He watched the several people that were battling each other for the fruits growing on the trees.

It was a common scene that as soon as somebody picked a fruit from the trees, they would try to hide it instantly so that others won't be able to challenge them for it. Which he tried for many times, and also didn't end as expected almost the same number of times.

Beforehand, he found out earlier on from one of the people that sparred against him that as long as n.o.body saw the plant or fruit he harvested and hastily kept it inside his storage bag, n.o.body would battle for whatever that plant was.

It was a common rule.

That's why earlier, Allen was contested by somebody else because he was seen obtaining a small shrub.

"What kind of plant does the codex even wants?", Edwin was extremely bothered. He expected that by tomorrow he has to help Allen intensively train for the compet.i.tion, so he has no time for finding what shrub or fruit the Mortal Plane's Codex wanted; then, after that day would be the auction.

Plus, he'll also be busy in the next few days. He planned to support Allen during the contest itself.

"I still got several hours before sunset.", Edwin stood up and rushed towards the tree growth. 

He scanned the fruits around the growth while avoiding unwanted skirmishes from other people. When he finally concluded his inspection, the codex hasn't reacted yet.

As he was about to go to another location, Edwin noticed a particular mana fruit that caught his eyes.

On one of the trees, a half-crystalized orange-colored fruit was lightly swaying on the air while the wind was blowing towards it.

The fruit was called the Unfinished Gem; additionally, it was on Allen's list of needed ingredients.

However, another person who was far away from him also seized his attention. Its face was hidden under a mask, and through the eye holes the person was gazing at the same fruit; then, the former turned his gaze towards the boy, and both of their eyes narrowed.

Silence prevailed between the other person and Edwin as they kept their eye contact to each other. Although there were some people fighting nearby, it didn't even make them lose their concentration.

The two of them made their moves at the same time and rushed towards the fruit and climbed up the tree. When the both of them were already near the mana fruit, the boy saw that the other individual was closer to the Unfinished Gem than he was!

The opposite side also knew that he has a higher chance of obtaining the fruit. The person all the more stepped up it speed to its fullest. He reached out to the fruit as soon as it was within arms reach; however, the next scene stunned him.

Edwin instantly became faster, only leaving behind his afterimages! From climbing, his movements became running! Afterwards, he arrived in front of the Unfinished Gem in a blink of an eye and picked it out of the tree before the other side could even react!

The boy jumped down from the tree and stored the fruit inside his satchel. The other man also jumped down the tree and landed in front of him.

Thereupon, the man took out a saber from the scabbard and slashed onto Edwin.

No conversation was needed to indicate; the spar for the Unfinished Gem has begun.

Edwin avoided the attack by dodging to the side, not backing down, he punched towards the enemy's abdomen.

The counterattack was fast and because their distance to each other was too close, the masked person could only block it with his vacant arm.

When he received the punch, he flew some distance away, almost flying out of the growth.

Using this opportunity, Edwin took out his twin daggers 'Morgan' and 'Gesegnet' and sent out dagger flashes.

But the flashes were blocked and destroyed by the saber; even so, it gave Edwin enough time to close in to the other person and began a.s.saulting.

Their weapons clashed, attempting to wound each other. The fast sounds of rattling and clanking attracted nearby people and they watched the battle.

"Huh, that masked menace is here?", a bystander was startled.

"Who's that?"

"You're probably new here. That guy hiding his face over there, he's somebody who recently got famous in the city. He's currently wanted for murdering a group of people."

"What?! But how did you know?"

"You're a dummy! Duh, it's posted at the city hall!"

"..."

Astonished that the enemy could keep up with his swift attacks, Edwin increased the speed of his strikes; but his opponent could fare on with it, in fact, the saber strikes were getting quicker and quicker as time pa.s.sedý by.

In a blink of an eye, one of Edwin's daggers was parried up onto the air out of his hand.

-pshew-

The saber pierced his clothes and into his shoulder, painting that part of his coat with blood.

The situation started to favor the masked person.

Edwin knew that he won't be able to do a lot and began backing off, but he couldn't get away from the masked man; at some point, he was injured on one of his knees, almost getting him killed!

Although he was using the Shadow Steps technique to evade the attacks, his opponent was just too fast.

'I need to get the other dagger or else I'm going to lose!', Edwin thought. When he got the chance, he initiated Burst Steps to his body's full capacity.

-crack-

Edwin's left knee cap broke. It was already bruised earlier on, and it completely collapsed after he pushed to its limit.

The new injury interrupted his Burst Steps, making him stumble, roll on the ground until he was stopped by a tree.

The masked man leaped up onto the air and aimed his saber at Edwin's legs in a bid to cripple him.

But Edwin suddenly vanished on the spot and the saber only slashed through thin air.

"He knows how to flicker?" The masked male realized with a startled tone.

The boy reappeared above the man and kicked his back; the latter blasted away, while on the air he accidentally let go of his saber and finally hit a tree which stopped him from further flying away.

Whispers of discussion broke among the spectators after they saw Edwin flickering in and out of nowhere. To at least be able to flicker, one needed to have even the slightest of insight about "s.p.a.ce".

Even the magicians had to have the most simplest knowledge about "s.p.a.ce" to be able to learn the spell "teleport", a magical technique that has a longer range than flicker; the spatial storage too as they had to be competent to at least create a storage with the smallest possible capacity.

And it's even harder for an internal energy pract.i.tioner to be able to comprehend it. Although Edwin could control both mana and internal energy, he always used the latter to execute flicker.

