Killer's Intent

《 Chapter 8 》

Skill cores could be obtained in two ways: you were either born with it or you could choose to kill a Skill user and forcefully take their Skill as your own.

The only problem with the latter option was that everyone could only have one Skill. If you wanted to have a different Skill, you would have to replace your original Skill with the Skill of the person you killed. Although it could be beneficial to a select number of people, most opted to sell the Skill cores to either the Sun Organization or on the black market.

As to why Kieran was so shocked to find a piece of a Skill core, the answer was simple: once a Skill core was broken, it could not be put back together.

So why did Daemon make him risk his life to get a useless Skill core? It made no sense.

Unless... there was something that he wasn't aware of.

But it wasn't like other people had never tried to restore Skill cores before. On the contrary, there had been numerous experiments trying to fix broken Skill cores, but all of them had resulted in failure.

So what could he be missing?

Somehow, he had a feeling that Daemon would be able to answer all of his questions.

But he highly doubted that the man would give him the answers so easily.

Raising his head, he was able to see a shadowy figure heading towards him. He dropped the Skill core into Daemon's outstretched hand and received the bronze key in return.

"It was about time," Daemon drawled, "I was feeling awfully bored, waiting for you."

Kieran furrowed his eyebrows. "But I've only been gone for a while?"

"The perception of time is different inside the mist." Something about his voice roused a slight suspicion in Kieran.

Their gazes met, and that suspicion only intensified.

"You knew what was going to happen, didn't you?" he accused. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Consider it a test. You did better than I expected."

Seriously? A test? Forget about professional strategist, this guy would have a better career as that one professor everyone hated in class.

"Well, thanks, you bastard. What happened to us working together?"

"I wanted to confirm your capabilities," Daemon replied. "And now that I have, it's time for us to leave this place. We won't find my other item here."

Kieran pushed down his annoyance. "Lead the way."

"The process is simple, really." Unsheathing his broadsword, Daemon looked at Kieran questioningly. "Is there any specific location you would like to go to?"

"I have somewhere in mind."

"Then we shall depart." With that, Daemon gave a wave of his sword. The black metal seemed to slash through the air, giving off a rippling effect. Black mist swirled to the tip of his sword and a rift formed in its wake, long enough for a person to step through.

Kieran couldn't help but gape at the scene.

Did he... just create a fucking portal?

"What?" Daemon cocked his head to the side. "Are you scared? If you are, I will be kind enough to allow you to hold my hand."

As if.

Pushing the man aside, Kieran stepped through the the portal and was immediately greeted with a wave of nausea. His body seemed to be warping in unnatural ways as the world began to spin in every direction, stripping him of his senses. But despite all that, he persevered, gritting his teeth as he forced his feet to move, stumbling with every step.