Jason gazed at the big wooden doors before him, arms folded and an expression of utter irritation plastered over his handsome face. His fingers repeatedly tapped the cold silver-white vambrace of his left arm, he was getting impatient.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

The lines on his forehead deepened as, after a long minute, Jason didn't hear any moment coming from the innards of the room. He glanced at the golden clock hanging on the wall of the store, the corners of his eyes crinkled.

12:32, I've been standing here for ten whole minutes, Jason thought, his annoyance climbing. After the tournament, I’m giving this idiot a lesson he will not forget.

Loud, cracking sounds resounded from his fists as he clenched them. A wisp of his spirit would have been enough to blast the doors open into splitters, but Jason controlled himself. It wouldn't make him any good to go on a rampage.

However, as the minutes kept passing by, it began to turn more and more difficult to keep hold of his emotions. Everyone has their limits, and Jason was approaching his.

Just as he was about to blow it up with a punch, he detected a mana signature closing in from the stairs behind. Turning around, his gaze landed on the plump youth dashing in his direction. Who almost bumped into him before jumping back in fright.

His tense expression immediately relaxed as he caught sight of Jason’s face. He still seemed to be quite pissed off, though. “Fuck it, uncle! You almost gave me a fright!”

Jason’s lips twitched. “Who’s your uncle, little brat?!”

He appeared next to Lucas, not giving the youth any time to react before flicking him on his forehead, blasting his round body to the floor below like a cannonball. Wooden splitters flew everywhere as a hole of considerable size was left behind, Lucas’ unmoving body resting at the centre, immobile.

After a few silent seconds, Lucas slowly scrambled out of the crater. He slowly climbed the stairs as the coppery lustre around him vanished.

Not a single scratch was visible on him, aside from a quickly growing bump and some complaints on his face.

“What was that for?!” he said, rubbing the violet-blue bruise.

“Just a small punishment on my part. Better be careful with the words you use brat,” Jason smirked. “Catelyn would definitely not like it to see his dear son spitting vile oaths and curses everywhere.”

Lucas immediately paled at the mention of her dear mother, but he composed himself shortly afterwards. Looking at the smugly smile on Jason’s face, Lucas knew he was after something. And he was right.

“But,” Jason began, pointing at the doors at his back. “I can forget your little slip if you give me a hand with your father.”

Lucas’ eyes narrowed, but he didn't need him to say more to understand what was happening. So, letting out a helpless sigh, he approached the door and knocked it two times.

Nothing.

He knocked a second time.

Nothing.

Lucas frowned a little bit, but his next words were enough to bring the big guy outside.

“It will be a PITY if someone tells mum about what really happened to little shrubby, especially if she accidentally found out who was responsible for—

Before Lucas managed to finish the sentence, the doors abruptly swung open as a big man instantly appeared on his side. His forest green eyes locked down on him with an uncommon graveness and his big hand squishing Lucas’ cheeks with too much force—trembling slightly.

“NOT A WORD TO YOUR MOTHER”

The words weren't loud or carried any sort of special intent, but they were inflected with a strong tone that could only come from someone that had occupied an influential and dominant position for dozens of cycles. Though, the quiver at the end showed that nobody was immune to one’s wife’s wrath… Casper Ronderner included.

Jason watched the whole interaction with an expression of pure amusement, one that only broadened when Casper looked in his direction. The faint wrinkles on the sides of his eyes crinkled even more.

Casper was a big guy that towered almost two meters over the floor, making Jason’s own 180 cm paled by comparison. The tall guy was still as fat as was physically possible, though the long hair and forest-green eyes did help to diminish his shortcomings. Not to mention being the head of the Ronderner House (the owners of a prestigious business like the Copperpath) was a good perk to take into consideration.

Casper snorted. “Don't think for a second that I’m giving you a discount just for keeping your mouth shut.”

Jason's expression fell a little bit… before growing exponentially. His gaze fell onto the other Ronderner in the room, the one he liked more.

Casper looked at his son.

Lucas peeked in Jason's direction, who gave him an encouraging nod. He smirked.

“I think you should help him, dad. If you don't want to see mum angry, of course.” he paused, the corners of his mouth curling up into a mischievous smile. “A small discount can be a good encouragement.”

Casper’s eyes narrowed, but ultimately, he gave up.

“Whatever,” he said, before heading back to his office. Jason and Lucas followed closely behind.

Inside, Casper’s office was just as big and as grand as Jason remembered.

A roof of more than six meters in height, tall pieces of bone sculptures decorating every corner of the room and a long table at the centre with a few black-leathered chairs scattered around. The room excluded this primal aura that Jason didn't fancy, but it wasn't the time to bother with that.

As they took a seat, Casper couldn't help but rub his temples, “Did you bring the goods?”

Jason waved his hand and a small pile of silver, glistening mushrooms appeared out of nowhere. Neither Lucas nor Casper showed any surprise by his display.

