The morning was snowy. Snow drifted through the skies and landed on the ground. A young man in a long coat appeared in front of a holographic street sign in a street lined by several mansions. The holographic street sign had some words on it. It read, Grimwood District ahead.

A snowflake fell on the young man’s pale face. This young man was naturally Kailen.

Several transcendents were passing by, headed towards different directions, chatter lingering in the air.

"Man, I really miss my wife. This snow brings back memories. I should be returning to the edge region of the universe to see my family. It’s been a hundred years since I last saw them," someone said, chatting away with his friend.

"I know, right?" His friend sighed. "I personally haven’t seen my parents in a long time. Perhaps I should visit them soon."

Another person added, "Seriously, I could use a vacation. I heard the light region of the universe has some nice vacation spots. I could just pass there and chill for a bit, blend in, maybe even find a girlfriend and while away for a few hundred years?"

"Heh, as lecherous as ever, you bastard."

"Give me a break. Anyway, have you heard about the vimodials they say are lurking in our district?"

"Seriously? Have the law enforcement agency of the district not dealt with them?"

"Not really. No one knows why. According to the law enforcement agency of the district, they are proving very difficult to track."

"Vimodials destroyed my home planet in the edge region of the universe. They absorbed the life force of everyone, including my wife and children, and even absorbed the life force of the world core. I hate them with everything in me."

"I see. That explains why you are so lecherous. You don’t have a wife and children anymore. So you while away whoring around, huh?"

"Dude. Is that all you picked from everything he said? We should be comforting him."

"Don’t worry. I’m alright. But anyway, this whole thing with these vimodials in the district seems so suspicious. I feel like there is something larger at play here."

"Seriously. You and your sharp instincts. But you have a point. The law enforcement agency of our district saying the vimodials are difficult to track sounds too suspicious. After all, they’ve been tracking these vimodials for some years. Anyway, let’s mind our own business."

"Yeah."

Realization flickered through Kailen’s eyes. He had been listening to the conversation of the group of four heading towards the Grimwood District. He had found some leads.

"The Law Enforcement Agency has something suspicious about them, huh. That person has a point. The law enforcement agency of the Grimwood district should naturally have some vimodial detection artifacts. Even if the district is very large, with their capabilities, they should be able to track down the vimodials if they have been trying to locate them for a couple of years," Kailen thought.

"It seems I will have to monitor the Law Enforcement Agency of the Grimwood District for some clues. I can’t risk it by looking for information from intelligence organizations in their district. If the Grimwood District LEA is involved, they could have bribed the intelligence organizations to keep things a secret."

Kailen headed towards the Grimwood District, following the path the group that had been chatting earlier followed, alongside several others heading there.

Very soon, there were no buildings. There were only trees and forests lining the road. Kailen saw several skyscrapers far from his location.

It was obvious that crossing this forest would lead him to the Grimwood District.

Very soon, Kailen arrived in the Grimwood District.

The place was not too different from the Castellan District. It was just that there were a lot of trees here. This was why it was called Grimwood District.

On arriving, a glint flashed through Kailen’s eyes. Kailen had activated the Principle of Space from when he left the Castellan District.

He knew someone had been following him. The person was a Rank 2 novice-stage transcendent. An assassin.

The assassin had used the Principle of Darkness to mask their presence. She had blended quietly into the background.

Kailen was certain that if he didn’t have the Principle of Space, it would have been difficult to notice the person.

Kailen walked into an alleyway, away from public eyes. He wanted to deal with the assassin quietly. Also, walking into the alleyway would draw the assassin out to attack him because she would think it was a quiet place and she could covertly eliminate him.

Kailen also wanted to ask her who had sent her before he killed her. He had tried using emotional resonance earlier to glean her thoughts from her facial expressions as he observed her earlier. But he got nothing. He had to ask her directly.

The moment Kailen walked into the alleyway, the assassin realized she had to seize the opportunity to attack. The money the client was offering her for this bounty would be enough to help her hire a light transcendent to heal her boyfriend’s wounds, after all. This fellow had to die for that to happen.

The assassin shot several tendrils of darkness laced with sharp arrow tips towards Kailen. The tendrils touched empty space as Kailen simply melded with the void and reappeared behind her.

"He knew my location all along?" she thought.

However, she was an assassin for a reason. She kept her cool. Her figure flashed as she reappeared several meters away from the target in the alleyway.

Wait... A flicker of surprise flashed across her human face, fox tail spasming with caution. How did he know her location when she used the Principle of Darkness to hide herself so well... Was the information wrong? Was he not supposed to be a Rank 1 novice-stage transcendent? Had he broken through to the Rank 2 novice-stage transcendent level?

It seemed she had to go all out. Five extremely large arrows conjured with the Principle of Darkness shot towards Kailen. Kailen melded with the void and reappeared before her as her attack touched empty space again.

He simply pointed his left index finger, which had a very small ethereal hue on it, forward. The void rippled and twisted. The index finger with the very small ethereal hue seemed to peer through the void and appear right on the forehead of the assassin. She didn’t even know when the attack appeared on her forehead. It was as if the target had never moved. The way he had attacked was so strange, yet profound.

Panic spread through her as her forehead seemed to be bending inwards unnaturally the moment the index finger with the small ethereal hue appeared on her forehead.

"You have two options now. I give you a quick death if you tell me who sent you," Kailen said calmly, voice casual "Or you refuse to tell me who sent you and I still kill you anyway in the most gruesome way possible, and send your dead body to your wounded boyfriend."