The Intermediate Tier 3 mage named Yarge was being pinned down by a small girl. She didn't hesitate to rip out his vocal cords, essentially crippling his way to use magic. With this single move, the fight finally ended in their favor.

"So, anything you want to say before you die?"

Yarge tried to say something but all that came out of his throat was a bunch of gargling noise. In a desperate attempt to retaliate, he grabbed a dagger from his pocket and tried to stab Eve, leaving try to leave a mark behind.

"I guess not."

With a quick merciless slash, Yarge's head and body dropped separately on the ground. Zane removed his hand from Mathias' back and went forward to meet up with Eve while Mathias was in complete shock.

"Where did she come from?! I didn't even notice her before she struck."

While Mathias was in deep thought, Zane and Eve jumped down into the arena and started taking care of the survivors. They took whoever had a sliver of breath left and took them out of this troublesome environment.

Zane looked at Mathias, "Aren't you going to help?"

Mathias regained his senses and also jumped down and helped to rescue the remaining survivors. He cast a few more healing spells while being supplied by Zane to relieve those children who still had a bit more severe injuries.

After they took out the survivors, they couldn't do much about those who died so Mathias, taking it into his own hands, burned the bodies of those who died, preventing their bodies to be defiled even further.

"Who are you? You're wearing quite the mask there."

Mathias blatantly put up his insignia and said, "The genius from the Kingdom of Clouds, Mathias. Though I can't say that I'm a genius compared to you two, an unfathomable reserve of mana and a terrifying ability to erase your presence."

Zane was completely taken aback, as far as he was concerned, he was not at all within the realms of being called a genius. He had to work hard ever since Adam took him in and all that did was put him on par with Richard.

"I don't deserve being called a genius, if anything the only person that you should call a genius is a man named Richard, if you ever meet him, you'll understand."

"Richard? I'll keep that in mind. If that's the case, I hope to work together with you two in the future. Your abilities intrigue me and I hope to be on good terms with people who have the same goal as me."

Zane realized at this point that what made Mathias think that they were gifted was because of Adam's mana technique, it made someone weak into a terrifying figure. He couldn't say anything as he was made speechless with this sudden realization so he just nodded.

They split right after, Mathias took everyone affected with him while Zane felt comfortable leaving the children with Mathias. Eve, on the other hand, didn't share the sentiment so she spent the rest of the night ensuring that Mathias will uphold his word, which Eve witnessed to be true.

The following day, Zane and Eve woke up as if that fight yesterday didn't happen. They wore the clothes they bought from the store but couldn't muster up the motivation to go outside. Seeing how cruel everything was behind the scenes made Zane wonder if he should be allowed to be this free.

After making up his mind, he decided to cleanse this kingdom using his own hands. Eve saw how agitated Zane has become and offered a compromise.

"Remember what that clerk told us? Apparently, a circus is in town and has been the talk of the town recently. Why don't we go there and watch it? We can clean the kingdom at night since that's when they're most active."

Zane couldn't find a way to refuse Eve so he reluctantly went to the circus. They walked together and arrived to see that the circus that everyone has been hyping up was something that seemed quite familiar.

They bought their tickets and entered the tent only to see the inner walls of the tent turn to skies, clouds, trees and, rocks so realistic that they would've been convinced if someone told them it was a different world.

"Hey, Eve. Doesn't this place look familiar?"

"Of course, it does. It seems like Adam had something brewing in the background."

When they went in front of a stand, they were quickly given preferential treatment, they were instantly given what they wanted while everyone else had to wait. Eventually, someone started to complain but when Rosaline appeared and personally escorted them to somewhere else, they all realized that those two were someone extremely important.

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While Zane and Eve were sitting down on a couch, Rosaline was standing up while observing Eve in detail. Eve picked up her tea and sipped it when she finally got curious.

"When's Adam coming?"

"He's uh... not coming..."

Eve got extremely curious, "How come? I don't think he's the kind to invite people and just make them wait."

Rosaline started to slightly become awkward, "It's because he didn't want to intervene in your off-time, I called you both of my own volition."

"How come?"

"I wanted to see if your skills would be-"

The door immediately opened and Adam appeared, "Enough. I told you to not intervene for now, didn't I?"

"I apologize but I wanted to see just how good she actually is so I can plan ahead."

"Oh, that's what's happening, I see where I made a mistake. You're not commanding her to work, she's the one doing that to you. You're going to help her get what she wants to be done, no matter what it is. And if you're doubting her skills, don't."

Rosaline then finally understood why Adam made unreasonable demands, set up an entire system, and created the dungeons, it was all so that Eve could just focus on her specialty.

