Chapter 654: Mysterious Mask 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
He walked up to the second floor. As he took a turn, he heard the door open once more at the bottom.
"Welcome, Master is waiting for you on the second floor," The female servant said once more.
Hochman leaned forward and looked down and saw Dahm in a red shirt entering the villa. He had a smile on his face and his lips were dark red as if it was a solidified blood clot.
Dahm was much stronger than before. As he raised his head, they looked at each other and the atmosphere froze.
The bodyguards started to panic as they clutched nervously at the guns strapped at their waist, ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"You're early." Dahm smiled as he waved at him.
Hochman nodded his head slightly.
Two of them greeted each other as if they were at a friend's house. Then, both of them walked to the second floor.
Similarly, Dahm placed his bodyguards outside of the villa just like Hochman.
Both of them stepped onto the brown floor as they walked to the study room at the far end of the floor. Hochman then gently knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock.
"Enter." A gentle and calm voice could be heard from inside.
The door wasn't locked. Hochman pushed the door open gently. The room was laid with a layer of thick grey carpet and it felt very soft when stepped onto. There were two yellow lights standing on each side, giving off a bright yellow light.
The whole room was grey in color, including the wallpapers, tables, and chairs.
At the center of the room were a long table and two leather chairs.
Garen was sitting at the far end of the long table, facing its side as he looked at something. He only turned around and smiled when he heard noises.
As they entered the room, Hochman sat on the leather chair on the left. The chair was curved to fit a person's back smoothly. There even were golden textures on its side that couldn't be seen if one didn't take notice. It was a well crafted yet low-profile chair.
Dahm entered the room and sat in the other leather chair.
Both of them noticed a row of old picture frames and oil paintings hanging on the left side of the wall.
"These are my collections of relic oil paintings and some ancient photos. They're all old items." Garen smiled and explained. He was in a big white robe, similar to of pyjamas which made him looked relaxed and carefree.
"Is there anything for you to call us here?" Hochman maintained his gaze and asked softly.
The servant handed out three cups of fragrant coffee and immediately left the room afterward.
"A small problem." Garen crossed his hands as he smiled.
He raised two of his fingers, indicating the number of issues.
"First, I need you to do me a small favor." He opened the drawer on the table and took out a black metal mask.
The mask looked rather unusual. It was expressionless and slightly black in color. The forehead portion of the mask was densely packed with small eyes as if it was covered with small worms. It gave off a rather mysterious yet frightening vibe.
Garen placed the mask in the center of the table.
"If possible, get me the original version of this mask. Naturally, you can send over the fake versions to me."
Hochman took up the mask and glanced at it before placing it back down on the table
"No problem. If my network finds anything similar, I'll send it to you."
Dahm took up the mask and looked at it.
"No problem here as well. If it's very rare, then I can't do anything as well. I hope you understand."
No matter how one looked at it, with each of them arriving at such an advanced level, they had already known the tricks Garen used to control them. The Two-Face Water Bird Fist's most secret cheat was that it required Garen's aura and soul seed's aura to continuously offset it. So their Two-faced Water Bird Fist technique was limited by Garen. No matter how dissatisfied both of them were to this, they couldn't do anything before finding a way to bypass this issue.
"Alright." Garen nodded. This mask was one of the relics that were able to give him the most potential points. With this mask, it was able to give him a third of his needed potential points. This was the reason why he viewed it as an utmost importance.
After some of investigation, he found a terrifying truth.
This mask was also a fake, but it was created quite a long time ago. There was a record of such mask within the black-shirted man's records. This masked was called the Black Copper Mask, which had about twelve fake masks. According to the legend, every mask had a clue which led to the location of the real mask. If he could obtain all the Black Copper Masks, then he would be able to obtain the legendary original Black Copper Mask.
This was a secret discovered by the black-shirted men. Only Levi and a few higher level knew about it.
However, Garen accidentally found out that it possessed a tremendous amount of potential points, which made him interested in the mask.
"Secondly." He looked at the two people sitting in front of him. "Quentin and Xander came for a visit. They weren't here for the annual inner circle Secret Technique sparring adjustment. It's related to you two."
The whole room was in complete silence, both of them didn't speak up at all.
"Regarding the issues between you two, I do not wish to meddle in. You have your own circles, lives, and judgment. An outsider does not have the right to butt in. It's just that Quentin and the other members came to beg me so I'm placed in a tough spot." Garen said.
