NoGift

ARGENT looked down at the young man with reddish-brown hair. He looked to be about 18 or 19. But one could not really judge one's age in this world just by looking at their face because of their long life span. A person could be in his 40s but still looked like he's in in his 20s. The guy doesn't pay attention to them and just stared at his unconcious companions.

"Can you read his thoughts?" she whispered to her sister.

Aurum furrowed her brows and shook her head. "No, not completely. His Gift is probably at least at S level," she whispered back. Because Aurum could only used her Gift at A level, she could only read the minds of people with Gifts lower than A level.

Argent didn't expect this guy to have a high level Gift. What was he doing, waiting on trees and ambushing people? "Are you people from the nearby village?"

The guy finally looked back at her. "Why do you want to know?" he asked back, full of vigilance.

"Because we're planning to murder everyone in that village. Do you expect me to say that?" Argent said sarcastically. "Answer my first question."

The guy avoided her gaze. "We're from the village."

"But you're currently not living there now."

The guy sharply raised his head and looked at Argent. "How--?"

"I was just guessing. And based on your reaction, I'm right." Argent crouched down. "Now, tell me why five men who used to live in the nearby village were squatting on trees and ambushing people? And don't tell me you're mountain bandits, cause I'll know you're lying."

Before she could hear his answer, she saw him putting his hand on the ground. Argent immediately felt the ground move slightly. A cage made of soil suddenly surrounded her. When she turned around, she saw the same thing happened to Aurum and Black. The guy immediately ran past them and went towards his four unconcious companions. He put his hand on the ground again and two human shaped mud dolls arose from the ground, each lifting two of the guy's companions.

Argent raised her brow. So that's his Gift, controling soil? They started to run and Argent has no time to ponder about anything. She touched the soil cage and it immediately disintegrated. She turned to Black who already cut the cage.

"Stop them," she ordered.

"Yes, Master!" Black moved like a whirlwind and ran after the five people.

Argent walked in front of Aurum's cage and touched it making it disintegrate.

"That ability of yours is really awesome," Aurum commented. She knew long ago that any type of Gift doesn't work on her brother. She told Argent that maybe that was her Gift, but her brother just denied it. Saying that it was only due to her 'special constitution'. Which Aurum didn't really understand until now.

They heard the fighting ahead and Argent turned to her sister. "Stay here."

Argent ran towards the direction where people ran. She saw Black fighting against another two mud dolls. She ran past, avoiding the fighting. There was already a bit of distance between her and the five people. But Argent didn't worry. She increased her speed. After seven years of vigorous training, it was easy for her to shorten this distance. When she was near the guy with reddish-brown hair, she jumped and kicked his back, making him crashed face-first on the ground.

Despite that, the two mud dolls carrying his companions continued to run. Argent didn't care. After all, she only needed one person to tell her the information she wanted. The guy touched the ground again and several soil spike suddenly appeared from the ground, flying upwards toward her. She ignored those and touched the silver bracelet on her right wrist. It turned into a sword with a thin blade. The soil spike touched her but it immediately disintegrated.

The guy saw it from where he was lying and his eyes widened in disbelief. "What--?"

Argent pointed her sword at the guy's throat. "No more tricks. Try one again and I'll slit your throat. If that's not enough incentive, I'll run after your friends and slit theirs too. So, are you now willing to talk properly?"

The guy's dark brown eyes were filled with anger. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if calming down his emotions. When he opened his eyes, no emotion could be seen in his eyes. "I will."

At that moment, Black came to their side. "Master, you caught the bad guy!"

The guy scoffed. "Your master is more a bad guy than I am."

Black frowned. "Hey, don't badmouth Master!"

Argent pulled the guy up. "Now, let's have a proper conversation, shall we?"

"Sure, why not, after all you just threatened to kill my friends," the guy said, full of sarcasm.

"I'm not running after them, aren't I? So stop whining."

After she said that, Aurum walked beside her. She looked at the young man, even with the holographic plain face she has, the displeasure on her face couldn't be hidden. "Brother, do we really have to deal with this guy? Maybe we should just go to the village and get that carriage ride."

"That would be impossible, blondie," the guy said, laughing mockingly.

"Pray tell us why," Argent said. There was a look on his face as if he's hesitating if he should answer truthfully or not. "Remember, no more games."

The guy snorted, but still answered Argent. "There's a barrier surrounding the whole village. No outsider can come in, unless they have permission from the Temple."

A barrier? Argent furrowed his brows. Setting up a barrier around a village of a small almost unknown country, that was definitely not normal. She knew there was something about that village when this guy and his friends appeared. She just had that feeling that there was something wrong happening.That's why she was so keen on not letting this guy go and talking to him. Based on what he said, her hunch was right. And it still has something to do with the Temple of Gaia.

Argent looked again at the guy. "My name is Silver, this is my sister, Gold, and this kid is Black."

The guy suddenly looked like he wanted to laugh. "Your parents surely have unique naming sense."

Aurum didn't hesitate to kick him in the shin. "Shut it."

The guy jumped and glared at Aurum before turning to Argent. "Manage your sister, will you?"

"My sister doesn't need managing," Argent returned. "Back to the more important issue, why is there a barrier surrounding the village?"

"So people can't go in or out."

The mystery just grew bigger. And Argent has no doubt that this guy knew something about that. "Do you want to cooperate with us?"

"Why would I do that?" the guy asked, incredulously.

"Because we have a common enemy - the Temple. You don't need to deny it. I could literally feel the contempt in your voice when you mentioned them."

"Fine. So I hate them. But how can I be sure that you people are not the Temple's henchmen, tricking me into this cooperation?"

"Are you an idiot? Why would we go to this length just to trick a nobody like you?" Aurum mocked.

"Yeah, you're a nobody!" Black seconded.

The guy's face blackened but just chose to ignore the two. "Why are you going after the Temple?" he asked instead, which was like indirectly accepting that they were not the Temple's people.

"I'm a merchant and the Temple has been constantly going after my business. The latest one they did is blocking a trade that's supposed to happen here. That's why we came to this place. We're going to the capital to find something that could possibly ruin the Temple here." That was not really Argent's plan. But if the Temple was doing something shady here, then it would be easier for Silver Coporation to gain access in this place. Because once she found out the shady thing the Temple was doing here, ruining them was just like a walk in the park. "If you have the same goal, then you're free to cooperate with us."

The guy looked down as if in deep thought. It took probably almost a minute before he raised his head again. "I will cooperate," he finally answered, his dark brown eyes full of determination. "My name is Clay, by the way. You might as well know it if we're going to cooperate."

"Happy cooperation then," Argent said. "So mind telling us what the heck is happening in your old village?"