As expected, Yusa didn't save the guy any face.
"Where did this fly come from? Shoo, shoo! The intelligent living beings need to talk."
Shiar's face immediately warped.
"You dare to talk to me like that? A puny 3rd stage Foundation Establishment? Don't blame me for reporting your team for failing the mission only because of your arrogance, people like you put our mercenary guilds name in shame."
He turned around and said.
"Let's go, we have a mission to finish."
Krune completely ignored the guy. He went in front of Zuve Lie and took out the Blazing Alligator's blood.
"Alchemist Zuve, here is the Blazing Alligator blood you required, please confirm this is the blood you need."
Shiar, who was just about to leave, froze in place.
'Did they just say Blazing Alligator's blood?'
Durin, who was by his side, kept his poker face. If he tells the truth now, his leader will blame him for not having told him earlier.
Zuve Lie was ecstatic! He took the Blazing Dragon Blood and used a few tools to check the validity of the blood. He then turned back to Krune, his expression even happier now.
"This is exactly the blood I was looking for! I will make sure to give a call to the Mercenary Guild today, and you will receive every single point agreed."
Krune nodded while Ao and SHinja expressions didn't even change.
On the other hand, Shiar was angry to the point of exploding! He didn't believe that this group was really able to procure the Blazing Alligators Blood.
"Who do you think you are deceiving here? There is no way you guys could succeed in this mission! You obviously got this blood from somewhere else, and the guild has strict rules for this kind of activity. I was being nice at first, but now you can wait for the results later."
Yusa was as relaxed as ever.
"Someone who can't even defeat me is boasting on the side. Durin, you should keep your friends under control."
Shiar got puzzled, and he looked at Durin. Does it mean that he knows about this mercenary group?
Durin felt like he wanted to cry. He totally believes that they got the blood the normal way, so it would have been good if they had not called him out. Durin then sent a Divine Sense message to his leader, and Shiar's face immediately turned gloomy. He looked at Krune, and now that he thinks about it, Krune's face really looks like the one in the news.
"So you are the so-called Four Stars Foundation Establishment Mercenary who thinks to be big sh*t?"
Krune just nodded. With Durin Vola staying there, there is no way he can deny it since they participated in the same Mercenary Exam after all.
"I don't care about the so-called universe foundation. With your cultivation realm, you are nothing in front of me. If you are really that great, do you dare accept a challenge from me?"
Krune looked at this person as if he was an idiot. People of that level can't pose any threat to him anymore. If it wasn't for the fact he doesn't want to attract attention, he wouldn't mind open this person's eyes. This is not because he is angry since Krune can't get angry easily. It's part of his nature! He simply doesn't like it when people look down on him. It makes him remember the time when he was a weak wisp, and everyone disdained him.
Shiar noticed that Krune wasn't saying anything, and he thought that Krune was afraid.
"See, in the end, that's all that your group amounts for."
Yusa and Ao know Krune quite well already, and they could tell that Krune simply wanted to keep his 'low key' life. Well, even if it doesn't have anything low key to it.
Yusa then came forward, and just as she was about to accept, Ao stopped her and sent a Divine Sense message.
"I know you can fight, but you won't be able to defeat him. Don't forget that he is also a Mercenary, which means that he can at least fight those one stage above his realm. Your fight would most likely end in a draw, so let me go. With my last breakthrough, I'm confident of beating him down."
Yusa pondered a bit and simply nodded.
Ao then spoke.
"There is no need for Krune to come forward since that would be not fair. How about me? Do you dare?"
Krune sighed, the only one is his team that would have a problem in defeating this guy is Yusa, and she probably wouldn't lose, most likely no winner would appear. But Ao broke through to the 4th stage, and Krune personally guided him with his Wind Element Manipulation. Unless this Shiar guy is a genius, he simply doesn't stand a chance against Ao.
Shiar thought that the 'fair' that Ao said was about his realm being much higher than Krune, so he decided to accept the challenge.
There are rules in the city, so people can't simply fight anywhere. But there are places where challenges can be taken, as the arena!
In a cultivators' world, it is very common for fights to happen. So to prevent damage from occurring to the cities, every single one has an arena. If the cities are big, there might be even more than one! When fighting, someone's secret might be exposed. So when you decide to fight, you can select whether you want to let people see it or not. Krune had no idea about such a thing, so he simply let Ao do as he wished.
Ao didn't care either, so he didn't apply for their fight to be hidden. People soon gathered to take a look, and when Shiar and Ao came on the stage, there was already over ten thousand people to watch. Rore City has a lot more people than Kaley City, so it was easier to gather eyes in a shorter amount of time.
