Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

The participants were too stunned to speak when they heard Eren's warning.

Everyone wanted to enter the newly appeared cave entrance with Eren. However, nobody dared to take his warning lightly. After all, those who had remained till this point were here because they could sense danger and prioritize their safety first.

Furthermore, Eren's presence was incredibly chilling. Some of them subconsciously took a step back when their eyes met his emerald-green eyes.

"Hehe. This kid has what it takes to inherit my legacy. You can come in, Eren Idril. Everybody else, out."

The participants disappeared all of a sudden with a varied range of emotions painted on their faces. They all understood one thing at that time– Eren Elijah Idril had cleared the test conducted by Sage Loxley.

Eren nodded to the voice's commands before getting inside the cave entrance. A sophisticated three-story house soon greeted him after following the singular path.

Eren entered the courtyard of the house and waited for Sage Loxley to show up. The latter didn't make him wait long enough.

Sage Loxley was a man of medium stature and build. He had an inconspicuous appearance and presence except for the beaked mask he was wearing that hid most of his facial features.

The Sage had cerulean-colored eyes. He was wearing a hooded cape over tailored leather armor. He had a dagger's sheath attached to his waist strap. The Sage carried the actual weapon in his hands. He would play with the knife in his hands as if ready to launch an assassination at any time.

Eren bowed to Sage Loxley as soon as he appeared. He didn't have to wait too long for the latter to speak.

"Hmm. You did good, Eren boy."

Surprisingly, Lufthansa was quite easy to talk to once he stopped being an assassin and came out into the open. He nodded at Eren before speaking up.

"Your presence tells me a lot about you, Eren boy. You are perfectly fit to be an assassin."

'That's the plan.'

Eren thought to himself before saying something entirely different.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Sage Loxley."

Just as Alephee had told him to, Eren didn't want to mess with the remaining Sages. So he was very humble in his manners.

There was a puppet that contained Lufthansa's vestige of soul. It allowed him to operate on the rest of the puppets with ease.

The Sage didn't waste much time. He glanced briefly at Eren before speaking up.

"Hmm. It appears that you are using Unlimited Knife Works, which I created. How was your experience so far using it?"

Eren was shocked when he heard that the Perk he was using inside the Sansara World was actually an Ability from a Sage. He knew what he was supposed to do. He took out his matte finish daggers and executed Unlimited Knife Works in front of the creator of the Ability.

Unlimited Knife Works wasn't just a stand-alone Ability. Sage Lufthansa created special dagger art to work with it. Using the dagger art he knew, Eren executed the Perk.

It seemed that Lufthansa was quite impressed by the way Eren handled his weapons. As a result, he became increasingly interested in passing down his legacy to Eren after he saw how capable the latter was.

The Sage took out his own dagger and charged it with his water-element mana before speaking up.

"Unlimited Knife Works was created for one-handed weapon holders at first. So it heavily relies on an aggressive stance right from the start."

The Sage decided to impart his knowledge along with his legacy to the butcher. He performed a variety of moves to demonstrate how to use Unlimited Knife Works correctly. And Eren decided to absorb everything the Sage Assassin was imparting to him.

Eren and Sage Loxley talked for quite sometime before the latter offered him various items in the end. The very first item Eren received was a runic Steele. This Steele was created based on his elemental attainment, weapon comprehension, and other forms of knowledge as a foundation. It depicted how one could use Unlimited Knife Works in a variety of conditions, using various styles of weapons– not just daggers.

The Sage demonstrated that the Ability did not only accelerate weapons at short distances. Additionally, it could be used to teleport weapons within short to medium distances, increasing the ability's sphere of influence.

The butcher greatly appreciated the Sage's Runic Steele transfer. That's because it would allow him to unlock a similar Ability in the future if he referred to it frequently and practiced.

Eren also received a disk from the Sage which was supposed to fine-tune an assassin's mana circuits. Just like last time, he had decided to use the array disk on himself, unlocking the assassin class for himself.

Eren received a beaked mask artifact from the Sage. It allowed him to mask his presence both physically and otherwise. One could use it to carry out zero-error assassinations. That is if one plays their cards right.

The butcher also received a single dagger from Sage Loxley. It was a simple anelace with multi-element runes etched on it. Meaning it could support the lightning, water, and wind element mana. The dagger felt comfortable to hold in Eren's hands.

Both the beaked mask and the dagger were transcendent-grade artifacts. Moreover, they didn't have to be stored in storage space. A dagger tattoo was created on the back of the butcher's right hand before disappearing. The butcher could summon the dagger anytime he wanted using the tattoo.

A beaked mask tattoo was created under Eren's right earlobe before fading. The tattoo would reveal itself briefly when Eren decided to make use of the artifact to mask his presence.

***

Day 26: Near the location of the next Sage legacy's test grounds.

Eren made use of the array disk after spending some time alone in the Sansara World. He unlocked the assassin class for himself before entering the spatial tunnel that led to another Sage legacy test.

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AN: VEH punches in 1100 chapters with this release. ;)

Also, let's wish Drin a very happy birthday. (if my memory serves me right) :D