Aaron was just in his morning routine, stretching and then going through his katas with the least amount of Qi used, while still using intent, when he noticed something odd. He could feel someone watching him. It was the sense you got either from being too paranoid or from being followed a lot. In Aaron's case it was not paranoia. It was a sense backed by him noticing a group that had just exited the savanna and had stopped suddenly.

He heard one of the men talk while he stared in Aaron's direction. They had investigated attacks on behemoths? Then the scout said something that made Aaron pause and look at the man in the distance, even though there was quite a bit of distance and rocks in between them. How could he know Aaron was a Cultivator at this distance? What the fuck?

For a moment Aaron hesitated as he studied the group with his senses. He could only hear them and smell them. For his other senses he was too far away or blocked by rocks. From what they were saying they knew what he was and where he was. The bounty on his head was still a thing and a coincidence like this might just be used to reopen the manhunt. Aaron did not want to leave the fifth floor or be chased away by hordes of vessels. He also did not want to murder them all for going after him. It was stupid, pointless and a waste of his time. Now that he had discovered a way to farm beastcores and accumulate a ridiculous amount of Qi with them he just wanted to be left alone. He only needed a few weeks or months and he could use this floor's resources to break through to the foundation realm. Then he could care less about the lower floors. But until then this might be an existential threat.

So Aaron made the decision to confront them. He needed to know who they were and what their intentions were. Aaron leapt to the top of the closest rock and then leapt from there in their direction with huge bounding jumps. The scout could see him still. Could see everything even while he was in the air. Well shit. Aaron realized quickly that this scout was a nightmare for him. If he could not hide his pursuers would inevitably find him and could run him into the ground until he was out of Qi and vulnerable. Now he really had to know what this group was up to. He reached their position quickly and stepped out into the open in front of the group. Then he studied them with all of his senses.

The first thing that came to his mind was that their equipment was practically glowing in his mana sense. It seemed like every single piece was enchanted, especially the armor of the three warriors. They wore blackened plate mail and heavy weapons. But they moved like it weighed nothing. The scout himself looked like any other rogue he had ever seen, except for the man's cloak and daggers who were all enchanted with some pretty intense spells that acted like flares in his mana sense. The trio of rangers or archers that stood together on the other side of their pack animals had enchanted bows and arrows, but only one of them had an enchanted gambeson he wore. The two other ranged combatants had no enchanted armor. So it was not like they were all decked out with enchanted gear. It was still the richest group of climbers he had ever seen. The pack animals in the middle of the group were giant Zebras who were armored in a similar manner to the behemoths. Armor plates covered their backs, necks and even the front of their neck was armored with segmented pieces. He had never seen anything like it. This group clearly was not from around here.

"Greetings." Aaron said with a mock bow, but without taking his eyes off the group. "Apologies for the sudden appearance but your scout there quite rudely interrupted me in my morning routine."

Aaron pointed at Merix who looked quite pale. The rest of the group looked unimpressed, maybe even a little contemptuous, except one of the warriors, a man with only one eye who looked red in his face and almost constipated. He glared at Aaron like he had seen a ghost. The tallest of the three warriors leaned his greatsword against his shoulder and nodded towards Aaron with his visor open.

"Greetings. I apologize for any inconvenience. My scout was quite surprised to find a lone climber out here on the fifth floor and I assure you we meant no offense. Merix can't turn off his scouting skill, so its an unavoidable consequence that he sees everything in range."

"Fascinating...you bunch are from Ambition, I presume?" Aaron asked studying each of them carefully. That the scout 'saw' everything was an interesting hint. Apparently the man could see even through physical objects? That was quite an insane ability.

"We are…"

"Are you really a Cultivator?" the red faced, one eyed man interrupted their apparent leader brusquely. The greatsword warrior gave the man a frown, but did not say anything as he looked back to Aaron, waiting for a response.