Lucas took one, squishing it lightly. “It seemed the harvest had been pretty good this year,”

The majority were just around the Early-mortal grade and the Middle-mortal grade, just enough to fit the Copperpath’s high standards—narrowly. Unranked materials were practically useless for them, and while the Amalgamated Billycocks weren't the most sought-after or fascinating resource, they did have a few interesting uses.

“Yeah, but half of it went for the guild.”

“Oh, I forgot you still have to share half of your profits with those idiots.”

Jason just nodded and let the topic drop, it wasn’t something he was comfortable with nor in the mood to talk about.

“Twenty three at the peak of the Early-mortal grade, five at the Middle-mortal grade and one at the Late-mortal grade (barely),” Casper muttered, not even glancing at the pile as his whole attention was on the slightly brighter mushroom on his palm.

Lucas looked at his father with a raised eyebrow, “For what do you need them anyway? Is not as though we are short of Middle-mortal or even Late-grade materials. And I don't think there is a pill or elixir that needs this many fungi.”

Materials within the Core Refinement Rank were generally categorised, depending on the quality and quantity of the energy saved inside, into four grades: Early, Middle, Late and Peak-mortal grade. Each one corresponding to the four last stages of the earlier mentioned rank.

There were more factors that could determine the grade of an item, but at these levels, they weren’t significant. People also tend to directly name them based on the stage they belong to; like a yellow core stage herb, weapon or elixir. But this categorization was far more used among the different professions, especially between Refiners and Alchemists.

“We don’t, but Jason should have a formula for them.”

Jason nodded, making a small ancient-yellowish paper appear in his hand before handing it to Casper. Who read it curiously. After a few seconds, his old friend stared at him with a mixed expression of uneasiness, wonder and dread… but also excitement.

“I knew I shouldn't have let you in,” he drew a deep breath, “nothing good ever comes out of you.”

Jason wryly smiled at the comment, “Is not that bad Casper, I’m just asking for an aspect enhancing pill.”

Casper’s eyes widened slightly. “Man, I wouldn't have a problem if it was for a normal person… but this is a formula for a Wiccan, Jason…” his voice grew agitated. “A fucking Wiccan! Have you ever considered what would happen if some Ranker comes to know that we have one of their formulas here?! We will be fucked, Jason! And not just you or me, but we would be involving the rest of the city in this.”

There was a sense of urgency in his voice that Jason could perfectly understand. The Wiccan Clan wasn’t a force he wanted to confront under any circumstances, even more after experiencing their wrath in the flesh.

He caressed the large scar running down on the right side of his neck, deep in thought.

The formula was something he came across a few years ago during a job at the border, the one separating the Cimmerian Forest and the Southern Border. It was just about killing a group of bandits that were causing trouble in one of the most important trading routes of Darkhold City, quite tricky due to the distance and laboriousness of finding a small group in such a big piece of land. But with a White Core Stage advancement, he shouldn't have had any problems handling a group of weaklings.

He miscalculated.

The report spoke about a few dozen men between the early and peak of the Yellow Core Stage, and a Silver Core Stage powerhouse being the leader of the group, around the peak of the stage. But it shouldn't have been that much of a challenge for a recently promoted white core practitioner like Jason.

He’d been wrong, really wrong. But it wasn’t entirely his fault.

One had to understand that the gulf between the silver and white core stages was wider than one could possibly imagine, especially if your references come from the lower stages of the Core Refinement Rank. Where it wasn’t really uncommon to see people fighting off or even beating people of one or several stages higher than themselves.

If the power gap between an unawakened and a peak silver core was comparable to the distance between the two shores of a raging river, then between a peak silver core and a white core was comparable to the distance between the lowest valley and the highest mountain.

It was immense.

Which was the main reason why there were so many peak silver core practitioners in Darkhold City and only a handful of white cores. Just as the power gap was immense, the difficulty of reaching it was just as big… if not bigger.

However, what Jason had not expected was to find a Wiccan among the group…

He felt a few shivers run down his spine just by remembering the bloody battle. He quickly pushed the thought away and drew his attention back to Casper, showing the brightest smile he could muster.

“I know, but I still need it.”

Jason knew he was playing with fire, but he was sure as hell not going to waste an opportunity, not at least one of this scale.

Before Casper managed to reject him a second time, he pulled a black rounded object from his pocket and placed it onto the table. After sending a wisp of mana inside, the little construct buzzed before projecting motes and beams of lights that began to take a three-dimensional shape. It showed a short video where a pair of black-skinned siblings—and a scarlet-eyed youth they weren't unfamiliar with—strolling over the resource site found in the Stoneater Cliffs.

The hologram faded after a few minutes, leaving both father and son with gaped mouths at the sudden revelation.

Lucas swallowed a mouthful of saliva, “Do you think you can convince them to join us?”

Jason’s lips curved at the question. “Probably, but it will depend if your father is willing to help me with the formula,”

Casper and Lucas traded uncertain looks, but it seemed that the head of the household had made a decision.

From there, a long and tedious but interesting discussion began.