Black ominous clouds blanketed the naked sky, with rackety thunder rumbles in the distance. Deafening gusts of wind swept across the grassy plains; the dense, mossy foliage writhed in the murky darkness. The cold wind lashed the oak trees, making them wave left and right. Thunder roared more intensely, and one could feel the storm ready to pour at any moment. The place Valmas asked Gaya to check out was an abandoned warehouse used to store steel beams. After navigating through the labyrinth of streets, Gaya could see the building as well as the smashed windows, splintered wooden doors, and a sea of wilting moths all over the walls.

The building towered like a dormant volcano amidst the wilderness, surrounded by an aura of misty malevolence. As she walked closer to the warehouse, she noticed more and more cracks in the wall. It was a miracle this place was still standing. Again, the buildings built by the dwarves were known for their resilience. Even natural disasters had a hard time destroying the dwarven buildings. The meeting was not till midnight. Hence, no one was around the place, which gave Gaya enough time to prepare and rig the place with Spyders.

The rusty, iron gate creaked loudly as she pushed it open. Rotten planks and rusted steel beams lay on the ground like withering corpses, shrouded by layers of soot and mud. Meanwhile, the sky split open as the heavy downpour throbbed against the thatched roof. The echoing sound of water dripping cut through the eerie silence. Gaya covered her head with a hood. The several holes in the roof let the rain droplets find their way into the building. A fallen wooden beam used for the ceiling hung from the roof, swaying in the wind like a pendulum. The wooden floor snapped and creaked every step of the way.

Gaya noticed an open space in the middle of the warehouse, surrounded by various machines. All of them were rusted and on the verge of crumbling down. Dried leaves and spider webs decorated these once-great machines. With a flick of her wrist, Gaya let out a bunch of Spyders. They crawled into every corner of the building. She looked around the warehouse for a few minutes to see if anyone was hiding to ambush Valmas. Her senses and eyes found no one in the building. Only then did Gaya exit the building.

The rain was picking up its ferocity. She barely saw the buildings in the distance through the heavy rain. Since she had to report back to Valmas, she flew straight back to the drunken whore. By the time she reached the place, Valmas's carriage was waiting for her. Gaya had a shield around her that prevented her from getting drenched in the rain. She climbed into the carriage.

"There you are. Any hiccups?" asked Valmas.

"No. The place is clean, as far as I can tell. Just keep the teleportation scroll close to your chest in case things go south,"

"I pay you to keep things from going south. What good are you if I have to use a precious teleportation scroll every time there is trouble?" Valmas growled.

"You pay me to keep you alive. By the look of it, I am doing a good job. Besides, you can't bitch about trouble when you are one of the most wanted weapons dealers in the continent,"

Valmas couldn't argue with that logic. After some bickering, the carriage headed toward the abandoned warehouse. The clattering sound of rain hitting the carriage roof kept them company. Thanks to the paved roads, the ride was quite comfortable and less bumpy. Eventually, the party arrived at the warehouse, and this time, there was another carriage waiting in front of the building.

"They are here," Valmas mumbled after stepping out of the carriage.

lghtnvlubm fr th bt nvl rdng rn

Gaya saw no crest or words on the carriage that could be used to identify the party inside. Instead, the carriage was painted with pure red and no words. She walked beside Valmas along with the other bodyguards. As she got closer to the warehouse, she sensed more and more powerful beings inside. They were too powerful to be dwarves. Gaya quickly willed her mind to show the feed coming from the silent drone inside the warehouse. To her surprise, she saw a group of orcs waiting for them inside. Not in a million years, she expected the orcs to come to a weapons deal. Despite their grotesque, terrifying looks, the orcs were a peace-loving race. So Gaya wondered what made the orcs meet Valmas of all people. The door creaked open as the dwarves pushed the steel door.

There were wooden crates stacked upon each other beside the orcs. These orcs looked different from those she had met in her life. The orcs tend to keep their bodies void of any inks or tattoos. On the contrary, the orcs in the warehouse filled their bodies with paints and weird designs. In addition, they had piercings on their noses, ears, and even their nipples. They also looked beefier and bulkier than typical orcs. If their looks weren't surprising enough, they were all at the peak of the Soul Refining stage except the orc, who had painted his entire body red.

Gaya noticed a strange fear on Valmas's face. Although she didn't know Valmas for long, she knew he wasn't the type to get scared quite easily. He couldn't afford to be softhearted in his line of business.

