Slicing through a cracked blade, Jessica sliced into an injury. Cleanly cutting through the Grade E goblin’s neck.

Sounds around her had started to calm down, still, it was possible to hear the sounds of battle still going on. For this reason, she didn’t pause to ready herself. Not seeing anyone in front of her, she started to get a full view of the battle.

A large thud was heard as she turned her head and saw a pale faced Saleh. He had his arm through the chest of a goblin, judging from the weapon it used to be a Grade E. Something didn’t add up, the bodies didn’t match the number of opponents they had to face.

With a quick count, she only saw a little over half, as Saleh kicked at the body. His arm finally came out. He was panting, she was just barely able to keep her breath under control. Seeing the body fall into the crack as the head hit the side as a small clump of dirt came loose.

Only now did she realize a large number of her kills had fallen in. In fact, two goblins had died trying to cross the small, misleading sized hole. Looking around the now still battlefield did she realize everything was dead.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little guilty. At the same time, she didn’t nearly feel as guilty as she probably should. No longer was she doing a job, she now was just focusing on getting stronger. This mentality was something that would help her, so she didn’t try to think about it.

Looking up, she saw Saleh smile at her as he finally caught his breath.

“Sloppy. Your use of mana was not very refined. You rely too much on your physical manifestation of mana. Don’t forget you’re still a mage. You need to work more on your spell casting.”

Azeban and Joana could finally be seen. They were standing off to the side without a single sign they had just been in battle. Throughout the entire fight, she had only seen slight traces of Joana, she didn’t even catch a trace of anyone showing signs of where Azeban had been.

Azeban had spoken while looking at Saleh, Joana was looking at her, “You did well. Though, your movements were a bit questionable. Instead of doing the simplest action, you always tend to do something that wastes more energy than necessary.”

Azeban turned hearing this, “That is her style, which is very good. However, she is a terrible fighter.” Without mincing his words, “She has a variety of attack patterns. This makes her deadly. At the same time, she shares the same downfall as everyone that follows a similar path, complex can’t beat effective.”

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“She does it to use that unique flying dagger type combat. Ultimately adding unpredictability to her fighting style.” Joana tried to say something positive.

Turning to look at her, “Doesn’t matter. Fighting only has a winner or a loser. Nobody wants to be a fabulous looking loser. Just makes you look stupid. Though for her current level it is fine. The stronger she becomes, the less efficient her style is, the weaker she will become.”

This continued back and forth. Neither of the two had anything to say. They were still learning. She specifically could understand some of what they were saying. In the end, she realized at some point they had stopped talking about them and moved onto Joana.

What she took away in the end was that she had much to learn. While what they said, what others had said. She could only try to incorporate pieces of it over time. As time passed, she continued to use things that worked while trying to phase out things that didn’t.

Without much to do, the two wandered around. They had raided the goblin troop. Only the most expensive items had been moved. Right now, the best thing they could find was food supplies. It appeared they did a lot of work for little reward.

Looking at the three, Azeban could only scold them, “Did you think every time you rob someone you will become rich? Haha, how far-fetched. Stealing is about the experience, not the money. That sweet feeling of taking something that wasn’t yours. It is the best, it is even better when you steal something without the other knowing. The look on their faces when they realize it is gone is ecstasy…”

For an entire hour, he continued on about the joys of stealing, robbing, and thievery in general. Like an introduction, emotion guide to the greatest enjoyments the path could bring. At the end, he could only sigh loudly at showing others the greatest path possible, for them to not understand its greatness.

Outside of raiding the goblin troop. They hit two human bandit camps they came across. A few other things happened, the worst being accomplished in stealing from a merchant caravan. They weren’t a patron of the Adventurer’s Guild.

It wasn’t until after everything transpired did he give them their cut. If not for seeing some of the goods in the carriages, they wouldn’t have imagined he had the opportunity to rob them. Not being well-informed, this caravan only saw the elder’s mask and didn’t think much of it.

Not believing an elder to stoop so low, they didn’t bother to change their route. Possibly thinking it would be offensive, little did they know that this was their downfall.

None of the three had seen him act, so nobody knew how he pulled it off. The caravan didn’t stop, and neither did they. From sight alone to hearing, they could easily tell it was a weapon shipment.

Azeban was playing with a sword that had been on the belt of the merchant. He gave Jessica a similar crafted dagger. Clearly showing the maker was from the same teachings as the beautifully decorated blade. Joana was given a strange gauntlet, while Saleh was given a sword that was similar make to the dagger.

Jessica couldn’t help but remember the reactions the people inside Mercury City had in the face of this elder. With a heavy sigh, trying to defend yourself against such a person was impossible. This was both an eye-opening experience, alongside a horrifying one.