(A few days before the auction at Embercrest entertainment district)

In a dimly lit cozy room, Noah sat behind a table, almost buried in scrolls and parchments. Most of them thought being a Supreme Guardian was just hanging around and barking orders. However, the real deal was easy way different. Noah spent most of his time rummaging through ancient texts, parchments, and scrolls to find out more about the gods and the god-killing weapons. After scouring the entire Ozer continent, Noah found some texts indicating a great war between the gods. Some of the gods who led the war against what they called corrupted ones, forged weapons capable of killing corrupted ones as well as themselves. Somehow, Lady Qin Jiu got hold of the texts on how to forge these weapons and forged seven arrows with her friends' help to kill the Dark Lord. The only problem was she forged replicas of these arrows and scattered them throughout the world to confuse the Dark Lord. Noah found six of these replicas, and he only had one real arrow.

He was neck-deep in searching for these arrows until his mother, Diana, ordered him to return home and attend Katherine's baby shower. If that wasn't enough, Noah received disturbing reports that Han Torum dwarves had built a weapon capable enough to cause mass destruction. So now, Noah had to attend the baby shower, search for the arrows and deal with the dwarves.

"Noah," The door slowly creaked open, revealing Alicia's perfect slender figure. She gracefully strolled into the room with an alluring smile.

"What is it?" Noah raised his head and was stunned by the beauty of his wife. She looked angelic in the cable light, making his heartbeat rise. As much as Noah liked to focus on the ancient texts, his wife looked too beautiful for him to ignore. He stood up from his chair and stepped closer to her.

"Is it me or you look gorgeous today?" asked Noah as he slowly wrapped his arm around Alicia's slender waist.

"I think you're being extra cheesy right now," Alicia chuckled but didn't wiggle herself out of his hold. Instead, she moved closer. They could feel each other's warm breath. Their noses brushed together as Alicia's cheek slowly turned rosy red.

"Hammond is waiting for you downstairs. You should meet him," said Alicia.

"Did you have any problem rescuing him?" asked Noah. Ever since Alicia had a close encounter with Ghost, Noah had been keeping an eye on Alicia. She was one of the lucky ones who messed with the Dark Lord and lived to tell tales. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Peter. What happened to Peter was indeed tragic, and Alicia was partially blamed for his death. Even some of the Belefort family members blamed Alicia for Peter's death and didn't dare to speak against Ghost, who actually killed him. It was easy for them to hate Alicia than speak a word against the Dark Lord. Like it or not, Alicia made an enemy out of Ghost, and Noah would do anything to keep her safe from him. That was the reason why Noah avoided sending Alicia to dangerous missions.

"No. But if I didn't know you better, I would say you are trying to keep me away from him. You know his people are everywhere," said Alicia.

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"That's because corrupting and buying people is easier than we think. I cannot do this without you, Alicia,"

"You won't lose me, Noah. I am not going to go behind your back and try to track down the Dark Lord anymore. But remember your promise. You have to avenge my brother. When the time comes, you need to put those arrows in him and end this play once and for all," said Alicia. Noah shared everything with Alicia except the fact there were replicas of the arrows, which held no power.

"I will stop him one way or another," Noah still had second thoughts about killing the Dark Lord. Something deep down blocked Noah from wanting to kill Ghost despite everything he had done. But Noah knew one day, when he and Ghost meet on a battlefield, one of their deaths would be inevitable.

"I will hold you to your words. Now go," Alicia gave Noah a peck on the cheek before wiggling out of his hold. Then, Noah walked out of the room, climbing down the stairs to meet Hammond. After climbing down the redwood stairs, Noah came before a door flanked by silver armored guardians.

"Supreme Guardian,"

The soldiers bowed toward Noah as they opened the door for him. Inside the room, a scrawny young man wearing round glasses was walking back and forth. Anyone could tell the young man was nervous judging by how much he sweated and trembled. The young man was tall, thin, and had curly messy brown hair. He had an aura of intelligence and genius around him. If the Han Torum dwarves knew the young man was here in the Winston manor, they would storm the place without a second thought. This young man was their goose that lays golden eggs. Granted, the dwarves were talented blacksmiths and builders, but none of them came close to Hammond. The dwarves hated Hammond's intelligence and the fact he was a human. Every weapon the dwarves built for the last two years was not theirs to begin with. They belonged to Hammond. He designed them while the dwarves just built them according to Hammond's specifics.

