Chapter 404: Old Teacher

Edwin POV

After the attack on the estate, Edwin had been heavily injured and barely managed to escape. It was only because of Lukas’s sacrifice that it was possible. Despite being outnumbered, Lukas had been able to hold his own for a while.

However, no matter how strong he was, there was a limit to how much he could fend off the other Tier 5s. In the end, Lukas burned his soul to generate enough power to kill his opponents. Only Edwin had made it out alive.

Even then, his body had been severely burned by the resulting explosion, and his soul was in even worse condition. It took him many months just to walk normally again.

Just thinking about that night made him furious beyond belief. He would have never imagined that Samuel would go that far and betray his House. Not to mention how many of the other Elders were obviously in on it.

However, it was that night and the injuries caused by it that ultimately gave him a chance. If not for that experience and the rage burning inside him, he would have never been able to acquire a powerful skill like he eventually did.

One night, he was resting at a small inn he had rented, taking medicine that would help him heal faster, when he felt his soul undergo a massive change. It was more drastic and violent than his soul evolution. He had no idea what initiated it. Perhaps it was the medicine that he had bought from an alchemist. Or maybe it was just a simple coincidence.

This painful experience kick-started his acquisition of his new skill. It was the first legendary-ranked skill he would eventually learn. The skill was called [Shadow’s Unrest].

Edwin had always regretted his younger self’s arrogant and shortsighted mindset. He had sacrificed so much for immediate power that it negatively impacted his foundation. It was what prevented him from advancing to Tier 5.

Lukas had known and did his best to help Edwin. But it wasn’t a simple problem to fix. No amount of training or practice could repair the damage he had done to his foundation.

However, [Shadow’s Unrest] changed that. His soul underwent a profound transformation, and with it, he discovered that his foundation had been miraculously restored. He was able to start progressing again as a Tier 4.

The skill not only healed him, but it was a skill that was fueled by his rage. [Shadow’s Unrest] gave him the powerful ability to ignore other people’s wills and, to some extent, their Authorities and Domains. It might not sound that powerful, but when you reach Tier 4, a lot of the fighting is a battle between wills and Authorities rather than pure combat skills.

Once he had completely recovered, he began working on the plan he had been drawing up when he was stuck in bed. He wanted to find out who attacked them and then kill them.

He already knew that Clan Genshen was involved. But they were just hired help. He knew that. The person who was actually responsible had simply paid for their services.

Luckily, he had some contacts who were able to investigate things for him. It wasn’t hard to figure out who was involved. Not long after the attack, many Houses, including House Greyson, had started to take over the Valorbury Region.

He eventually learned that House Greyson was affiliated with an organization called the Conclave. He had also learned that the Conclave had done similar things in other regions. This clearly pointed to the fact that they likely had something to do with the attack on the estate, if not being the primary party to blame.

Once he learned of that, he had already decided on his plan. He knew that he wasn’t strong enough to fight these people straight up, not if they were able to have so many Tier 5s attack the estate. But he had other skills he could use.

That was why, for the past year, Edwin had been slowly working his way through the ranks of the Conclave. It wasn’t very hard to do. He was a Tier 4, and thus, his abilities were very valuable to any organization.

The hard part was getting in through the doors. Thankfully, he had some skills that allowed him to skirt around some of the soul oaths. They weren’t without drawbacks, but they allowed him to enter the organization without being chained to an oath.

He had been steadily doing missions for the Conclave as he progressed through the ranks, earning the organization’s trust. Most of the missions were relatively tame and not as distasteful as he initially thought they would be.

He had only been forced to kill a small number of people. And to be honest, these people had it coming to them. They were a group of criminals who had been in the Conclave’s way, and Edwin had been tasked to take care of them.

He had done more morally dubious things in the past.

However, the following missions started to teeter on the edge of right and wrong. There were some of them that he didn’t want to do, but still was forced to if he wanted to work his way up. His skill [Shadow’s Unrest] actually helped him compartmentalize his emotions and allowed him to finish these missions.

On another note, Edwin was surprised at how well the Conclave treated their members. They weren’t shy about sharing resources or helping train their members. They had a plethora of skilled alchemists who created a large variety of potions or pills that helped Tier 4s advance. They also rewarded those who went above and beyond generously.

As a matter of fact, once they realized Edwin was skilled, they assigned him to one of the higher-ranking members. Tuan was a miserable prick most of the time, but Edwin admitted that the Tier 5 was strong.

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He had taught Edwin more than he had imagined, and it was partly the reason why Edwin was on the edge of Tier 5. With the resources he was receiving and the added help, it wouldn’t take too much longer until he was ready to advance.

Regardless, the man was an ass, and Edwin contemplated shoving a blade into the man’s skull every day.

Of course, moving up the ranks led to other issues. With the organization keeping a closer eye on him, he wasn’t able to investigate as freely as he used to. On the bright side, it allowed him access to more sensitive information that he wasn’t privy to before. It was where he had learned the general structure of the organization and the reason it had been expanding so rapidly.

There were some very powerful people behind this group. They obviously had their own agendas, but he had not figured out what their end goal was. Did they take out House Hyperius just to gain control of the Valorbury Region? Or was it a smaller piece of a larger plan?