51 Difference in Status (1/2)

When Stigma came back from his 'hell', a man claiming to be a follower started demanding on and on about him to leave the tent, and give them a ridiculous amount of tribute.

As time passed, the man outside sounded more desperate even frantic, so Stigma came to a decision. If he gives the man some tribute then he can leave, afterwards he can finally relax afterwards.

He didn't want any more trouble and sure enough he had already crossed about three groups in total; the one Wade was afflicted to, the mercenary band from the entrance, and no doubt the employees who work for the Slave Market.

If he thought about it, other than the last one, the mercenaries can still be handled by him alone, but the ones who Wade belonged to could spell trouble. And if he pushed his luck he might earn another one.

”Hah.....”

The most optional answer was to not drag in trouble but the man outside sounded like he was going to storm in at any moment. Left with no choice Stigma left the tent with Hilda on his back and Dusk by his side, leaving behind his shield and bags full of cores.

”By the way Master, you seem....different...”

”? How so?”

”...Your reserves, no, your Zen quality has changed...”

”What you can see my Zen as well?”

”Not exactly....”

In Hilda's current state of being a sword, she cannot see anything and wasn't aware on what Stigma's actual appearance look like and she had been by his side for a while. Though she cannot physically see. she can tell any individual via Zen energy.

To make up for the lost vision, and using the time spent under multiple owners who used unique or rare abilities to sense other people.

So she came up with a technique where she uses her Zen energy and formed it like an invisible barrier. The smaller area the more detailed she can get about the person within it such as their facial accessories such as scars or even their clothes.

However the larger the sphere, the more vague the description.

But despite all the restrictions, she can still tell where anything was, and with her experience of fair share of battle, she could even tell how strong a person or beast was.

In her view, due to absorbing a lot of beast souls, she can tell it was Stigma if she saw multiple beast circling inside him, but his reserves then were a small speck compared to now. Currently she was checking on Stigma if he was actually okay, but was baffled went she saw the large difference.

When she checked again, his reserves were more abundant than before. When Hilda first meet Stigma he had the reserves fitting for a Zero Tier, now she realized whatever happened to him during the fever had increased his Zen energy by a large margin.

After spending time with him. She was realized Stigma had more potential than he realized.

”Master, are you perhaps... in the First Tier already?” Hilda was muttering the last line, so Stigma asked her to speak up, only to deny anything she said and only was only a trivial thought.

”...No nothing, it must be my mistake...”

”...Well, first things first, I have to deal with the one outside first...”

”Are you going to break him...”

”For some reason Hilda, you sounded more of a demon than me, well let's see how he interacts before I decide.”

When he finally stepped out the tent, if he delayed any further about four men were ready to enter armed with spears. The one leading them was a man standing at a six foot tall wearing chest plate, with a mace positioned in front of him like a podium.

Due to all the yelling he had a red face and a haggard expression, but after seeing Stigma stepping out, he spat at the ground wiped his face of with a napkin and gesture the men to follow him.

Unknown to Stigma, the mindset of these people were as follows; if they meet anyone who was in the higher Tier or had a powerful backing, they would back down; if they meet anyone with a clan they would show courtesy or show off the prestige of their own clan.

But if they were to meet a wandering Cultivator, they would pressure him using their status and take everything he had. And when Stigma stepped out, they took the opportunity, since he was still a child.

'Huh? What the hell?' When he stepped out he had expected to see only five men, not to see a huge crowd of people surrounding them spectating on them with an amused or absurd expressions.

'Hilda did say her skill had a limit...but to think see missed it by a large margin.'

Ignoring the gazes from the Stigma was able to tell the difference between them, even without his skill. But he felt like the were far weaker than the Demon in its initial stage, and with his reserves still low he can only use his speed and strength to some degree. So he had no Zen to use at the moment.

Before Stigma could speak, the man went up in front and sized him up, but it looked comical to see an adult stepping forward to a child, yet the follower didn't seem to care and followed.

”Know your place! You are before the follower of the Naga Clan, Will, the clan is known for their vast wealth and land, so submit yourself and kowtow before this father.”

*Shivering*

Unknown to the men Stigma's action was not fear, but annoyance and anger, but they took it as a sign of intimidation and tried to extort him in the name of the clan.

'Forget about choosing between his legs or his throat, I'll break every bone in his body once I'm done with him.'

Will, however, had no idea what was going on in Stigma's head, and only continued to pressure him.

”You wasted my precious time boy, but I ,your father, am merciful at a price. Now let me get straight to the point, give me this tent and pay tribute to me ten times for wasting my breath.”

While Will spoke, the others just laughed it off like they were seeing someone pitiful, they were enjoying themselves in seeing other suffer.

While the gazes from the others were like they were seeing scum, but they can do nothing about it, since they were cultivators afflicted to the Naga clan.

These men were given a simple order from their master Richard, 'Find me a suitable living space, don't waste time!', however they were not given any form of currency or identification, nor given any form of description on what quarters he would like to live in.

In other words, Richard didn't want his uncle Jaculas to know, that he was planning to goof around before the auction.

Since the Naga's focused more on expanding their influence they included the markets since theyr network was vast. Their master along with an Elder had immediately went towards the top figures to pay their respect and make ties, so they were left on their own.

Truth be told, members of a clan or followers will be given special privileges such as having private chefs be there to cook whatever food they want, or make reserves in buying high quality products, even get their own living quarter's.

So why get a rented tent you may ask, it was simple, their master Richard wanted to find a place for his 'private matters' when he rents a female slave or finds a woman he fancies. Unfortunately they were told to use their own money, which in total could only last for three days at most if they wanted to go by their master's preferences.

Hearing such an unbelievable thing Will could only beg his master to reconsider, only berated in telling them that they followed him and lived of the Naga's influence, so they should bring their own money and provide him with luxury.

Will could only grit his teeth as it was the undeniable truth, followers are not members of a clan that was based on blood ties. Even if they married in their standing would still be lower to the spouse.

And followers are just people who ride on the coat tail[1]. So if the clan decided to let them go, life would be difficult to them if they were to return to Mordan City.

Will and the others only had enough for them to go get 'one night stands[2]' in the red light district, so they never accounted that their master's would demand them to buy a luxury living space with their money at hand.

When they went to they residence, the saw the largest tent and wanted to purchase it, but they were greeted with an extremely unattractive woman who tried to fix herself, sitting by the desk so their mood soured and wanted to end the transaction as quickly as possible.

After meeting Stigma the receptionist tried to apply some make up only to fail due to her sweating multiple times, leaving most of her cosmetics on her face a mess.