"Took you long enough," The red orc growled. He literally puffed out smoke from his nostrils like a dragon. It was quite strange and terrifying. Gaya hoped these weird orcs wouldn't find out her true cultivation level. Not that she was afraid of them, but she didn't want the deal to go sideways until she learned more about the weapons built by Han Torum.

"My dear friends. I hope you had a pleasant journey to Embercrest," Valmas laughed with open arms.

"Stop with the pleasantries, dwarf. Show me the weapons,"

The orc did not beat around the bush. He cut short Valmas's pleasantries and growled.

"Straight to business, eh? I like it," Valmas shrugged off the orc's comment and gestured at them to follow him. The orcs followed Valmas to the wooden crates. When Valmas touched the crate, several runes and chakras glimmered on their surface. For a dwarf who hated elves to the core, he was using elven runes to protect the wooden crates. It didn't surprise Gaya. To a criminal like Valmas, his products, and coins were more important than their race's beef with the elves.

The wooden crate on top click opened, revealing a bunch of handheld crossbows on top of the hay. These crossbows looked precisely the same as the crossbow Gaya saw on the blueprint. Now she was curious about these tiny crossbows. Judging by the look of them, she couldn't help wondering what they were capable of.

"As promised, I present you the death kiss crossbows. You can change the name however you want after buying them," said Valmas.

"Ten thousand a piece. I have a total of hundreds of them made for you. As I said in the letter, the blueprint is sold separately. It will cost you ten million,"

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Before that, I need to see if the weapon does what you claim it would," said the orc.

Valmas creased his brows,

"I didn't bring any poor saps," said Valmas as a strange devilish grin emerged on the red orc's face.

"Let me take care of that," said the orc. He then clapped his hands as the steel door opened once again. They all turned their gazes at the door to see two orcs dragging a few sacks through the muddy ground. The sacks moved and groaned. Each sack contained something alive, squirming inside. For some reason, Gaya had a bad feeling.

The orcs picked up the sacks one by one and tossed them a few meters away from Valmas and the orcs. One of the orcs who stood behind the red orc went to the sacks and untied the top. What jumped out of the sacks was none other than the dwarves Gaya almost beaten to death. These stupid dwarves managed to get caught by the orcs. She explicitly made it clear to go through the forest and escape the kingdom.

Valmas frowned, looking at the five dwarves.

"They claim they stole the blueprint that you used to build these crossbows. Let's just say, I believe them," said the orc.

"What do you have to say for yourself, dwarf?" the red orc asked with his eyes glimmering with murderous glee.

"They speak the truth, They stole the plans for me. I am a weapons dealer, not a weapons builder. They don't have the blueprint anymore. I possess the blueprint now," Valams said, throwing his hands in the air. The thieving dwarves were shocked to see Gaya. Fortunately, their mouths were tied with cloth.

"They are loose ends that need to be taken care of," the orc spoke in his thick, murderous voice. Then, the orc picked up a crossbow and placed it on Valmas's hands.

"Take care of them," said the orc before looking over his shoulder at the other orcs for some reason. One of the orcs nodded and went to the dwarves, who were on their knees. The orc murmured something under his breath as a golden shield appeared before each dwarf. Gaya's curiosity was piqued. She didn't worry about the dwarves exposing her identity because if things went south, she could always kill them all. But fortunately, Valmas had no idea the dwarves who followed them and the dwarves before him were the same. Otherwise, he would have been pissed at her for lying to him.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Whoa," Valmas threw a fit,

"I don't get my hands dirty. That's why I have these morons," Valmas's gaze swept across the bodyguards.

"Let one of my underlings pull the trigger," said Valmas.

"I don't see any problem with that," said the orc.

"Hrgmmmmmm,"

"Hrrggghhhhrrrmmmm,"

The thieving dwarves groaned, but no words escaped their mouths.

"Here," Valmas handed over the crossbow to Gaya. Then he looked at the orc as he nodded. Only then did Valmas take out a steel ball the size of a grape and give it to Gaya.

"Put that in here," Valmas pointed at the hole on top of the crossbow.

When she brought the steel ball close to the hole, an invisible force pulled the steel ball inside.

"Kill them all," said Valmas as the thieving dwarves groaned louder. The fear for their lives flashed across their eyes. Gaya raised the crossbow, aiming at the dwarves. The crossbow was surprisingly lighter in weight, and she really wanted to know what it could do.

h ltt nd mt ulr nvl t lghtnvlubm

"Come on, pull the trigger," Valmas urged Gaya.