Death... and me

Truth be told, Orphi was starting to give up on the job request he made. It had been over two months, but not a single soul had appeared. That was already counting that he increased the reward three times as his first request only gave 10000 Merit Points. However, he suddenly received a message from the Missions Hall. "What?! Someone took the job?! Quick, quick, what's his cultivation level?!"

However, his excitement disappeared soon after, muttering, "Just the peak of the Soul Transformation Realm? That's too low..."

Well, he didn't have much of a choice anyway. "Forget it, send this guy to me. What race is he? Human? Alright, that should suffice."

The worker on the counter then informed Roan. "Your contractor accepted your application." Soon after, he passed Roan's badge back to him. "Half of the payment has been deposited to your Sacred Land's account. The other half will be given once the helper request is concluded. Are you fine with this?"

Roan nodded in response. "No problem." He then looked into the map in the jade slip and immediately left the Mission Hall. The Sacred Land might be a big place, but it obviously had many teleport formations for one to move around. Thanks to that, Roan only took a few minutes to be teleported to Orphi's residential area.

After some time, he found the right residence number before calling out for Orphi. A few moments later, the protection formation in the residence dissipated, allowing Roan to come inside.

"So you're the guy who took my request, right?" Orphi obviously came to see Roan. "Come to the training field. I have a room with a Spatial Expansion Formation, so we have all the space we need there. There are many dummies that recover themselves with Divine Energy in there as well." Roan quickly followed. For him, it was even better that his client was getting straight to the point.

"I haven't seen your face before. Looking at your cultivation, it's obvious that you joined through the last recruitment. Are you sure you want to take this job? No one will be able to say anything if things go wrong later." Orphi thought that Roan was one of those new disciples desperate for Merit Points. That usually happened when they came from small countries and wanted to catch up with the others.

Well, he wasn't completely wrong as Roan wanted Merit Points as fast as possible. "I'm sure. So, are you going to use your skill against me, or do you need me to try the new meridian path for you first?"

Orphi didn't insist on the topic and simply nodded in response. "As I stated in the job, the new meridian path circulation has only been theorized. Naturally, I need you to try to use it first, as I don't want to suffer a backlash. If everything goes well, I will try to improve it to a level I feel is safe for me to use."

Roan already expected that much. It wouldn't make sense to ask him to simply receive the attack as Orphi could go out and test it against anyone. After all, there was no lack of bandits or demon beasts out there. "Very well. Where's the Soul Binding Contract?"

Orphi immediately took it out and passed it to Roan. "Read the clauses carefully so that there won't be any mistakes."

Roan actually read it completely, even though he didn't need it. It was a good way to know more about those things. "Everything seems correct." Following that, he dropped his blood on the contract, and Orphi did the same as he had to guarantee the other half of the payment.

"Good, take it." Orphi then passed a jade slip to Roan containing his research in the new meridian circulation method for the Mantis Blade skill. Roan then began to read it with his Divine Sense while Orphi continued to talk. "I'll give you one day to get used to it before trying to use the skill for real. If you feel like you need more time, let me k-"

"I'm done," Roan said, cutting Orphi's words short.

"What?!" Orphi looked at Roan as if he saw a ghost. However, it quickly changed as it turned into suspicion. "Are you making fun of my face? There's no way you already know how to do it."

Roan shook his head in response, saying, "I know the normal Mantis Blade skill to start with. I just had to adapt your changes into my mind." Roan didn't even wait for Orphi to rebuke him before he took out his old White Star Sword. It was a sword skill, so it was useless to use his scythe.

'Mantis Blade!'

Mantis Blade was an assassination skill that focused both on speed and swiftness while trying to be as silent as possible. It created an afterimage of the real thing, while the main attack aimed at the opponent's vital points. It was a very good skill for ambushing. It was different from Roan's Three Claws of the Dragon. Roan's Death Style Skill created three blades, but all three were real, so one could see all blades even though the two fake ones only had 80% of the realm sword's power. On the other hand, the Mantis Blade couldn't be seen as it was hidden by the initial afterimage created by the Divine Energy.

*Swish!*

The afterimage of the skills passed through the dummy's head, but the real blade hit the dummy's heart position a fraction of a second later.

*Splurt...*

Suddenly, the veins on Roan's arm bulged before several of them burst as blood came out. Well, Roan's expression didn't change one bit, though. Instead, he looked back at Orphi and said, "This new path you created has some potential. It increased the speed of the attack by about 10% and the strength by 15% in this incomplete form. It's quite unfortunate that it generated too much noise in exchange, not to mention the damage to the body."

"However, you messed up the meridians and the amount of Divine Energy circulation necessary on the hand's joints, the elbow's three paths, and the muscles. I would reduce the input of Divine Energy on the joints by ten to fifteen percent and the elbow by twenty to twenty-five. The free Divine Energy could be used to cover the strain on the muscles. Also..." Roan continued to talk for several minutes, offering many changes while completely ignoring Orphi's dumbfounded expression.