Alex Lux walked back on this path he was so used to by now.

He had visited the elder many times, but this walk felt weird to him.

'Joining this group was likely my biggest fortune in life. I fear I used up all my luck.'

He hadn't worked here for that long, considering he was a cultivator. But events had blown his mind a few too many times already.

'How unbelievable.'

"You shouldn't be so lost in thought. You'll eventually trip down."

Hearing the voice that filled his head for so many weeks, Alex turned around in surprise.

"Hello, Sir! Can I help you with something?"

"Nope. Just take this." Ben said as he threw a stone toward Alex.

Alex's heart skipped a bit while catching it.

"This is?"

"Just a pointer since the girl will likely need your help back there."

"Thank you so much!"

"Sure. You should go ahead, but don't trip on your feet. See you later."

Ben left toward the center of the city.

Speechless, Alex stared at the back of the man that left him alone without explaining things further.

"I may die," He joked as he put his hand on his heart.

---

Ginn was still in his office with Louis.

And knocking on the door was someone else this time.

"Come in."

Ben Higgs was the one who entered.

"It's quite easy to find you."

"Will we talk later then?" Louis asked.

"Yes. Try to work on what we discussed so far." Ginn replied.

"Wow, I'm so special!"

"You indeed are, Sir." Louis agreed as he got out of the chair.

"It's great to see you again. Thank you for hearing me last time." He added.

"To be fair, I don't even remember. Was it useful?"

"Yes. Just enough to give me a better overview."

"Then, that's great to hear."

"Thank you. I'll leave you two alone now." He left with a lot of papers in his hand.

"You always seem to help, left and right."

"Great way of saying I'm just old."

"This never gets old."

The coin on Ben's necklace began vibrating wildly.

"Unfortunately, I do. So help out this grampa."

Ben finally carefully moved the hat from his chest.

The sight was intriguing to Ginn, as he finally saw what he felt from the beginning when meeting Ben.

Although it was merely a glimpse, it was enough to give him a deeper insight.

"Have decency, don't stare too much."

"You sound naked."

"Basically, yes."

Ben walked up to the table, putting the hat down on it, and then sat.

The marks of his refined soul quickly disappeared, leaving behind a hole on his shirt.

"Don't waste it," Ben said as he held the now exposed necklace while trying to stop it.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Not missing the cue, Ginn focused on the hat.

Next, his aura fired up, and strands of energy flowed out of him and suppressed the spheres inside.

"Wait, this is way more difficult than I thought. Give me a minute."

Ben sat looking at his peer working and didn't mind.

While Ginn concentrated, the coin calmed down.

And only after a couple of minutes did the energy around the room settle down.

"You're insane."

"And you like it, given your smile."

"How did you think of something like this? We can likely develop an antidote with this."

"That was my intention. You know, it happened once, and it can happen again. And doing this is way better than having to do that treatment again. And if you end up at Eloise's place next time, that isn't happening. I don't think anyone else can take on the job you did."

"The creators will be furious. And a couple of poison masters would feel dread upon knowing this."

"Nothing is absolute."

"Yet, you try to be. Also, I didn't even feel signs of this before. But now I get it. No wonder you helped that idiot back then."

"No way. It was only out of the goodness of my heart. How could we ever turn our back to someone in need?"

Ginn laughed loudly at that.

"I was indeed afraid I would end up in that same place. But here you come, putting us on the right track."

"I don't think this is the aim of my existence." Ben's hand tightened.

"You are undoubtedly weird. But I can't understand that well enough, though."

"Well, it doesn't stop there."

With his free hand, Ben took a book out of the box he had tied to his pants.

"Here lay my own insights."

"Did you like that book so much?"

"It was helpful, but not to such an extent."

"Fair enough," Ginn said as he took the intel.

Next, Ben took a couple more.

"Does it end?"

"Eventually. It was a lot of work."

"I'm sure it'll be helpful."

"I tried my best not to make it into too much rumbling, but you'll still need to be careful with it."

"How can we even pay this?"

"That I know. Don't kill me."

The coin began humming, creating an awkward atmosphere.

"I don't intend to, anyway. What do you mean?"

