Sin's eyes immediately widened, his eyebrows furrowing aggressively.
"W-what?" He felt his heart sink into his stomach, and all the air in his lungs suddenly leave him, making him feel as limp as a noodle.
At the same moment, Dreli's orb glew in a bright green aura.
"Please remove your hand. Congratulations, you have a B-Grade Spirit Energy affinity," the associate in front of the young man said in a low tone.
"Hahaha! I knew it!" Dreli laughed as he and his friends felt a breath of relief flush through them.
He turned to face Sin, who was currently speechless.
"Look at that! Of course, I would have a far superior affinity!" He turned around, "I saw all of those looks on your faces a second ago... don't think I'm dumb! I saw how you all thought he would have a better affinity than me... this idiot... this stupid, entitled little spoiled rich kid!"
Several eyes focused in on Dreli as he spoke: "Let this be an example to all of you out there... even though I come from a noble family, it is a failing one in my eyes! Neither one of my pathetic parents had a Spirit Energy affinity above D-Grade. I have singlehandedly revived the reputation of my family due to my elite talents and hard work! And then there are people like this stupid bastard here... a damn fool flaunting around his expensive clothing and thinking he has a chance at the real world. That's not how it works! Just because you probably hail from a rich family, with a loving mother and father who had good affinities, and everyone in your life supporting you, doesn't mean you yourself are going to be successful--"
*BANG*
Dreli suddenly felt a powerful blunt force smash against the center of his face.
Immediately, his nose was crushed, and his eyes rolled back into the back of his head.
And just like that, it was lights out for the poor guy after one solid punch from Sin.
"You don't fucking know me," Sin muttered under his breath as Dreli fell back onto the floor like a ragdoll.
Looking up, he faced the rest of Dreli's alarmed crew, who now had their guards up.
"You are all lucky..." Sin paused, slowly walking toward the exit behind Dreli's friends as they gulped loudly, anticipating what the young man was going to say.
"I have to... shit." Sin suddenly turned and sprinted out of the guild at full speed.
"H-hey!" Some lackeys decided to chase after him, but a couple stayed back to tend to Dreli.
"He's talented... but I must admit, he's a damn fool," one said as he knelt next to the unconscious young man.
...
It didn't take Sin long to blend back into the crowd and lose the lackeys trailing after him.
After making it far enough away and catching his breath, Sin walked into a long and dark alleyway with balled fists and a pissed-off look on his face.
"What the hell does he know about me? Stupid motherfucker. He got lucky because he was born with some talent in a talentless family. At least he has a family to speak of."
He was facing the ground as he walked, not paying attention to what was going on in front of him.
*Tik tik tik*
A stone bounced across the old stone bricks on the ground, arriving at Sin's feet before stopping.
He looked up, his eyes widening with slight surprise.
"There you are..." A round young man said, a smug look on his face. He was wearing clothing that resembled that of a kings. Expensive cloth, with patterns sewn from sparkling threads. His body was reinforced with fat from his head down to his feet.
He resembled a potato, except in human form.
Light footsteps trudded behind Sin, causing him to look past his shoulder and see two men who looked like mercenaries slowly block his exit.
Looking back in front of him, two more men dressed in leather armor dropped down from the roofs above.
They landed right in front of the well-dressed young man, unsheathing their daggers.
Sin heard the ones behind him do the same.
Immediately, Sin's expression morphed. The anger in his eyes left and was replaced with an extremely cautious, almost nonchalant look.
His eyes trailed the naked young man in front of him. The potato didn't look to be older than 19.
The fat in his arms and belly jiggled as he took a few steps forward, snarling like a pig before addressing Sin: "You... you are the most fortunate person I have ever met."
Sin didn't say anything. Instead, his eyes darted around, 'These guys are probably too strong. Best way to deal with this is to escape... but from where?'
"You probably have no clue how expensive the the clothing that you have on your filthy body right now is... and you most certainly have no clue of its valuable traits! To have survived this long in my noble clothes... you are indeed lucky! But that luck ends now..." The fatty looked to be shaking with rage as he looked down at his hands and feet.
"To humiliate me like this... you will pay. Death... will be a gift for you. No... you won't be allowed to die. For each living day you have left, you will be tortured. Tortured until you--"
"Enough, you fat fuck." Sin finally had enough, "Who the hell even are you anyway? If you want your clothes back, I'll give 'em to ya'. Just stop threatening me."
"Who am I!? You really don't know? Have you been living under a rock for the past five years!?"
"Kind of..."
"W-what!? Silence your stupid remarks! I am Agneil Surfigous, heir to the Surfigous family!"
Sin's expression was unamused at best, prompting the fat young man to continue.
"The Surfigous family is the second in line to the Surfin family, who currently hold lordship over this entire city of Solstar! Do you get it now? How fucked you are!?"
"Like I said... stop threatening me," Sin exclaimed in a low tone, his eyes still searching for an escape as his mind raced with possibilities.
"Huh? Why should I? Are you too scared or something? I don't give a damn about you! I hold the power in this situation!"
"Scared?" Sin raised a brow, "I just don't want you to piss me off and make me risk my life by beating your ass right now." His head raised, his chin angled closer to the sky.
Agneil paused for a few seconds. Finally, he whispered, "Enough..." With his voice seething with hatred, "Enough of this bullshit! You all, kill him!"
