98 Chapter 98 : : Reunion

Kale watched as the show went on and the interviewer asked several questions from the man on the screen, when others were focusing on the show, Kale was developing his own thoughts 'The gathering of four brats can make such a ruckus? Interesting, it's similar to how the sects in Kazeer used to compete using their legacy disciples, spreading overrated rumours to raise their prestige and keep the grasp over the masses.

Hmm… This isn't completely good or bad for me, the advantage is that the rewards would be higher, the disadvantage is that I can catch attention here.. Wait,' Kale was calmly thinking about the situation but then a realization struck him 'Why I am thinking like that? Why I am trying to be completely anonymous like last time, didn't I decide to develop a righteous front in this life? As long as I don't show too exaggerated growth, I can actually reap great benefits from this.

The main phases of the competition that everyone focuses on are team-based, to check leadership skills, so as long as I play it right, I can throw the centre spotlight to that girl and secure what I need for myself at the same time, I need to drop the habit of thinking like an assassin, sigh…'

Kale cleared his thoughts, then took out his phone and sent a text message to Layla telling her about his arrival.

By the time he finished doing that, the interview on the screen was over and the people on the streets went on their way with satisfied and excited expressions on their faces.

Elza and Fynn looked at Kale, they realized that he was slightly different, the mask usually covering his face was nowhere to be seen and his eyes were now in the shadows of his hair.

Kale turned to them, he was silent for a moment then spoke "From now on, you are an adventurer group here that goes with the name Shadowless Snake, Elza will be your leader, whether you want to be lowkey or high profile, I don't care, stay however you like, the contract I used will still be in effect, if you make any rash moves like seeking help to remove it or anything related to harming me then… Why I am even telling, once someone from you tries doing it others will be able to see the example.

Anyway, I will leave you enough money to live here and even set up a base. Fynn was once a part of the mercenary group on the black market so he should know how to take care of the equipment obtained from the assassins. I want an update every three days, as for the way to contact me, leave a letter of my adventurer name to the Guild.

As for you Elza, you are the leader so I expect results, I want the team to be stronger the next time I see it, or finding a new leader is no hard task for me," After saying this much, Kale turned around and walked away without waiting for their replies.

He only took a few steps and a cab stopped for him, Kale got in and the cab left

Elza and Fynn remained rooted in their place and looked at the leaving car.

"Did he just let us go?" Xaxa mumbled in a surprised tone.

Elza heard her words but didn't reply 'Let us go? Or he just has so much trust in that contract art, he is the person who dares blackmail a noble for profit, how can he make such a loss,'

She inwardly thought, she felt slightly uneasy because of his action but also relived, it was like a chain binding her neck has now been removed. The breath of freedom was the most refreshing.

***

The cab took Kale to the B Block of the city and stopped in front of a private training centre, Kale stepped out of it and entered the tall industrial building in front of him.

The building was a safe training faculty for soon to be or already made practitioner of the city, just like how experienced people in gym train newbies, in facilities such as this, veteran practitioners and retired adventurers are hired to do that, it was mainly made for the newer generation of the rich and aristocratic families in the city who doesn't want to put their children in danger to train.

Kale, of course, didn't come here to train, such facilities also have other advanced equipment like body scanners, ID updater, and Appraisal machines, Kale was here for Appraisal machine.

When he entered the main door, he saw a scanning gate in the shape of a large door frame just after that, a guard clad in dark blue uniform was standing on both side of the door with their hands folded behind their back, their body frame and expressions told that they were no pushovers, a woman in the white shirt and black skirt was standing there too with a tablet in her hand, she was the one in charge.

The scanning door was not for weapon finding, as there many ways to hide weapon even without that moreover some mutants use their surrounding objects as weapons so such a thing was not too useful. The scanning was meant to check the life levels and the race of the individual who entered the building. This way, the people who started to practise dark arts, Blood Magic or were of demon kin can be easily found out.

There was no such scanning gate at the city entrance because not just any adventure would want to give away their privacy like that.

The woman in charge saw Kale and slightly nodded with a professional smile on her face, signalling him to proceed.

Kale nodded then stepped forward, walking towards the door, once he crossed it the green indicator on top of the gate flickered then turned yellow, the woman looked down at the result from the scanning in her tablet then turned to Kale "Sir, by any chance, do you have a pet or battle companion with you?"

Kale nodded in return "There was no notice saying I can't bring pets,"

The woman hurriedly shook her head "It's not a problem, as long as the pet doesn't have a tier higher than the owner it's fine, but you have to still pay an extra fee for the pet and take responsibility for all its actions,"

Kale nodded in agreement, it only took a few seconds to transfer the entrance fees, then he headed towards the appraisal department after getting directions from her.

The appraisal area was mostly quiet, as most people can do appraisal at Guild without an entrance fee.