"Why don't you ask your scout?" Aaron said, really interested in how the man could mark him as a cultivator from a few hundred meters away. Everyone looked at Merix who coughed and said nervously:

"I have an identification skill. You are no Vessel or mage, but you have powers. So you must be a Cultivator."

"Impressive deduction." Aaron said with a smirk.

"Will my nature by a problem for you people?" he asked the leader and locked eyes with him.

"No." the man said calmly.

"I would ask you to keep my location and what I am doing a secret and if you do, I shall do the same. You do not look like you are here for a courtesy call. Am I right?" Aaron asked. They were clearly a heavily armed group that did not come down here for a simple trading gig. Not with equipment and skills like that. They also had no mage, which made them an odd group. They were nothing like the group from Ambition he had fought before. They had been strong and had strange skills and high levels, but this group was ten times as strong and their equipment spoke of money, a lot of money.

"Correct." The leader said slowly. "I can live with that. We would rather not encounter any problems while we are on our mission."

"Excellent. Then we can all forget what we saw this morning, yes?"

The leader nodded slowly, but he kept his eyes on Aaron. Aaron was not sure what these guys were here for, but it was clearly not for him. They had acted too surprised and he believed their story from what he had heard from them before he had showed up. Still he did not believe they would not tell anyone. He would have to move his camp and try to keep a low profile for a while until he was sure there was not an army coming for him. He just hoped they would not directly reopen the manhunt or he would be really miserable. But fighting them was just as bad an option. These people were strong and even with the first triplet completed, Aaron was not certain he could beat them all in a straight up fight. So it was the best outcome for them all if they just let it be and went on like nothing had happened. He really did not want to stir up anything that could endanger his new farming spot.

Problem was that this group could probably find him again if they looked for him on the fifth floor, so moving his camp might be in vain. He doubted he could hide from that skill their scout had. But he would deal with that if and when the time came. He was fine with letting things stand as they were, for now. Aaron smirked and took a step back, before he turned around to vanish behind the rock he had came from.

There was a soft rustling behind him that alerted him something was wrong and Aaron shifted his weight a bit, preparing to turn around. Then before Aaron could react properly, pain bloomed in his chest. It was so sudden and unexpected he gasped and flared his Qi, his palms coated in a layer of the deepest ocean as an unimaginable pain fought with concentration and training. A blade stuck out of his left side, having pierced through his chest and through his rib cage. The enchanted blade glinted crimson in the morning sun as Aaron stared at it in shock. That lasted only for one moment, before fury and training kicked in. Aaron turned his head as time began to crawl by. He felt the presence of a man behind him and shifted his right hand into sword form. He could barely move his left arm, it hurt too much, but he could still activate the Unceasing Palm kata's effect with that hand as time slowed in his perception.

Turning around was one of the most painful things he had ever done in his life, but he gritted his teeth and moved his head and shifted his weight. The one eyed warrior stood behind him, his blade outstretched and impaling Aaron. His face was purple, his one good eye bloodshot and empty, looking through Aaron. Before the man could react Aaron swiped the invisible Qi blade across the man's throat. He had to twist his body to do this and felt the blade stuck in his chest cut into his flesh, only held at bay because it was lodged in between his shoulder blade and his ribs. His shoulder blade had saved his life. It had pushed the stab down and so he had just lost half a lung to the sneak attack instead of his heart. The rending sensation of the blade cutting into him, tearing through his broken rib as Aaron moved was the purest agony. But Aaron kept his hands steady, stayed in his stance and let the Qi blade bloom as he fueled the cut with all of his agony, pain and fury. He felt resistance as the blade cut into the one eyed warrior, felt the enchantments protecting the man resist for just a moment before they shattered as his blade fueled by pain and the sharp intent of retribution cut through the man's neck. The warrior had not moved, had not reacted at all, which was the only reason why Aaron's Qi blade hit home as slow and cumbersome his movements had been.

