Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Kairen looked away from the white-haired master and rolled his eyes. He wanted to say that he didn’t know what that bastard was talking about, but seeing the man’s gaze on him, as well as his creepy smile, he thought that might not be the brightest idea. Plus, he still didn’t want to start fighting with that man.

“So they are truly not made out of Atypical matter...”

Kairen nodded his head.

“Just as I thought! Indeed, the atypical matter created in a lab can’t be controlled so easily to be used in so many weapons. It must also be too weak to be used in these weapons...”

He didn’t know what he was saying anymore but he nodded his head and sank his gaze down as if he was in deep thought.

“That’s right!”

The master nodded his head.

“It seems you know quite a bit about the essence of power, but not the whole story!”

.....

Kairen raised his head once again.

“I’ll tell you everything if you join me!”

“...”

‘Dude your whole organization is under attack why would I join you?’

Kairen didn’t say that either. He stared at the man in silence, who was also staring at him in silence.

‘What am I supposed to say?’

Kairen was waiting for the man to talk, but it seemed the other person was also waiting for his answer.

“Uh... Um... Ummmm”

‘How much are there left?’

Weren’t they done with moving the weapons? Kairen knew that they weren’t. There were so many weapons there that it was impossible to transmit them all in just a few minutes.

‘Can’t they move them faster?’

Kairen wanted to cry. He cursed the master internally again and opened his mouth.

“Um... How much is the salary?”

“....”

“....”

The silent surroundings suddenly felt... even more silent. The master raised an eyebrow and his eyes widened slightly as if he was surprised by Kairen’s answer, and Aaron snapped his head towards Kairen with a dropped jaw. Sweating under the intense gaze of the others, Kairen awkwardly stuttered.

“T-That’s... That’s the first thing you m-must know before switching jobs!”

Of course, he had no intention of switching jobs, but he at least had to act-

“How much was your salary?”

Instead of answering, the master pointed at Aaron and asked him a question. Aaron, who looked as if he was barely holding himself back from beating his previous boss, blinked when he suddenly asked him about his salary. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if hesitant, before muttering.

“About... Four times what I get at SMF-”

“WHAT?”

Kairen almost screamed.

“F-four times? Seriously?”

He grabbed his brother’s arm and shook him, no, he tried to shake him but his force wasn’t enough... Anyway.

“You stopped working where they paid you so much money to come here? Wait, but aren’t you actually poor? What did you do with all that money!?”

“....”

“Where did you spend them?”

Even the dumbfounded stares of his team members weren’t important for Kairen at the moment.

“I... Didn’t take the money.”

“WHAT?”

“I didn’t have a bank account-”

“WHAT THE HELL!”

“I also didn’t like to receive money for stealing some-”

“IDIOT!”

Kairen shook his brother with all his might.

“WHO WOULDN’T RECEIVE THAT MUCH MONEY?”

“....”

“WE COULD’VE BEEN RICH NOW!”

“....”

“Then, are you joining me?”

Kairen turned to the master.

“Four times the amount I get here?”

“Ren!?”

“I can make it more!”

“Oooh!”

“Ren? What the hell?”

This time, Aaron grabbed Kairen and shook him.

“What are you thinking about? You can’t work for him!”

“But more than four-”

“REN!”

“....”

To say that Kairen wasn’t tempted would be a lie, and to say that he didn’t feel sad about all the money his brother has wasted would be an even greater lie. He knew that he shouldn’t even think about working for Philomns, but the amount of money he would gain... The amount of money he would gain~~~

“Don’t even think about it! No! Are you listening to me?”

“....”

Kairen looked up at his brother, then at the master of Philomns.

“My brother says no.”

“....”

He shook his head.

“So no.”

“....”

The white-haired man, as well as all the other people present on the first floor, looked between Aaron and Kairen. The master stared at them for a while before slightly frowning his brows.

‘Oh, no!’

Kairen suddenly reminded something.

‘I was trying to delay the fight...’

But it didn’t seem like he could do that any longer.

Tap

The master, who had been leaning on the door the whole time, straightened his posture before taking a step forward.

“Then...”

ZZZZZ

Something sizzled in the air.

“There is no point in continuing this conversation...”

.....

ZZZZZZZZ

Faint red cracks... electric currents, appeared in the air.

“Huh? No there is still a point in talking!”

The man didn’t even turn to look at Kairen. Instead, his gaze was glued to Aaron.

“First, you, for betraying me.”

“Uh?”

ZAAAAAAAAPPPPP

As soon as those words left the man’s lips, a strong electric force was shut towards Aaron.

BAAAANGGGG

The marble on the floor shattered and rose to the air. The large and small stones moved at a fast speed and joined the soil that was in fact, Aaron’s spear, to all create a wall in front of Aaron. All that thing happened in less than a second. The stone wall and the electric current collided, creating a loud voice as well as a strong shockwave that pushed away the people standing near Aaron.

“Cough cough!”

Kairen, had was behind held by Aaron’s arm, coughed due to dust entering his nose, and cracked his closed eyes open. As soon as he did that, he saw the face of the Philomns master once again, but this time closer than where he was standing just seconds ago.

“You’d also lied to me about your power.”

He was staring at the marbles, that had turned to dust after the collied but had protected their master nonetheless. He stared at them before smiling.

“I would’ve given you 6 times the money SMF gives you if you had told me about your power.”

“....”

“Tsk!”

He clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Then, the next for lying to me.”

ZAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP

Another red electric current took form and headed towards Aaron, who hurriedly created his spear out of the soil and blocked the attack with one hand.

“Ack-”

But he couldn’t block the whole thing and that resulted in his arm getting burnt-like marks all over. He glared at the master with gritted teeth once the thunderbolt finally faded, and took several steps back while dragging Kairen with himself.

‘Should I use my power?’

Kairen was scared of fighting with his power in this place. He worried that he might accidentally cause something dangerous again, but he also didn’t want to sit back and watch his brother fight.

‘He is strong...’

The master was weaker than the holy saint. His electric current-like cracks didn’t have the destructive power that the holy saint had, and his attacks weren’t that powerful either. Aaron could block two of his attacks, but he couldn’t do that against the holy saint, which proved that this master was weaker than the other white-haired crazed man they’d seen.

“Ho!”

The master gasped before waving his hand once again. This time, his target was not Aaron, but the other unit members who were standing on the first floor, which were Reyan, Serria, and Alan. He sent a thunderbolt towards each one of them.

“Gah!”

Alan barely dodged the attack, while Reyan blocked it with his sword aura that was close to reaching the swordmaster level.

“Gah!”

BANG

While Serria was sent flying to a wall.

“Wait!”

Aaron had moved back several steps while also dragging Kairen with him. They were almost at the center of the floor, near the edge of it, besides the railings that prevented you from falling down to the lower floor. From where they were, Kairen could clearly see the lower floor that included the weapons.

‘They are...’

He could also see hit unit members slowly backing away from the weapons, the weapons that had started shaking and glowing all of a sudden.

‘The power inside them is moving...’

He could feel it clearly. He first thought that he is imagining things because of how similar the Master’s power was to that of the weapons but... he wasn’t.

“You are activating the weapons!”

Kairen shouted at the white-haired man who was about to send another thunderbolt toward Aaron. The man stopped his answer after hearing Kairen’s furious shout.

‘They don’t react to only my power!’

They had activated after this bastard started attacking them. He had activated the bombs!

“Yeah? So?”

The man smiled at him and titled his head before the corners of his lips rose up to a smile. A not-really-gentle smile.

“Don’t tell me you’ve come here without expecting to face any dangers...”

He activated the weapons on purpose.