The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Then Isaac shook his head and brushed aside his daydreams of hurtling through the sky on a flying sword. He was getting too far ahead of himself: right now he was still a young cultivator in middle stage with mediocre talent; there was a long way to go before he reached that level. More importantly, there was a lot of work to do before he reached that level and he couldn't lose sight of the smaller, less glamourous things he would have to do to get there.

For example, practice – lots of it. The Spirit Sword Anima was just like a normal sword with some small differences, so Isaac hadn't encountered any problems wielding it. However, most Anima required extensive practice to use properly.

For example, Johan's Ice Fragment Anima was easy to use but hard to master; it would take several years of aiming practice to do so. In fact, Johan could only use it somewhat well because he'd trained with other ranged weapons before.

On the other hand, Isaac had never experienced anything like the Snowshoe Anima. Using it would be an entirely new experience and it would take him a while to get used to, let alone become proficient with.

That meant he had to be dedicated and spend a lot of time practicing with it, but time was something he didn't have right now. He needed to organise the creation of his team. In fact, he needed to speak to Sanna's group tomorrow and see which potential candidates they'd discovered.

He also needed to do some physical training to get his body back to a peak state after barely moving during 2 weeks of seclusion. And after that, his locker expired in 11 days so he would have to collect the 2 reward points he kept in it. He didn't dare keep them since they'd likely be stolen, so he would need to exchange them for more pills and spend another 2 days cultivating them. All in all, he had a lot of things to do and not much time. If you wanted to look even further into the future, there was also the newcomers' tournament in less than 2 months and it would be best to prepare in advance.

Since Isaac lacked time to practice with his Snowshoe Anima, he would have to create some. Learning to use the Snowshoe Anima would exponentially increase his combat strength, evasion skills and ability to escape from danger, so it was a priority task. Therefore, Isaac decided to slightly postpone picking his team members.

He made his way back home for the first time in a while and found his house was still as messy as ever. He still hadn't cleared up after Sanna's group trashed it.

Thankfully, he'd at least cleaned the dirt and muck off of his bed so he could come in and immediately lie down, ready to go to sleep.

He drifted off within a minute – he was mentally exhausted from cultivating and pushing his will to the limit for 2 weeks. Luckily, sleep was an effective form of recovery for any kind of mental fatigue, including exhausted willpower.

Isaac slept like a baby that night and woke up late the next day. He ate breakfast at a leisurely pace and left his house just before midday.

The sun was high in the sky, but Isaac couldn't see it through the thick layers of cloud. It was also snowing quite heavily, which pleased Isaac since it meant he could practice with his Snowshoe Anima later.

For now, though, he was on the way to Sanna's house. It was the main meeting point for the group of 6, but Isaac also knew the other members' addresses so they couldn't hide from him by staying in one of their houses instead. The members all knew this, so they had simply accepted their fate and decided to do their job instead of running from Isaac.

Isaac arrived at the house and waited outside for a while – he knew the group would return to get lunch soon. At around 12:15, he saw a group of 6 people walking down the street towards him and chatting. They were all talking and laughing, so none of them saw him leaning against the doorway.

When they got closer, Sanna looked up and spotted Isaac. She froze for a moment and stopped in her tracks, but then she quickly recovered her senses. She nudged the man next to her and whispered something to him, then she said something to the whole group but Isaac was too far away to hear.

They walked towards Isaac together – not confident, but also not showing the signs of fear they had when they saw him last. It seemed that time was indeed the best medicine for anything; even trauma. The group still carried injuries to remind them of Isaac's short torture session, but those memories had grown less vivid and painful over the last 2 weeks.

Isaac believed the group still feared him; it would be difficult not to after what he did to them. But he wouldn't put it past them to try and cross him again if the rewards were great enough, which is why he decided to never trust them too much. He decided that if anyone else chose to attack him, he would make a public example out of them and try to establish a reputation for being ruthless to his enemies.

It might be lesss effective than having a faction back him up, but a reputation for being cruel and cold-hearted would still deter groups from targeting him. Then groups such as this would have second thoughts about getting revenge or attacking him, and he wouldn't need to worry about getting ambushed as often.

Since that was the case, he would get them to spread some bait as part of their new task,

"What are you waiting for? I'm a busy man, so let's go inside and get this over with."

Sanna nodded respectfully and went to unlock the door,

"Of course. We won't take up too much of your time."

Then she held the door open, and Isaac entered first. Sanna walked in behind him, and the rest of the group followed.

When they were inside, Isaac chose not to sit down; the meeting wouldn't last long. He turned to face the group and spoke,

"Hand me the report you've written."

Sanna beckoned for Christian to fetch the report,

"We've finished the work you've asked of us, and we've done it well. We're happy to help you for one more week, and then I hope we can part ways on good terms, or at least on better terms than we met under."

Sanna's goal was to act respectfully and avoid offending Isaac again, but to also avoid being too servile. If the group did everything Isaac asked without any objections, he would think they had no backbone. Then he might take advantage of their spinelessness and keep making them do jobs for him even after 3 weeks were up. For this reason, Sanna had told her group to not be excessively obedient or call Isaac things like 'sir'.

Isaac realised her intention and was a little disappointed. It would be helpful if he had a small group like this to do his dirty work, but Sanna was trying to cut off their attachment as soon as possible.

If he put in some time and effort, he could create leverage with the group and force them to obey him, but that was more trouble than it was worth. The benefits would be minimal and it would be better to focus his efforts on more important endeavours. Therefore, Sanna won this quick and silent battle of intent.

Isaac didn't say anything as he took the small notebook Sanna was holding. He flicked through the pages and checked how much of the notebook was full. Then he pocketed it and spoke quickly,

"I want you to do more in-depth digging into some of these people, but I need time to read the report and pick who. I'll come back later and give you a few names to find more information on. In the meantime, I want you to spread rumours that I just sold a rare herb for 4 reward points and that I live in house 17 in block 3 of the newcomer accommodation."

Sanna and the others were confused but they didn't question Isaac's decision. They didn't care what rumour Isaac wanted them to spread so long as it didn't have any negative impact on themselves. In fact, they were glad Isaac was attracting trouble. They still hated him very much, so they hoped he would court death even more.

The group would be extremely happy to spread these types of rumours and Isaac knew it, so he gave the job to them. He'd already said he would come back later, so there was nothing more to say or do now. He'd already given his orders, so he walked past the group of 6 and left without saying another word.