"So, if we have those rankings, why do we have toki stages?" Silas asked.

"..."

"..."

"Stop gawking at me and answer my damn question!" Silas shouted with a hint of anger in his voice.

"What toki stage are you in?" Archie asked instead of answering Silas' question.

"Uhmmm. I don't know? First?"

"..."

"..."

"I swear to everything I hold dear-"

"Since clearly no one taught you about this, let me explain. Toki stages are different from the metal rankings. For example. In your case, you can be in the first stage of toki yet somehow have the prowess of a gold rank. Get it?"

"I think? Why don't they just use the mana core rankings?" Silas asked. It seemed a little illogical to not use the mana core rankings. Using the metal rankings just seemed like too much work, but maybe there was more to it?

"Because the metal rankings are based on a lot of things. Toki control, pure strength without the use of toki, pure strength while using it..." Archie paused for a moment and looked right into Silas' eyes. For some reason, it felt like in front of Archie's eyes, he couldn't hide anything. As if everything was on display, from his mana core to his mana-rich body.

Of course, that wasn't the case, but that's what it felt like.

Silas couldn't tell the full range of Archie's emotions. He had a mask that covered the outline of his eyes. Even though Silas could see Archie's eyes themselves, it was a little hard to understand what someone was thinking when they always wore a mask.

It's the little things that tell you how someone is feeling, even if they try to suppress that feeling from reaching their eyes and facial expression.

"Anyway, you don't have to take the test since you're a mage too. That's why I didn't ask you to take it the first time you came here." Archie explained while Silas nodded.

The conversation went on for a bit longer as they continued to talk about the assassins.

Eventually, Archie said that he would investigate the matter, and from their conversation alone, Silas had already understood that Archie was not the one who sent them... Or he was a really good actor.

They eventually decided to call it a day... He still had a few things to do before going to bed for the day, and one of them was to go to the mercenary hall and have a little chat with a certain someone

"Alright. Thanks. I'll see you later." Silas smiled and waved to both of them before heading toward the door.

After leaving Archie's office, Silas began to think of how he was going to approach the situation.

Greed most likely knew that the thing she had placed at the back of his neck was gone. There were a few likely scenarios. Either she would place it back on his neck, or she would try to kill him, though he doubted that would be the case.

'If Archie wasn't the one who sent the assassins, there are only a few more people I can imagine who would have done so.

Life doesn't seem the type, but she can always be hiding something. It wasn't Death, that is something I'm sure of...

I doubt it would be Eclipse, though I don't know much about him to understand why he would send assassins to attack me.

Though, from how Jessica recollected the event, that man from the assassin's guild seemed to have mentioned a female who might be behind the assassins. The assassins were clearly hired with the goal of testing Silas.

No one in their right mind would hire so many of the same level to kill someone like him. They'd probably just hire one or two high-level assassins since that would be much cheaper.

Arlos wasn't part of the plan. That much was obvious. Everything leads toward Greed being the main suspect, but why? For all she knew, she had full control over me and everything I do... I don't understand... Ugh, this is giving me a headache.' Silas rubbed the bridge of his nose before a realization hit him.

He had been thinking of all the suspects as stable people... What if that wasn't the case? And Greed, from what he had seen, was the least stable of them all. Everything from the way she held herself, to the way she spoke.

Silas knew an unstable person when he saw one, and she was definitely far from stable.

*Creak*

Opening the doors to the mercenary hall, Silas stepped inside, yet the moment he did so, everyone's eyes suddenly landed on him. They were looking at him as if he was some kind of alien. He didn't get it, but he didn't really need to.The debut release happened at N0v3lBiin.

'Did they all hear about my team dying on the mission?' Silas thought while walking past all of them, however, he was stopped a few steps before he could reach Greed's office.

"What?" Silas asked the man who had blocked his way."

"..."

"What?!" Silas was beginning to get annoyed. He was wondering whether or not he would need to fight the people of the mercenary hall again, but when the next words hit him, he quickly realized that it wouldn't be necessary.

"Uhm... Do you want to join our team? We were thinking of going into the forest and hunting down a monster that has been sighted nearby." The man asked with a polite and gentle tone.

"What..." Silas repeated for the third time.

"They happened to hear about you fighting more than 20 assassins on your own, surviving against an eldritch terror, and getting away without a scratch on your body." Greed's voice suddenly entered Silas' ears, yet while all the men seem to gawk the moment they saw her, Silas couldn't help but shudder.

He could also feel a sense of pure disgust traveling down his spine, but for now, that didn't matter.

"Can I get my money?" Silas asked while turning toward Greed.

She was wearing a gold and blue skirt that reached down to her knees and defined her hourglass figure. Her arms were completely exposed from the shoulder to the tips of her fingers.

Her eyes shone with a certain golden radiance, something Silas found odd since the light element wasn't her affinity.

"Sure, but you're only getting half." She took out a sack of coins and tried to give it to Silas, yet he only snorted.

"I almost died on multiple occasions."

"And from what Jessica told me, you also accidently destroyed the sack of poison you were sent to retrieve for me." Greed retorted.

"The sack of poison attached to a goddamn snake with a pristine amethyst core, something you didn't tell us." Silas pointed his finger at Greed, and at his words, everyone around them began to whisper.

"The intel being wrong was not on me." She retorted, her eyes narrowing while a certain pressure began to exude out of her body.

"Oh really?" Silas asked with a tilt of his head before a smile blossomed on his face.

"You're right. I apologize for accusing you like that. That's on me." Silas chuckled and took the sack of coins.

He could feel that there were only about 4-5 coins inside, but it was tradition to give coins in such a manner since it usually stopped robbers from robbing since they wouldn't know how much money was in the sack.

Greed simply raised a brow at the sudden change in behavior, yet she didn't give it much thought and simply smiled back at Silas.

"I'm glad you agree." She waved to Silas as he left the mercenary hall, ignoring all the people trying to recruit him.

The moment he left the mercenary hall, he let his expression finally fall, yet he didn't let out the anger he was currently suppressing.

He couldn't ruin his plan now. He already has so many gears in place, doing anything radical would destroy the edge he gained on Greed.

She was intelligent, strong, politically powerful, and worst of all, unpredictable. However, even though his plan had gone awry the first time, he always had a second and third plan in place, just in case.

In his eyes, her fate was already sealed the moment he saw her as a threat to him... And as an enemy.

He wasn't going to take any chances when it came to her, yet there was something more important he had to do... Or something he was more scared of that he had to fix before going through with these plans.

Silas wasn't scared of any of the. Hell, even though Archie seemed so much stronger than him the first time they met, Silas wasn't scared of him.

What scared him wasn't a person or a being.

What truly sent shivers of terror down his spine was none other than himself, and he had to make sure that side of him never comes out again.

Because that side of him wasn't an alternate personality, nor was it some kind of possession or being that lived in his mind.

No... It was him. It was just him.