Chapter 83: You’re Going to Help Me Level Up

Liam woke to another photograph from his father. This one showed Emily sitting on the floor of the new house, surrounded by boxes, while Rachel pointed toward something outside the frame. Michael had added a message complaining that nobody agreed on where anything belonged. Liam lay beside Clara and looked at the picture for a while before replying. He told his father to hire people for the heavy work, then sent Rebecca the photographs in case nobody had remembered to include her.

Her reply came while he was brushing his teeth.

They called me three times. Mom wants me home for the first proper dinner.

Liam smiled around his toothbrush. A few months ago, in another life, his family had started disappearing one person at a time. Now his mother was complaining that her eldest daughter couldn’t immediately cross the country because she had classes. He rinsed his mouth, returned to the bedroom, and found Clara sitting up with his phone in her hand. She had opened the photograph he had shown her last night and was examining the front of the house.

“Are we going?”

“Soon. I need to see when I can get away.”

“I want to see your mom.”

“She’ll probably put you to work.”

“That’s fine. You can carry things.”

Liam took the phone from her before she could start making arrangements herself. There was already a message from Daniel asking him to call when he was available. The Millers had sent the missing documents early that morning, apparently deciding that making him wait would only give him another reason to question the proposal. Liam ordered breakfast, then called Daniel while Clara went to get ready.

“The guarantee isn’t limited to your investment,” Daniel said.

“How much does it cover?”

“The draft they sent would make you responsible for more than your proportional share if the other guarantors failed to pay. Your lawyer has marked the relevant sections. There are other points he wants explained before he gives you a full opinion.”

Liam sat down near the window. He had expected something unpleasant, but hearing it stated plainly still made him rub a hand over his face. Eight million dollars would give him a minority position in a company whose buildings, transport, and supply arrangements remained under somebody else’s control. The additional guarantee would let that company’s problems reach into money he hadn’t invested.

‘They want me at the children’s table with my wallet in the adults’ room.’

“Tell him to finish the review. I want to understand it.”

“Of course.”

“But I’m not proceeding with those terms.”

Daniel sounded relieved. Liam ended the call and sent Jeff a short message thanking him for the documents. He said he wouldn’t invest under the proposed arrangement, though he was willing to examine a revised offer without the personal guarantee and with the related-company agreements properly disclosed. It was more polite than what he wanted to write. He read it once, removed a sentence that sounded unnecessarily hostile, and sent it before breakfast arrived.

Jeff replied twenty minutes later.

Understood. I’ll discuss it with the others.

There was no threat, no argument, and no attempt to make Liam explain himself again. Somehow, that made him more curious about what they would offer next.

Lin finally sent the photographs that afternoon.

Liam opened them between classes, expecting pictures of an old wooden box. Instead, he found a long case with its lining partly pulled away and several strips of faded material arranged beside it. Dark marks covered the exposed inner surface. Some looked like writing, while others formed connected shapes that meant nothing to him. He enlarged one photograph, then tried using Material Analysis on the screen.

[Object: Mobile phone display.]

[Remote examination of the depicted object is unavailable.]

Liam stared at the panel before dismissing it.

‘Yeah. Thanks. Very helpful.’

He called Lin and told him to bring the case itself. The answer was an immediate refusal to take it anywhere near Liam’s apartment, which suited Liam perfectly because he hadn’t offered the address. After a brief argument over who was being difficult, they agreed to meet at the same warehouse the following day. Liam arranged another hour with the owner and sent Clara the time before she could complain that he had forgotten to tell her.

This time, she couldn’t come.

“I have a class.”

“I’m not asking you to skip it.”

“Call me afterward.”

“I will.”

“And don’t let him draw the sword.”

Liam looked at the photographs again.

“That’s the plan.”

By the following afternoon, the warehouse owner had begun greeting Liam as though he were becoming a regular customer. Liam paid for the booking, carried a folding table inside, and opened the side door to let more light into the room. He had brought the mental cultivation manual and the screwdriver, but left both put away when Lin arrived carrying the case beneath one arm.

The man looked better than he had in the yard. His face had lost some of its strained appearance, and when he placed the case on the table, his hand remained steady.

“Your wrist?”

Lin pulled back his sleeve. The dark marks were still there, but they looked lighter near the edges. Liam examined them without touching him, then nodded toward the case.

“The wrapping is still on the sword?”

“Yes.”

“Keep it that way.”

Lin opened the case. The inside smelled faintly of old wood and dust, with a sharper smell beneath it that Liam couldn’t identify. Most of the lining had been disturbed, but enough remained in place for him to see where the sword had rested. The marks followed the shape of the weapon, gathering more thickly around the section that would have held the grip.

Liam leaned closer.

[God Tier Material Analysis Activated.]

[Object: Weapon storage case.]

[Detected property: Residual spiritual isolation.]

[Condition: Incomplete. Multiple breaks in the insulating layer.]

[Internal residue shares detectable properties with the remnant within the Ancient Cursed Black Sword.]

