Born in Blood

As soon as Liam walked down the guild stairs, Ophis greeted him — a dazzling smile on her full lips.

"Well done, kid! The coachmen told me everything, give your teacher a hug. You deserve this reward."

Ophis spread her arms and gestured Liam to a gentle embrace.

"I'm good, thanks. Do you need me around? I need to head to the armory."

Ophis' eye twitched, a dangerous light appearing in her brown irises. Inwardly, she contemplated whether or not to take out her needles.

Eventually, she shook her head. "Do you have any items from your mission?"

Liam nodded, taking out two space-rings and chucking them towards her.

Ophis thoroughly inspected the rings. Liam had already wiped away all traces of his 'Ora' imprint — multiple times just to be sure — which didn't leave any room for suspicion.

"Great. I trust you didn't take anything from these, right?"

Liam sighed and shook his head. "I know you know I'm smart enough not to."

Ophis giggled playfully, before gesturing for Liam to carry on his way.

Meanwhile, Liam instantly entered the armory.

Ava was there as usual, greeting him with a warm smile and a quick wave.

"Can you show me the tempering methods you have for a Rank-3 body?"

Ava raised a brow, her tone caring and wise. "Aren't you still Rank-1, though? There's still some time before you break through, young lad."

Liam hid the fact that only a few more of his cycles were left. The reason he wanted a Rank-3 tempering method so soon, was to begin cultivating as soon as he broke through to the second Rank.

It seemed that, ever since Liam was reborn, he didn't let a single second go to waste.

"I just want to take a look." He responded blankly.

Ava eventually sighed.

A moment later, she put her palm on her marble desk, a faint golden glow encompassing her hand.

From the inscribed marble surface, a small stone rune appeared.

"Just use your mental waves on that rune. All the Rank-3 tempering methods available will appear in your mental sphere."

Liam held back his amazement and quickly did so.

Instantly, names and descriptions of multiple Rank-3 tempering methods appeared in his mind.

'Sworded Fingers. Rank-3 tempering method.'

'Upon completion, it gives the user the ability to turn their fingers into sharp spikes at any time, which could cut through steel and armor like butter. 'Ora' bolsters the lethality of the spikes, adding a poisonous side effect.'

'Merit requirement: 230.'

Liam's eyes widened when he saw the technique's price.

He inspected his own token, which he had brought up to 95 points during the past two months through missions and quests — including his first main mission that gave him 40 merits.

'Damn it! I'm still this far behind?'

Nonetheless, he wasn't disheartened and continued browsing through the methods.

Most of them were around the same range of 150-250 merits, and contained a special ability of sorts.

Eventually, Liam's eyes got stuck to a specific parchment. Strangely enough, it was the cheapest amongst all of them, but also the most reckless and gruesome.

'Throes of Anguish. Rank-3 tempering method.'

'Uses pain as a way to advance through the rank. Battle wounds, poisoning, burns, etc... any type of pain transforms into 'Ora' that nourishes the body and slowly advances it. Contains regeneration capabilities.'

'The completion results in a Rank-3 body that allows you to store pain and use it to gain large amounts of strength momentarily.'

'Price - 75 Merits'

Liam heaved a sigh. "I'll take this one, please."

Ava scowled, her tone grave as she reprimanded:

"Do you know what you're doing, lad? Once you begin cultivating a tempering method, you can't leave it midway. Don't do something you might regret. There's a reason why it's so cheap. It's illegal in Ucladd."

Liam could guess why no one else wanted the technique despite its low price.

A method that had slight amounts of pain — or large depending on the rank — while using it wasn't rare, and most of the time, it was only a side effect.

These methods were called Unorthodox — due to their fast but oftentimes risky and painful methods of progress — while the opposite was true for Orthodox methods.

However, a tempering method that only used sheer agony to grow stronger... what kind of deranged maniac would be that reckless to use it?

Other than Liam himself, of course.

"I'll buy it."

Ava's mouth opened with a reprimanding expression, but a moment later, closed with a defeated sigh.

Cultivators made their own paths. Who was she to judge how others paved their way to strength?

In fact, those with grit and strong will succeeded more often than not in such a harsh world.

She took his token and put it on top of the table. A short moment after, a clean parchment paper formed on her hand, which she passed over to Liam along with his token.

The number on his token was now '20', but Liam didn't have any regrets.

Wrapping up with his business with the guild, he headed straight to the forest to meet Lloyd.

It was night time, and Eve was already asleep.

'It's about time I ask him about my father.'