Daniel, who knew that it would get cold at night, reluctantly looked for a good place to continue sleeping. Before nightfall came, he had found the perfect spot to set up his own makeshift camp.

Using a few branches and leaves, he made a small tent. He also started a campfire to keep himself warm.

Once he was done setting up, Daniel went back to sleep. The night of the first day came, and with it was the expected extreme cold that could only be experienced in this snowy place. As he was sleeping through the cold night, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He couldn't help but sigh. This entire trial had interrupted his sleep several times now. He stood up from his makeshift tent. He did not bother to get his sword, as he already knew what was approaching.

From the shadows, several figures appeared. They were the other recruits. The one in front had his hands up.

"Sorry to disturb you, but can we stay here and rest?" The leader of the group of recruits spoke with a smile on his face.

"Sure, you can. If you stop emitting such thick killing intent." Daniel spoke with a rather bored tone with a hint of irritation.

The recruits froze for a moment, the leader's grin faltering as if he'd just been caught with his hand over a hot stove.

"What are you talking about?" The leader laughed it off.

"Masking your intention with a disarming smile, an awkward laugh, and a soothing voice. You're actually a pretty good actor, but unfortunately, not a really good assassin. You don't know how to mask the most important thing, your killing intent."

Daniel spoke while rotating his shoulder blades and then yawning. The recruits stiffened. The awkward laughter died in their throats. The air felt heavier, colder, not from the snow, but from the sudden shift in mood.

The leader did not respond as he and the other recruits with him were now deliberating whether they should attack now.

Daniel tilted his head slightly, eyes half-lidded as if he were still half asleep. "I'm going to that silence of yours as acknowledgement. Now here's the part where you decide if you're going to drop that idea of killing me, and f*cking leave, or you continue to bother my sleep, get beaten up, and lie in the snow in pain."

A few of the recruits instinctively took a step back, their bravado shrinking with every word.

The leader swallowed, eyes flicking briefly to the others, then back to Daniel. "Relax. We're just... Desperate. Cold, hungry, scared. When you've spent the whole day wondering which monster's going to rip your throat out first, bad ideas start sounding smart."

When Daniel heard the leader's explanation, he couldn't help but sigh. "I don't know what your true goal is by wanting to join Thornefang, but I guess it isn't anything good. If it were anyone else, you might be able to fool them, with that level of acting, but..."

Daniel, whose eyes were always half-open, was now open fully and looking directly at the recruits before him. The recruits felt their entire body shaking; right now, it was like a giant predator was staring at them.

"I'm not like most people. I bet you decided to attack me since I'm alone. You either wanted to eliminate others to have a higher chance of joining Thornefang. I don't know if you're that desperate to join Thornefang or if you just NEED to join Thornefang. Either way, you mess with my sleep, you get a beating."

The leader took a quick glance at the recruits with him. One of them, unable to handle the pressure any longer, took out his weapon and charged.

When the leader saw that, he couldn't help but click his tongue in irritation. He then made a few whistling sounds, most likely signaling to the others how to attack.

Daniel did not even bother to reach for his weapon as he lazily waited for them to come to him.

When the person who came charging at him was about to swing his sword downward, Daniel punched the other party's wrist with his middle finger, slightly outward from his fist. Daniel then proceeded to do a low sweeping kick, making the other party fall to the ground. He then knocked the other party out with a downward punch to the gut.

The others that had already surrounded him hesitated, but Daniel did not use this chance to attack. He was too lazy to move from his spot, so he continued waiting for them to attack.

The cold bit deeper in the pause that followed. The fire cracked behind Daniel, its light throwing long, twitching shadows across the snow.

One of the recruits shifted his grip on his sword, knuckles whitening, but he didn't move. Another's breath came out in sharp, panicked bursts, mist curling and fading as fast as it left him.

Daniel lazily cracked his neck to the side. "Come on, and attack already. I want to go back to sleep."

