Gideon Shaw was a Blood Warrior, but he was only at the Initial Stage of Rank 1 Blood Warrior, and now he was 60 years old and had remained at this level for many years. He was the servant arranged for Connor by Connor's father, and he had been doing things for him ever since.
"Young Master, I have already investigated clearly, that Ryan is from an ordinary merchant family. The Ashford family has some money, but they are not a powerful Blood Warrior family, and Ryan himself used to be an ordinary student at Aegis Martial Academy." Gideon reported truthfully.
"If it weren't for my retreat to break through to Rank 1, how could he have lived peacefully for 1 month? Hmph, find someone and kill him!" Connor said with murderous intent.
Gideon's face changed. "Young Master, killing people in Greyhaven, if someone finds out, even with the power of our Blake family, I'm afraid it will be very troublesome!"
"If they find out, I'm really in trouble, but what if they can't find out?" Connor sneered.
"Can't find out?" Gideon suddenly thought of someone. "Young Master, do you want to ask Shadow to make a move? But the price of asking Shadow to make a move is not cheap, at least 1,700,000 denari!"
In Gideon's opinion, spending 1,700,000 denari to kill a Blood Warrior Apprentice was really not worth it. Moreover, Connor had only just been promoted to Rank 1 Blood Warrior, so the family funds he could personally mobilize were not unlimited, and 1,700,000 denari was already a considerable amount to him.
"That kid's talent should be good, he reached the Upper Stage of Blood Warrior Apprentice at such a young age, and during the trial he was already close to the Peak Stage. His talent should be at least Primary, though it should not be Medium, but even so, with the assistance of the Intermediate Beast Blood, he may be able to be promoted to Rank 1 in a few months." Connor's expression remained cold. "The price of killing a Blood Warrior Apprentice is not the same as killing a Rank 1 Blood Warrior, I want to strangle him before he grows up, do you understand? 1,700,000 denari is indeed a lot of money for me now, but in another 1 or 2 years, what is 1,700,000 denari?"
"Young Master, I understand, I'll go contact Shadow!" Gideon said, and after saying that, he retreated.
In the room, Connor muttered to himself, "Although Shadow only has Inferior Cultivation Talent and can't progress beyond the Initial Stage of Rank 1 Blood Warrior, he is an extremely rare multi-talent Blood Warrior, he has a Shadow Talent and can hide in the shadows, even a much stronger Blood Warrior would find it difficult to detect his existence."
Shadow's real name was Silas Vane. His raw cultivation wasn't particularly impressive, but his Shadow Talent made him an extremely terrifying assassin among Rank 1 Blood Warriors.
"Even I may not be able to avoid a deadly assassination from Shadow, if I let him assassinate Ryan, Ryan will surely die!"
Immediately, Connor put this matter aside for the time being and began to cultivate as a Rank 1 Blood Warrior.
...
With his Advanced Cultivation Talent and beast blood, what Ryan lacked most now was time, and given enough time, he could fully mature and keep advancing.
As for the martial genius he had been so eager to learn about, he had also received an answer, but the answer was somewhat unexpected, the strongest young martial genius Elias knew of was not at Aegis Martial Academy.
According to Elias, another martial academy in Greyhaven, Third Martial Academy, had produced an extremely talented glaive prodigy whose skill level was comparable to that of the instructors.
Upon hearing this news, Ryan was almost bursting with excitement. Without a doubt, the glaive prodigy of Third Martial Academy possessed terrifying talent, and if Ryan could copy a useful talent from him, combined with his existing Advanced Cultivation Talent, that would be truly extraordinary.
"But how can I get a chance to make contact with that guy?" Thinking about this, Ryan was troubled.
If the other party were a student of Aegis Martial Academy, he might be able to arrange a "chance encounter" and secretly obtain the talent, but the other party was a student of Third Martial Academy, and he couldn't possibly run into someone at Third Martial Academy by chance, could he?
A few days later, 2 teenagers arrived at Third Martial Academy, and these 2 were Ryan and Elias.
When he learned that Ryan wanted to "exchange techniques" with the glaive prodigy of Third Martial Academy, Elias immediately patted his chest and assured him that he would take care of everything. He wasn't surprised that Ryan wanted to exchange techniques with such a prodigy, on the contrary, he found it understandable, after all, his own saber technique had improved significantly compared to before, which was due to his frequent sparring with Ryan. There was no doubt that exchanges between weapon users could improve one's technique, and the higher the opponent's skill, the greater the benefit one would gain.
