"That's enough," the voice thundered. Everyone looked up, including Aren.

The Black Knights arrived to handle the situation.

With their presence, everything should have been diffused.

There were five of them, three men and two women, marching in with calm confidence and undeniable authority. The moment they appeared, the crowd quieted, instinctively stepping back.

Aren stopped moving as well, no longer pressing forward toward the ogre.

But the ogre didn't get the memo.

Letting out a resounding roar that shook the street, it planted its feet and charged straight at Aren, claws raised, killing intent overflowing.

Aren didn't move.

If he acted now, he'd only be dragging himself into deeper trouble.

Before the ogre's claws could even come close to his head,

Swish.

A sharp sound cut through the air.

The next moment, dark red blood sprayed outward.

The ogre's arm was cleanly severed.

For a brief second, it stared at the stump in disbelief. Then a thunderous scream of pain tore from its throat as it collapsed to its knees. Its massive body shrank rapidly, flesh twisting back into human form, the man clutching his bleeding shoulder as blood poured out uncontrollably.

The Black Knight responsible, a woman, calmly sheathed her sword.

She looked down at the screaming man and scoffed. Attacking after being ordered to stand down. Idiotic.

The entire scene left everyone stunned, eyes wide, mouths agape.

One of the male Black Knights stepped forward and grabbed the man by the neck, lifting him with ease.

"You're coming with us," he said coldly.

The man couldn't even struggle.

The leader of the Black Knights turned his gaze toward Aren.

He paused.

Then recognition flickered across his eyes.

He was one of the Black Knights who had escorted them out after the first trial.

Aren recognized him too, even if he didn't know his name.

"Stay out of trouble, kid," the Black Knight said.

With that, they turned and left, dragging the injured man away.

A wave of murmurs erupted from the crowd.

Two people had been fighting, so why was only one taken?

Why was Aren left behind?

Speculation spread instantly.

Did he know the Black Knights? Was he affiliated with them somehow?

Aren felt the gazes boring into his back and clicked his tongue inwardly. He didn't like this kind of attention.

He turned and walked away.

Sadly, it looked like he wouldn't be enjoying his noodles after all.

But before he could take more than a few steps,

A hand pressed down on his shoulder.

Firm. Confident.

Aren stopped.

He turned around.

Standing behind him was a man clad in fancy silver-and-black armor, intricate and clean, with long white hair flowing down his back.

The same man he'd seen on June's phone.

The one and only,

False Shadow.

Aren stared at him, genuine surprise flashing across his face.

"Oh… so that's why there was a crowd."

He had known this False Shadow was in Raven City, gathering people to form a party for a hunt. He just didn't expect to run into him this easily.

Nor did he expect,

The aura.

Aren studied him quietly.

And all he could think was how… unimpressive it felt.

No pressure. No threat. No weight.

Just a shiny shell.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the man in front of him.

So this was the one parading around with his name.

"Hey," Shadow said to him, a calm smile on his face. "I just saw what you did there. You are pretty skillful. How about you come with me and join my party?"

"Whoa, Shadow asked him to join. That's crazy," someone watching said.

"Was he really that impressive? I didn't think so," another said.

"Are you joking? He dealt with that dude like he was nothing. Of course he is that good," someone else said.

The talk exploded around them while Shadow held his hands out toward Aren.

"Hmmm, what to do? Follow this dude around and see what he is about? Fuck no. I don't have the time of day to play detective or whatever. Tsk."

"I'm not interested," Aren said and turned away.

His words immediately stunned everyone. They looked on in shock.

"What? Did he just refuse Shadow?"

"He did. That's crazy, to refuse the strongest new Awakened."

"Damn, he must really think he is all that to refuse the top person."

"Tsk, people have a lot of pride."

Shadow stood there, his eyes widened in shock as he watched Aren walk away, his hands still extended and left hanging there.

"Shadow, let's go. Forget about the dude," a tall, glasses-wearing man from Shadow's party said to him.

Shadow clenched his fist in anger, seething right there, but then he took a deep breath to calm himself. Forcing out a smile, he looked at his party members.

"Yeah, let's go. We have some hunting to carry out," he said, continuing to walk. But the anger over what Aren did didn't leave his heart. It raged inside his chest.

Aren, on the other hand, strutted through the town casually, buying a kebab stick and eating as he walked, headed for the adventurers' guild. He didn't really have anything to do now, so he wanted to take a quest and practice his martial arts during it.

He arrived at the guild and walked in, heading right for the guild board. His eyes scanned the papers for anything with one silver star. They ranged from hunting monsters to gathering materials.

Then he saw one that was open to both two-star and one-star adventurers.

[Bring back the egg of a Black Horned Snake from its nest.

Black Horned Snake nests may contain low-tier to high-tier basic snakes, and possibly low-tier Awakened snakes.

Reward: 1000 silver coins]

He read the contents of the mission and immediately ripped one of the flyers from the board. This was the right one for him, enough enemies to allow him to practice his martial arts property.

He walked ro the counter so that he could get the quest.

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