He read the last line twice, then looked at the scraps Lin had placed beside the case. Somebody had gone to considerable trouble to keep the weapon covered. Lin had removed the wrapping from the hilt, and the case itself had already been damaged. Neither had been enough on its own to keep the thing inside quiet forever.

“Did you find anything else with it?”

“A manual.”

Liam looked up.

“The sword technique?”

Lin’s expression immediately became less cooperative.

“Why?”

“Because you found a weapon that feeds on you beside instructions telling you how to use it. I’d like to know whether those instructions mention the thing living inside.”

For a moment, Lin seemed ready to close the case and leave. Then he reached into his jacket and took out a thin book wrapped in a cloth cover. He placed it on the table but kept his hand over it, making it clear that Liam wasn’t being invited to help himself. Liam didn’t reach for it. He studied the worn edges and the dark stain near one corner before activating his new skill again.

[Object: Bound paper manual.]

[Detected property: Residual spiritual energy.]

[Several sheets differ in composition and age from the main text.]

“Open the back.”

Lin watched him before moving his hand. The last few sheets were darker, with uneven edges and writing that looked less carefully arranged than the earlier pages. Liam couldn’t read it, and pretending otherwise would achieve nothing. He pointed to the section that had caught his attention and asked Lin what it said.

Lin read silently at first.

Then his eyes stopped moving.

“What?”

“It says the wielder must nourish the blade before attempting the later forms.”

“With what?”

“His own energy.”

Liam looked from the page to Lin’s wrist.

“And you were doing that.”

“It improves the connection.”

“Clearly.”

Lin’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. He turned back several pages, comparing the text before returning to the darker sheets. Liam watched his finger move beneath the lines. The discovery didn’t prove that every instruction was false, but it was enough to make the man read his inheritance as something other than a gift waiting to make him powerful.

“These pages were added later,” Liam said. “I can tell you that much. I can’t tell you who wrote them.”

Lin remained quiet for a long time.

Finally, he closed the book.

“I’ve only learned part of the technique.”

Liam remembered the figure beside Black Sword Manual on his status. Thirty percent. At the bank, that had simply looked like another reason not to get punched by him. Now he wondered how much of the remaining technique involved feeding the sword until whatever was inside no longer needed to stay inside.

“Then leave the rest alone until you know what you’re learning.”

Lin gathered the loose material and placed it back in the case. His movements were careful now, without the impatience he had shown when he arrived. Liam let him work, then moved the chair away from the table before Lin could pick up the book.

“There’s something you can do for me.”

Lin stopped.

“I knew you weren’t doing this for nothing.”

“I already helped you for nothing. Try to keep up.”

“What do you want?”

“Training.”

Lin looked at him as though he had misheard.

“You have someone else?”

“No.”

“Then I want you to spar with me.”

For the first time that afternoon, Lin smiled. It wasn’t a friendly expression, but Liam had expected that too. The man had taken an amplified hit from his own skill, been forced to retreat, then needed help handling his weapon. Being asked to teach the person responsible apparently returned some of the satisfaction he had been missing.

“You think you can learn enough to beat me?”

“I think you can stop talking long enough to show me what I’m doing wrong.”

They moved the table against the wall. Liam marked a boundary on the floor and explained the rules before Lin had a chance to invent his own. No sword, no screwdriver, and no Reversal. Lin would hold back enough that a mistake didn’t put Liam in the hospital. A clean takedown or submission ended the round.

Lin agreed far too quickly.

Thirty seconds later, Liam was on his back.

The impact knocked the air out of him even though Lin had controlled the fall. He lay still for a moment, staring at the roof while the man stepped away. God Tier Grappling had let him recognize what was happening. His body simply hadn’t moved quickly enough to stop it.

“You look at the place you want to grab,” Lin said.

Liam sat up.

“And?”

“And I can see your eyes.”

‘Wonderful. My face is giving the bastard instructions.’

The second round lasted longer. Liam kept his gaze steady, stopped reaching before his feet were in position, and managed to turn out of the first grip. Lin caught him during the next movement and put him down again. By the fifth round, Liam’s shirt was sticking to his back, but he had forced Lin to change his approach twice.

A green panel appeared while he reached for his water.

[Combat EXP Gained: 40.]

[Level: 4 (128/500)]

[Main Mission: Reach Level 5.] [Incomplete.]

Liam lowered the bottle and read the numbers again. It wasn’t the two hundred he had earned for beating Clara, but he hadn’t won anything today. He had been thrown around a warehouse while somebody pointed out how obvious his mistakes were.

Still, the EXP was real.

Lin noticed his expression.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Nothing. Again.”

“You should rest.”

“I can manage another round.”

Lin shook his head, though he returned to the marked area. Liam put down the bottle and followed him, already thinking about how to stop the grip that had caught him last time.

Red still wanted the man’s system. Liam hadn’t forgotten that.

First, he was going to learn how to stand in front of its owner without relying on two uses of Reversal to survive.