Two members of the Thundershields guild sat together on a bench at the back of the ship, staring out over the sea as it rolled beneath them.
The wind was cold, and the moon in the sky above cast a pale glow on their faces, making them look like ghosts haunting the bridge. They had no choice but to wait for the other guild members to return. It seemed like an eternity since they had reached this island, but only a few hours had passed since.
*sigh*
"This is boring. Why are we the ones chosen to stay on the ship?"
"There is nothing we can do about it. The team leaders chose us because our abilities are not useful in this kind of situation."
"I hope they'll kill this Kieran soon and get back. I hate sitting here doing nothing."
Suddenly screams came from the bridge where the rest of the members were waiting, but neither of them could understand what was going on.
"What's going on? Did they come back?"
Running in the direction of the screams, the two came upon a scene of carnage.
Blood covered the floor, bodies were lying everywhere, and one of the members of the Thundershields guild had collapsed unconscious near the door leading to the cabin. A lycan stood over him, crushing him with its weight.
The two looked at Kieran with their eyes full of fear and their bodies shaking.
Kieran glanced in their direction before extending his claws and rushing at them.
"Wait, Kieran!" Runihoril's voice echoed in his head.
He closed his hands in a fist at the last moment, punching both in the chest.
*cough*
Both spat gulps of blood from the force of the impact, falling to the ground with their bodies curled up, trying to bear the pain they felt in their chests.
"Why did you stop me?" asked Kieran.
"I know you want to kill all their guild members, but keeping a few alive can be useful. They can help you maneuver the ship, and with the map you got from that guy's spatial gem called Kade, you can get back to your home faster."
Kieran thought for a moment before nodding and looking around. Most of those on the ship were already dead. Only a few were barely breathing.
He takes out several potions from his aurora collar without saying a word before beginning to heal the survivors. He didn't care about using some potions if they could help him get home faster, especially after killing almost all their members and getting their spatial gems. He wouldn't run out of potions anytime soon.
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***
A few hours passed before the survivors could even begin to stand on their feet. Kieran looked at the five people with a cold face.
"You will follow my instructions for the next few days, or I will kill you immediately," he said in a cold tone.
"Will... Will you let us live if we obey you?" one of them asked, trembling with fear.
He didn't answer. A map appeared in his hands, which he unfolded. With a thought, he activated a function of his aurora collar before moving his fingers through the air in front of him. A few seconds after, a notification appeared in front of the five people.
"You have all received a map of this area of the archipelago. Direct the ship to the nearest refuge."
He turned around and slowly entered the captain's cabin without saying another word.
The five looked at each other, but none dared to say anything. They all started to move around the ship, hoping that by doing a good job, they could manage to survive this monster that had appeared in their lives.
Inside the cabin, Kieran sat down on a seat as a light shone on the desk in front of him, dozens of spatial gems appearing one after another, filling all the space on the desk.
"All their spatial gems are of better quality than mine. It looks like the Thundershields guild is really wealthy."
His hand moved, grabbing a gem that was obviously of better quality than any of the others. Without hesitation, he swapped his spatial gem inside his aurora collar with the one he held in his hand.
"This spatial gem has so much space that I could store four ships as big as this one without any problem. The Thundershields guild must have really appreciated him for giving him such an expensive gem. Besides its cannon, its spatial gem contains many items, some soul crystals, and crystal essence recovery potions. There are even ten crystal essence stones, although their quality is low compared to the one I saw for the transmission formation.
Since I can store spatial gems inside another gem, I'll just sort everything out and use the higher-quality gems to separate my belongings, and I'll sell the rest once I'm back in a city."
Kieran began sorting through all the spatial gems, separating what could be useful to him from what he didn't need. The process was slow as he had a little over 300 spatial gems to check.
After several minutes of checking the spatial gems, starting with the highest quality in priority, he was surprised to find one that was filled with elemental earth stones and soul crystals, yet this spatial gem did not belong to Kade.
"Did one of the Thundershields guild find everything I threw on the beach and keep it to themselves?" he wondered before taking a new spatial gem.
After several hours of repeating the same process, he took out a crystal essence stone and began to cultivate.
***
In a huge office on the top floor of a tall building in the city of Ozryn, a man stood in front of a window, gazing at the city below him.
His body was sturdy and tall, measuring 2 meters. His face was fierce, he had black hair and beard, his black eyes reflected a flash of lightning inside them, and he wore a luxurious suit on him.
This man was Aiden Ashblight, Master of the Thundershields Guild.
The door to the office suddenly opened as a man walked in with a panicking expression on his face.
"Guild master! This is serious! Almost all the vital orbs of Kade's expedition team have been destroyed one after another! There are only five survivors left, and Kade is not one of the five!"
"Is this the work of the Cold Ocean guild?" Aiden asked calmly without turning around.
"No, their team came back a month ago. We still don't know why Kade decided to stay inside the rift."
"Investigate this case. Try to find out who dared to attack our guild."
"Yes, Guildmaster!"
The man quickly left, leaving Aiden alone again.
"I really want to know who dares to oppose us."
A cold glint crossed his eyes.