The Red Adventure Team, returning to Blueish City, found themselves suddenly surrounded but not by a group, just a lone figure clad in a black cloak, his identity concealed beneath the shadows.
Before they could react, a flash of light sliced through the air. In an instant, they collapsed, hands clutching their throats, lifeless before understanding what had struck them.
Just then, the distant rumble of a carriage broke the silence, its presence disrupting the moment. The cloaked figure hesitated only for a second before swiftly vanishing, leaving the corpses untouched, as if they were never his concern.
Aaron's breath hitched as his gaze locked onto the lifeless bodies sprawled by the roadside. His black eyes widened, the initial shock giving way to a mix of emotions concern, caution, and something deeper, harder to define.
"David, stop the carriage please," his voice came firm but edged with urgency.
David flicked the reins, slowing the big horses before exchanging a glance with Auriel. Both had seen the shift in Aaron's expression unease, a fleeting shadow of something unresolved.
Auriel remained silent, but her attention sharpened, studying the scene ahead. There was something off too clean, too precise, as if the attack had been executed with chilling efficiency.
Aaron stepped off the carriage, his boots pressing into the dirt as he approached the fallen adventurers.
A flicker of memory surfaced the girl who had once invited him to join her team. He had refused, unsure, unfamiliar with them. Now, they lay lifeless, struck down before they could even react.
"Why would anyone kill them?" The question weighed heavily in his mind, but before he could dwell on it further, his gaze caught onto something a familiar backpack.
His breath hitched.
"Isn't this the one the previous owner of this body bought?"
A strange sensation crept up his spine.
"After I transmigrated into his body, I noticed the backpack was missing."
Yet here it was, resting among the fallen, like a missing puzzle piece suddenly returned.
Transmigration was Aaron's greatest secret, one he could never afford to expose not to anyone in this world.
Which meant one thing: he had to erase the evidence.
His gaze flickered toward David. "Shall we bury their bodies?"
David stepped forward, his smirk carrying a carefree edge. "Before we do that, we should check them first might just make a fortune."
Without hesitation, he began searching the corpses, his movements swift and methodical, as if looting the dead was second nature.
Aaron watched, a faint sense of unease settling in his chest. It wasn't the act itself that bothered him but the efficiency with which David carried it out.
Auriel, silent beneath her veil, neither objected nor assisted. Yet, her eyes remained locked on the scene, absorbing every detail.
"A total of six gold coins not bad earnings for a low-level adventure team," David remarked with a smirk, casually weighing the coins in his hand.
Without hesitation, he flicked two coins toward Aaron. "Here, you can have these. Consider it your share for standing around looking dramatic."
Then, pulling out a water pouch, he meticulously washed the remaining coins before handing two to Auriel. She accepted them with her usual unreadable expression, as if this was just another mundane task.
Aaron crossed his arms, shaking his head. "David, you are such a shameless opportunist."
David grinned, tossing the final two coins into his pouch. "And proud of it!"
A shiver crawled up Aaron's spine as he stared at the lifeless corpses, their vacant eyes frozen in silent witness to their final moments. An unsettling chill gnawed at his chest an unshakable reminder of how fragile life was in this world.
He exhaled sharply, pushing the feeling aside. This wasn't the time for sentiment.
Without hesitation, he opened the shop interface, fingers moving swiftly as he navigated the options.
"500 points gone in an instant."
As the purchase completed, a rush of knowledge flooded his mind, detailing the mechanics of the Earth Burial Technique. Without missing a beat, Aaron pressed his hand to the ground, feeling chakra surge through his palms.
The earth softened, rippling beneath the bodies before pulling them downward in a slow, deliberate motion. The soil compacted once more, sealing away any trace of their existence silent, undisturbed, as if they had never been there at all.
Aaron stared at the freshly settled ground, his thoughts lingering.
"Was this truly the right choice?"
Yet, deep down, he knew transmigration was a secret he could never afford to risk.
David and Auriel stood frozen, their wide eyes locked on the scene before them, unable to mask their shock.
What had just happened was beyond anything they'd ever witnessed a phenomenon that defied all logic.
Even a skilled magician, bound by conventional magic, required a wand to cast spells below Level 10. Yet Aaron? He had simply placed his hand on the ground, and as if responding to his mere touch, the earth had softened and swallowed the corpses whole.
David, still skeptical, took a step forward and pressed his boot firmly against the ground. Rock solid. As if nothing had ever disturbed it.
He exchanged a glance with Auriel, and in their shared silence lay the same realization had they not seen the corpses with their own eyes, they might have thought it was all an illusion.
David finally broke the silence, but for once, there was no smirk just genuine curiosity.
"Aaron… what are you?" His gaze sharpened. "I mean, what kind of profession lets you do that?"
Aaron held David's gaze for a moment before responding, his tone measured.
"I'm just someone trying to survive," he said, deliberately vague.
David's expression tightened. "That's not an answer." He crossed his arms. "People don't just control the earth like that not without magic, not without something more."
Auriel remained silent, but her piercing gaze lingered on Aaron, watching, analyzing, as if trying to unravel something unseen.
Aaron exhaled, leaning back slightly. "It's a technique. A different kind of power not magic, not something you'll find in your usual adventurer ranks."
David scoffed, shaking his head. "That just makes you more suspicious."
Auriel's eyes flickered with understanding, but she said nothing.