At his words, one of them finally approached and got in range. The recruit did a horizontal slash. Daniel ducked a little to avoid the strike. He then pushed forward with his shoulders, hitting the other party's abdomen, making him bend backward.

Daniel then took the hand holding the sword and flipped the other party into the snow with a hollow thud. A boot in the ribs silenced the next one that silently got behind Daniel, before he even finished drawing his blade.

The remaining recruits, alongside their leader, now understood that what they were facing wasn't as simple as they thought. The leader glanced at the others and made a few whistling sounds. One of them took out something and threw it on the ground. Daniel felt the mana in the surrounding area had become unstable.

"I guess you're stronger than we thought. Sorry, I wanted to end this quietly. We need to be able to join Thornefang one way or another."

The leader and the other recruits started using their aura mantle, and they were all at the second mantle, the same as Daniel himself.

"So you were hiding your true strength? Why would you even bother doing that? The ones on the ground were they also Second Mantle Aura users? If so, well, I guess they lost without even doing their best."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders and sighed. This time, he finally took out his sword. "Since we're all at the second mantle and about to use swords, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep you all alive."

"Quite the arrogant one, aren't you?" The leader spoke, but as he finished, one of his men, the one closest to Daniel, had his arm holding his sword cut off. The second blood started flowing out of the stump were the arm used to be, the recruit screamed in agony.

"Let's just get this over with," Daniel spoke while yawning.

The leader gnashed his teeth in anger as he barked orders at his men, who came charging at the single enemy before them.

Daniel didn't move until the first blade was already in the arc of its swing. His sword flashed once, carving through the attack and the attacker's weapon both. The next tried to flank him, only for Daniel to step into his guard and slam the hilt of his sword into the side of his head with a sickening crack.

Steel clashed against steel. Sparks hissed in the snow. Their mantles flared, bright and desperate, but they fought like men driven by fear, not skill. Daniel danced through them with the calm rhythm of someone bored at a chore he'd done too many times.

One tried to lunge low; Daniel kicked him square in the chest and sent him sprawling into the campfire, embers hissing as snow melted in a violent spray. Another attempted a high feint; Daniel parried lazily, twisted his wrist, and sent the man's sword clattering into the dark before slashing a shallow cut across his thigh that dropped him screaming to the ground.

Soon, the snow was dotted with bodies, groaning, bleeding, broken, but not dead. Well, not yet.

Only the leader remained standing, his breath ragged, aura flaring wildly, a desperate beast cornered in the dark.

"Now you're the only one left."

The leader gnashed his teeth in frustration. He took this job of infiltrating Thornefang because he had thought it would be easy. Join Thornefang and await the next order. That was it. So simple, and the pay was enormous.

Joining a group that had few members, and the strongest under Lucen's banner was a second mantle former mercenary. It should have been easy to join, or so he thought.

After seeing Bram, Veronica, Thrall, and this Daniel. He knew that the chances of joining had become vague. So he wanted to eliminate the threats to a successful mission, but it turns out that was a mistake.

***

Back in Ironhold, Lucen was already sleeping. He gave Harlik the Scrying orb to continue monitoring the situation in the forest. As he was sleeping, he woke up as he heard a knock on his door.

Lucen woke up and opened the door to see Harlik with the Scrying orb in hand alongside Sarah.

"What is it?" Lucen asked.

"Little leader, there's a part in the forest that's not showing."

Harlik signaled Sarah to activate the Scrying orb. Upon activation, a hologram-like image appeared. Harlik then moved to the area where he said were the spell was not working properly.

Not a single image was being shown; there was only darkness. When Lucen was about to further inspect what was happening, an image finally appeared.

Daniel was standing among a few unconscious recruits. He then took one of the recruits' rune-engraved rocks and crushed it, sending a mana signal to that area.

"It seems like something rather interesting has happened. Harlik, go and call Sir Thalos, we're going to meet Daniel in the Forest of Monsters."

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