Krune looked around and curled himself in a corner, trying to stay out of sight as much as possible. Yusa saw that and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Shiar looked at Ao and snorted.
"This is your last chance. Apologize in front of me, and I can let you go."
Ao didn't even pay attention to what he said, he simply activated the arena's protection formation and stood in front of Shiar.
The referee came forward and stayed beside the arena. The law of the country prohibits killing inside the cities, so in case the fight goes out of hand, it would be his job to put a stop to it. Every cities referee must be at least at the Core Formation Realm, so there was no chance that they would be able to kill the other.
He raised his hand and said.
"Ready?"
Both parties nodded.
"Start!"
Poor Shiar. Ao's fighting prowess has already surpassed himself by quite a lot. The moment that Ao took his sword, he disappeared. Shiar could barely keep up with his movement. Krune looked at that and nodded, all the time spent teaching Ao about the Wind Element was not wasted after all.
Shiar noticed that the situation was dire. He is a Fire Element user, so to prevent Ao from getting close, he immediately created a fire tornado around himself. The temperature in the arena quickly soared, but Ao was as calm as ever, and he simply used his sword to throw a wind blade. The blade cut through the fire tornado as if it was paper, and in an instant, Shiar's protection was gone, just like that. Ao sighed, seeing that, if he knew that Shiar was a fire element user, he wouldn't have stopped Yusa. With the element advantage, she would definitely have won this fight.
Shiar, on the other hand, was frightened! How could Ao be this strong? He did his best trying to defend himself and attacking Ao with fireballs, Fire Dragons, Fire Rings, so on and so forth. But Ao's speed was just too high, nothing could hit him.
A flaw soon appeared in Shiar's defense, and Ao didn't let it go. The sword moved like a ghost, and just as Shiar's head was about to fly out of his body, both Shiar and Ao were locked in place. The referee took action when he saw that Shiar was going to die.
He then came forward and announced.
"Ao Sulian Wins!"
Shiar's face was as white as paper, If the referee hadn't stopped that attack in the last second, he would be dead now.
The crowd roared. They love this kind of fight where those with lower cultivation realm beat those who are stronger.
Ao left the arena, and then his group went back to Kaley City. They didn't even pay attention to Shiar back then.
After appearing in the teleportation formation inside the Solie Clan, the group left and went back to the mercenary guild. Still, before that, Yusa left a message.
"We put the fees of the teleportation on your Solie Clans account, thanks for the patronage."
When Zu Solie read that message, and he felt gloomy. Long-distance teleportation costs a lot of spiritual stones, and their treasure is quite empty at the moment. This kind of situation makes his heart hurt quite a bit.
Back at the Kaley City's Mercenary Guild, they just checked in and found out that the ranking points have been added to their ID's. The mission rewarded 900 points, and because the highest cultivation level at the time they applied for the mission was 3rd stage Foundation Establishment, they got a 30% bonus over that. They all had 1170 ranking points now.
They then decided to gather again another time. For now, Krune's group would part ways to do their own things.
Ao told Krune to inform him when he is out. He wants to apply for a Mercenary Test again and would like to have Krune looking at it to see how his Wind Element control is doing.
Yusa took the chance and decided to do the same, she is also quite confident in being able to acquire a Three Stars badge.
Krune nodded, and after exchanging a few more words, they left.
Krune went back to his room after passing by the salesroom. By using his Four Stars Badge, he got a 25% discount when he selected the 'Five Elements Paste,' and he now has 270 points remaining.
'With this 'Five Elements Paste,' the reinforcement speed of my foundation should increase by 20% to 30% for the next few days. The information said that it will work for more or less 8 days. Still, my universe foundation isn't something common, so I believe the effect will be over faster than it should.'
Krune then started to absorb the paste, and just as the description said, the speed that his planet reinforcement increased quite a lot. Krune didn't waste time! He immediately took out several hundred Rank Three spirit stones and started to cultivate.
Time went by, and just like that, six days have passed. Inside Krune's room, there was a lot of spirit stone dust. Every time a spirit stone has it's spiritual energy absorbed, it will turn into that. Krune had used over 500 in during this time.
'I'm just a bit off from finishing reinforcing my planet. The paste effect is over, but if I keep cultivating at this pace, I should be able to breakthrough in a week."
Krune then got up and stretched a bit. He hasn't left his room in the last few days and was starting to feel bored here.