Giveon's expression flickered before he calmed down.

The timing seemed almost ridiculous. Amie had only just left. The odds of her being intercepted so quickly made this smell of conspiracy.

His gaze scanned across the room of individuals with him and couldn't help but linger on Ryu for a bit longer. Could it really be that this Vice Team Leader of his had already betrayed them?

Giveon shook his head inwardly. That idea was even more absurd than Amie being intercepted so swiftly.

Why would Ryu go through so much trouble just to put his position in jeopardy the moment he got it? Plus... though there were other offerings to hand in, the Spiritual Root Ryu had just given them was among the most important. If he wanted to sabotage them, just keeping the Spritual Root to himself would have been effective as well. Was there a need to use such roundabout methods?

"Leader, let me go!"

"No, me!"

Two men quickly stepped forward. If Ryu had been more familiar with the Violet Olice Team, he would have recognized these two as the most powerful beneath Annette and Giveon.

They were both exceptionally skinny but still managed to be a head taller than Ryu who was already over two meters tall himself thanks to his overbearing bloodlines.

In truth, upon further inspection, they quite looked like twins. Or, at the very least, siblings.

Their hair was a dark shade of green that neared black. Their eyes carried the same color as well. However, their most obvious feature was the scale-like skin beneath their eyes.

No, it just appeared to be scales. But, upon a second inspection, they should have been soft to the touch, but simultaneously had the look of tree bark.

After a quick analysis, Ryu's infallible memory made the connection.

They were a sub species of Tree Folk, usually the product of love between a sentient Spiritual Herb and a Faerie.

Though Faeries could reproduce in a humanoid fashion, this wasn't necessary. The budding love between a Faerie and their Life Partner could produce life as long as both willed it for long enough. Elves could just as easily fulfill these requirements in place of Faeries as well.

The result were Tree Folk.

These Tree Folk were split into countless sub species with endless variations. And, though their talent was capped by the strength of their Spiritual Herb parent, this simultaneously meant that the higher grade their parent was, the most astounding their talent.

To Ryu's surprise, he was actually able to pick out the strength of their parent with a single glance.

'Mystical Grade Shadow Root... Their father was even a Dark Elemental Faerie...'

Ryu's heartbeat quickened slightly.

If one knew Ryu, such a thing was exceptionally rare. And, it never happened as a result of fear.

Ryu immediately thought of Esme when he laid eyes on these Tree Folk.

The new path of Necromancy he was forging relied on his expertise as a Herbologist. He had reforged Esme's body to resemble a Spiritual Herb before manipulating her as he pleased. The result of his experimentation were far beyond even his expectations and Esme's current growth potential was incalculable.

But... what if instead of having to reforge a body... the body already greatly resembled a Spiritual Herb?

Ryu hesitated. The idea would more than likely lead to the birth of an army of corpse puppets more powerful than anything ever seen before. But... it was even more dangerous.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Wasn't his current thoughts the very reason races like the elves, Faeries and Tree Folk hated humans so much? He couldn't help but sympathize with them.

Still, Ryu had his own bottom line. He wouldn't hunt Tree Folk just for the sake of using their corpses. In addition, this was a dream world, so he couldn't take their corpses even if he wanted to.

But... the idea was stored at the back of his mind. For now, his skill was more than enough to simply create more Esme's from regular humans with potential. The prowess of an Origin Grade Herbologist was beyond the imaginations of most.

Still, this made Ryu consider the possibilities of other races. Maybe some others would react better to his experiments.

The two Tree Folk brothers, who had stepped up as a slight provocation to Leonel, suddenly shivered. They felt as though they had been laid bare before his eyes. They couldn't help but reflexively take a step back.

Ryu shook his head and didn't bother with them, leaving them in a cold sweat. But, the moment of fear lingered in their hearts.

Why had it felt like... he was looking toward them like prime cuts of meat...?

"Is there a reason you can't go personally?" Ryu asked Giveon.

After he came out from his own thoughts, he found it odd that the two brothers had stepped forward at all. With how important this matter was, and since it was so close by, it would make sense for Giveon to make a move.