There was a sudden pop as magic bloomed and then the man vanished with his blade in hand. Aaron felt the spellform catch too fast for even him to do anything about it even while he was in Unceasing Palm mode. The armor, the blade, the warriors whole body vanished in a flash of light, but the warrior did not get away cleanly. His head still in his helmet dropped to the floor, severed by Aaron's Qi, clattering to the ground. Then the pain overwhelmed Aaron and he screamed. The blade vanishing into nothing opened his wounds in an instant and blood spluttered to the ground as Aaron writhed in pain.

"BARUS!" someone roared and then a moment later their leader shouted:

"Charge!"

Aaron shuddered and then felt the impacts of arrows hit his back as the sharp enchanted tips of the arrows pierced his flesh moments later. The agony overwhelmed him as he stumbled against the rock. He was going to die if he did not get a hold of himself. He just needed the pain to stop. It hurt, it hurt so much… He fumbled for the potion bottle with the single painkiller pill in it at his belt while he tried to get away. Barely conscious he dove forwards to be a more difficult target. He grasped the bottle finally and brought it up to his lips. Another set of arrows hit home, this time hitting his chest and right arm. He stumbled, but he kept going. With all his willpower Aaron brought the bottle back up to his lips, ripped out the cork and let the pill tumble into his mouth. Barely conscious he was in that much pain, he sagged back against the rock and narrowly evaded a cut from a very quick and enchanted greatsword. Aaron's teeth crunched down on the pill and he swallowed, while he dove to the ground, trying to crawl behind the rock. It was his only cover from the archers.

It was like Aaron had been dunked into cold water as his mind woke up. The pain overwhelming him vanished almost in an instant as the pill took affect and Aaron opened his eyes wide as he assessed the situation. He was hurt badly, but now with the painkiller, at least his left arm was usable again. He did not feel the pain from moving that arm, but his right arm had an arrow through his forearm and he could barely grip anything with any strength. His chest and his back had arrows stuck in them. But they had all failed to pierce through his rib cage or shoulder blades. His bones too tough for even the enchanted arrow tips to pierce. With a flare of Qi Aaron activated Wind Steps as he dove away on all fours from a giant warhammer with a wicked spike on one end. One of the heavily armed warriors was already back on top of him, while the other, armed with a greatsword was close behind.

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Aaron pushed himself off the ground and then flew up into the sky, coughing up blood as he twisted mid air to evade another volley of arrows. He stepped on the wall of a nearby cliff and dove backwards behind the rock, shielding him from the archers. The warriors stood uselessly on the ground and Aaron vanished behind the rocks 10 meters above them getting out of their line of sight. With shaking fingers and rasping breath Aaron searched for one of his regeneration pills. He was so glad he had prepared the potion bottles with one pill each beforehand. Even with the painkiller the pain bled through into his consciousness. But he was able to stay focused, was able to stay conscious even as he painted the top of the giant boulder he was crouching on with his blood. He opened the bottle with the Regeneration pill and swallowed it as quickly as he could while he felt his consciousness fade.

The energy of the pill was like the sun as it went down his throat into his stomach. From there the energy spread out like the hot searing feeling of alcohol going down your throat. Aaron's head cleared, the dark edges around his vision vanished and he watched in awe as the wound in his chest closed, the blood stopped to flow, felt how his broken ribs reassembled themselves magically and felt the arrows get pushed out of his flesh as it regenerated fast enough to watch. Fast enough to make it an uncanny scene. Moments earlier Aaron had been injured badly, close to passing out from pain and blood loss. Now he was entirely healed. Within 10 seconds Aaron went from half dead, coughing blood and injured to perfectly healthy. It was incredible. He took a deep breath, coughed out the last bit of blood and marveled in the sensation of being in a hale body again. The pain receding as the two pills worked in tandem to restore him was a feeling unlike any other. It was bliss after the agony of the injures he had endured.

Only when the initial bliss of being without pain faded did his fury start to burn in his chest. He balled his fists, felt the strength of his body, of his muscles and clenched his jaws as hot searing rage and hatred flowed through him. But as much as he wanted to rage, this was not the time to lose his cool. He banished his fury into the back of his mind as the training, the life of a killer and his experience in the tower took over. He analyzed the situation as he stretched out all of his senses.

