Shadows Plan?

After the successful escape from the threat the crew made their way back to the residence, taking a sigh of relief, they had to immediately contact the master to verify Theo and to discuss matters regarding the Leader. Without wasting any moment they made their way to the master's house receiving peculiar looks from the people in the market.

After a brief run, they arrived at the doorstep and rang the bell while bowing down as a sign of respect, except for Theo. Master's servant opened the door and directed them to his room, through the same hall Alan had passed when he was rescued by Barry.

The squad greeted the master and immediately sat down at a certain distance with their heads facing down. The others had left Barry to do the talking while they sat in silence.

"Master I have come to report my journey; Firstly as for your first command we have recruited a formidable student to serve the residence and I will look after his needs, Secondly we were confronted by the Leader of Shadows himself twice and we barely escaped due to Theo's efforts, Thirdly we have come to know that all the clans under the shadows have been disbanded as per the info of other captains". Said, Barry.

"Hmm, He aims for the same power that the woman wanted that day when she took Hazel, He can't trust anyone now and wants to attain it himself.", stated the master.

"What is this power? on and on we have been told that our enemies are after this power but what exactly is it?", asked Barry.

The trio was shaken to see Barry in such an annoyed state and in front of the master but they didn't dare to interfere in the conversation.

"Well Barry it's time you know, but please escort the new member out." said the master. Not that the master didn't trust Barry's choice of student, it was a sensitive matter and only close people were to acknowledge it.

With a gesture, Barry politely asked Theo to exit, which he did without any resistance realizing that he couldn't retaliate under such a powerful presence.

"It is known as Dark Power, a unique ability accessible only to members of the Shadow Clan. While we lose our strength at night, they face the same limitations during the day. However, this Dark Power allows them to harness the full potential of their shadow abilities regardless of the time. I suspect their leader intends to exploit our weakness to seize control of our residence. Unfortunately, my understanding of the requirements to acquire this power is limited. What we do know is that it involves Hazel's magical power and some element connected to Alan..", explained the Master.

"During our encounter with him, he mentioned me releasing all my cursed techniques as a part of his goal, so I guess that's a part as well.", said Barry.

"That would be logical as its consequences are meant to be for the use of evil", said the Master

"Does our clan possess some kind of divine power that cancels out our weaknesses?", Asked Barry.

"My son, a path of no difficulty, no errors, provides no room for improvement and makes one arrogant in his strength, we do not possess such power but even if we did, I would have restricted its use till I lived.", replied the Master.

Barry acknowledged his words with great respect and stood up to leave his house while signaling others to do so as well. All three walked out of the master room towards the silent halls only to notice that Theo was missing. In a state of panic, all three rushed outside and spread out in search of him. It was not long before he was found in the market when Barry held him by his shirt like a cat as he chewed on some fried shrimp while meeting with the others. All three looked at him with annoyed looks as he kept snacking on his meal.

"Just let him be Barry, he and Shelby can wait in the market while we get our payment hows that sound?", stated Alan. The trio seemed to agree and Barry and Alan went to the redemption centre.

On their way, Alan had the idea to check his system notifications after a long time as he had been in many fights and had been completing his daily tasks every day, so he had great expectations for the rewards.

[Open System Notifications]

[User has defeated a lvl 5 enemy]

[Rewards: 4 attribute points, One random skill, +500 exp points]

[Skill: Wind Mines]

A skill that allows users to place mines attributed with the wind style, The mines places are invisible and cost low mana making them hard to detect enemies with low perception. Upon triggering a mine it will release razor-sharp winds at the enemy while creating a smoke as well.

"Well that will come in Handy", thought Alan.

[Daily task rewards: 12 attribute points, +500 exp points]

[User has leveled up!]

[Rewards: New fight style unlocked!]

[Kurokaze: This word combines "kuro" meaning "black" and "kaze" meaning "wind." Together, "Kurokaze" could be interpreted as "Black Wind," evoking imagery of a swift and formidable fighting style that strikes with stealth and precision, enhancing the user's current wind ability]

"Woooooah", thought Alan as he reached the redemption center and quickly transacted his credits into his card.

[3000 credits have been deposited into your account]

"Time for some shopping", said Alan.

The squad regrouped at the market as they parted ways to select items to their liking without passing judgment on each other. In Alan's case, he was in search of a nice skill book from the same salesman who gifted him the skill Ephemeral Voyage and soon enough he found him at the center of the market.

"Recognize me?", said Alan.

"Of course I do young man, how can I help you today", replied the salesman.

"I'm in search of a skill that allows me to trick/stun my enemy so that I can either escape or take on more than one enemy.", said Alan.

"Uhm let me have a look..... what is your ability type?.", asked the salesman.

"Wind Ability", replied Alan.

"Ah, perfect I have just the thing that matches your description.", said the salesman.

[Wind Mirage]

"Wind Mirage" is a versatile skill designed to create deceptive illusions and momentarily stun enemies, providing the user with a strategic advantage to escape or engage multiple opponents simultaneously. It creates an exact duplicate and undetectable copy of the user equipped with the same skills as the original, Upon activating the ability the mirage can be used as a duo to fight together or can be sent to fight alone. If the mirage is killed it will release a burst of wind enveloping its opponent for 5 seconds, giving the original time to take the enemy out]

[Number of mirage depend on user level]

[Level 4 ( current level: 1 Wind Mirage]

"Well that was accurate.", said Alan.