The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Out of Isaac's first 4 choices, all of them would be great for his team. They were all good in combat and also possessed a set of auxiliary skills which would help in other areas. However, Isaac felt there was one standout candidate.

Hayden Stromberg was supposedly extremely skilled with the Ice Shield Anima. He also had incredible survival skills, and there was a story about him surviving a whole week in the wild with no supplies. That might not sound like a big deal, but Northern Tundra had the harshest environment out of the 4 continents. It was filled with dangerous animals, had disastrous weather, and was incredibly difficult to navigate through. Surviving a week in Northern Tundra was harder than surviving a week in the desert, so it was quite an achievement.

Other than that, there was another rumour saying Hayden had come 9th in the trials. Isaac could confirm this was true, since he'd written down the names of everyone who placed in the top 20. Somebody with Hayden's skillset would be a welcome addition to Isaac's team, so he decided to recruit Hayden first.

However, he had limited information about Hayden's location. The only thing written in the notebook was about a fight he had been in. He'd used his ice shield to batter 3 people who tried to rob him. According to the report, the fight had happened in one of alleyways which connected streets 8 and 9 in block 3 of the newcomer accommodation.

Isaac realised that this was near his house. In fact, it was only a few streets away.

Isaac wondered why Hayden might go through that street. He either lived nearby, was visiting someone who lived nearby, or was just passing through. Isaac quickly removed the last possibility. There was no need to pass through the newcomer accommodation if you were headed for the market, the Adventurers' Hall, or any of the other important places in the sect.

The only thing in that area was the accommodation itself, so Hayden must've been going home or to somebody else's house. That gave Isaac a good chance of finding Hayden in that area.

Thinking this, he decided to go to the street in question. He left his house and walked down a few streets. It took less than 5 minutes to reach the street mentioned in the notebook.

When he was there, Isaac decided he needed some more information.

'If Hayden or one of his friends lives near here, the other residents might recognise him. I can try asking around to see if anyone knows where he lives.'

Isaac wanted to try a bit of door-to-door questioning. He walked up to the house on the corner of the street and knocked on the door. A minute later, it was opened by a woman with a frown etched across her face,

"Whadda you want?"

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you knew or had seen a man named Hayden Stromberg? He's got raven black eyes and hair, is somewhere between 5'6 and 5'8 tall, and usually wears a white coat made from arctic fox fur."

"Whatever, man. Quit wastin' my time."

The woman tried to shut the door in Isaac's face, but he used his foot to stop her closing it. Then he grabbed the edge of the door and wrenched it wide open. The woman had no time to react as Isaac created a spirit sword and pointed it directly at her.

She was shocked at this sudden turn of events and the curse she was about to utter caught in her throat.

"Answer the question."

Isaac spoke in a low, menacing voice. He'd only started out polite since he was asking for some help. However, the woman just took his courteousness as a sign that he was weak – in the world of cultivation, the strong went where they wanted, they did what they wanted, and they took what they wanted. If you had to ask politely for something, it was a sign you weren't strong enough to take it with your own 2 hands.

Therefore, many people tried to walk on those who were kind and polite. The woman didn't expect Isaac to do anything after she rejected him. She had mistaken him for a kind, polite person who would accept it and leave peacefully. However, Isaac was not a kind person. He was only polite since he felt that would make people more likely to help him, but since that failed, he would simply resort to violence.

As usual, the most direct approach was also the most effective. The woman opened her mouth and began giving Isaac some answers,

"Okay, okay! Calm down man, I dunno anyone like that. People pass by here every day, I dun' remember all of 'em."

It was clear the woman didn't fear Isaac. She only answered because answering Isaac was easier than fighting him, but that didn't mean she would cooperate fully. For all Isaac knew, she could be lying about never seeing Hayden so he would leave and not bother her with more questions.

"I'm not here to play games. If you give me an honest answer, I'll just leave."

"I'm tellin' the truth – either I ain't seen him or I jus' don't remember him. I got no reason ta lie to ya, so can get rid of the sword and back off?"

Isaac thought about it for a moment.

'Perhaps she really hasn't seen Hayden... could my guess be wrong? Was he really just passing through this area? No, that's unlikely. There's no reason to pass through here unless you either live here or are visiting someone that does. If she doesn't recognise Hayden, he probably doesn't come here that often, so he probably doesn't live here. It's more likely that he comes here infrequently, probably visiting someone... but who would he visit?

'He wouldn't be visiting a friend: we got to pick our residences, so he probably lives right next to all his friends. If he's coming over here to visit somebody, it's probably a person he met after we chose our residences – someone he met after becoming a formal disciple. He also brought his hunting loot with him when he visited them, which means he trusts them not to steal it. But how could he trust someone he only met recently? Besides, this is a Blood Path Sect; you can't trust the people you've known for years, let alone somebody you met a month ago! Why would you do that? It just doesn't make sense! Unless... maybe he joined a team already!'

There needed to be a good amount of trust between teammates, so this was the only plausible answer Isaac could think of. Hayden must've just returned from a solo-hunt and was coming to meet up with his teammates when he got ambushed here. Then he defeated his ambushers and went on to his teammate's house.

After solving this minor mystery, Isaac asked the woman another question,

"Are there any notable teams based around here?"

"Will you leave me alone if I answer?"

"Yes."

"There's three main teams 'round here: Erik Baldur's team, Soren Arne's team – I think they call themselves the Silverhawks or summin' stupid like that – and Ingrid Fjelde's team."

Isaac had never heard of the last 2, but he definitely recognised Erik's name. He'd been in the same trial as Erik and they'd had a couple of run-ins, but they'd barely met each other after that. However, he knew Erik had done extremely well in the academy and was one of the most successful new disciples. Just as Isaac was renowned for his skill with the sword, Erik was known for his extreme talent in hand-to-hand combat.

Any team formed by Erik Baldur was sure to be an extraordinary team, and an outstanding cultivator such as Hayden would fit right in. Therefore, Isaac was sure he had joined Erik, instead of teaming up with one of those other nobodies.

"Do you know where anyone in Erik's team lives?"

"Didn't ya promise to leave if I answered that question?"

Isaac slightly lowered his sword as he said,

"This is the last question. Just answer it."

"Haaah... I dunno about his team, but Erik's a high-profile guy. He lives just 3 doors down from here... Oh! Now that ya mention it, I kinda remember this guy with a white fur coat always going in there. I think... he usually came from that direction? I ain't sure tho."

The woman pointed down the street to her left. Then Isaac deactivated his Spirit Sword Anima and the sword in his hand vanished. He dropped his guard a little, just about to thank the woman.

"Ahhh!"

The woman leapt forwards and Isaac jolted back, trying to dodge her sudden lunge. He created a new spirit sword and was about to slash towards her, but then he stopped.

"Ahahaha! Hahahaha... *Cough* *Cough* Ahahaha!"

The woman was standing there, laughing.

"Tha look on yer face was priceless. Priceless I tell ya! Just take it as payback for wastin' all my time wit' stupid questions."

Isaac didn't pay her antics any mind. She'd given him what he needed, so she could mess around however she wanted – Isaac couldn't care less about her. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry: he was about to steal Erik's teammate.

Isaac walked in the direction the woman had pointed. He walked down the street for about 3 minutes before coming to a stop and knocking on another door.

"Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you knew or had seen a man named Hayden Stromberg? …"

Isaac repeated the same spiel he'd given the first woman, but the person in this house was much more helpful. They knew exactly who Hayden was and Isaac didn't need to threaten them to get some answers. In fact, they told Isaac exactly where Hayden lived.

1 minute later, Isaac was standing outside Hayden's door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*