Aimless Ascension

"Are you going to come on your own, or do I need to find you?" Gale said aloud.

For several seconds there was no reply until Gale detected the gothic figure appearing near the waterfall. Her purple pupils were like holes in reality as she stared at him stoically.

'She must think, she's very cool with this look,' Gale mused. 'Well, she's pretty cool. Even I want a cloak like that.'

A cloak that sways even in no air? Yes, please. 'No, gotta keep my chuuni tendency inside.'

"You never chill, do you?" Gale couldn't help but ask. Of course, he got no response in return. Twilight means business all the time. "Well, it's for the best for assassins to be Stoic all the time, but is that what you want to be?"

". . ."

Gale clicked his tongue and left it for now. "Anyway, I'm leaving you in charge of these men when I'm not around to look after them," he said. "I won't be around most of the time, though. So you've got their company to amuse you."

Twilight nodded.

"You understand what I want of them?"

Twilight shook her head.

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"Their labour, of course," Gale said. "They are slaves at best. But since I'm a benevolent master, I would give them the weekend off to lament over their terrible life choices and sorrows."

Twilight tilted her head and nodded again.

'Gosh, even Vale communicates better than her,' Gale thought. He cleared his thoughts and addressed her again. "Do you know anything about script work?"

Twilight nodded.

"How much?"

"A little."

Gale finally managed to get something out of her mouth. "How much is only a little?" Gale asked again. "Can you detect or alter common script constructs?"

Twilight nodded.

'And we're back to gestures again.' Gale laughed. "Anyway, I have some defensive and illusion script formations prepared. I will be laying them here so that these fools don't know how to get out of them. You can watch me if you like for better understanding, although I'll leave you with an access key."

Twilight nodded to her credit.

"You know you'll be staying here in this boring cave with these forsaken fools for some time now," Gale said, frowning. "You have no complaints about that, do you?"

Twilight shook her head. "You're paying me double."

"That I'm doing," Gale acknowledged. Still less than her expertise deserved. Still, the work wasn't anything risky, so it was more than equitable. "Anyway, I want to build a secret lair here and these were the labour force that would be working on it. You won't have to work with them, but you'll have to look after their work so that they don't do something stupid that can make me angry. With your natural presence, it should be pretty easy to scare these lots.

Twilight nodded.

"Alright," Gale said. "Keep them chained until I make some slave collars for them. For the first few days, all they have to do is carve the cave. I'll leave instructions before I leave. Make them work after they heal up."

Twilight nodded and tilted her head as if asking whether there was something more.

"Also, you're welcome to dinner, feel free to come."

She disappeared without replying to his invitation.

Gale made a weird noise with his mouth and brought out the stuff he made for his mansion, only to deploy them here.

It took him half an hour to lay the prepared formations. Apart from defensive and illusion array, there were sounds and Qi filtering formations that would keep all of their doing secret.

Once done with the formation, Gale turned to the captives. They immediately looked away as Gale approached them. Most of them were older than him, some were even in their fifties. Well, they certainly didn't look in their fifties with their iron and silver bodies.

"I'm sure you guys have heard some of our talks," Gale told them. "Well, it was me who talked most of the time. All the time, but you got the gist of it, right? Or do I need to make it clear again?"

The newly appointed slaves looked at him with hatred and anger. They were, after all, some force to reckon with. Useful practitioners, nobody had the gall to enslave them before.

Gale frowned, and then the line in his forehead disappeared. He stared at them emotionlessly.

"The only reason you're all alive is 'cause you blokes have some use left of you," Gale told them stoically. He manipulated his aura to still the atmosphere of the room, making them shiver. "Do you want to be useless? You know where it will lead you."

The captives stared at him in awe, evident fear in their eyes.

"I haven't heard or seen any confirmation," Gale said. "I'll repeat. Do you want to be useless?"

The captives shook their heads immediately with muffled cries of no.

"Good," Gale said as the stillness was released. "If you think about it, it isn't all that bad. I'm sure the Han family wasn't treating you, blokes, all that fairly. If I'm not wrong, you blokes are like expendable forces in the hands of some whimsical teenager who couldn't even manage iron rank.

"Here, I'll make you work every day. From the look of things, you guys do need some training. I'm sure what I planned for you will be challenging enough. But don't you worry, you won't be doing it for free. I'll leave you with wages for your work, though you won't be able to go to whorehouses to spend them."

The men were full of emotions, all sorts of. Anger, indignation, grief, regret, pain.

"I can still see you guys holding onto the hope of the Han Family coming to save you," Gale said, as the men sweated coldly. "Well, it's good. Life without hope is no life at all. Just hope and try nothing drastic. I'm easygoing on the usual, but you guys haven't seen my worst. Well, most people haven't and those that saw it aren't left to tell the tale."

Gale looked around and wondered if Twilight was there. But she was, as always, like a ghost.

Anyway, after he was done here, Gale proceeded to leave when a voice entered his ears.

"Very intimidating."

Gale looked around, but didn't bother to look for Twilight. He clicked his tongue and left.