Chapter 265 – Frightening Battle Skills Pt. 1

From Suo Jia’s firm expression, Archduke Roland could tell what the current circumstances were; Suo Jia had absolutely no qualms about bringing Nicole’s siblings away with their necklaces on. Either way, Archduke Roland’s family members were also wearing the necklaces, so Suo Jia wasn’t afraid of the Archduke doing anything to him. However, Archduke Roland wasn’t at ease with leaving his family’s lives in someone else’s hands.

Archduke Roland knew that his only choices were to allow them both to control each other, or first remove the necklaces on Nicole’s siblings. Suo Jia would never agree to any other terms.

The Archduke seemed to have instantly aged quite a bit. He took a deep breath and said firmly to Suo Jia, “Alright, I’ll give some leeway. I’ll release the necklaces on the two girls first right now. However…I can’t hand everything to you. No matter what, Nicole’s brother must continue wearing that necklace!”

“No! That won’t do…that definitely won’t do!” Nicole anxiously cut in, “Anyone can become the object of persuasion except for my brother, since he’s the male successor of my family! I definitely cannot let him suffer any mishaps!”

Archduke Roland steadily looked at Suo Jia and declared, “This is already my greatest compromise. You’re an intelligent person, you should understand the reasons behind my decision. I can’t give everything to you; that would just be equivalent to selling you my whole family’s lives.”

Suo Jia smirked at this. He knew that this was already the Roland’s bottom line; he couldn’t possibly release all three children’s necklaces. If he did that, he might as well choose the first option of forcing everyone to wear necklaces.

Suo Jia smiled and nodded, replying without hesitation, “Alright, Archduke Roland. Just as you said, we’re all intelligent people here. Let’s just do as you suggested!”

Archduke Roland let out the breath he had been holding. Without bothering to waste any more time speaking, he waved his hand. Suddenly, two, glittering keys covered in magic symbols appeared in Archduke Roland’s hands.

Seeing this, Suo Jia’s eyes flashed. He quickly grabbed the two keys, and tossed them into his interspatial ring without even giving them a second glance…

“That won’t do! Suo Jia…you can’t agree to his proposal, it really isn’t acceptable!” Nicole urgently cried out as Suo Jia put the keys away.

Seeing Nicole’s intolerance, Archduke Roland said in concern, “Friend, I’ve already honored my promise. All that’s left is for you to not break yours. Otherwise, my family will be extinguished, but your family will suffer from a similar doom.”

Suo Jia smiled and said to the Archduke, “Don’t worry, no matter what, I will always abide by my words. Since I’ve agreed to your conditions already, I’ll naturally follow them. But……”

Suo Jia paused, giving ample time for Roland to feel anxious before continuing, “Shouldn’t you return all that money that you had managed to squeeze out of us?”

Archduke Roland nervously opened his mouth, but was unable to say anything. Luckily, Nicole chimed in just then, “Suo Jia, you’re mistaken…while I did hand the money over to Archduke Roland, he had to transfer it to His Majesty. Only the last 10 billion frads he asked for were for himself.”

Suo Jia started, and he turned around to ask Nicole, “In other words, your real enemy isn’t Archduke Roland at all, but the Emperor of Kaya Empire?”

Nicole dejectedly nodded and replied, “That’s right. Archduke Roland is just a substitute; the Emperor is the real culprit behind the curtains. In reality…my parents’ murder was also orchestrated by the Emperor.”

Suo Jia nodded in understanding. He finally understood what was going on, and glanced over at Archduke Roland, who couldn’t help but tense after seeing Suo Jia’s expression. He hurriedly said, “You can’t blackmail me. You can afford to lose my life, but not my wealth; you’d better not forget that. Moreover, I don’t really have much money for you to squander out from me.”

Suo Jia curled his lips, not bothering to waste anymore time on this topic. He called Nicole over to follow him outside the door. Seeing that the money wasn’t here with Archduke Roland, it was no longer necessary to stay in this place. Besides, Suo Jia was just about to embark on the Greater Trade Routes, so he didn’t care for money anymore. Moreover…he still had a lot of money in his interspatial ring.