"That's most of what I have. Stop thinking you might get a lot more if we become more friendly. And stop focusing on trying to make agreements. Overly hopeful trades might exchange what you want with my life. Your luck is ruthless. And I don't want to be pushed around."

"Ah, I see. You're the first one to be so afraid of it."

"Your enemies should be too if they're smart enough."

"How exactly can I help, then? I'll do my best."

The humming filling the room became quieter.

"Don't have high expectations should be a good start. Let me be this thing that comes and goes every so often. I'll help with whatever I can, but no need to wait for it since you don't need to. However, this is just some theory of mine and might not work, so we need to adapt if that's wrong. That's just the best start I can come with."

"What you did with the coin is very mean."

"I'm just proving my point."

Ginn didn't reply immediately and only looked at the coin like he was thinking something.

The coin instantly hummed loudly again as if responding.

"Don't break it."

Ginn only sighed.

"No wonder Dove was confused. He would likely find this hysterical."

"It's difficult to tread carefully when your existence has such an effect on this world."

"Now, I feel guilty."

"Whatever. I still chose what I chose, and I'm sure of it. You might not know why or how, but even if this slightly aligns with what you want, I'm sure I AM independent. And if I saw any sign that I wasn't free, I would've crippled myself for half a million years."

"And you would've been able to because it's not absolute. But I don't know if that makes me happy or sad."

"Living is hard."

"Sorry."

"I only ask you to try to minimize it a bit, and I can deal with the rest. I can't manipulate destiny, but I'm resilient."

"Fair enough. I promise that I'll do my best, and if I ever hesitate on that, my cultivation shall eat me alive."

Ben wasn't sensitive enough to read it, but at that moment, a powerful cause-and-effect law enveloped Ginn.

"Wonderful!" Ben smiled, releasing the coin. While the object still vibrated slightly, it wasn't humming loudly anymore.

"Very crafty. Useless for anything else but crafty."

"It was very hard coming up with something even slightly effective. It's not incredible, though. I tested it thoroughly when I was encircling this place."

"We noticed it. I was perplexed by what you were doing."

Ben merely did a sign with his hand as if stating: what else could he do?

"I feel like you're the second to put me in place."

"Was the first one, Eloise?"

"Did you notice that too?"

"I don't understand, but I saw that the coin showed no effect. Even Alex had an effect, while it was zero from her."

"Does it even stick?"

"If it didn't, that would be quite underwhelming."

"To be fair, I thought you helped Dinna because of me. But after looking carefully at what happened with the earthling you mentioned last time, I couldn't be more wrong."

Ben merely made the same signs with his hand again.

"No wonder they survived."

"It was mostly their leader at the time. I didn't lie. I wasn't there."

"The records talk about the clash. But their leader wasn't even there. No one mentions him, either. Which is extremely weird."

"Isn't that weird? It was too easy for them."

"It likely didn't play as Slet wanted."

"To be fair, I don't remember most of it. It has been a long time."

"Do you think the knight from Earth was the mastermind behind it?"

"Maybe he's involved. I wouldn't know. I was just a mailman."

"You have this weird tendency..."

"They think that guy is dead. And I need Slet to think that he's dead."

"So they don't get a lead to counterattack the madness?"

"Both."

"Both?"

"I've done enough."

"Cold."

"How is it to be powerless? Do you know?"

"You're still helping."

"Some may think that's much. But it isn't. And Dinna doesn't even need it since she has you already."

"People may misinterpret that."

"You know what I meant. That's barely a shadow of the past. I didn't know the core techniques. What was lost is gone forever. I'm only..."

"Giving what you can? So, that's for her clan and not Dinna herself."

"No, doing this for myself. Since the Mortez Clan wouldn't need that either. They built whatever they had once and could do it again, given the opportunity. And right now, that opportunity is called Dinna and Ginn."

"You always put yourself down."

"Well, I know my life better than anyone else. What would happen if you were gone tomorrow? I wouldn't be able to bring their clan anywhere."

"But I will not."

"Eventually, you will."

"You overthink too much."

"And I live too little. That's fair. But that still got me here."