"Hey, stop. This is Big Brother Rand's business. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of it." One of the lackies gripped Dyon's shoulder firmly, looking to severely injure him. However… he would soon be severely disappointed.
Dyon's fist blasted to his side, firmly connecting with his rib cage and causing him to keel over and violently belch out volumes of blood.
As though nothing had happened, Dyon found his way to Virvor's side before casually looking over this Rand character's stout figure.
"I didn't ask for any help." Virvor suddenly said.
"I didn't say that you did." Dyon responded with a shrug.
"Good. Good." Rand felt his fury building. Not only did this trash from the 98th quadrant dare to buy something he wanted, another had actually injured one of his men in front of him. "I'll tear you both limb from limb!"
The crowd had steadily grown to this point. By now, it was clear that those hosts and apprentices of the seven towers had no intention of stepping into these affairs. In all likelihood, as long as their stores weren't affected, they wouldn't care at all what happened.
"Now that you've gotten your petty pride out of the way, are you going to tell me what happened?" Dyon casually glanced at Virvor.
From the looks of it, no altercations had happened just yet because neither party was injured. In fact, Virvor didn't seem very nervous at all, despite facing up against a Duke.
It had to be said that Dukes were almost guaranteed to have Presence in some capacity. Even if it didn't completely incapacitate Virvor, it would definitely hamper is combat prowess. For Virvor to not be afraid, it was either that he was very good at hiding his emotions, or he was still confident.
Without his soul, Dyon had no way of knowing that Virvor had been hiding his cultivation for the longest time. So, he simply took Virvor's 10th stage essence gathering prowess at face value. What he didn't know was that the only reason Virvor his power was so that it wouldn't be possible to notice that he was suppressed in Cathedral Universe. But, now that he was in the tower without any intentions of ever going back, what would it matter if he showed off his real power? In fact, since he wasn't suppressed here, his worries about exposing himself were moot anyway.
"I bought a weapon from the flee market before I came here to buy some pills. However, long after I had left, that bastard shop keeper realized that he sold me a master level weapon for the price of a practitioner level one and felt cheated.
"Apparently, this shameless bastard also realized the shop keeper's mistake, it was just that he didn't have enough energy stones on him at the time."
Dyon chuckled lightly. "Such an arrogant Duke so far above us trashy members of the 98th quadrant doesn't have enough money on hand to buy a mere practitioner level weapon? Isn't that a bit too sad?"
Despite his stoic personality, Virvor's lips couldn't help but curl upward slightly. He had been excited beyond belief when he noticed the mistake of the shop keeper. After all, in the 98th quadrant, even their Legatees were only given practitioner level weapons at the most. Even a family like the Caedes family only had one such weapon of that level.
However, it was for this very reason that Rand was so angered at his missed opportunity. In their 74th quadrant, the reality wasn't too different, even the best quadrants only had a few master level weapons on hand. To get one so cheaply was something he could only dream of!
The problem was that practitioner level weapons weren't exactly cheap either, even well made common level weapons were worth more money than he could casually bring out. Despite being a Duke, and being of high status, weapons were simply too valuable!
A well forged weapon or piece of armor could take weeks to forge, depending on the level, even months or years weren't outside the realm of possibility. At the level that the apprentices were in Sapientia Corner, forging a master level weapon would take months of time. Maybe the only ones who could do it in days would be those grandmaster geniuses.
It was no wonder that Rand was green with regret. He had run back to his clan at the fastest speeds possible, all for failure. How could he allow such a loss?
So, after he came back, he went to the shopkeeper who was more than happy enough to tell him where Virvor had gone.
"Do you really believe that trash like you deserves such a weapon? I won't repeat myself again! Hand me the rod and kneel here for three days and nights! If you don't, you'll have to face the consequences."
Virvor's small smile disappeared, replaced by an incomparably serious expression. Although he wasn't scared, that didn't mean that he thought this would be an easy battle. Although he now had such a good weapon, he wasn't well versed in the art of the Bo. In fact, he had never used any weapons before. But, for the sake of such a good weapon, he had no qualms about learning. The problem was that learning in this setting was asking for death.
"If you handle the lackies, I can take care of this clown." Dyon said off-handedly.
"But –"
Dyon shrugged. He knew that Virvor had a lot of secrets that were probably better kept a secret, it was just that he didn't know what they were. But, a commoner, carrying around enough money to buy a practitioner level weapon? That was enough to raise eyebrows.
"Don't worry about it, his Presence won't affect me, but you haven't taken your trials yet."
When the crowd heard Dyon's words, their eyes widened slightly with shock. For the Presence of a Duke to not affect you, wouldn't that mean you had to be a Duke as well?... Since when did the 98th quadrant have a Duke young enough to enter the tower? What was going on?
"I won't join your faction because of this." Virvor suddenly said, but it was clear that he was still very grateful.
With a laugh, Dyon took a step forward. "You'll have to take that up with our fearless leader."
At this moment, Violet, Wess and Luka had just come out of the tower. But, clearly it was too late for them to stop much of anything.
...
"What right do you think you have to fight Duke Rand!?"
Eager to prove themselves, the weaklings that surround Rand like swarming flies stepped up one after another, using their larger numbers to fuel their guts.
However, before they could reach Dyon, they were blocked by Virvor. A moment later, Violet, Wess and Luka also stepped forward, pushing their way into the circle.
The crowd seemed to have a tacit agreement, easily backing up and allowing a near two hundred meter radius around them.
"What's going on?" Some late stragglers hopped into the mix, whispering to each other to figure out the details.
"It seems that Duke Rand wants a piece of equipment a disciple of the 98th quadrant bought, so he came to forcefully take it back."
Although the voices of those who explained were filled with pity and disgust, there was nothing they could do. Here, for all intents and purposes, the 74th quadrant was an overlord. It wasn't the first time they had done something like this…
Maybe the only time the 74th quadrant lowered their head was when those genius apprentices came to challenge one another. During those times, they didn't dare to be blatantly arrogant, lest they offend the wrong person. But, right now, there was no such event.
"Then who is that person facing off against Duke Rand alone?"
"We don't know. He proclaimed that Duke Rand's Presence wouldn't affect him, so he's likely a newly minted Duke himself. However, we don't know his name."
"That massive sword on his back in practitioner level weapon, if he can show it off so blatantly, maybe he really is strong?"
The murmurings of the crowd only caused Rand to become angrier. It wasn't that he, himself, couldn't see how much of a bastard he was being, but a master level weapon was far too greed-inducing. He couldn't give it up, even if people scorned him behind his back.
What was even worse was the fact that Dyon was casually glancing at the situation around him, checking to make sure that his fellow disciples weren't being overwhelmed by the numbers.
The good news was that, in order to keep his find a secret, Rand hadn't told any other more powerful members of the 74th quadrant, so despite being outnumbered 5 to 1, they were still barely holding on.
'This Violet girl still seems to be holding back… I wonder what she's hiding…'