Kale found himself standing in a corridor with rooms present in series on both sides, few of them had closed notice on them while others had open, he picked the closest one to him and entered through the door.

The door closed on its own as soon as he entered, it was a short cuboidal room from inside with a machine similar to an ATM in appearance located in front of the door, Kale moved near it and a portion of it slid open like a shell, the blank screen on the device lit up.

[Please place the equipment to be appraised inside.]

Kale took out the bone knife and placed it inside, once the equipment was in the portion closed on its own, the blank screen on the Appraisal Device lit up.

[Scanning the equipment …]

[Scanning complete!]

[Matching the data..…]

Kale sighed 'Here comes the boring part, the information about an equipment in the database depends on the popularity and fame of its creator, an average appraisal should take around five minutes, the knife doesn't seem bad so it should… '

[Match found!]

The sudden notification on the screen surprised Kale.

[Please input the fees to acquire the appraisal result.]

The fee shown on the screen was 30 Silver Coin, the fee is decided based on the quality and grade of the equipment to be appraised, and because the equipment didn't have too high of a tier the fee was still fairly reasonable.

Kale didn't think much and paid the price, he had quite a bit of money at hand so he didn't have to worry about anything that costed less than a Gold Coin.

As soon as he did that, the result of the appraisal was shown on the screen. The interface of the screen was different compared to the one he usually gets from his phone for body scanning but it was still easy to understand.

___ ___ ___

«Wolf's Fang»

Tier: 2nd

Rating: Epic

Durability: 76%

Attack Power: Excellent

Defence: Low

Weight: 400

A knife crafted by a Blacksmith that achieved grand success in the path of bone crafting. The knife was crafted by Vakar following the sub-branch for Blacksmithing that includes crafting things from bones alone, the people following the path are usually called Bonesmith, being taken as the best Bonesmith in the Soaring Dragon Kingdom anything made by Vakar even in the past is taken as precious collection material for many.

The knife is one such material crafted by Vakar in his early days of Bonesmithing. the material used to craft the knife and its shape makes it light as a feather and sharp as an adamantine sword, the main ingredient used in crafting was the canines of Northern Gale Wolf, because of that, the knife possesses a high affinity with the wind element.

___ ___ ___

'Not bad, if there is a blacksmith like that, then it means I can get more of such equipment in the future,' Kale thought. He then took back the knife and headed out of the building.

"Kale?"

The second he stepped out of the facility, a familiar yet somewhat slightly different voice interrupted his thoughts, Kale turned around and looked at the girl standing not too far from him.

The girl appeared to be of the same age as him, she was even slightly taller and more mature than him, her dress up consisted of tight gym clothes that only covered her chest and legs, her belly was completely exposed and a black stylish tattoo of a creature that looked somewhere between a black cat and panther was present around its left side that went further down under her clothes. Her long orange hair was tied behind her back, and her two big eyes containing joy were locked onto Kale.

"Layla?" Kale inwardly gasped, he was sure that it had not even been a year since he last saw her but her growth was explosive, it was too much to call it normal, the tattoo on her waist and her usually getup didn't surprise him, it was her older appearance and the near-perfect balance of body build up that got him.

Others might not be able to tell, but one look was enough for Kale to discover that the form of her body was well balanced, it was something many Martial Artist need to go in seclusion and train for years to get.

'The only known thing that can result in the slight but rapid growth of the body is Body Strengthening Drugs, but I didn't think that as Martial Artist she would use such a thing for strengthening. Mutants don't have a better choice and its suitable for them, but for Martial Artist, those are not that good, moreover, no matter how I look at it, it's really not just slight growth,' Kale was thinking hard to find the reason but he wasn't able to do so. In the end, he chooses to suppress his curiosity.

Although rare, there were Body Strengthening techniques too, but Kale knew clearly that it was not feasible to achieve completion in them so quickly using orthodox methods alone especially for someone of her age.

He was curious and wanted to ask but then he suppressed his curiosity because he knew that almost all students on the Academy had their own formidable background in the kingdom.

While he was thinking, he suddenly saw a small black paw coming out from behind the left shoulder of Layla then a black cat-like creature climbed onto her shoulder. The beast looked somewhat similar to a cat but it had no hair on it, its ears were quite long like a bunny and its big round eyes were different from a cat.

"Woah, it is you, Kaleeyyy, how did you grow up so fast?" Layla asked in excitement as she took long strides towards him. Although Kale's growth was not as exaggerated as her's, he had also practised ‹Snake King Body Toning Art› to full mastery, and fed on «Nature's Nectar» which was like a natural body strengthening product for him, this was why he also experienced rapid growth.

"That's something, I should say," Kale said with a bitter smile.

The black beast on Layla's shoulder looked at her excited expression then at Kale, it slightly frowned in dissatisfaction and gave out a low cry.