14] Idiot, Stop

Two men were sitting in a tavern, facing each other. The one with a rough face and a scar on the left cheek, was clad in a brown armor. He looked like a mercenary. And the other one looked like a noble in white robe. The man who looked like a mercenary, was pouring drink for the other one.

"Are your preparations done? " asked the noble looking man in a soft voice.

"Almost done, we are waiting for the shipment to arrive. This batch should give the results." replied the man in armor with courtesy.

"Good! Make sure everything goes perfectly. I need no mistakes. We have invested heavily in this. Remember if anything goes wrong, you will pay with your life."

Informed the noble looking man. At the end of the sentence his voice became cold and he released a pressure that made the armored man shudder.

" Ye..Yes..there will be no mistakes. " Said the armored man.

" I'll visit you soon." Said the noble man as he walked away.

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Daren woke up after 2 days.

'Huh! My body feel more relaxed and energetic. I even feel stronger. What a lovely feeling. This is addictive.. Hehe...'

Daren checked his current condition happily. He was pleased with the improvements.

"I was planning on postponing the breakthrough as I couldn't do it all together, but now I feel like gaining ranks as fast as I can."

Daren said to himself greedily. He finally decided to make further breakthrough.

For the B rank, he need to open 27 vital points. He proceed with it. He felt the same familiar pain throughout his body. But this time it wasn't that painful, or we can say his body's strength and endurance has increased.

But as hours passed by, he discovered that although the pain has reduced the length of the process has increased, draining him mentally and physically.

But nevertheless he still endured it without loosing consciousness. He officially broke through to B rank

Daren took a days rest. And started the process again. This time he needs to open 54 vital points to reach A rank.

Pain further reduced, but the length the process doubled. But he still endured through it and completed the process. And finally stepped in to become an A rank expert.

He again rested for a day. And was ready to begin his next breakthrough.

But this time he was stopped by Cahya.

'Idiot!! Stop!! You cannot make any more successive breakthrough. Or you base will become weak. Give time to your body to adjust with it. And solidify your foundations. If you still continue to break through, your meridians and body could be damaged, affecting you cultivation. '

Cahya said with a pout.

'The little girl's angry face is also quite cute.' Daren can't help but think.

But he decided to take her advice and solidify his foundations. He already feel quite powerful.

He took a bath and walked out of the room. Only to see Arius still waiting.

"My Lord, congratulations on your breakthrough."

Said Arius with a polite bow. He could feel that Daren's power has increased. But he can't pinpoint how much exactly.

Since Daren doesn't have a dantian, no one below an entity of immortal realm, can judge his power.

" You don't need to be so courteous Arius. Tell me about our operations. And also the reason why no one is raiding today. "

Daren replied with a smile. Morgan and Boaz also appear as soon as they sensed him. They greeted him. Daren noticed the change in Morgan's aura.

" Congratulations on becoming an SS rank expert Morgan. Arius they are all catching up to you. Haha. You should breakthrough soon." Daren said with a smile and Arius just nodded.

They all chuckled on Daren's words and then they went into a room to discuss further details.

"Lord, we have control over all of the wasteland. Only 3 bases, situated on the border between the wasteland and the woods are left. And we let them be, because we discovered some suspicious activities and would like to take your advice." Morgan said.

Daren nodded and then asked "Explain the details of the bases one by one. The least complicated one first."

This time it was Boaz who spoke.

"Lord, firstly there is a camp south of this hill. There we found trace of human trafficking and also some traces of experiment. We don't know the details of those experiments. The place is highly guarded all the time. Thus we cannot move close. Also in the time we observed, we noticed that hugh metal boxes filled with humans, irrespective of their age and gender, were delivered there every 7 days."

" Secondly, we found a base in the north-west direction, near the woods, with high powered experts, which normally shouldn't be here. We found trace of 2 S rank experts there. On further inspection we found that, one of the main bandit groups that reside in the wood is using that as its base in wasteland. Attacking them may complicate things thus we did not attack. "

" Thirdly, we found another base in the north-east direction, near the mountain range. It has few people, very low activity. No matter how you look at it, it does not look like a high grade base. Their power is also low. But we ranked it most important , because we found traces of their connection with the Holy kingdom of light. On further investigation we found their activities, suspicious. We concluded that they are either terrorists or spies send by the Holy Kingdom of Light. "

Daren listen to all 3 cases. He has a grave expression on his face.

'Why would they be here? They don't have power to attack.. So what do they plan?'

Daren was analysing the cause and effects, but he doesn't seem to get any answer.

'Guess we have to capture them and ask.'

"I need to think about a strategy. We will discuss it again tomorrow. For now tell me about our force." asked Daren.

"Lord, from the time we started our campaign previous year, till now, we have gathered a total of 2000 experts. And around 3000 were killed in the process." said Arius.

"As for those 2000, only around 600 of them can be said trainable. 500 can be said to be trustworthy, but with low potential. And rest 900 are with or without potential but their behavior isn't trustworthy." replied Boaz.

"Those 600 capable men are all in B rank."

"Of those 500 men, 100 are C Rank, 100 are A rank, and 300 are B rank."

"And of the rest 900 men, 150 are A rank, 500 are B rank and 250 are C rank."

Daren nodded. "That's better than what we expected to gain. Arius train those 500, make them capable and trustworthy warriors. Train them such that they choose death before betraying us. Also don't let them join the next raid. Give them a routine to follow, push them to their limits. Only then will their potential boom."

" Yes Lord. "Arius replied.