He was still safe behind the rocks up in the foothills where nobody could reach him easily. This kind of terrain was his home turf. And yet this group had almost managed to kill him in a sneak attack. That attack by the one eyed warrior had been too fast for him to react. It had almost been like he had teleported behind him and had stabbed him in the back. He was glad the man was dead. Not something he wanted to deal with again. Below him he could hear the group call out to each other.

"What the fuck just happened? Why did Barus attack the cultivator?"

"Where did he go Merix?"

"What the fuck Krestus, what was that?! If you planned to kill the fucker, tell us. We barely got our bows out in time."

"The Cultivator is up on the rocks ten meters that way." one of them said and Aaron frowned. That damned scout knew exactly where he was. But the rest of them seemed just as surprised by the sneak attack than Aaron had been. Part of his mind analyzed this and he processed that it might have been just that one warrior's fault. But he remembered them following up on the attack, remembered the volleys of arrows, the blade and hammer coming after him. He had barely survived the blood loss from having a damned hole in his chest. Now he was in the driver seat. He could decide if he wanted to flee or if he wanted to bring the hurt to them. Even if they had not planned to attack and kill him they had gotten damned close either way. So fuck them. Fuck who was at fault. Aaron had enough of being attacked for no damn reason. Fuck these guys, fuck being civil. He should have either never approached them in the first place or killed them all from the start. No more fucking around.

"I didn't fucking order him to do this." Krestus roared.

"I don't know why the fuck he did that! Where is he.."

"The Cultivator is on the move!" the scout yelled as Aaron leapt over the rock he was hiding behind and dropped from the ledge. He pushed himself off the rocks and shot into the air above the group.

"He is above!"

Aaron took in the sight with one glance, the scout stood in the center of the group. The three archers still close to the group's pack animals and the two warriors stood close to the corner of the rocks where Aaron had been just moments earlier. But his target was clear. There was only one man in this group that was dangerous to him because he could track him at all times. He switched directions he was going, bounced back towards the tall boulder he had leapt out from and pushed himself off the rock with all his strength. Aaron dove downwards directly towards the damned scout. The man's eyes widened and then to Aaron's surprise he vanished right in front of his eyes. He did not just go invisible. He was just gone. No spellform he could see, no scent, nothing. From one moment the man stood there with wide eyes, the next moment he had vanished like he had never been there. Aaron crashed into the ground, right where the man had been but hit nothing but dirt and grass. He bent his knees to cushion the impact as he shifted into a two handed kata stance. His right hand balled into a fist, his left as a palm covering himself in the bubble of increased reaction time and a hand ready to defend himself.

Aaron had no idea what happened to the scout, but it did not matter right now. He needed to get rid of the archers next. He dove towards the archers. His next target priority and he ignored the shouts and shock in the men's faces as he flew towards them.

One of the archers was quick enough to shoot an arrow at Aaron who shot towards him rapidly. But now that Aaron was not in pain and in perfect condition he swatted the projectile out of the air with an almost contemptuous wave of his hand. The man's eyes widened and Aaron punched him in the stomach, sending the man flying backwards like a rag doll hit by a train. The other two Archers grabbed for shortswords at their hips as they reacted, but Aaron was done showing mercy or giving them any chance. He smoothly transitioned into swordform as he took one wind steps enhanced step towards the closest man and cut him in two with a wave of his right hand. The Qi blade projected from his fingers encountered no resistance as it cut through the man's body, until it hit an amulet that hung around the man's neck. The clearly enchanted trinket burst into light as it disintegrated and Aaron was blinded for a moment. Damn it. He should have seen that coming. He blinked against the spots in his eyes, but he was far from helpless like this.