Sin exhaled, 'I wasted too much time... I'll have to fight now. Tsk. Whatever... it's fine. This fat bastard deserves a few slaps to the face.' He couldn't help but smirk.
*Seeeo*
A sharp noise ripped through the air behind him. Sin quickly ducked down as the sharp point of a knife flew past his head.
The knife clattered against a wall before rattling onto the floor.
Sin turned, smiling, "Heh... there goes your weapon," he said to the mercenary rushing at him with balled fists.
The mercenary scoffed, "You don't have one either, brat!" He reached back and threw a punch at Sin's face.
"Who says a knife is my weapon?" Sin remarked, raising his left arm and stopping the incoming punch with ease.
The force of Sin's hand caused the mercenary to be taken aback, 'How is he so... strong?' He couldn't move his hand at all, no matter how hard he tried.
He suddenly felt Sin's grip squeeze tightly around his fist like a hydraulic press. A few cracks and pops sounded before the mercenary exclaimed in agony.
"Argggh!!"
His forearm was suddenly twisted and dislocated.
Sin cocked his right arm back and released a devastating blow right into the mercenary's face.
*SPLOTCH*
The man's nose was crushed on impact, sounding like a watermelon being smashed by a rock. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell to his knees and then face-planted on the ground.
Before Sin could make another move, a dagger slashed at his face from the side.
He leaned back, grabbing the arm in front of him and chopping the elbow joint.
"Ack!" the mercenary exclaimed with pain as he dropped his dagger.
Sin clenched his fist again to throw a punch but noticed a flurry of footsteps quickly approaching him from behind.
The two other mercenaries thrust their daggers at Sin's back in an X shape, coming mere inches from his clothing.
'They are too close!' Sin quickly mused, immediately driving the strength of his body into his legs before leaping directly up into the air.
The mercenaries missed, their balance offset as they stumbled forward.
Sin dropped back down, grabbing both of their heads before smashing them into each other with a resounding clap.
The two fell down, unconscious. Before their heads reached the ground, however, Sin smashed his fist into the center of their faces one last time.
He finally stood, turning to face the final mercenary whose weapon had already been disarmed. His expression was fearsome.
The mercenary instinctually took a step back, his hands and feet shaking all of a sudden.
'No... he's way too strong. I didn't know this was going to happen.' His eyes strayed over to his fallen brothers, who looked unrecognizable at this moment.
"What are you doing!?" Agneil screamed from afar, "Attack him! He is right in front of you! Did I hire you for nothing!?"
The mercenary's confidence didn't seem to be restored by this speech whatsoever.
"S-screw that... screw you, you fat swine! You think I'm willing to die over a few silver coins!? I'm out of here!" The mercenary turned before sprinting out of the alleyway, his arm swinging with a limp beside him.
Finally, Sin turned to face Agneil.
The fatty began walking forward, which took Sin aback slightly.
"Oh? Are you accepting defeat?" he said mockingly.
Agneil scoffed, "Pfft! Don't think you have defeated me just because you beat up some useless bumpkins..."
"What? Are you saying you are even stronger than them?"
"Of course I am!" Agneil immediately responded, "I only hired them because I don't like fighting... it's far too tiresome. But since I have to now... I'll teach you myself what it means to truly be strong."
"Is that right?" Sin said, cracking his neck.
"Hmph... you must think you are somebody now because you took down these idiots... but don't bluff too much. You were fighting seriously just now, and you never used any Spirit even once."
Sin's eyes narrowed, 'I wouldn't say I was going all out... but I definitely wasn't holding back a ton.'
He then spoke: "So what? Is it so weird to not use Spirit Energy? After all, your goons didn't use it either when they were fighting me."
Hearing this, Agneil's face contorted into a smug expression, "Oh... you really have no clue, do you? What hole did you even crawl out of? You fool... one out of a thousand humans is born without any Spirit Energy. And those mercenaries... they actually were using Spirit. It's just that you couldn't see it, which makes sense, since you have none at all! It also explains why you thought you could steal that high grade clothing without any consequences."
Sin's eyebrows furrowed inwards with confusion, 'One in every thousand? No... he has to be lying. Surely... my misfortune isn't so rare.'
"Who's to say..." Sin began to speak, "Who's to say you aren't the one who's bluffing? None of what you are saying even makes sense. And even if I couldn't see the damn Spirit Energy, I should have been able to feel it in their attacks."
"Wrong! Their Spirit Energy was concentrated into their weapons. These daggers are Spirit Daggers, albeit, of the lowest grade variety. Still, they were infused with Spirit from the beginning. You disarmed them, of course you couldn't feel the Spirit!"
Sin clenched his jaw as he heard these frustrating words.
'So... after all these years, you are telling me that my physical training has been for nothing? That I am nothing but an exceptionally rare failure?' He gritted his teeth, grinding them back and forth with anger.
"No... I'm not going to accept that. There's no way I have done all of this just to--"
Sin's words were short-lived.
With a flick of Agneil's wrist, over a dozen iron spikes summoned from the floor and walls around Sin.
They thrust out with force, stabbing throughout all of Sin's body at once in a vicious explosion of blood.
Agneil snarled with a condescending look, "Surely you didn't think that a random peasant like you could stumble into a large city like Solstar and be anything more than a pile of rubbish along the street..."