What Just Happened?

With the recent excitement and information that he had just received; made it impossible for him to have an eventful sleep therefore with a magical lantern in hand he turned the house upside down for that Life Essence Technique that Lisa mentioned.

However, his efforts eventually bore fruit. The book was hidden in a secret compartment in the library. If only he had ignored Lisa's comment. According to Lisa F rank life essence technique is easily available in the market therefore most of the warriors practice lower ranked techniques until they have the capitol to buy a higher ranked one. However, only the wealthy could afford those D rank techniques. Whereas those higher then D rank are considered family heirlooms thus impossible to acquire unless you have joined that particular family through a blood contract.

The book currently in his hands was a C grade life essence technique left by his deceased parents. Without wasting time Aren began to practice the manual. However, his efforts were useless because he had neglected most of the books content in favor of the technique. Disappointed at his lack of improvement he read the book in earnest.

According to the book every living being has a fixed amount of life span. Some live until their hundred birthdays while some don't make it passes their twenties. Even through some die old or young it doesn't change the fact that accidents can happen therefore that excess life span is released in the form of life essence.

Therefore, by killing monsters' warriors can absorb that Life essence to kindle the 'Life Fire'. Just like a mage's core, the life fire is the warrior's source of strength that purifies and strengthens the body. The Grade of the Technique decides how many Life Fire is formed. For example, a C grade book can help to form four life fire.

The greatest flaw and strength of a warriors is that they can only grow stronger by absorbing the life essence of a slain monster on the spot because there is only a short window to absorb the life essence before it disperses. This provides an excellent opportunity for other to take action therefore it takes a very long time for a person to become a decent warrior's as they have to discard most of the life essence in favor of staying alive. That is why higher ranked technique is so attractive in their eyes that they will kill to get their hands on one. After all the higher the Rank, the greater the absorption rate.

Aren had the technique memorized by dawn therefore he fell on the bed lifelessly the moment he reached his room due to exhausting himself both physically and mentally.

In short Aren woke up due to dehydration finding his trough as dry as the desert. Getting up he Ran to the kitchen to quench his thirst. In his haste to reach the kitchen he jumped from the stairs thus the old wooden floor pallet broke which consequently was ignored for the moment by Aren.

Once his thirst was quenched Aren returned to find one of the wooden pallets broken due to his carelessness. With a sigh Aren began removing the broken pallets when he found what appeared to be a box beneath the broken wood pallet.

The broken wood pallet was a part of a hidden patch which was hidden in plain sight therefore very hard to find. After opening the hatch, he found what appeared to be an old jewelry box, a Duel Tang Black Sword.

From the amount of dust and spider webs the two items must have been hidden here for a very long time. The duel tang black words should have rusted by now, but these two swords were still in excellent condition as if brand new and recently polished. If he had not seen its condition with his own eyes he would have never believed otherwise. These duel swords were anything but ordinary these were definitely ranked weapons of a grade higher than C.

As he had not seen a ranked weapon it was difficult to judge its actual rank. Regardless, lady luck had smiled upon him today. With great difficulty he put the dual sword down and inspected the box after blowing away the dust which resulted in a coughing fit.

The box was sealed tight without any latch or lock to prove otherwise. Out of options he tried to forcefully open the box, but his efforts bore no fruit except for tiring him out. In spite of all his efforts there not a single scratch on the box no matter how many times he hacked it with his new dual swords.

Taking a deep breath, he began to observe the box for any clues on how to open it. Certainly, it was his lucky day because Box swung open the moment his hand was stung unexpectedly during his manhandling of the box out of anger.

Slapping his forehead at his stupidity, Aren was quite annoyed to have found out that the magical box had a blood seal. At least this proved that the box and the dual swords belonged to his currently deceased family.

Instead of jewelry there was a worn-out book and a purple quartz crystal necklace. The book was still legible despite its appearance. The book was the most valuable judging from its title 'Life Essence Techniques'. In a rush of excitement, he began flipping through the books to checks its content.

Without warning Aren immediately put everything back into the box and rushed to the library with the box and dual swords in hand. In an instant the C rank life essence book was replaced with the box and dual swords.

Aren immediately returned and destroyed the wooden floor to remove any evidence of a hidden hatch. However, the sudden sense of crises refuses to let up. Out of options Aren remembered that he had found some hardware tools and a wooden pallet in the attic therefore he busied himself to fix the floor.

Soon the doorbell rang causing him to flinch and jump in surprise mid work. Aren turned and watched the door in horror as if it was the doorway to hell. Regardless of how he struggled to run away his body refused cooperate as if already aware of the consequences of such an action. The only chance of salvation lied behind that door even through it screamed danger.

Taking a deep breath Aren slowly and steadily approached the door. Grabbing the handle, he slowly opened the door which caused him to pull out every ounce of courage present he could muster. However, the presence of Lila who was tapping her foot in annoyance was completely outside of his expectations.

"What took you so long?" Lila shouted as she shoved Aren aside and entered the house. Tools were scattered around the broken wooden pallet while the new one was placed near the stairs ready to replace it.

"As you can see I was busy replacing the broken floor pallet with a new one." Aren blurted as he gestured towards the mess.

"Never mind, Here Catch." Said Lila throwing a pouch at his face therefore scaring the hell out of him.

"What this?" asked Aren as he suspiciously started at the pouch.

"The payment for the subjugation quest along with the monster cores that you submitted." Lila answered.

"Thanks, Sorry for the trouble." Aren said perplexed.

"I came to deliver your payment while having a chat over some tea, but you seem to be busy, so I will take be my leave." Said Lila as she shut the door behind her back.

The moment she left Aren collapsed on the floor completely exhausted. Throughout the ordeal his heart continued to beat faster and faster as if it's about to explode. Aren breathed a sigh of relieve when the crisis finally passed.

"What just Happened?" Aren asked perplexed as the adrenaline rush wore off.