Inside the base of the cliff, where the maze-like tunnels moved up and down, left and right, and where the rooms that the bandits called their homes. The silence was the only thing that could be heard as the rooms were empty, but if one were to inspect, one could find that in the central hall, a man of large stature, was sitting on a stone chair with his eyes closed while breathing heavily, as though taking in something invisible with each breath of air he was breathing.

But the silence ended as steps could be heard coming from the open large stone doors at the beginning of the hall, a man of average stature and with a rather skinny complexion appeared as he was looking at the seated man with a rather bored expression.

“Joul!?”

“Yes, they have arrived, I've instructed some of the slaves to move the products, it is time to move. Dog alongside the other five ranks 4 and the rest have left for about three hours, giving the prowess of the wild ranked horses they should arrive at the encampment by this midnight, but knowing Dog he’ll wait for the next morning.”

As Joul began his conversation as though giving a report the man had no reaction but at the hearing of Dog’s name irritation and anger manifested as he stomped his foot into the hard

rock floor making the room tremble just slightly while letting a small indentation on the floor.

“That bastard! He ruined fucking everything. Did you know I came here ten---ten fucking years ago, I was a rank 4 and had with me Zuger, the mute, and ten others, I build this hold with my finger and become a rank 5, I lived and ruled as a rank 6 and now for an idiot, I must leave, or that is what would I say, if I would have bet my life on this place, I am leaving as a rank 7 for an even better opportunity!”

As he said his last words a pressurizing aura began to engulf him, even though it could not be felt and as he rose from the stone chair cracks began to spread as the chair broke into pieces.

“So you have advanced.”

“Obviously, the threat from the guards had put enough pressure on me to force my way out of the 6th rank. Has the pervert said anything?”

“Yes, he had expressed not to visit him and to do whatever we want as he’ll do whatever he wants.”

“Fucking hell why did I even take that fucker in and gave him a seat with me if he has done absolutely nothing for the last year?”

“It's better to call it a loss, just because his presents has been beneficial, even while consuming our resources. Leaving at that, it's the time to meet our benefactors.”

“Indeed.”

As he said that, the man turned around and took a fist-size box from the broken stone chair, at the same time, the eyes of Joul squinted at the action and at the box that was extracted from under the chair's debris.

“This is?”

“My ticket for the War State, and the chance to become an Immortal in the next ten or twenty years.”

As the two men were looking at one another, a slight tension took form but was dismissed immediately as the man took wide strides out of the hall. As Joul followed him, the both of them came outside the hold, dense fog was obfuscating the sight of them both.

“Come.”

But a deep voice came from in front of them as they begin to move in the fog as a large shadow could be seen and became a boat of forty meters long and ten deep, and on a long ladder used to embark, the sight of women and young men could be seen, as they were being stored in the insides of the boat.

As the two of them used the long ladder to get on the boat they were greeted by two groups of men and women as they both bowed in a show of respect. On the right, at the front of the boat black-cloth individuals with hidden faces as there were more than twenty of them while on the left side white-cloth and armed men and women as they were circling a seated man with eyes closed in a breathing meditation on a small chair.

“So this is everything? Joul take your place.”

As the speaker revealed him to be on of the black-hooded men's side, as he seemed to be the center of his group and as his voice appeared to be rather old he naturally gave the impression of being the leader of the group. But at the words of the black-hooded leader, Joul separated himself from the bandit leader while putting on him a long black robe as his face became covered by the hood of his robe. His position was one of no grand importance as he was standing the furthermost of the leader as an indication of his power and status in the group.

“Now as you have seen, my friend from the War State, this is the amount of goods we were able to retrieve from these parts.”

“Not enough, we were promised more people at a much later date, we can forgive you for the incident that happen here, but this number is still not good on your part, explain yourself.”

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But the second speaker that was replying to the hooded leader seemed to be none of the white clothe individuals as the voice seemed to come from everywhere.

“Joul, give an explanation!”

“Yes, due to the unexpected snow that had hit this region we had been forced to take action before the villages would gather together or ask for help from the nearby county, as such we have to take preemptive actions, but in doing so we have been unfortunate as to have the county guards came here before we could take all the necessary goods from the nearby villages.”

“So what your saying is, “I had a plan, but I fucked it up”, isn't it?”

“Yes, indeed lord immortal.”

As the voice seemed to shorten the report of Joul, to something of a more vulgar matter, the subject changed as the voice did not seem particularly mad about the numbers of goods not being what they had been promised.

“I've heard that someone wanted to come with us? Is it this rank 7 man?”

“Yes, we were informed by my subordinate Jould that this man desire to use his contributions with us over the years to exchange for a place in your nation.”

As the old black-hooded man began to speak again about the leader of the bandits, he took a small bag and toss it towards one of the white women in the other group to inspect.

