Farn knew he couldn't keep this up. His Master Level power was barely a trickle now. He could barely hold his sword. Mellana wasn't doing much better, her hair matted with sweat and blood, and exhaustion creasing her face. He couldn't believe that someone had used twenty of his second and third stage Master Realm practitioners in order to ambush him and Mel. There was even a fourth stage Master Realm cultivator. He knew who was behind this, and had resolved to get out of this alive. But now he severely doubted he could.

Just as he was about to lose hope, one of the men gave let out a scream that turned into a gasping wheeze. The one he was battling with instinctively turned his head and Farn took advantage of his distraction to plunge his sword into the man's heart, while he turned to see what happened for himself, making sure to stay on guard. One of the assailants had a slit neck. A quick glance at Mel showed him she hadn't done it and that she too was looking at him to see if he'd done it. Her opponent was at her feet, as she had obviously taken advantage of her adversary's distraction to land a decisive blow, as he had.

So, if neither of them had killed the man, who had? Then one of the men gave a shout, pointing to the man opposite to him. Farn turned his head so fast he gave himself whiplash, then stared open mouthed at the scene of a young girl with flaming red hair and deep blue eyes with a murderous glint in them behind a man, stabbing him from behind, through the heart. Then the blade was pulled out and four flashes of cold light shot from the red headed Death God's fingers, revealing themselves to be throwing knives after lodging themselves into four men's throats. While she had thrown the blades, she had also made a graceful arc with her body, pulling her knife out of one man's heart and into the same organ in another man in a single move. Less than three seconds had passed since her arrival, and seven new bodies littered the ground. The men looked at their fallen comrades, then back at her.

Well, back where she had used to be. She had disappeared the instant their eyes had left her. The men instantly went into a panic. An Elemental Apprentice? Here? They didn't stand a chance. Some tried to run but Aurelie reappeared to get rid of them. The men then stayed put in a terrified silence.

Farn stared at the dead bodies, his mind replaying images of Aurelie's face as she stabbed the man. The girl he knew was a optimistic, continuously smiling, vivacious, and bubbly girl. The one he'd just seen was terrifying, with a determined and cold gaze, a stern set to her mouth, a girl who wore her bloodlust as a thick coat around her. Which one was the real one?

Three other thuds stole his attention. Three more men had fallen dead where they stood, leaving only one living attacker left. Petrified, he started to back away from Aurelie, but she dashed towards him, a red bolt of lightning. The man held out a piece of paper and yelled a single word: "Activate." The paper suddenly grew, forming huge wings which attached themselves to him. Jumping up, he flew off. Aurelie stared after him, dumbfounded.

'Yeah' she thought to herself. 'I got a lot left to learn. And, note to self, if you see a deathly pale guy with slits for a nose, run the other way screaming bloody murder.'

She turned back to her two friends.

"Any chance my appearance and I can stay a secret now?"

Blank stares.

"Yeah, didn't think so. So, what was that all about anyway?"

More blank stares, but they showed signs of rousing themselves.

"Come on guys, what happened?"

This garnered a response, mostly because Mellana had pinched Farn to make sure this wasn't a dream and that a first stage Master Realm cultivator had actually just taken less than five minutes to kill ten second and third Master Realm practitioners and force someone in the fourth stage of the Master Realm to run for his life and the sudden small pain had woken Farn up. Aurelie grinned inwardly. She enjoyed finding little gestures in this world that coincided with the ones from her world.

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"Right. Okay. Um, my village, Lejus Village, was friends with our neighboring village, Meir Village, for a very long time. But, lately there is a drought happening in Meir Village. They also had a greedy new village head, named Gradas Meir, take the previous one's place. So, instead of asking us for access to the falls and river, they plan to take my village over. They plan to kill me because I am both the village head's son and one of our villages most powerful future fighters. Taking me out weakens Lejus both mentally and physically." Farn told her, frowning.

"My being here was just a bonus, though I was probably target number two. Being the youngest child and only daughter of the Library Keepers for Lejus Village, as well as the only one who is comparable to Farn in terms of fighting strength." Mellana added.

"Is there nobody stronger than you in your village?" Aurelie asked, surprised. Maybe her rise in power was meteoric.

"No, but we are the strongest in the younger generation. Everyone stronger than us is also at least ten years older than us. We are considered to be geniuses in our village." Mellana frowned at Aurelie. "Not that we can call ourselves that now."

Aurelie decided to ignore the prickly feeling of guilt. No way could she tell them that her speed was because she was from a different world. So instead she focused on her second point of interest. "What are Library Keepers?"

"They are the ones who guard the library and make sure no one goes somewhere they don't have access to. The library contains our history and Cultivation Technique Manuals. By the way, Farn gave you our most precious cultivation technique."

Stunned, Aurelie looked at Farn. He had completely trusted her, a complete stranger, with his village's most important document. She had already decided to help him take down Meir Village, but now she cemented that decision. She would help them no matter what. Then a small part of her mind spoke up. Frowning, she decided to deal with the issue the small voice brought up later. Right now she had to know what she was up against.

"I'm going to help you guys out. What is your village's line up, their village's line up, and what the hell was up with that piece of paper?"

Farn and Mellana exchanged joyful glances, then Farn spoke, as he had a better idea of their strengths due to his position.

"My dad is the most powerful in our village, and is a ninth stage Grandmaster. My mom is an eighth stage Grandmaster, and so is my uncle and Mel's parents. There are ten people at seventh stage Grandmaster, fifteen at sixth stage Grandmaster, and we don't keep track after that. The other side has the same amount of ninth and eighth stage Grandmasters, three more seventh stage Grandmasters, and five less sixth stage Grandmasters. And I'll explain Alchemists and Enchanters to you now. Alchemists make pills that increase your cultivation for short amounts of time, or increase cultivation speed, or ones that can speed up healing and there are many other types capable of lots of other things. Enchanters use sigils to grant powers. For example, you just saw someone use the sigil for 'fly'. Both Enchanters and Alchemists are rare and are very highly valued. We don't have either one, and I didn't think they did either until just now, but they must have hired an Enchanter."

Aurelie froze for a moment to process the new information, and Farn got up and walked off. "Wait!" Aurelie yelled after him. He turned and looked at her. "Aren't you going to hide these?" A gesture at the dead bodies surrounding them.

Farn's face turned stormy. "Do you believe I am afraid of Meir?"

"No, but I don't want you to be arrested!"

"Huh?"

"You know, put behind bars, in the slammer."

Aurelie and Farn looked at each other, both confused. Mellana stepped up.

"Aurelie, here there is a principle that says you can kill whomever you want. Of course their family can take retribution by killing you, so you have to be careful to either not be known to have killed that person, or have the confidence to take on their entire family. Is it not like that on your continent?"

Aurelie thought of hard faced police officers and their long struggle with injustice, and most especially of the FBI unit assigned to find out who she was during her career as an assassin.

"No, not really."