His ears told him by the sharp intake of breath and the sword being drawn the position of the second archer. He heard the sword tear through the air and cut out with a diagonal cut, while Aaron ducked low, gaining more range from the position. He rapidly blinked his eyes to get rid of the bright spots. Damned sensory overload again! But the healing energies still in his body from the pill repaired any damage to his eyes almost as fast as it happened. There was a scream and the smell of blood as Aaron's cut reached the man first and the rapid steps of something big and heavy told Aaron that the warriors had arrived.

There was one heavy step and then a woosh of air told him one of the warriors had used some skill or was jumping at him in a straight line accelerating almost too quick to react. Almost. Aaron shifted his weight as he dove out of the way with a Wind Step enhanced dodge and slapped the hammerhead coming for his skull aside. The weight of the weapon and the force behind it was insane. It felt like he had slapped aside a boulder the size of a house. But the Qi infused with intent that coated his palm made such a feat almost simple. Still Aaron reminded himself not to get into a test of strength against the warriors. These guys were strong, stronger than him by far.

His eyes cleared a moment later and he moved back as the hammer warrior leveraged his position, speed and momentum to attack him on the back swing as he dove towards Aaron again. Aaron stepped forward, his palm pushing and slowing the attack at the hilt of the hammer upwards, before he brought his other hand up with a Qi blade. It was just one exchange, just one miscalculation of the warrior, who had relied on his armor, on his speed, on his strength. None of them helped against technique and the ability to negate physics by moving beyond what should be possible. The sharp sword of Qi stabbed through the visor of the helmet and pierced deep into the man's skull.

Like with almost all of these guys Aaron felt the enchantments break as he killed the man, he felt a spellform catch, but as he was ready for it this time. He saw with all of his senses how the spellform wrapped the man into a sphere of light and then shot away with him faster than Aaron could react. It was as close to teleportation as Aaron had ever seen and he guessed that it was a feature of their armor that made them vanish when the enchantments on them broke. Too bad for them that they would arrive only as corpses wherever the spell sent them.

The last man standing, the leader and greatsword warrior was on top of him as the flash of light from the semi teleport faded. Aaron evaded the first swipe of the blade and then found himself in the awkward position of being too far away to do anything that did not cost a boatload of Qi. Masterfully the man sent quick sharp cuts at Aaron, drove him back as he let his blade sing. Aaron evaded while he got a measure of the man and he tapped his blade with his palm to make it slow down and divert it. But this blade was too quick. It was fast, really fast and wickedly sharp. How the warrior tore into Aaron he reminded him of the sword golems in the trial of the mind.

Aaron could not help himself and grinned. This warrior was stronger even than the hammer warrior had been and a single mistake might cost Aaron his life. He seriously doubted he would survive his head being cut off. But Aaron was faster than the man and although he was outranged by a lot, Qi projection solved this puzzle for him.

Aaron evaded another cut and then stepped forward and brought his right hand forward as he sent a dart of concentrated Qi at the man's face. The warrior dodged back, the sharp penetrating Qi drilling a hole through the top of his helmet. Aaron stepped in, his left hand following up with a projected punch sending the man's sword arm reeling as the Qi bashed into him, making the man stumble back. Aaron shifted to the next form in the kata and sent another Qi dart at the man's chest. The warrior turned and Aaron could see the wide eyes through the slit in the visor. Then his Qi drilled into the man's shoulder, making him scream. The Qi tore through the armor's enchantments and with a sudden flash of light the warrior was gone as well.

Damn. He almost had him.

Aaron followed the flash of light with his senses back out into the fifth floor or beyond. Maybe towards the entrance to the sixth floor? He turned around and managed to see the archer he had sent flying grab the other archer that was still alive. The man was screaming and clutching his forearm. Aaron's blind blade stroke had cut the man's hand off. The Archer looked at Aaron and then squeezed the amulet around his neck. It looked like the same that had blinded Aaron earlier. Then with a flash the two men vanished, leaving Aaron alone with the corpse of the man he had cut in two, a head in a helmet and two very anxious pack animals that flared their nostrils in agitation, but did not flee yet.