“This can only take you there, this is not enough to do anything more.”

But the voice that was coming from everywhere was not satisfied with the amount of value in the small bag.

“Please wait, sir Immortal, I intend to pay for a further opportunity with my own property.”

“Oh, Is that true? If that's the case I want to see what can you offer.”

As the voice appeared to be surprised at the interjection of the bandit, the same woman that had prior to this received the small bag, came over to the bandit leader as he handed her the small case that he had carried all the time. The woman took the small case with skepticism as she approach the seated man and slowly open the box, but just as the box was opened, a small fraction of the people present had strange reactions as they were glued to the box in surprise. With the full opening of the box, a small white cristal rock became visible, attracting the attention of everyone, even the seated man as he extended his arm and took the rock in his hand while putting it close to his mouth and taking a deep breath, while a frown of surprise took him.

“A quasi-high-energy stone, it can be put between the rank 6 and 7 of the Immortal, I am impressed at your luck, with this I can guarantee you access to our best-cultivating facilities, I can not make you a promise but if you'll be lucky again, you might become an Immortal in 20 years. Hahaha, you did good, taking it out here in my presence, otherwise, everyone here might have killed you for it.”

As the surrounding voice said his piece, the bowing bandit leader could feel the murderous glares coming from his back, especially from the leader of the black cloth men, as it was not even covered, but fully open for everyone to see.

“Now, now my friend from the kingdom. There is no need for hard feelings as the junior has chosen me over you so please ease your anger.“

But even as the words coming, had no threat in them, other than appeasing, the black cloth leader was still being put to a strenuous pressure as the floor at his feet made small noises. As a battle of power was taking place between the two leaders, the winner and loser were all too evident.

“Yes, it's true I lost my patience over the small fortune moment, of a long patron of mine, please excuse me, my friend.”

“No problem. Now, your name?”

“This one's name is Grip, sir Immortal, it was the nickname given by an old enemy of mine, that had become my name permanently over the time I lived.”

“So you give yourself a name, you must be quite ambitious and ruthless, to toss all your years of ruling here so easy.”

But as the words came a sense of uneasiness grew up, as a droplet of sweat was formed and rolled down Grip's temple and fell to the ground from his chin.

“In our reports, this place should have hundreds of bandits, where are they?”

“Sir, the guards had made a camp far east from here, as to make sure the investigations end here I decide to make some sacrifices.”

“Hmmm, I can understand appeasing the guards to loosen your tracking, but to send everyone including the rank four and up is not such a good move in my eyes.”

“Sir, this is a punishment for their mistakes, and also for the names that the guards need to collect.”

“Alright, I won't question further if you don’t want to say anything else, but, wait, what is the name of the captain that came?

But at the question, Grip found himself at a loss as he had forgotten the name and the pressure he was under did not help him as he turned his head toward Joul. As the attention was again on him, Joul had no other choice but to come forward again.

“Yes lord Immortal, my investigation had concluded that a newly appointed captain of the Green city has taken the mission of hunting us and protecting the villages in the area, the abnormality is in the identity of the new captain for his young age and connexions with the central part of the kingdom, he is of rank 5 which is a real dilemma as it is simply too low for a captain of a city such as Green city. Name Rowen.”

“Hmmm, full name?”

“Rowen Field.”

But at the mention of the full name of the guard captain the seated man that had his eyes closed the whole time, suddenly open them in somewhat of a shock and bewilderment as a sudden gust of wind sprung from him, bashing onto the others presents on the deck of the boat while clearing a large area from the surrounding fog.

“Are you absolutely certain?”

The sudden agitation and alarming of the seated man, put particular anxiety on the heads of all present as even the leader of the black-cloth men began to have the same vague idea, of

the true identity of the young captain.

“Yes.”

“If that's the case, let's depart immediately, I don’t want any unexpected situation to arrive.”

As he commented for the first time using his mouth and voice in a somewhat alarming tone, he stomped the floor of the ship, as lines at the bottom of it appeared and began to glow in a weak light as the boat began to take off at the sky slowly, exiting the valley and letting the hold of the bandits at the base of the cliff.

“Now, please take to your room as I’ll be increasing the velocity for the first part of the journey, I’ll use the route that you have provided to avoid the eyes of the west. And see to Grip’s room.”

As the man began to order in a hurry while the boat was slowly moving north, the various subordinates took to the inside of the boat as only the seated man and the black-cloth leader remained on the deck as the wind was taking a strong pushing force.

“The son of the East?”

“It should be, otherwise no one would make any rank 5 into a captain, but the real problem is, who it is that's accompanying him?"

As the two spoke to one another, the boat became just a dot in the distance, as it was moving in between the border mountains.