"I understand." Dahm smiled. "As long as Hochman agrees to reconcile, I have no issues."
"I'll consider it." Hochman closed his eyes and replied coldly.
"We are a group, a family. The fist technique is what that gathers us together. The path we take may have been different, but please don't forget the friendship we once had." Garen said calmly.
While both of them were laughing coldly in their mind, they put on a good appearance on the outside.
"I'm glad you two understand." Garen nodded satisfactorily
"I heard that Master has been looking for a quiet environment to learn a fist technique recently. Hochman and I have bought an ancient styled palace building located in East Asia Nappu Mountain. We have decided to gift it to you to show our appreciation towards your teachings." Dahm said sincerely.
Both of them seemed to be up to something as both of them spoke to Garen as if he was a legendary figure.
They had heard the rumors of a powerful martial artist in the combat club but didn't try to find an explanation for it, in fact, their every action had hidden motives in them. However, as they increased their strength and advanced to higher heights, they thought they could clearly see Garen's true potential. However, it was once blurred off again as they could feel Garen's aura which was similar to theirs. That aura was so big and powerful, it felt like it was an endless sea.
Furthermore, Garen's mood swung a lot. At times, he's cruel and cold-hearted and at times he could be gentle and peaceful.
Hence, they could only listen to him even though they wanted to betray him.
"Palace?" Garen felt strange. Technically, they were still students. No matter how much they skipped classes, they were still students in their twenties. However, when he saw their gaze and in addition to the intel and news he had obtained, he vaguely understood their intentions.
They planned to build a fist technique sect and make use of the powerful and mysterious technique to expand their power and authority. This would turn them into the main branch and increase their renown in the combat world. They would then stand in the position of the owners and main branch, a huge position.
They could even have the intention of readjusting the whole combat world.
After all, when their Two-Faced Water Fist Technique combined with their physical strength, they had already surpassed the limits of humans. This kind of strength was without a doubt something everyone would covet.
They had the dream of opening the first sect.
Garen suddenly understood the intention of these two. Both Hochman and Dahm were trying to come out with their own styles of Two-Faced Water Bird Fist technique.
"Alright. Since it's a gift from the two of you, I will accept it. That place can be a meetup point for the higher-ups of the combat club." He nodded as he accepted this luxurious gift.
Since he was currently mastering the Dream Technique, he would require a quiet environment. He'd recently learned that the attacks of the void creatures were able to harm surrounding living beings. In order to avoid the void creatures harming innocents, it was a good idea for him to choose a secluded area to train.
"Then I shall take my leave." Hochman stood up and bowed slightly.
"Me too. I have other matters to deal with." Dahm stood up and said lazily.
Frankly, when the two of them were facing Garen, a person whose face seemed flawless, they couldn't help but feel a sense of oppression from him. This made them very uncomfortable, which was the reason why they never stayed long here.
"Go, remember your promise," Garen said softly.
Both of them nodded and left the room.
As the footsteps distanced, he looked at the mask on the table. Instinctively, he reached out his hand and gently placed the mask on his face.
Somehow, from the moment he wore the mask, he could feel his aura start to change.
The Void Creatures started appearing in his dreams. The change was rather complicated, which was a totally different world from the material world.
At first, Garen had suspected that he'd been feeling unwell, as the Material World hardly had any supernatural phenomenon.
He put down the mask and examined it carefully but didn't find anything strange about it.
"This mask.." he could faintly feel that there was a mysterious secret hidden in it.
'It feels like some sort of magnetic field.' Black Sethe spoke. "This mask has a strange magnetic field as if it could change the brainwave of a living being."
"Alter the brainwave?" Garen was interested and Black Sethe seemed to progress rapidly as well as he absorbed the knowledge of this world. This world was too different from his previous world. The current world was set in a scientific civilization so there were a lot of things he needed to pick up.
The mask's surface was rather coarse as Garen took out the yellow copper coin Nadia had dropped earlier and felt its texture.
'This world's law is very solid. The forces between the particles are incredibly strong and a supernatural force would require a tremendous amount of energy to surface in the Material World. Even Nadia's overwhelming strength in the Dream World will immediately shrink in this world. She definitely had used an incredible amount of force to affect reality within the Dream World to leave a coin here.' Black Sethe said softly. 'Similarly, this mask which is able to display such supernatural phenomenon on its own means that it has a huge secret hidden within it.'
As he rubbed the mask and coin, Garen started to think deeply.