An essence of a Limaw is a cultivation treasure. It allows the user to make an advancement on their powers by either a qualitative advancement or getting a new skill in their power. This is a very sought after treasure in the gangs of the town of Nicholas.

‘This will be very useful later’

Although most people would use this on themselves to try and get a power, though most fail, Sabik would not use it this way. He has another plan in his mind, a failsafe or a bargaining chip.

Thinking of its use, he thought about selling it which would attract the attention of most big shots in the town. This made him reconsider and try to sell this so that he would draw the irk of most power users looking for a boost in their standing, but his instinct told him there was a better use for it.

Strolling through the stone road in the forest, he played with the essence in his hands tossing it around and spinning it in his hands with no regard to the value of it. He walked for more than an hour and finally got bored and stored it in his white loose polo shirt which is now dirty and bloodied from the chaos before.

Looking like his stomach is bulging, he walked with no care until he saw the town in his periphery.

This town has a large area with a medium density of building per square meter. It has tall concrete buildings in each corner of the town symbolizing the powers that govern this town.

The steel muscle group that was chasing him is in the bottom left side of the town near the quarry. As expected of muscle heads, they let all their muscles do the work.

Just as the sun was at its zenith and the breeze hailing from the east, the startling sound of a bone breaking breaks the peace that was staring to overcome Sabik.

Curiosity perks up and he starts walking towards the noise carefully because of the slippery mud and small potholes that came from the rain this morning.

‘Why did you look at me like that huh?! You think I’m useless or something?! You think you’re better than me?!’

There 20 meters off the road are two gang members seemingly assaulting a man and berating them after getting drunk.

The assaulted man didn’t respond. Already in close proximity, Sabik can see that the man assaulted wore a gray t-shirt, now with the collar stained red with blood. His nose is broken while he looked up and tried to stop the profuse bleeding in his nose.

‘This looks like trouble....Just what I like!’ Sabik thought as he approached the scuffle.

“Drinking in daylight and assaulting a minor.... Is that what a member of the hunter’s quest is permitted to do?”

The two gang members of the hunter’s quest looked up from the assaulted man to Sabik with a fierce glare that didn’t want to take anyone’s sh*t anymore.

The drunkard in a leather vest over a plain white t-shirt stumbles his way over to Sabik while his knives and tools created noise through each other.

‘Experienced hunters will hide those tools and make sure they don’t make a sound for maximum stealth. I don’t know if its because he’s drunk or he’s a noob’

“Don’t come into my.... hyuk...... business....... Who are you huh?? Nobody can judge me... You don’t know me!! I — I’m not useless, its not my fault he died...”

As the drunken man says that, he takes a swing at Sabik. For most people, a hunter with superhuman speed and agility coupled with the unpredictability of a drunk man, will get caught off guard and get hit. But Sabik already anticipated this and dodged even before the hunter took a swing.

This made the hunter fall down to his knees, disoriented and surprised that Sabik was able to dodge that. His companion, who was sitting back and watching the show, became concerned and rushed to the drunken man.

‘This guy is just drunk, but has a little bit of strength and experience. This other guy seems to prioritize taking care of the drunken guy instead of ganging up on me.’

Looking at the guy that was beaten up, he saw that he was just sullenly looking down and oblivious to the noise outside his own. The blood hasn’t subsided yet and some drops trickled down his face and some stained his shirt.

“Don’t you know me, I’m Sabik. Surely you’ve heard of me? My bounty is enough to make anyone tempted to deliver me as present to the four leaders? Surely you need it to pay for all the drinking this useless drunkard needs.”

As though hit in a critical spot, the other hunter turned and glared with red eyes that wanted to kill and disintegrate Sabik. Fortunately thats not their power.

“Shut up or I’ll kill you. Get out of our face now or suffer the consequences.”

“Woowww, looks like I hit a sore spot there buddy” Sabik said as he slowly walked to the injured guy’s place.

It was at this point that the other hunter noticed a bulging sphere in his shirt tucked in his pants. It was glowing with the temptation of power. A boost to help defeat what took the lives of his comrades. Even without seeing it, the hunter knew this was an essence.

This did not escape the careful eyes of Sabik.

Sabik then went near the injured man, kneeled and whispered

“Can you stand? We’ll escape together. Just follow my lead.”

Without waiting for an answer Sabik took the man’s hands and ran back to the stone rod where he came from. Unprepared, the injured man stumbled on a pothole and gave enough time for the hunter to sprint to their direction.

The hunter watched as the two of them ran hand in hand while Sabik took the essence and removed it from his shirt and held it in one hand for all the world to see.

He watched as Sabik position his arm to throw the essence, a blasphemeous action in the hunter’s eyes but a little joyful of the present.

In this fast paced running the hunter saw the essence disappear from his hands and a blur go over his head that made him turn around.

What he saw was not the essence but a rock. This made him furious but what he saw next cooled him down. He saw his friend get hit by the stone. It probably did not hurt because of their enhanced body, but he saw his friend cry as he kneeled.

“I’m so useless..... i can’t even hit a normal person”

All the pent up frustrations and trauma he faced in the morning now came bursting out. He could not bury his shame and disappointment with himself with a ton of alcohol.

As he saw his friend break down, he could not help but forget about the treasure for a second and comfort his comrade in arms.

“Jose...Jose its okay it’s not your fault........ It’s not our fault. We were just not strong enough. We will have our revenge. Once we get that kid’s treasure we’ll have enough power to get justice for Romano.”

It was at this point that Jose stopped crying and looked up at his friend.

“Is...... is that true? You’re not lying to me are you Paulo?”

“No I saw it with my own eyes. That kid had an essence.”