Giveon slowly sat back down with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Team Leaders aren't allowed to participate in internal alliance conflicts. It's one of the laws of our Immortal Sakura Alliance."

A burly man slammed a fist against the table.

"These bastards want to take advantage of the fact we're upstarts."

The only reason they were ranked 12th at all was because of Giveon's strength. But, even the supposedly second and third most powerful of their group, the Tree Folk Brothers, were only Sixth Stage Immortal Ring Realm experts, a far cry from Giveon's Half-Step Path Extinction Realm cultivation.

Giveon shook his head.

"I was careless. I thought that since rumors about our mission being stolen had spread, they wouldn't be ready for us to hand in our quota so soon."

"One final question." Ryu rose, his bones popping.

The simple action made those around him feel as though tigers and lions were roaring in their minds.

What a strong body...

Giveon flinched. He felt a threat from Ryu's minor flex.. just what was this?

The threshold for having the strength of a normal Half-Step Path Extinction Realm expert was 100 000 000 jin. How could Giveon know that Ryu had already touched 125 000 000 jin?

"If you're all a part of an Alliance, why is it that they would target you? From what I understand, this mission of yours is quite important. Aren't they afraid of being punished by the entire Alliance?"

Giveon shook his head.

"Matters aren't so simple. The quota we gained isn't meant to be given directly to the Alliance. Rather, the quota is actually a Silver Grade mission of Osiris.

"Bronze Missions encompass an entire year, Silver Missions a whole decade. These are highly sought after... forget it, that's not important for now.

"Essentially, we are meeting these quotas to hit certain milestones. Only by crossing these milestones will we complete the Silver Mission in time. If we fail even once, ten years of work will go down the drain.

"The reward for this Silver Mission is admission into an Event where we will find treasures the Alliance needs. But, there's great competition amongst the members.

"The top three teams are practically set in stone. But, there are nine remaining spots and we happen to be right at the fringe..."

Ryu's lip curled. 'So this Alliance was allowing infighting within certain limits because to them it doesn't matter who gets the treasures as long as they're gotten. This must also mean that the price the Alliance is willing to pay is quite steep. Interesting...'

A decade of work for just a chance to fight for a treasure. Ryu would be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued.

He was even more intrigued about the kind of face the Alliance would make if he took it for himself.

Of course... that would depend on if they really were related to the Zu Clan or not.

Ryu walked toward the door before looking back.

"You two can come with me."

The two Tree Folk snapped out of their stupor.

They looked toward each other, hesitating. But, after remembering that Ryu's orders were only second to Giveon's, they acquiesced.

The others watched their back recede with a frown.

Was Ryu just trying to look cool? Was he going to end up relying on the two brothers in the end anyway?

The burly man who slammed his hand on the table couldn't help but have these thoughts.

"Restrain yourself, Gilbert." Giveon said lightly.

The burly man gulped, "Yes, Team Leader."

...

"What are your names?" Ryu asked off handedly.

"My name is Grim."

"My name is Dru."

Ryu nodded, stretching slightly as he looked up at the sky as though he wasn't worried about time.

Even from here, he could hear the sounds of battle. A light smile couldn't help but spread across his lips.

He didn't know why. He was just feeling oddly happy recently, as though a load was being taken off of him.

His blood flowed freer, his qi seemed to fill his body on its own, and the world looked even more beautiful than usual.

He sneered inwardly as he thought back to Giveon's 'carelessness'. Was the Leader really driven into a corner? As if.

Even if their rules didn't let him interfere, wasn't there still Annette? In the end, wasn't this just a test for him?

There was little Ryu hated more than being tested. But, since he was in a good mood, he'd let Giveon take advantage of him a bit.

"Say..." Ryu said lightly.

The two Tree Folk shivered uncontrollably. Ever since the first time Ryu had looked toward them, they felt as though they were walking through a land of ice and snow.

But, his next words almost made them blackout.

".... What are the rules about killing in this city?"