Chapter 1

Every new year celebration, in Dove City, several Crime Lords who were friendly with each other would get together and celebrate privately. This was not unusual in such a small city on the Flower Continent because it was rare for a bigger power to set their sights on any of the smaller cities.

With the fear of their positions being questioned even if their personal power was extremely limited, these Crime Lords created a pact to become allies instead of fighting it out with one another. With so many enemies potentially eyeing them, they eventually created such a pact which allowed them to sleep easier.

Usually, some of the larger powers in the Flower Continent would send out some potential new family heads to take over a small city, or to at least rule over a section. This test was to see how well these individuals were able to lead a smaller group onwards to growing their own power.

Truth be told, these larger and more influential powers did not need any additional outside support, because many actually had an endless amount of wealth and organizations willing to join them outright.

However, with such power, does come fear of allowing the wrong individual to become the next head of their entire organization or family. Therefore, these tests were introduced by one of the families, while the rest would follow suit.

Some smaller organizations would also use these tests in order to aid those who were taking them in the hopes of gaining even more power for themselves. Whether simply for survival, or the opportunity to even become a branch of such top rated families, these organizations wholeheartedly supported these younger men and women as a gamble for their own futures as well.

"That damnable rookie thinks that he can pull one under our noses!" Ren Tian of the infamous Ren family shouted out before gulping down a big glass of alcohol. Hearing their leader becoming more and more frustrated sent chills down his follower's spines who were on guard duty tonight.

With red hair and an overbearing aura, Ren Tian was a young man who spent almost all of his time concentrating on increasing his physical strength. The Ren family was known to use their muscles before using their heads and were able to carve out quite a bit of land and prosper.

This was difficult for other families and organizations, because if they even said the wrong thing to someone in the Ren family, those individuals would need to pay a heavy price to reconcile.

"Oh, you are just upset because our alliance hasn't been discussed much recently. Don't worry, I heard from my family that the Flower Continent's peaceful city wars will shift once more into chaos."

"If I were you, instead of frowning over a rookie that is being talked about through all of our networks, you should enjoy the moment and look forward to us combining our strengths to eventually rule over this entire city."

"Plus, there is still that beauty from the Peng family who is still available. We all have our eyes on her, but I wouldn't mind allowing you to more forward with that if you gave me that thing we spoke about the other day." Shi Heng of the domineering Shi family told his comrade.

Like Ren Tian, this Shi Heng was also a younger generation pure bloodline member of his family. He had a snake like appearance and was known to take after his father being a master strategist even as a teenager.

"Damn it Shi Heng and your lustful eyes! I told you this once but it looks like I need to tell you once more, I am unwilling to put a good word in for you to my younger sister!" Ren Tian angrily shouted while hitting the table once again in a dissatisfied manner.

The Shi family was a family that was extremely domineering due to their methods of growing their influence and power across the Flower Continent. While the Ren family had done this with brute force, the Shi family utilized arranged marriages to build relationships with strong Crime Lords and their families or organizations.

With this, the Shi family was able to grow just as quickly as a family such as the Ren family due to the sheer amount of different powers located in the Flower Continent. The only issue with this method, is that government officials wouldn't marry outside of the government.

If this was not the case, the Shi family would have become an unshakable force on the Flower Continent!

"You should calm down before a clash occurs tonight, and Shi Heng, please stop teasing our fellow friends here." suddenly the third and last Crime Lord in the room gently put a hand on Ren Tian's shoulder as he tried to make sure this situation did not escalate.

This third Crime Lord in the city was nicknamed "Ghost Face" because he unlike these other two Crime Lords was not affiliated with a family, rather, he ruled over an organization that specialized in stealth type attacks.

He chose to help solidify this alliance between two young masters of top rated families in hopes that his own organization could prosper from just being on friendly terms with them. However, he was several years older than these new comrades and so the other two treated him as more of an equal, instead of a glorified helper for their family tests.

This nickname came from the way he was able to sneak into the mansion of a Crime Lord with his men and they completely decimated that Crime Lord and his men to where this man became the Crime Lord of the district.

Originally, Ghost Face was unwilling to allow outsiders of the city to invade with their forces or to build small organizations within that serves one outside of it. However, both the Ren and Shi family gave him some additional wealth and training gear he needed to expand his own organization.

Therefore, the original plan was scraped, and Ghost Face welcomed these two younger individuals from both families. With their influence, Ghost Face was able to not only build his own power, but he was now looking to expand into a different city as well due to a request given to him by a much smaller organization.

As a Crime Lord who's organization specialized in doing things in secret and behind closed doors such as intel gathering, Ghost Face was seen by these two as a worthy person to not only invest in, but to also welcome in to their own circles since he was in fact very powerful and domineering himself.

"Damn it Ghost Face, you aren't supposed to pick sides like this!" Ren Tian told him before grabbing another glass full of alcohol before downing it in a single gulp once more as he sat back down.