Zane finally saw what Adam has been planning this entire time, a foothold into the core of the Kingdom of Luxury. A looming threat that will shake the kingdom if left alone.

Adam looked at Zane and Eve and started to apologize, "I'm sorry, this should be your time to enjoy yourself but I let someone intervene. Anyways, you can go now, I'll come get you when you're done enjoying yourselves."

Eve stood up and took her stance, "I'm done enjoying myself. I want to clean this kingdom already."

Adam then looked at Zane, "How about you, Zane? You're well-rested?"

"Rested and ready to fight."

Adam handed Eve a document and a scroll then promptly reached for the door, "All right, that speeds up my plans for a bit. Eve here's everything to catch you up. Zane, come let's go."

Zane was baffled, "Huh?"

"Yeah, we're moving on. Eve's got everything set up for her and I still need you to work your way up in the Kingdom of Valor. Time's ticking."

Zane looked at Eve who was reading the document then suddenly screamed at Adam. She

"Adam! What's this?! What do you mean by 'the scroll will act as the ignition for the explosion?' What explosives?!"

"Oh, I thought you noticed, the money I gave you was rigged, with that scroll, a mana explosion will occur within each gold piece, essentially holding the entire kingdom hostage. It's just a precaution, something I hope will never be used."

With the amount of money circulating within the kingdom, tracking each gold coin that had been rigged would essentially be impossible for anyone who hasn't specialized in tracking.

Zane got curious about just how mad Adam really was, "What would've you done if we didn't spend anything?"

Adam grinned and gave Zane a knowing look, "I'm pretty sure you already know the answer, Zane."

Zane took out the silver coin that the counter gave when Zane bought the ticket. He tossed it towards Adam to which Adam caught and played around with.

"Exactly. You're learning Zane, step by step you'll eventually surpass many."

As always, there had to something extreme within his plans. Adam will always have something drastic to make sure nothing will fail to the point that even if the enemy didn't want it to happen, he'll make them.

"If there's nothing else, let's go, Zane."

After seeing both of them leave, Eve was left alone to do whatever she wanted. She was given a chance to enact her own revenge on her own terms, Adam just gave her the tools she needed to do it. At this point in time, Eve sat back down.

"Rosaline, you'll do anything I say, right?"

"Y-Yes?"

Eve wrote down a few addresses within a piece of paper and gave it to Rosaline, "Good, have people monitor their schedules, once you get their rotations down, tell me."

Rosaline took the piece of paper and realized that Eve knows the very basics at the very least. She was about to leave when she heard Eve say something else.

"You wanted to see if my skills were lacking, right?"

"I didn't mean it that way, I just meant-"

Eve disappeared from her seat only to appear in front of Rosaline while holding the pen to her neck. If Eve wanted to, she would've easily ended Rosaline's life by piercing her artery.

"I see that I made a mistake, forgive me."

Rosaline left the room and sighed heavily, she didn't see how Eve moved but if what Adam told her was actually the truth then Eve will definitely become someone Rosaline will benefit from.

Adam took Zane, Abel, and Gabe and sent forth towards the very next kingdom, the Kingdom of Valor. This kingdom is quite the odd one out of the five kingdoms since it primarily revolves around the strong being right and the weak being wrong.

It had the idea of everything the strong wanted to be theirs while the weak could only cower. It created a strange dynamic where the weak were forced to become strong to even be able to live there causing the citizens to be a cut above even compared to usual mercenaries.

Due to everyone being innately strong, the kingdom has boasted the strongest manpower out of all the five kingdoms but at the same time the most unstable kingdom out of them all where people constantly challenge the king in trying out their luck.

However, there had been a change in the past decade, the king had still stayed true to his roots but enacted a new law to ensure that everything would be regulated easier. He created a tournament where everyone would fight to show their power and skill for all to witness. The top 20 fighters in this kingdom will be exempted from the kingdom's rules as long as they don't shake the foundations of the kingdom.

After getting out of the carriage that they had been using to travel for the past few days, Adam, Zane, Abel and, Gabe stepped down only to be welcomed with an attack directed right at them.

Adam stood still while Abel and Gabe went forward to meet their fists with their own, this impact caused the attacker to reel in pain. His broken hand made everyone look at the newcomers who just arrived.

Adam snapped his fingers and an invisible force dragged everyone's bodies down, "It seems we're starting off strong. Let's go ask them a few questions."

These ten men who were standing ready for a fight felt their bodies become sluggish. Abel and Gabe went forward and incapacitated each one of them.