Standing on his balcony and looking at the rising sun, Thanos couldn't help but think about the fight with the bandits a couple of days ago as he rubbed a thumb over the simple-looking coin he had been given.
As he did so, he gave serious consideration to the offer the powerful man had made. Leaving the village in search of strength and experience was something that he felt would happen eventually, and this might be a way to do it.
Killing people for a living wasn't a profession he had ever thought about until now. He couldn't help but laugh a little at the idea, not that killing for money amused him.
He had spent so much time back on Earth avoiding choosing a real job, and now he was standing in another world considering becoming an assassin. It was still a little surreal, even after all these years.
He also might not have a choice. The man said he typically didn't stop to chat, implying that he usually just killed his enemies before they could even ask who he was.
Just before he vanished, he also mentioned getting to talk when they next met. The meaning seemed quite evident to him. If he didn't join, there would be no talking the next time they crossed paths.
"Brother, breakfast is ready," Nyx called from outside his bedroom door, pushing it open.
"Coming." He said, slipping the coin away and heading downstairs.
Sitting at the table, he picked at some dried meat and bread, lost in thought, as he tried to decide on his future plans.
"Why do you look so down? Still upset we won't let you leave the village?" Valeria asked him, causing him to look up.
"No, I understand. Just thinking some things over is all." He replied, getting a nod as his sister cut in, talking about what she wanted to do that day.
After finishing his food, he returned to his room, closed the doors and sat at his desk as a nearby Lightstone lit the room.
Picking up the Gravity Lashing skill book he got from the spatial ring, he opened it and started to read. He had studied it multiple times over the past few days, and although it wasn't designed for someone with his essence affinities, there were some parts he found that were interesting to him.
The skill was classed as an area of effect control skill, and when activated, it sent out metal chains that attached to any enemy within a certain distance, slowing them down. As best as he could work out, it did this by causing the gravity experienced by those surrounding enemies to increase.
The part that fascinated him the most was how the skill targeted those enemies in the first place. The technique detailed a way to separate a tiny section of a cultivator's soul and split it into multiple parts. These parts were attached to a person's consciousness like tiny gunners manning a human-shaped battleship.
These minuscule gunners were called 'spirit avatars' and would use a person's senses to use specific skills automatically, whilst the primary consciousness focused on other things like fighting. In this case, they would send out the chains to attach to any threat within range and activate the gravity portion of the skill.
The chains sent out were not metallic, even though they seemed like it. They were ethereal ones formed by spirit power backed up by metal essence.
This meant they weren't like physical chains and were much more challenging to break. They would remain attached through most material obstacles, such as walls, so dropping line of sight wasn't an effective counter.
Generally, only someone with a skill able to target spirit power could attack them. A more powerful soul also made such chains harder to break, and that was an advantage of his.
He especially liked this skill as it helped cover for his weaker body by bringing an enemy's speed down. It was playing to his strength and covering for a weakness all rolled into one.
The fact it used gravity to apply what he classed as a slowing debuff made him think about his own essence and whether he could deconstruct this skill and turn it into something he could use.
He still had the dark book he bought many years ago that his mother didn't want him to have, and that had an introductory method based around breaking down skills and reworking them into something potentially usable.
There was also the strange things he found he could do with his combined essence mixture and how it appeared to substitute for other essence at times.
All this made him wonder if he could use his mixed essence to apply the chain portion of the skill, allowing a connection to facilitate the debuff. For the slowing down function, time essence was the perfect substitute for that.
All he needed to do was work out how to break the skill down, pick it apart and rebuild it for his use. It sounded easy on paper, but he knew that this was going to be a long-term project of his. So he got to work and spent most of his day deconstructing it and got lost in a world of his own until a knock on his door pulled him back.
"Come in." He called out, turning to see his father standing in the doorway.
"Would you like to come for a drink at the tavern?" Marcus asked, catching him a little off guard.
"Really? Am I not too young?" He replied, standing up from his stool.