Aaron observed the streak of light that was quite a bit slower than the ones before it, probably because of two people instead of one that were transported. It too traveled in the same direction, the other side of the fifth floor. That truly was a neat trick. If Aaron had not killed the two warriors instantly he was not sure if he would have killed any of them except the unfortunate archer he had cut in two. Aaron took a deep breath and took stock. He had used around 10% of his Qi in the plentiful Qi attacks he had unleashed. He had been very inefficient with his Qi usage, but the results were that he had won the fight rather quickly.

Still the greatsword warrior and two of the rangers had survived and the scout was still gone as well. Maybe it was some sort of skill? Aaron did not know, but he worried. He doubted there was any reconciliation possible after he had murdered half of their team, but that was not in his best interest anyway. People who almost killed him should not expect to live to tell the tale. Either way Aaron was sure this would be a real mess to clean up. He could not let them get away like this. All of the people who had teleported away were injured, so he could probably catch them before they went anywhere if they were still on this floor. If not then he was out of luck.

The scout that had vanished was also a problem. He had no idea where the man was. It made no sense at all, but there was nothing Aaron could do about it. He stretched out his senses and could not find any trace of him anywhere. Aaron frowned and then stopped wasting time on the scout. He hoped he would not ring the alarm bells on the First floor, but if he did, it was better to take out the rest of the team first. They were dangerous and clearly his enemies. The time for mercy was over. It was time to hunt them down and kill them all.

But before Aaron hurried after them he walked over to the corpse of the ranger. It would be a waste to let the spirit of the Vessel go to waste after all. Aaron formed soul catcher and reached out to the man's head. Aaron frowned when he felt the spirit still clinging to the corpse. It felt to his Qi senses like trying to grasp a giant man sized ball with one hand. It was entirely too big for Aaron's grasp to catch it.

"What the…" Aaron muttered and tried again. But no he got the same result. He could not properly grasp the spirit at all. It was too big for him.

"Well shit. What a waste." Aaron grumbled and then leapt towards the grassland. If he could not get their spirits, he would at least eliminate this group's danger to him.

Five minutes after Aaron had left and when he was beyond the range of Merix skill the Rogue appeared out of nowhere. He appeared on the same spot he had vanished from. The man looked pale as he looked to the brutally murdered archer and saw the amount of blood spilled everywhere around him. Merix cloak had a very rare and powerful enchantment on it, traded from beyond the 50th floor. The spell was entirely useless for most people, but not for Merix. Sanctuary was the spells name and it created a pocket dimension that Merix could slip into. He could only stay in the dimension for a few hours and he could not move, it was that small. It always felt to Merix like being encased in a metal coffin. He was cut off from the normal world, impervious to detection and damage and he could not move. But he could see out with his skill. Which was the entire reason he had been given the cloak.

Merix did not know in what condition the rest of his team was, but the Cultivator had killed two of them without a doubt. Barus severed head and Serath's body cut in two were a stark reminder of that fact. He could not help them. Merix was not a great fighter, especially not against a monster like the Cultivator. Merix had never seen anyone move that fast, change directions mid air and kill people that quickly with a freaking invisible blade that cut through anything. He had heard stories of the Ghostblade, but that had been before his time. None of them were as scary as what he had seen here and Merix shuddered. He could not do anything to help his team. But he could sound the alarm.

Mars and the red-light district were technically their subordinates, but in any other situation Merix would be very wary of relying on them to help him. Now they were his only hope. If they mobilized their troops quickly and came to the fifth floor, maybe they might save the rest of his team. But Merix honestly doubted it. Either way he had to try. Quickly he drew his blades and hurried towards the staircase down to the 4th floor. He hoped he would not get lost. Braving the fourth floor alone where his best skill was almost useless was terribly dangerous. But anything was better than waiting for the Cultivator to find him. The Cultivator who seemed to have almost as good detection skills as he did.

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