Inside a small hunting cabin deep within the Zakashi Woods, Glenn Azarenki closed his eyes while sitting inside a pentagram painted with his own blood. In front of him was an earthen bowl surrounded by red candles. The scroll Glenn had given Ezra before parting ways contained a third-tier blood curse that could be used to drain low-level enemies. By unleashing the curse, Ezra had bound the griffin hatchlings to the blood mage. Now Glenn could feed on their blood as long as they were alive, and they could neither fly away nor hide. As Glenn’s bowl filled with griffin blood, he smiled and thanked Ezra. Griffins were rare and powerful hybrids, and drinking their blood would not only restore his youth but augment his powers as well. “You have been very kind to me, Lord Ezra. I promise I shall repay the favor someday,” he vowed, crossing his heart before drinking the tangy red liquid pooled inside the bowl. As the griffin blood coursed through Glenn’s veins, his skin turned clearer and

Even though they were in their own house, Aurelia was wary of curious ears. A single twisted truth could spark a wildfire and burn down the foundations of their family, so she had to be certain no one would catch wind of their conversation. Aurelia locked the door of her room and drew the curtains before accessing her inventory and pulling out a corrupted crystal from inside. “Do you know what this is?” she asked. “A corrupted crystal,” Ezra replied. “It looks similar to the one I saw inside the training dungeon.” “You are correct. It’s a corrupted crystal that can link one low-level training dungeon to another dungeon, typically a dark dungeon or a monster nest,” Aurelia replied, placing the crystal on the table. “These things aren’t easily available. Only dark mages and black-market vendors keep these in their inventory. And they do not come cheap.” Ezra listened with close attention and his thoughts immediately went back to the Stirge invasion. “Where did you find this one?” he

The three Elders accompanied Lord Sebastian and Ezra to the clan’s training arena. It was a raised circular platform, floating ten feet off the ground. Around it were three rows of seats for the spectators. All duels and shooting initiations used to take place in this arena. However, since it was Dragon Claw’s private arena, only members of the clan were allowed to watch the duels. Ezra could still remember the humiliating words and laughing faces from his last training session, and he was glad that the townsfolk weren’t there to watch him today. Even though he had come a long way since then, and his arms no longer trembled, just the thought of being ridiculed by the commoners made him uneasy. Lord Sebastian was led to the high chair in the third ascending ring of seats to watch the training from the best spot while Flavius and Abigor took their seats beside him. Since Lord Cornelius was in charge of conducting the test, he accompanied Ezra to the floating platform. But just as h

Lord Sebastian and the Elders returned to the council room to discuss how to deal with Zepheroth and his cultists, while Ezra was allowed to walk freely inside the Guild House and explore the place at leisure. Dragon Claw’s Guild House was an old manor house converted into a residential and educational building for the members of the clan. The most prominent room here was the private library with hundreds of books on different shooting techniques from different parts of the continent as well as detailed histories of the most widely-used firearms and enchanted bullets. There were also various training manuals to guide new Gunners about dungeons, duels, and monster hunts. Adjacent to the library was the Gunsmith’s workstation where he crafted customized firearms for the members of Dragon Claw and also forged bolts, daggers, and arrowheads. Just opposite that lay the clan’s special armory which contained a unique collection of blunderbuss rifles, muskets, multi-barrel nock guns, whee

Jasenki and Iraka headed for Ishani’s shrine to enlist the help of the Goddess' chosen priests while the other Gunners followed Abigor to the training arena to hone their skills inside two training dungeons especially prepared by the Elders. The necrophage infestation around Ashgrove had already been cleared and even the villagers weren’t there to stir trouble. Jasenki and his partner were tasked with cleansing the deserted village and investigating the place to find clues about the whereabouts of the missing villagers. However, Ezra and Aurelia had a far more challenging task on their hands. Instead of being sent to a deserted village, they had been tasked with ridding Dewdale of the undead and putting an end to their dark ritual. Since Ezra had already fought the undead before, he knew it would be suicide to go in unprepared, so he first headed to the clan’s private library to learn more about the different classes of undead and the weapons and spells most effective against them.