"Drop that core right now, you filthy scavenger!"Riley's jolted as the words cut right through him from behind. The blonde lady in the abandoned beast zone was finally awake, her fair skin covered in dirt as she struggled to pull herself off the muddy ground.Her eyes locked onto the glowing essence core in his hands, then shifted to the massive corpse of the armored beast lying nearby. From his head to to his toe, her eyes surveyed him.His dusty and faded clothes barely put together caused her stomach to churn with irritation. It was the topical dress of slum kids and people, trying to make ends meet and people that were way below her class.She frowned seeing her elite squad of hunters all scattered around the place, some barely breathe while others slightly wounded."You're getting the wrong idea!" Riley started, almost indifferently. "Wrong ideas?" She hissed."You know damn well that I know the exact stunt you pulled here you dirty vulture!" she yelled, taking a step shaky b

This was the Mayor of the city, a man that was known to be rigid and a self made power in the city that everyone was frightened at.Yet, he was bowing before someone without an aura sense around him and was dressed like they had just finished shoveling trash."That still doesn't explain who you are?" Riley said, clearly exhausted.The old man straightened with a small smile. "You are Riley. The boy used this path a few months ago!" He explained."Four months ago, on the eastern trail, a young noble was dying from rare shadow-viper venom. The channelers said there was nothing to be done."'Really? This is certainly the best time for one of those random lessons, isn't it?' He thought, remembering a stupid noble kid crying in the woods."But a slum kid crouched beside him and pulled the venom out," the old man continued. "Then walked away before anyone could get his name.""The boy's name is Edward," the old man said. "Prince Edward, you saved his life and I have been searching for you s

'I came to this city for a special mission,' he thought. 'And this man's entire existence isn't even worth it!”His gaze instantly softened and the aura that pulsed off from him disappeared. Jason breathed heavily, it was as though a weight had been lifted off from his shoulders instantly. For the next few moments, he fought to catch his breath as his heart pounded hard on his chest.This time, he stared at Riley, the fear still clawing at his heart.Though he didn't know how, something told him that Riley had something to do with what just happened. But he tried hard not to believe it.‘It isn't possible.’ His thoughts echoed.He had a Immoral ranked essence core, a core of rarity at that and his skills was a combat class.And yet, a slum kid that barely had any essence sense could paralyze him, it was just something that stood at the peak of impossible. Just then the air shifted and a voice rang the name of the desk officer."Jason!"The voice came from the entrance, woven deepl

The silence in the room was so thick you could almost feel the weight of it, like a heavy blanket pressing down on everyone’s chest. Mia stood there, her chest heaving as she glared at Riley, her eyes darting from his dusty sneakers to his faded shirt. To her, he was a stain on the marble floor, a piece of trash that had somehow blown into a sanctuary."I asked you a question, you vulture!" Mia yelled, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. "How did you get in here? Did you crawl through the vents? Or did you steal a key from one of the workers?"Riley just stood there. He didn't look angry, and he didn't look scared. He looked bored. He slowly adjusted the strap of his bag and looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the high-end furniture and the essence-cooling herbs on the table."I walked through the front door," Riley said flatly. "They didn't even ask for a bribe.""Liar!" Mia hissed. She turned to the man in the white robe—the doctor who had been trying to treat th

Mia stood by the bed, her fingers trembling as she watched her father’s chest heave. They had spared no expense. Since the moment the Elder had collapsed, they had flown in the most decorated medical minds from across the continent.They’d hired a Sage from the Southern Peaks who charged ten thousand gold a minute, and a specialized surgical team from the Royal Capital. Each one had arrived with a chest full of glowing scrolls and rare herbs, and each one had left shaking their head, claiming the God-tier toxin was "beyond the current reach of medical science."Now, they were down to this—a local scum who looked like he was about to faint and a boy from the slums who looked like he’d just finished a shift at a scrap yard."A few medicines?" the doctor repeated, his voice rising to a shrill, mocking pitch. "The audacity of this brat is truly limitless! Do you even know who has stood in this room? We have had the finest healers in the world at this bedside. Men who have forgotten more a