"You must be Noah Winston," Hammond said, trembling nervously.

"I am Hammond, Hammon Beltrow. You must know that. I am sorry. How could you not? You are the Supreme Guardian. You know everything," Hammond blabbered nonstop as Noah patted him on the shoulder with a smile to calm him down.

"Relax. Take a deep breath. You are safe here,"

"Okay, okay, okay. I'll stop talking and start breathing. Ooh ahhhh ooo ahhh," Hammond started to inhale heavily and exhale as Noah led him to the wooden table. He made Hammond it on, and he sat on the other facing Hammond.

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"I hope your journey here was pleasant, except for the part where we had to break down your place and knock out a few dwarves. Sorry about that,"

"Well, I am thankful for your rescue. Those dwarves were crazy. I've been held hostage for two long years," Hammond stuttered. Noah felt bad for Hammond and wished he had learned about him sooner.

"I never wanted my inventions to be used as weapons. But all that the dwarves wanted was more weapons. Weapons that could destroy the elves and their precious empire," Hammond began to blabber once again as Noah flicked his wrist, retrieving a pale yellow pill from his space ring.

"Here, take this. It will calm your nerves and help you rel-"

Noah didn't even finish his sentence when Hammond snatched the pill and swallowed it like a hungry puppy. The pill melted down into Hammond's mouth and in a few seconds, his face regained the natural rosiness. He seemed more relaxed, loosened up, and stopped shaking.

"What can you tell me about this new weapon the dwarves have been bragging about?" Noah asked Hammond.

"It is not a weapon," Hammond raised his voice. He genuinely seemed angry and upset that Noah thought his invention was a weapon.

"I am sorry,"

"It is okay," Noah calmed him down.

"Tell me more about it so I can stop the dwarves before they auction your invention to the highest bidder,"

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"That cannot happen. You have to stop it. You must stop it," Noah was surprised that Hammond had started to sweat and tremble again, regardless of the pill he just took. It meant one thing, Hammond was so close to having either a heart attack or a panic attack. Therefore, Noah had to give him another pill to calm his nerves.

Just like before, Hammond devoured the second pill in a blink of an eye.

"My inventions are not weapons. They are meant to help people who cannot use fancy mancy magic stuff. Do you know how hard it is for us, those who cannot cultivate to higher stages, to get simple tasks done?" Hammond questioned Noah. Gods played a cruel trick on Hammond's life by giving him over-the-top intelligence to build almost anything and taking away his ability to cultivate. He was just at the Arch sensing stage five, and there was no possibility for Hammond to level up. The only good thing that happened in Hammond's life was he ended up in the empress's many orphanages throughout her empire. He grew up with elves and other orphan humans. It was in the orphanage where Hammond learned to build, design, and nurture his talents. Once he reached the age of thirteen, Hammond built simple devices for the empress's army and earned enough coins to travel the world as he had always dreamed of. At that time, no one fully realized Hammond's talents.

"I built everything to help people, not harm them," Hammond stuttered.

"I understand. A sword can be used to cut weeds and heads. It depends on who holds it. I have no doubt you didn't want to harm anyone. But those dwarves, they are organizing a backside auction to sell your latest invention to the highest bidder,"

Hammond sighed heavily,

"It was meant to send messages across kingdoms and even continents using energy waves. Atleast, that's what I designed it for initially until the dwarves forced me to make some terrible changes. You know the dwarves see destruction in everything. They are consumed by their hatred toward the elves,"

"As much as I'd like to hear more about your invention, I want to know more about what kind of changes you made and what it could do,"

Hammond hesitated for a moment. He opened and closed his mouth.

"You have to tell me. We still have time to fix this," Noah reassured Hammond. And when Hammond looked like he was about to give Noah a lecture on the intricacy of his invention and all the scholarly stuff, Noah rephrased his words.

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"Use simple terms, okay? I am not a brainiac like you,"

"How do I put this simply?" Hammond rubbed his chin, simplifying everything in his mind so Noah could understand. After a brief moment of pondering, Hammond finally constructed his sentence.

"The device I built, it could destroy anyone's organs inside if they were exposed to the energy waves long enough. No defense spell or runes will save you. These energy waves will ignore everything and melt your organs inside,"