—


    Ezra and Kieran looked into each other eyes, finding an unusual amount of attractive traits in each other before Kieran’s lips curved into a soft smile. “You know you’re rushing it, right? You have to grasp the flow, not force the flow.”


    “I didn’t force it that much. You’re exaggerating it,” Ezra muttered while averting her gaze. Her hand pressed against Kieran’s chest to provide additional support, even though she realized his firm grasp was enough to keep her from falling.


    An amused light shed in Kieran’s eyes. “Really? Is that so? If that’s the case, why did you tumble like that? Could you have been born with two left feet?”


    “You—!” Ezra’s eyes widened as Kieran teased her because of this slight mistake.


    A few secondster, Kieran hoisted Ezra to her feet and shook his head. “You’re making tremendous headway, but forcing it will only ruin the quality of your aplishments. Take a look around.”


    Ezra panned her gaze to see everyone engrossed in learning the el Shift stepping technique. Even Altair, whose progress didn’t fall too far behind her own, continued refining his understanding of el Shifting without moving on to Surge Stepping.


    Luna analyzed Altair’s movement and understood the gist of what he did but also kept Kieran’s advice to Ezra in mind. After all, Luna was a woman as well. She grasped the same advantages and disadvantages as Ezra.


    “I guess you’re right,” Ezra meekly admitted. Kieran’s excellent execution drove Ezra to seek his level of adroit application.


    “You’re a Titled Ranker. Take pride in that and make your best decision. Don’t blindly follow behind me.” Kieran replied. Afterward, he pointed to his side. “Even my right-hand man, Altair, is only extracting a trace amount of my style to create a unique movement. Notice how his arms move when he is shifting.”


    “Now that you mention it… isn’t he trying to apply the eleration to his attacks? As an Assassin, if he aplishes such a feat, his weapon skill will be frightening and almost unpredictable to any yer below his skill level,” Ezramented as her eyes sparkled with realization._.


    Kieran could perform this technique. However, he never revealed it to the party. After all, applying any of the drives to attacks was several times moreplex than applying it to movement.


    The omnidirectional movement of many countless muscles made them difficult to manipte. Grasping the time to control each motion to align to the user’s desires was akin to catching hundreds of tennis balls within fractions of a second.


    One’s concentration would have to be split an innumerable amount of times.


    Only someone whose mind has stepped beyond human limitations could aplish a deeper application of the Drive Techniques. Furthermore, the stepping methods weren’tplete. Kieran had yet to introduce some of the more frightening ones.


    The reason why he didn’t do so was that he couldn’t do so.


    ‘Thankfully, there isn’t a need for any of those stepping methods. However, it will appear in the future, and I have to prepare for it,’ Kieran inwardly thought.


    Since everyone was engrossed in learning the el Shift, Kieran took the time to train Ezra exclusively while also talking to her.


    “Wrong! See, you failed again. Your feet aren’t in the right position. They’re crossing over when you try to take the decisive step.”


    “Incorrect. You’re leaning too much. The angle is important, but you’re ovepensating.”


    “No, no, no. Your feet need to grasp the earth firmly; otherwise, your bnce will be thrown into disarray. Ten more times.”


    A series of corrections sounded from Kieran as Ezra groaned frustratedly. Kieran’s correction and error indications were even more meticulous than most world-ss trainers she trained with.


    “Aatrox! I need a break. This is exhausting,” Ezra panted.


    She swiped some sweat off her forehead and fanned her leather top. Because training with light armor inside an arid desert wasn’t ideal, Ezra unequipped her armor, leaving the soft leather underneath.


    “Oh? Is that all the Guild Master of Eclipse’s stamina amounts to?” Kieran crossed his arms with a smug smile.


    Ezra pursed her lips while ring at Kieran. “You’re teasing me again! Also, I’ll have you know I’m the older one in this situation. I should be disciplining you!?”


    “Oh? How do you figure that’s the case?”


    “I am 28 years old,” Ezra hugged her bust with a confident smile while gazing back at Kieran. “And you?”


    “Ahem,” Kieran coughed and answered under his breath.


    “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Ezra leaned closer.


    “I said I am 20 years old!”


    “Right! So essentially, I’m the elder sister here. You aren’t running things here, mister.”