Where had Suo Jia gotten this money? Hadn’t he used all his wealth up? In reality….before Suo Jia had left Holy Light Empire, he’d sold the recipe for the Life Potions to the dwarves. In addition, Suo Jia had gained 5x in profits from producing the potions.

Despite the fact that Suo Jia was leaving, and thus unable to keep his watch on the dwarves, Suo Jia was reassured by the dwarves’ reputations. Since the dwarves regarded honor as the most important thing in their lives, they’d never try to deceive anyone. Anyone willing to do so was absolutely not a dwarf. In the millenia long history so far, nobody had ever heard of a dwarf going back on their words. It was like how fairies were never loose in morals.

Suo Jia furrowed his brows, and all of the Archduke’s bodyguards watched as he slowly led Nicole and the three children out of the residence. Of course…the bodyguards did want to obstruct him, but after Archduke Roland cleared his throat once, nobody dared to intercept Suo Jia’s group.

After returning to the inn, Nicole remained sulky the whole time. Although the three children had been successfully rescued out, Nicole valued her younger brother the most, as he was the last male in her family. Yet her brother was still wearing the slave necklace. This was like a constant thorn stabbing deep into her heart, making her unable to calm down.

Suo Jia couldn’t help but smile at Nicole’s obvious concern. He pulled out the two keys from his interspatial ring and gently unlocked the necklaces around Nicole’s younger sisters, restoring their freedom.

Suo Jia didn’t pay any mind to Nicole’s anxiousness. He picked up the two unlocked necklaces and their keys, then entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him, without leaving again. Nobody knew what he was doing.

Currently speaking, the slave necklaces were indeed impossible to remove. But that was just at the moment, since the alchemy arts had declined. Naturally, there was no longer anyone able to master such profound skills. But long ago, these slave necklaces weren’t impossible to undo; the Atomic Alchemy Labs had been the number one expert at unlocking things!

The slave necklace was really just a lock, one that didn’t tolerate any errors. Once an attempt at opening it failed, a poisonous needle would be shot out from the inside, instantly killing the wearer. Unless one’s strength surpassed that of a Warrior Saint or Mage Saint, it was impossible to survive the attack.

However, since it was a lock, that meant there had to be a way to unlock it. If it were before, Suo Jia couldn’t have grasped the ability to unlock it either, since he didn’t know how such mechanisms functioned at all. What were the principles behind the lock, what generation product was it? Moreover, if the attempt failed, the wearer would immediately lose their life, it was an extreme risk.

But now it was different. Suo Jia had already obtained both the keys and the slave necklaces from the two girls. After a simple inspection, he was able to figure out the theory and mechanisms of the lock, which meant that he’d be able to easily remove the slave necklace from Nicole’s brother as well.

Of course, different locks required different keys to be opened. Mechanical locks required metal keys to be opened, while electronic locks didn’t even have keyholes, so what use would a metal key be?

As it was an urgent matter, Suo Jia didn’t dare to be careless. After studying it over and over again throughout the entire night…Suo Jia was finally able to completely comprehend the structure and principles behind the lock by the second morning. Now, he just need to verify whether the slave necklace that Nicole’s brother wore was the same type of magic lock as these slave necklaces.

After eating a simple breakfast, Suo Jia, Nicole, and Nicole’s siblings all gathered together. Nicole sat down in confusion and asked, “Suo Jia, is the reason you called us over so early because of the matter with the Greater Trade Routes? Don’t worry, once I make arrangements for my siblings, I’ll immediately set off with you!”

Suo Jia smiled and shook his head. He gestured at Nicole’s younger brother, motioning for him to go over. Although Nicole’s brother didn’t know what Suo Jia wanted to do, he still obediently stood up and walked up to Suo Jia. He then followed Suo Jia’s commands to unbutton his collar, exposing the necklace on his neck.

       Chapter 266 – Frightening Battle Skills Pt. 2

Suo Jia slowly stood up and focused his attention on discerning the designs and symbols on the slave necklace. He also lightly ran his hands over the necklace, trying to verify whether or not it was the same type as the slave necklaces the girls had worn.