Edwin retrieved his other dagger and kicked the enemy's saber many stretches away from them.

"You lose.", Edwin turned his back and stiffly began walking away. But he paused his steps when the masked person started to mutter words under his breath.

The unfamiliar words that were being murmured out became louder and louder. Edwin never heard such language that was being spoken by the opposite side.

As each second pa.s.s by, the boy felt alarmed as his instinct to run away was slowly creeping in in his body.

"Do you think I would let anybody win so easily?" He shouted as stood back up and reached out his hand towards the empty s.p.a.ce in front of him.

Out of nowhere, an incorporeal saber materialized on his hand. The weapon emitted a choking suppression which were directed towards Edwin.

Feeling the invisible energy from afar, Edwin felt there were an uncountable number of sharp weapons aimed towards him; he tried to put more distance between him and the other person, but it was no use on removing the pressure on him.

The masked individual chopped down his saber. Edwin's instinct moved in and hurriedly jumped out of the way.

The blades of gra.s.s where Edwin was once standing were sliced apart by an invisible force like onions being crushed.

The other side made a sidewards slas.h.i.+ng motion which drove Edwin to dock down; the latter felt the air right above him was sheared asunder.

Then the direction of the saber changed. The speed of slashes hand increased in intensity.

Edwin was caught off guard by the sudden s.h.i.+ft and wasn't able to evade the next attacks. He was sliced by the invisible force, creating many deep wounds and lacerations throughout his body; however, his clothes were still left unscathed. The attacks only affected his body.

He crashed to the ground with his face looking towards it and vomited large amount of blood.

The saber-wielding person stepped one foot on top of him and kicked him hard to the ground, making him cough up more blood.

"I-I...", Edwin tried to surrender, but before he could even utter out the last word the opponent made more slas.h.i.+ng motions towards his back.

Wounds that were either deep or shallow appeared and he didn't stop attacking until Edwin was bathing in his own blood.

"I'm surprised that you didn't even shout in pain. Your pain resistance must be very high, probably because you always lose in battles. Hahaha..." The person mocked.

After laughing, he reclaimed the saber and said, "Give me the fruit or else I will multilate you with this."

Edwin painfully reached out his hand towards his satchel and took out the Unfinished Gem. The fruit was s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the other side, after obtaining it, he kicked Edwin away.

"Here's a consolation for you." The masked person dropped a tulip to the ground and even stepped on it; afterwards, he left the area.

As the battle ended, the onlookers started to also leave and abandoned the b.l.o.o.d.y Edwin on the ground. He never felt so soaked in his own blood other than the time he was taken captive by the elves; in addition to that, he never experienced such humiliation in public.

He reached out to his satchel again and pulled out a small jar; after that, he took out two healing pills and swallowed them.

His injuries recovered at a fast rate up to the point he was about to be fully recuperated. Edwin sat up and observed his surroundings, seeing that there wasn't anybody in the vicinity he yelled from the bottom of his lungs.

"I'll come back for you, whoever you are.", Edwin stood up, then sensed the symbol stinging him.

"What now?", Edwin angrily asked. But his countenance paused as he realized something. He approached the discarded flower and picked it up.

The mark reacted and started heating up.

"I'll give it, I'll give it! Just don't fry me.", Edwin rubbed his red-hot skin around the symbol and ran away towards a dark spot in the growth.

He sat down at the bottom of a tree. He pulled out the codex and placed the tulip on top of it. The flower dematerialized and the book glimmered on its bindings.

When the glow dispersed, Edwin eagerly opened the book to see if a new page was now unrestricted.

***

A few hours later, before nightfall...

A masked person landed on a backyard and removed his mask.

"Sir Gavin."

"Oh holy Retollian!" Gavin jumped in fright and turn to the source of the voice while brandis.h.i.+ng his saber. A man with a curly beard was carrying a watering can and shears.

"It's just you, Mr. Howard. Don't scare me, alright? I thought somebody else was here." Gavin sighed in relief.

"Sir, are you successful in obtaining all the needed resources?", Mr. Howard asked.

"Yeah, but, one of the people I fought with... it makes me remember...", Edwin was about to finish his sentence when the older man interjected,  "Remember Allen, if I may interject?"

"Yes, how did you know?", Gavin sat down on the nearby bench.

"Hold on, I'll get you a gla.s.s of water, sir.", Mr. Howard rushed back to the manor and pa.s.sed a gla.s.s of water to Gavin.

Gavin: "Thank you."

After draining the contents of the gla.s.s, Gavin asked, "How did you know?"

"Almost everything that you say is about him.", Mr. Howard said as he ignited a nearby lantern post.

Mr. Howard added: "I wonder, how did that person you battled with remind you of him?

"He knows how to do Flicker.", Gavin stated with a slightly raised tone.

"I hope you didn't severely beat up whoever that opponent of yours.", Mr. Howard questioned while giving a look of doubt to Gavin.

Gavin: "About that..."

"You did, didn't you?"

Gavin: "Well yes, but actually no."

"You need to improve your control over your anger, you might not know that next time you battle you would clash against somebody more powerful than you are." Mr. Howard scolded. Although he was the servant, he wasn't afraid of his master.

"I will, don't worry." He a.s.sured.

Gavin coughed, "Ehem, but I want to eat first. I'm getting hungry."

"Come on sir, I prepared some snacks in the kitchen.", Mr. Howard's tone changed from being authorative to being meek and signalled Gavin to return to the manor.