"A masked man?" Leone frowned. "What does his mask look like?"

"A black skull. It covers half his face," Daedalus replied.

All Raptors served as Daedalus’ eyes and ears, so it had seen the battle between the masked man and the warriors of the Grimfang Tribe.

Frankly, it was very curious about the masked man’s identity. This person seemed to personally know Leone or was at least quite familiar with him.

The grimoire especially took notice of a certain detail. Leone’s location wasn’t a secret among the tribes in the Borderlands, yet the masked man still didn’t know where to find the young man.

This only meant one thing.

The masked man wasn’t from the Borderlands.

"A black skull..." Leone frowned. "I’m not familiar with anyone who wears that mask."

"If that’s the case, when you meet him, make sure Gundar is standing beside you," Daedalus warned. "When he fought the warriors of the Grimfang Tribe, he treated them like children.

"Mind you, he was surrounded by at least four hundred warriors. Yet he didn’t look the least bit fazed. To be fair, he must’ve been confident about winning. After all, he had this special ability to turn his body into black mist. I doubt it could be cut down by any weapon."

Leone blinked. "Isn’t that cheating? How can you defeat a person who can turn into mist?"

"You can," Daedalus replied firmly. "All you need is either a weapon imbued with elemental magic or someone who can use magic to blow him away. Perhaps he could tell that none of the warriors were magic users, so he didn’t see them as a threat."

"You mean, as long as his opponent doesn’t have magic, he can’t be killed?" Leone asked.

"Yes," Daedalus answered. "It’s like fighting specter-type monsters. Ordinary physical weapons would just pass through their bodies and deal no damage whatsoever. This is why close combat fighters need magic weapons to deal with those kinds of monsters."

Leone nodded in understanding. He hadn’t encountered any specter-type monsters before, but he had heard of them from his mother.

Just as Daedalus had said, she told him that those kinds of monsters could only be killed with magical weapons.

"They will be here in two to three hours," Daedalus stated. "We should prepare to meet them."

"Understood." Leone sighed. "I’ll go ask Great Uncle for help."

A few minutes later, the young man found Gundar chatting with Brann and Gromm at the temporary accommodation for the Stormhorn Tribe beside the river.

Since this matter was very important, he decided to share this information with Brann, as well as Gromm.

"Great Uncle, I need your help," Leone said in a serious tone. "Someone is coming here to see me, but he looks very suspicious."

"A suspicious person?" Gundar smirked. "What kind of suspicious person?"

"He wears a black skull mask. Apparently, he can turn his body into black mist that cannot be cut by weapons," Leone explained.

After hearing his reply, the great shaman frowned. Even Brann and Gromm’s expression turned solemn at those words.

"How did you know this person is coming?" Gundar asked, giving Leone a critical gaze. "And how do you know that he can turn into black mist?"

"I did some bone reading," Leone said calmly.

"You saw it in your bone reading?" Gundar looked mildly amused by the young man’s answer.

Then again, Leone’s bone reading was indeed unique. When he was just learning how to read the bones, he and Kael thought that Leone was just spouting nonsense.

To their surprise, the young man’s bone reading was fairly accurate. The two shamans even asked Leone if he could teach them his methods for bone reading.

Thanking his quick wits, Leone sighed. Fortunately, he had omitted the part where the masked man fought the Grimfang Tribe alone and won.

Otherwise, his excuse might not worked against the great shaman, who was looking at him with doubt.

However, Gundar knew that Leone rarely asked for his help. Even when the Aslan Tribe was at war with the Bloodtusk Tribe, the young man didn’t ask the old man to lend his hand to help them in battle.

"So, are you going to meet this person?" Gundar asked.

"Yes," Leone replied. "He seems to be looking for me. But I’m too scared to meet him without you, Great Uncle."

The old man chuckled in response. Still, he agreed to meet this masked man with Leone. Gundar was also very curious about this mysterious person looking for the Chieftain of the Aslan Tribe.

After receiving Gundar’s approval, Leone went to look for his vassals and told them to prepare to welcome a guest.

Ulric’s rare axe, which he had received after becoming Leone’s vassal, didn’t have any magical properties.

Because of this, Leone purchased one from the Arcane Shop, but it cost him 5,000 BP.

It was a high-end magical weapon imbued with the power of flames.

Thanks to the rewards Leone received from his previous missions, his BP comfortably sat at over 100,000 BP.

Since he had plenty to spare, he could afford to spend a bit for the sake of his own safety.

————

[Blazefang Cleaver]

Weapon Type: Axe

Grade: Rare

Physical Attack: +80

Passive Effect: The axe is imbued with the power of flames. Each strike burns everything it cuts, dealing additional Fire Damage equal to 35% of the user’s Physical Attack over 3 seconds.

– Burned targets take +10% increased damage.

Note:

Forged in relentless heat and quenched in ash, this axe carries a living flame within its edge.

————

After buying the Rare Axe, Leone remembered something. Something he had wanted to try for a long time.

In the past, it was impossible for him to do it since he lacked BP. But now, he felt like he could at least upgrade the Martial Skill that everyone in his faction was using, which was called the Heaven Piercer Spear Arts.

"Should we also buy the Super Rare Skill Book that unlocks the third and fourth forms of the Heaven Piercer Spear Arts?" Leone asked Daedalus for advice. "It costs 20,000 BP.

"It’s expensive, but I believe the growth rate of our warriors will improve once they master these two additional forms. Perhaps it can also help them become Elite Warriors faster."

Daedalus agreed. "Do it. We should upgrade it while we still have some extra funds. Strengthening our forces will help us greatly in the long run."

Since they were both in agreement, Leone bought the Super Rare Skill Book worth 20,000 BP.

He then stored the book inside Daedalus, who created a few copies that could be learned by the members of the Aslan Tribe.

The Heaven Piercer Spear Arts had nine forms, the first two of which already being unlocked when Leone bought the skill in the past.

The two new additions were called Heaven’s Descent and Heaven’s Flurry. After meeting the masked man, Leone planned to order everyone to start training the two new forms of their spear arts.

Two hours later...

Ulric and Kael waited at the entrance of the forest to greet the guests they could already see in the distance.

There were thirty warriors behind them, ready to fight if something unexpected happened.

When Malcolm, his wife, and the masked man only stood a few meters away from them, Ulric and Kael immediately raised their guard.

After becoming Leone’s vassals, they became more sensitive towards sensing the strength of anyone near them.

With that being said, the pressure that was coming from the masked man was quite intense.

In fact, Leone’s two vassals had smelled the stench of death and blood on the mysterious person’s body, which meant that he was someone who was used to killing people.