"No, why would you be?" Marcus asked, looking a little amused.
"I figured you could probably use a bit of a break. You haven't stopped since the attack and seem a little distracted."
"Yeah, that sounds good." He said after giving it a moments thought, taking a fur coat down from a nearby peg on the wall and leaving the house with Marcus.
They made small talk as they walked, and he thought back to when he told his parents about his unique core and what it could do. The reaction wasn't quite the shock he had been expecting, and they seemed more concerned that he knew cut-off limbs would regrow, but he glossed over how he knew.
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As for Tantalus and the whole situation caused by him that nearly got him killed, well, he also had an idea about how to deal with it. Now that he was currently forbidden from roaming the countryside, Marcus had offered to put him on guard duty in an attempt to keep him busy.
When viewing the rota for the upcoming duty, he found that the young noble would be one of two assigned to keep watch during the approaching ancestral worship ceremony. That was when he would finally put an end to the troublesome youth. It was usually four on guard at a time, but only two during the worship ceremony, so he put his name down as the other.
"You look lost in thought. Anything I should know about?" Marcus asked, snapping him out of his thoughts and causing him to unclench his white-knuckled fists.
"Nothing much, just thinking about that new skill book I found. So this is the new tavern?" He replied as they arrived outside the newly constructed building that had replaced the dingy old one.
"Yeah, the twins did a good job. Although they spent half their life in the old one, it was a given they wouldn't hold back on the new one." Marcus smiled, holding the double front door open for him.
The building was a beautifully built two-story work of stone and wood, with intricate carvings and blocky shapes giving it a unique look. There were a couple of balconies and a small roofed outdoor seating area.
Stepping through, the smell of old body odour and stale ale immediately hit him, causing him to twitch his nose as he walked to the bar.
So much for being new.
The smell, whilst a little abnormal, reminded him of those old pubs back on Earth and brought back some old memories, causing his mood to lighten.
"What'll you have?" A stout-looking man asked, glancing at him and then his father and nodding.
"I'll have whatever the old man is having." He cheekily replied to the bartender.
"Ey, I'm still in my prime I'll have you know," Marcus responded and playfully thumped him in the side with an elbow.
The bartender smiled at their back and forth and struck up some light conversation as he poured the drinks before moving on to other customers.
"Ah, you finally decided to bring him," Lysias said, appearing behind them and slapping his father on the back.
Turning, he spotted both Lysias and Lykus standing behind them, their ruddy faces flushed from alcohol. Over the years, the pair had lost a lot of weight, and whilst they still looked to be more on the larger side, you could see the muscle hidden behind the body fat now.
"I figured he could use a break from all the training. The boy is a cultivation maniac and doesn't know when to stop." Marcus turned and replied, giving him a slight look that was half pride and half a hint to take a break.
"Don't we know it? Even when he visits, it's usually to discuss a new training weapon." Lykus said, grinning at him.
He felt a little bad at that comment and made a note to spend more time with those he cared about, just doing everyday things from now on.
"Well, there's not much to do around the village but work or train." He replied with an embarrassed shrug, causing the three men to laugh.
"Come on, let's go sit down," Marcus said, directing the group to an empty table in the middle of the half-filled bar.
"Your father told me you got into a spot of trouble the other day. Sounded like quite the battle," Lykus said as they sat down.
"It was mostly me running and doing my best to stay ahead of them, hiding, then getting the drop on them during the night." He replied, siping the dark ale that set fire to his taste buds, causing him to cough a little, much to the group's amusement.
"Well, the way I hear it, you did just fine. Didn't even burn down a tool shed this time," Lysias joked as he took a large swig of his drink, leaving behind a small white foamy outline on his face.
"Just a person and a small patch of woodland," Marcus muttered.
"It might've been easier if I could sense their cultivation. I really need a way to work out how strong people and creatures are." He grumbled, more to himself, as that was one of the things bothering him, ignoring his father.