"Cousin Elias." Outside the gates of Third Martial Academy, a girl dressed in white leather armor walked out of the academy.
The girl had flaxen hair, a slender and graceful figure, and a delicate face bearing some resemblance to Elias.
"Claire." Seeing the girl approach, Elias showed a doting smile. "Let me introduce you, this is my friend Ryan. Ryan, this is my cousin, Claire Mercer."
"Hello." Upon hearing Elias's introduction, Ryan politely nodded to the young woman.
Claire looked at Ryan with great curiosity, because this was the first time her cousin Elias had brought a friend to meet her, and from his introduction, she could tell that the relationship between the boy in front of her and her cousin was unusual.
"Claire, I heard you know that glaive prodigy, Lucas Arden?" After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Elias got straight to the point.
"Yes, we know each other, why?" Claire looked at Elias with a puzzled expression.
"Could you introduce me?"
"That's possible, but why do you want to see him?"
"I've heard that his glaive technique is exceptional, so I'd like to see it for myself."
Half an hour later, a secluded training ground at Third Martial Academy.
4 people appeared here. Ryan and Elias wore the dark training clothes of Aegis Martial Academy, while the other 2 wore the white training attire of Third Martial Academy, 1 of them was Claire, and the other was a boy with a well-proportioned figure and naturally blond hair, and this boy was Lucas Arden.
Lucas had been summoned by Claire, and although he tried his best to hide it, he couldn't hide his surprise, but when he saw Ryan and Elias, his expression immediately became wary, and his gaze toward the 2 even carried a hint of hostility.
Ryan carefully examined the young man before him, and once Lucas came within 3 meters, he quietly used his ability to inspect his talents.
Human: Lucas Arden
Cultivation Talent: Medium
Martial Art Talent: Advanced
Ryan was slightly stunned. Advanced Martial Art Talent, it immediately caught his attention, and without a doubt, it was extremely valuable to him.
Seeing the slight hostility on Lucas's face, Ryan smiled slightly, realizing he had been misunderstood, and sure enough, the hostility on Lucas's face disappeared immediately after Claire introduced Ryan and Elias.
"You want to have a match with me?" Lucas looked at Ryan, and when the topic of the contest came up, he exuded a powerful confidence.
His Medium Cultivation Talent, coupled with his exceptional glaive technique, made him extremely strong in combat. Among his classmates at Third Martial Academy, he wasn't the strongest in terms of raw strength, but he was the strongest in terms of combat power, and in fact, many people in the higher grades, whose physical abilities were clearly much better than his, had been defeated by him. So even though he knew his opponent came from Aegis Martial Academy, he showed no fear whatsoever, on the contrary, he was filled with fighting spirit.
"Well, I've recently hit a bottleneck in my saber technique, and I've heard that your glaive technique is very strong, so I'd like to exchange ideas with you." Ryan nodded.
"Alright, I've long wanted to experience the saber technique of Aegis Martial Academy." Lucas glanced almost imperceptibly at Claire beside him, and then spoke.
For him, being able to fight against a student from Aegis Martial Academy was also a way to broaden himself, and although Third Martial Academy practiced the glaive while Aegis practiced the saber, there were still similarities between the 2 weapons.
This place was originally a training ground, so after Elias and Claire stepped back more than 10 steps, the 2 began to fight.
Clang!
Lucas raised his glaive, his movements fluid and graceful, almost like a performance, a sight to behold, and just from the act of readying his weapon, Ryan's eyes lit up, because from this single gesture, he could tell that Lucas's technique was extraordinary.
"Watch out!" Lucas, holding the glaive, became extremely confident and focused, and with a low roar, he thrust his glaive forward like a silver beam toward Ryan.
Clang!
Ryan raised his saber, his gaze toward Lucas equally filled with fighting spirit. Although his main purpose in coming here was to copy the other party's talent, how could he not be willing to fight against someone with such exceptional technique? Undoubtedly, fighting against Lucas would greatly benefit the improvement of his own saber technique.
Whoosh!
Ryan swung his saber diagonally downward, aiming at the glaive thrusting toward him.
Clang!
The 2 weapons collided, and in the next instant, a look of astonishment flashed across Ryan's face. The moment the 2 weapons clashed, Lucas's glaive slid away from Ryan's saber and then, at a slightly tilted angle, thrust toward him with undiminished momentum.