"That's four…" Inside a covered wagon moving slowly through the streets of Windgrave, Enzo used a long silver sword with coiled sides to add and cross a table of counting.

Sword Cleaver had proposed they pay him for his services by completing four missions with him, but in truth, all those missions were just one big mission divided into four sections.

They all revolved around stealing star essence from Astoria, transporting it to a nearby trade city without being killed, and successfully handing it over to a group of off-world pirates.

What pirates needed star essence for, he didn't quite know, but this marked the end of their half of the bargain, which was evident with his Sword Cleaver sat counting a bag full of gems.

These things on the market would bring an estimated 700 years of lifespan. It was a lot of money—enough to set a normal family for several generations on Earth.

"Hm?" While in his thoughts, Enzo suddenly noticed a cloaked individual with two silver daggers floating in front of her as she led two others to the front door of Sword Cleaver's tavern.

Raven.

The moment she caught sight of him, her gaze seemed to melt as she casually waved at him. She was like this sometimes, cute despite holding two men at knife point.

"How was it?" As they came to a stop in front of the tavern, Enzo asked, a smile creeping on his face.

While he and Zeke went to the drop point, Raven and Yankai had been sent on a completely different mission aimed at their final goal.

"Quite easy. These guys are relatively weak," Raven replied.

Most of the people in the thieves' guild were either ordinary weavers or normal humans who moved to planet Yari. They were no match for star weavers.

"Cough, cough." Yankai, who was beside her, coughed, grabbing the two thieves' guild members and dragging them inside.

Easy? She should speak for herself—he had nearly lost his life on that raid.

'I don't know how they convinced me to go along with this…'

Yankai said to himself, feeling a cloud of doubt in his mind. Seeing these guys in action was, without a doubt, a very scary thing to witness. It made him feel like he was biting off more than he could chew.

"You guys, stop loitering at my door. The city guards here don't take bribes like Astoria," Sword Cleaver spoke, walking forward with a rather joyous spring to his step. Clearly, he was beyond happy about his haul from the illegal sales.

Later, after setting up a few things, Enzo and the rest left Windgrave and weaved back to Earth to get the over three hundred years of lifespan they had saved in the past month.

Unfortunately, when they got to the institute, the sight that they were met with was not anything to write home about.

"Who did this to you guys?" Enzo stood hovering over Zhou and Mira, staring at the bruises all over their bodies with a feeling of utter hate.

Someone had brutalized Zhou and Mira. Mira was blind—that made it all the worse! What kind of animals would do such a thing?

"Snowfall," Zhou responded with one word, sitting on the chair in the common area, his gaze drifting to a bunch of people in the far corner.

Three people in that group were very familiar. One was his roommate, the other was one of the girls who had tried to recruit him, and last but not least was the short, bulky kid that had antagonized him on the entrance day.

Apparently, during one of the missions Zhou and Mira had taken, they had crossed paths with people from the House of Snowfall. Despite already getting the first Titan-class bomber, they were still going on small missions to buy a second one.

At that time, they couldn't help but applaud the tenacity of Snowfall's members. It wasn't until they cornered them in an alleyway on a distant planetary settlement that the admiration turned to dust.

They not only beat them to a pulp, they stole most of the treasures that they hadn't converted to time. Now they were short and beaten.

"Okay," Enzo replied softly but firmly, sitting on the chair opposite them. He didn't say a word, taking the position of a calm, cool person.

But deep in his eyes, only a few could see the raging fire that was about to burst. Luckily, there was an avenue to release that anger very soon.

"And that concludes our class on the four principles of battle…"

Thirty to forty minutes later, in a training room, Master Seth clasped his hands in front of him, concluding his lectures. He was a firm believer that philosophy and fighting went hand in hand—teaching these principles was a joy to him.

The students, however, found this part of the lesson rather boring; these were basic things, after all.

"Master Seth, these training methods have truly been enlightening. I wonder if I can share what I've learned from these lectures in a proper duel?" Suddenly, a sharp and straightforward voice pierced through the crowd and into Master Seth's ear, causing him to twitch in annoyance.

'Who was this meathead whose mind went straight to battle after receiving his philosophical lectures? Did his words not pass through their thick skulls?'

As his gaze panned and fell on the one who had just spoken, a sudden weakness overtook him, causing him to respond with one odd but straightforward response.

"Oh? Yes." Master Seth had no idea when his lips broke into a firm grin of intrigue and anticipation.

Most of the students here didn't know who was who, but the teacher knew—and they knew which among them much was expected from.

It had been a month; a proper test of strength was in order.

"Come out and introduce yourself," Master Seth called out to the young man, making him emerge from the crowd and into a fighting circle right in front of him.

"My name is Enzo Malvaran, and I'm here to instill my understanding of the four battle principles on you all."

Enzo spoke with a firm gaze lingering through the crowd and landing on a group of individuals in the corner with white hair.

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