"That will be easier and come more naturally when you break through to the next realm," Marcus stated.
"I know, but still, it can be a little frustrating, not knowing what you're going up against." He replied, sipping more ale but not coughing this time.
The taste was a little bitter for his tastes, but he found it grew on him slightly the more he imbibed. As he drank, he caught a shared look between the twins before Lysias spoke.
"There might be a way."
"What do you mean?" He asked, catching an intrigued look from his father at the pair.
"It was something our father taught us when we were young, something passed down in our family. Apparently, an old ancestor of ours was a strong cultivator from a sect." Lykus cut in, carrying on the conversation.
"I wouldn't want to take your family secrets." He replied, feeling a little warmth inside that they were offering to share such a thing in the first place.
He could also see his father nodding at his words and agreeing with them, and it was in bad taste to accept things like this in this world, even from friends. Inquiring into another's secrets was usually frowned upon.
"It's not anything monumental. In fact, it's not even a skill. It's more of a learned technique a person can apply if they are observant enough." Lysias continued waving away his concern with a hand gesture.
He was used to the back and forth between the twins, so the fact the speaker kept swapping between them didn't bother him.
"Look at me, for example, not just normally but observe the essence around me. Go on." Lykus stated.
Doing what he was told, he put his drink down and focused on the essence of the area surrounding Lykus. It was like a swirling aura sprang to life around the man, but this wasn't anything new. He was used to seeing such a thing when he used his essence vision.
"Now, look closer. Not at the types of essence but at the flow. Can you see the movement of the essence as it naturally flows through me?" Lykus asked, causing him to nod.
"That is how you gauge a person's strength. Keep watching." Lykus said as he used a skill on a portion of the wooden table, causing it to darken slightly.
The steady flow of essence around the twin suddenly went into overdrive as the movement of it increased.
"Now look at your father in the same way, and then when he uses a skill, compare it against me," Lykus said, nodding at Marcus to go ahead.
Turning his attention to his father, he immediately noticed the flow of essence around him was greater than that of Lykus. Marcus waved a hand, causing a shadow to form on the table, and the essence hugging his father was whipped up into a frenzy.
"Do you see it? Naturally, essence flows through a person and back out. That's what causes the initial flow in the surroundings. The stronger a person is, the more pronounced the movement."
"I see it, but why did you ask me to watch as you used a skill?" He curiously asked as he kept on observing.
"Because most cultivators in the Mortal Shedding Realm and above will learn to replenish their core as they use skills automatically, it will become like breathing. You saw that when all the essence moved crazily after us using a skill. I bet it was more noticeable on your father, right? That's because he is stronger than me." Lykus explained.
"So you're saying I can use that to work out how strong a person is?" He asked as he thought about the technique.
"Partly, yes. You will need to observe those around you whose cultivation you are certain of. That will give you a baseline to compare against. This will work even against none humans or animals, as long as they use essence." Lykus finished, downing his mug of ale and slapping his lips together before belching.
"It's not an exact system, but it works well against the average person. There are some points to note," Lysias cut in, picking up the conversation.
"Like what?" He asked, turning his gaze upon the other twin.
"There are those out there with extraordinary control over their essence; such a person can mask or display whatever they want others to see. These are usually powerful experts. Just be aware that not everyone may be as weak as they appear." Lysias said.
"Also, a cultivator who blends into their surroundings like a mortal is absolutely someone you should be wary of. Only the truly strong can present themselves in such a way." Lykus added.
This explanation made him think of the smiling man he had met a couple of days ago. There was a sense that he blended in with the surroundings, but it was a casual thought of his at the time. Had his subconscious noticed something at the time and tried to tell him in its own way?
Oh well, that's tomorrow's problem.
Reaching for his drink, he took a large gulp and sat back in his chair, joining the discussion that had now moved to idle gossip before interjecting with a question that sent the group into a stunned silence.
"Does the guild have other branches apart from crafting ones?"