    “Oh, but on the contrary, you enlisted my help. So, age aside, I am undoubtedly in charge,” Kieran countered.


    His rebuttal quieted Ezra’s argument. However, Kieran wasn’t being serious anyhow.


    “If you’re exhausted, then we take a break. After all, you’re the only one who has been brave enough to begin withpound Technique training from the start.”


    “How considerate of you. If you continue treating me so eloquently, I may fall for you,” Ezra giggled.


    However, Kieran fell silent and didn’t respond to thisment. Why? Because the young man was a stranger to love. Due to how much time, effort, and resources he devoted to Zenith Online in the past, Kieran’s personal life was an unfortunate price.


    While he had asional rtions with females of high status, there was rarely any emotion involved. It was only to satisfy his carnal desires and keep his mind clear.


    Thus, Kieran didn’t know how to react to Ezra’sment.


    Ezra noticed his silence and blinked her watery and alluring crimson eyes. “Is there something wrong, Aatrox?”


    “Not really,” Kieran quickly answered. “I have a question.”


    “What?”


    “Would you be interested in an alliance?” Kieran proposed.


    “Alliance,” Ezra gave a bitter smile. “I may be the Guild Master of Eclipse, but I don’t have the power to make decisions that could drastically impact the fate of the guild. I’d have to request approval first—”


    “And… because I don’t hail from a reputed administration, it’s likely the request will be denied,” Kieran finished before falling into deep thought.


    Ezra softly chewed her lip in concern. “Is there something that worries you? While enlisting the guild to help, it may be possible to use some connection to appease whatever problems you face.”


    “It’s not an insurmountable problem, per se. But, I have enemies—the Sunset Triad and Shadow Cartel. As you know, they’re invested in the Underworld, so there’s a chance they may gather help from strong guilds that act from within the Underworld.”


    “Underworld?” Erza’s frown deepened after hearing this name. “You must watch out for the Warhead Syndicate, Dominators, and Oblivion. All three of these guilds operate within this empire.”


    ‘Wow… so Eclipse had alreadypiled so much information on other guilds? This is the worth of having established connections—rapid information transit.


    Kieran gave a subtle nod before falling into deep thought. ‘If I’m not mistaken, Dominators and Oblivion are sister first-ss guilds that operate under the Overlord Guild, Umbra. Warhead Syndicate is a subsidiary of Dominators. This is all such a headache.’


    While teamwork wasn’t practiced inside the Underworld, operating for the sake of immense profit was. If many guilds based out of the Underworld smelled the blood of a bleeding cash cow, they’d want to sink their fangs into the helpless treasure trove.


    Although Kieran was only one person, the constant appearance of his name had generated the idea that he possessed valuable items, items that could perhaps help any guild be the overlord of their region.


    “It’s a long shot, but it may be our only hope. I’ll use my name and not my identity as Eclipse’s Guild Master to see if this is true. However, this is all spection right now. We don’t know if first-ss guilds will truly move against you,” Ezra said.


    “If that happens and there is no one I can rely on,” Kieran turned his head toward the distance, looking upon the Desert of Treacherous Sands with a deste expression. “I’ll have to create the desired oue with my own two hands.”


    Ezra quietly gazed at Kieran, but at that moment, she sensed the demeanor of a man who could stand with even the greatest of Overlords. A man who could shake the very ground they walked upon.


    ‘Is it all in my mind? Or… am I taking a fancy to this young man? There’s no way he’sparable to those inhuman people, right?’


    Ezra had no way of verifying her inquiries, so she remained seated and resumed training with Kieran afterward. This cycle repeated until Kieran noted how much time had passed.


    “Everyone—” Kieran said, gathering the party’s attention. “We’ll wrap up our training session here and continue moving. If we aren’t careful, darkness will set while we’re inside the Desert of Treacherous Sands. And, judging by its name, it’s not somewhere we want to be at nighttime.”


    “Let’s get a move on then! I’m ready to smash some brigands!” Nemean eximed.


    A newfound vigor filled his body after experiencing this training. It was difficult for him to describe the sensation, but he felt excited to learn of his new gains.


    Kieran agreed with Nemean’s emotion. “Very well.”


    The party of 10 soon boarded the caravan and traveled past this desert area where sand beast innards were strewn about.


    Three hourster, the team arrived before the Desert of Treacherous Sand’s border.