Next day before the dawn, a person was found lying in the centre of the Business zone. His whole body is covered in scars, and all his limbs are broken to a great extent that the bones almost became powder.

Very small shards of bones were piercing out of his skin. And the one thing that made them even more baffled is, that guy's cultivation is sealed, and all his body is covered with a kind of fire type herb which is mostly used to increase the flavour of the heat and spiciness of the fire type beast meat.

All his wounds are stuffed with this herb powder. His nails were pulled out. His face was swollen.

All the people who came to see him have only felt pity for him. They were scared by the cruelty of the person who tortured him.

When the city guards noticed the person is still alive and immediately picked him up to take him to the healer, they noticed there is a bit burn on the back of the person.

When they saw, it with their own eyes, they almost dropped the guy.

Because, that isn't a burn, but instead more like a brand. There is huge '20' branded on the back of the person. But, even more worse thing is that the brand is already healed and it was healed in such a way that if that person wants to get rid of the brand they have to dig out the skin completely and heal it all over again.

After they took the person to the heal, they immediately left to investigate into the guy. At this exact moment, elsewhere.

This is the time when all the city guard exchange shifts with the people on the patrol during the night. At the headquarters of the City guards, in the Captain's room.

"What about the incident yesterday? Did you guys got any leads on the person who is supposed to be rank 5 Artisan, kidnapping a restaurant manager?" The guard captain of the Business zone asked his subordinates.

"Captain, we enquired in the Artisan tower and found out that the guy is indeed a rank 5 Artisan and he just took the exam yesterday. He is a scholar Artisan. But the tower didn't give us any of his details. All we know is that he owns a mansion in the Rich zone and he just bought it the day before. Our men didn't dare to enter the mansion.

From the observations, he is just a Novice and that too at the lowest stage. He only moved fast because of his weird floating board and from the looks of it, he made it himself.

We didn't have any leads on the guy he kidnapped. We didn't even know whether they have any disputes and grudges, but there is one thing, we found out that the restaurant he is managing actually belongs to Zeke."

When he finished the report, the subordinate saw the change in expression of the captain. The restaurant manager of the marquis' son's restaurant is kidnapped. For now, Zeke seemed to be oblivious to this, but it won't be long before he came to know it.

Before he could think of what he should do, the guard captain heard a knock from his door. A guard hurriedly came in and reported.

"Captain, we found out the person who was kidnapped yesterday. He is found in half-dead state in the business zone. His condition seemed to be critical and there are signs of brutal torture on him."

The guard captain immediately stood up from his chair. He did place some people near the house of the Artisan but it seems all of this is useless. He immediately went to see the victim.

When he saw the state he was in, he felt uneasy all over.

"Sir, what is his condition?" The Captain asked the Healer who is in-charge of the treatment and the latter responded.

"It is not good at all. The other party seemed to have a very high understanding of the human body, almost all the bones are broken into numerous shards, but all the shards avoided every vital part of the body.

Even the scars and the wounds all over the body, aren't deep. The bleeding was stopped just in time and all these wounds are stuffed with fire chilli.

The worst part is, everything was done to him after his cultivation was sealed. The pain must have killed this guy, but the perpetrator must be a good healer or must have a very skilled healer with him. He just made the person to barely stay alive.

He will definitely live, but we can't be sure if he can turn back to his original state. We might need a very high-level healer." The healer is a rank 2. Because the other party is a Novice and the people who took him are the City guards, they just contacted a rank 2 healer. But from the looks of it, the healer should be at least rank 4 to treat the ailments of the guy completely.

At this moment, Zeke came with some of his lackeys. He has a furious expression when he saw the state of his lackey. After getting the details from the healer, he said.

"Stabilize his condition for now." After that he paid the fee and went outside along with the Captain.

"You better give me a good explanation." His voice is full of superiority and disdain as if the captain isn't even worthy to breathe the same air as him.

"A rank 5 scholar Artisan did this and there is brand on his back numbered 20. I think it is personal grudge, but at the same he seemed to be sending a message from the way he did things. He is completely high-profiled, and he did all this openly without even bothering to hide."

"A rank 5 Artisan? Are you sure? Since, when did our city has a third rank 5 Artisan?" Zeke felt puzzled.

"He took the exam yesterday itself and just after he collected the badge he directly went to the restaurant and from the witnesses at the time, he just directly attacked without even talking anything."

"Okay then, see if you can get any details of the person." after saying this Zeke left with his two lackeys.

At the same time, there is another person who is thinking about Sam.

In the Upper-class zone, at the top floor of the Artisan tower, a mature beauty is playing with her wavy black hair as she was in a daze, thinking about something.

She is the tower head of the Artisan tower. She is two whole cultivation levels higher than Sam. Which is the stage past the Great Mage/Warrior stage.

She is thinking about Sam, yesterday after she followed him to the mansion, she didn't enter his house and came back.

Just now an attendant came and reported about what happened to the person who was kidnapped by them. After some time, she called over an assistant and gave out her orders.

"Send a representative from our tower and let him get the details of him from the Falcon-Cliff city." Since, she is the head of the Artisan tower, she has access to know his previous city where he got his badge from.

While many people are speculating and talking about the incident two people came to the Blue flame city to meet the Marquis. They are waiting for the Marquis inside his office.

After a long wait, a dignified looking middle-aged man came inside and took the seat. After exchanging some pleasantries, the two city lords came to the point.

"Sir, we want to withdraw from the special branch. Our students aren't willing and refused to accept the admission."

"What do you mean?"

"The candidates we selected thought that they are unworthy of this special branch and withdrew themselves. The remaining candidates are also unwilling to take the positions."

When the city lords said this, Marquis Blue flame was completely dumbfounded. He didn't even know what to think of this situation.

"Did someone threaten you to say this?" He asked as he felt the whole situation is confusing.

"No, sir. The candidates are the ones who really thought this way. Nobody threatened us. We are here to apologise personally. Sir marquis is magnanimous and gave us this offer. But the candidates are too mediocre and they themselves felt unworthy of this opportunity. This is the reason, we are here." As they said this, both city lords stood up.

They left the room with their heads held low. When they exited the Marquis mansion, they saw Zeke who gave them a nod which they replied the same.

The Marquis is still thinking what is happening and he ordered an attendant come over and asked him to bring the ranking list of the assessment.

The Marquis city selected twenty candidates in total. This is a special privilege for them. But he didn't check the top 20 spots, instead he looked over the names after the twenty spots. When he saw Zeke's name at the twenty-first spot, and his remaining lackeys' names below his, he felt that something is fishy and sent someone to investigate this.