Two more days went by quickly…
In the meantime, not only were assassins and bounty hunters active in Millfall in search of Vicente’s head, but other groups in the city were moving in because of the young man’s recent actions.
Millfall’s noble and criminal factions acted to protect their interests, doing what they could to maintain local stability.
But these were not the only groups acting because of Vicente. He and his people had already begun sending threatening notes to people who might be compromised locally.
Some wanted to overthrow them, even use the army against them. This was fine, but Vice’s party wasn’t going to stand still!
The group was already fighting back, with several of Vicente’s subordinates contacting noble families and local officials to threaten them.
While this was going on in the city’s shadows, the operations of Vicente’s group continued in the light of day, while the ignorant in this city felt that things were calming down locally.
With Defiant Tyranny failing to destabilize Vicente’s operations in eastern Millfall, its attacks on the group’s territory had decreased significantly in recent days.
Meanwhile, a new group from Martell Village arrived in town this morning to join Vicente’s people and add to their numbers.
The group now had 68 members, 10 level 1 Acolytes, 15 Senior Apprentices, 29 Intermediate Apprentices, and the rest Junior Apprentices.
Their territory now had 17 establishments, and unlike when the group first started, they no longer had to look for new businesses. As the violence in the city’s eastern part increased along with the fame of ‘Cesar’s’ group, more business owners sought out the emerging group in their area.
Meanwhile, ‘Cesar’ remained missing.
… .𝒄𝒐𝒎
In the basement of the Fuller family mansion, Vicente, with a metal hammer in his hands, looked exhausted, breathing heavily.
His underwear was soaked with sweat, while his mana showed signs that he couldn’t take much more of what he was doing.
But he tried to enrich his body’s features and made another move with his tool, hitting a metal plate in front of him once again.
Clang!
With his last move, he finally completed the 15th hour of training with the hammer, getting closer to completing the shield he was building.
Once he finished the shield, he thought he would finally be able to produce guns with 100% efficiency, which was necessary for his weapons to withstand the full power of the Senior Apprentices.
Feeling that he could not continue his work at the forge for another day, Vicente dropped his hammer and let it fall to the ground as he took a deep breath.
The hammer made a loud noise as it fell to the ground, considering how heavy it was, and even caused small cracks to appear where it fell.
The strength of the blacksmiths had to increase so that they could produce larger and larger items. Therefore, the weight of their tools was not small, as they had to withstand tremendous forces.
Because of this, blacksmiths usually had muscular bodies, so Vicente was gradually becoming stronger physically.
Even though he had only started training a few weeks ago, Vicente already had a body as muscular as that of people on Earth who trained in bodybuilding for 7 or 8 months.
He still lacked muscular maturity, and his muscles still had a lot to grow. Still, he was already at such a level that the contours of his muscles were becoming more and more visible.
He liked these parallel results of his forging training, but the most important thing for him was his progress toward weapons with 100% efficiency and the improvement of his mana density.
‘It’s time to meditate.’ He sat on the floor and began meditating, feeling his progress at the Senior Apprentice level surpassing the 32% mark.
Thirty minutes later, he finished meditating, feeling full of energy, even stronger than when he started another workout hours ago.
After finishing his meditation, he looked at the unfinished shield on the table in his training room. ‘I think I could produce a 1st-grade weapon with 86% efficiency right now…’
“Good. I will finish my readings tonight. After that, it will only be a matter of time before I fully understand what I have read in these materials.” He muttered as he climbed the stairs to the second floor of his residence.
When he met Eve, he realized this woman had advanced to the Senior Apprentice level.
“Eve, did you advance? Haha, congratulations! Maybe you’ll become an Acolyte along with Rory and me.” He saw the blonde woman cutting a fruit next to Nina and hugged her, squeezing Eve’s thin waist without dirty intentions.
She didn’t mind Vice’s touch and smiled, happy about her level. “Hehe, thanks, Vicente. If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have progressed so fast.”
Eve had an ordinary talent. As such, her prospects were not great. But with the support of the Fuller family, she could even dream of becoming an Acolyte in her youth.
Nina realized what they were talking about and congratulated Eve, happy for her.
“Congratulations, sister Eve. I hope to reach your level one day.” Nina said, attracting their attention, knowing she was in great danger of not even reaching the Senior Apprentice level.
Vicente didn’t show his concern to Nina, but he felt in a hurry as he once again thought about his sister’s future. ‘I only have 6 years to become stronger and more influential. If I can’t change Nina’s situation by then, she might never be able to become a magician.’ After releasing Eve’s waist, he clenched one of his fists behind his back.
“I hope you’ll outdo me in the future, Nina.” Eve smiled at her, trying to encourage this child.
Nina smiled back before getting up from her chair, ready for another day at the local academy.
But before she left, she looked at Vicente and said. “Big brother, my teacher said she wanted to talk to you. I don’t know why, so you must ask her.”
Vice frowned when he heard this. Like on Earth, children’s teachers usually give feedback to parents and guardians a few times during the school year. But Nina’s period at the local academy had just started, and this was not the time for that. Knowing this, he was worried.
“Okay, I’ll accompany you to the academy today, Nina. Let’s see what your teacher wants.”
“Yay!” She celebrated as she took one of her brother’s hands, eager to show him off to her classmates.