like a hummingbird on caffeine.

  Darius laughed. “You’ve got guts, kid. And maybe just enough brains to keep them inside you. But you’re a terrible liar.”

  “He’s guessing,” Aura said, surfacing in Cale’s mind. “Deny everything.”

  He’s really good at guessing… But I need to learn more.

  “Let’s say you were right,” Cale said carefully. “What happens next?”

  “Simple,” Darius said and a small spark of energy appeared at the tip of his umbrella. “I kill you and retrieve the Integra.”

  “If he kills you, I will die with him. It’s not like he has any way to retrieve the nanobots that I’m made of,” Aura said flatly. Gone was the snark and pomp. She was quiet and serious. But she urged Cale in no direction.

  Cale hesitated, his mind racing. He didn’t have much time, and with the limited knowledge he had, bluffing would be hard.

  “You kill me,” Cale said, his voice firmer than he felt, “and you’ll never get your answers.”

  Darius stopped charging his umbrella-weapon, his amusement flickering into something sharper. “Careful, kid. You’re bluffing again, and I’m starting to think you don’t have the cards to back it up.”

  “Not a bluff,” Cale said. “Aura—the Integra—she’s part of me now. You kill me, and she’s gone. She told me herself.”

  “Aura, huh..?” Darius raised an eyebrow, his smirk returning. “Convenient story. Too convenient. But let’s say I believe you… that doesn’t leave me many options, does it?”

  “It leaves you one,” Cale said, lowering his hand, and stepping aside from the mana attuner. “Teach me this game you play. I want to be a cultivator. I want to get stronger. I want power…”

  Darius didn’t say anything. He just watched Cale. Assessing, listening, slowly tapping a finger on the handle of his umbrella.

  Cale pushed on.

  “You get to leave here without a giant hole in the Mana attuner and with my Nevani Integra. Teach me. And if I turn out to be a dud… You get to kill me and see for yourself if I was bluffing.”

  Darius let the silence hang in the room for a moment that felt like an eternity to Cale. A knot was tightening in his stomach as Darius’s intense gaze bore into Cale.

  Then, slowly, Darius began to laugh—a quiet chuckle that built into something loud and boisterous, echoing through the chamber.

  “You’re insane,” Darius said, wiping at the corner of his eye. “Desperate. Reckless. Clever, even. And…”

  He took a step closer, his grin turning wolfish. “…maybe just bold enough to survive.”

  Cale said nothing. He only stared Darius down. He had played his hand and shown it. Now the ball was in Darius’s court.

  “Alright, kid,” Darius said, twirling the umbrella in his hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal. I’ll teach you. But let’s be clear about one thing…” He leaned in, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “…if you waste my time, I’ll kill you.“

  Cale didn’t even flinch. He didn’t need to be afraid. He would make sure he was worthwhile.

  “Got it.”

  Darius straightened, his smirk widening. “Good. Welcome to the game, kid.”