"Why?" asked Noah, feeling hurt at Liam's disparaging tone. He wasn't really sure what exactly was his 'why' was directed to, but he wanted some answers. His anger did play a part, but he simply couldn't understand why he was assaulted in such a vicious manner for no fault of his own, and now dissuaded from chasing his would-be murder.

"Where did you say you lived again?" Liam asked, and the odd question completely threw Noah off course.

"Seattle" he answered, glaring at Liam with an odd expression. It was hard to be angry at a man that had just saved your life, even if he was the one who'd thrown you to the wolves in the first place.

"Pardon my British ignorance, but is that East Coast or West?" asked Liam, as if he was trying to ascertain something.

"West" answered Noah without skipping a beat.

"Well, er, your luck really is something else lad" Liam scratched his head while taking another swig from his beer bottle. "I'm pretty sure that was one of the eight vice-guild masters of the Crimson Saints Guild, in the bloody flesh."

"And?" asked Noah, not liking where this was going.

"Well, you'd think that the vice-guild master would be weaker than the guild master, innit? Well, that's really not the case. 'Guild Master' is just an administrative position, while 'vice guild masters' represent the core fighting force of any guild. " Liam explained politely to Noah, in contrast with how he usually acted.

"So how strong was this Crimson Saints Guild in your timeline?" Noah asked in an exasperated tone.

"Top 3 Assassin's Guild" Noah glared at Liam with a resentful expression, while he just shrugged in response. "Congratulations, Kid! You just survived an assassination attempt from 'one of the eight tainted prophets', The Safer- Jake Lane. Everything from here on out is just a bad joke in comparison." Liam used the same tone as earlier when he was trying to convince Noah how much of a 'blessing' he'd received because of The Eternal Lion's 'assistance'.

"Fuck you" Noah sighed, wondering if he should just spill the bits about everything that he knew to the government. Sure, he probably would be "interrogated" till he coughed up more information, even though he didn't have any, but that almost seemed like the better option at this point. He wondered if that was the reason why Liam didn't respond to his repeated requests to reveal what lay on the higher floors.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"It's not all bad, kid. You were the gormless muppet trying to call that walking calamity back 'cause you wanted to throw some hands. Besides, don't you think that title of his is odd for an assassin? " Liam asked Noah, trying to hint at something.

"It's quite bizarre, but I swear that if this turns out to be one of your shitty jokes I will murder you first before I go and beat up that douchebag Jake." Noah snapped back, unwilling to indulge in any pointless banter.

"Ha.... Guess I've really ticked you off this time. Well, don't go off writing your will just yet. Jake Lane only assassinates targets only when he is confident they pose a minimal amount of threat to him. What you've displayed is far beyond his threshold, so as long as you stay out of his way he won't come after you anytime soon. " Liam explained in a smug tone, and Noah finally caught a much-needed break.

"Though professional assassins really are something else, eh? It's bloody sad mate, but they refused to target me in the previous timeline no matter how much they were offered in exchange. To be fair though, I would just rip their rat necks out no matter how many they sent after me." Liam remarked casually, and it felt like even if the entire Crimson Saints Guild ambushed him he would still have that dumb grin plastered on his face, perhaps even look forward to it.

How could such a man possibly lose? And how would Noah ever manage to surpass this monster? Had his big mouth finally gotten the better of him...

As if having guessed what was going through Noah's mind, Liam sighed and softly spoke "Look Noah, I might come across as a proper knobhead at times.... but don't let that take away from your accomplishments. It's been so long since I've tried to be nice to someone that I've forgotten how to."

"Correction: You are a knobhead." Noah snidely cut in.

"Correction accepted. Chipper again, are we? Well, don't make it any harder for me or I might just tell you to piss off. My point is kid, even though I told you what to do, it was you who pulled through when a blade was pointed at you. No amount of leveling up lets you put points in courage, and what you did right there was pretty fucking amazing." said Liam, in a sincere tone as he neared the end.

Noah felt goosebumps on his shoulders as he heard Liam's praise, and only then did the enormity of what he had just accomplished set in. He had just faced down an assassin that was impressive even by Liam's standards and managed to force him into retreat. The euphoria from that realization was unlike anything he had experienced before..... He felt powerful, in a way that could never be emulated back on Earth.

This.... This was true power. And now, something in him hungered for more.