Seeing Suo Jia’s actions, Nicole stood up in shock and cried out in horror, “What are you doing, Suo Jia! Don’t fool around, this necklace can only be opened with a key. If one wants to tear it off with brute force, it’s equivalent to suicide! This fact has already been proven many times. That slave necklace…”

Completely ignoring Nicole’s shocked cries, Suo Jia’s fingers quickly probed around the necklace for a while. As Nicole continued to rant non-stop, he gently took the slave necklace off of Nicole’s brother’s neck.

Nicole hadn’t seemed to have realized exactly what had happened, and was still talking unceasingly. But soon, Nicole shut her mouth in shock, as she stared incredulously at the necklace in Suo Jia’s hands that he had just successfully removed. This immediately caused her brain to short-circuit.

After a long time, Nicole finally exclaimed in astonishment, “How is that possible? How did you do it? You don’t even have the key, yet you were able to take the necklace off!”

Suo Jia smiled, putting the necklace away. Truthfully speaking, Suo Jia was actually feeling a bit regretful; if he had known of such a great thing earlier, he would’ve made each of the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes wear one, and see whether they still dared to betray him then!

Suo Jia leisurely dusted his hands and looked at Nicole, “Alright, from now on, your siblings are free and safe. Hehe…I suggest you send them to either the mage or warrior academies in Kaya Empire. That way.”

“No!” Nicole’s eyes flashed as she loftily declared, “If the children in my family want to train their battle skills, they don’t need to study outside of our home. Our family naturally provides training to learn the most powerful battle skills!”

“Pa!” Suo Jia slapped his forehead and laughed, “That’s right, how could I forget that? Your influential family has produced 10 Legendary ranked heroes, and even one Epic ranked one. Your family’s battle skills must be peak grade, why would your family bother learning the things that everyone knows?”

Suo Jia seemed to have just thought of something, and he asked Nicole in a puzzled tone, “But speaking of this, there’s something I don’t understand; if your family’s so powerful, how do you keep getting caught?”

Nicole’s attractive face flushed as she said in embarrassment, “That’s because I’m still too inexperienced. With my current strength, I actually shouldn’t be going out to steal from such dangerous places. But for the sake of my siblings, I didn’t have any choice except to take the risk.”

Suo Jia nodded in understanding. It wasn’t that Nicole was weak, but she was only in her teens after all. Although she was powerful, she hadn’t reached the point of being unrivaled yet. While it didn’t matter if she went to common places, she was still on the inexperienced side with respect to locations like the city lord’s residence.

Nicole eventually calmed down and continued, “In addition, my family’s greatest might lies in Absolute Concealment. Our stealth can be maintained over 10x longer than any other stealth technique, and…once we enter the stealth state, we’re pretty much impossible to detect. Most notably, our speed while in this stealth state doesn’t decrease at all.”

“God!” Suo Jia felt chills run down the back of his neck. No wonder Nicole’s family had produced an Epic ranked hero; this Absolute Concealment was too overpowered, even more amazing than the Concealment Ring’s effects! The Concealment Ring could only maintain the stealth state for 12 seconds, but Nicole’s family’s Absolute Concealment could maintain stealth for dozens of minutes! And this was only the beginning level; once the advanced levels were reached, one could probably stay concealed for up to an entire day!

Seeing Suo Jia’s astonished expression, Nicole proudly continued, “Moreover, aside from our stealth, our family’s Instant Kill has improved in might by severalfold after being adjusted by our ancestors. If you understand how the thief realm works, you must’ve heard of the Instant Kill – Revised before; that’s a battle technique passed down my family!

“Gulp…” Suo Jia swallowed with some difficulty, and felt goosebumps rise from his skin. Instant Kill – Revised was definitely a super battle skill. Even though Suo Jia didn’t know much about the thief realm, he’d heard of this renowned battle skill multiple times already.

