Caleb made his way to the city of Galhmea the capital of the Duke Duke Jadetree’s territory. He was currently waiting in an inn to be allowed to see the duke. He had requested an audience with him 2 weeks prior, but the duke was a busy man, so he had been left waiting. He hadn’t been rejected on account of his fancy clothes, courtesy of Gary, and the hefty donation he had made to a local well-respected merchant in order to receive a recommendation letter. The duke, of course, paid for his stay in the inn. Eventually he was allowed to meet with the duke.

“Greetings, your excellency I am here to pay for the debt of my friend Cara” Caleb said.

“Hmm Cara? Alright. Follow my butler, he'll get you sorted out.” replied the duke.

Caleb followed the butler, and was taken to a guest room. He was given tea, snacks, and a contract to look over, and sign. He did so, and then paid for Cara’s debt.

They then heard an explosion.

The butler quickly sprang into action. “Excuse me sir. Please remain here.” he said before quickly leaving the room leaving two guards at the door. Caleb wondered what could be happening.

---

“Bastard!” The duke yelled. His only son had poisoned him. He had activated his spectral armor as soon as he had noticed the tea was poisoned. Just in time too, his son had just sent a mana bomb at him. The explosion knocked him back. His personal guard was on the ground. His son was preparing to charge at him. The duke conjured up his sword, and attempted to pierce his son with it. Bridging the gap between them in an instant. His son’s barrier had barely managed to block it. Then his personal guard came and assisted him in striking the barrier.

His son’s men came in, and charged at them. There were four in total, each an Unleashed stage warrior like his son. Despite both being in the Sky Scraping stage. The duke, and his guard couldn’t deal with all 5 bearing down on them.

The word sinner appeared on top of the head of one of the warriors. He then began writhing in pain on the ground. The butler was at the door. He had just hit one of them with a curse. The distraction allowed the duke, and his guard to dispatch two of the warriors. The one on the ground, and another.

Now that the two sides had even numbers the clear losers were the Unleashed realm warriors, and his son. The duke was furious that his son, and heir had tried to kill him.

It was unfortunate that he had to kill this one, but he could always make another son. His son took out a pill, and stuffed it in his mouth.

His aura changed, and red lightning wrapped around his body. He charged at the duke striking swiftly. He managed to disarm the duke, and directed a piercing strike towards his heart. The duke was surprised by this attack, but wasn’t worried as his spectral armor would protect him from the blow at least once.

As the sword struck his armor, the armor began to activate, but the poison within him activated, it was an anti-magic poison. His whole body had been magically nullified, and the blade reached his heart. The duke was dead.

The duke’s son’s men, or the new duke's men, began going around the manor killing anyone that was still loyal to the old duke.

The two guards left Caleb alone after hearing the commotion. Caleb put down the contract, and listened. There was combat. He pulled out his sword, and prepared himself. One of the unleashed realm warriors opened the door, and began to look around the room. As his head turned towards where Caleb was standing he was distracted by a miniature dancing gremlin on top of the table.

“What the fu-” The warrior’s head fell, and rolled off of his body. Caleb gave the next one no time to react. He used a mental confusion spell, and struck out. The warrior, a tigress, deflected the strike. Caleb opted to run.

As he made his way out of the Manor he looked around desperately for what he came for. He couldn’t find her at first, but then his spirit focused, and brought him to a closet. Inside Cara was hiding. Waiting.

---

Caleb was sitting atop a mountain meditating. Sneaking across the border, he’d taken Cara back to the village. Gary promised to keep her safe, and perhaps teach her while Caleb trains. Caleb was reflecting on his cultivation technique. It was quite strong, but it didn’t match his affinity. Caleb had a lightning affinity. He needed to find a way to modify his technique to take advantage of his lighting affinity.

He spent a few months meditating, and eating next to nothing. Eventually, he gained inspiration. He imagined himself as a demon absorbing the Hope off of the souls of his enemies, for a good cause. Caleb developed a technique that allowed him to infuse lighting into his strikes, and absorb the vital energy of his foes. In exchange this new technique wouldn’t allow him to invade dreams. He dubbed it the Dreamthief Thunderstrikes technique. Of course he had Gary’s help in changing his soul rune, so as to not experience a power loss.

Caleb was surprised by Gary’s skillful hand in creating runes, and wondered why his master wasn’t an enchanter. Now armed with a new technique. Caleb felt more confident in his ability to break through the bottleneck.