“Hehe…” Nicole’s brother proudly declared, “Our family is just like that. If we were to fight head-on, we probably wouldn’t even be able to defeat an average warrior. But…once we enter our concealed state, the entire world becomes our hunting grounds!”

“Mhmmm….” Suo Jia furiously nodded. If one raised their guards, both the Instant Kill and the Instant Kill – Revised were nothing to be afraid of. What was frightening was being attacked from the darkness while caught unawares. That meant being basically defenseless.

Thinking about it, how could one possibly defend against a concealed enemy that secretly hid by one’s side without the person knowing? The moment one relaxed, the enemy would use the Instant Kill. Even if one wore an unrivaled armor, who would wear it for every moment of their life?

Instant Kill wasn’t actually that big of a deal, just an attack that was two times faster than a normal attack. With its gale-like speed, its penetrative ability couldn’t possibly be lacking either; it was even able to pierce through a steel armor. However, Instant Kill was useless under normal circumstances. If one faced their enemy head-on, it wouldn’t matter how fast Instant Kill was, it couldn’t possibly be faster than the other person’s weapons. While the enemy might be unable to dodge, their weapons could still block the attack.

When facing an enemy head-on, the opponent could easily use a weapon to deflect the dagger. While Instant Kill was bizarrely fast, its strength wasn’t comparable. This was why Nicole’s family was on the weaker side in terms of their strength with respect to fighting opponents face to face.

But once one entered the concealed state, it was impossible for the opponent to determine where the person’s attacks were coming from. Oftentimes, the opponent didn’t realize what was going on until after their backs had been pierced by one’s dagger. Only then would the opponent realize where one was.

Instant Kill’s profound essence lied in the fact that it was impossible to defend against. With its matchless speed, it could quickly pierce through one’s vitals, thus killing in a single blow.

Of course, Instant Kill wasn’t unparalleled either. Once it was activated, there were bound to be energy fluctuations. If the enemy’s strength was high enough, or their speeds fast enough, they could still block the attack last minute. It was also possible for the enemy to use a shield to block it directly, but someone faster and able to face off a thief’s Instant Kill had to be stronger than the thief by severalfold.

This was Instant Kill. On the other hand, Instant Kill – Revised was the result of altering the technique with Instant Kill as a base. It used special footwork and movements to quickly advance in attack! Instant Kill was 2x faster than a normal attack, while also being 2x more damaging. On the other hand, Instant Kill Revised was 3x each.

The thief occupation was originally the most superior in terms of speed. With the addition of Absolute Concealment, as well as Instant Kill – Revised, the thief became beyond terrifying. It was said that…long ago, no target of Nicole’s family had ever been able to escape their fate of being assassinated. The combination of a 10 minute long Absolute Concealment and Instant Kill Revised could only result in a true one hit kill! This single strike was impossible to survive.

It was a shame that Nicole’s parents didn’t like military force or wealth. Instead, they were more obsessed with influence. Otherwise, with such formidable abilities, there was no way they’d ever fear anyone; rather, everyone would fear them instead!

Suo Jia sighed in admiration and shook his head. He looked at Nicole and recalled how that day, before Dawn City, Nicole had managed to burst outwards and pierce his stomach despite being surrounded by the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes. If he hadn’t been wearing the skin-tight Monarch Armor, he would’ve turned into a corpse back then.

He hadn’t paid much attention to it in the past, but now that he reflected on it, it was really too terrifying. First, Nicole had to have torn apart the corpses on top of her, then she had to exert strength to leap up off the ground, and cover a 5 meter distance to stab Suo Jia. Even after all this had happened, Suo Jia hadn’t been able to react. It had really been too fast.

Suo Jia was only a mage, so he couldn’t possibly compare to a thief in speed. But back then, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes had been surrounding Suo Jia, yet even their speeds weren’t enough to block the attack in time. This showed just how ridiculous Nicole’s attack speed had been!

Some really long and pointless Author’s Note…tl;dr, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes at some point left the Fourth Prince and are currently searching for Suo Jia on the Greater Trade Routes, because after writing so much about them, how could they just disappear?

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